Ratings & Reactions: Arsenal v Villa

[VillaFaninLondon]

Shambles. Rubbish. Awful.

 

As soon as I saw that defensive, negative formation again I knew we'd play like sh*t and lose.

 

Don't see the point watching us any more under this manager, it just ruins my weekend. Honestly like watching Stoke under Pulis and our results are now so bad we're even worse than we were 2 years ago when we barely survived despite heavy investment for 2 summers. 

 

May as well ignore this team until something changes at the top because right now it's miserable.

[Django_Zooms]

2 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

I'd go for 433.

Most goals conceded away from home this season.

Please do not shoot the messenger but, against most results-based evidence, Villa Park hosts the home matches of Aston Villa FC.

[jackbauer24]

I can't defend a single outfield player, but I'm not sure where this belief Ings is better than Watkins has come from, both in this game and this season. Both are awful, clearly not enjoying the system and putting in relatively minimal effort. However, I think Watkins is doing far more running, getting far more involved or at least trying and has missed no more than Ings opportunity wise. Today he was awful again, few runs in the second half, few passes or hassles and not much else. Did anyone see Ings do anything?! Invisible.

Don't mix up talent from last years star struggling in a new system with a new signing that's done nothing bar an overhead kick this season.

I think we should go one up front again, but that man should be Watkins.

[pacbuddies]

Europe my arse!

[AVTuco]

Not really disappointed, because after the Watford travesty, it was always going to be difficult. 

Smith managed to do even worse that I expected though. Starting with the same formation and players that melted last week was unbelievable. Everything has been said so many times I won't repeat it, but that was totally inept management. 

Owners won't care he's a Villa fan. They won't be having this for long. 

[Made In Aston]

28 minutes ago, Ponky said:

The system was found out 3 weeks ago against Spurs. It was obvious in the first five minutes we were in trouble.

Its one of the few games I've seen where I was crying out for Smith to make a sub and change the formation after about 20mins.

 

It was wrong from the get go and very surprising,seeing as we are usually comfortable winners against arteta's Arsenal 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Made In Aston

[ozvillafan]

All on Smith, sadly.

In what universe does an under-performing Tuanzebe make a start over a fit Bailey? A fit El-Ghazi? A fit Ramsey? Or even a fit Philogene-Bidace?

This shows what I was hoping was never the case: We haven't been playing 3-5-2 because we had unfit players. We've been playing it to get both Ings and Watkins on the pitch.

Dean realised his mistake at half time but that doesn't cut it for me. As if simple numbers couldn't tell you that 5 defenders with a deep lying midfielder and 2 strikers leaves all the creativity on 2 players (Buendia, McGinn). The same 2 players that Arsenal marked out of the game in midfield.

A simple redress at half time - less one defender and plus one attacker - and all of a sudden we are finding opportunities and shots on goal. Who'd have thought it?

Given that we've had 2 poor performances before this - including a confidence sapping last minute loss at home in our last game - starting with this formation was criminal.

I like Dean and think he's a good manager - but he's done a "Guardiola cup final" job here. Must do better.

[IrishVilla10]

The wolves subs were not the issue what so ever and I wouldn’t put the result last weekend on dean but tonight’s highlighted either a stubbornness or inexperience from our coaching staff and it’s cost us.  From the moment the team was announced tonight I knew we were in for it. Injuries aside there was no reason we had to play the back 5 again and this ones on Smith bottom line. Penalty or not arsenal could have had 3/4 in the first half. Targett is not a wing back and should never be played there again, he made a nice block in second half and that’s exactly what he’s good at. Cashy is in no mans land when played on the right of a 5 in defence and for what he offers going forward he suffers in on the counter. How many games this season have we seen our defence play it around sloppily until Ming’s hits the long pass, every game? Targett can’t take the ball on the turn cause there’s no one down the line waiting for the ball and he’s forced to play it back. Buendia isn’t a 10, for us at least and we’re not getting the best out of him. Quite often a fanbase disagree with a team selection and tonight I would have been happily proved wrong if we had of won but this ones on our management. Not great at all. Hopefully a big lesson learned. 

