Ratings & Reactions: Man Utd v Villa

[stewiek2]

Just now, MakemineVanilla said:

Villa deserved their two-lead but United were just better for the last half-hour.

While the Villa fans will be wondering if our bubble has burst, the United fans will be asking themselves if tonight's performance will prove a flash in the pan.

It's Man United believe you me their fans won't be thinking anything other than it's now a relentless run to the title, stating they are now only 9 points off second, despite being dogshit until the 30th minute today.

[GingerCollins29]

Essentially we've been absolutely battered. 

Whatever reasons why we were so under par i dont know, but united were well worth their win. 

Onto burnley

[islingtonclaret]

Oh, look! What a shock! An in form Aston Villa team go two up against a struggling man u team! What will be the outcome? Who can tell? Will the ghost of Macheda come and possess one of their strikers?

[Rugeley Villa]

We were so bad tonight it was infuriating to watch. 

[TomC]

9 minutes ago, AV82 said:

Considering we played that game with our back up CBs (Lenglet and Carlos), no proper RB (Konsa), missing our best CM (Kamara), arguably no LM (Ramsey was incredibly poor) and that Douglas and McGinn unfortunately had poor games I'm starting relax a bit. 

I think we can write off today's defensive problems as a bad game.

It's the inability to score from open play that has me worried.

 

[OutByEaster?]

10 minutes ago, Daulmakan said:

Also, Diaby should have entered for Ramsey at the 46' minute mark.

Diaby is Bailey's replacement - going to three up top would have been very bold and every time we've tried it we've looked weaker - what we really needed was to be able to bring on a midfielder for Ramsey - but with Tielemans out, Kamara suspended and Iroegbunam untested - we simply don't have any. You're right, we desperately needed a substitution, but the options are in the window, not on the bench.

 

[MaVilla]

5 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said:

Hugely miss Torres and Kamara but shouldn't be so reliant on two players. 

and Tielemans.

[stewiek2]

Just now, chrisvilla4 said:

Thought from the start we'd lose tonight. Too many injuries and our luck running out on us. Fair play to all for getting us to this point but I now think the 2nd half of the season will show us where we are really at. The crest of the wave is dying down and reality is kicking in. We're doing great, let's aim for top 4 and see where we end up. 

UTV.

And f*** United.

Yes. Regroup. Stay in the mix. Get players back. Recruit well in January and, like I said after the Sheffield United game, it means nothing going top now. Let's go top when it matters. In May.

[DJBOB]

1 minute ago, tom_avfc said:

But what’s the alternative to playing dendoncker there? We don’t have any other options. Hopefully by the end of January we’ll have a more able backup and won’t need to play dendoncker there.

He could have played McGinn instead as I thought he would but seems he wanted McGinn further up the pitch to connect us from our half to the final third - which in fairness he did. 
 

But he’s clearly lost a lot of trust in Diaby to do the second striker role and we paid for it by playing Dendoncker in the pivot instead. 

[Jas10]

First time, since Unai arrived,  I can say and have to admit that I am massively disappointed and upset after a game… 

Such a poor 2nd half display (wasn’t even impressed by the 1st tbh) and collapse…

But…

it’s one game… we’ve had shitty days and much worse many, many times over in the past… with no reasons for hope and optimism.

It’s very different now… important to not be too reactionary or negativity.

The absences hurt us… we do rely too heavily on individuals such as Kamara…

 

But I look at Unai on the sidelines and see the anger and frustration - some of these players can’t do what he wants or meet his demands. He has got this squad over performing.

But some players are out of form too… the sooner they can get over that, the better…

The club must back him and allow him to bring in higher quality players and make us stronger and to keep our progress and momentum at a sustainable level… he has and is doing an incredible job.

We move on and we will back and better for it. Lessons will be learned.

UTV and trust in Unai… always.

 

 

[Lerner's Driver]

4 minutes ago, switters said:

Abject second half, mistake after. mistake and didn't adjust even though their press was clearly causing issues and passing was off all game.  Ending as another one of those pathetic Old Trafford capitalions we should have left behind.

