Ratings & Reactions: FAC4: Chelsea v Villa

[MWARLEY2]

5 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

I'll die on the hill that Watkins just isn't good enough. 

He can be considered not good enough when out of a purple patch. But he is bloody brilliant when he is. What we need is another striker good enough to come in and offer more than Watkins when he is out of form. Which is incredibly difficult to do. 

[Spoony]

Well we did complain that we don’t play enough FA Cup games…

[AV82]

It's really hard to pin down why it isn't clicking at the moment. I thought McGinn was poor, when our backs are against the wall we really need his hustle. Safe to say we're sorely missing Pau's ability to break the lines and give our midfielders a chance to receive the ball, turn and run at the opponents which in turn is cutting off the supply to our forwards and might be why Diaby and Watkins seem off the pace.

Hopefully we can work this out quickly as being so reliant on one player is a risk.

Edited January 26 by AV82

[villa4europe]

16 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

I'll die on the hill that Watkins just isn't good enough. 

But theres so little out there that's better... 

[wishywashy]

It was quite a strange game. Really felt like we were unlucky not to win imo, Our attacking play was fast and exciting imo, very unlucky not to score a few, let alone any. Equally no idea how we didn't concede any, but rather than Chelsea-created a lot of their chances felt like gifts from mistakes. Great game for goalkeepers.

Last time Chelsea lost at home was against us, btw: they're pretty good. Shows how far we've come that a draw against them at Stamford Bridge is a tad disappointing. Just annoying to add another game to the schedule.

Edited January 26 by wishywashy

[sheepyvillian]

Just now, AV82 said:

It's really hard to pin down why it isn't clicking at the moment. I thought McGinn was poor, when our backs are against the wall we really need his hustle. Safe to say we're sorely missing Pau's ability to break the lines and give our midfielders a chance to receive the ball, turn and run at the opponents which in turn is cutting off the supply to our forwards and might be why Diaby and Watkins seem off the pace.

Hopefully we can work this out quickly as being so reliant on one player is a risk.

McGinn was far from poor, imo. Diaby, that's poor. Tielemans was off the pace a little, hence, the lack of service to Watkins. McGinn was not at his best but he never stopped trying to make things happen. 

[tonyh29]

Impotent in the final third again , where was that team that was sticking 4 , 5 and 6 goals pass teams at Villa Park earlier this season ? 

nearly caused our own down fall with some sloppy passing at the back but other than that Chelsea rarely threatened and long as they don’t come to Villa Park and park the bus we should be able to take them in the replay 

[Hank Scorpio]

Form is definitely not what it was 6 weeks ago.

[Ponky]

To be honest we could still be playing and Chelsea wouldn't have got the ball in the net, despite literally gifting them three one on ones in the box. Martinez was impenetrable.

Had Doug's goal stood it might have been a completely different outcome, but I think the main thing missing is that little bit of crispness from our mids. Poor first touches leaving to turnovers were the order of the first half. It's impossible to beat a full high press when that happens.

[tomav84]

thought we'd get battered and we did at times but at the end they'd have been pleased to hear the full time whistle. fair result

i wonder if sunday's draw will influence how strong we go in the replay. do we put everything into beating chelsea in a replay if we've got city away waiting for us in the next round for example?

[maqroll]

It almost seemed like Emery was just playing for a 0-0 draw.

We lacked assertiveness and couldn't finish a few golden opportunities. 

Subbing Bailey on at 90 minutes was a weird one. I'd have backed him to score if he'd been given 25 minutes, not 3. Why bother at that point. 

 

[chrisvilla4]

1 hour ago, maqroll said:

 

Subbing Bailey on at 90 minutes was a weird one. I'd have backed him to score if he'd been given 25 minutes, not 3. Why bother at that point. 

 

I wondered if it was for Diaby to get an ovation, give him a confidence boost. Looks like he needs it.

[CVByrne]

We've had 3 away games this year, last home game was a month ago. Hope we keep our home performance levels high

[Stevo985]

13 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

We've had 3 away games this year, last home game was a month ago. Hope we keep our home performance levels high

Our last two home games have been really poor as well

[CVByrne]

7 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Our last two home games have been really poor as well

True, but we did win our most recent game and we created lots of chances just gave away poor goals. 

[spiezels]

Shout out to the away fans. Sounded absolutely foooookin insane the whole 90 mins on the TV. 
 

Mint!

[S-Platt]

I am happy with the draw nice warm up to blow off the cobwebs before Newcastle.

In the hat for the 5th round. Replay at home where we are strong.

Weekend not ruined can watch other games with interest still.

UTV

 

[CVByrne]

Chelsea really made almost all their chances from their pressing of us playing out from the back. We seemed to create some chances and our set piece attack is really top drawer. We seem to be keeping clean sheets now away from home which will really help us pick up more points if we stay solid like that.

A fit Pau and our ability to play out from back is much better against the top pressing sides.

[Zero7]

Much better second half, we can’t play with the intensity the £1 billion young Chelsea team play with. Mcginn was really good 

[VillaJ100]

10 hours ago, smg said:

Or recently improved Chelsea who have just got into the Carabao cup final are held to a draw by an Aston Villa team who have faltered in recent matches and are generally seen as being s**t away from home ?

 

We're 7th in the away table which is higher than Chelsea are in the home table, fyi.