Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Crystal Palace

[Sam-AVFC]

11 minutes ago, Spoony said:

Under Gerrard we beat the teams worse than us, draw against the teams who are similar to us and lose to the teams better than us. There’s no in-between lol. This is the most mid-table side in history. 

Certainly feels that way. Hopefully a full pre-season and we can see more added value from our coaching team.

[tonyh29]

We were poor until the last 10 mins then looked quite decent , that said Palace weren’t exactly great either , Eze looks decent but if Zaha was as good at football as we was whinging he’d be one of the best players in the Prem.

Nothing game and he should have played the kids , hopefully he will do that on Thursday  , and help relegate Leeds in the process .. 

Next season we want to be destroying teams like these 

[WallisFrizz]

29 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Just got home from the game.

First half was poor and boring

Second half was slightly better

We suddenly started to try and play from the 90th minute and looked good.

Havent read what others have said so I’m intrigued to read now!

Don’t depress yourself. I got home thinking it was a typical end of season mid table display and nothing to worry about too much. Just forgettable. Come on here, the world has ended.

The 82 boys were given a lovely reception, the flags were great and to be fair to the Palace fans, they clapped them as they did the half time parade around the pitch with the trophy.

[nick76]

1 minute ago, WallisFrizz said:

Don’t depress yourself. I got home thinking it was a typical end of season mid table display and nothing to worry about too much. Just forgettable. Come on here, the world has ended.

The 82 boys were given a lovely reception, the flags were great and to be fair to the Palace fans, they clapped them as they did the half time parade around the pitch with the trophy.

Yeah seeing the ‘82 boys was great.

 

[nick76]

Praised Gerrard following the Pool game and this was poor apart from the last 5 minutes.  It was boring to watch but the highlight was the ‘82 boys, at least today was worth it to see them.  Forgettable match, performance and effort.

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Praised Gerrard following the Pool game and this was poor apart from the last 5 minutes.  It was boring to watch but the highlight was the ‘82 boys, at least today was worth it to see them.  Forgettable match, performance and effort.

I thought the effort was there. There is just no guile, craft, - it's effort alone.

[nick76]

Just now, hippo said:

I thought the effort was there. There is just no guile, craft, - it's effort alone.

I thought it was very mixed for example Ollie running the length of the pitch to get us a throw-in to barely moving when we are on the attack, not providing an option.  Other players several times  leaving a pass for another player and Palace then getting the ball.  I just thought across the team the effort was mixed. Then suddenly the last five minutes they came to life.

[TomC]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

Did we play the diamond today. Interestingly heard Martin Keown, saying players including him hated playing this system, as it's just too complicated to master. Then the other teams work you out, so you find your self working far to hard with the ball.

I thought it was a very lopsided/stretched out diamond with Dougie and McGinn pulled wide...see my post above as to why...

 

[TomC]

1 hour ago, VillanousOne said:

There is so little movement and runs ahead of him that he rarely has an outlet to pass to, even when he does succeed it's usually to Ings who for some reason now needs 10 shots before he scores one. It's why Buendia needs to play.
 

Agreed. Ings has good off-the-ball movement. The rest of the team looked static.

 

[OutByEaster?]

Another home game that we could have got more out of and blah, blah, blah....

Our home form really hasn't been good enough this season, I don't know what it is, belief, being clinical in our finishing, motivation, energy, drive or just simple quality - but we've often looked like we're going through the motions at home - today we did that for large parts of the game. We were marginally the better side on the day I thought, but we can look so clumsy at times - I know Konsa was down on the ground for a chunk of it, but we didn't complete a pass in Palace's half until almost ten minutes into the second half - and yet for the added time we looked like a team that could create chances at will - that's not about skill, it's about desire and mentality - it's about wanting to win for ninety minutes, not just for enough of them to get ahead.

We looked better with Buendia - he brought drive and desire to our play that had been lacking and I think we can risk having another go at the Buendia/Coutinho combination on this showing. I thought both fullbacks played well, McGinn was decent, Luiz had a poorer game and Nakamba was very wasteful, Watkins worked hard and Ings again squandered chances - the very thing you wouldn't expect from him - he could have had five goals this week, I'd have expected a couple. 

