Ratings & Reactions: Arsenal v Villa

[tonyh29]

53 minutes ago, brummybloke said:

Emi m 9 could do nothing thanks to the happless shower in front of him

Personally I think he was at fault for the first goal … he was too obsessed with trying to dance with  the CF , was off balance and then let a shot my Nan could have saved go past him 

[striker]

In his post match interview Smith blamed the application of the players for that first half performance.

Well me old son if that was so why did you change formation at the beginning of the second half?

Moreover, why after the change in formation did Villa play much better if it was their application at fault?

The truth of the matter was that even Gary Nevile questioned your formation before the start of the game. The rest of us were shouting at our TV screens after 5 minutes of that dreadful first half to change it as it was pretty evident Villa were going to concede.

As it is 3-1 flattered Villa.

It's not going to be helpful to your tenure as Villa manager when you place all blame for that performance on the players. I thought there was nothing wrong with their application. However being told to play in a system that didn't suit the players was totally your fault.

I'd have more respect for a manager that did admit he got it wrong than playing the get out card blaming the players.

Villa owners are not stupid Dean nor are Villa supporters.

[IrishVilla10]

10 minutes ago, striker said:

In his post match interview Smith blamed the application of the players for that first half performance.

Well me old son if that was so why did you change formation at the beginning of the second half?

Moreover, why after the change in formation did Villa play much better if it was their application at fault?

The truth of the matter was that even Gary Nevile questioned your formation before the start of the game. The rest of us were shouting at our TV screens after 5 minutes of that dreadful first half to change it as it was pretty evident Villa were going to concede.

As it is 3-1 flattered Villa.

It's not going to be helpful to your tenure as Villa manager when you place all blame for that performance on the players. I thought there was nothing wrong with their application. However being told to play in a system that didn't suit the players was totally your fault.

I'd have more respect for a manager that did admit he got it wrong than playing the get out card blaming the players.

Villa owners are not stupid Dean nor are Villa supporters.

I love how smith conducts himself usually, but I would rather he came out and said we got it completely wrong in the first half rather than talk about wolves (where our 2-0 lead flattered us) than pussyfoot around what we’ve just watched. 

[maqroll]

We don't seem to have an identity or discernable style of play or even direction. We should be improving, not regressing. Coaching staff needs to figure this out, fast. We are leaking goals at an alarming rate.

[maqroll]

19 minutes ago, striker said:

In his post match interview Smith blamed the application of the players for that first half performance.

Well me old son if that was so why did you change formation at the beginning of the second half?

Moreover, why after the change in formation did Villa play much better if it was their application at fault?

The truth of the matter was that even Gary Nevile questioned your formation before the start of the game. The rest of us were shouting at our TV screens after 5 minutes of that dreadful first half to change it as it was pretty evident Villa were going to concede.

As it is 3-1 flattered Villa.

It's not going to be helpful to your tenure as Villa manager when you place all blame for that performance on the players. I thought there was nothing wrong with their application. However being told to play in a system that didn't suit the players was totally your fault.

I'd have more respect for a manager that did admit he got it wrong than playing the get out card blaming the players.

Villa owners are not stupid Dean nor are Villa supporters.

He will lose the players if he makes a habit of that. 

[lapal_fan]

Didn't get chance to watch it, so recorded it.  Started watching at 10.50 and when the first went in thought "my 4-1 prediction feels right", went to the BBC to confirm the loss.

Ahh well, saved me over an hour in watching that cack.

Back three play like they've never seen each other before.

Disorganised, players not tracking runs, trying to pass players on, going for the ball when it's risky and exposes us, not compact at all and our midfield until the first goal were non-existent.  Not pressing from the front, no real purpose or guile.

Probably my worst appraisal of a game I've only seen 1/3 of since Smith has been here.

Scrap the 3 CB's (or just Axel would be fine, he's awful) and do something about the two up top not working, it's making us give even more midfield than we were all last season, which we always seemed to lose that battle.

[chappy]

Won’t go into how bad we were as it was pretty obvious but felt compelled to post about the Arsenal fans booing Martinez. What a lack of class! He only left because he’d been deemed not good enough.

 

On us: no more 3-5-2 please. We have to start Bailey now (3 assists and a goal in his 130 mins so far) and if that means Watkins playing on the left then so be it. Felt like we were still rattled from how the Wolves game finished, can’t start that badly against West Ham next week.

[thunderball]

I’m not Smith out in the slightest, but I think today is the first serious step into the end game of his tenure. He has shown he has what it takes to dig himself out, well he needs to start digging hard now.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Terrible. 

[IrishVilla10]

14 minutes ago, maqroll said:

He will lose the players if he makes a habit of that. 

I feel there needs to be a time when you stop protecting the players and start being more aggressive 

[ciggiesnbeer]

15 minutes ago, maqroll said:

He will lose the players if he makes a habit of that. 

Agree he needs to cut that out. Today was on Smith. I like the guy but he kept with his losing plan.

[IrishVilla10]

10 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

I feel there needs to be a time when you stop protecting the players and start being more aggressive 

In saying that maybe today isn’t on the players. But last week for example rather than defending the subs I don’t mind dean saying the players on the pitch need to do better. I think we’ve a real happy camp atm and it extends back to the championship when post match dean would say we’re even conducting our own post match thoughts in the changing room which imo was brilliant. But i would rather some honesty and accountability than pretending we aren’t playing terribly, even if it does upset someone. That won’t get us anywhere 

Edited October 22, 2021 by IrishVilla10

[Peter Griffin]

24 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

I feel there needs to be a time when you stop protecting the players and start being more aggressive 

There is a time for that but it is most definitely not on in front of a TV camera, it is in the privacy of a training session 

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Xela said:

Need to knock the 3 centre backs on the head now. 

literally.

[IrishVilla10]

32 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

There is a time for that but it is most definitely not on in front of a TV camera, it is in the privacy of a training session 

Do you have confidence this is happening in training? 

[jscuk2004]

1 hour ago, maqroll said:

We don't seem to have an identity or discernable style of play or even direction. We should be improving, not regressing. Coaching staff needs to figure this out, fast. We are leaking goals at an alarming rate.

I can tell you without any coaching staff looking in to it. We are simply not pressing high enough as a team. It's no good one or two going. Every player has to go man for man. Arsenal was so much better than us as playing in our half today it was shameful 

[MrBlack]

Terrible performance. Has got to drop one of Watkins or Ings to benefit the team. On form  it has to be Watkins that is dropped (unless he is played as a winger).

I could understand him sticking with the 352 while our best wingers were injured or lacking fitness, but with Bailey back and enough options (Buendia, Traore, AEG, or JPB) for the other wing,  there is no excuse to now persist with it. 

Disappointed he didn't change it earlier in the game when it was abundantly clear we were being ripped apart and creating nothing to boot. We almost got away with it, but without that dubious VAR call he may well have kept the formation the same even longer so who knows.

Getting into need to win territory, but if not a win, we need a good performance and a team of players playing in positions they're comfortable doing so.

This means, no Targett at wing back, no back 3, and no 2 man front line. 

[briny_ear]

Just as a small side issue, I thought Buendia looked completely out of his depth this evening.

[briny_ear]

I thought this evening’s performance was at least 50% about how Smith set us up. And yet he seemed to blame the  players 100% for the poor performance.

Out of interest, can anyone remember Smith ever taking any responsibility for a bad performance?

Edited October 23, 2021 by briny_ear

[ismail-villa]

If he had balls, he'd have made a change before half time as it was clear as day the 3 at the back was not working.