Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Brentford

[ozvillafan]

Second half refereeing ruined what would have been a decent game. Sadly, that suited Brentford perfectly as it seemed they had settled for the draw as early as the 50th minute. Constant niggling, stop-start, time wasting aided and abetted by baffling decisions.

How can you kick another player in the face and not get a yellow?

Massive shout out to El Ghazi, who was brilliant today. The highlight being running 30 metres to shoulder a Brentford player off the ball. Superb stuff.

[Villatillidie95]

El Ghazi was brilliant today I thought, on another day he would have had a couple of assists. Watkins was unlucky not to put that header in at the near post, i think with a bit more composure, or maybe a few more minutes on the pitch, he might have buried that one and won it for us at the death. Brentford looked like a solid forward thinking teams who caused us some problems, as we did them, so in that respect it was a fairly even game. Perhaps they were the slighlty better team, us having the slightly better chances, with the ings snapshot and watkins header.

I think most of us expected more than 4 points from these 3 fixtures prior to the beginning of the season, but when you consider the disruption to the first 11 today and that we will pick up some points from games we don't necessarily expect to win, its not the end of the world. Good to be back at VP again and hopefully another win against Chelsea at the bridge in 2 weeks time.

[sheepyvillian]

6 hours ago, pacbuddies said:

Because they were all so great weren't they! McNeil, Lambert, Bruce and all in between. I suppose you thought they were the bees knees!

 

PS and I've been right about every single one of them. Prove me wrong!

Now,now. Stop that. You were totally wrong about Bruce, who you called a brilliant appointment.  And don't be throwing a not guilty in, or I might just prove you wrong.

[Aston_Villan4]

Did not know this but Toney flashed a Z sign for Birmingham. Hmmm. From BirminghamLive:

“This sign is well known to Birmingham Citysupporters as a reference to the club's notorious Zulu Warriors hooligan firm. 

And after the game, Toney confirmed in an interview with Brentford club media: "It was for the Birmingham fans. My agent is a Birmingham fan and I don't think Birmingham and Aston Villa get on too well.

"So the celebration, I just thought I'd get a little bit of a reaction from the fans."

Edited August 28, 2021 by Aston_Villan4

[Quofan]

6 hours ago, chappy said:

Assume McGinn and Mings have Covid? What about J Ramsey?

 

 

 

Mings has a cracked rib (he was heavily taped up last week) and both McGinn and Ramsey are having to isolate due to COVID. 

[danceoftheshamen]

Was what i expected today result wise, i put 1-1 on the super 6 prediction so at least that's won me a bit of wonga at work. It was clear we were massively disrupted so to not lose was kind of the biggy today.

I have lost all respect for Brentford though after watching their pathetic antics and as for Toneys childish, pathetic & ill judged gesture he needs to grow up. Knob.

How small time did they all behave today with the pathetic time wasting and feigning injury etc etc. I have to say i thought they were better than that. 

[alreadyexists]

5 hours ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Did not know this but Toney flashed a Z sign for Birmingham. Hmmm. From BirminghamLive:

“This sign is well known to Birmingham Citysupporters as a reference to the club's notorious Zulu Warriors hooligan firm. 

And after the game, Toney confirmed in an interview with Brentford club media: "It was for the Birmingham fans. My agent is a Birmingham fan and I don't think Birmingham and Aston Villa get on too well.

"So the celebration, I just thought I'd get a little bit of a reaction from the fans."

Got to be reported for it surely, it’s not just a Blues gesture it’s the gesture of a violent football firm full of hooligans!! 

[VillaFaninLondon]

4 points from our opening 3 fixtures is concerning, given 2 of them were against newly promoted teams and one a poor Newcastle. 2 of them were at home with a sell out crowd too.

 

To put in into context, last season we took 9 points from the equivalent fixtures. So we are 5 points down on last season with only 3 games gone. And our plan is to be improving on last season. 

 

Smith should have brought on Ollie earlier yesterday, why he left it until 10 mins to go to bring him on when we needed a goal I don't know.

 

They need to get players back fit - our coaches and manager have managed the squad appallingly this early on. No one else has these injuries and questions need to be asked why we are missing so many first team players at once. It's unacceptable.

 

And Smith says he's happy with what he's got - if that's true he has genuinely lost the plot. We've had one of the kindest starts to the season and sit on a measly 4 points, we needed a player in the middle regardless but the fact that sicknote Sanson is still never fit despite having all summer to get ready shows that we are in desperate need of someone there and Smith continues to ignore it. It's a joke.

 

Next 7 games by the way - Chelsea (a), Everton (h), Manure (a), Spuds (a), Wolves (h), Arse (a), W'Ham (h). If he doesn't beat last season's haul of 9 points from those 7 games then we will be very low down in the table and Smith's job will already be under threat so soon into the post-Grealish era.

[tom_avfc]

21 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

4 points from our opening 3 fixtures is concerning, given 2 of them were against newly promoted teams and one a poor Newcastle. 2 of them were at home with a sell out crowd too.