It's been a great first half to the season, pity to end it on the lowest of low points. Pretend title challenge definitely over now.

High pressing teams always cause us problems. 

[est1874]

5 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Who saw Bailey being the player he is this season? It's huge credit to him he's played well enough to earn the spot.

It is, but that doesn't make Diaby effective does it?

[sheepyvillian]

8 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Also sorry, I may end up regretting saying this, but Diaby looks like a **** luxury at ~£50m.

What's the point in having him and Bailey in the same squad when our flanks are bleeding at the back? It's a bit **** daft.

He's woefully ineffective right now too.

He really does look like a hype job atm

[Sulberto21]

After the performance today we need 3 players.

[MrBlack]

Miserable **** Christmas of football that.

Tiredness kicking in? We have used fewer players than any other PL side so far.

Need two signing in January if we don't want our season tailing off as demonstrated by the second half  fitness drop off from our last two games.

Can't believe we lost to that United side, or that Hojlund broke his duck against us. Typical.

Emery not to blame though, used the subs but they didn't bring anything to the game.

[birdman]

3 minutes ago, tom_avfc said:

Our bad form consists of 10 points out of a possible 15 including games against Man City and Arsenal. We’ve had a couple of games where we haven’t been at our best. Probably deserved more against Sheffield United and got what we deserved tonight.

Ona separate point the late subs is one of my favourite criticisms of managers at Villa. We’re overachieving and have a load of players nowhere near the level required on the bench. If he brought players on earlier we’d still have lost and then he’d be getting criticism for making the subs.

We desperately need some reinforcements in January but we’re miles ahead of where we thought we’d be. If we want to stay in a champions league hunt then we’re going to need to have far more on the bench and to allow us to refresh things from time to time.

I also feel we should have embarked on a game management phase when they started to turn the screw. If we can't score another then we have to shore up to protect our lead. 

[tom_avfc]

Just now, DJBOB said:

He could have played McGinn instead as I thought he would but seems he wanted McGinn further up the pitch to connect us from our half to the final third - which in fairness he did. 
 

But he’s clearly lost a lot of trust in Diaby to do the second striker role and we paid for it by playing Dendoncker in the pivot instead. 

We played McGinn there the other day and it didn’t really work either. We’re one injury/suspension away from losing our shape in far too many positions.

Given Diaby’s recent performances it’s hardly a surprise not to see him starting matches at the moment.

[thunderball]

The only thing Unai was to blame for was not shaking it up sooner - thought he waited far too long.

This is on the players: basic errors, not completing passes, being too casual, kicking long and blind clearances which we have rarely done so far this season. The % possession wasn’t too bad but felt far worse. We let them trigger their runs from deep to good effect. Carlos was the main culprit, silly fouls and sloppy play. But we just didn’t stretch them and they are a poor side - determination got them this result today, they wanted it more. 

Edited December 26, 2023 by thunderball

[claretman]

I'd rather have lost 3-0, it would have been easier to take.

[Harry]

We were very poor after the second goal and we seemed to get worse as the game progressed. We let a bang-average Man U side on a dreadful run of form win. My observations are:

1. We missed Kamara. His stupid red card cost us.
2. We missed Torres with his long passes out.
3. Luiz was woeful for most of the game.
4. Playing tippy tappy football on the edge of their penalty area does not get you goals.
5. Lenglet worries me. I am not sure he is PL player and there is no partnership with Carlos.
6. We basically gave them the ball and let them run at us for the second half
7. UE substitutions were way too late.
8. Duran is a championship striker at best. We should have kept Archer.
9. We don't have great options on the bench particularly with the injuries we have.

This result is way more annoying than SU. They came for a point and got it. We just lacked the killer edge in that game. Tonight it feels we gave up and let a poor side run rings round us. I actually think the hype has got to us. All the top at Christmas, maybe win the PL stuff.

Worse still we will be treated to 48 hours of Man U media w*ankfest.

The Burnley game is a big one now. Anything less than three points is unacceptable.