Ratings & Reactions: Villa v West Ham

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

It wasn't even a bad performance, or an unwinnable game.

Under normal circumstance it would have been easy to say that was " unlucky " due to the nature of the goal.

However this was legit one of those where the Manager actually prevented us from winning the game with some absolutely ridiculous decision making.

If it wasn't for the fluke goal, even a draw on the balance of the game would have been a shit result.

[supermon]

I was sitting at the trinity stand today and just saw Coutinho, McGinn, Digne , Watkins, Luiz all on the left, it felt like it was an instruction from Gerrard not to give the ball to Cash, seemed absolutely bizarre. Sadly when Cash did get it on the right he was woeful. But what tactic philosophy is this

[Talldarkandransome]

6 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Oof.

Let's start with the match. I thought in the first half we played quite well in some ways. The plan was sort of there, the style of play we wanted was almost visible, we were keeping the ball, we were controlling the game, West Ham weren't getting out or putting us under any pressure, and we had the half pretty much to ourselves. What we weren't doing was scoring goals, or making the chances that looked like they'd bring goals - so the plan was working, but it wasn't putting us into a winning position - we were playing good football in places on the pitch where good football didn't make a lot of difference to the result.

What we did have going for us was that we had control and the constant idea that a mistake or a moment of magic would be all that was needed to put us ahead. We were at least much the better side.

Moyes adjusted in the second half and made West Ham a bit more competitive - at that point we had a choice, keep up with the plan and maintain control without much in the way of threat or make an adjustment. I thought after about an hour Coutinho was tiring and I was thinking that Buendia coming on for him might be a good idea at that point for a bit of freshness or energy, but we still looked pretty secure and I was pretty much resigned to a nil-nil being the most likely outcome - one I thought both managers might take.

Taking off Luiz for Ramsey lost us the game. It's this manager's biggest weakness (and he has a few). He loves McGinn and Ramsey, but he needs to understand that they don't play well together and that they completely unbalance us when you play them next to each other. If you want to bring Luiz off, you have to bring on Iroegbunam, if you want to bring Ramsey on you have to take McGinn off - it's that simple.

With our shape ruined and Kamara completely isolated, West Ham took the control we had away, looked more dangerous and inevitably scored.

We huffed and puffed a little bit but didn't look like blowing their house down - you could add uncharitably that we didn't look like blowing a paper house down.

Individually, no one really stunk the place up, Digne couldn't cross a 't', but he got into nice positions, McGinn worked really hard for an hour or so before his legs went, the centre halves were okay, Chambers especially, and Cash was decent, even the front two plugged away at it and worked hard, most of the time in areas where they weren't hurting the opposition, but still with a lot of effort and Coutinho tried hard to find teammates where they've been in teams he's played in before.

But we're a mess, even when it works, when it's perfect, when everyone is doing their job, we don't look like scoring - the plan is bad, it forces good players into working really hard at the things they don't do well, Ings and Watkins are battling away in the corners, Coutinho is holding the ball up with his back to goal, McGinn is defending wide areas, it's just badly thought out - and then the manager decides to take it apart anyway at the first possible opportunity by bringing on more players that remind him of himself.

We played okay, we deserved a draw I thought, but fair play to West Ham, they're big, strong, physical, well organised, they have a pattern and a plan that plays to their strengths and they're resilient, they defended really well as a team, kept plugging away and took their chance when it came - they're everything we're not.

We aren't winning either of our next two games.

So after six games we'll have three points.

That makes this a season of transition and for me, we can't start that transition until we have a manager in place who can take us forwards.

That manager isn't Steven Gerrard. He has to go.

They have to be talking to his potential replacements now. Tonight. As I type this. With a view toward brining that person in after next weekend and our two upcoming heavy defeats.

It's difficult, because we're going into the last few days of a transfer window needing a centre back, a defensive midfielder and maybe more and at the same time we need to be talking to a new manager with a new philosophy for the club and his own ideas on the types of players we need, but it needs to happen - get Johan Lange a big box of ProPlus, he's about to prove his mettle.

Limping through this window with a manager who is tactically naive at best and quite probably tactically inept, who doesn't appear to have an eye for a player and does seem to have problems seeing eye to eye with players is a recipe for disaster - we are not safe from relegation with Gerrard in charge, there's a whiff of unhappiness in the air and a complete lack of organisation on the field - if we wait until January, we'll be selling a very different job.

We need a new manager in place next Monday or we're in trouble.

Oh and 'headache'?

My arse.

 

 

 

 

Fooking ell that's long

[VillaChris]

What a brilliant summary of not just the game but our overall "progress" under Gerrard by @OutByEaster?. Get the feeling I'm already out of likes for the day but that is 100% spot on.

Indeed rather than typing out a dismissal letter for him in near future I'd just show him the first half of that post above as it perfectly sums up his weaknesses as manager at top level so perhaps he'll take things on board and improve at his next club. He can't work it out here anyway.

