Ratings & Reactions: Watford v Villa

[sheepyvillian]

35 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

I know! 

And against Watford. Who most teams will expect to lose to this season!

Can see our owners just pumping in more and more money just to keep Smith as manager this season, whatever the results.

Chomping at that bit again. You just can't help yourself. I guarantee it will be an exercise in futility, again.

[briny_ear]

1 minute ago, sheepyvillian said:

Chomping at that bit again. You just can't help yourself. I guarantee it will be an exercise in futility, again.

Oh deary me.

[sheepyvillian]

5 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Oh deary me.

Not "we"?

[Woody1000]

53 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Yeah I think it will  

If social media is anything to go by, I won’t be visiting Villa Park this season.

[icouldtelltheworld]

Glad to see we've started the new season with our usual balanced and rational reactions lads. VT keeping everything in perspective as per!

[striker]

Villa couldn’t have beaten an egg today. Very poor performance with midfield still the outstanding weakness.

[RobSpain]

3 hours ago, villalad21 said:

People won't like to hear it but our recruitment remind me a fair bit of Arsenal. 

Signing all these technical easy on the eye attackers but forgetting about those "Dirty" players. 

As a result we're a team that still have a soft underbelly. 

We haven't had a "dirty" midfielder in donkeys years. It's what we are lacking. The midfield is light and easily bullied. Hope we can sign someone to be a bit of an enforcer.

[TRO]

24 minutes ago, RobSpain said:

We haven't had a "dirty" midfielder in donkeys years. It's what we are lacking. The midfield is light and easily bullied. Hope we can sign someone to be a bit of an enforcer.

I think it is very unlikely....it doesn't seem to feature in their thinking.

but I also think your description is inadvertently misleading and plays in to the hands of the naysayers.....It needs to be a robust player with a thirst & Vision for winning the ball and the guile to turn the ball over and in to an attack...a dominant force on the ball, with the feet and vision to start attacks....most teams in the prem have them except us.

I agree with your principle.

we seem to think wingers are the answer to everything.

Edited August 14, 2021 by TRO

[Peter Griffin]

4 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

These sort of "arguments" don't deserve a considered response

mmm, I would think that comment by you is the one that doesn't deserve the considered response

[TRO]

42 minutes ago, striker said:

Villa couldn’t have beaten an egg today. Very poor performance with midfield still the outstanding weakness.

So why is so obviously ignored?

[WHY]

Poor performance all round from us today. On a day where almost everyone bar 1 or 2 were poor we still only lost by 1 goal. We’ve only ever one once at Watford and I wasn’t massively surprised this didn’t change today given our stop start pre-season. They were a lot fitter, sharper and stronger all over the pitch. We have options now and think it’s fair to say we might see what we are really about until 5 games in.

Getting beat isn’t great but I saw a few things in the second half that gave me hope. Bailey looked bright, Ramsey offered energy and movement off the ball, Young looked good a left back.
 

My only really concern is why we haven’t addressed the midfield as of yet. This should have been a priority imo. You can make all the signings in the world but if you lose the midfield battle, you will almost certainly lose the game and today was no different.

[Peter Griffin]

6 minutes ago, TRO said:

So why is so obviously ignored?

I think we need to realise and maybe accept (or not) that Smith is new to managing / head coaching at Premier level. He too is learning and he needs more experience. If we are happy with Smith and his own progress as our gaffer we need to stick with him and support him. If not, he needs to be sacked. 

Smith has many strengths and many weaknesses. We enjoy when we see his strengths and we really do not like when we see his weaknesses. Today was a weakness day. We will get better and hopefully Smith will learn. IMO, he still struggles with team selection and he has done since he joined our club. He is going to be under huge pressure this season and he really needs to eliminate these really bad days from his repertoire. We have moved on from being the newly promoted with a completely new squad. This is Smith's team and he needs to step up

[WHY]

2 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I think we need to realise and maybe accept (or not) that Smith is new to managing / head coaching at Premier level. He too is learning and he needs more experience. If we are happy with Smith and his own progress as our gaffer we need to stick with him and support him. If not, he needs to be sacked. 

Smith has many strengths and many weaknesses. We enjoy when we see his strengths and we really do not like when we see his weaknesses. Today was a weakness day. We will get better and hopefully Smith will learn. IMO, he still struggles with team selection and he has done since he joined our club. He is going to be under huge pressure this season and he really needs to eliminate these really bad days from his repertoire. We have moved on from being the newly promoted with a completely new squad. This is Smith's team and he needs to step up

Out of interest what team would you have selected today. I’m not defending Smith or having a go btw, just interested.

[TRO]

7 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I think we need to realise and maybe accept (or not) that Smith is new to managing / head coaching at Premier level. He too is learning and he needs more experience. If we are happy with Smith and his own progress as our gaffer we need to stick with him and support him. If not, he needs to be sacked. 

Smith has many strengths and many weaknesses. We enjoy when we see his strengths and we really do not like when we see his weaknesses. Today was a weakness day. We will get better and hopefully Smith will learn. IMO, he still struggles with team selection and he has done since he joined our club. He is going to be under huge pressure this season and he really needs to eliminate these really bad days from his repertoire. We have moved on from being the newly promoted with a completely new squad. This is Smith's team and he needs to step up

Peter, it doesn't matter what we think...we have Owners who are no slouches when it comes to management and Wes Edens knows only too well about developing sports organisations.

Whether we want to ask searching questions or not, they will, in good time...if its necessary.

