Ratings & Reactions: Brighton v Villa

[useless]

Every team in the league could probably point to one aspect of their game and say if only we were much better at it we'd be doing so much better, that they aren't taking their chances is part of the reason why they haven't been doing very well for most of the season, every team in every league would be doing better if they scored more goals.

I'm not sure about this idea that they play amazing football and create loads of chances, I'm sure at times they do play good football I've witnessed myself, but I think people exaggerate on that score, and I've no idea why, definitely the most overrated team in the league, their current 26 points would normally see them very much still in a relegation battle, in fact they have one more point than they had at this stage last season, then they were just two points clear of the bottom three, so they're incredibly lucky that the bottom three are so poor this time around.

I don't actually think they're doing that bad overall, about as well as can be expected, my point isn't that they should be doing better, it's that they're nowhere as good as it seems fashionable at the moment for so many to claim.

[skell]

8 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

You agree about Smith's mistakes, but won't agree it's his fault?

Yeah, makes sense...

I just think he knows.more.than me and you. I you shouldn't jump on managers back at every opportunity. Especially one who has.brought us so far. 

[skell]

8 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

You make me laugh.  If scoring 1 goal in 7 games as the only positive contribution is all a player needs to do to keep his place in your opinion, then there is no point in addressing anything else you say, as you clearly have very low standards.

Yeh he needs changing. There are a million fans with a million ideas of what we need to do. But sulking and saying manager out is not not ideal and needed at this time. I I thought the fickle fans had disappeared 

[Tommo_b]

7 hours ago, TRO said:

Well you saw for yourself tonight.....a team with arguably less natural talent than us....completely negating our game and out playing us.

Arguably more talent. 

[OxfordVillan]

To sum up; Barkley has to go to the bench. Doesn’t work hard enough, won’t work hard enough. Makes us essentially a player light in an already light midfield. The coaching staff have to take some responsibility, I wasn’t the only one concerned that we could get overrun in midfield, and so it proved........for nearly the entirety of the game. Not good enough. McGinn and Luiz out of form, they seem to have retreated 15yds back in games? We essentially are ending up with a back 6, and a huge open space in the centre of the pitch with not a Villa player in sight, and so the opposition are mopping up the possession and the ball just keeps coming back. This has to be addressed. 

[gwi1890]

41 minutes ago, OxfordVillan said:

To sum up; Barkley has to go to the bench. Doesn’t work hard enough, won’t work hard enough. Makes us essentially a player light in an already light midfield. The coaching staff have to take some responsibility, I wasn’t the only one concerned that we could get overrun in midfield, and so it proved........for nearly the entirety of the game. Not good enough. McGinn and Luiz out of form, they seem to have retreated 15yds back in games? We essentially are ending up with a back 6, and a huge open space in the centre of the pitch with not a Villa player in sight, and so the opposition are mopping up the possession and the ball just keeps coming back. This has to be addressed. 

Don’t want to bash Barkley to much but unfortunately he’s inviting pressure onto Mcginn and Luiz 

[Lochheads twin]

It's rare to see such agreement on VT after a game.

• Very lucky to get a point. (reverse of Burnley at home) 
• Martinez MoM (Easy decision)
• The defence is playing well.(saving our arses)
• We need to make changes earlier in a game, (when not going well)
• Barkley needs to be dropped (may do better coming off the bench) 
• We have been poor since Covid (not playing with the same fluency) 
• Sanson, Trez and/or Marvellous deserve to start (we do have options now)

Unless there is a marked improvement in the next two games, we get battered. They may not be as generous as Brighton.

Onwards. This can still be a very good season for us.

[Mjvilla]

11 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

Team selection was wrong

setup was wrong

Half time team talk had no impact

Subs had little to no impact.

Extremely frustrating seeing DS making the same mistakes now that he was making 2 years ago.

He can keep making these 'mistakes' if it means we improve as much as we have done in the previous 2 years. 

Another poster has commented how those people that didn't want him here in the first place are the first, quickest and most harshest to criticise. I didn't necessarily think this was the case, but my god you've changed my opinion.

I didn't want him here in the first place, but what he has achieved here is remarkable so I'm enjoying it and he definitely has my vote. I think we could finish top 4 and he still wouldn't win some over.

[Kingman]

Well we made Brighton look like Man City, In all fairness they were much better than us on the day and it's surprising to see them in the bottom 6. 

If Graham Potter was named Gino Potterino he would be at Spurs or Arsenal next season. 

Front 6 offered nothing all game so fair play to our back 5 especially Emi, Its crazy that we have played much much better and lost and yesterday got a point for being absolutely woeful.

Think its very clear to all that the lads are fatigued out and maybe some lasting affects from the covid outbreak, In hindsight its probably good that we didn’t have an FA Cup game mid-week and are not going off round Europe next week like a number of our rivals are. 

 

[Made In Aston]

12 hours ago, briny_ear said:

Worryingly, premier league sides seem to be working out how to contain Grealish and without him we are much less potent in attack.

This is nothing new. The problem is the other attacking players are not posing enough of a threat to drag the second / third player away from Grealish. 

[mjmooney]

12 hours ago, sparrow1988 said:

If this doesn't get in to double figures for likes/laughs, then I'm taking legal action against all of you.