[NoelVilla]

23 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

 

Oh and 'headache'?

My arse.

 

 

 

 

What do you mean by this? Someone said Mings had a headache?

[ciggiesnbeer]

Cant defend that and wont.

[VillaChris]

3 minutes ago, Talldarkandransome said:

Fooking ell that's long

It's a perfect summary though.

We're making players work twice as hard in nonthreatening areas of the pitch so just wasting energy. Sub of Luiz was criminal and even when things click as they did in first 30 minutes we created little aside from executed set piece that sadly just swung out of play.

Of course fans don't play 100s of pro games so opinions can get dismissed but OBE has summed up our current malaise far more accurately than if Purslow was posting somewhere on this forum I reckon. If he can see it hopefully Wes and Nas can aswell.

[mottaloo]

I am sick of us being soft as shite, blunt with no aggression. I type this as i watch a forest team get well and truly stuck in to spurs. They probably won't win but won't die wondering. 

[briny_ear]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Sure but at least we dont have Smith as manager so can be happy at least about that

You're still obsessing about the past, I see. I'm looking to the future.

And it doesn't look great at the moment.

[Talldarkandransome]

Just now, VillaChris said:

It's a perfect summary though.

We're making players work twice as hard in nonthreatening areas of the pitch so just wasting energy. Sub of Luiz was criminal and even when things click as they did in first 30 minutes we created little aside from executed set piece that sadly just swung out of play.

Of course fans don't play 100s of pro games so opinions can get dismissed but OBE has summed up our current malaise far more accurately than if Purslow was posting somewhere on this forum I reckon. If he can see it hopefully Wes and Nas can aswell.

OBE is one of out best posters. I was just commenting on how long it was. I rarely disagree with OBE.

[DaveAV1]

21 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

It’s a shame because he’s brought us much needed exposure and some very good players into the club. However, the basics on the pitch don’t even seem right now. Time to act and quickly in order to change our season.

I think you’re right. The plan was to up our profile and in that respect the plan worked. But sadly the other big part of his job, the coaching, has been pretty woeful. It can’t go on too long, hopefully we’re close to finding a replacement. The  what appears to be reluctance to spend further money on the squad at the moment would certainly indicate things are afoot. 

[Eligius]

I thought we dominated the first half without looking a threat, Kamara must be thinking what the **** have I joined. Second half we were worse and I am yet to see any improvement in results than when Smith was manager even though we have apparently bought better players.

Time for a good manager, not a novice.

 

 

[briny_ear]

My worry is that, on this form, we won't get anything from the next three matches, so we will go into the match with Southampton on 3 points from 7 games.

That will make it a very unhappy experience.

[ferguson1]

9 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

I think you’re right. The plan was to up our profile and in that respect the plan worked. But sadly the other big part of his job, the coaching, has been pretty woeful. It can’t go on too long, hopefully we’re close to finding a replacement. The  what appears to be reluctance to spend further money on the squad at the moment would certainly indicate things are afoot. 

This is where I’m baffled? Gerrard has worked under some fantastic managers and coaches, whether it be at Liverpool or England. Probably some of the very best.  So why hasn’t he bought those best coaching and managerial experiences/knowledge with him? It’s baffling.

[Genie]

Weird game. First half we dominated and looked in control without creating anything.

As soon as the second half kicked off the intensity seemed to drop and drop until they scored. Subs were made but there was still no urgency or quality.

West Ham were shit and absolutely robbed a win. 

[villaglint]

5 minutes ago, Genie said:

Weird game. First half we dominated and looked in control without creating anything.

As soon as the second half kicked off the intensity seemed to drop and drop until they scored. Subs were made but there was still no urgency or quality.

West Ham were shit and absolutely robbed a win. 

It’s been a real feature of the Gerrard era these Jekyll and Hide 90mins performances. No idea why that is but I can barely think of one game where we’ve been decent for a whole game. Southampton at home last season probably. 

[VillaChris]

8 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

This is where I’m baffled? Gerrard has worked under some fantastic managers and coaches, whether it be at Liverpool or England. Probably some of the very best.  So why hasn’t he bought those best coaching and managerial experiences/knowledge with him? It’s baffling.

He's just another Steve Bruce/O'Neil imo. Does very little actual coaching and it's all about status, motivation and buzzwords. And also constantly attempting to buy your way out of trouble.

That Martinez interview in pre season when he said Beale just did all of the coaching at Bodymoor last season said it all.

That's why we badly need a Rodgers or Pochettinho type next as those guys are proven on training pitch and do improve teams after a few months with double sessions etc.

[Rigs]

I just knew that we would be the team to give West Ham their first win of the season. 

[Davkaus]

8 minutes ago, Rigs said:

I just knew that we would be the team to give West Ham their first win of the season. 

Won me £100  

[Made In Aston]

A defeat and poor performance are not good. But on the positive side, it is another game closer to slippy G's sacking.