Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Arsenal

[The_Steve]

2 hours ago, Follyfoot said:

What penalty, must have missed this in all the excitement 

Patey basically rugby tackles Mings during a corner and BT Sport found it hilarious

[jackbauer24]

That was bad from minute one. We turned up today ready to rollover and have our bellies tickled. Absolutely nothing in that performance. The most convincing 1-0 you'll ever see and Arsenal were in first gear at most. Was practically a training session. Yes, they're better than us but the lack of effort is far more annoying. We lose to Chelsea by more but the effort was there.

Martinez. 7. Largely solid. Distribution is still weak. If we want to play out from the back we need to be better at it.

Cash. 7. Only player who seemed up for the challenge. Doesn't have to be great to be MOTM, just better than the rest. And that was easy.

Mings. 4. Ok, dodgy card aside, he never looks in command of a situation. Deal with it, don't dither. Got outmuscled a lot.

Konsa. 5. As above, but slightly better.

Young. 3. Influence might be good but defending and attacking is not. Awful and letting Targett go was a mistake.

Ramsey. 4. Really bad game. Will happen. Upset by England?! Not a good way to say Southgate was wrong!

Luiz. 3. Sorry, but I didn't see a single thing others saw. I saw slow, ponderous, backward, lazy, hopeful punts, passive. Needed strength and he possess none.

McGinn. 5. Some good, some poor. Doesn't know his role at the moment. Do any of them? Corners awful.

Coutinho. 4. Should have been hooked but best mates with Gerrard will help. Lost possession loads but he's a superstar so gets let off.

Buendia. 6. Was not influnetial in the set up but harried and tried. But he's not a superstar or Gerard's mate so he gets hooked and scapegoated.

Watkins. 5. Nothing really happening. Don't think he believes in the system or the project really.

Bailey and Traore 5. Changed the formation which briefly helped Coutinho but they both offer 99% nothing, 1% flash.

Ings. 5. Formation change was more relevant than the personnel one. Nothing to deserve to be ahead of Watkins... Or behind. Much the same issues.

 

Gerrard. 4. Poor. Set up was wrong, substitutions were late and flawed. Has favourites already and clearly wasn't reading the game. Looking at the difference between the two managers on the touchline today, and he didn't convey confidence or energy much like his team.

Ref. 3. Shocking. Again. Made no difference to result though.

[The Fun Factory]

1 win at home in the last 6 games. That is poor. Its only our away form that is keeping us in the top half. We have to sort out the balance of the side next season or we will get nowhere near the supposed aim of European qualification.

[chappy]

At a wedding today so passed in my ST to a friend. Managed to watch the first half. Ceremony was punctuated by buzzes in my watch for all the various substitutions. Cheers Villa App, kept thinking we’d equalised!

[Keener window-cleaner]

I'm actually quite baffled about the decison to play 4-3-2-1 and not changing it until it was too late. Everyone knows that Arsenals main threat is their wide forwards/wingers in Saka and ESR with their fullbacks overlapping. To set up with just our full backs covering the wings was clearly not going to work.

To cover the wings we needed McGinn and Ramsey to sit back and help out wide, that meant they couldn't contribute in attack as we would get too exposed on the counter. The other unimpressive decision was to play two no 10's and with one out of form. Both Coutinho and Buendia dropped back and wanted to play short passes in the middle of the pitch, that left Watkins completely isolated up front. No wonder we didn't have a shot on goal during the whole first half.

Wasn't the management team meant to be smart? Beale the super coach? McAllister I have  alot of respect for, but this is not impressive at all. Moreover, at half time, they must have realized, but didn't do anything until the 70th minute or something like that, far too late.

Gerrard implying that the players are not good enough (the talk about the gap) is simply not true. Player for player we match them. But the system and tactics let us down. This would have been the perfect game to play 4-2-3-1, like we ended the game.

