Ratings & Reactions: Newcastle v Villa

[TRO]

16 hours ago, Herman22 said:

It’s such a cop out from the ref. He’s come over and told them to stay the required 1m from the wall. But they just ignore him and he does nothing about it. Kinda sums up his performance today. Weak! 

I have come to a very quick conclusion this season....that if you don't look after yourself, ref's are not going to do it for you.

We have to find a nasty streak, but in a stealthy way like Man city.

[TRO]

16 hours ago, eholm said:

Huge test for SG and co now. The compactness that we had in the first few games has gone with huge spaces opening up once more. Hence we are so easy to play through and so few passing options available that result in us losing possession. 

I do wonder if Gerrard, Beale et al will look to adapt the system as currently it’s not working. If we are to continue with both fullbacks bring predominantly wingers then we have to become more compact. 

Not sure if you can play PC and EB in the same team with full backs bombing on. 

System worked in SPL but concerns that too easy to play against in the PL. Beale is a very highly regarded coach so l trust them to make the correct adjustments. Although we were poor today...I do think it is the team structure that is causing us most issues. 

My concern is.....you can change systems all day long, but if the players don't buy in, to putting in a shift, the system breaks down.....You can tell them what to do, but if they don't do it, and you have limited options, its tricky.

Players have to show committment, and I don't mean idle running to get the stats up, I mean meaningful play, that challenges the opposition....winning duels and coming out with the ball.

I just don't get the impresssion any team is bothered by us, right now, in this mood......I am not convinced a system will compensate for lethargy and half soaked players......any more than I am convinced by us having arduous games and we lack energy...its a cop out.

We have just had 3 weeks off, we should be busting a gut.

[TRO]

16 hours ago, hippo said:

Yep up against - Digne, Countinho - whose new recruits would most fans choose ?

 

we are falling in to that trap again.....like Man U with Ronaldo.

I agree on paper, they are better and I wouldn't swap......but its about being effective.

Coutinho was just negated on Sunday, by too many of our inept performances.

We need a couple of signings in the summer,  the fans might not get too excited about.

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

we are falling in to that trap again.....like Man U with Ronaldo.

I agree on paper, they are better and I wouldn't swap......but its about being effective.

Coutinho was just negated on Sunday, by too many of our inept performances.

We need a couple of signings in the summer,  the fans might not get too excited about.

I think most people are expecting more than that now - esp if we limp to a poor end of the season.

[TRO]

15 hours ago, Wainy316 said:

We were diabolical.

Still a goal though.  

personally, I think you have a point, it was so close, and not clear and Obvious, it should have stood and I would say that if it happened to another team.

Then you get an equaliser by West Ham, Dawson using his upper arm.....its all nuts....we would never have got that.

However, We didn't deserve anything from that game on the balance of our inept play.

[TRO]

15 hours ago, Harry said:

We can all blamed the ref as much as we like, he was poor for sure., but we were just out muscled for most of the game. I said it when he managed Bournemouth, Howe sets out his sides to be physically intimidating. They are happy to commit fouls and slow play down and we just fell straight into that trap. The problem is our midfield. They fail to protect the back four and offer little going forward. They were pressed far too much and folded time after time.

Thank you.

but Harry, we are outmuscled in most games.....Wolves did it......Leeds do it.....we are know as a soft touch.

Its only when teams lets us play,(have an off day) we shine.

The question is....when are we going to change it?

 

[TRO]

14 hours ago, Wurzel said:

Can I say what worries me is that Gerrard talks about changes because of the performance, witch is exactly what Dean Smith said when he dropped Mings, and nothing improved. This is a squad attitude problem, not an ability problem. I fear that he will make changes but the performance will not improve, and if that happens where do you go from there? 

I fear the same.....

I think he needs some characters to come in...to change the approach.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

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.

I think that is a huge call.....and you are right.imo

We have changed many players, mainly forwards.....but certain ones remain and still we play like this.....another manager, and still we play like this.....heads have to roll, in the side.

[Harry]

10 minutes ago, TRO said:

Thank you.

but Harry, we are outmuscled in most games.....Wolves did it......Leeds do it.....we are know as a soft touch.

Its only when teams lets us play,(have an off day) we shine.

The question is....when are we going to change it?

 

Hi Tro

You are right it happens in lots of games. You play us effectively by getting in the face of the midfielders and pressing the back four. We then struggle to get the ball upfield in a way that provides a proper attacking outlet. I really do hope SG is as good as his word and we make some big changes for the next game.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, RichW said:

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. 

If you cast your mind back, we capitulated against Leeds in the 0-3 that Bamford got the headlines, where Harrison ripped us a new one.....that was on the back of 4 wins on the trot, and Jack at his best.....Absolutely no sign of it coming, but its always under the surface.

