Ratings & Reactions: Sheff Utd v Villa

[danceoftheshamen]

It was coming that result. We have for me been poor since COVID in the oppositions half. 
 

Weak performances all over the pitch and the sad part is they didn’t even play well and were down to 10 men. 
 

bye bye Europe. 

[zab6359]

3 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Well done Smith

Poor utter garbage can't even beat 10 men against the worst team in the league.

Targett elmo mcginn all **** crap.

A steaming pile of fog shit and seasons over now

 

Seasons over? FFS over reaction at it best!! 

Edited March 3, 2021 by zab6359

[TRO]

1 hour ago, useless said:

Worst result in a long time, can't be a coincident that we constantly struggle against the division's weaker teams, when it happens this many times it has to be something more than just 'one of those days', there's either something wrong with the tactics, or the players are over confident and on some level think they've already won before the game has even begun.

A reality check for those that think we will be anywhere near Europe come the end of the season, will be doing well to stay in the top half of the division

It wasn't one of those days.......it was one if those teams.....it was predictable.

[The Fun Factory]

2 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Don't be daft, not so long ago we couldn't pay a £5m tax bill an were trying to sell Jack to keep afloat in the Championship. We were the better side, got dicked over by some crazy officiating and lost. Not the end of the world, and by no means anything like as bad a position as we have been until very, very recently. 

Yes good point. Also Shef Utd got promoted the same year as us and were far the better side by then. Now despite tonight they are almost certainly going to get relegated and we are almost certainly aren't. But still annoying!

[HanoiVillan]

Summary

Emi - goal wasn't his fault, but his kicking was really quite poor in the first half. Had absolutely nothing to do in the second.

Elmo - I'm sure he's embarrassed by that absolute howler. Just completely ball-watching. That's what I'd be doing, if I was playing. Then trying too hard to make up for it and forcing crosses so they were shit. An evening to forget.

Targett - so good this season, but so bad today. Didn't put anything good into the box.

Konsa & Mings - same summary, both very good and completely in control. Konsa marginally the better of the two but no issues here.

Nakamba - probably the wrong game for him in retrospect. Didn't do anything wrong exactly, but hardly penetrating passing.

McGinn - I actually thought he was quite good before they scored, but then he got more and more responsibility, and more time on the ball, and just got worse and worse.

Ramsey - don't want to be harsh on the lad, but that was absolutely rubbish. Must do better.

El Ghazi - did a few things right in the first half, but got more and more frustrating and his deadball delivery was an embarrassment.

Traore - the sublime and the ridiculous, sadly more of the latter.

Watkins - worked hard, very unlucky with the header that hit the post. No blame for him IMO.

Sanson - thought his previous cameos were quite exciting, but he had the touch of a rapist tonight.

Barkley - he tried at least. Not an easy situation to come on, but he didn't actually achieve anything.

Davis - gave them something else to think about, didn't receive a single good ball he could do anything with either. Should have come on earlier.

 

Smith - very very poor tonight.

I keep thinking back to when we played Leeds at home, and Bielsa hauled Struijk off after about 25 minutes and replaced him with a kid, and they immediately looked loads better. Gotta be proactive sometimes. Whether you blame Smith or not for picking the team he did - and I think you can make good arguments either way - it's just obvious that you don't need Nakamba on the pitch in the second half when you're chasing the game. He got 20 minutes! Why?!? I think it was a bad decision not to take Ramsey off at HT when he was having a bad game, but at least I can create a justification for it, but what on earth was Nakamba doing coming out for the second half? Why was Barkley only given 25 minutes to try to change the game? Why did Davis only get 20 minutes? I don't think he's great either, but it's not his fault he's the only back up striker. You've got to get him on the pitch and force them to think about something else. Rubbish.

[Demitri_C]

10 minutes ago, zab6359 said:

 

Seasons over FFS over reaction at it best!! 

We aint getting Europe so season is over

[TRO]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

And the reason we lose all the games in which we go behind is that we only score goals on the break. If you go ahead against us and then sit in, you've won.

Masterful observation.....and one of the reasons we win more away from home.

We haven't got the midfield to dominate and control the ball, to dictate the game....you are right, we score in good moments in a game.

i was not surprised by this result or performance.

