Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Watford

[danceoftheshamen]

21 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Probably would gently point out to your daughter and her coach that the "system" that was being played before Gerrard came on the scene had delivered us six straight defeats and sunk us to the edge of the drop zone. So the feeling that something needed to change was not entirely crazy.

Yeah i get that Briny, i think she was however referring to the change since the Winter break since when we have gotten 0 points from two of the worst sides in the division in Newcastle & Watford. Even worse we've looked pretty dire. We were at least getting a few points under Gerrard prior to the winter break but since that apparent Change in system he announced we have been worse.

[Five Ken McNaughts]

We have just been totally out-played, out-thought and out-fought by two of the worst teams in this league. Every week we now offer a new seminar in “how to beat Aston Villa”. Gerrard may prefer to stay slumped in his seat but he needs to be careful. Some version of that Southampton away match under Sherwood (5-0 after 35 mins?) feels like it is just one decent opponent away. And where would we go from there? 

[briny_ear]

20 minutes ago, danceoftheshamen said:

Yeah i get that Briny, i think she was however referring to the change since the Winter break since when we have gotten 0 points from two of the worst sides in the division in Newcastle & Watford. Even worse we've looked pretty dire. We were at least getting a few points under Gerrard prior to the winter break but since that apparent Change in system he announced we have been worse.

This is where I confess I am a bit hazy about this talk of systems. Hasn't it been 4-3-3 since he started?

Edited February 20, 2022 by briny_ear

[Vive_La_Villa]

Shits a mess and season is a right off. Trust the process.

[wict01]

Have to say, Saturday was one of the most god-awful days I have had at the Villa for a long while. That performance was peak McLeish/Lambert/Sherwood, the only difference being the team is far more expensively assembled. Let's just limp to 40 points and hope the summer brings better things. 

[The Fun Factory]

From my calculations Saturday's line up contained 10 players who have played at least once for their respective countries, with a total of 200 international caps. That suggests that we have the talent necessary to beat a side like Watford at home, and it was more the tactics and formation to blame.

[Herman22]

The more you see of the pen noting given to Ings it gets worse and worse. It’s another howler from the ref and another example of VAR being afraid to step in. If that’s Sterling/ Salah/ Kane it’s 100% given! 

[TRO]

23 hours ago, tinker said:

I see your point on the lack of DM but the midfield we have are covering the full backs while they push on, it's further exposing us. If you wanted to pick a system that exposed the weaknesses in our squad then the system Gerrard is playing is the perfect one. Its inexcusable. 

I am not disagreeing with you, but where was the flaw in Deans system....because the main issue " Easy to play against"  was still there?

I get the system, being a fault.....but the players are equally contributing to it, too.

Why did Digne just stand off Sarr when he crossed the ball for Dennis to score, where was Young too?.....even a nudge of close contact could have put him off...or Digne closing Sarr down.....its just passive, shite.

I am not dismissing the system as a red herring, it has credence, sure.....but I do believe it goes deeper than that too.

[TRO]

On 20/02/2022 at 13:57, Adman said:

I'm not disagreeing. We did look a better team with nakamba in there for instance. However, I would also suggest that we are trying to dictate play and become a possession based team before we have the team to do it.  For me, we were at our most dangerous going forward when we were breaking quickly and getting into wide positions. Our offensive players then had space to run and play into.  As we look to dominate possession, our attacks are compressed and well defended against. We don't seem to have the skill to even create anything of note when this happens. From my poor memory of recent games, most of the chances and goals against us have been when we lose possession up field and they counter effectively. 

A CDM may help to "rewin" the ball back after we've lost it, but I'm not so sure.  He'll likely be ran /played past like everyone else in the midfield as we are now as he'll be facing the wrong way and be out of position. 

My opinion is this is one reason we lose against weaker teams and play better against stronger ones.

I watched many teams the week end, and I was amazed how they got free of their markers and how much space they had to play in........we seem to be a target for the press, we have no time or space to play in or get any passages of play going.....we just seem to be so easy to close down.....This "easy to play against" tag.....needs to be the first thing to change...we are not Barcelona or Man City, but christ we seem to be stopped playing by such average players.

