Ratings & Reactions: Newcastle v Villa

[TRO]

19 hours ago, R.Bear said:

Dreadful. 1 point from the last two games is a terrible return from two relegation fodder teams. Just when you think we’re building some momentum, we stutter. Our strikers are awful.

when a more discerning appraisal of our performances is made.....there are no real surprises.going in to games like, Leeds and Newcastle.

When we win games, we do it by special moments in a game.....a 15 to 20 minute spell, gains us the points.

This team have no control in a game.....They can't keep the ball, for any significant period of time, they lose it at the drop of a hat,.....and any team that plays the man, which seems to be most now, we have no answer, in giving it back....we are a weak strip of piss.

When then set about adding more talent to every set back, when talent is not the issue.....This team of ours is lightweight in design and so easily negated.....we are simply too easy to play against and until that changes, we are going nowhere.

Any notion of lofty ambitions is folly, while we are playing with this turgid approach.

[TRO]

19 hours ago, thunderball said:

Poor, and getting worse. Worrying really. 

Balance doesn’t look right, nothing working. This tight, narrow midfield offers nothing. We are a small side too, and that doesn’t help.

its beginning to show, and with refs, allowing play to go on, when we are being clattered by opponents, playing the man, instead of the ball, we are being bullied out of most games.

We don't seem to have any answer to this......We have to improve the balance of the side in the summer.

[MaVilla]

31 minutes ago, TRO said:

These bad days at the office are starting to be a bit regular.

as clockwork.

Last week, my missus said..."oh you are 3-1 up, you got this in the bag" (versus Leeds), i said...."babes, this is Villa, we are weak minded and panic merchant chicken heads, we will probably concede 2".

...quell surprise!

 

Yesterday, i said....on this forum!, we have two possible outcomes versus Newcastle:

1) We provide an assured attacking performance and possibly win.

2) We once again, show a weak minded, panic merchant chick head performance, and lose, cus thats what we do.

I said option 2 was most likely.

.....quell surprise!

 

This team has many problems, physical prowess/athleticism problem, mental problem, composure problems......many problems....the squad needs gutting in the summer, it needs to be a blood bath, as i have said many times, imo there are only 5 or so players in our first 11, who are good enough to challenge for top 6/8, the rest are just simply not good enough, or squad players at best (im not including the youth in this, im talking about the senior players).

We massively overrate some of our players.

Hopefully Gerrard will tear this team apart in the summer.

Edited February 14, 2022 by MaVilla

[TRO]

22 hours ago, pacbuddies said:

What has changed from the shit Smith served up?

That is the burning question and to be fair,and its a legitimate question.

However one had 3 years and the other has 3 months.

I would think SG has come in and tried to integrate with a bunch who were clearly comfortable under Dean Smith, and SG has been keen not to upset the apple cart.

Judging by his demeanor and comments afterwards, it would'nt surprise me if the gloves are off this week, because like us, it looks like he has had enough of that turgid drivel.

I think its time for a shake up....too many are coasting through games.

SG will not preside over that, that is for sure, but he has only got, what he's got.......Coutinho and Digne are up grades on the talent we have in the squad , but they are not players to help us with the soft underbelly.

In the summer, we need to sign players, who can help us move away from that dastardly tag of being " Too easy to play against".....That tag makes my blood boil, but its so **** apt.

Edited February 14, 2022 by TRO

[TRO]

20 hours ago, ThunderPower_14 said:

Newcastle were shit, had players out, and we didn't get near them today. Absolute garbage. That was worse than any performance under Smith. 

It is absolutely criminal that we ended up with more yellows than Newcastle, 2 different sets of rules and it absolutely affected the flow of the game. 

We are not robust or resilient.....but we are bloody clumsy and that catches the refs eye.

We can keep blaming refs and yes, its a legitimate call , but we have to start defending ourselves, from being bullied.

[TRO]

20 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

First time in a while, i've got ZERO positive to say.

That was absolute garbage.

I blame the players for a lethargic, inept and lazy performance.

And I blame the manager for not doing much if anything about it.

Same things I used to get frustrated at Deano about.

Bizarre performance.

" It's the hope that kills you ".

Ollie needs to be dropped.

Possibly McGinn as well.

