Ratings & Reactions: Watford v Villa

[thunderball]

15 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I don't get the obsession with playing with a 10.. really don't

Just play like Liverpool. 3 hard working midfielders who works their socks off to win the ball back and give it to the forward players.

This 2 man midfield project isn't gonna work.

I think thats what we will do, we will expect defensive pressing stats from Buendia.

[AVTuco]

Only one game, but we're not threatening for Europe this season. It will be a season for a mini-rebuild and self-finding. What is Aston Villa after Jack Grealish.

Bertie was dangerous, Bailey was best new guy and Young nullified Sarr. I hope they start next week.

Targett was horrible, and Buendia much worse than I hoped.

Martinez should've saved the first and the game would've been different. Maybe.

[jim]

35 minutes ago, tinker said:

No manager wouldn't struggle with what he has lost this window......Disappointed he never strengthened the middle but maybe he has tried and failed but we should have had a back up to JWP. 

Not sure what's going on with the back room staff leaving its all a bit strange tbh there has to fire where there's smoke.

FWIW I think Smith is the manager to bring us through  the undoubted disruption we have suffered.  I just hope that the owners don't think they can bring in a quick fix if we start losing games, that would be a disastrous move.

Keep the faith, Smiths is the man to take us forward but we have to realise that we was a stronger team last season and this season is all about survival UTV 

All about survival? Pretty sure that isn’t the owners, manager or players expectations. If we are in a scrap at Christmas he gets the chop imo. 

[mrchnry]

This season is Smiths biggest challenge at Villa. He needs to push on without the man that's been making his job a lot easier. I'm fully behind him but I could see him going this season if we play the relegation football we've generally played without Grealish in the team. 

[TRO]

46 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Terrible first half collectively and some individual howlers but their first two goals were flukes. They were the better side but the ball could go anywhere off Konsa and Mings and it's broken for them twice.

Ramsey, Bailey and Traore really changed things. We're going to play a lot better than that, we're a work in progress with a weird preseason hampering our preparations. 

Lots of people overreacting very very badly.

That is always my concern when the opposition have too easy an access to our CB's......I have laboured the point, before it happened today.

We simply cannot go on ignoring the midfield issues.

[OutByEaster?]

13 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

I also think this should be our 3 behind Watkins...

Buendia      Traore    Bailey

                      Ollie

I think this will give us the most balance going forward. Bailey looks the most adaptable to the LW position after todays cameo. 

The balance up front isn't the problem though - it's the balance between the front players and the midfield that isn't working. We can't play 4-2-3-1 while we don't have two centre midfielders good enough to be the 2.  I think we play what you've got above but without Toure so that we can get Nakamba into a DM role.

 

[villalad21]

Just now, jim said:

All about survival? Pretty sure that isn’t the owners, manager or players expectations. If we are in a scrap at Christmas he gets the chop imo. 

The manager already said the target is to finish better than last season. And aims for European football this season.

He said this post Grealish departure.

The aim is pretty clear. If he doesn't achieve it I reckon he will be gone next summer. 

[supermon]

If he loses the next two the he should be sacked in my opinion. Don't want to hang around seeing how long its going to take for him to learn how to play without Grealish. 

[TRO]

2 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

Only one game, but we're not threatening for Europe this season. It will be a season for a mini-rebuild and self-finding. What is Aston Villa after Jack Grealish.

Bertie was dangerous, Bailey was best new guy and Young nullified Sarr. I hope they start next week.

Targett was horrible, and Buendia much worse than I hoped.

Martinez should've saved the first and the game would've been different. Maybe.

The worry is Bailey had the best excuse to be poor, blaming pre season.

[mykeyb]

25 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said:

I think having only two in the midfield will keep us losing. We need to either play a proper 442, or choose 3 of Ings, Watkins, Buendia or Bailey. 

Couldn't agree more. It looked like we had a man missing in the first half.

[LondonLax]

We had a garbage preseason where everything that could have gone wrong did. Hopefully we can grow into the season and start firing later in the year. 

[Harry]

Very poor performance. We desperately need a midfield enforcer - to be honest we have needed one for years - as we continue to have a powder puff midfield for too many games.

More worrying for me was seeing Deano outsmarted again by manager with a plan. Yet again we made the substitutions too late and the team was set up all wrong from the start. Lots of possession but no attacking intent

If we have a few performances like this I suspect the owners will not hesitate to make the necessary change. No cause for panic at the moment but some posts on here are borderline hysterical.

[HKP90]

8 minutes ago, Villatillidie95 said:

I think its clear that we need someone who starts moves from defensive midfield. A physical beast who surges forward, encouraging the rest of the team to make runs and get behind the defence. Get Cheick Doucoure or Anguissa in and the midfield will be so much better and reliable.

Copy paste from last year.

[villalad21]

27 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said:

I think having only two in the midfield will keep us losing. We need to either play a proper 442, or choose 3 of Ings, Watkins, Buendia or Bailey. 

You think having a 2 man midfield will see us losing but you want to play 4-4-2?

Something don't make sense here.

[TRO]

7 minutes ago, thunderball said:

I've been tough on McGinn, but he was OK today, stepped up, but the midfield was generally over run by the pressing tactics. His goal was worthy of it alone in anotherwise forgettable game.

There's a shock.

[Tommo_b]

3 minutes ago, supermon said:

If he loses the next two the he should be sacked in my opinion. Don't want to hang around seeing how long its going to take for him to learn how to play without Grealish. 

Lol 2 games?! **** me. 

[The Fun Factory]

Team not balanced, Young isn't really a winger anymore, need a good DM instead of Nakamba.

Work in progress and I think we need to adjust our expectations accordingly.

[HKP90]

In fairness the whole ‘set up wrong from the start’ thing is only a part of the problem.

Sarr undid us by slaughtering Targett, but if we’re honest we’d all have started him. We could not have predicted that he’d be so off the pace given his performances last season. 
 

Without Sarr, regardless of how cack we played we would have got something today.

Edited August 14, 2021 by HKP90

[supermon]

It's the personnel that's the issue, Nakamba is garbage and McGinns should only be on as a sub. This has been apparant since we lost Grealish towards the end of last season. Really hoping he was forced into this, hopefully Luiz back and play anyone else other than McGinn

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AVTuco]

Need to spend 50 mill on a DM.