Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Leicester

[skell]

1 hour ago, AntrimBlack said:

Ramsey and Sanson on for Barkley and McGinn. Bad mistake to loan Guilbert out as Elmohamady is past it.

El Ghazi and especially `Trezeguet' are not good enough. We need to buy wingers in the upcoming window.

With no Grealish, this was Berkley's chance to show what he can do, and he did very little. A bit much to throw a strop when your performance has been poor. Petulant bastard, proper diva, send him back and sign someone who gives a shit.

McGinn's shooting is deplorable. 

Traore MOM for me. He is tricky and unpredictable with an eye for goal. I like him.

A very disjointed performance. In the end I was relieved to only lose by one goal; after their second, I thought we were going to get a pasting. There will be days like this.

Grealish is the glue that holds the team together. We must bring in more quality. We cannot be reliant on one player.

We will probably finish top half and that will be excellent. We are still building. Patience is the watchword.

Most accurate post I've read all day.  On all accounts.   Personally I think we need a strong defensive midfielder and a striker or winger . Invest well in this area we should improve massively.

[Me burns]

I thought we looked a bit ragged at the end and you smelt blood. However if Smith just goes gung-ho early second half, you know that Steptoe will probably punish you. As I said, had you got the equaliser, we couldn’t complain, we did that foot off the gas thing that invites pressure, but I’m an electrician, what do I know. Would swap jack for Maddison in a heartbeat. 

[turvontour]

Today was another burning example of that huge step down in quality cover we have for key positions. We lost Cash, realistically a £25mil full back, and hes replaced by Elmohomady a £1-2mil full back.

£100mil Grealish is out and is replaced by £5-10mil El Ghazi and £5-10mil Trez.

Equally, if £25mil Targett is injured its £1mil Taylor that comes in and similar differences in value Hause for Mings etc.

You don't have that ten times difference in value of cover at most other clubs. In a lot of instances its twice the value. Again just thinking while typing, Watkins £30-40mil, Davis £3-4mil as another example.

It's no ones particular fault this, it's where we are as a club given the rapid rise of the last two years. Elmohamady, Hourihane, Hause, Taylor, El Ghazi, Trez were not bought in to play for a side challenging for european spots.

What today and the coming weeks will likely show is how important it is we address this in the summer. It hasn't been too evident to date this year because of our lack of injury. Although it has been evident to a small extent both by Smith's lack of subs, and when subs have been made the lack of improvement in our performance.

The central midfield is currently somewhat of anomaly in all this as they could all pretty much replace each other at present.

[MikeMcKenna]

I am really at a loss to understand why Barkley keeps playing. Either he is not fit, not interested, has it written that he must play at least 60 mins or thinks he is owed a living. When he went off SJM started to run the show. Keep playing Barkley and kiss goodbye to any lingering hope of a Euro place. 

[sheepyvillian]

On current form, I would have Nakamba ahead of Luiz, who seems to be making a habit of giving away needless free- kicks around the six yard box.

[Kingman]

7 minutes ago, MikeMcKenna said:

I am really at a loss to understand why Barkley keeps playing. Either he is not fit, not interested, has it written that he must play at least 60 mins or thinks he is owed a living. When he went off SJM started to run the show. Keep playing Barkley and kiss goodbye to any lingering hope of a Euro place. 

Can only be the reason, 

Seen milk turn quicker, Absolutely pathetic and embarrassing that he starts, offers the square route of Absolutely **** all. 

[VillaFaninLondon]

Basically a terrible first half followed by a reasonable 2nd half where at least we made a go of it. If any of our players out there had a bit more creativity we may have grabbed an unlikely point, but despite having a lot of the ball in the last 20 we didn't really create anything tangible. 

 

I get the claims that Leicester are a good side, they are, but they barely got out of 2nd gear today and showed far more energy in the first half than us despite playing a game over in Europe less than 72 hours before ko. Inexcusable first half performance.

 

The midfield really needs to be assessed because it's like we didn't have one for half the game today. Barkley just looks lazy and disinterested, Luiz gives fouls away needlessly, Trez and AEG don't have enough quality. McGinn has also been poor for a while but looked better when pushed further forward today (apart from his poor shooting). Sanson and Ramsey both looked bright and we played much better when they were introduced. Smith has to assess the midfield and make the necessary changes for the next game. Elmo also looked a real weak link at RB and it's shame Guilbert was so out of favour and sent out on loan as I think he's better than Elmo.

 

It's obvious we again need to bring in better quality in the summer, a proper DM is needed plus another winger, striker and two new full backs. Our backup players aren't good enough if we want to be pushing for Europe next season. 

[Lochheads twin]

Well what did we learn today?

• Leicester are a good side but I think we knew that already.
• Dean is a gambler/adventurous. May be a welcome change after many of his predecessors. Not many of us would have lined up that side, if heaven forbid, we were in charge. Most of us would have had extra players in midfield to stifle them and hope Traore and Ollie fashioned something on the break.  Dean obviously hoped we got on the front foot and took the game to them. (Plan A didn't work)
• He doesn't like making unforced changes. (or early use of subs.) 
• Although not a huge depth of squad we still have players that give us options, if we use them.
• Schmeichal is an arse.
• Emi is human and can't save us every week.
• Target was our Man of the Match

We can't start that team against Leeds otherwise we will get overrun.

 Hopefully this is all part of the learning process which as we know can be painful at times.