The problem for me JV is there is very few players in the squad, who can help us with our soft underbelly.

I don't know who you blame for that, because both Dean Smith and Steve Gerrard have very little in the way of personnel to change it.....its been ignored in so many past windows.

We seem to be as a club, obsessed with Talent and more talent( and that is fine to a degree).....but clubs with journeymen are beating us.( we need balance) They are applying the dark arts and we are trying to play football, until we get frustrated, by keep losing the ball and then we resort to hoof...and become as scrappy as the worst teams in the league....We have players waiting around for the "roy of the rovers" pass, doing little to win it and when we do we give it away, talk about benevolent.....its a bloody joke.

If we had Messi,Mbappe and Neymar up front......some of our traits, would still be there......we are a bloody soft touch and to see so many of our lot just trotting around looking lost.....they only seem short of saying "we can't do this" "this intensity is too much for us"

You can look around at Dawson, Burn, Ayling, Dallas, Journeymen, who we wouldn't touch, as being not good enough for us.....we need to wake up and smell the coffee.

The type of players we are missing are not world class operators, but durable, all action, winners, who see 3 points as the wholly grail......Right now, I'd have a young Joey Barton in the side, perhaps not, but you know what I mean.....someone to lead the fight and get about opponents and unsettle them.....Newcastle did nothing to win that match, we just rolled over to have our belly tickled, we can belly ache about the officials, we we are getting what we deserve right now and its nobody's sympathy.

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by TRO

[TRO]

20 hours ago, AVFCDAN said:

Nothing much but what do you expect to do about it? Do we need to spend another 100 million on players? At some point you have to make it work with what you have.

OR

Sign players that help with the issues.......We keep signing players that are technically good......but do not address the long terms issues the team has.

This soft underbelly has been labelled at us for some time, its nothing new.....but we seem to do nothing about it....each window, we miss the opportunity and sign players, who are just available, irrespective of the need.

[TRO]

20 hours ago, IrishVilla10 said:

I don’t think JJ, Doug and Mcginn are going to work as a 3 in the middle. JJ gets forward well but offers nothing defensively. McGinn is the most aggressive midfielder we have and that’s valuable but he’s not great on the ball and just lumped it in the first half. And Doug is tidy on the ball but doesn’t protect the back 4 enough. It needs to be changed 

I'm bloody damn sure they're not working, in more ways than one.....2 of them are the common denominators in all of this and have presided over many of our woeful performances.

We have to be honest with ourselves here, even the win at Everton, resulted in a backs to the wall performance in the second half.....We simply, can't control a game and those that are central to that task, should be dropped.

Reputations are not enough......they have to earn it.

Its shake up time.....and a few ego's need a rest.

[TRO]

20 hours ago, Nigel said:

Newcastle wanted that far more. Being outplayed i can take, but we were simply worked off the park.

Horrible game summed up by the winner being a deflected goal and a ref determined to see that as the winner!

Most teams we play, want it more.....I think that is the central issue.

I am not about to point fingers, because he has been with us c3 months and is still learning himself....But I have to confess, I am surprised in one way, that application would be such an issue on his watch....the other way is, this soft centre has been with us for some time....so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I am aware this squad, is very much not his......but crikey, he needs to add some steel in the summer, to make the team look more like an SG team.

Edited February 14, 2022 by TRO

[RichW]

I'm still really annoyed about this game. Thought beforehand it was going to be a tougher game then what it would have been about 3 weeks earlier and obviously they have won 2 games in a row previously but I still expected the team to at least turn up. It was a pathetic performance which reminded me of Sheff Utd (A), second half of Burnley/Palace (A) last season and also Brentford (A) this season. The team is just too soft and some of the players are just too comfortable knowing they will start every week. I'd like to see Cash, Mcginn, Luiz and Watkins all dropped this weekend with Young, Sanson, Ings and one other coming in. 

[TRO]

20 hours ago, Mantis said:

We probably only need about 10 more to be definitely safe and although we're playing shit right now, we'll get that.

Not that I would class staying up as a success, but people really need to stop overreacting.

I don't think its over reacting at all, we have been too blaise, talking about Europe......reality has kicked in.

We have resorted back to....... win one, draw one, lose one.....which extrapolated out gives you 48 points there abouts.

