Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Leeds

[AntrimBlack]

12 hours ago, TomC said:

Chuk wasn't anything special but I don't think he did anything wrong. Ramsey didn't look good in many of his appearances last year and look where he is now.

Young wasn't on very long, but I didn't see where he did anything wrong, either.

 

Neither did anything wrong. Nor did they provide anything. Were we trying to win the game or trying to defend a draw? I am not sure what Gerrard wanted of them.

I am not blaming them for anything. By the time they came on the mistakes had already been made. I really meant the quality of our subs, not their input.

[AntrimBlack]

11 hours ago, hippo said:

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.

 

 

I agree. It will be expensive. But do you think those three are good enough to propel us up the table? I don't.

[El Segundo]

Martinez - I’m not convinced he is quite the Keeper many think he is. 

Cash - In the passage of play leading to Leeds’ third goal Struijk was allowed to win two headers, the first was cleared off the line by Mings, the second was also blocked by Mings but rebounded to James who scored.  On both occasions it was Matty Cash “marking” Struijk and he did a terrible job, but many seem to be blaming Mings. 

Mings - was all over the place the first 20 minutes but after that I thought he was very good.

Konsa - once again failed to close down quickly enough to allow a shot at goal (see also Brentford’s first goal) and then got two stupid and avoidable yellow cards.  Again I’m not convinced he’s as good as many seem to think he is.

Digne – played very well I thought

Luiz – Typical Dougie, some good things some classic brain farts

McGinn – Decent game I thought

Ramsey – looking like we’ve unearthed a star, great runs and cool finishes. Perhaps needs to work on his tracking back.

Coutinho – world class, simple as

Buendia – I call him the nearly man, so much of what he tries is nearly brilliant but not quite. When he gets it right it’s Coutinho-like.

Watkins - needs to take some lessons from Keinan Davis on how to keep the ball under pressure from defenders.  Almost every time he either mis-controls it or else controls it but has neither the strength nor the skill to stop the defender dispossessing him.  I even think using Davis as a focal point for the interplay of Coutinho, Buendia, Ramsey McGinn et al would work really well. 

Young – did ok when he came on

Chuk – looked half-soaked and was playing daft passes in dangerous positions. His worst showing so far.

Chambers – did the job he needed to do to see time out.

Gerrard - First half in particular Bielsa countered Gerrard’s “keep it narrow” approach by overloading the wide areas with up to three players attacking at speed who then played little triangles around the defenders who went out to challenge them, and into the gaps they left in the middle.  Lack of cover from midfielders exacerbated this.  It was like a knife through butter first half. Gerrard didn’t really do anything to counter this directly.

Ref - did one good thing, playing advantage to allow our third goal to happen.  Other than that he made was pretty poor I think, letting some blatant fouls go and giving others for nothing. 

Overall - Our defending was awful but I wouldn’t just blame the defence for that, they were left exposed too often. Meanwhile their man-marking seemed to have us rattled when on the ball.  It was only Coutinho’s brilliance and Ramsey’s cool finishing that got us back into it and then a

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

 And a new goalkeeper, so I'm surprised Martinez is still in the team.

He wasn't great last night - but no where near being dropped. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

In hindsight a really disappointing performance last night...

To give away the win when 3-1 up is just so Villa.

We couldn't match the physicality and levels of Leeds, you'd think we might have prepared for this and dictate our own play.

The positive though was our three goals all of which were sublime, well-worked team goals.

Their goals pretty much self-enforced errors which we should have defended better at. Yes we can point fingers at the defenders but those infront have a job to do and there is again a lot of finger-pointing at the likes of McGinn and Luiz yet again!

We do miss the Marvelous one, to not replace him in January was a big mistake. Again like last year and the year before teams can play through us far too easily.

[tezzaleed]

think I'd agree with most of what has been already said but I did think Mings was unlucky to be playing alongside konsa.  Konsa looked disinterested and really poor.  he needs to be dropped and given an absolute rocket for that performance.  If he plays like that again then I'd get rid.  also cash seems to be really struggling to know what his role is under Gerrard and as such his defending is awful.

Thought Buendia was excellent in the first half and was instrumental in getting us in the game.  coutinho and Ramsey were class together at times.

[Tomaszk]

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

I've full faith in Gerrard.

Good.

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

We are being undone by player errors. Gerrard needs the summer to solve the problem positions of CF, CDM and CB and I'm certain he will. 

We weren't last night. We were crap in possession and opened up time and time again.

If we won 3-1 and the second half was 0-0 it would still have been a shocking performance.

[Rightdm00]

1 hour ago, gwi1890 said:

Because we watch the games and see a clear identity to how we play, we haven’t scored many from open play this season last night we scored all 3 ,  we cut out the defensive errors and we climb up the table, some new signings in the summer we hopefully cut those errors. How can Steven Gerrard stop Dan James beating a 6ft4 defender in the air? How can he stop the third goal? Does he run on the pitch and shove Martinez to claim the ball or does he run across Tyrone Mings and boot it into row Z? 

Those goals don't happen in isolation. We allowed 20+ shots on goal.  Some of those shots deflect out for a corner. Oh look they scored off of one. The second goal, our inability to posses the ball even for one minute allowed Leeds to pin our entire team inside of our 18 yard box. A team that can possess the ball doesn't end up there or even a team that properly presses on loss of possession. 

We were just all over the shop shape wise. Fullbacks going on 50 yard runs with no midfield cover.  Leeds played through our midfied like it wasn't there. Dean got done up the same way the first time he faced Bielsa in the PL so hopefully Steven took some notes down for their next encounter. 

[Zatman]

37 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Good.

