Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Watford

[Hamburglar]

Martinez - good

cash/mings/chambers - average

digne - poor

luiz - average

mcginn / ramsey - very bad

coitunho/ buendia - poor

ings - average

Watkins - terrible

young - terrible

Gerrard - I was shocked to see the starting lineup and system was pretty much the same as last week and the substitutions were terrible. Very poor. 
Well be fortunate to win another game playing like this I don’t mean to be so gloomy. 

 

[VillaParkAvenue]

5 minutes ago, leighavfc said:

Gerrard barely gave any instructions to the players from after the goal until the end. Just sat in the dugout... allegedly 100k a week? That's bad from any manager not to even give any guidance or instructions out... yes the players are to blame too but if the manager is not leading or showing how then what are we paying him for? 

Gerrard is used to winning games as manager due to lack of competition in Scotland. While he still played he was also in a relatively successful team. Maybe he can’t handle it when things repeatedly go against him.

[nick76]

6 minutes ago, Harry said:

Desperation???

Maybe but first sub at 58 mins but he had Bailey or Chuck as options without changing the system/style.  Or bring on Sanson on and adjust midfield.  Whatever, I didn’t expect Ollie to come on to play with Ings.

[turvontour]

25 minutes ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

One shot on target, at home, in a loss , against Watford.  Sigh.

I mean this is appalling from 20 shots. 5% of our shots were on target, while 50% of Watfords were.

[danceoftheshamen]

Just got back from yet another day to forget at Villa Park. The atmosphere was crap today as i think more & more are getting fed up with the ineffective football we are fed currently. 20 shots with 1 on target (& that was like a friendly back pass straight into his arms). 

Issues i saw today

Cash = clueless regards his delivery of the ball. Having said that when he got in behind there was nothing on for him in the middle..Where are the strikers exactly???!!! Always behind the play.

Digne = did ok regards getting into good positions but again nobody in the middle to then cross to! He kept playing it into a certain area at the back of the penatly area but there was literally never one of our players there! Odd.

Buendia - Totally outmuscled and marked out of the game, not once can i remember the ref giving him a free kick despite him going to ground several times and waving his arms. Back to his early ineffective performances for me.

Coutinho = Looked of his game today and had an appaling final ball delivery. Twice it was that bad he actually hit it out for a throw in on the opposite side of the pitch. Shooting opportunies were there but he just was way off all game.

Ings = Decent in the first half but missed a sitter which i said at the time may cost us. Should have scored

Chambers = Credit where it's due i though he looked ok considering just his 2nd game for us. A rare positive from the day.

Mings = Too slow on the ball at times but solid defensively.

Luiz = A nothing game from him, no surprise he was taken off.....But for Watkins??!!! Odd from the manager. Surely Sansom would have been the choice.

McGinn = Lots of huffing & puffing and got himself about on occasion but very wastefull with the ball. I like him but he's expensive to have in the side,

Ramsey = Tried his best, shooting was way off today though.

Watkins = He just can't buy a goal or even a decent chance currently can he.

Bailey = Needs games of course but wasteful again

Martinez = Did well.

Gerrard = I though he killed us in the second half. We were not great in the first half but were the better team for me and he destroyed us completely with some very odd substitutions. 

General = We pass the ball too slowly to break teams like this down but on the odd occasion we do speed it up there is nobody breaking their neck to get into findable positions in the box, hence 20 shots, 36 crosses & 1 on target. This needs resolving & quick.

 

[tinker]

After today I have seen enough of the full back/winger experiment. Non of our players look anything like premier League standard with this system. We need to change it quickly.  

[gwi1890]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Maybe but first sub at 58 mins but he had Bailey or Chuck as options without changing the system/style.  Or bring on Sanson on and adjust midfield.  Whatever, I didn’t expect Ollie to come on to play with Ings.

Exactly it wasn’t like the game was getting away from us, it could have easily been a uninspiring 1-0 victory had we kept our shape.

[turvontour]

15 minutes ago, Herman22 said:

I still can’t quite work out the Young substitution, I don’t think Cash was injured? 
What did SG think Young was going to give us besides a slower full back that’s poorer in the air! I know Cash’s final ball is poor at times but I can’t quite grasp replacing him with Young! 

Unless he thought Cash had lost his head a little. He got a mindless booking and was clearly wound up with the ref. Agree with you though, Young is no good for what was required.

