Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Brentford

[sheepyvillian]

12 minutes ago, est1874 said:

I don't agree. You can't say we've deserved the injuries we've had, which have been a big factor at key times this season. 

You also can't suggest we've deserved to face United, Newcastle and Spurs on their absolute best days this season when all 3 have been largely shite or jammy elsewhere.

Football doesn't work the way you suggest. The concept of merit is elusive when it's not a level playing field out there.

Self - pity is no pity. Remember, it's a "No excuse culture," 

[TRO]

8 hours ago, HKP90 said:

See I don't get this after the two weeks they've had off. 

who does?

Some would call it denial, some would say its puny, some would blame the injuries, some would be grateful for the point......it's just folk looking for a reason to stay positive.

I'm glad, I am not the manager, tonight.....I might say something, I would regret.

I have had concerns about our defending for some time, even during games we have won....and I am talking about the whole team, not just the back 5.....I don't see any appreciation of it, or for it.....I just see a team, that wants to outscore the opposition.

The problem is, its not always possible to outscore every team....because they set up to shut you out.

We need world class forwards to have a chance to do that, and even then, it's hard. You only have to study the defensive work of the top 3, to fully appreciate the focus they have on it......and the intensity, their players employ, to go after opponents.

The top teams, work like trojans in going after opponents to deny them fluidity, and passing networks, they smother opponents initiatives......we don't, we are passive in comparison, and go easy, when we have a lead. Sure they may have better players, but the mentality is trained in to them. You don't just work when you have the ball...you work harder to get it back....that's why they are top 3.

Unai has said...."we don't want excuses".....and I for one, don't want to look for them, either.

Edited April 7 by TRO

[sheepyvillian]

25 minutes ago, TRO said:

Dave....Then you should know better than anyone......You and I was not brought up on that defending....Ron would turn in his grave, watching that puny offering, from 2-0 to 2-3

It was truly shocking.....

I don't think it's fair, to deny any fan a moan after that debacle of a collapse.

We all have to move on, because we have no choice, but to dismiss that, with any mitigation, is a bit rich, for me.

10 minutes of absolute shocking defending, for which there can be no justification. 

We were very fortunate, in the end, to come away from that with a point. It wasn't even individual errors, instead, entirely collective errors from the defence.

Edited April 6 by sheepyvillian

[Brumstopdogs]

For the first Brentford goal what was Digne doing on the right hand side? The Brentford player then went beyond him and crossed it in.

Konsa rather than marking a Brentford player then just stood marking empty space! 
 

The start of the chaos….

[The Fun Factory]

Plus points

We have now achieved 60 points two seasons in a row in the premier league, which we haven't done for years. That is a very good achievement and we have 6 big games to go.

Rogers getting the first of hopefully many goals for the Villa.

Coming back from behind to get a point

Yes we have dropped points but we have the points on the board, Spurs still have to play their extra games.

No more injuries

Negative points

A utter brainfart for 10 minutes. The game was over we had a collective meltdown. Defence all over the place. I thought we had consigned this to the history books but nope we haven't.

Emery maybe could have been more proactive with the subs.  Yes we got a point back but really we have left 2 points on the table, with a  very tough fixture versus Arsenal next week.

Award winning stupidity for Luiz to get the booking at the end to miss two league games, in an area that we are really light at the moment.

Not feeling confident for Lille now, but no time to ponder on we go. UTV.

[est1874]

30 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

Self - pity is no pity. Remember, it's a "No excuse culture," 

What does that even mean? 

You can't have a no excuse culture in such a corrupt league. 

We're up against it most weeks. 

[Villarocker]

The three crosses came from their left back so you should look at Bailey and ask what he did to help prevent them? 

[sheepyvillian]

3 minutes ago, est1874 said:

What does that even mean? 

You can't have a no excuse culture in such a corrupt league. 

We're up against it most weeks. 

If that's your mind - set, why bother watching games? Your last comment regarding Spurs made no sense whatsoever. If they have been that bad for most of the season, why are they only 3 points behind us with 2 games in hand? By that logic, we have been pretty ordinary all season. I can't be bothered with excuses.

[beasley14]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

Statistically, the worst team in the lead for letting a lead slip is Brentford.

And they've done it again today.

Exactly and we were the best!  Doesn't feel like it with a couple of the games more recently but it was true.  

Players need to have an open clear the air chat about it and sort out the focus.

[srsmithusa]

10 -15 minutes of completely unacceptable defending.  You cannot be satisfied with a. o.K. positioning thinking it’s likely they wont get to it.  Every moment needs to feel life and death stakes to have their forward controlled with a “ no way he’s playing this ahead of me”. Attitude.  
 

instead we got a “we’re better and have a two goal lead, good enough effort is fine” attitude.

orher than that completely unacceptable, intolerable, run all week and still lose starting in the next match lapse, it was a good day.   Well done lads. 

[onmeedson]

Brentford came with a game plan and doubled up on bailey because the whole world knows he will cut inside every time. He has to learn to go past players on his right and cut a ball in to mix his game up, once they had our main attacking threat in hand they grew in confidence. The slow approach by us with the ball  takes away the amount of attacks we launch in a game and then we are up against a full defence who have the advantage of numbers back in a formation. We have to mix our game up now and then or the opposition can plan to nullify it. We do suffer from a rabbits in the headlights when the opposition go all out with guns blazing.  Leadership qualities are lacking in most of our senior players.