[gwi1890]

35 minutes ago, Zero7 said:

This is the biggest worry for me, he watched the game go by 

The second goal was inevitable, well the first one was for that matter, we were better second half but any team attempting a comeback is vulnerable on the counter and also needs to take their chances (OLLIE) the game was lost in the first 20mins  we reverted to Our formation from last year at the break surely we could have done this with ease earlier as the players are familiar with the system?

[IrishVilla10]

From the moment he signed I’ve doubted the Ings signing and he’s a great player but we had a system that worked without him and having him has hindered us more than anything. Ollie looks half the player beside him and deans can’t drop him. Depressing night 

[TomC]

A match of two halves...so let's start with...

Deano: He adjusted at halftime for once. And it made a difference. So he gets half-credit.

Martinez: Obviously our best player tonight. Not at fault for any of the goals.

Buendia: Our best outfield player in the first half (not saying much!) and one of the few players in the side who can pass a ball right now. But he did seem to fade in the second half and, although I was disappointed at first, it was probably the right decision.

Ramsey: A little rest did him some good. Back to his best tonight. When he had a chance for a second goal, he didn't just miss; the Arsenal defender lunged and forced him to miss (see below), so I'm not holding that against him.

Bailey: Probably the most talented player we have right now. Looking forward to seeing more of him.

McGinn: Worst match I've seen him play. Despite all the good things he does, his passing just isn't very good. He picks intelligent passes, but often they are ambitious beyond his ability, and he gives the ball away too much. He gets 95% of the blame for the third goal after an overambitious pass. Also, Arsenal seemed to be targeting him on corners because he's short. He was with his mark on the first goal, but he was probably 8 inches shorter and didn't even try to jump. So yes, he was at fault for two goals.

Dougie: Anonymous for the first 75 minutes, which was better than you can say for McGinn. He started getting forward towards the end and made the crucial pass to make our goal. I'm beginning to think he's shackled by the way Deano uses him. In a 4-2-3-1 like we played second half, and even in the way we play 3-5-2 where 2 of the CMs stay deeper, one of the 2 is usually a "pure" defensive midfielder and one is supposed to be a capable DM who also has the ability to launch attacks. Dougie has that ability, but because McGinn goes forward, he's stuck staying deep. It's a waste of his talent. Others on this board have convinced me: We do need a pure DM. And we should pair that person with either McGinn or Dougie, and sit the other.

Targett: Poor yet again. Still can't get a decent cross in. Give Young a chance again!

Watkins: I've never seen him so apathetic. He's had bad stretches in attack before, but usually you can count on him to press with energy. He didn't seem to have any enthusiasm tonight. His face just looks joyless when he's out there right now.

Penalty: It was close, and you can argue that the evidence wasn't convincing enough to overturn the original decision, but the original decision should have been a penalty.

Best of Arsenal: (1) It will sound like a strange choice given that they scored 3 goals, but I was impressed with their back line. Whenever we threatened, someone came flying it with a committed tackle and snuffed out the threat. (2) Their press. Beyond all the faults of our individual players, as a team, we just couldn't break their press. They hounded us into submission for the first 30 minutes; I bet the possession was 75%-25% in that stretch. They couldn't keep up that level of pressing for 90, but it got them their first goal and they could afford to back off a bit after that. We need to get better at dealing with that sort of press. I hate to see what Man City or Liverpool will do to us if we don't.

.

[GingerCollins29]

The thing for me is how many of our players are misplacing so many passes and getting dispossessed on possession. Every game.

Like others, i've always been 100% smith, but he has begun yo make me rethink. How he's watched that first half and changed nothing until half time is worrying. 

 

[tinker]

Oh dear we was poor first half, Arsenal, lucky to score the penalty and the 3rd goal was a defection but they deserved the win. 

Need to change the system we look far to narrow. The 3 cb offer no width and that leaves the full backs covering to much ground.

Feel as if we are trying to squeeze players onto the pitch to keep them happy. Ings and Watkins are a problem when they play together. Buendía plays some lovely through balls but he's to light weight for the number 10 role , needs to be on a wing. Bailey looks a right handful and should be starting , but where he fits in.

We appear to have some great players but in trying to replace "he who will not be named" we seem to have forgot he played on the left. Which one of these new signings plays there? 