Martinez on par or better than Leno

Cash on par or better than Soares

Konsa/Mings not a huge difference to White/Gabriel

Tierny much better than Young

McGinn/Luiz not that much worse than the idiot Xhaka and Partey

Coutinho better than Odegaard

Buendia/Bailey as much of a threat as Saka/ESR

Watkins or Ings better than Lacazette

Being at home and fired up we should at least be able to compete with them. But we didn't, the 4-3-2-1 hampered us, made us static, exposed and gave us no attacking threat.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Keener window-cleaner

[avfc456]

5 hours ago, TRO said:

That was one of the worst displays from a centre forward, I have seen for some time.

The lack of physical challenge, is breath taking.

My god, their centre backs must have thought they was playing against our academy......That was a faint -hearted effort, if ever I saw one.

I can put up with a striker not scoring, to a point........but that offering, NO.

And yet Ings gets 9 minutes, truly baffling! 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

30 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

I'm actually quite baffled about the decison to play 4-3-2-1 and not changing it until it was too late. Everyone knows that Arsenals main threat is their wide forwards/wingers in Saka and ESR with their fullbacks overlapping. To set up with just our full backs covering the wings was clearly not going to work.

To cover the wings we needed McGinn and Ramsey to sit back and help out wide, that meant they couldn't contribute in attack as we would get too exposed on the counter. The other unimpressive decision was to play two no 10's and with one out of form. Both Coutinho and Buendia dropped back and wanted to play short passes in the middle of the pitch, that left Watkins completely isolated up front. No wonder we didn't have a shot on goal during the whole first half.

Wasn't the management team meant to be smart? Beale the super coach? McAllister I have  alot of respect for, but this is not impressive at all. Moreover, at half time, they must have realized, but didn't do anything until the 70th minute or something like that, far too late.

Gerrard implying that the players are not good enough (the talk about the gap) is simply not true. Player for player we match them. But the system and tactics let us down. This would have been the perfect game to play 4-2-3-1, like we ended the game.

Martinez on par or better than Leno

Cash on par or better than Soares

Konsa/Mings not a huge difference to White/Gabriel

Tierny much better than Young

McGinn/Luiz not that much worse than the idiot Xhaka and Partey

Coutinho better than Odegaard

Buendia/Bailey as much of a threat as Saka/ESR

Watkins or Ings better than Lacazette

Being at home and fired up we should at least be able to compete with them. But we didn't, the 4-3-2-1 hampered us, made us static, exposed and gave us no attacking threat.

It's hypothetical.

Plain and simple they were better than us all over the pitch, based on today's performance and the one at The Library earlier in the season.

We are miles off them...

[Keener window-cleaner]

12 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

It's hypothetical.

Plain and simple they were better than us all over the pitch, based on today's performance and the one at The Library earlier in the season.

We are miles off them...

Agree they are a better team at the moment, they have a settled formation, well drilled, well balanced and players in form in the right positions, and they have a great run of form.

But don't you agree that we were better the last 20 mins and matched them over that period?

Edited March 19, 2022 by Keener window-cleaner

[Keener window-cleaner]

20 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

Bonkers. Utterly bonkers!

The point with the post was that we would have been better off playing 4-2-3-1 the whole game, I thought the last 20 mins also would suggest that. What was is that you disagreed so much with?

[tinker]

Piss pot poor today..Started weak and  finished marginally better against an Arsenal team that were knackered from their midweek heroics.

Owners must be pissed, I am. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

5 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

Agree they are a better team at the moment, they have a settled formation, well drilled, well balances and players in form in the right positions, and they have a great run of form.

But don't you agree that we were better the last 20 mins and matched them over that period?

Yeah we huffed and puffed a bit but alas to no avail.

They are resolute.

I think it's just really bad how we let them dictate the game from the beginning, that's why we lost we gave them the impetus. It's difficult to change the flow of a game after starting so flat.