However, I feel a bit uneasy when Dean questions the players attitude in the first half as if he is a third party and its nothing to do with him......Its his team, I find that, puzzling.

A manager is responsible for creating the culture and the way the team approaches a game.....They can't stand back and say "Whats That"....."Its your work Dean, Own it."

[Peter Griffin]

45 minutes ago, WHY said:

Out of interest what team would you have selected today. I’m not defending Smith or having a go btw, just interested.

I wouldn't have started Ash, too old for a starting birth and particularly against Sarr. Sarr is their star player and is rated at 40m+, it was no surprise he was going to be a threat. We also knew that Targett didn't have much of a preseason so it was not a great idea to have a non match fit LB with a mid 30s player in front of him. El Ghazi starting on the left and Traore on the right would have been better. After 20 mins I would have been tempted to bring on Axel and play 3 at at back and play 2 wingbacks, that would have helped protect Targett. If we are looking at Smith's decision making re teams, Smith could have prioritised a stronger DM addition to the squad. 

When I say he struggles with team selection, I don't just mean for the starting 11, but for the full 90 mins with switching the team about and with subs. I love Smith,, he has been great for us, but I do feel he has real problems in this area and it will potentially hurt Villa this season

Edited August 15, 2021 by Peter Griffin

[WHY]

1 minute ago, Peter Griffin said:

I wouldn't have started Ash, too old for a starting birth and particularly against Sarr. Sarr is their star player and is rated at 40m+, it was no surprise he was going to be a threat. We also knew that Targett didn't have much of a preseason so it was not a great idea to have a non match fit RB with a mid 30s player in front of him. El Ghazi starting on the left and Traore on the right would have been better. After 20 mins I would have been tempted to bring on Axel and play 3 at at back and play 2 wingbacks, that would have helped protect Targett. If we are looking at Smith's decision making re teams, Smith could have prioritised a stronger DM addition to the squad. 

When I say he struggles with team selection, I don't just mean for the starting 11, but for the full 90 mins with switching the team about and with subs. I love Smith,, he has been great for us, but I do feel he has real problems in this area and it will potentially hurt Villa this season

To be fair I thought Young did well at left back in the second half, Sarr had little impact after the change. Agree on the DM it should be priority. I genuinely believe today was probably the hardest team selection since Smith has been manager. The team had previously more or less picked itself. We now have options which we haven’t had before, this in itself can cause issues, with trying to find our best 11. Our preseason has been stop start which hasn’t helped. Only time will tell if Smith is the right man to get the best out of this squad though!

[TRO]

1 minute ago, WHY said:

To be fair I thought Young did well at left back in the second half, Sarr had little impact after the change. Agree on the DM it should be priority. I genuinely believe today was probably the hardest team selection since Smith has been manager. The team had previously more or less picked itself. We now have options which we haven’t had before, this in itself can cause issues, with trying to find our best 11. Our preseason has been stop start which hasn’t helped. Only time will tell if Smith is the right man to get the best out of this squad though!

I would have played Axel either as a DM or Konsa as a DM and Axel as CB, until we get one.

but the team look laboured to me, like not ready...Watford looked fitter and sharper.....our team don't look sharp overall.

[villalad21]

37 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I think we need to realise and maybe accept (or not) that Smith is new to managing / head coaching at Premier level. He too is learning and he needs more experience. If we are happy with Smith and his own progress as our gaffer we need to stick with him and support him. If not, he needs to be sacked. 

Smith has many strengths and many weaknesses. We enjoy when we see his strengths and we really do not like when we see his weaknesses. Today was a weakness day. We will get better and hopefully Smith will learn. IMO, he still struggles with team selection and he has done since he joined our club. He is going to be under huge pressure this season and he really needs to eliminate these really bad days from his repertoire. We have moved on from being the newly promoted with a completely new squad. This is Smith's team and he needs to step up

Aston Villa shouldn't be a learning arena for managers 

 

[Peter Griffin]

2 minutes ago, WHY said:

To be fair I thought Young did well at left back in the second half, Sarr had little impact after the change. Agree on the DM it should be priority. I genuinely believe today was probably the hardest team selection since Smith has been manager. The team had previously more or less picked itself. We now have options which we haven’t had before, this in itself can cause issues, with trying to find our best 11. Our preseason has been stop start which hasn’t helped. Only time will tell if Smith is the right man to get the best out of this squad though!

I was (am) very happy we signed Ash. But he is 36 and should not be starting games unless we are desperate i.e. injuries and suspensions. El Ghazi should have started on the left. This is not hindsight, I felt this before the game and do not want to see Ash start league games for us. I don't think that should have been a difficult decision for Smith, I think it was inexperience showing. Hopefully he will learn from this but time will tell. 

I am concerned that Smith is feeling nervous about his job and as such he may be a little more cautious with selection and this would be a negative imo

[TRO]

40 minutes ago, WHY said:

Poor performance all round from us today. On a day where almost everyone bar 1 or 2 were poor we still only lost by 1 goal. We’ve only ever one once at Watford and I wasn’t massively surprised this didn’t change today given our stop start pre-season. They were a lot fitter, sharper and stronger all over the pitch. We have options now and think it’s fair to say we might see what we are really about until 5 games in.

Getting beat isn’t great but I saw a few things in the second half that gave me hope. Bailey looked bright, Ramsey offered energy and movement off the ball, Young looked good a left back.
 

My only really concern is why we haven’t addressed the midfield as of yet. This should have been a priority imo. You can make all the signings in the world but if you lose the midfield battle, you will almost certainly lose the game and today was no different.

That's so difficult to get through with some folk.