Ratings & Reactions: Watford v Villa

[Daweii]

Smith got it wrong in the first half, but the changes made in the second half helped us get back in it. 

The biggest change was taking Targett off. Young is a very fast player, he might not be as good as Targett at left back, but pace vs pace makes complete sense. Targett didn't get done by Sarr repeatedly because he's shit, he got done because he's slower.  

Had we played as we did in the second half for the full 90 I think we'd have won. It wouldn't have been a showy performance by any stretch, but Ramsey, Bailey and Traore changed the game. They gave us avenues to attack and they gave us creativity.

Buendia didn't have the greatest match of his career. I do wonder if he's struggling for fitness, but AMC is also not his best position. He definitely had more impact when he was moved to the right which makes sense of course.

Not the greatest start to the season, but it is only the first game hopefully another week of training as a unit will make us more cohesive ahead of Newcastle. 

[maqroll]

Look at all the incoming overreactions...

This was basically a preseason game, missing a couple of players though injury, trying to bleed in the new guys, trying to adopt a new style and adapt without the player everything went through. Away to a newly promoted side. Obviously there were a couple of really bad individual performances as well, but those happen. I'd prefer we get them out of the system sooner than later.

We clawed back two goals, and if you subtract the Mings deflected OG, this would've ended 2-2.

Bailey and Ramsey both looked good. Buendia a debut to forget but we know how good he is.

Cash needs to do some extra work in training because that was not Premier League standard play. 

McGinn MOTM for his goal and industry.

Disappointed of course, but it's not even halfway through August. It's a long season.

I suggest that instead of telling the manager to "Go f*ck himself", we actually support him, support the project and the players. Novel idea, huh?

[El Zen]

Too little too late. We can talk about soft goals conceded, but it was a very disappointing performance. More questions were raised than were answered. 

Does that mean this is what we’ll be this season? No, let’s not doom monger just yet. We’ll come back stronger, I’m sure. 

But this? This was ****.

[HKP90]

1 minute ago, Troglodyte said:

I'm sure we'll never start with that midfield again. That's one of the few positives (along with Bailey) that came out of that game.

It was a terrible performance but we'll be good once the attacking players click, especially when we can factor Watkins back into that. Buendía looked too lightweight at times but once he knows where the runners are, I think he'll make things happen. Today, he needed a little more time and got caught in possession too often as a result, considering he doesn't have the strength to hold it up when crowded out.

El Ghazi isn't good enough and if we can get a decent fee for him then I'll be glad to see him go. I'll always be thankful for his playoff goal and he seems a decent lad, but doesn't offer enough. Always looking to shoot.

Main problem was at full back - both were abysmal today. Hopefully they can come back from that but will also need better support from the wingers. They're good players. Young did a far better job than Targett today though. I'm hoping we keep Guilbert for extra challenge/cover.

We also need to be stronger in central midfield but this was better when we had Ramsey on. We need a solid three in the middle. Fingers crossed Sanson can get fit and find his way into the team, and that Dougie won't be too shattered from this summer.

Agreed about full backs, but I don’t think the problem is talent. Fitness and mental resilience. Get Targett a bloody performance coach/psychologist, cos he shat himself today.

[hippo]

3-2 Hides a multitude of problems IMO.

Budenia was very poor must have had a about 6 touches in the first half. When he got the ball he just seemed to stand still with and let players surround him. Can't believe he was fully fit

Ings - very poor - sure not much service - but struggled to even make nuisance of himself.

Our iffy players Nkamba, AEG, Cash - all had days to forget.

Worst of all we seemed to have no idea what were doing or supposed to be doing. People go on about missing jack - this much worst than last season without jack. I think we have tried to be to clever replacing jack - all this bollox about replacing him with 3 players - less reliant on him - complete tosh (even if it were true)  - We need somebody dynamic - not tidy players who place a couple of decent passes each game. We need someone that terrifies defences, makes things happen.

[John]

What a miserable start to the new season! We really should not have lost that and with a few more minutes, we might not have. I had hoped that we would have broken the habit that we developed last season, of losing games away from home, that had look winnable on paper. We knew a newly promoted team would be up for it and to go three goals behind to them was embarrassing. Still at least we're above Arsenal and Leeds. 

[Jono62]

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. 