I thought the pre-game tribute was wonderfully done - a really great touch to have the players, staff and ownership applaud the team onto the field. I thought the flags and giant Cup banner looked fantastic - it put a pep into the crowd that took the team about fifteen minutes to take out again. It was another great tribute to the 82 team and they looked like they loved every minute.

For me though (and this is likely to be an unpopular opinion) this should probably be the last time we do this - I think you should celebrate memory and recognise history and the events of 82 are moving quickly now from one of those states to the other - I'd guess only a third of todays crowd were old enough to have seen the game and whilst for those of us that did it adds lustre to already sparkling memory, for the under twenties, it's a heck of an achievement from a long time ago - like the double winning side of 1896-97. 

I'm hoping we can bank those memories and achievements and begin to look forward in the future - if we're to do that, we'll need to be better at home than today. As a poster on here often suggests; we need winners, men of character who can drive the team forward on lazy Sunday afternoons at the end of the season, people that hate losing and love winning, it'll help if they can pass a football too. 

Should've won this one today.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda,

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I thought it was very mixed for example Ollie running the length of the pitch to get us a throw-in to barely moving when we are on the attack, not providing an option.  Other players several times  leaving a pass for another player and Palace then getting the ball.  I just thought across the team the effort was mixed. Then suddenly the last five minutes they came to life.

I think the effort needs to be channeled better - we need more of a game plan.

Thats what systems do - they make the effort more productive. We seem to try and get by on effort alone.

[NurembergVillan]

Still on my way back from VP and surprised nobody has mentioned Palace set up in a 541 today. It was almost impossible to break down.

Once nicked a goal from nowhere thanks to Digne's cross they had to change shape and that's why we improved and looked more threatening.

We shouldn't have allowed them an equaliser but we did enough to win it after they scored. Watkins' dragged effort was woeful.

Nakamba gave the ball away too much and our midfield lacks muscle - which Gerrard pointed out after West Ham away too.

In the summer I'd replace Konsa, Nakamba and get a new striker who is more clinical.

A good CDM enables us to play Coutinho and Buendia together behind a striker who can get in behind and hit the target.

Right now the midfield options are so unbalanced it's always going to be hit and miss.

Onwards and upwards.

**** Zaha.

[chappy]

Don’t like the word but ‘meh’ sums up the game today.

Voted Watkins MOTM for the goal but Digne could’ve got it too. 
 

Manager - average. Understand playing the same xi as Tuesday and realise the Nakamba 60ish min sub is forced on him as Marv comes back to full fitness. Also had to use a sub on Konsa.

Was thinking around 75 mins that the ref had had an alright game but last five he lost it so voted him poor. Also, how on earth didn’t Zaha get booked?!

 

Today reeked on an end of season clash but I have to say Palace set up very well defensively  to combat us and our goal came as a welcome surprise. I was at the wrong end of the ground to see clearly but looked like their equaliser was soft.

Cash looked tired/injured to me from 65-70 mins on. Chambers did well when he came on and I have the feeling he’ll be back up to someone other than Konsa next year. I’d keep Konsa given his performances last season but the club might decide he’s on to cash in on. Also like Luiz at no8, hope we don’t sell him even if he’s not planned to start every game next year.

 

Need to come out of the traps flying against Burnley, feel like when we don’t at home we just let the opposition set into a pattern of play. Difference from Tuesday to today was huge.

 

Last thing - second game in a row when Wolves have played at the same time as us  that I’ve been on the train home and a load of their fans have jumped on between Wolvo and Stafford giving it the big ‘un with mind the gap etc. last time they’d lost 0-3 and today they drew with Norwich… get a life lads!

[foreveryoung]

41 minutes ago, Spoony said:

Under Gerrard we beat the teams worse than us, draw against the teams who are similar to us and lose to the teams better than us. There’s no in-between lol. This is the most mid-table side in history. 

Your not wrong here. 

[MakemineVanilla]

The match vindicated my assumption that the two sides are much of a muchness, but it did seem likely that Villa had spent a lot more than Palace in achieving that status.

Villa made the best chances and Palace enjoyed the most possession.

