Ratings & Reactions: Watford v Villa

[QldVilla]

I’m going to put it down to a post-Grealish reaction, everybody was happy for him, but forgot they had to start to turn up and do it. Surprise…

[RichiBoi11]

7 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

But McGinn was just named Vice Captain which shows what status he still have under Smith.

He is never getting dropped.

McGinn is good enough to start in a midfield 3 for me, he showed that 2nd half. But he is nowhere near good enough to play in a 2 and the guy isn't a holding player.

[villalad21]

2 minutes ago, Stratvillan said:

Why when we lose is it a tepid deano display? Targett was awful  that's not Deano. 

Strongly disagree.

Smith massively bottled it with the team selection.

El Ghazi out of position. Young out of position. Buendia out of position.

Was just a big mess and very odd.

[avfc1982am]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

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.

 

I'm not insinuating the balance up front is the issue just that this would be my three if he continues to play the 3 - 1 with the 2 behind. FWIW I agree, I don't think McGinn or Nakamba are good enough as a pair and think if McGinn is to stay he needs a more athletically aggressive player with higher forward pass rate than Marv next to him. So if we are to address that in the next couple of weeks then my 3 in front would be those mentioned. Personally, I would like to see Traore centrally to see how he looks in the role without the FB covering work. Nothing in it really I just think it could suit him.  

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, Stratvillan said:

Why when we lose is it a tepid deano display? Targett was awful  that's not Deano. 

Well it is. The head coach is responsible for the performance of the team (rightly or wrongly)  same at any club.

Before rushing Smith out the door - remember that those choosing the replacement had Thiery Henry in the frame last time. 

 

[Vive_La_Villa]

Just now, villalad21 said:

Strongly disagree.

Smith massively bottled it with the team selection.

El Ghazi out of position. Young out of position. Buendia out of position.

Was just a big mess and very odd.

What happened with Leeds today?

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Jono62 said:

That was the Targett against Traore. Young looked at lot better. 

The team that started won't be the team we play. El Ghazi shouldn't be anywhere near the first team with Bailey looking good. 

Would like Guilbert to start the next game to put some pressure on Cash. 

I can see Ings scoring a few from Bailey crosses. 

Traore was great when he came on. 

Konsa and Mings were poor. 

Watford got their tactics spot on. 

 

sounds like they got their workrate and urgency spot on too.

[avfc1982am]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

Hasn't got the athleticism to be facing a a pacy winger.

Nonsense TRO. I value your opinion but anyone slating Targett for one game after being arguably our most consistent player last season needs a head wobble.

Targett dealt with everyone last year. Pace, trickery, strength. guile. He bossed his role and everyone he came up against, so I think he deserves more credit than you and others are giving him. 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, TomC said:

A bad start, but the last half hour was much better.

 

 

 

Negatives:

 

 

The left side of defense: First, credit where credit is due. Sarr was excellent for Watford. But, as everyone saw, Targett was a shadow of last year’s player, Mings was out of sorts, and McGinn rarely provided adequate cover.

 

Cash and Targett obviously had orders to get forward in the first half. Once it became obvious that Sarr was going to be a problem, why didn’t Targett stay deeper?

 

 

The system: We couldn’t break down their defense in the first half. Ings was isolated today, just like Watkins often was last year when Grealish was out. Why?

 

Again, first, credit where credit is due: Watford’s defense was well organized.

 

In a 4-2-3-1 like we started, the defenders in the 4 have to get the ball to the pivots in the 2 who feed the attackers in the 3 who feed the striker. Looking back at last year, our pivots were never that good at getting the ball forward. We counted on Grealish to come back and dribble the ball forward. When he didn’t play, we had problems. Buendia did not fill the Grealish role today. I saw a few classy touches and could see that he’s a capable last-ball sort of playmaker, but he was deployed way too far forward and did not come back to collect and advance the ball.

 

Who’s going to be the deeper playmaker? There wasn’t one in the first half. Nakamba’s passing was not quite as bad as I’ve seen in the past, but clearly he is not a ball distributor. McGinn was poor today (other than the goal), and even at his best, distribution isn’t his strength. He defends, he strikes, but he’s not a passer. Ramsey seemed to distribute in the second half and McGinn played further forward; we’ll see if we continue on that path.

 

I think Deano is sometimes counting on Targett and Cash to overlap and bring the ball forward on the wings. They’re both capable (Cash did well with it today), but as noted above, you can’t keep sending them forwards when you have to worry about someone like Sarr.

 

Finally, this match reminded me of the first Leeds match and first Southampton match last year. The 4-2-3-1 doesn’t provide enough width when you get a team that likes to counter-attack on the wings. We got overrun in midfield. (It also reminded me of Southampton in the comeback that fell just short!)

 

 

 

Positives:

 

Young: Didn’t get a lot of touches first half, but when he had the ball, he looked like he’s still got it. He was a wise signing.

 

Bailey: Didn’t need much time to settle, did he! What a cross for the first goal. Looked dangerous from the moment he came on.

 

Ramsey: As noted above, part of our improvement in the second half.

 

Dean Smith: OK, he got the tactics all wrong in the first half, but he showed flexibility and made adjustments at/around halftime instead of waiting until late like he often did last year. That’s a step forward, because he’s going to be making lots of adjustments for a while until he figures out what works. The adjustments did seem to work in this case. So yes, I’m listing him as a positive.

 

 

shall we change our motto from "Prepared" to that.

How long do we keep saying and observing that?

[RicRic]

39 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

So this one game doesn't mean Targett is shite. He is a solid player. But as I have always maintained he is limited by a lack of pace and agility. Sarr was the perfect guy to expose his limitations. Quick, direct, strong, with a quick change of direction. This will happen again against similar players.

