Ratings & Reactions: Man Utd v Villa

[stewiek2]

This result makes me even more pissed off with the Sheffield United result and puts more pressure on the Burnley game.

[ozvilla28]

No other words bottled it tonight players and coaching staff. No composure or steady heads panic merchants. Not one player grabbed the game to many went missing.

Away form is a issue no denying it. Squad needs work still reinforcements.

Edited December 26, 2023 by ozvilla28

[AV82]

8 minutes ago, villan95 said:

Oher than Kamara for Dendoncker and Torres for Lenglet that is arguably our strongest 11

Two of our most crucial components to the way we play and still no decent RB or LM. Now we're up to almost half our out field team.

[tom_avfc]

1 minute ago, birdman said:

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. 

But what does this game management phase consist of. They were all over us from the half hour mark and with more clinical attacking would have scored 8 or 9. We literally couldn’t keep the ball. You can waste a bit of time but if you then just give the ball back to them it’s not really achieving much.

It was crying out for midfield reinforcements but the only option we had was Iroegbunam who is completely untested and not long back from an injury. When we brought players on we didn’t improve.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

The most upset I've been at us for the whole season.

More worried about the manner of the throwaway performance, than the actual result.

It was a bizarre performance, I'll reiterate, I understand our style of play overall, but why in the absolute f*ck are we still playing like we are holding onto a lead, after going behind, with 10 whole minutes to go?

You can't even fault the backup lads as they were actually good on the whole!

I just hope it's not the start of a " slide ".

[DJBOB]

Just now, tom_avfc said:

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.

We played it against Sheffield which wasn’t really indicative of anything given their shape. But McGinn has played much better than Dendoncker in the double pivot in previous matches (Tottenham at home comes to mind from last year)

 Regardless of who played there - expecting Dendoncker to be as good as Kamara and then playing the same way is the sort of stubborn dogmatism that has gotten managers in trouble in the past. 
 
Going more direct and subsequently losing control but playing a more 2 man game with Watkins and Duran isn’t our usual style but the sort of adjustments that need to be made sometimes. 

[Zatman]

 I genuinely hope tonight was an eye opener. a disgraceful bottlejob but also this season our league performances for me have been quite poor but we are 3rd and I put this down to Unai genius

[Mantis]

1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said:

Emery is a man mountain of a manager. I love him and what he’s done at the club. Hell, I hope he’s manager here for many years to come.

BUT. 

He is too strict with the way we play at times and It drives me mad. We’ve lost a couple of cup games by not changing up our style of play with personnel not equipped to play the way he likes to play - fine, I can handle that. Tonight frustrated me a lot more though. We weren’t particularly good for the first half hour but we were better than them and we found ourselves two up. Love them or hate them, United reacted really well to going two down and all of a sudden started playing well and they were causing us problems.

Now, I know we’re down to the bare bones a bit squad wise, but why not change it up at half time or even earlier? I’m not saying bring Zaniolo or Diaby on (the former is rubbish anyway), but why not mix it up a bit? Go long. Go down the channels. They’ve got a 37yr old at centre half. Get him turned and facing his own goal. Get Onana under a few high crosses and shoot a bit more - the bloke is a liability. Alas, no. We continue playing high risk football and playing a risky possession based style that involves our centre halves and midfielders receiving the ball in pressure situations. Absolutely no surprise the overly casual Carlos gives the ball away and they score. No surprise whatsoever. It was like we were waiting to make that mistake. 

Im not saying we should always ‘bang it long’ or ‘get it down the line’, before I’m branded a dinosaur, I’d just like us every now and again to mix it up and adapt to what’s happening on the pitch. Especially when we’re up against a nervous United side under pressure from their home fans.

Build a statue of Emery, cool, but tonight he pissed me off. He’s clearly very stubborn (which can be a positive as much as a negative). 

