Ratings & Reactions: Brentford v Villa

[OutByEaster?]

Without meaning to be unkind to them, there are only two things that will keep Brentford up, their start and us. They're the second worst side in the division and we've been awful in losing to them - they've had four points out of us, fair play to them.

We were comfortably the better side for the first 40 minutes, should have been further ahead, hadn't clicked and weren't playing well.

We started the second half like we'd been put to sleep by a vet. It was slow, it was lazy, it lacked conviction, it lacked energy and it lacked quality - the worst we've played under Gerrard and a return to where we were when he arrived. 

It's clear we don't have a squad that matches our current ambitions and there is a lot of work to do if we want to walk what we've been talking at board level.

A very poor performance, losing to a poor side - and a lot of questions about who we want to be.

 

[El Zen]

@OutByEaster? said it well in the match thread. It’s a game they didn’t deserve to win, but we deserved to lose.

Just completely came apart after starting well and getting a really well taken goal. The two involved in that goal were really the only ones to give an acceptable performance. The rest were way off. 

Trez can get in the sea for that at the end there. Just blatantly trying to cheat. Piss poor. Could have put a cross in too, had he not dived.

Edited January 2, 2022 by El Zen

[stewiek2]

We lacked intensity out of possession, purpose with it. I don't get it, intensity and purpose should be a given from a football side yet once again we don't see it.  Am I missing something here!?

 

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, Pissflaps said:

We keep buying players and in 6 months decide they are shit and need to buy replacements

Agreed. These are decent players if not quite top notch. 

They are better than the replacements I fear will arrive. Time will tell.

[mykeyb]

12 minutes ago, HalfTimePost said:

Poor game management from Gerrard.

Traore very rusty and left on for 80 minutes.

Trezeguet not played in over a year and was never clinical before the injury... with Chuk, El Ghazi and even Bidace on the bench and instead Trez id trusted for the final 10 minutes. He's about to go away to a tournament anyway, why even bother?

Truly awful. I thought better of him than this. 

Totally agree.

If Deano was manager he would be getting pelters and quite rightly so.

[The_Steve]

That performance shows again how brittle the squad is and what Gerrard has to work with. A lot of important players missing, and yet, there's no excuse for the final 30 minutes in a game we were much, much better than Brentford for.

[nick76]

Just now, villalad21 said:

Smith has recruited a pile of s*** of a squad.

We need another rebuild I'm afraid. Very few of these players are good enough.

Mind blown that Smith is to blame for that! You can’t be serious…

[picicata]

Utter dreary rubbish with no intensity and no flair. Shite.

[andym]

He ballsed that one up

The lack of real killer instinct has been present in recent games (full backs stop going forward etc) and it has cost us today

Need to be actively creating more ourselves - this isnt Scotland where teams will gift you goals no matter how bad you play

Edited January 2, 2022 by andym

[Dale]

3 minutes ago, Spoony said:

Really shit. We have to ditch our crappy attacking wingers, take the loss and get some new ones. 

For me that isn’t on Gerrard. We setup and started well but Christ this team is so fragile. We really need to overhaul our awful but-part players. I get that some of them have been injured and sick and need time but there’s some (like Trez) who we just know will never be good enough.

We need a lot of signings, and frankly we need to ditch Lange and anyone else who has wasted so much money on this weak, weak team.

We've lacked any creativity in his tenure so far. Rarely get to 1 on xG. 

[chappy]

3 minutes ago, andym said:

 

Teams arent going to gift you goals like in Scotland

It’s a shame we can’t play against ourselves really

[srsmithusa]

Not as bad as some comments on here, but still really, really bad performance. Need some business done in this window including several to leave.

[Laughable Chimp]

We really weren't that bad imo. We had the better chances and were overall the better team. Brentford were just very clinical today.

[fightoffyour]

3 minutes ago, andym said:

A disgraceful performance frankly

Got the lead and then tried to hold on for 75 minutes doing **** all

Gerrard better think again if he reckons you can get away with that, and get away with looking to create just 1 or 2 chances per game

Teams arent going to gift you goals like in Scotland

[The Fun Factory]

When is the last time we beat Brentford? We always draw at home and lose away.

[VillaFaninLondon]

11 defeats out of 19. Score first but still lose for the second game running. Now seems we can't beat the better teams or the teams in and around us. 

 

Time will tell if Gerrard is any good or whether he just had a good start but I'm starting to have doubts after that. Far too easily beat just like we were under Smith regularly.

[trevor]

A reminder that only goals matter in football, have as much possession as you like but if you can’t create much in the final third it counts for nothing. Don’t usually single out players but Traore was wasteful and as much as I love Trezeguet that dive was embarassing. Expect Gerrard to rip into them after this.

[jackbauer24]

Targett - loads of effort, no talent at all.

Traore - loads of talent, no effort at all.

Trez - I really think bans should come inforthat type of simulation. Disgraceful and stupid in the world of VAR.

Hause - Great in the air, shit on the ground/positioning

If we have any desires to improve or creep in to Europe, those players shouldn't be anywhere near our team.

That's not to say others were good. Luiz was particularly poor, Ings offers little other than pot shots. But, ultimately, we are a weak side. Physically and mentally we can not cope with pressure. 

So 2022 starts well...

[Shirtman]

Not mentally tough enough. Traore poor. We missed Mings. Ings better than Watkins, but tenacity that I thought Gerrard had brought seems to have gone.

[stewiek2]

We had everything in the tank to won today and we didn't. We simply have re ruit d wrong. Ignore skill, we have mentally weak players.