Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Leeds

[Zatman]

Absolute shocker tonight. Leeds were there for a hammering and we threw it away. Dreadful in game management and lets be honest we were lucky to get a draw 

[MaVilla]

2 minutes ago, Rightdm00 said:

Our quality got us the draw. Tactics not so much. Way to open, played right into Bielsa's hands. Still not a fan of this super narrow formation. How do you only have 39% possession when every player never leaves the center 3rd. 

by having thick players who panic and boot it all over the place, and other players who panic and cant pass the ball 5 yards without looking like they have seen a ghost.

[hippo]

47 minutes ago, AntrimBlack said:

I know you may not mean me, and I certainly would not say they were total shit. They are PL players after all, so that would be silly. What I said was that many of them will need to be upgraded if we are to make an impression in this league.

Just to be clear; that would be Mings, Konsa, McGinn, Luiz and Watkins.

And what calibre of club would want Ming's/Konsa/Mcginn ? - probably premier League clubs ??? - that should tell you something.

Going to need a massive budget to be bringing in players better than those three.

 

 

[bannedfromHandV]

Bit of a nightmare game for us, glad we came through without losing.

Injuries/knocks for Buendia, Cash and Coutinho, red card for Konsa, we could be quite light on numbers for the game on Sunday

[TRO]

Deja vu.

[hippo]

24 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Martinez????

I said if.

If people think the players are the problem - show me better ones.

We won't get a better keeper than Martinez. And upgrading Ming's & Konsa won't be easy.

It's not the players imo.

[Tomaszk]

11 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

We've bought Digne and loaned Coutinho on " monstrous " contracts, don't they have 2 - 4 assists/goals between them in what 2 - 3 games so far?

Those weren't the issue.

As a matter of fact, we might need a CM/CDM and a couple of defenders who can  command " monstrous contracts " to push on, as it's our " Young and hungry " Championship players actually letting us down for the most part right now. Lo

The likes of JJ the most.obvious exception.

Did we win? Did we play well? Did we even deserve a point? No to all three IMO.

I don't care who scores. I want the team playing well and ideally winning.

Bringing old players in on big money means you must succeed now. Otherwise what's the point? Play some/invest in some younger players and build, while spending less money.

If the plan is to do a MON and keep buying overpriced players on big deals, I don't need to tell you where we'll end up.

Lange needs to do his job this summer and make sure we have a rounded squad, not one only suited to only this very narrow, unique formation.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Tomaszk

[TRO]

25 minutes ago, the_eristic said:

Silly game, like it always is vs Leeds. At one point they had like 9 players in/around our box for a throw-in. Needed calmer heads in defense, but everyone in the back seemed to be so unsettled.

Needed Sanson in for McGinn or Dougie or even when Buendia went off. This game was pretty much made for his style and those two were just not at the races, a couple decent moments aside.

I could understand bringing on the experience of Young were we trying to see out the game and protect a lead, but not really who you want if you need to dig out a winner against the most aggressive team in the league.

Ollie needs to sit for a game or two. If he isn't pressing as hard and he isn't winning headers and he isn't holding the ball up well, might as well play the guy who can finish, at least.

Konsa's second yellow was dumb, but I thought the first was actually James fouling him tbqh. Haven't seen a replay, though.

it was, just poor refereeing.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Ponky said:

James had a blinder for them, but should have got the yellow that Konsa got and thus should not have been on the pitch. 

McGinn looks a bit unfit and extra meatbally - looked to be jogging at times when Leeds were breaking forward. 

Love seeing Ramsey get his skates on every time Phil gets the ball. 

We lack genuine pace. Having the opportunity to bring Bailey on in that last 20 could have been handy. 

one of their wingers alway does against us.....the issue is about stopping them.

If James was playing for us.....He would be stopped.

[TRO]

3-1 up under the lights, full house at home.

We have to be better than this, it happens too often.

Once again, we showed we can create and score goals.....we just can't stop others, from scoring.

Their goals were piss poor to concede.

[OutByEaster?]

Not really seen anything interns of highlights as of yet, so might be completely off on some of the refereeing decisions.

I thought we played beautfully in patches, we're got some wonderful talent going forward and when they click we score, I thought Coutinho was brilliant, he looks sharp, confident and he has amazing quality on the ball, coupled with the effort and smarts of Buendia, Watkins hard work and the incredible running of Ramsey, we will score goals against anyone. Our second goal was a work of art from Coutinho and our third was a run by Ramsey that came from absolutely nowhere - if that group can find some consistency we will be a force.