 

To put in into context, last season we took 9 points from the equivalent fixtures. So we are 5 points down on last season with only 3 games gone. And our plan is to be improving on last season. 

 

Smith should have brought on Ollie earlier yesterday, why he left it until 10 mins to go to bring him on when we needed a goal I don't know.

 

They need to get players back fit - our coaches and manager have managed the squad appallingly this early on. No one else has these injuries and questions need to be asked why we are missing so many first team players at once. It's unacceptable.

 

And Smith says he's happy with what he's got - if that's true he has genuinely lost the plot. We've had one of the kindest starts to the season and sit on a measly 4 points, we needed a player in the middle regardless but the fact that sicknote Sanson is still never fit despite having all summer to get ready shows that we are in desperate need of someone there and Smith continues to ignore it. It's a joke.

 

Next 7 games by the way - Chelsea (a), Everton (h), Manure (a), Spuds (a), Wolves (h), Arse (a), W'Ham (h). If he doesn't beat last season's haul of 9 points from those 7 games then we will be very low down in the table and Smith's job will already be under threat so soon into the post-Grealish era.

I’m not sure I could disagree with one post any more than I do this one.

Watkins was making his return from injury and as much as I’d have liked to see more of him the chances are he only had 10-20 minutes in him.

You then go on to blame Smith and the coaches for players having Covid and injuries which include a broken rib.

Teams go through patches where they pick up a load of injuries. It’s nothing to do purely with us.

Given the circumstances I’m OK with the 4 points we have from 3 games. Yes, it’d be nice to have picked up a couple more points but with the number of players we’ve been missing for various reasons it’s probably par.

We’ve lost one of the best players in the league. If we can finish in a comfortable midtable position while moving away from the reliance on one star player then I’ll be happy enough with the progress being made.

[Panto_Villan]

28 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

4 points from our opening 3 fixtures is concerning, given 2 of them were against newly promoted teams and one a poor Newcastle. 2 of them were at home with a sell out crowd too.

 

To put in into context, last season we took 9 points from the equivalent fixtures. So we are 5 points down on last season with only 3 games gone. And our plan is to be improving on last season. 

 

Smith should have brought on Ollie earlier yesterday, why he left it until 10 mins to go to bring him on when we needed a goal I don't know.

 

They need to get players back fit - our coaches and manager have managed the squad appallingly this early on. No one else has these injuries and questions need to be asked why we are missing so many first team players at once. It's unacceptable.

 

And Smith says he's happy with what he's got - if that's true he has genuinely lost the plot. We've had one of the kindest starts to the season and sit on a measly 4 points, we needed a player in the middle regardless but the fact that sicknote Sanson is still never fit despite having all summer to get ready shows that we are in desperate need of someone there and Smith continues to ignore it. It's a joke.

 

Next 7 games by the way - Chelsea (a), Everton (h), Manure (a), Spuds (a), Wolves (h), Arse (a), W'Ham (h). If he doesn't beat last season's haul of 9 points from those 7 games then we will be very low down in the table and Smith's job will already be under threat so soon into the post-Grealish era.

If you genuinely think we were aiming to improve on last season's haul of 9 points from the first 3 games then I think you're the one that's lost the plot.

There's 38 games in a season.

[MarkLillis]

23 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

4 points from our opening 3 fixtures is concerning, given 2 of them were against newly promoted teams and one a poor Newcastle. 2 of them were at home with a sell out crowd too.

 

To put in into context, last season we took 9 points from the equivalent fixtures. So we are 5 points down on last season with only 3 games gone. And our plan is to be improving on last season. 

 

Smith should have brought on Ollie earlier yesterday, why he left it until 10 mins to go to bring him on when we needed a goal I don't know.

 

They need to get players back fit - our coaches and manager have managed the squad appallingly this early on. No one else has these injuries and questions need to be asked why we are missing so many first team players at once. It's unacceptable.

 

And Smith says he's happy with what he's got - if that's true he has genuinely lost the plot. We've had one of the kindest starts to the season and sit on a measly 4 points, we needed a player in the middle regardless but the fact that sicknote Sanson is still never fit despite having all summer to get ready shows that we are in desperate need of someone there and Smith continues to ignore it. It's a joke.

 

Next 7 games by the way - Chelsea (a), Everton (h), Manure (a), Spuds (a), Wolves (h), Arse (a), W'Ham (h). If he doesn't beat last season's haul of 9 points from those 7 games then we will be very low down in the table and Smith's job will already be under threat so soon into the post-Grealish era.

Last year was a stunning start to the season.It shouldn’t be used as a benchmark.

We are not Man City.

 

 

[VillaFaninLondon]

Just now, tom_avfc said:

I’m not sure I could disagree with one post any more than I do this one.

Watkins was making his return from injury and as much as I’d have liked to see more of him the chances are he only had 10-20 minutes in him.