We weren't last night. We were crap in possession and opened up time and time again.

If we won 3-1 and the second half was 0-0 it would still have been a shocking performance.

First 10 minutes we were good, then they scored against the run of play and took over, I am sure James hit the bar at 1-0. Then we had a 20 minute burst where we scored some nice goals but we didnt really control anything. 

Once they got the 2nd goal it was all them. I expected a half time reaction

[barry'sboots]

14 hours ago, tomav84 said:

our style of play leaves us totally exposed if they're not 100% on it. and tonight they weren't and we saw the result

yes we can point fingers at the defence...and we should've dealt with the goals better...but tonight just proved the need for a real enforcer in front of the back 4.

marv would've done well tonight actually. we needed someone to break up the play and he's great at that

You can see the evidence from last season - at VP with a similar set up we lost 0-3; away at ER with Marv in we won (1-0 from memory). There are certain games/teams where you need that shield. Dougie is a great player (imho) but is better as an "8" or in games where you dominate the ball as a "4".

However, I'm happy that the club have identified this - bidding for Bissouma in January - and am confident that we will address this in the summer with a quality buy.

[barry'sboots]

14 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

About 20 years or so I think

 

14 hours ago, TomC said:

Chuk wasn't anything special but I don't think he did anything wrong. Ramsey didn't look good in many of his appearances last year and look where he is now.

Young wasn't on very long, but I didn't see where he did anything wrong, either.

 

I don't disagree but I think we are pandering to Chuk ATM in the hope that this will get him to sign a new contract.

For me, Sanson should have come on and JJ should have been pushed further forward.

Chuk needs to do what JPB and Cam have done and get his ass into the Championship and get 30+ games under his belt to prove he can play men's football.

[bannedfromHandV]

53 minutes ago, tezzaleed said:

think I'd agree with most of what has been already said but I did think Mings was unlucky to be playing alongside konsa.  Konsa looked disinterested and really poor.  he needs to be dropped and given an absolute rocket for that performance.  If he plays like that again then I'd get rid.  also cash seems to be really struggling to know what his role is under Gerrard and as such his defending is awful.

Thought Buendia was excellent in the first half and was instrumental in getting us in the game.  coutinho and Ramsey were class together at times.

He’s definitely going to be dropped………

[barry'sboots]

I'm seeing a lot of criticism of Ollie which I just don't get.

It was his run that drew the defenders out and created space for JJ's second.

His pressing and movement is fundamental to the way we play. Ings just doesn't offer anything like this. As for scoring goals, Ollie just needs a break and they will come BUT offensively we look good.

The key for me was the CM. Leeds are a team that you need a shield in for (last season showed that) and DL is not that. Partnering DL means that SJM has to drop deeper against such a team and that also neuters his game.

The dominance in possession that this creates for the opposition means that the defence is under more pressure and you are always liable to get mistakes out of Mings (alongside some brilliant moments) in such circumstances.

[gwi1890]

Slightly off topic but what was up with Dan James refusing to come off and with muttering  himself? I saw him do the same for Wales once .

[briny_ear]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

Good.

We weren't last night. We were crap in possession and opened up time and time again.

If we won 3-1 and the second half was 0-0 it would still have been a shocking performance.

Not picking on you in person but that statement does seem to epitomise the views of lots of posters on Villatalk. It makes me smile. A 3-1 win involving the best 3 goals I have seen Villa players score for quite a few years? And you would call it shocking?

Well clearly there won’t ever be any manager who will be able to satisfy that sort of crazy thinking.

[TomC]

47 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

I don't disagree but I think we are pandering to Chuk ATM in the hope that this will get him to sign a new contract.

I agree with you here...they clearly don't want to lose him.

[VillaJ100]

Gomez ain't the answer. Would be better off with a scarecrow

[TRO]

7 hours ago, mottaloo said:

Mings needs to stop thinking he is a hybrid of Paul McGrath and Franz Beckenbauer with his casual, strolling around the box which has my nerves jangling. That's only my opinion of course.

That said, where was our midfield second half to help protect the defence ?

We need to put this right on saturday. Stop St Maximin and we should be at least half way there

The midfield are waiting for the ball to play out....they are not players, with a nose for a duel.

Mings and Konsa were poor, but they are totally exposed by marauding wingers, on a mission, who are in their faces, causing errors.....Our centre backs are being challenged as the last man, and that spells disaster, when they are in this form......in contrast, Leeds had 2/3 in their challenging party, when we posed a threat.....We never played as a team, in terms of defending, each or our players, was primarily left on their own.

[WakefieldVillan]

3 hours ago, El Segundo said:

Watkins - needs to take some lessons from Keinan Davis on how to keep the ball under pressure from defenders.  Almost every time he either mis-controls it or else controls it but has neither the strength nor the skill to stop the defender dispossessing him.  I even think using Davis as a focal point for the interplay of Coutinho, Buendia, Ramsey McGinn et al would work really well. 

 

Brave putting that on here, but I agree - I think it would have worked a treat last night.

[PaulC]

9 minutes ago, TRO said:

The midfield are waiting for the ball to play out....they are not players, with a nose for a duel.

Mings and Konsa were poor, but they are totally exposed by marauding wingers, on a mission, who are in their faces, causing errors.....Our centre backs are being challenged as the last man, and that spells disaster, when they are in this form......in contrast, Leeds had 2/3 in their challenging party, when we posed a threat.....We never played as a team, in terms of defending, each or our players, was primarily left on their own.

Yes even Liverpool get exposed at times with their two attacking fullbacks. The only way it works if midfield players that can shield the defence. We dont have that in our makeup