Ratings & Reactions: Watford v Villa

[RicRic]

11 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Not getting carried away after 1 game, just as I wasn't after we won 4 on the bounce last season. But today was very poor. I hate when we play at this ground, it's always a thrashing. Was especially disappointed with Cash. I hope Guilbert puts him under pressure. But I feel Nakamba and his partnership with McGinn is what undid us today. Buendia had a bad debut too, but it's only the first game. We've had plenty of great players have awful debuts for us.

There were still positives though. I think we're 1 good CM away from being competitive. We saw when Bailey and Traore came on how dangerous we can be. Ings needs to build up chemistry with his teammates, but once he does he'll be deadly. We still have Watkins to come in. Deano will figure this out. It was always going to take a bit of time for a team that was built around 1 player to adjust to life without him. The good thing is that we have a very good squad now and should be able to cope after some inevitable teething.

Guilbert will never displace Cash, Cash is usually 100% on the button but he just had a bad game

[HKP90]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

A 36 year old left back coming in to show an established left back how to defend a plucky winger, would suggest maybe we might have had too much faith in the established left back, to start with.

Nah, I’m not buying it based on last year’s performances. He’s either not fit, or his head aint right. Either way we need to get him right soon.

[andyjsg]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

A 36 year old left back coming in to show an established left back how to defend a plucky winger, would suggest maybe we might have had too much faith in the established left back, to start with.

Yeah agreed. Seems bad Targett was back although I think he went into panic mode and never made it back. A couple of games on the bench, me thinks

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

5 minutes ago, hippo said:

It smacks of  businessman thinking - not football people. 

I'm actually more concerned that us " football people " on here, still think flair players are our main issue.

Edited August 14, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[mottaloo]

Ah feck it. I'm off to watch Rashica have a stormer 

We go again...

[Aston_Villan4]

Ehhh, I’m not bothered by it. A lot went wrong today and it was pretty dreadful to watch but I think fans just need to get better at being objective and patient.

[El Zen]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

when you lose, its usually a popular assumption.

Yeah, but it’s not always the right one. Today, more so.

[villalad21]

4 minutes ago, Wezbid said:

So you're a total flip-flopper who can only react a game at a time instead of looking at the overall? 

Targett was absolute quality last season and an awful 45 mins against a mint player does not define him as a player. 

No. But this isn't last season.

If he doesn't perform now he shouldn't be in the team.

I would play Young at LB for now.

[abdulaziz1]

1 minute ago, May-Z said:

His hand was forced today with the starting line up so can't really grumble too much at what he selected.

However, there must be instructions for McGinn and Nakamba to go forward though...and for the high frequency of long balls forward. Those are things that we must absolutely sort out pronto because it meant we couldn't do anything to Watford today and will affect us badly in other games.

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. 

[hippo]

Just now, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I'm actually more concerned the us " football people " on here, still think flair players are our main issue.

Well the one gone we scored (from open play) - had a bit of flair about it.

IMO - I think our touted flair players are actually steady eddy types.

[Xela]

 

[the_eristic]

2 minutes ago, May-Z said:

and for the high frequency of long balls forward

Drives me nuts, we must be the shortest team in the league outside of defenders but we just lump it up over and over. All comes from a much too static midfield who rarely show for the ball in the right places and put themselves under pressure.

[AVFCDAN]

Need time to bed in new players and formations, quite risky at the start of a season where you could lose your first 3-4 games and then you’re chasing the pack.

The biggest problem we are facing now is that we may well be able to spend 40 mill on another player but then you are asking 4-5 new players to hit the ground running and it’s just not going to happen, we’re trying to skip a stage here and we’ll be punished for it.

On another note Targett was absolutely dreadful today, he will do well to put in a worse performance in the rest of his villa career.

[Chindie]

Martinez - poor for their opener, couldn't do much for the others. Otherwise solid.

Cash - Poor first half, slight improvement second, but not a good day at the office.

Konsa - First goal he's unlucky he makes a block that just falls back to the striker, the other goals not much he can do. Odd to say a defender was fine when he's conceded 3, but he was.