In midfield, I thought Ramsey was a threat running with and without the ball and did okay otherwise, I thought Luiz was good, giving us a way out from the back with the ball, covering spaces and joining in when he could, some of his passing was excellent, but I thought McGinn really let us down - there was nothing from him today, he never seemed to leave an area of the pitch the size of a tennis court and there was no bite or enthusiasm, he looked like a 37 year old not a 27 year old - unless he plays a game every three days, his fitness just flops.

Defensively we were a shambles - Konsa seemed confused at times, the two full backs were constantly beaten to the byline and with the exception of Luiz there didn't seem to be any cover from midfield at all - I'd exclude Mings from that, I thought he had a really good game, but too often it looked like Leeds versus Mings whenever they attacked us and try as he might, there are only so many goal line clearances you can make when you're the only one defending. In the first half, down our left James was running into the gap in front of Konsa and Konsa couldn't go with him because McGinn was huffing and puffing ten yards too far forward and down our right, Harrison was floating in crosses for fun because Cash couldn't get near him.

Here's an unpopular opinion while we're there - Martinez is in poor form, the Martinez of last season comes and collects some of those crosses today. If you can't stop crosses coming in and you don't defend crosses well and your keeper isn't coming for any of them, you're in trouble.

Defensively I thought we looked weak and we didn't keep the ball well enough to do give us the chance to do less defending - those are both things that need looking at back at Bodymoor.

So, we're a bit of a tactical patchwork, or perhaps we're just a side that really suits Leeds, but we need to tighten up so that we can take advantage of the wonderful talent we've got going forwards.

The key period of the match for me was from around eighty to eighty five minutes - at that point it was clear that Leeds had gassed, there was no more running left in them, we'd sniffed it and we were going for them, only one winner looked likely - sadly, with the game becoming chaotic and fractious, the referee lost control of things and gave it back to them. There were players down with cramp all over the place, it was a little bit frantic and he seemed to have some sort of adrenaline rush and went with it - it's the time where you need calm heads, especially from the chap with the whistle. From where I was I thought Konsa was fouled for his first booking and I initially thought the ref was coming over to book Dan James. His second one I didn't see as my eye was drawn to Watkins who was throwing a defender to the ground at the time just behind play.

The Cash booking annoyed me though, Luiz went down the right hand side, found himself in a dead end, turned out and was fouled, one of about fifteen little fouls that the ref didn't give for us on the night, Cash, clearly frustrated then threw himself at the loose ball, got there just ahead of Raphina and put in a fine, firm but fair challenge. Our bench was up complaining about the Leeds foul, their bench leapt up complaining about the Cash challenge and an over excited referee saw all that commotion and assumed something must have been so bad that he should do something - so he booked Cash. For me it was a good example of how his own lack of composure crept into his refereeing - it was a poor game from him with a really poor last ten minutes.

All of that said, I thought a draw was probably a fair result, we looked brilliant when we clicked and unexpectedly dodgy at the back. It was a great game for the neutral, a slightly frustrating one for us and another to add to what is becoming a fascinating rivalry, full of animosity and energy - Villa vs. Leeds games are an occasion and I'm really looking forward to our visit to Elland Road.

A slightly stale cake, beautifully iced with plenty for Mr Gerrard to think about back at the bakery.

 

[Only2McInallys]

I was worried when I saw some prematch stuff about how this was going to be a walkover.Have those people watched us versus Bielsa?Some of our attacking play is beautiful to watch with Coutinho showing us he is world class.

Ramsey is an incredibly skilful and deadly finisher.A guaranteed starter.

I looked at our bench before the game,it looked weak.We need Bailey and Traore back,if they had been available they would have been very useful in the last 15 minutes.

Why do we seem so soft and concede really sloppy goals?No one player is responsible and people who are picking out Martinez,Mings and Konsa I think are misguided.

We lack a real imposing physical defensive midfielder.A Fabinho,Rice ,Fernandinho, someone to provide the back four with some protection.

Edited February 10, 2022 by Only2McInallys

[tonyh29]

Home from the game now and just watched the highlights on match of the day

i still can’t see how it’s anything other than a foul on Konsa for his first yellow , the second one was stupid and he did leave a bit of elbow in there even if their keeper did  do a Schmeichel and fake injury 

I thought Watkins had a shocker , and for two of our goals it didn’t appear as though he was celebrating with the team , but it could just be the way motd cuts away from the footage … but it’s time for Ings to get an extended run now whilst Ollie sorts out whatever it is that’s wrong with him

the game was effectively over for us  once Beundia and Couthino went off , the promising thing for us in the next few weeks is that we’d be looking at Bailey and Traore coming on rather than Chuck and Young 

Defence had a shocker , we always seem to struggle v pace … joelinton always panics Mings so might be a blessing to have House their next week for some aerial and physical ability … 

And special mention to the ref for missing  just about everything Leeds did and allowed them to kick and kick and kick a bit more 

[OutByEaster?]

