Ratings & Reactions: Watford v Villa

[Peter Griffin]

1 minute ago, villalad21 said:

Aston Villa shouldn't be a learning arena for managers 

 

If that is the case then Smith should not be our manager as he is definitely in the learning phase

[Peter Griffin]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

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

We will see with PSG this season. Messi, Neymar and Mbappe up front. How can they not win the Champions League 

[ChicagoVillan1983]

26 minutes ago, WHY said:

Did we underestimate Sarr or did a Targett just have a bad game? Personally think it was the later. It was easily his worst game for us defensively. Sarr was decent but Targett’s positional sense and defending was all over the place today which contributed massively towards Sarr’s performance. He was non existent in the second half once Young went to left back.

I could buy that too. Definitely was the biggest issue today by a long way.

[WHY]

9 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

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

To be honest I wouldn’t start El Ghazi unless we really have to. His all round game is poor imo but agree if he is to start he has to play on the left. 

[Icarium]

9 hours 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.

Except both goals came in the same way. Villa getting exposed down the left allowing for an easy shot

[Keyblade]

2 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Something I think has been lost in all this fall out from the Watford game is that really we threw it all away in a fairly short spell in the first half - which included a *really* flukey second goal for Watford.

The match stats are 62% possession for Villa. 11 shots on goal, vs 13 by Watford.

It was bad, no doubt, but second half we were clearly the better side by some margin.

You can rightly criticise the starting lineup, and the way some of our players performed.

But what I can’t understand is this idea that Smith is just clueless, when he literally fixed what was wrong as the game progressed. That doesn’t seem to me to indicate a manager who’s run out of ideas or doesn’t know how to set his team up!?

Things are either black or white. They're either 100% shit or amazing. We're either getting relegated or getting Europe. There's no in between.

[Kiwivillan]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

So what would?

It might have given us the balance to be a team as opposed the headless chickens and ill prepared defending.....that debacle was not one thing it was an accumulation of factors, but addressing a balance in the team is a start.

It seems we were playing PSG not Watford.

Nakamba was far far from our worst player though I've seen he's the typical scapegoat for many. Not even close to the cause of our loss so this mythical unicorn DM wouldn't have made a difference to all the other players having an off day not to mention no Watkins didn't help

[villalad21]

2 hours ago, Icarium said:

Except both goals came in the same way. Villa getting exposed down the left allowing for an easy shot

I said before the season that I expect Emi and defence to be overworked if we don't address the midfield. 

And judging from yesterday's evidence the defence won't be as strong as they were last season. 

Very worrying signs. There are more questions than there are answers. 

We can definitely get involved in a relegation scrap if nothing is done to fix that midfield. 

[villalad21]

7 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Nakamba was far far from our worst player though I've seen he's the typical scapegoat for many. Not even close to the cause of our loss so this mythical unicorn DM wouldn't have made a difference to all the other players having an off day not to mention no Watkins didn't help

None of our midfielders are well equipped to play In a 2 man midfield. 

I actually think we'll be overrun with a 3 man midfield as well because I think our midfielders are weak but it will at least make the situation a lot better. 

Edited August 15, 2021 by villalad21

[Danishlad]

We picked the wrong team yesterday. Though hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Where Watford had pace on the wings we were weak and slow. 

We didn't have any pace to counter them, or creativity to open them up. 

We fielded a poor side. Why Ashley Young played winger I don't know.

ElGhazi has been poor his entire villa career, but does score an occasional goal. He played as I expected.

Lumping long balls to Ings isn't going to work. It was like Matty Cash was trying to score a field goal.

We probably should have played a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 set up. Where we cancel their wide threat and give them hell with two up front.

I thought Smith got it hugely wrong, and Watford were actually very poor. Even though we have only played one game I think it showed that we are a lower mid table team right now.

 

 

[Robtaylor200]

Meant to vote for SJM not Mings der.

Watford showed that they will not let many goals in this season, very Bournemouth like in the way they play, they will do well until injuries hit them later in the season. 

and as for the Villa much to sort out and look back at

[macandally]

I would imagine the first half showing is something of a wake up call and I would expect to see a much better performance against Newcastle.

That is all, new players take time to bed in, keep the faith

[onmeedson]

We fell apart yesterday, Watford had desire, belief, hunger and fitness way above our levels. What are our fitness coaches doing when Targett is blowing through his backside after ten minutes and has to be replaced by Ashley Young. The lack of leadership on and off the field was amount to pub football and the result was only to clear to see, it's back to work guys the holidays are over and its time to shine. We missed players of the grafting kind and spirit to say this is not right and change the game, instead we wanted our tummies tickled.

[StefanAVFC]

8 hours ago, TRO said:

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

Neither of them have ever played there.

Just because they're taller and black doesn't mean they can play DM.

[Philosopher]

12 hours ago, smg said:

Top fan , if we are a work in progress shit happens. Can’t wait for next weeks shit post.

If you don't like my posts don't read them. I'm just expressing my views like everyone else. Yes I'm long winded but I don’t give a .....

[VillaFaninLondon]

3 minutes ago, JPJCB said:

Completely agreed.

the back 5 is arguably top 6 quality as could the forward line if the players click. But the midfield is comfortably bottom half 

Sounds about right, though defensively yesterday we were all over the place too. I hope the defence from last season returns for the next game.

 

Hopefully that defeat and performance makes Smith reconsider his views on the squad and we go out and buy at least one more top quality player before Newcastle.

[Made In Aston]

5 hours ago, villalad21 said:

None of our midfielders are well equipped to play In a 2 man midfield. 

I actually think we'll be overrun with a 3 man midfield as well because I think our midfielders are weak

Let's play a 10 man midfield then

[lexicon]

Can't blame him for the nature of the goals either - they were extremely fortuitous. 

[gwi1890]

48 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

Neither of them have ever played there.

Just because they're taller and black doesn't mean they can play DM.

Remember when we put  Clark in midfield years ago, Crap some fans never learn, our main issue yesterday was our inability to play through the low block we got caught on the break,  more down to our lack of tempo than not having a tower block in midfield 

[TRO]

8 hours ago, Icarium said:

Except both goals came in the same way. Villa getting exposed down the left allowing for an easy shot

Same as against  Leeds what do we learn?