Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Norwich

[limpid]

People still talk about possession stats like they mean anything

[RicRic]

18 hours ago, Davkaus said:

A win that feels like papering over the cracks, but we're safe beyond all doubt now. Playing for pride for the rest of the season, and we need to do better than this.

Exactly this mate and then we have those that are lauding every player on the pitch  

[The Fun Factory]

14 hours ago, osmark86 said:

Sometimes that's all you need to stop the funk.

Bootsy Collins would respectfully disagree. 

[wict01]

Pretty pedestrian affair. We were poor, Norwich were worse. It is what it is, we're safe and I can't wait for the season to end TBF.

[osmark86]

24 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Bootsy Collins would respectfully disagree. 

Good for us we're not playing against him any time soon.

[ciggiesnbeer]

2 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

Bootsy Collins would respectfully disagree. 

Hit it on the one then go back to your funk!
 

 

[Brumstopdogs]

Hopefully will prove to be a very big 3 points for us in what was a game where we didn't play at out best but never really needed to.

Thought Bailey was largely ineffective before he got injured despite one impressive long shot. Still has a lot to prove at premier league level.

Ings made an instant impact and we look like we carry far more goal threat with Watkins and Ings up front.

Ramsey and McGinn did OK in midfield and Buendia again showed again that we need to find a way to get him in the team.

Overall we go the 3 points that we so badly needed and gave a warm and deserved welcome back to Deano . UTV!

[delboy54]

I have a soft spot for Norwich, living where I am, I did venture onto one of their forums to see what they were saying...

Confusingly they keep referring to DS which can either mean Delia Smith or Dean Smith, so it takes a bit of working out what the conversation is about.

They want Delia out, they are/were a well run club but have realised that without a multi billionaire sugar daddy no team is going to break into the top 6. 

They thought the ref was biased towards us, thought we were thugs and that even with all our money, the best we will ever do is be a mid table prem team.

Interestingly they all welcomed the championship where they all thought the league was fairer, no VARS, no bias towards the top 6 and less diving and cheating......perhaps they are onto something.....

[Robtaylor200]

On 30/04/2022 at 16:56, Davkaus said:

A win that feels like papering over the cracks, but we're safe beyond all doubt now. Playing for pride for the rest of the season, and we need to do better than this.

and prize money of £1.9M per place that we finish above bottom, that's a lot of money still be made 

[Dante_Lockhart]

On 30/04/2022 at 17:02, jim said:

21 shots but we don’t create anything

Hit woodwork twice, could’ve been 4

[TRO]

On 30/04/2022 at 18:03, IrishVilla10 said:

How many games have we controlled since November? We rarely dominate possession. I don’t think we have any intensity at all. We let Norwich pass it around us when we gave them the ball back time and time again. Does Gerrard not see that?

I think he does see that, his expressions tell us that......but its hard to instil somethings in the players we have......Brendan Rodgers conceded the same about his team when asked about a lack of aggression.

We don't control games, and haven't done for some time now.....we just have " moments" in games where we get goals and get the business done that way.....We simply don't have the players in midfield for control, dominance or authority.

You can only coach players so much, much of it has to come from them.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, delboy54 said:

I have a soft spot for Norwich, living where I am, I did venture onto one of their forums to see what they were saying...

Confusingly they keep referring to DS which can either mean Delia Smith or Dean Smith, so it takes a bit of working out what the conversation is about.

They want Delia out, they are/were a well run club but have realised that without a multi billionaire sugar daddy no team is going to break into the top 6. 

They thought the ref was biased towards us, thought we were thugs and that even with all our money, the best we will ever do is be a mid table prem team.

Interestingly they all welcomed the championship where they all thought the league was fairer, no VARS, no bias towards the top 6 and less diving and cheating......perhaps they are onto something.....

If we don't get the recruitment right.....I fear that to be the case.

Money is merely the conduit to allow us to buy, (which is a massive fillip).........The crucial bit is getting in the right players.

[TRO]

On 30/04/2022 at 18:18, foreveryoung said:

That immediate burst of pace when Ing's came on is what gave us the goal. I have said many times on here, when we play at pace, which we can do, we look unplayable. Why we don't play this way, I do not know, maybe Gerrard thinks we can keep it up. The way we are playing lately, even though we got the win today, just looks laboured, slow and without the work rate we need to get us to the dizzy heights of midtable.

You don't have to have the skill of Man City or Liverplop to play the game with a bit of pace.

With respect.....I don't think we ever play, like we look unplayable.....even at our best.

[foreveryoung]

9 minutes ago, TRO said:

With respect.....I don't think we ever play, like we look unplayable.....even at our best.