UTV

Emery deserves a lot of blame for tonight but this blatantly isn't true.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Mantis

[string28]

I think we need to see that we are no way getting top four we really aren't good enough.

[maqroll]

Couldn't defend a 2 goal lead for 45 minutes with a chance to go joint top.

Appalling collapse, really.

[Daulmakan]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

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.

I agree with your premise, but still would've taken that chance. I trust more in Bailey/Watkins/Diaby (Villa top goalscoring team in the league after today, tied with City) against United's defense than any combination of 3 Villa's defenders. 

[Delphinho123]

Just now, Mantis said:

Emery deserves a lot of blame for tonight but this blatantly isn't true.

Disagree. We’ve been knocked out of cup competitions by asking Olsen to play out from the back like Martinez does. 

We have a way of playing and whoever comes in plays that way, regardless of ability.

I like it for the most part, but it will cost us as times - tonight being one of them. 

[WallisFrizz]

I generally like the ‘no excuses’ mantra from Unai but we are really struggling with the amount of absences at the moment and I haven’t heard a peep about it from anyone not Villa connected. In fact all I hear today was that we’d made the least amount of changes than any other team.

I think Unai should stick up for us a bit and say we’re depleted. Everyone else gets the sympathy and the caveats when teams beat them, our lot deserve that rather being told by smug media types that we’ve overachieved to this point.

 

[Zatman]

15 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

We are the masters of going 2 up and throwing it away. It must have happened to every Villa manager since Sherwood.

What I will say is that Emery will not let the players heads drop, whereas I’ve seen other Villa teams crumble following a result like this.

Still needs to be backed in January as the squad is not yet strong enough for where we want to get to. The last 2 games have highlighted the huge impact not having Mings and Buendia available is.

Way before Sherwood. Even under Gregory we lost with a 2 goal lead vs Unitee

[Lord Willard]

I am absolutely deflated

[Jas10]

3 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

We were so bad tonight it was infuriating to watch. 

We rely too heavily on certain players…

Pau

Kamara - most of all (we don’t have a good enough alternative)

Our major creative players are either unavailable or playing poorly. Tielemans injury has come at a bad time…

Players out of form and short of sharpness such as Ramsey… McGinn can’t do everything in every game either… they are bound to run out of steam occasionally.

Diaby has been off it and isn’t impacting games whether form the start or off the bench - he will be “back” at some point…

Luiz had his worst game since…. ages.

No service for Watkins (this seems to be a recent and ongoing issue)…

 

Complacency or arrogance (too casual, relaxed, comfortable after gaining a two goal lead despite not being all that impressive or cohesive)?

 

It’s a long season full of ups and downs… our squad is not good enough that we can have a smooth or easy ride. Unai has had them over performing if anything… let’s add some quality in the coming transfer window. A nice boost to help us out…

We’ll get over it and be back in a bigger and better way.

It’s a learning experience for these players, they aren’t used to such heady heights…

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, string28 said:

I think we need to see that we are no way getting top four we really aren't good enough.

The stats since Emery took over suggest otherwise.

[Mantis]

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

Disagree. We’ve been knocked out of cup competitions by asking Olsen to play out from the back like Martinez does. 

We have a way of playing and whoever comes in plays that way, regardless of ability.

I like it for the most part, but it will cost us as times - tonight being one of them. 

But we're actually fairly flexible? I don't think the insistence on playing out from the back really counts as stubbornness.

[Farlz]

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

 I genuinely hope tonight was an eye opener. a disgraceful bottlejob but also this season our league performances for me have been quite poor but we are 3rd and I put this down to Unai genius

Home performances have been mostly brilliant, can't fault them at all. 

Away performances are a serious issue which have kept being masked over. An ongoing issue which doesn't look like it's being resolved any time soon and that's a big concern. 

[BigJim]

8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

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.

 

Only positive for me was that Unai finally gave him a few minutes and he didn't do too badly. Probably not enough to expect another run out any time soon though.