Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Everton

[M_Afro]

4 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

There is about a  £3-4 million difference in merit placements depending if we come 9th or 11th.

That's why youth players don't get thrown in at the end of the season anymore.

We are by no means guaranteed 11th. Whilst we have been sleep walking towards the season end some truly awful teams have been catching us up. We lose to Palace at the weekend and Wolves will be right on our tail. We will finish above Palace, Southampton, Newcastle and Burnley but not by much. Our second half of the season has been bloody awful.

[Xela]

[Rightdm00]

Last season we leak 1 or maybe 2 goals in the 2nd half on the way to losing. So that's progress. Bore draw but I'll take that compared to last season. 

[Louis]

Fairly drab.

[HKP90]

Just now, M_Afro said:

We are by no means guaranteed 11th. Whilst we have been sleep walking towards the season end some truly awful teams have been catching us up. We lose to Palace at the weekend and Wolves will be right on our tail. We will finish above Palace, Southampton, Newcastle and Burnley but not by much. Our second half of the season has been bloody awful.

Yeah, it’s clear we’re massively lacking squad depth, but you know we’re only in our second year back, we’ve made steady progress, and it’s something we can rectify in the summer.
 

In a sense we’ve done the hard work, which was staying up the first year and kicking on. 

The summer should (fingers crossed) be slightly easier, in that we don’t need massive player turnover.

[The Fun Factory]

1 minute ago, M_Afro said:

We are by no means guaranteed 11th. Whilst we have been sleep walking towards the season end some truly awful teams have been catching us up. We lose to Palace at the weekend and Wolves will be right on our tail. We will finish above Palace, Southampton, Newcastle and Burnley but not by much. Our second half of the season has been bloody awful.

We have 4 points and a far better goal difference than Wolves. I will be very surprised if we finish lower than 11th.

Palace are crap which should get a win or the bare minimum a point.

The second half of the season has not been 'bloody awful'. We have gone off the boil and have averaged a  point a game with our best player being injured for 3 months.  We haven't down a Southampton have we. I would disagree that we have been sleepwalking towards the end of the season. Our form has gone off but we have been competitive in virtually every game.

At the start of the season I would have been happy for a 13 to 15th, I am delighted how far we have progressed this season.

[srsmithusa]

Emi - fantastic

Cash - very good - heal quickly

Elmo - past his prime,  but OK for this opponent.

Konsa - quiet, no flash, but reliable, did well

Mings - Show time defender.  Get's out of position and then forced to make either a reckless challenge or an impressive last ditch tackle/interception.  Think more quickly and pay more attention to position and the showtime ends, but the quality would show.

Targett- quality at both ends - as usual - not as much impact but that's not his fault

Luiz - i don't know if he decided to be more expansive in his role or if he was told to do so.  Either way, I liked it.  Much improved.

McGinn - lively and effective first half.... what changed?

Traore - such great potential such little discipline.

Barkley - please send him home now.  unless we are getting paid for every minute he plays, send him home

Ramsey - as usual, good energy and movement, not much impact somehow.

AEG - Mr Shoot on sight needs to improve his aim, otherwise he's mister drop back for the goal kick. - like today.

good to see Jack

Keinan - the discussion about Kerning was more interesting than anything you did today (bar the one strong run at the death....)

Dean Smith - Very good if you changed up the midfield pattern of play to let McGinn and Luiz be more expansive and forward oriented.  Average if you didn't and they just played that way on their own initiative.

Mr Atkinson - extraordinarily bad today.  no consistency at all.  and your positioning  was repeatedly poor, slow to react to changes in play. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[est1874]

30 minutes ago, smg said:

49 points , mid table, never close to relegation absolute lame dog season, or is that a load of bollox ?

I was clearly referring to the second half of the season which has dragged on too long for a lot of clubs, not just ours. 

We've picked up 3 wins from the last 14 league games, in case you failed at maths that's a 21% win rate. If you think that's made for a fantastic season then oops.

It started fantastically well, lots of promise there, and overall some great high points - but anyone with eyes can see it's petered out for us and it's done now. Highest we can realistically finish is 10th, and we're 11th now.

Sorry to rain on your admirable zeal for the world's most prestigious mid-table battle ever.

[smg]

10 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

What development did you see today then?

I agree that a draw against Everton is a decent result, but the quality on both sides was…..less than exceptional. I don’t think the players or fans can take much from that. 

Development happens over time not in a game. If you need an answer I suppose I would have to admit that Keinan is not good enough to back up Watkins or offer a different angle, so the development is we need someone different as back up.

[HKP90]

Just now, smg said:

Development happens over time not in a game. If you need an answer I suppose I would have to admit that Keinan is not good enough to back up Watkins or offer a different angle, so the development is we need someone different as back up.

If development happens over a season, why were you having a go at me over criticising a single game…..game mind you, not players…..for not being the most entertaining?

 

 

[osmark86]

2 minutes ago, est1874 said:

I was clearly referring to the second half of the season which has dragged on too long for a lot of clubs, not just ours. 