Young wasn't a good enough left winger for a Man U in decline while in his prime. Hasn't played left wing for god knows how many years. He should not be starting for us at left wing.

Everyone on this site knows El-Ghazi is alway rubbish when played on the right wing. We had Bailey and Traore available,  both right wingers by trade, but played El-Ghazi there.

Nakamba and McGinn is not a quality double pivot pairing. Neither are reliable enough with their passing.

Buendia looks like a playmaking 8, rather than a 10. Which when you consider his back up Chukwuemeka is probably also the same is good. 

The intensity wasn't good enough particularly in the first half. Cash's crossing was poor, and he crossed from deep far too often. 

We need a top class 6. If I'm playing two 6's Luiz is the first pick currently. Meaning if we get a top class 6 McGinn gets benched. McGinn scored a good goal today, but for me he is the man for when we set up to counter. Unless we play 2 8's

Nakamba was out muscled by Kuco and Dennis. They jumped on him and bullied him. Kuco should have seen red BTW.

Konsa and Mings were overrun at times. Every time they countered our fullbacks (not so much Cash) and DM's were bypassed with ease.

Ings movement is different from Ollie. Need Ollie back.

 

 

Pretty much agree here, so if Buendia does not play that AM number 10 role then who does, id rather Bailey at RW thats where he causes real chaos and havoc, some might attack me for saying this but Chukwuemeka might be able to play that role now imo, i rate him highly and think he will mature quickly, we have too many RW’s so theres gonna be some sacrifice as to who plays at LW thats the problem 

[DJ_Villain]

Had a nap before the match… woke up to this disappointment.

Don’t think I’ll bother with the highlights considering it sounds like we were shambolic

[HKP90]

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

Hasn't got the athleticism to be facing a a pacy winger.

Yeah but Young is 36 and managed it. It’s not necessarily about outplaying him, it’s about nullifying him. God had the pace of a large cathedral, but his positioning was such that he was always where he needed to be to snuff out the threat. 
 

Targett’s head had gone after 10 mins.

[VillanousOne]

As soon as I saw that line up today I thought we would struggle to beat a Watford team at home, up for it and with their crowd baying for blood.

I get Traore has had very little preseason, but Dean bottled playing Bidace who was our best player during all the friendlies. He could have even played Buendia there, who was played too deep.

Not sure he could do much about our whole defence playing like a pub team. But ultimately we lost because of our line up and tactics, appreciate he changed it in the second half but if the changes had come sooner we might have had a chance.

Ings feeds off service, he's not a player like Watkins who plays like a hybrid winger/striker. He looked completely isolated today.

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by VillanousOne

[RicRic]

2 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

Nonsense TRO. I value your opinion but anyone slating Targett for one game after being arguably our most consistent player last season needs a head wobble.

Targett dealt with everyone last year. Pace, trickery, strength. guile. He bossed his role and everyone he came up against, so I think he deserves more credit than you and others are giving him. 

I dont think @TRO was saying hes a bad defender by all means but he is right and he doesn’t have that BUT what he does have to make up for it is great timing and the ability to position himself well and that had painted over the cracks for where he came up against pacey forwards

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Dean: “You read speculation about how much he's going to develop at City. Jack must have developed somewhat with Villa to become a £100m player. I take great pride in what everybody at Villa's done for him and what he’s done for us.”

Mic drop.

I personally think it was a bit disengenuous for Jack not to be more complimentary/appreciative to Dean/Villa.

Sad thing is, some of our fans are the same.

Edited August 14, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[nick76]

10 minutes ago, supermon said:

Why when we win should we give credit to Deano? If it was a one off display then fine but it isn't, been like this since end of last season

But we beat Spurs and Chelsea at the end of last season

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Hiney said:

Watford were fitter and wanted it more, they were half a yard faster than us all over the pitch especially in the first half. 

Most people wanted Targett to start but he was shocking today, I really hope it was a one off and not a sign of things to come. He really looked to push on last season but that was reminiscent of when we first signed him. We looked a lot more solid after the change and when Young went to left back.

Nakamba poor, probably the worst I've seen Matty Cash and Buendia was terrible too. Ings didn't do much but had no service 

Highlights Ramsey when he came on and Bailey looks a player.

We looked like a team who had a disjointed preseason, lost our talisman 1 week before the season started and had a number of players either out or not match fit. Watkins was a huge miss with his pressing and runs into the channels.

Bad day at the office and need to dramatically improve next week 

 

 

 

I think most of that will be on the agenda for monday morning.

I have a bit of morbid feeling about fitness with us at the best of times and Jacks reference to his new club, doesn't help to quell it.

[Vive_La_Villa]

We were awful today. They were stronger all over the pitch. But i reckon if this game had no crowd we would have won.  Home advantage is such a massive factor when you have a full house. It gives the players such a boost.

We really have to be winning the next 2 at home. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

25 minutes ago, TRO said:

There's a shock.

Don't worry mate, Doug should be back next week.

[supermon]

2 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

As soon as I saw that line up today I thought we would struggle to beat a Watford team at home, up for it and with their crowd baying for blood.

I get Traore has had very little preseason, but Dean bottled playing Bidace who was our best player during all the friendlies. He could have even played Buendia there, who was played too deep.

Not sure he could do much about our whole defence playing like a pub team. But ultimately we lost because of our line up and tactics, appreciate he changed it in the second half but if the changes had come sooner we might have had a chance.

Ings feeds off service, he's not a player like Watkins who plays like a hybrid winger/striker. He looked completely isolated today.

 

Agree with this, really thought JPB was the bright spark on the wings in the friendlies. He went with tried and tested instead of form and back fired