Southampton, Leeds  Everton this season. We know what good performances look like, this team can do it, problem is its generally only 10% of the season we see it, an this has to change.

[TRO]

Just now, foreveryoung said:

Southampton, Leeds  Everton this season. We know what good performances look like, this team can do it, problem is its generally only 10% of the season we see it, an this has to change.

I still don't think we looked unplayable.....good teams would have most likely stopped that.

[foreveryoung]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

I still don't think we looked unplayable.....good teams would have most likely stopped that.

Yeah I've no doubt we would ever look unplayable against the big boys. But we have shown our quality with this team, it's just a rare event.

As I have said many times Tro, an I'm sure you would agree. It's work rate and intensity of a game. It's just rarely there. People will big up the Norwich win, but it was slow and laboured, apart from when we got the goals, we turned it on a bit, an to be fair they are crap.

The Leicester game was pants. I saw someone say it was a good result as they are a good team. Not lately there not, they are rubbish, Tottenham took them apart like they took us apart. It's  just to easy to pass the ball through us. Man U second game, how did we lose that, they are awful but unfortunately, so are we.

 

[TRO]

On 30/04/2022 at 20:27, QldVilla said:

I must of been watching a different game considering some of the comments, we could of had 5 or 6 goals today, but the final pass, one too many touches or poor finishing prevented it, Krul also made a great save on Bailey. Gerrard is trying different things, it may not look great to some but we will hopefully see the benefits next season.

We had an 18 and 20 yo starting in the midfield today, not many managers would have the courage to make that decision, especially in the PL.

and at times it showed....that is not a criticism, purely an Observation.....because I like both of them.

but IF we want European football.....it has to be quality, experienced Pro's giving us Authority in there....Until the younger players can oust them.

[TRO]

On 30/04/2022 at 22:50, ender4 said:

All Villa tickets were sold out. But the away section was only 35-40% full. Away fans usually add more noise to stadiums and help the atmosphere.

In stark contrast to when they won the championship title and celebrated at Villa Park.....The irony kills.

Glory hunters.

[TRO]

On 01/05/2022 at 00:26, chappy said:

Norwich didn’t sell any tickets in the upper tier so there was an empty 1000 seats up there. Doesn’t excuse the poor atmosphere in our end but in turn, the performance wasn’t exactly inspiring. Kept thinking throughout the game how much better the atmosphere is at the likes of Palace, regardless of how they’re playing. Hypocritical to moan about it whilst not necessarily making the noise to improve it myself but the club need to look at a way of improving the atmosphere - could we promote a ‘singing section’? As contrived as that sounds, it could make a difference.

Very underwhelming performance today and for a 2-0 win, not particularly enjoyable in a strange way. Also thought the ref was atrocious, voted very poor for him. Seemed to get every other call wrong in the second half in particular.

Voted Ings MOTM, personally would’ve brought on Buendia but Danny proved me wrong. Gave us a little more impetus. Felt the main problem all game was we lacked the intensity to break Norwich down. It was a bit like a pre season game at times.

Need to find a way of getting Coutinho and Buendia in the same team for me. Phil wasn’t quite at it today but he kept plugging away and didn’t hide. Watkins had a decent game and McGinn was better than of late. 7/10 debut for Tim, couple of misplaced passes aside, he looked pretty untroubled throughout. Cash was quiet.
 

Great reception for Deano, hope he can bring Norwich back up next season. Next week will be tough and on this showing I’m not sure we’d have enough to get a win at Burnley so improvement needed.  
 

First of 5 visits to VP in the next 20 days (including the women’s game), great start result wise, hopefully performances can improve.

With regards to the Atmosphere, the results have had a huge impact on that imo.

That was the second time we have won at home this year....is it any wonder scepticism has crept in

losses against Watford, Spurs and Arsenal, has damped the enthusiasm sadly.....and with us leaving it late again to secure the win......Its probably perfectly understandable, that the atmosphere is they way it is.

Our team are simply not convincing in much of what we do, even when we do get results, much is scrappy, untidy, ungamely and desperate....sure we have good moments in a game, when that is not so.....but its all so inconsistent and stop start, performances.

I think the Villa Fans can compete with the best, but we have to understand here, its not been the best season to motivate the fans....its all a bit flat on and off the pitch.

[TRO]

On 01/05/2022 at 09:52, foreveryoung said:

Its because Ings has a brain.

spot on.....I was think along similar lines watching the game.....asking myself, is the Pitch IQ up to what is should be.....but then ,I said to myself, we have got 2 young players in the engine room.