Onwards.

[AntrimBlack]

3 hours ago, PaulC said:

Yes but Leicester have cashed in on players when their value was high and not been any worse for it. 

That's true. There's room for both methods, depending on circumstances.

[TRO]

3 hours ago, skell said:

Most accurate post I've read all day.  On all accounts.   Personally I think we need a strong defensive midfielder and a striker or winger . Invest well in this area we should improve massively.

Thank you.....Highlighted by Dion Dublin on MOTD

[TRO]

4 hours ago, thunderball said:

There’s no fear of Man City exercising their option.

Not a chance.

[KMitch]

The thing that concerned me the most at the start of the season was injuries to 1-3 key positions would absolutely destroy our season.  Losing Jack, Martinez, Watkins, or any of our starting back 4 for an extended period will severely hamper the the team.  I'm just glad it happened after we already picked up 36 points this time around.  

 

[sheepyvillian]

To me, Luiz looks devoid of all confidence. He should be coming and demanding that ball from Mings and Konsa, instead they're being given no choice but to hit the long ball down either wing and it's becoming somewhat predictable. 

Sansom, looks to me, the ideal player for that midfield role. He has the vital ingredients needed for that position, confidence and awareness. We need someone who can drive at the opposition with the ball and create the space and angles to deliever the pass.  

We have to develop some intricacy to our build- up play, and to do that we need players who are totally assured with the ball at their feet.

Edited February 22, 2021 by sheepyvillian

[AVTuco]

15 hours ago, smg said:

McGinn’s drop in performance levels coincides with Barkley’s inclusion. He is still working hard but is not reaching the levels he did before because different demands are being made of him, I’m not even sure he fully understands what his role is and even if he does he can’t fulfill it properly because of problems caused by Barkley’s poor performances.

McGinn's problem lately has been all the shit passing he has produced. 

[barry'sboots]

I blame Deano for today.  He is way too stubborn in selection and in his formation tactics.  Leicester are a good side BUT they had played on Thursday. We should have set up more solid from the start - it needed an extra man in the middle - looked to keep it tight and then worn them down as the second half wore on.  I would have played Sanon and SJM either side of Douggie L with Ramsey at 10 and then Traore in a free role off Watkins.  I would have also gone for Kessler in front of Elmo - I just cannot understand how Deano thinks he is better than Freddie.

I would also set up like this against Leeds - we are just too open at the minute and without Jack and a firing Barkley we do not have enough in attack to push sides back/counter well enough.

[barry'sboots]

9 hours ago, Lochheads twin said:

Dean is a gambler/adventurous. May be a welcome change after many of his predecessors. Not many of us would have lined up that side, if heaven forbid, we were in charge. Most of us would have had extra players in midfield to stifle them and hope Traore and Ollie fashioned something on the break.  Dean obviously hoped we got on the front foot and took the game to them. (Plan A didn't work).

Which is exactly what Rodgers - who is regarded as a top coach - has done in the last few games (Maddison mentioned it when interviewed in MOTD - how they went to a diamond at HT v Liverpool).  This was obvious after the last few games. 

[BOF]

On 17/02/2021 at 15:26, BOF said:

Head says 1-3, heart says 1-1.

So it was somewhere inbetween, but a loss at the end of the day.  I feared the worst when it was 2-0 after 1/2 of an hour.  It was looking like a 5-0 job. Thankfully they gathered themselves somewhat and made a game of it. There were lots of subpar performances but actually if I'm to be positive I think they lost the fear of not having Jack beside them. I don't think you can under-estimate the trepidation of not having your talisman on the pitch with you for the first time in ages to bail you out.  Once they realised they could play without him, they kinda went ahead and played without him.  And that gives me some hope for the games where we won't have him.  Even if I think Leeds is not the ideal fixture to test that hypothesis. Without Jack's ability to hold possession and take pressure off the backline, I think it'll be constant bombardment from them (again).

We need to shake things up though. Throw Sanson in. FTLOG give Barkley a 'rest'. Trez needs a start.

[DaveAV1]

15 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

I know it has been said before, but it is not a one in one out. We need to strengthen the squad. We need to be in a position where Luiz and McGinn are backups to better players if we are to progress.

It takes money, but we now have serious financial clout.

I recall hearing so many posters saying we didn’t need or couldn’t improve on our squad. People were dismissive of the link to Rashica, suggesting he wouldn’t be needed. I would suggest a player like him would have made a huge difference either off the bench or starting in recent weeks. 
 

At this stage of the season we look jaded and are starting to pick up injuries. I find it surprising how many people couldn’t or wouldn’t accept the simple fact that we need a deeper squad. These shouldn’t be back up players but players that are constantly pushing for a start.
 

There’s only one player at the club who is virtually guaranteed a start and even he could do with a rest. If he’d had the odd match or even 30 minutes off now and then he possibly wouldn’t be injured now. 
 

On their day our 1st 11 are very good. But every player suffers a dip in form throughout a season. A game or two off would do the world of good for most of them and having a player as good to replace as many of them as possible is the only way to long term success. 

We’re not going to get where we want to be with a top 6 first team but a lower half bench. 

[chappy]

Interesting to read varied reactions on here. Personally felt Barkley was pretty awful again. We did much better second half but never really looked like getting back in it. Leicester are a good side but thought Mings and Konsa did well against Vardy. Traore MOTM for me, looking like a really good signing.