[turvontour]

9 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

Gerrard is used to winning games as manager due to lack of competition in Scotland. While he still played he was also in a relatively successful team. Maybe he can’t handle it when things repeatedly go against him.

That struck me too today. Does throwing forwards on in Scotland for Rangers typically get you a goal. It probably does. Might not work in the english premier league so easy.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Can we just go back to a flat back 4? Most teams that play with wingbacks do it in a back 5, we just expect midfielders to cover and in doing so, make them less effective as midfielders. 

Luiz for Watkins was strange to say the least, not a fan of the subs today. Things are never too far from a crisis at this club. The results are alarming. With all the money spent we are looking like Everton mk.2 right now

[The Fun Factory]

I know it is only one game you shouldn't lurch from one reaction to another but bloody hell that was awful. Lambertesque. As far as I can remember Villa never seen to know what to do when we have a lot of the ball.

Lets be clear Watford are awful and will get relegated on a championship budget. They have taken 6 points from us this season. That is not good enough.

I have no idea what Gerrard is doing. The football is getting  worse week by week and we don't look like scoring even though we started Coutinhio, Buendia and Ings today. The subs made no sense yet again.  He has been trained well in speaking to the media but does he actually have any ideas? Incredbily narrow and our full backs can't play the way he wants. Change the system to suit the players.

I have a bit of argument coming out of the game with a villa fan today, as I felt January we should have brought in a decent DM and  Coutinho was not really required- even though he is a clearly a brilliantly talented player.  They disagreed on that point. But we have clearly need someone in the middle to tackle and pass the ball. It is not that difficult. Luiz and Mcginn poor again today. 

A dull,cold, wet day in which we have shown that we are going nowhere.  I can't be bothered to work it out but I suspect our wins total out of the last 100 premier league home games in which we could watch it, must be abysmal. In all honesty I would prefer the championship as least we usually won most games. 4 home wins out of 11? Not good enough.

 

 

[The Fun Factory]

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

We scored 3 in 45 minutes against Leeds. Since then we've had 2 shots on target. What the **** happened?

Leeds can't defend. Hodgson has built a 40 year career out of defending.

Edited February 19, 2022 by The Fun Factory

[kidlewis]

I’m genuinely worried now. 

Brighton, Southampton and Leeds.

 

we simply need 4+ from those three games 

[VillaParkAvenue]

I just had this vision. We are shit for one or two more games and fans begin to turn on Gerrard. Purslow decides it’s time to calm the masses and address supporters on Villa TV.

”Dear villans. I firmly believe Steven Gerrard is the man to take us into the future” etc

[The Fun Factory]

2 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

I just had this vision. We are shit for one or two more games and fans begin to turn on Gerrard. Purslow decides it’s time to calm the masses and address supporters on Villa TV.

”Dear villans. I firmly believe Steven Gerrard is the man to take us into the future” etc

"Continuous improvement"

Blah, blah. Renew your season tickets for more pain.

[The Fun Factory]

2 hours ago, AVTuco said:

Poor subs. We did quite well until then. 

To me, our players showed passion and wanted to win, but it just didn't happen.

System may be at fault, I don't know... but our players are not as good as we think either. Not sure who won the Grealish trade.

 

Jack and his agent.

[Follyfoot]

1 hour ago, Marka Ragnos said:

My dear old dad took me to my one and (so far) only match at Villa Park in 1974. My first experience of football. Who would have guessed that I was being set up for a life of perennial disappointment punctuated by a few moments of blinding glory? 
 

Oh, we lost that one, too. Thanks, Dad. 

You wouldn’t change it for anything I reckon. I certainly wouldn’t

[Follyfoot]

9 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

"Continuous improvement"

Blah, blah. Renew your season tickets for more pain.

With pleasure I certainly will. I think he will get it right eventually. Today was hard to take as was Newcastle as was Leeds but the bloke is a winner and he has raised a profile considerably since he arrived. Tag this post and look at it at this time next year

[Hornso]

4 points from 5 games against the promoted sides. Horrible return.

[The Fun Factory]

15 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

With pleasure I certainly will. I think he will get it right eventually. Today was hard to take as was Newcastle as was Leeds but the bloke is a winner and he has raised a profile considerably since he arrived. Tag this post and look at it at this time next year

That's a bold statement.

I'd rather have someone who can find a system that works for a bunch of expensively assembled players than being seen as a 'winner'