The arrival of Ramsey in midfield made Villa look more dynamic and the goal quickly followed.

The arrival of Buendia sparked Villa into a flurry of quality play but it was probably these gungho minutes which led to the defence losing concentration and conceding.

I was glad to earn a point after it looked so unlikely for so long but I wouldn't deny that Villa were poor at times.

 

 

[Villatillidie95]

one of the most boring games of the season without a doubt, plenty of chances squandered by both teams. Most of the stats were basically 50-50, they had slighly more of the ball and more shots but passing accuracy, number of passes etc all pretty much the same. You can see why both teams are 11th and 12th place respectively

[VillaFaninLondon]

49 minutes ago, useless said:

Today was a pretty awful performance, we werent passing well, too many long balls, we weren't winning the lose balls. I think the biggest problem was the team selection, even if you allow for Ramsey and Buendia not being quite fit enough to start, I feel we should have done something different from the start, I would have kept Luiz as the No.6 and played Chukwuemeka where Ramsey normally plays.

Should have made the subs earlier.

Not too concerned though, didn't lose so four games unbeaten, and truth be told game was probably a typical end of season game where you can't read too much into it.

We lost to Liverpool 5 days ago.

[The Fun Factory]

Never looked like we were going to win it apart from a last minute flurry.

The match was frankly largely dull and tedious to watch.

Given the last 10 years I suppose we should be thankful for dull, tedious mid table premier league football.  And from next year it will be 10%  more to watch it.

However positives are if you are not good enough to win a match, try to draw which we did. And I think its only 1 defeat in 5. I expect a improved performance versus Burnley as all of our home points have basically come from beating teams below us, apart from the Watford debacle. 

Full backs were good which was just as well as  we  did not really have a functioning midfield. McGinn entire tactics today involved sticking his arse out and then either hoofing the ball to Watkins who always had 2 defenders on on, or falling over. Need to sort the middle out in the summer. 

And Buendia must start mid week.

Edited May 15, 2022 by The Fun Factory

[skell]

2 hours ago, TomC said:

I’ll start off my repeating what I said in the match thread…we had two problems most of the match…

1. We gave the ball away cheaply.

2. We couldn’t get the fullbacks forward, in part because we couldn’t hold the ball, in part because they had players pinning them back. This meant that Dougie and McGinn had to play very wide, which left a gap in the middle, which meant that Coutinho had to come back deep and get the ball, which meant that everyone was spaced out too much and it was hard to link up.

The JJ-for-Naka sub changed the game. Not only did JJ give us an extra attacking edge, but, more importantly, Dougie was able to handle the deep distribution. Dougie is not a natural DM and is not the answer in the middle in a 4-3-3. But we miss his distribution when he’s not there. He’s a natural alongside a pure DM in a 4-2-3-1.

Despite some criticism of Coutinho in the match thread, I thought he did a good job of distributing the ball from deep when he was stuck doing that. It’s just that he shouldn’t have to play that role.

Cash had one of his best defensive games of the year.

Digne made our goal and had a good game overall. A definite upgrade from Targett.

Chambers looked better than Konsa again.

Ings left his shooting boots at home again.

McGinn played well and was heavily involved…but also was lucky not to get sent off given some of his tackles.

Watkins got outjumped for the header that made their goal, but he’s not defender, so I’m not going to be harsh on him about it.

Emi1 bailed us out several times as usual.

Palace are a better defensive team than I realized.

 

I think Palace are an excellent team. We had plenty of the ball but made stupid.passes. nakamba and mcginn more.guilty than most. I suspect Gerrard is waiting for a strong central midfielder before ih plays emi and Phil together 

[El Segundo]

Flat and turgid until Ramsay and Buendia came on.  Prior to that we had no-one willing/able to run at them with the ball and carry the game to them.

Zaha is an eternal Duracell unhappy bunny with a face like a smacked arse all the time.

Still very unconvinced by Gerrard-ball.  About half way through the second half we had the ball just outside the left side of Palace’s area.  From this promising position we proceeded to make 6 or 7  passes that ended up with Martinez at the other end.  It’s all very well keeping the ball but I really struggle to see the of point of that kind of thing.