Having read through this thread, I didn't think Watkins was as bad as he's being painted, he put in a shift and was a whisker away a couple of times from getting on the end of balls fizzed across the box - on another day he'd have put one of those away and be being lauded here.

I'd also say I think there's some really harsh verdicts on Chukwuemeka who I thought looked quite lively when he came on as a ten, he looked our most likely player to create something going into the last ten minutes.

 

[The Fun Factory]

For the neutral great fun and jolly japes.

For a Villa fan 10 mins of okay football, about 30 mins of great football, and 50 mins of poor football.

We haven't dominated a side at home all season. 

Coutinho is world class but we still haven't got a class DM playing for us. And have failed to do this in the last 2 windows.

Mings and Konsa are off form which is worrying. Watkins has regressed a lot this year. I would try Ings on Sunday.

We are  a deeply mid table side and we are still not a balanced XI  post Grealish.

A opportunity missed tonight. A long way off from Europe which I presume is the medium to long term aim.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, M_Afro said:

Threw it away. Midfield awful. Centre backs awful. Coutinho wonderful. What has happened to Watkins?!

The only way we was going to win that was scoring 6.

The defending needs a BMH inquest.

[OutByEaster?]

1 minute ago, tonyh29 said:

Defence had a shocker , we always seem to struggle v pace … joelinton always panics Mings so might be a blessing to have House their next week for some aerial and physical ability … 

I think it'll be a Mings/Chambers combo at the weekend, but thankfully Joelinton has moved back into midfield where he can bother someone else.

[Wurzel]

The reality is that in the Summer we need at least one quality central defender and a defensive midfielder to progress. It seems that the owners are serious about going for Europe and there are too many mid to lower Prem players at the club. That will probably mean some out goings. I wonder if Arsenal offered £40 million for Watkins if we would decline. Not sure if Ings has a future at the club either, so I wouldn't be surprised to see both gone in the summer and a bigger name coming in. If Utd offered £50 million for McGinn I think that would be difficult to turn down, and Luiz's future must be in question. I know this post sounds very damning but I sense that the owners are no longer going to tolerate mediocre, and with Newcastle looking like they are going to stay up they cannot wait to see if things improve with some of these players. I have a feeling it will be a very big summer both with incomings and outgoings.

[TRO]

7 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Home from the game now and just watched the highlights on match of the day

i still can’t see how it’s anything other than a foul on Konsa for his first yellow , the second one was stupid and he did leave a bit of elbow in there even if their keeper did  do a Schmeichel and fake injury 

I thought Watkins had a shocker , and for two of our goals it didn’t appear as though he was celebrating with the team , but it could just be the way motd cuts away from the footage … but it’s time for Ings to get an extended run now whilst Ollie sorts out whatever it is that’s wrong with him

the game was effectively over for us  once Beundia and Couthino went off , the promising thing for us in the next few weeks is that we’d be looking at Bailey and Traore coming on rather than Chuck and Young 

Defence had a shocker , we always seem to struggle v pace … joelinton always panics Mings so might be a blessing to have House their next week for some aerial and physical ability … 

And special mention to the ref for missing  just about everything Leeds did and allowed them to kick and kick and kick a bit more 

without the ball, Leeds were a menace to us, all over us, sure they was bullying us and got away with it......what did we do to counter, fanny adams, stood off....I was expecting better than that from an SG team.

You cannot stand off like we do and expect anything much out of a game.

[TRO]

4 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

The reality is that in the Summer we need at least one quality central defender and a defensive midfielder to progress. It seems that the owners are serious about going for Europe and there are too many mid to lower Prem players at the club. That will probably mean some out goings. I wonder if Arsenal offered £40 million for Watkins if we would decline. Not sure if Ings has a future at the club either, so I wouldn't be surprised to see both gone in the summer and a bigger name coming in. If Utd offered £50 million for McGinn I think that would be difficult to turn down, and Luiz's future must be in question. I know this post sounds very damning but I sense that the owners are no longer going to tolerate mediocre, and with Newcastle looking like they are going to stay up they cannot wait to see if things improve with some of these players. I have a feeling it will be a very big summer both with incomings and outgoings.

My worry is off the ball, we have few willing runners, or players to close down.....we just give the opposition time to bring the ball under control.

We rely on great moments in a game.....we are not up for it for the majority of the game.