[bannedfromHandV]

Back to our tried and trusted formation for the next game, Bailey to start and one of Watkins / Ings on the bench.

I think we’ll be okay, I don’t see Smith going unless we lose another 3-4 games on the trot.

[TomC]

16 minutes ago, jackbauer24 said:

I can't defend a single outfield player, but I'm not sure where this belief Ings is better than Watkins has come from, both in this game and this season. Both are awful, clearly not enjoying the system and putting in relatively minimal effort. However, I think Watkins is doing far more running, getting far more involved or at least trying and has missed no more than Ings opportunity wise. Today he was awful again, few runs in the second half, few passes or hassles and not much else. Did anyone see Ings do anything?! Invisible.

This was probably Ings' worst game in a Villa shirt, but other than this game, he's done plenty of running. I've seen him make tackles in our own end many times. Lack of running is usually not one of his faults. And Watkins did not press like he usually does tonight, either.

 

[IrishVilla10]

1 minute ago, tinker said:

Oh dear we was poor first half, Arsenal, lucky to score the penalty and the 3rd goal was a defection but they deserved the win. 

Need to change the system we look far to narrow. The 3 cb offer no width and that leaves the full backs covering to much ground.

Feel as if we are trying to squeeze players onto the pitch to keep them happy. Ings and Watkins are a problem when they play together. Buendía plays some lovely through balls but he's to light weight for the number 10 role , needs to be on a wing. Bailey looks a right handful and should be starting , but where he fits in.

We appear to have some great players but in trying to replace "he who will not be named" we seem to have forgot he played on the left. Which one of these new signings plays there? 

This plays a huge role in Targetts drop in form also imo.  There’s no one for him to play with. He takes the ball on the turn and has to play it back to Mings cause we have no wide players. And in the back 5 he’s expected to be our wide player. This system should have been changed for spurs. And three loses on the bounce highlights that 

[TomC]

36 minutes ago, brummybloke said:

Emi b, either play him right mid or just don't play him because he is dirt anywhere else.

39 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Beundia looks like we got mugged for £35m

44 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Buendia as CAM is a black hole.

49 minutes ago, Newry_Villan said:

Buendia very poor.

I don't get all the Buendia hate. I thought he was our best outfield player in the first half. He makes good decisions. His passing is more accurate than just about anyone else in the side. Sure, tonight, sometimes he made simple backwards or lateral passes rather than doing anything brilliant...but that's because he was receiving the ball with his back to goal, and Arsenal's press was constantly nipping at his heels. At least he got the ball to a teammate. That's more than you can say for most of the rest of the team...the press caused everyone else to cough up the ball.

And as for the argument that he belongs on the right instead of in the centre...go back and watch the Wolves match.

[thunderball]

 

[brummybloke]

5 minutes ago, TomC said:

I don't get all the Buendia hate. I thought he was our best outfield player in the first half. He makes good decisions. His passing is more accurate than just about anyone else in the side. Sure, tonight, sometimes he made simple backwards or lateral passes rather than doing anything brilliant...but that's because he was receiving the ball with his back to goal, and Arsenal's press was constantly nipping at his heels. At least he got the ball to a teammate. That's more than you can say for most of the rest of the team...the press caused everyone else to cough up the ball.

And as for the argument that he belongs on the right instead of in the centre...go back and watch the Wolves match.

Because others watched the game, saw him get dispossessed several times saw him over play most of his forward passes and the good to bad ratio was 3 to 7, no where near good enough let alone for our record signing.

He is out of position.

[tinker]

17 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

This plays a huge role in Targetts drop in form also imo.  There’s no one for him to play with. He takes the ball on the turn and has to play it back to Mings cause we have no wide players. And in the back 5 he’s expected to be our wide player. This system should have been changed for spurs. And three loses on the bounce highlights that

Yep it's clear to see he has no help when he trys to break forward. 

We may get away with playing this system once every 4 or 5 games when the opposition don't expect it but when they do expect they appear to be able to counter it and cause us problems all over the pitch.

Another noticeable tatic from Arsenal was their ability to waste time, very affective in killing the game and something we should be doing in games once we are in front.