We've picked up 3 wins from the last 14 league games, in case you failed at maths that's a 21% win rate. If you think that's made for a fantastic season then oops.

It started fantastically well, lots of promise there, and overall some great high points - but anyone with eyes can see it's petered out for us and it's done now. Highest we can realistically finish is 10th, and we're 11th now.

Sorry to rain on your admirable zeal for the world's most prestigious mid-table battle ever.

What ever will we do? Enjoy midtable mediocrity after years of utter shit and have a little faith that maybe, just maybe, we might be even better next year.

I'm sorry but just honestly a bit tired of incessant bitching.

[M_Afro]

2 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

We have 4 points and a far better goal difference than Wolves. I will be very surprised if we finish lower than 11th.

Palace are crap which should get a win or the bare minimum a point.

The second half of the season has not been 'bloody awful'. We have gone off the boil and have averaged a  point a game with our best player being injured for 3 months.  We haven't down a Southampton have we. I would disagree that we have been sleepwalking towards the end of the season. Our form has gone off but we have been competitive in virtually every game.

At the start of the season I would have been happy for a 13 to 15th, I am delighted how far we have progressed this season.

Fair play mate. I’m glad you are happy with it. I am not unhappy just disappointed. I think we have been awful over the second half of the season. There are certainly mitigating factors but to say otherwise is to ignore what we have all witnessed.
I think we should be finishing top half. I thought that at the start of the season and I think that now. We will be close but I am disappointed that we won’t make it.

Still, Dean has plenty of credit in the bank. A strong end to the season could bring a totally different feel to things. I just can’t see us winning another match on current form. Hope I am wrong though.

[est1874]

Just now, osmark86 said:

What ever will we do? Enjoy midtable mediocrity after years of utter shit and have a little faith that maybe, just maybe, we might be even better next year.

I'm sorry but just honestly a bit tired of incessant bitching.

Being disappointed at a return of 3 wins from 14 games is bitching. I've heard it all now mate.

[yayoboy]

[osmark86]

3 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Being disappointed at a return of 3 wins from 14 games is bitching. I've heard it all now mate.

Constantly bringing it up without acknowledging positives is

[smg]

8 minutes ago, est1874 said:

I was clearly referring to the second half of the season which has dragged on too long for a lot of clubs, not just ours. 

We've picked up 3 wins from the last 14 league games, in case you failed at maths that's a 21% win rate. If you think that's made for a fantastic season then oops.

It started fantastically well, lots of promise there, and overall some great high points - but anyone with eyes can see it's petered out for us and it's done now. Highest we can realistically finish is 10th, and we're 11th now.

Sorry to rain on your admirable zeal for the world's most prestigious mid-table battle ever.

We missed relegation in the last game last season. You didn’t mention the second half of the season , you said the season is a lame dog, a bit different. Finally I was referring to the season as a whole hence 49 points, not the last 14 games, oops. Just to put your mind at rest my maths was judged to be fine.

[The Fun Factory]

Its all relative.  We played Everton right at the end of the season last year and let in a last minute goal. A lot of us thought that meant relegation.

This time 2 years ago we were involved in the most stressful game I have ever watched Villa versus Albion in the playoffs. We just got through on penalties.

This time 3 years ago we blew it against Fulham and the subsequent summer fallout looked like our squad was to be gutted and administration to occur until our current owners saved us from oblivion.

This time 4 years ago we were playing boring mid table football in the championship. 

This time 5 years ago we were getting relegated from the premier league after nearly 30 years of unbroken top flight football and managed to win 3 games in 38 matches.

I am a bit disappointed we have faded in the second half of the season? Yes. I am convinced that this club has, and will be turned around by our owners, our coach, and our players? Yes.

[El Zen]

Meh. Two solid, competent and organised teams that cancelled eachother out and lacked the necessary luck and/or quality in the final third. We edged the first half, they were better after the break. Not bad, certainly not horrible, but forgettable and...meh. 

[MrBlack]

Terrible game.  We had more of the ball but looked clueless what to do with it and had very poor movement off the ball.

They had the better chances and overall a draw was probably fair. 

Glad to see Grealish back, pleased for Emi equaling the record for clean sheets, hopefully he can go on and beat it. 

All that matters is we avoid serious injury for the rest of the season,  and the fact 3 of our players came close to them or potentiality suffered them tonight is all you need to know about the effort they're putting in. 

Still, would be nice to get one more great performance in before the season closes.  Palace,  I'm counting on you being rubbish. 

[Giro]

29 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

We are by no means guaranteed 11th. Whilst we have been sleep walking towards the season end some truly awful teams have been catching us up. We lose to Palace at the weekend and Wolves will be right on our tail. We will finish above Palace, Southampton, Newcastle and Burnley but not by much. Our second half of the season has been bloody awful.

Agree with all of this, next season is so important in terms of our progression. Can’t have another crap half season