You won't be surprised I had to Mooney 'Darude'. 

[roonst83]

4 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

This is nothing new. The problem is the other attacking players are not posing enough of a threat to drag the second / third player away from Grealish. 

Spot on.100%

[troon_villan]

Nothing to about the performance that hasn't already been said.  Not loved a keeper this much since Bosnich.

Also, why do the commentators make such a meal out of pronouncing Sanson?  "You're not from New York City, you're from Rotheram" springs to mind.

[foreveryoung]

25 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

This is nothing new. The problem is the other attacking players are not posing enough of a threat to drag the second / third player away from Grealish. 

This is right, but it's down to tactics and I don't think they are being told to play this way.  Grealish, for most of Smith's tenure has been the main source of creativity, so the team are coached to pass to Grealish at any opportunity, you can see this. Most teams are now hot on this, there is not enough experience of playing tactically different to handle when Grealish is marked out the game, which is becoming more regular with each game.

Or it could just be, when Grealish has a lazy game, he doesn't find the space to be able to accept the ball and go forward.

Also it seems the lesser teams, Burnley's, Brighton's, Fulham's. Sheffield's will change the tactics to just mark Grealish out the game, rather then change the whole dynamic to play against us, which seems to be extremely effective.

[a-k]

1 hour ago, Made In Aston said:

This is nothing new. The problem is the other attacking players are not posing enough of a threat to drag the second / third player away from Grealish. 

I think this is exactly what Barkley was brought in to do. He did it really well in some of his early matches but it's clearly not working now. They can gang up on Jack out wide when the player in the middle is anonymous. 

[TRO]

11 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

We made the game hard by starting with 10 men.

Barkley does not deserve to be starting.  With him in the side right now, we instantly lose the midfield battle.  Every game he has played in with Luiz and McGinn we have lost the midfield.

As soon as he is removed, our midfield improves.

That's not an emotional reaction its a fact.

At no point have I said we should be beating Brighton, you've made that up yourself.

All I am saying is, players not carrying their weight, like Barkley, deserve to be dropped, and players who work hard and play well, Nakamba, should not.

I thought it was harsh on Nakamba.

This wasn't a bad day at the office, if we think that, we are misleading ourselves....players who keep losing the ball cheaply,should be left out....we can't do anything without the ball.....In fact, we look very ordinary indeed, without the ball.

It has happened in more games than just this, where we have been unable to secure the ball and unable to win it back....this has to be addressed, with some focus.

despite an overall good season..... we have managed to secure 2 points only from games against Brighton,West Ham and Burnley....those teams have a style, we are uncomfortable with and it is clear as daylight.....we need to recruit a few players who will thrive in that environment.....Blimey Joel Veltman cost £900,000, we need a few of them in the squad, for times like this.....He irritated the life out of Jack and our other players offered nothing else, to compensate.

Players who don't work and just ball watch have no place in our project, you only have to watch Man City and their workrate is phenomenal, despite their untold talent, they work like trojans.......We turn up in games like this, with a clear intention of playing football and it stands out, spoilers like Brighton, just rub their hands in glee and set about disrupting our passages of play by stifiling us and getting irritating touches on the ball whilst we are in possession......we have to be cuter and stronger than that....our passing too was abysmal and our players without the ball offering no options to help out, just waiting around for a "Roy of the Rovers", pass......We have to understand the adage " You have to win the right to play football"....and execute it.

This Midfield of ours has no tenacity or combative qualities to counter such acts of competitiveness....we have seen it before....this is no one off, if we think it is ,we are kidding ourselves.

We will see similar issues when we play Leeds, except, they will just run the legs off us.....and we will just resort to the midfield retreating and them expecting the defence to win the ball for them, to start any attacks.

We have to sort out this midfield, moving forward.

 

[gwi1890]

After watching the game I can see why we didn’t bring  Muapay in , sure he would be a nice option for us now to bring off the bench but  I Can see why he didn’t represent value for money at the time

[TRO]

10 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Brighton putting in their usual fantastic performance, their league position is a farce. Great team, great manager, brilliantly run club. They are the seaside Brentford.

Excellent point to battle to. Bad bad performance. The confidence going short from keeper to defence to midfield is rock bottom.

We go long because Ollie is excellent at making something from nothing and it's made us lazy. Lazy with passing and lazy with pressing. 

Do one Ross. Sit on the bench for a few weeks and watch a proper midfielder in Sanson who hasn't flattered to deceive his whole career.

 

This is plan B. Plan A is 433 and though we might see it soon I'm not sure it'll work as it's even more offensive.

Our legs and confidence are lacking severely. Would love something radical like a 3421 because we are going to take a kicking in the next two playing like that.

One fairly simple thing we can do is put Grealish in the middle because he can go fetch the ball and get us going.

Sanson must start next game, thought he was good.

Must...

The problem is in midfield.

Edited February 14, 2021 by TRO

[TRO]

4 hours ago, Tommo_b said:

Arguably more talent. 

"Hard work beats talent.....when talent fails to work hard"....... we see it in evidence last night.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, gwi1890 said:

Don’t want to bash Barkley to much but unfortunately he’s inviting pressure onto Mcginn and Luiz 

They invite their own pressure.