Ratings & Reactions: Bournemouth v Villa

[PaulC]

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

I just can't understand accommodating Carlos at the expense of Konsa? What is Unai playing at? 

yes dont understand why when bringing Cash on he didnt just move Konsa into back 4.  We got away with a draw thanks to Martinez and a brilliant header from Watkins. 

[Keyblade]

1 minute ago, KMitch said:

Refs cost us 2 points...  In a season full of terrible refereeing performances, that might have been the worst of the lot in Villa matches so far.  Bournemouth should have had at least 1 red card in the first half, and you could have made the case for a second.  So many fouls not called in the second half when they kicked the Hell out of our players outside their box over and over and over again.  Pathetic, once again. 

Dibu kept us in it.  Brilliant header from Ollie to equalize.

People saying we played poorly, but the whole momentum of the game was rigged in favour of Bournemouth. They were allowed to get away with niggly fouls in midfield so we couldn't push to get onto second balls as it was risky if fouls aren't being called. We just couldn't get into our rhythm

 

[macandally]

Referee so inconsistent it’s untrue, cards for fun until it mattered! 
 

Martinez kept us in the game, so by miles the MOTM.  Dug it out when not at our best, same as Spuds, a year ago we are losing those games, sign of progress

[punkiller1981]

Not going to criticise Emery to much but he can’t keep playing konsa at right back so he can get Carlos on the team. Carlos at the moment isn’t good enough and neither is zaniolo at all. Really disappointed because that’s forest and today where we have been out worked and battled against what is two shit teams. Win those two and we are top of the league 

[AVTuco]

Not too down since we equalized. 

Watkins got my vote with that superb header alone.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Not a great performance but at least got a point. 

[The_Rev]

I'll take a point there.  We were very good for the first half hour and the last ten minutes, out done by a lot of running in-between.   We missed Kamara, Zaniolo just doesn't look up to it and the right hand side needs looking at as it's weak when we rotate. 

 

Positives?  Kept ourselves in the game when we could have folded.  Decent point considering. 

[sne]

For all their supposed physicality those big bad Bournemouth players sure loves to use their arms and pull shirts. It was like watching a bunch of white trash mothers of 9 fighting over clothes at Wallmart on black Friday (or so South Park has taught me).

Shame the ref decided that this was an OK strategy for them to use.

Overall a lot of players had a rare day off and Martinez was probably MOTM. Bit of a failed selection today by Emery but I get the need to rotate. Konsa at RB isn't really something I love and Zaniolo probably has had enough chances to start. Is it the 3rd or 4th time he's been subbed at HT?

Anyway we managed a point in the end away to a very in form Bournemouth. Poor but no disaster. Probably can't afford too many more of these if we want to stay in the top 4 thou.

[MikeMcKenna]

I know Unai has to rotate players but imho this was the wrong match to do it. Carlos was a disaster. Zanniolo was very poor. We were lucky to get a point.

Edited December 3, 2023 by MikeMcKenna

[maqroll]

Bournemouth may have deserved to win that, even with the ref helping them. 

Disappointing game. Disaster averted at the end, but a worryingly flaccid team performance. 

[TheMightyVillans]

Zaniolo very poor in the 1st half and then ramsey didn't really do anything in the 2nd half. McGinn had a quiet game. Ref was shockingly poor. 

Clear that we missed kamara. Some big selection decisions for emery in the next match. I think he will go back to cash, konsa, torres, digne. 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by TheMightyVillans

[est1874]

5 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

if you cant win, dont lose i guess, but not picking up 3 points in these types of games will cost us a top 4 shot tbf.

Entirely.

We are not Top 4 standard. Liverpool today unfortunately showed us what Top 4 quality looks like - you wrestle victory from the jaws of defeat at all costs. Newcastle will soon overlap us, we'll finish 5th, maybe 6th if Spurs rally and improve again.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Watkins rescued what would have been a depressing weekend with that goal. Good character in this side to come back twice, after getting the comeback win last week. Massive week now. Sink or swim time.

 

[Pinebro]

Zaniolo losting ball about 9 times sets the foundation for the game.

They grow in confidence as a result of it.

With Diaby starting we are probably winning this.

[Davkaus]

4 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Disagree with everything here. We were absolutely shite today, like they'd forgotten everything from training. Fans have a right to expect a decent performance away to Bournemouth at the minimum

We were poor, but some of our fans are absolute divas who act like it's the end of days when we don't play well

We occasionally play quite badly, as a team currently putting in the best results over a 12 month period as we have in **** decades. No team plays at their best every game. People should probably keep a bit of perspective, this is the best we've had it as fans in a very, very long time.

Unfortunately we can't play our best 11 every game, we have to rotate, and it has a big impact. And of course when I say our best 11, I mean our available best 11, considering we've not been able to play our best 11 all season.

Some of the match thread is an absolute embarrassment, this isn't FIFA with the cheat codes enabled.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Davkaus

[OutByEaster?]

Sounded like we weren't quite at it today and allowed Bournemouth too much of the ball. An away point though is never a disaster.

I can't really add much more as I could only listen on WM and their commentary team was appalling - in radio commentary, you need to be talking about the game in front of you all the time - it's not like TV where we can see the pictures and you can talk about other stuff over it. I only knew that Semenyo should perhaps have had a second booking because I could hear our fans chanting "Off" at him over the sound of them talking about the FA cup draw, they didn't notice that Ramsey had come on at half time until the 53rd minute and they didn't see the board for the added time at the end of the game - not that it mattered as they played an advert over the top of their own commentary as it came to a close anyway. 

I think we'll need a couple;le of fresh faces in January if we're to keep the momentum of the season going - this group is brilliant, but we're a little thin.

Ah well, good to see Bailey and Watkins continue to score goals, onto the next one.

[Robtaylor200]

3 minutes ago, Farlz said:

A poor away performance again. Definitely take the point considering the state of how we played. 

stats were pretty even and always take a point away

[ROTTERDAM1982]

Shows how important Kamara is. Got away with it today. A bit too pedestrian today, i thought Bailey was playing well, but Diaby made a difference when he come on. Not sure that without Kamara the midfield is quick or strong enough tbh

[sheepyvillian]

2 hours ago, punkiller1981 said:

Not going to criticise Emery to much but he can’t keep playing konsa at right back so he can get Carlos on the team. Carlos at the moment isn’t good enough and neither is zaniolo at all. Really disappointed because that’s forest and today where we have been out worked and battled against what is two shit teams. Win those two and we are top of the league 

We didn't deserve 3 points, we lacked the required intensity that's paramount for any team with top 4 ambition. And calling Bournemouth a "shit team," reeks of arrogance. They were very good today and can feel themselves rather unlucky, imo.

Edited December 3, 2023 by sheepyvillian

[Enda]

Bournemouth scored twice today. One from an awful mistake/pass by Carlos, and an excellent swivel and finish for their second. But they should have scored at least four.

The ref bottled it. Should have sent at least Semenyo off. And he didn’t and that changed the game. But let’s be honest Bournemouth should have scored at least four and that’s not the ref’s fault.

Cash needed a rest and so the back line was disjointed. A new RB would be preferable to playing Konsa, a top top centre half, out of position.

Martinez man of the match. Watkins with a very impressive finish. Zaniolo looked like a lost child. Tielemens very inconsistent, sometimes excellent (one tackle around 60 mins was pure class) but sometimes muck (loose passes).

Overall we were lucky. Two moments of excellence from our attack, and marvelous saves, earned us a point from an otherwise daily turgid team performance.