Ratings & Reactions: Brentford v Villa

[Vive_La_Villa]

I think Emery was genuinely worried about this game and I can see why. They are a pretty solid team defensively and love to play that ball over the top which we struggle with due to high line.  

Didn’t he say this is one of our hardest away games left ?

I can see why they have only lost 2 at home all season.  We were lucky to get a point.

[rjw63]

Anybody know how many home games Brentford have lost? 

Don't think it's been mentioned yet. 

[CVByrne]

We have to remember they would be very motivated for this game given how we humiliated them in our place. Same way we were against Newcastle.

Olsen coming on for Martinez was a big moment, his mistake should have lead to their goal, it came to Young to make the mistake and then still if we had Martinez there he might save that from Toney. 

They played well, but our reaction and the way you could see we stuck to our attacking structures when trying to get the equaliser. No wonder Emery is happy, we had tough times and came through them only one down away from home and the team stuck to what they were coached to do. The subs made an impact, Chambers was getting crosses in from the right, Digne from the left.

We have a skeleton squad atm so you do feel it'll tell in the run in especially with 2 more games this week. Happy with the point, I still think top 7 is unlikely given how good Brighton are, they are CL contenders.

[RichW]

14 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

We have to remember they would be very motivated for this game given how we humiliated them in our place. Same way we were against Newcastle.

Olsen coming on for Martinez was a big moment, his mistake should have lead to their goal, it came to Young to make the mistake and then still if we had Martinez there he might save that from Toney. 

They played well, but our reaction and the way you could see we stuck to our attacking structures when trying to get the equaliser. No wonder Emery is happy, we had tough times and came through them only one down away from home and the team stuck to what they were coached to do. The subs made an impact, Chambers was getting crosses in from the right, Digne from the left.

We have a skeleton squad atm so you do feel it'll tell in the run in especially with 2 more games this week. Happy with the point, I still think top 7 is unlikely given how good Brighton are, they are CL contenders.

Can say exactly the same thing for Brighton. They probably have a similar squad size to us and they got ALOT of games to play in May. It’s pretty much a game every mid week in May for them and it will cost them towards the end. Still have Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle to play so it’s not like they have an easy run in. 
 

Brighton been a brilliant side this season, if they do manage to finish top 7 with that run in then they deserve it. Also if they do beat Man Utd today, that FA Cup final will be a distraction towards the end of the season only have to look at Newcastle’s form around that League Cup final to see it has an effect. 

[CVByrne]

The tale of the second half. Brentford had 2.57 xG (the Olsen mistake was a 0.88 sitter). It was all Brentford until the 70th min and then all Villa (1.68 xG) 

Triple sub game changing. Imagine with a summer of signings we'd have even more impact off the bench

[Brentfordnylons]

Would have taken the draw before the game but disappointed with not winning after what was a good performance from us.Kept Oli quiet due to Franks tactics but also helped by the poor service he got.Good to see Villa fans mixing with home fans at the cricket club before the game first time I’ve seen away fans there.Hope we can hold on for a top ten finish which will be a good achievement Villa still have every chance of getting top 6 finish but will have to play better than that.

[HKP90]

32 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

The tale of the second half. Brentford had 2.57 xG (the Olsen mistake was a 0.88 sitter). It was all Brentford until the 70th min and then all Villa (1.68 xG) 

Triple sub game changing. Imagine with a summer of signings we'd have even more impact off the bench

I suspect the original plan was to keep it tight, and use the energy of the subs to knock them off late on in the proceedings, but the Brentford Goal and Emi put paid to that.

[thunderball]

Encouragingly, Emery made the changes that swung momentum and given another 10 minutes I could see us scoring again and possibly winning that despite being outwitted in the first 60ish minutes. 

A really good point though, shows how much we have come on that we have taken 23 points from 27 available in the last 9 games. Even depleted and under the cosh we are grinding out points. We do need about 4 decent senior players in the summer to bolster the options.

Funny how a few results turn the table in its head. Top 8 still possible but clearly very tough with a rejuvenated Liverpool, solid Brighton looking for the same as us but with games in hand. Spurs look vulnerable but we need to beat Fulham and get a result vs Man Utd, both big asks. 

6 more “cup finals”…..

 

[TRO]

19 hours ago, Icarium said:

Poor all round. Cant let your full backs be dominated for 60 minutes and expect to get away with it. Buendia and Luiz only two that looked like they gave a shit today. 1 point more than our play deserved

It was the essence of the problem, hence UE's change.

To compound the issue, we haven't got wingers to do what Brentfords wingers done to us.....thats anothers issue, I hope we get right in the Summer.

[TRO]

19 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Probably should have lost, could have ended up winning.

Team not at the races today and Brentford played with good intensity, Watkins was really off the pace for some reason. Fingers crossed nothing serious for Emi M.

I’ll take a point all things considered.

I think they man handled Ollie, always pulling at him, and disrupting his rhythm....I think they played him out of his stride, they must have watched the Newcastle game, forensically.

[TRO]

19 hours ago, TomC said:

Given that we were outplayed from the 10th minute until the 65th, I'll take the draw.

First, credit to Thomas Frank, who got the tactics right for Brentford. They frustrated us for that entire stretch.

The first 20 minutes of the second half made me realize how important Emi has become for our side beyond being a shot stopper or even a sweeper keeper. Without him as a viable passing option, we didn't seem to have a way to break their press or build from the back. We were already having an off-day, and that disoriented us even more. Olsen wasn't particularly bad, but he's no Emi.