You then go on to blame Smith and the coaches for players having Covid and injuries which include a broken rib.

Teams go through patches where they pick up a load of injuries. It’s nothing to do purely with us.

Given the circumstances I’m OK with the 4 points we have from 3 games. Yes, it’d be nice to have picked up a couple more points but with the number of players we’ve been missing for various reasons it’s probably par.

We’ve lost one of the best players in the league. If we can finish in a comfortable midtable position while moving away from the reliance on one star player then I’ll be happy enough with the progress being made.

 I don't care if you agree with me or not.

 

And yes you can blame them for injuries when the current situation is unprecedented at this stage of the season especially.

 

And Smith has chosen not to go and invest in another midfielder despite having to draft in 17 year olds due to our player unavailability. 

[VillaFaninLondon]

5 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said:

If you genuinely think we were aiming to improve on last season's haul of 9 points from the first 3 games then I think you're the one that's lost the plot.

There's 38 games in a season.

We had a tougher start last season too.

 

But actually you've misunderstood - I was referring to the equivalent games last season (i.e. Sheff U = Watford, Newcastle, Brentford = Fulham). We won all of them.

[Indigo]

Game being replayed more or less in full on Sky in half an hour for anyone interested.

[Lochheads twin]

Can't wait for pre-season to end and we get all our players back from the Olympics. international duty, hospital, their sunbeds & quarantine. Hopefully we are not too far adrift of our expected position by the end of September.

Thought Dougie did a good job today holding together midfield with his two guest partners. Although we have some very promising youngsters, it was a surprising choice to put Chuck into today ahead of Marvelous. The game largely passed him by and it showed what a huge step up there is to this level Still, very valuable experience for him.

AEG is another interesting player and his performance demonstrates the hugely different views of people at a game of football. Many commented that they though it was his best game fir the Villa but I didn't quite see it. He had a lot of the ball but never seemed to have the belief he could beat his defender and produce a chance for the isolated Ings.

I liked the little cameo we had of Ings & Ollie together.

All things considered, not a bad point. Thank goodness for the international break and let's look forward to a change in fortune for the rest of the season.

Onwards, UTV.

 

 

[flashingqwerty]

17 hours ago, Davkaus said:

5 players out today that walk into our first 11. What do you expect?

Don't get this attitude at all tbh

Yeah, we were missing a few players, but our aspirations are top half/Europe, so if we can't get results against newly promoted, relegation favourites (Watford and Brentford) then it's going to be a long and disappointing season.

Either the squad is good enough and we are not getting the best out of them, or the squad is not good enough and more need bringing in.

[OutByEaster?]

Just seen the smack on the arm that Luiz gave Toney and had the Brentford fans very upset.

They'd neglected to mention that Toney had his hand around Luiz's neck.

 

[Brentfordnylons]

Fair result in the end although had Oli come on earlier might had been a different story.Ref and linesman over our side dreadful.We aren’t the pretty team we used to be who would get bullied out of games and opposing fans would praise after beating us as I said pre match we  have a more  physical aggressive mid field.We have been lucky that our first 3 games have been against under strength sides but you have take that as not one of our squad has ever played in the PL.
          Although I’ve seen all the previous games in recent years at Villa Park this is the first time I’ve seen it with 42000 in and what an impressive sight it is in a truly wonderful stadium.Oli got a great reception from our fans and as expected Dean Smith congratulated his former players after the game the mans class.Also good to see Bees fans mingling and chatting with Villa fans at the station after the game all very civil.Very different from my experiences over the other side of the city.

[Panto_Villan]

12 minutes ago, flashingqwerty said:

Don't get this attitude at all tbh

Yeah, we were missing a few players, but our aspirations are top half/Europe, so if we can't get results against newly promoted, relegation favourites (Watford and Brentford) then it's going to be a long and disappointing season.

Either the squad is good enough and we are not getting the best out of them, or the squad is not good enough and more need bringing in.

And if we did buy new players, would they have a chance to get familiar with the team and their role in it? Or would they also need replacing if they didn't perform literally immediately?

Its game three of a season that barely had a pre-season. If this was midway through the season I might agree with you but you always get weird results in the early games, particularly if you've bought or sold a lot of players. I mean, I seem to remember Man City had a bad start to the season last year but it didn't hold them back too much.

[Herman22]

11 hours ago, ozvillafan said:

Second half refereeing ruined what would have been a decent game. Sadly, that suited Brentford perfectly as it seemed they had settled for the draw as early as the 50th minute. Constant niggling, stop-start, time wasting aided and abetted by baffling decisions.

How can you kick another player in the face and not get a yellow?

Massive shout out to El Ghazi, who was brilliant today. The highlight being running 30 metres to shoulder a Brentford player off the ball. Superb stuff.

I just saw that “tackle” on sky. It’s almost a red card, to not get a yellow is mind boggling. Some refs get the “let the game flow” rules but for others it’s just pick and mix. A random approach of letting some go and not others.