Mings - The weaker of the 2 centre halves, was more directly involved but to very little consequence.

Targett - Awful first half. Exposed badly against a player who was both on fire but had all the tools to hurt Targett. Rightly hooked at half time, not much else he could do.

McGinn - pretty inconsequential first half, he couldn't impact the game much despite his usual hustle. Better in the second half and managed a trademark cracking volley. He's wasted playing so deep.

Nakamba - he's kinda no things to no men. You want him to be the Kante figure, and he could be, but he seemingly doesn't know how to play that way. And he's obviously not the massive destroyer style player that Viera was. Instead he's just... there. I could see him being a useful player somewhere else, but here I dunno, it feels like he's destined to fail.

Buendia - couldn't get into the game, got hassled off the ball constantly, never got any time on the ball and when he was able to try to make things happened he was immediately swarmed and strong armed. A debut to forget - suspect he's not fit either.

El Ghazi - absolutely anonymous.

Ings - Barely saw the ball (even when it smacked him in the face), but put away a pen. We know he's a goalscorer, we need to get him working in this team, or this team working with him.

Young - barely involved first half, pushed back in the second and looked more solid, got more of the ball, and did more with it. A better half than Targett had.

Ramsey - on at half time for Targett and immediately we looked more solid in the midfield. He didn't actually do a great deal of note but just hes energy and presence levelled things up a little.

Bailey - comes on, clearly half knackered, and whenever he gets the ball he's the best player on the pitch. Lovely cross for McGinn and looked dangerous whenever he got the ball. Even to his own team mates. Has that clean, crisp, sharp touch that so few players have, he'll be an asset.

Traore - came on and looked much more incisive than 2020 Bert. Looks sharper, looked up to it, looked hungry.

 

A bad game. We've paid the price of a badly distributed preseason - lets face it, if it could wrong it pretty much has. An off season with multiple international competitions going on seeing us lose players for extended periods, the Grealish side show, 2 back room staff members going, complete mess of preseason games, multiple new names coming in with limited time to gel into the team... it's been a mess. And it showed today. We had all the worst elements of a Smith Villa side - soft goals conceded, toothless up front, a simpering midfield - combined with all the worst elements of an underprepared side, lacking fitness, looked tired and clueless. The second half was better, helped by Watford stepping back a little. It's clear that we're a few games away from hitting our stride, and it's also clear there are still gaps in this team - we need that top level DM player now - but it's also clear today was a bad day, and there needs to be less of those this year, sharpish.

 

[Aston_Villan4]

9 minutes ago, hippo said:

It smacks of  businessman thinking - not football people. 

Nah. It’s moneyball thinking.

[Mantis]

2 minutes ago, the_eristic said:

Drives me nuts, we must be the shortest team in the league outside of defenders but we just lump it up over and over. All comes from a much too static midfield who rarely show for the ball in the right places and put themselves under pressure.

Yep. So many of our problems seem to stem from midfield.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

4 minutes ago, hippo said:

Well the one gone we scored (from open play) - had a bit of flair about it.

IMO - I think our touted flair players are actually steady eddy types.

We could have Messi and Mbappe in our team and still get overrun in midfield.

At least we'd lose more " excitingly "

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

Bailey starting will make a big difference. Young was there today because of injuries and to try to negate Sarr (didn’t work). AEG gonna be AEG. 
 

That central area is a puzzle. Without an real shit house enforcer behind him, I wouldn’t be looking to play Buendia centrally. That area of the pitch is v v much a work on progress: I’m not sure the coaching staff can know the answer to it yet. 

I don’t think today is a reflection of the season to come: but it perhaps sounds some warning sirens that we need to heed. 

We had games last season like this - think Leeds. 

[villalad21]

1 minute ago, Mantis said:

Yep. So many of our problems seem to stem from midfield.

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.

[hippo]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

We could have Messi and Mbappe in our team and still get overrun in midfield.

At least we'd lose more " excitingly "

Wouldnt mind trying that pairing for the newcastle game though !