[messi11]

Huge Rant

Forget Win, Lose or Draw for a minute, the worst thing about Gerrard Ball is its boring. Slow, boring football. 
We play two number 10's yet we cant keep the ball to save our life's. I want to see exciting wingers, exciting wing play, pace and tricky.This is football. We need to go back to a 4-3-3 with wingers.
Lets get onto the first problem the midfield- Mcginn and Luiz has run its time,. Douglas Luiz i honestly don't see the point of him, he cant run a game to save his life, so out of his depth. Mcginn and Luiz are the main problems of why we can dictate a game and keep the ball. Both need to go. What was swapping Mcginn and Ramsey around all about? Ramsey looked lost playing the right mid. What does Sanson have to do to get a chance! Our season is over now and we know what Luiz and Mcginn all about, Time to give Carney, Sanson and Tim gametime.
Buendia is utterly pointless when we've got Coutinho in the team. We dont need both. its one or the other. We lack pace and width with them both
Ings is our best striker, Play him! Watkins is a headless chicken who misses or messes up possession 8 times out of 10. You just never know what to expect with Watkins. 

I cant see Gerrard changing anything. Its worrying time for the Villa.


 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

I'd love to see a midfield three of Sanson, Luiz and Ramsey.

Perhaps give Tim Iroegbunam some game time too.

Mcginn needs benched, permanently.

[tinker]

Can't believe a squad as gifted can look so bad.

 Targett would have started today if he had been available. Young was completely overrun first half, miracle we went in at 1-0.

So fuxkimg depressing after last season's performances, never this shit.......was we? 

[jacketspuds]

14 minutes ago, tinker said:

Can't believe a squad as gifted can look so bad.

 Targett would have started today if he had been available. Young was completely overrun first half, miracle we went in at 1-0.

So fuxkimg depressing after last season's performances, never this shit.......was we? 

We were shit without Grealish last season, and we were shit for quite a bit of time before Gerrard arrived.

There are too many players in the squad that can’t string together 2 good games in a row.

[VillaParkAvenue]

16 minutes ago, tinker said:

Can't believe a squad as gifted can look so bad.

 Targett would have started today if he had been available. Young was completely overrun first half, miracle we went in at 1-0.

So fuxkimg depressing after last season's performances, never this shit.......was we? 

We were awful for the most part after christmas last season. Far, far worse than today.

[MaVilla]

38 minutes ago, tinker said:

Can't believe a squad as gifted can look so bad.

 Targett would have started today if he had been available. Young was completely overrun first half, miracle we went in at 1-0.

So fuxkimg depressing after last season's performances, never this shit.......was we? 

Yeah, we were quite a bit worse last season for about the last 20 games.

We averaged 1.2 ppg for the last 20 games of last season, 0.9 ppg for the first 11 games of this season.

To be fair to Gerrard we are averaging 1.5 ppg under him.

I think the  problem is we over estimate a lot of our players.

I think we have 4 or 6 players capable of top 8, the rest are bang mid table or lower half PL quality.

[MaVilla]

43 minutes ago, tinker said:

Can't believe a squad as gifted can look so bad.

 Targett would have started today if he had been available. Young was completely overrun first half, miracle we went in at 1-0.

So fuxkimg depressing after last season's performances, never this shit.......was we? 

It's because most of our players aren't gifted, we just think they are.....but they aren't.

[The Fun Factory]

4 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Yeah, we were quite a bit worse last season for about the last 20 games.

We averaged 1.2 ppg for the last 20 games of last season, 0.9 ppg for the first 11 games of this season.

To be fair to Gerrard we are averaging 1.5 ppg under him.

I think the  problem is we over estimate a lot of our players.

I think we have 4 or 6 players capable of top 8, the rest are bang mid table or lower half PL quality.

We have only looked like a top 6 side for about half a season since 2010.

We have a long way to go to be consistently decent over the course of a season.

I would like to see what will be considered a good season next year- top 10, european spot, a decent cup run. Not sure.

[Wezbid]

There's plenty of work to be done but feck me, some of you are ridiculous, jumping on anything and everything.