[TRO]

On 20/02/2022 at 12:02, Adman said:

I agree, but it's also the job of the manager to play a system that plays to our strengths and negate our weaknesses.  If we don't have a combative CDM (I'm not sure this is a panacea for us anyway), then we should look to put numbers in there to make up for it. Do we think the team's managers I mentioned earlier think they've got the perfect squad?

but most of the same strengths and weaknesses, lie in every player.......so a system will find it hard to camouflage that.....sure we have to change something, but don't hold your breath, until the summer, where we can change it properly.

ask yourself this question....How many players do we have in our squad of 25....with a natural nose for defending first?....How many is their first, go to attribute.

This is not a case of having a park the bus attitude.....its a case of instilling balance in to a squad.

[onmeedson]

Leadership on the playing field was non existent against Watford and when you need battlers and fighters we tend to fall short.

[danceoftheshamen]

22 hours ago, briny_ear said:

This is where I confess I am a bit hazy about this talk of systems. Hasn't it been 4-3-3 since he started?

I think he changed it in the winter break tbh, the exact formation escapes me but he did state we would use the winter break to change the system into the way he wants to set us up. Since then we've been worse. I understand it'll take a while to perfect any such change but surely that begs the question as to is it really a good idea to do that mid season? 

[tinker]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

I am not disagreeing with you, but where was the flaw in Deans system....because the main issue " Easy to play against"  was still there?

I get the system, being a fault.....but the players are equally contributing to it, too.

Why did Digne just stand off Sarr when he crossed the ball for Dennis to score, where was Young too?.....even a nudge of close contact could have put him off...or Digne closing Sarr down.....its just passive, shite.

I am not dismissing the system as a red herring, it has credence, sure.....but I do believe it goes deeper than that too.

Its does go deeper but we can't change the players at this stage in the season, we can only change the system or adapt it. Digne was never that great defensively , Sarr roasted him in the Watford Everton game and Young is never a right back, not in a million years. 

[tinker]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

I am not disagreeing with you, but where was the flaw in Deans system....because the main issue " Easy to play against"  was still there?

I get the system, being a fault.....but the players are equally contributing to it, too.

Why did Digne just stand off Sarr when he crossed the ball for Dennis to score, where was Young too?.....even a nudge of close contact could have put him off...or Digne closing Sarr down.....its just passive, shite.

I am not dismissing the system as a red herring, it has credence, sure.....but I do believe it goes deeper than that too.

Smith was missing the same sort of players we are still missing now, a good DM, not Nakamba.

The rights and wrongs of Gerrards appointment are for another season , ATM we need to forget about who's right and wrong and sort the mess out.

The system atm is the biggest issue, the deepest issue short term. Long term we need to look at recruitment. Gerrard needs to stay out of the relegation battle,  with this squad of players plus the new system we could easily go down , not because of their ability but because of their mentality. We have seen it before and was rescued by COVID.

He needs to avoid defeat and build from that by changing the system and some of the players . We may nick a goal but the time to panic is now, not once we are knee deep in the brown stuff. 

[TRO]

43 minutes ago, tinker said:

Its does go deeper but we can't change the players at this stage in the season, we can only change the system or adapt it. Digne was never that great defensively , Sarr roasted him in the Watford Everton game and Young is never a right back, not in a million years. 

you see, this maybe where my age kicks in, but I don't get the full back who is not that great defensively.....its like a winger who is not great attacking, but defends well.

I believe, they have to do what is says on the tin.

I agree, we have to find a way to stay in this division, may be long term strategies have to take a back seat, and the here and now, has to take precedence....until we can inject specialst help in midfield.

 

[Zatman]

7 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

From my calculations Saturday's line up contained 10 players who have played at least once for their respective countries, with a total of 200 international caps. That suggests that we have the talent necessary to beat a side like Watford at home, and it was more the tactics and formation to blame.

Champions League, Copa America, Olympic gold medalist, Bundesliga, Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue Un winner among the honours we had on display on Saturday

[BOF]

Don't suppose anyone got an attendance figure for this game ?

[Stevo985]

3 hours ago, BOF said:

Don't suppose anyone got an attendance figure for this game ?

fbref.com says 41,936

[BOF]

10 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

fbref.com says 41,936

Danke.

[Demitri_C]

Palace beat them 4-1 yet we lost to them 1-0 at home.

Complete and utter shambles