[PaulC]

27 minutes ago, Villarocker said:

The three crosses came from their left back so you should look at Bailey and ask what he did to help prevent them? 

Yes Konsa has got a lot of stick but he was far too exposed. 

[briny_ear]

3 hours ago, allani said:

We have dropped 5 points from a leading position.  Arsenal have dropped 9.  Man City have dropped 10.  Spurs have dropped 20.  Man Utd have dropped 13.

I am frustrated with today's result.  But we're in danger of turning this into an issue that doesn't really exist.

What Ollie refers to has happened a few times since Christmas - Man U away, Burnley, Nottm Forest, Luton. And now Brentford. Earlier in the season we were very disciplined but recently we have risked some games running away from us.  However, we only actually dropped points against Man U and Brentford, 

More worrying perhaps are the games where we have been letting the opposition blow us away to a point where we simply can’t rescue things - Newcastle, Chelsea (cup) and Spurs come to mind.

All in all it’s been a bit more of a rollercoaster since Christmas and our results have been more patchy. But I don’t t think Ollie put his finger on the main problem.

Edited April 6 by briny_ear

[John]

We can still qualify for the CL, but this game has made doing so much harder. A win would have kept us above Spurs, but now a win for them tomorrow puts them above us. A win would also have likely ended once and for all Manchester United's hopes of pipping us at the post, but we are now relying on Liverpool to beat them, to widen our gap on them. At half time I said that we needed another goal, we got it and that should really have been enough, but 9 minutes of madness left us a goal down. The point that we got back, may yet prove crucial, but it's still 2 points that we dropped. We will need to take those 2 points from our remaining games, by say winning a game, that we might otherwise have been satisfied with taking a point from. Our potential CL qualification may now not be decided until the last game, as a result of this result, so we can't take our foot off the pedal until the last kick now.   

That referee couldn't wait to book Douglas, although the game was by then almost done. I'm sure he knew a booking would lead to a suspension for him and he took the only opportunity he really had to show him that card. It made me wonder where he comes from and who he supports. He comes from Preston and has not disclosed who he supports. Surely referees should have to admit which team they favour, at least if he had I wouldn't be thinking Preston is rather too near to Manchester for my liking and clearly a Manchester United supporter would not be adverse to seeing Douglas suspended, although I'm not suggesting for one moment that he might be, after all he didn't add any Fergie time to the stoppage time at the end of the additional minutes did he? 

[allani]

17 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

What Ollie refers to has happened a few times since Christmas - Man U away, Burnley, Nottm Forest, Luton. And now Brentford. Earlier in the season we were very disciplined but recently we have risked some games running away from us.  However, we only actually dropped points against Man U and Brentford, 

More worrying perhaps are the games where we have been letting the opposition blow us away to a point where we simply can’t rescue things - Newcastle, Chelsea (cup) and Spurs come to mind.

All in all it’s been a bit more of a rollercoaster since Christmas and our results have been more patchy. But I don’t t think Ollie put his finger on the main problem.

Yeah I would agree that we've conceded two goals in a short space of time a bit too often.  I do think that's where a player like Mings comes in - a big voice to try and get the focus back quickly.

[avfc1982am]

2 hours ago, onmeedson said:

Brentford came with a game plan and doubled up on bailey because the whole world knows he will cut inside every time. He has to learn to go past players on his right and cut a ball in to mix his game up, once they had our main attacking threat in hand they grew in confidence. The slow approach by us with the ball  takes away the amount of attacks we launch in a game and then we are up against a full defence who have the advantage of numbers back in a formation. We have to mix our game up now and then or the opposition can plan to nullify it. We do suffer from a rabbits in the headlights when the opposition go all out with guns blazing.  Leadership qualities are lacking in most of our senior players.

I think there is more to it than that in the sense that the space isn't being created. IMO the main issue is not having the overlap from the RB position to create the space with Konsa. If Cash is playing he creates an overlap far more often for Leon and gives him an opportunity to find an advantage or more space without being smothered.

This is on Emery tbh playing the inverted wide player. Otherwise you could get players playing on their natural sides in which case they can whip the ball in with their natural foot rather that expecting them to do it with their weaker foot. The problem is the RB position not creating or helping to take the defenders away, instead allowing them to double up.  

[avfc1982am]

Watching us at times today when Brentford sat in, pissing about with the side to side passing 20 yards out, slow and ponderous, too slow to create spaces. Lacking any real movement and then only to lose the ball through wayward passing or poor touches it's clear we really don't have the players yet to play like this effectively. Our greatest strength is moving the ball quickly, because we've got the players that if they get a yard on opponents can destroy them time and time again.

We saw the best and the worst of us today, great when we had to play at an increased tempo and then sloppy when we slowed down. At 2-0 we should've gone on and hit Brentford for 4/5 but instead, went back to playing slowly, got cold and then got countered through sleepwalking and switching off. Then at 2-3 it was like a volley up the backside, the crowd got pissed and boom we started dominating them again, but too little too late. We've done this a few times this season.  

I just don't think we are very good playing at a slower tempo.

[NurembergVillan]

Good job we rested players against Citeh or we'd have lost that

[TRO]

5 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

10 minutes of absolute shocking defending, for which there can be no justification. 

We were very fortunate, in the end, to come away from that with a point. It wasn't even individual errors, instead, entirely collective errors from the defence.

have we got a defensive coach?

[Mantis]

13 minutes ago, TRO said:

have we got a defensive coach?

At this point I don't even think it's coaching. Seems to be more mental than anything else.