Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Chelsea

[foreveryoung]

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

Gerrard was in comms with them, so I'm guessing he made the call on changes

It's much harder not being there and not feeling it.

[HanoiVillan]

Just now, osmark86 said:

you'd think that it was pretty clear that sometimes we just go against teams that have a lot more quality than we do..

Indeed. I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect us to give those teams a game, and not just roll over, and I think we did that for 45 minutes today. Of course it's disappointing we couldn't keep it up for 90, but I just think it's very unfair for people to just simply ignore that some of these players have either been sick themselves or haven't trained much this week, and that the manager wasn't even in the stadium. I don't like excuses either, but sometimes you do have to accept that the circumstances are very loaded against you.

[nick76]

8 minutes ago, LondonVillian said:

lot of weak minds that just see chelsea on a bit of paper and just accept that we should lose. 

The game was there to be won today especially in the first half wasted many chances with poor decision making.

Yes lukkaku made a difference but again all their goals were from mistakes.

They didnt open us up at all only - in stoppage time when we all went all out attack.

 

We didnt open them up either at all today and never looked like it.  They didnt allow us to and the times we did get close to their box, Silva cut us out.

Our goal was a deflected own goal. 

Our first real shot on target was the 79 minute, a weak effort from El Ghazi

[foreveryoung]

11 minutes ago, Nicho said:

Lukaku and tactics changed the game in the second half. 
 

We also looked absolutely **** after about 70.

little bit of momentum with the subs but we didn’t lay a glove despite looking quite dangerous in the first half.

I have no faith that Ings or Watkins can work. 

Corrected for you.

[LondonVillian]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

We didnt open them up either at all today and never looked like it.  They didnt allow us to and the times we did get close to their box, Silva cut us out.

Our goal was a deflected own goal. 

Our first real shot on target was the 79 minute, a weak effort from El Ghazi

We did though just watkins emi and ings choosing the wrong option. 

[Genie]

I was really disappointed to see Mings gift Lukaku a free header for the second. I was also disappointed Martinez didn’t give him a bollocking.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

It's much harder not being there and not feeling it.

agree but maybe also being less in the heat of the moment he can have a clearer head and see the game as a whole.  Despite being a season ticket holder I couldnt go today because of personal reasons and I can see the difference in my attitude being there than here...I'm only 150% heated at home compared to 200% in the ground 

[pacbuddies]

15 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

I know he **** your mrs but he's gone now, let it go.

Are you 12?

[osmark86]

Just now, LondonVillian said:

We did though just watkins emi and ings choosing the wrong option. 

yeah we had some atrocious decision making in the final third today. I think Ollie was the biggest culprit there.

[nick76]

1 minute ago, LondonVillian said:

We did though just watkins emi and ings choosing the wrong option. 

so basically we didnt open them up with those chances you're referring to.  On the xG scale those we likely extremely low

[Talldarkandransome]

We missed Mcginn today and probably Gerrard too. 

Good to see Traore back, Ramsey seemed to be very deep for most of the game. Apart from silly mistakes the defence performed well and the midfield was ok too.

Poor decisions up front cost us and Chelsea didn't exactly pepper our goal with worldies or half chances. 

 

[nick76]

1 minute ago, osmark86 said:

yeah we had some atrocious decision making in the final third today. I think Ollie was the biggest culprit there.

why is that, he used to make great decisions but his decision making whether Ings is in the team or not has been pretty damn awful this season.  He looks like he's lost a yard of pace as well, I noticed it again today, maybe he's just not fully fit.

[mottaloo]

22 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

"Tuchels tactics changes the game." Your man changes the shape from the 2nd most used formation currently to the most used... and brings on a 100m striker. It ain't rocket science 

Right. Okay.

Perhaps I'm referring more to the first game. Also,  I've seen Lukaku have some anonymous games for club and Country....just not against us.

[Beastmix]

No issue with either pen, but the refereeing was generally poor today. Gave us next to nothing in the middle of the park.

Our passing in the 2nd half was diabolical. We still struggle against teams with a high press - a hang over issue from the previous regime for Gerrard and co to work on.

[tinker]

You could argue the Chelsea defense was the difference, they made some great interceptions and blocks in the first half when we had half chances. The second we gave them a free header and a free run at goal bringing them down in the box when we should done it outside the area, niave .

[nick76]

1 minute ago, mottaloo said:

Right. Okay.

Perhaps I'm referring more to the first game. Also,  I've seen Lukaku have some anonymous games for club and Country....just not against us.

some strikers score loads against a particular club, Lukaku has a history of enjoying scoring down the years against us.

[IrishVilla10]

On a positive note. Great to see Bert back. In the first half some of our passing was lovely. The ball Douglas played to Ollie first time was ridiculous

[osmark86]

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

why is that, he used to make great decisions but his decision making whether Ings is in the team or not has been pretty damn awful this season.  He looks like he's lost a yard of pace as well, I noticed it again today, maybe he's just not fully fit.

he's in poor form imo.

that doesn't mean I don't think he's a good footballer. he's been great for us, but this year he just hasn't hit the ground running. I really hope he comes good the second half of the season, but right now he's nowhere near it.

[LondonVillian]

4 minutes ago, nick76 said:

so basically we didnt open them up with those chances you're referring to.  On the xG scale those we likely extremely low

a chance is a chance to score we had many chances to score but the wrong pass or shot was chosen

 

[ciggiesnbeer]

I am ready for a winter break for football. Seems like we always get stuffed this time of year. Oh well. Its Chelsea that's a lot of expensive players it happens.