This is nothing to do with confidence, its more to do with an innate attitude to resist stopping the oppostion and the work required to see that through....This has been in our DNA for too long and it has surfaced from time to time, always lingering in the back ground.

The "easy to play against" is the simpliest way of describing many factors that come together....to depict us as a team.....its awful and it will undermine any notion we have of moving forward, we could sign the best forwards around, but while that hovers, we will be middling.

It needs to change.....I think the fan base are sick of it.

I just hope the fanbase, hone in on this now, because its not going away.

 

[TRO]

33 minutes ago, hippo said:

I think most people are expecting more than that now - esp if we limp to a poor end of the season.

but those signings Hippo, have to improve our soft centre....we have enough creative talent.

[PaulC]

28 minutes ago, TRO said:

Thank you.

but Harry, we are outmuscled in most games.....Wolves did it......Leeds do it.....we are know as a soft touch.

Its only when teams lets us play,(have an off day) we shine.

The question is....when are we going to change it?

 

Yes very true,  we made some eye catching signings in January but we failed to address the issue we all know about. Hopefully we do that in the summer. 

[TRO]

15 minutes ago, Harry said:

Hi Tro

You are right it happens in lots of games. You play us effectively by getting in the face of the midfielders and pressing the back four. We then struggle to get the ball upfield in a way that provides a proper attacking outlet. I really do hope SG is as good as his word and we make some big changes for the next game.

Bang on.

We lose too many duels Harry, it has to be addressed.

[Herman22]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

I have come to a very quick conclusion this season....that if you don't look after yourself, ref's are not going to do it for you.

We have to find a nasty streak, but in a stealthy way like Man city.

How the ref can’t see this is just beyond belief. Somehow VAR isn’t allowed to intervene here but will spend 4 mins trying to find an offside! Nonsense! 

[AntrimBlack]

The ref needs to be putting foam around the wall at 1 m to make it clear.

He will need more foam. 

[villaglint]

18 hours ago, Django_Zooms said:

If Dawson's equaliser for West Ham was not handball, then Watkins' big toe was not offside. By fewer centimetres. Effin' VAR.

As soon as anything goes to VAR I just assume now it will go against us. Seems to be a pretty fail safe rule. 

[El Segundo]

The worst thing about this game is the lack of redeeming features.  Difficult to find a single positive except at least we didn't get hammered.  We are normally shit at Newcastle for some strange reason but this was special - if we really did give the ball away 136 times (and it felt like we did) then that's once very 40-50 seconds. 

How can Professional Premier League Players paid tens of thousands a week, some of them internationals for Brazil, Argentina, France and England,  be that bad at passing, controlling and retaining the ball?  How/why does Luiz overhit every single set piece he takes?  Why has Watkins turned into Trezeguet without the occasional instinctive goal?  Why has Digne taken up Targett's mantle of hitting crosses straight at the first defender?  

Home form has been ok except for defending but we were poor all over at at Brentford, bang average at Everton and as bad as Smith's worst (Arsenal, Southampton) against Toon. Gerrard has to do better than that with what he's got.

 

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

It was an absolute sh*tshow of a performance. We get them every single season no matter the players or manager. Newcastle werent even good which is the most frustrating thing. We should be resembling something of a cohesive unit by now but we look to be going backwards. Basics just werent there on Sunday. Losing duels, lack of fight, passing all over the place, vomit inducing set pieces. Its just not good enough. We helped them out first with Targett and now by not even bothering to turn up and gifting them 3 points.

That wall for the goal was on Martinez, why is Buendia kneeling there? Same thing happened with Wolves winner at VP with Targett. Fundamentals are lacking and its a concern.

[Lochheads twin]

I am late coming to this particular party. I was lucky enough to be away with the egg-chasers in Rome this weekend and missed the game.

I have only seen the 10 minute clip from the club video and sampled a few of the VT comments, however I do have a few observations.

• Having good players does not entitle us to any points in this League.
• There are extremely fine margins in these games that can change the outcome. Deflections, VAR, players making the wrong decisions, etc etc.
• I have been surprised in the last few games that Chuck is starting ahead of Sanson. Fine if we are 3 up but he's not quite Premier League ready yet.
• This club really matters to us & how it performs. I attach Exhibit A below from the Leicester game (which we won)

You can see my heart rate and this is how being on the Villa roller coaster feels (and has done so for many years) 

Onwards and Upwards to better things. I am looking forward to seeing what is served up for the Watford game.

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Lochheads twin

[TRO]

On 14/02/2022 at 14:21, hippo said:

I think most people are expecting more than that now - esp if we limp to a poor end of the season.

I think you misread what I meant, or I didn't explain it well enough.

We don't necessarily need world beaters, we need players who CAN do a job, for the team.