The subs after the Brentford goal changed the match. (Too bad we didn't get them on sooner...it seemed like about 5 minutes that we were waiting for an opportunity.) We had been so ineffective on our right for most of the match that they were able to focus on the left and middle and shut us down. Traore and Chambers (who seemed to have more license to go forward than Young) gave us some width and we were able to advance the ball on that side often enough to stretch their defence a bit. That opened up space on our left for the goal.

MOTM? To me, nobody played well enough to be a standout. I guess I have to give it to Doug for the goal.

 

They had our number on the flanks, on the day our full backs were simply not up to it, and Schade and Mbuemo took advantage.

We need a right back who can defend the back post......Ashley as well as he has done, and Cash are converted wingers, I don't think they smell the danger of that back post.

[TomC]

Just now, TRO said:

They had our number on the flanks, on the day our full backs were simply not up to it, and Schade and Mbuemo took advantage.

We need a right back who can defend the back post......Ashley as well as he has done, and Cash are converted wingers, I don't think they smell the danger of that back post.

While I think that Cash is a capable RB, I agree that he has been known to get caught ball watching at the back post. Think about Manchester City's first and third goals in last year's finale...the first was all Cash's fault. You could blame him for the third too, though he may have been aware and (quite reasonably) didn't think de Bruyne could pick out the pass that he did.

 

[TRO]

4 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I think Emery was genuinely worried about this game and I can see why. They are a pretty solid team defensively and love to play that ball over the top which we struggle with due to high line.  

Didn’t he say this is one of our hardest away games left ?

I can see why they have only lost 2 at home all season.  We were lucky to get a point.

I was too....and the game I saw, didn't surprise me in the least......we did really, really well to come back and get something, that showed Character.

Balls over the top of us have been a weakness for some time, Man U did it in the carabao cup, where Rashford ran riot.

Balls diagonally over the full backs is also a tactic opponents use too....and cause us consternation.

Their goal was executed well....but sadly predictable....we have to defend the back post better than that.

Ashley has been phenomenal for his age, but I fear we are pushing our luck.

[TRO]

6 minutes ago, TomC said:

While I think that Cash is a capable RB, I agree that he has been known to get caught ball watching at the back post. Think about Manchester City's first and third goals in last year's finale...the first was all Cash's fault. You could blame him for the third too, though he may have been aware and (quite reasonably) didn't think de Bruyne could pick out the pass that he did.

 

Tom, I am not hanging players out, but both right backs have an attacking DNA......at times you need players in the team with defensive Nous, to make the tactics work better.

Its too much to rely on just Mings and Konsa alone, for that.....sure Dendoncker provides a bit too....but we didn't press them like they pressed us.

We all saw, how moreno struggled with Mbuemo, defensively, yet was a world beater going forward at Villa Park, against Newcastle.

Our squad is painfully thin, for where we want to go.....so what we are doing is amazing.He is limited in what he can change, which makes it all the more incredible.

4 points from Newcastle and Brentford, is testimony to how far this club has come under UE....truly amazing.

[ozvillafan]

I don't think we can under estimate how big an influence losing Martinez was.

Not just because he was in good form, but the keeper now plays an important part in how we build and defend.

Since Olsen is not likely to be a "sweeper keeper", we could no longer hold a high line. Since his ball skills and distribution is not as good as Martinez, we struggled to play out. That meant Brentford had a good 20 minutes of total control.

And even then, they only scored off a mistake and with a few substitutions we got a deserved equalizer as we punished their decision to sit back. We could have even won it if the communication between Buendia and Watkins was better - in fact, that was the tale of the game. Had those 2 been on the same page, it may have even been a comfortable win.

I'll take that point. We need to be able to compete regardless of the opposition and the situation we find ourselves in - and I thought we did just that.

[TRO]

3 hours ago, CVByrne said:

The tale of the second half. Brentford had 2.57 xG (the Olsen mistake was a 0.88 sitter). It was all Brentford until the 70th min and then all Villa (1.68 xG) 

Triple sub game changing. Imagine with a summer of signings we'd have even more impact off the bench

If we sign players who give us maximum effect.

we have signed a few duds in the past......fingers crossed that time is over.

[TRO]

17 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

I couldn't make my mind up whether Villa had returned to their old ways or they were struggling to cope with Brentford's press.

Brentford managed to bottle up several of Villa's players including Watkins and McGinn - Buendia got progressively frustrated.

Dendoncker made me nervous.

Villa started to knock it long, to no avail.

Moreno and a few others struggled with their touch and didn't make much of an impression.

Villa escaped when Olsen failed to hold a loose ball and Schade missed his chance, although he looked to have been offside.

Once Brentford had scored it looked inlikely Villa would get anything from the game.

It looked a bit too much like old Villa and not enough like new Villa - but a point was very welcome.

Good resume to me.

we went back to making their press our Achilles.

we have to move the ball , much quicker to counter it.

Edited April 23, 2023 by TRO

[VillaJ100]

Some super bitter comments from Frank after the game which is great and just showing we're doing the right thing

[WallisFrizz]

1 minute ago, VillaJ100 said:

Some super bitter comments from Frank after the game which is great and just showing we're doing the right thing

I read that. Something salty like they limited a team who everyone else says is good to only one half chance. We clearly irritated him. Good.

[CVByrne]

8 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said:

Some super bitter comments from Frank after the game which is great and just showing we're doing the right thing

I assume he was annoyed that his team were on the backfoot from the moment they scored and Emery made triple sub. They had lots of chances but the words "goals change games" and "game state" are two very relevant ones. They were on top, had chances and then scored, then we came back at them and scored. They didn't manage the game after going 1 0 up like we are so good at. Emery "won" this one in terms of the result