 

[RicRic]

18 minutes ago, calcifer said:

After one game? Seriously? Our pre season was a mess with the whole Greedlish saga, games getting postponed etc. Arsenal got beat by Brentford 2-0, Leeds got thrashed 5-1, I bet their fans are not as wet as some of our 'fans' 

I agree we cant get too emotional after one game, players barely know each other especially up top some haven’t even trained properly , however the first half was extremely poor, i dont even know who to say our best player was Nakamba if he didnt pass so carelessly at times, taking off Targett would have done his confidence no good however i dont disagree with the decision but its abit harsh. I felt like Carney or JPB should been thrown on imo and not JR , even though Ramsey didnt play too bad, we missed that Watkins nuisance presence up front tbf... go get Bernardo Silva and we will be fine. I felt like Buendia showed some magic but was nowhere near involved in the match as he should have been. Bailey should have been played at RW but circumstances i guess changed the dynamics 

Edited August 14, 2021 by RicRic

[TomC]

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.

[Villatillidie95]

C Minus, Must do better

[VillaFaninLondon]

Smith’s record without Grealish last season was relegation form. It continues into this season. Defensively we were shocking too - I hope last season’s defence wasn’t a fluke.

 

I believe Watford will be down there by the end of the season so he has to turn it around and quick.

[Xela]

The only positive I can find is that it might make us look to strengthen our midfield before the end of the window

 

[the_eristic]

The subs actually made a difference and brought energy and pace we massively needed, but it was too late. Too much wrong in the first half and McGinn + Marv deep not a functional combination. Outmuscled, outpressed and outpaced at every turn.

[mjmooney]

No preseason, new players, last year's playmaker gone, team was rusty, away to a newly promoted side who happen to be our bogey team, too many of our players had an off day. It happens, get over it. 

The biggest disgrace was the match thread bedwetting, with talk of relegation, FFS, after one game. Probably the same people who were praising Dean Smith to the skies and swearing eternal loyalty in his thread yesterday, and voted Matt Targett as last year's player of the season. 

The club has never been in better shape. One defeat doesn't alter that. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Very disappointed, but encouraged by the 2nd half.

PROS

- Dean changed things relatively quickly, good sign.

- Buendia was poor, BUT we know he has quality, and surely will get better )

- Bailey, with only 2 days training under his belt, looks a real asset.

- Traore seems to have some more zip about him than last season.

- Jacob Ramsey

- Transfer window still open. Surely the owners/Deano will see that we need massive improvement in midfield and act on it?

- No Ollie ( We will be much improved with him )

Cons

- Our full backs looked horrendous.

- Midfield

- Result

-

[rjw63]

3 minutes ago, thunderball said:

Lol, is any one really surprised?

Looked better second half, it’s going to take until November to find our feet.

 

By which time European qualification will look a distant memory

[Thug]

Fitness.

 

[IrishVilla10]

That team selection was ridiculous today. El Ghazi shouldn’t be anywhere near our starting 11. How he started in front of Bidace today is beyond me. 
Young was completely ineffective on the left in attack and provided no support for Targett. 
Targett and Cash were shocking, worst game I’ve seen Cash play for us. 
JJ got MOM for me, if he’d have started in a three in the middle things would have been different from the start. We need an upgrade on Nakamba and we’re going to get turned over by any team in this league if we start with him and McGinn in the middle. 
We’re so slow on the ball and are unable to move up the pitch without lumping it. Buendia is wasted when we can’t get him on the ball. Ings is also wasted when we can’t create anything for him, he’s not as mobile as Ollie and isn’t going to stretch defences. 
Traore looked lively when he came on, and Bailey looks like a talent. Huge game next weekend. 

[ozvillafan]

Highlights:

• Bailey with an assist
• Ings with a debut goal
• Dean making subs early
• it took only 4 minutes for "Mings to Ings" by the commentators

Lowlights:

• Both Fullbacks
• Both starting wingers (Young redeemed himself a little as a left back)
• Dean's starting line-up

Things to address:

• Since they are allowing more physical play this year, we really need some presence in midfield

I predicted only 3 points from the first 5 games. We are going to take some time to gel with so many attacking changes.

No need to panic - leave that to Arsenal (because they should be)

[Rightdm00]

I put this one only partially on Dean because there were some abysmal performances by some of our better players last year. 

Targett was a non-entity. I have never seen a FB get done that many times in one half. What made it worst was that once Young went to LB we didn't hear from Sarr for the rest of the game. 

Nakamba is the other with a 0/10 performance. Truly awful. Douglas please hurry back from vacation. 

Honorable mention to Matty Cash. How could a former RW have that many poor touches. I guess we see why Forest moved him to RB. 

On to the manager.  Dean starting with Young as a winger was poor. Maybe he didn't have a choice given the fitness concerns of our other wingers but that put us under the cosh from the get go. Hopefully Bailey and Traore are ready for next week because we can never do that starting lineup again.