Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Chelsea

[chappy]

Frustrating evening. Voted Luiz MOTM, thought he, Sanson and Ramsey were all excellent in the first half in particular.

Watkins and Ings isn’t working. Subs should’ve come sooner I think. Good sub by Tuchel at half time to take off a walking card in Chalobah and bring on a 90m striker. Can’t give him too much credit though as it was strange that Lukaku hadn’t started.

Thought the ref and assistants were poor all night. The worst one for me (haven’t seen it back yet) was what looked like a great penalty shout for us at 1-2 but the flag went up for offside. They showed a replay on the big screen and he looked on to me. Not sure why VAR didn’t check it??? Also how desperate was he to book Emi before the first pen? What justification was there for that yellow? Their timewasting was embarrassing in the second half for the European champions. Also 4 mins added on and he seemed to let the pen and celebrations count toward that?

We lost the game in how flat we were in the ten minutes after half time. Poor challenges in the box clearly don’t help.

I’ll end on a positive. It’s Bertrand Traore’s world and we’re living in it. Loved having him back on the pitch and he showed he usual box of tricks, was unlucky not set up a goal.

Just got to hope I managed to avoid catching Covid at the ground now!

[flashingqwerty]

3 hours ago, osmark86 said:

ok I'll rephrase.

10 players are doing well, but that last player isn't putting away any of the chances the rest of the team provides. So change that one player with another one that is firing on all cylinders. profit.

would you say that the one player change in the above scenario made a difference? the other players continued to perform, but the player subbed in outperformed the previous player and so made the differ....

 

...come on mate

Still not massive, but I'll leave it there

[El Segundo]

Bad decisions and needless individual errors at both ends cost us.    

We were the better side first half and would have gone in deservedly, if somewhat fortunately, ahead if it weren’t for a massively idiotic challenge by Cash.  Utter stupidity. Mind you that chance only came about because we gave the ball back to them 3 times in the lead up – Buendia twice and then Ramsey.

2nd half they came out in a higher gear, more intense in their pressing, while we seemed to be half asleep the first 15 minutes.  I think maybe we missed Gerrard’s half time pep talk.

They were able to bring on a £97m striker and it made the difference, but he was helped because Mings and Konsa seemed to allow him to psyche them out. 

Lukaku aside, I honestly don’t think they were that much better than us quality wise.  We played some lovely moves first half but always managed to mess up the final ball.  

 

[OLDVILLAIN]

Ings and Watkins together do not suit the way gerrard wants us to play..

Poor performance from one or two today and we really missed the presence of mcginn in mid.

1 shot on target tells the tale and with 2 disaster tackle penalties and the plastic chelsea fans outsinging us the writing was on the wall.

[sheepyvillian]

3 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

Mings would of been better concentrating on trying to get in front of Lukaku and winning the ball rather than shoulder barging him. 

Mings would have been better concentrating full stop.

[Marka Ragnos]

Not much of a footballologist, but I’m thinking we need forwards who can put the ball in the net. 

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

5 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

He scores against everyone

 

12 appearances, 4 goals this season. 3 vs. Us

I thought Kante for the hour he played, put in a masterclass if you watch him he was so good for them.

I really liked the first half from us, impressive but we had to make it count and come in with the lead. Cash being over zealous gave them the encouragement and route back into the game and Tuchel will always be proactive and work out what needs changing. Its disappointing because I felt there was a chance there for us today to go and put a marker down but our second half was way off it and ultimately we deserved nothing.

Stupid from Mings, this game was the cut off for yellows to be wiped but he now will miss Brentford. At least we’ll have the manager and the meatball back, have to go and win that really- Brentford are in poor form.

Hopefully, this time next year, we’ll be looking back at a positive 2022 full of optimism and excitement about where we might be going. All the best for the new year lads. UTV  

[Zatman]

11 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Chelsea completely dominated second half, think first half would be a kinder view as we had spells when we knocked it around them nicely and created some good openings.

West Ham only had 36% possession defeating Chelsea 3-2 three weeks ago.

According to Flashscore we had more possession in the 2nd half

[villalad21]

For all the supposedly good play in the first half we had no shots on target. 

El Ghazis shot was  the first attempt on target. 

The game was overall really poor imo. 

[Philosopher]

So first half had we been more composed in front of goal we could have scored 2 or 3. If Cash hadn't tried to be too clever in his own box and played it safe there is no way Chelsea would have scored. They struggled to create. 

Second half Lukaku comes on and there isn't one defender that can stand up to his strength and pace. To make matters worse our passing becomes less ambitious as our movement off the ball deteriorated. Mings tried but got bullied. Konsa on a couple of occasions got pickpocketed in our defensive third, Targett got owned by Lukaku for the second penalty. 

The ref gave us nothing. But gave them freekicks around our box for players throwing themselves to the ground.

Sanson was good in the first half, but faded badly in the second, he should've been replaced around the 55 - 60 minute mark. Ings once again was poor. We look better when Ings goes left or right and Ollie stays central. Buendia has actually looked better coming in from the left touchline. Traore was lively when he came on. Chucky couldn't get into the game. El-Ghazi was piss poor.