[stewiek2]

No energy, no intent, zero movement, I could go on on got exactly what we deserved. Shocking.

 

 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, The Fun Factory said:

Rubbish. A opportunity missed. Its a shame as pre the covid outbreak in the squad we looked good for a top 8. Now I think its going to be a bottom half finish. Its still progress and at the start of the season i would have been delighted with a boring mid table but the way the season has shaped out with other teams being off form like Arsenal and Spurs it was a big chance to really push on.

Missing Grealish is  stating the  bleedin' obvious but Cash is also a big miss. Elmo has been great for us but he is past it now for the prem.

I still go back to January and I don't really understand why we bought another DM in Sanson (albeit for a good price) instead of another forward. We have nothing apart from Watkins and we are asking him to carry the entire front line in his first season of top flight football. He has done well but we could do with some other options. We have to face it that Davis is just not very good.

I think Smith should have started Barkley tonight for some creativity. Throws grenade and stands back.

My understanding is Sanson is not a DM

[The_Rev]

These are the results that mid table sides get. Feels like that Stoke game under O’Neill all those years ago.  

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Herman22 said:

We played last seasons Sheffield. 

They took the only chance they created but we didn't create enough. We just can't seem to string wins together. Anyway, on to the next game! 

The front 6 are too easy to negate.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Paddywhack said:

Nice little victory for you there then. 

But he is right though....give credit where its due.

this was.......always on the cards,

 

[Harry]

Typical Villa, get a good result and then gift 3 points to comfortably the worst side in the league. If we have any aspirations to be better than a mid table side we have to be much better and much more consistent. I rate Smith and he deserves the job but I do always wonder if he has that little bit of magic to get us to six or four.

Against the bottom side playing for over half an hour with ten men we should have battered them. As it is the manager and the players need to hang their heads in shame. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Harry

[chappy]

Poor team selection - this must be one of the first times I’ve voted Dean as poor in the poll but he got it wrong tonight for me. Think Luiz should’ve started; as well as Nakamba had done on Saturday, tonight was a different type of game.

Can’t believe we didn’t manage to bundle one in eventually. Incredibly frustrating but I have calmed down a lot since the end of the game. We should have won comfortably with the chances we created. No final ball though and yet another poor cross after poor cross. We got in behind them once late on with some slick passing that gave Davis a chance that was blocked for a corner, needed to see more play like that than back post floaters from Targett, McGinn and Elmo. Not quite the reaction to being dropped we were hoping for from Barkley either. 

A special word for the officials. Several strange decisions. We should have had two corners that were given as goal kicks, Watkins should have had a free kick for that foul just outside the box that Chris Sutton thought was a penalty and how on earth was that could given against Konsa on McGoldrick?

FWIW, I voted Konsa MOTM. Didn’t put a foot wrong defensively and was unlucky not to equalise near the end.

All in all, must do better. Bad night at the office.

[One For The Road]

36 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

We aint getting Europe so season is over

The season is not over at all. We are 4 points off Europe with a game in hand and 13 left to play. We have key players to come back into the side and 39 points to play for. 

Europe was (and is) always going to be a stretch in our 2nd season back so I'm not sure what people were expecting.  

We have to finish as strong as we can and as high up the table as we can, in order to keep/attract better players to continue the rebuild.

Loads to play for yet. Starting with beating Wolves on the weekend. 

This is still a magnificent season and one we would all of taken when the season started. 

Patience is required. We are getting there. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by One For The Road

[TRO]

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

Totally, Burnley, Brighton, Sheffield United - 1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats 

There is a clear pattern.

[villalad21]

I think Craig Shakespeare has had a greater influence than most of us realize.

We are playing so many long balls and set up to counter.

Smith was never that at Brentford.

Tbh i hate this style of football. You are basically giving the initiative to the opponent.

[MaVilla]

2 hours ago, maqroll said:

 

We played ok in spells, which should have been enough to beat these barbarians.

There is the issue, we are like Bambi.

[LondonVillian]

Its criminal we loaned out Guilbert - way better backup RB than Elmo. 

 

 

 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, OLDVILLAIN said:

The next person who says "ah but look how far we have come since last season" can kiss my arse..thats just a  lazy excuse for a shocking performance..and we have had a few of those lately

Glad you said that.