Ratings & Reactions: Bournemouth v Villa

[stewiek2]

It's a point but this away form is worrying. We can not expect to be up there if we go to places like here and Forest and play so goddam piss poor. Got out of jail here by throwing on subs without any clear game plan.

I love Unai but he got it wrong today. Stop with these slow starts away from home. We don't seem to find that second gear in such games. The balance of the side was wrong from the off and the lack of movement and intensity and energy in play just draws more pressure onto us.

Plus side, we didn't lose, but seriously, the away form is a concern, and proof that without Kamara as that calming influence the midfield just isn't at it.

Edited December 3, 2023 by stewiek2

[jim]

Martinez MOTM. Missed opportunity but will take a point after that display.

[Nigel]

That should have been 3 points if that coward of a ref had done his job!

[Demitri_C]

We were poor lucky to get a point but ill take it. Bournemouth are mot a bad side as newcastle found iut. But we were nowhere near our best.

Carlos was not good until half. Zaniolo was awful rightly taken off 2nd half. Mcginn very quiet too looked tired.

The ref was absymal. Honestly where did they pick this clown up from.

Emi motm by a country mile

[Rosch]

Well that was unpleasant. 

[villan95]

Very fortunate to get a draw there. Yes we should have been playing against 10 for an hour but we should be doing better.

[Mantis]

Not at our best and should've done enough to win but that was some absolutely awful refereeing. Think we showed some good fight to get the point in the end, even if it's a game most would've targeted for 3 points.

[Brumstopdogs]

 

[Talldarkandransome]

In the grand scheme of things a point is not a disaster. Despite the ref and our mostly poor performance.

Emi MOTM

Tielemens will probably miss the coach home

[mottaloo]

Is Zaniolo our Joelinton MK I ?

play him in a different position ? Or is he just not who we hoped he'd be ?

[nick76]

We must do better with our away form if we want Top 4 position.  

Martinez saved us.

[Herman22]

Good game for the neutral but ruined by the worst ref I have seen in some time.

Too quick to the give yellow cards but refused to send off two Bournemouth players who were already booked. 

Screwed again by a whisker tight VAR call. 

In the end take a point but still a bit disappointed. 

[avfc1982am]

Get out of jail card played today. We need to really buck our ideas up though. Pau, Luiz, Martinez and Bailey aside we were dreadful all over the pitch.

[Lerner's Driver]

Decent point in the end, but a missed opportunity. Emi magnificent.

Can't play like that and expect anything against the next two.

[GingerCollins29]

1 minute ago, Davkaus said:

Dreading how much people are going to throw their toys out if the Arsenal and Man City games don't end up with some surprise points for us. The fanbase has quickly become very, very spoiled.

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

[sheepyvillian]

5 minutes of added time wasted by 5 minutes of stoppage time.

[Indigo]

Thought Villa were really poor there, Bournemouth will be gutted they didn't put the game away. Reminded me of those games over recent season where we just look so easy to play against, centre backs having little to no help defensively, every loose ball and 50/50 being lost. Even after the equaliser it was an absolute mess, couldn't get back on the ball and couldn't wait to give it back on the rare occasion we did.

Did well to come away with a point considering, phenomenal finish from Watkins in order to do so. What a striker he is.

[IrishVilla10]

How there was only 5 minutes added there I’ve no idea. And it was in play for about 1 minute of it. Ref bottled the second yellow first half. Managers have clocked onto the fact if you press us hard early on you’re going to get chances. I felt like we had some control early second half and Bournemouth slowed up a bit, then Martinez lumps it to them in midfield and they break and score and it’s uphill from there. Two big games coming up now 

[TomC]

I’ll take the point.

A lot of things went wrong today: flat (McGinn) to downright awful (Zaniolo) performances; a ref who didn’t have the courage to send off Semenyo; and some bad luck (Duran post, Digne offside by milimetres).

Instead of complaining about the bad, I’ll make a few other observations.

Credit where credit is due. Whatever problems Bournemouth had earlier this season, they’re a solid side that should finish mid-table comfortably. They are well organized in back, press well, have some genuine attacking talent, and (although it took me 60 minutes to realize it) avoided our offside trap better than most of our opponents have.

Speaking of being well organized in back, we still don’t break down the low block very well when playing from behind.

Speaking of breaking down the low block, Diaby is a crucial player for us in that regard. He plays so well in tight spaces. I know that some around here don’t think that he’s been playing well lately, but he influences the game in non-obvious way sometimes.

Diaby to Watkins was one of those moments of superior quality that bigger clubs used to do to us even when we had frustrated them for most of the match. Now we do it to others.

Thank God we have the best goalkeeper in the world or this could have been worse.

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by TomC
Fixed typo

[CVByrne]

Good resilience getting the point. 4 points from last two away games we'd have taken. 

The early goals need to stop away from home.