Cash was all over the shop defensively, but a good outlet offensively. His final pass or cross is letting him down a bit.

 

[Tomaszk]

Good to be disappointed with a loss to Chelsea I suppose.

Thought a lack of belief cost us, along with maybe the firm rigidness of the system.

A lot of times we ended up with JJ or Sanson on the ball at left/right back and no one at all to pass to apart from Doug square. The two 10s must make themselves more available.

I pray and hope that he sees if we're going to play Ings and Watkins, Ollie has to be the one up front, with Ings in behind. Just has to. If it isn't that way round, you can't play them both.

[OutByEaster?]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

For all the supposedly good play in the first half we had no shots on target. 

I'm guessing that shots that are blocked by defenders aren't counted by the BBC, Buendia's was definitely on target and I have a feeling there were a couple more.

 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Was a very strange game though.

I thought in the first half we played some brilliant and confident football.

We didn't look overawed or fearful at all, even had Chelsea on the ropes at one point, looking like they should seriously worry about us 

I think the second half and the manner of it has made people forget we were actually playing very well.

[OutByEaster?]

As good as Lukaku is and was yesterday and as much as he made a huge contribution to their win, I think the change in the second half was more to do with how Tuchel changed the shape with him rather than the player himself.

In the first half they lined up like this:

---------------------------Mendy---------------------------

--------Chalobah------Silva-----Rudiger---------

James--------Kante------Jorginho-----Alonso

------Mount-------Pulisic-----Hudson-Odoi----

And the problem that gave them was that the front three struggled to close us down - we got our full backs high up the pitch and pushed their wingbacks deep and then when Pulisic and co tried to press our centre halves we were able to get Luiz and Sanson into the space between them and Kante/Jorginho - we looked so comfortable in possession in the first half because of this, we were able to build from the back and get Dougie and co space and time on the ball - we were then drawing out Kante and Jorginho and making space behind them for Buendia and Ramsey. Tactically their shape suited us down to the ground.

The change he made was more than bringing on a big man, They went to:

---------------------------Mendy-----------------------------

James----Christensen---Rudiger------Alonso

-----------------Kovacic------Jorginho----------------

------Mount-------Pulisic-----Hudson-Odoi------

------------------------Lukaku-------------------------------

Which meant that suddenly our centrebacks were occupied by Lukaku and trying to get the ball out from the back meant having to attempt to hit Luiz and Sanson who were now outnumbered three to two in that area - if you look at the start of the second half it completely paralysed us - we had no way out, we were trying to chip balls to the fullbacks or hit long balls to Watkins to try to hold - neither of which were working - and that difficult in getting out allowed Chelsea to push their full backs on and made us even more outnumbered in key areas. It completely nullified us.

We seemed to find some sort of adjustment in the last fifteen minutes with the subs, but that first half hour of the second half, we were frustrated, we were confused and we were second best. As good as Lukaku was, it was the change of shape that caused that.

The big Belgian was a real handful, but the skinny German won the game for them.

 

[Vive_La_Villa]

5 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Was a very strange game though.

I thought in the first half we played some brilliant and confident football.

We didn't look overawed or fearful at all, even had Chelsea on the ropes at one point, looking like they should seriously worry about us 

I think the second half and the manner of it has made people forget we were actually playing very well.

Also some seem to forget we’re playing the champions of Europe and they bought a 100m player on at half time to change the game. 

Perspective gets lost whenever we lose a game. 

[TRO]

15 hours ago, Robtaylor200 said:

Played Ok, created chances but didn't finish them off, then ran out of ideas and creativity

I think we just saw the difference between a middle of the league team and a top 6 team, it cant all be achieved by just hard work. We also need players in the same category as they have 

It can't Rob, you are right.....but the 3 top teams we played, work harder off the ball, and are quicker to the ball....and don't lose it quite so cheaply.

We are too slow in thought and subsequently movement, for that level of football.

Edited December 27, 2021 by TRO

[TRO]

10 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Not much of a footballologist, but I’m thinking we need forwards who can put the ball in the net. 

or even show a threat...all our forward work is done in front of the oppositions defence against the top teams.

Edited December 27, 2021 by TRO

[TRO]

13 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

I don't think Gerrard has worked out how to get the balance right against better teams. He's been overly cautious, which just ends up in the inevitable defeat. That was the good thing about Smith, he would always look to be proactive against the big boys and this lead to some decent results. 

He has been with us a month.....and disruption to go with it.

working things out and getting them done are 2 different things.

[Laughable Chimp]

2 hours ago, Zatman said:

According to Flashscore we had more possession in the 2nd half

I can see that. First half we barely had possession anyway, we just defended well(mostly) and were really good on the counter

[TRO]

12 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

Every tactic has weaknesses and being able to exploit them successfully is the key. Easier said than done, but if the plan is right and the players execute it correctly then you have a reasonable chance against anybody. 

Tactics are just one element of the game.....if you don't win your duels like Mings and Target, the inevitable can happen.....if you are slower to the ball, you lose the initiative of the game....If you lose the ball cheaply you are inviting the opponent back in to the game.

Tactics imo are overstated, relevant, yes....but many other factors, need to be right too.