I think despite our lofty ambitions of signing top talent........journeymen are giving us a hard time.

That needs to be analysed at BMH and a solution found.

[TRO]

20 hours ago, tinker said:

This was against a  Newcastle team who are fighting relegation and who had a couple of injuries to their starting 11 and have a manager who's been in the job about the same amount of time as Gerrard.+ We now have a Brazilian international and a left back who's one of the best in the game. 

We can't play this system with the midfield we have , they are not good enough at the defensive part of the game, as individuals. 

The worrying part about today, and Leeds, is the overall performance is woeful, we can't string two passes together, players don't find any space  and they  don't press the opposition when they are in possession. 

I'm not sure what the answer is but Gerrard needs to change our formation or change the players he's using for the system. 

Bang on.

McGinn and Luiz do not work in the 2 in midfield.....its been tried so many times and I thought we would know by now.

my worry is....There is no personnel with any better defensive nous,so for me the options are debatable.......because we simply haven't signed any players with stand out quality to suffice, in successive, multiple windows.

This has been an issue for me.....for some time, not just on SG's watch......unfortunately SG doesn't seem able to get them to do what he wants them to do....Hence his expression at the end of the game.

You can take the horse to the water, but you can't make it drink.....that now seems clear.

 

[TRO]

20 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

What must edens and sawiris think of this? The amount of money they have invested and the players play like this?

It did cross my mind.....but if we are having the same conversation, next season, its time to worry.

SG has to know what the issues are.....even a blind man, can see.

[TRO]

20 hours ago, AVFCDAN said:

I’m honestly at the point where McGinns performances for Scotland are meaningless to me, he’s not doing it in an Aston Villa shirt.

I think just now performances versus reputation.....He is the worst.

needs dropping.

My only redeeming factor is......He is clearly being played out of position, because we have no better to play there, so he is a victim of his own character.

I think that is an indictment of the club as a whole, for failing to rectify at least one of those 2 positions.

[TRO]

20 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Well he's straight up said he's going to make changes, so let's see.

BUT ( In his voice ), he could and should have made earlier and more effective changes in the actual match today.

When you first go in to any management job like this.....you immediately set about getting folk on side......you need the masses to be with you.

You then analyse and the ones who you see as the weak ones, you try to work on them, when you fail, you look to replace....its all takes time.

My suspicion, the last 2 performances, may have brought forward some of SG's plans for the Individual Home truths and his patience has wore thin.

He may well be on track, to put a few noses out of joint.

Saturday will be interesting, but for me, and I hope he does shake it up on that shitshow.

[TRO]

17 hours ago, Mantis said:

Yeah the talk of relegation is way way off. Worth pointing out as well that Brentford have only got 1 point from their last 6 since beating us, and are 3 points below us having played 2 more. I don't think they'll go down either but we're not the only team in poor form right now.

That made me laugh, not disrespectfully.....but it kinda says something to me, that I don't think you intended.

We are in poor form, but its brought on, by a weakness in our makeup......We are a very good team at somethings......and very poor at others, right now we can't get the good things going, without the poor things rearing their ugly head.

[TRO]

16 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

I hope not but we've seen a few now.

Playing your full backs as wingers and your centre mids as full backs and having one fella to cover the middle of the pitch probably won't ever work consistently.

I think its the Liverpool way.....sad fact is, we haven't got the midfield cover like they have, so it might have been prudent to wait until we have, before introducing it.

 

[TRO]

16 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

I don't think there can be a culture at the club when we appear to have largely a brand new team every year.

Don't allow these players/manager excuses.

It is down to them, not to some mythical culture.

It is down to them.....but if we keep repeating the same mistakes, the same thing will continue to happen.

The balance in the squad, is not right, and when we sign new players, the balance is still not addressed....thats my view anyway.

We have good players, but too many have similar attributes and some attributes required are not present in the squad.

[TRO]

16 hours ago, VillanousOne said:

 

sadly we don't have a plan B, not many teams in the bottom half do that it why they/we are there. Even Leeds managed to largely play through us with ease.

do we have a plan A

[TRO]

16 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

I think Dean Smith was on the money with his comment about some of the players look great at Bodymoor Heath, but not so great come matchday. 

They look to me like, they don't like the physical contest( well some of them).....The training ground is passive in relation to a match.