Anyone starting to get worried?

[ChicagoLion]

My take on Villa thus far.

Positive:
Villa have a reasonable defence, but it frequently comes under excessive pressure.

Negative:
1. No defined style of play.
2. No proven goalscorers.
3. Midfield lacks coordination in build-up play (see 1).
4. Compared to other Premiership teams Villa appear tentative. They repeatedly fail to impose themselves on the opposition (as with 10 man West Ham), preferring to re-enact their version of the Battle of of the Alamo (as seen at Crystal Palace. Never mind the terrible refereeing, Villa should have lost by several goals).

Outlook:
Unless:
(i) a defined style is introduced with joined up midfield play, suitable for combating Premiership teams and
(ii) the attack is strengthened to enable Villa to score more goals, then there is only one possible outcome, relegation.

The Villa.

[AsTallAsLions]

I don't understand how we went from having a define style of play last season to no style at all this season.

The jump was huge, no doubt, but surely we should have an ethos here - whether we carried it with us from the Championship or re-calibrated during the summer.

How have we just regressed to sending XI lads out on the pitch again in the hopes that they'll string moves together as if by magic?

[Risso]

Lots of people predicted that we'd get 'found out' and battered every game, but no one has looked like thrashing us so far and our performances are getting better bit by bit.

Home form - 4 points from 3 games, two of which were against top 10 teams last season who have both spent this summer, and the third we were the better team but a couple of silly nervous mistakes cost us two early goals.  Two clean sheets is nothing to be sniffed at in this league either, in fact our last season in the Prem we only kept 6 all season.

Away form - 0 points from 2 games, one of which was against the European runners-up and other could easily have been a draw, one way or another.

Neither of those records is anything to cry about.  The Bournemouth game is the big regret because it was two silly mistakes so early that denied us three points that would have us around mid-table and no-one would be bothering with this thread.

Did anybody predict that we'd get battered every game?  Certainly nobody on here that I can recall.  I'm not sure our performances are improving to be honest.  They've all been similar, but I'd argue that Everton and Bournemouth (silly mistakes aside) were the best.  The recurring theme, and that was one theory that was stated on here, is that our attacking options aren't great and we'll struggle to score goals.

All of Wesley, Davis, Trez, Jota and El Ghazi have big question marks against them.  At best, they're going to take time to come to terms with the Premier League.  At worst, they're just not good enough.  That's all of our front three and back ups that have been disappointing so far.  Two goals in five games between them.  I don't think we'll get battered very often if ever, as Heaton, Mings, Engels and Guilbert are all excellent.  The problems are at the other end of the pitch.  It's disappointing.

[Chris Smith]

It’s a new team; new to each other and new to the country in many cases. There is obviously going to be a period of adjustment there are clear signs of how we want to play which is based on a solid defence and an ability to quickly turn defence into attack as our goals against Everton showed. It’s not fully functioning yet but it would be a surprise if it was given that they’ve only played together 5 times and some fewer than that.

[Damo70]

Looking at our next four fixtures if we can carry on keeping things tight at the back we could get something from the Arsenal game. I don't think they offer too much so long as you can keep their front two quiet (which admittedly is easier said than done). We have to fancy ourselves to win our two home games against Burnley and Brighton. I also fancy us to get something at Norwich. I would be more worried if I was a Norwich fan than I am as a Villa fan. They have been the great entertainers so far this season but they are conceding too many goals. The 'you score two and we will score three' spirit is not something they will get away with over a full season in the Premier League.

[paul_e]

My take on Villa thus far.

Positive:
Villa have a reasonable defence, but it frequently comes under excessive pressure.

Negative:
1. No defined style of play.
2. No proven goalscorers.
3. Midfield lacks coordination in build-up play (see 1).
4. Compared to other Premiership teams Villa appear tentative. They repeatedly fail to impose themselves on the opposition (as with 10 man West Ham), preferring to re-enact their version of the Battle of of the Alamo (as seen at Crystal Palace. Never mind the terrible refereeing, Villa should have lost by several goals).

Outlook:
Unless:
(i) a defined style is introduced with joined up midfield play, suitable for combating Premiership teams and
(ii) the attack is strengthened to enable Villa to score more goals, then there is only one possible outcome, relegation.

As soon as I got to the line that Villa should have lost by several goals to Palace I stopped reading because I don't get why some fans seem to think that any half-decent chance a team creates can be used as 'moral defeat' when they're trying to make a point. We conceded 1 and should've scored 1 but for one of the worst decisions any of us will ever see, we were robbed of a point despite not playing as well as we'd like. You add nothing to an argument by giving the opposition bonus goals.

[Steve67]

I'm not worried but like one or two others have said, I do wonder where the goals are coming from and also think that Jack and SJM are both playing too deep.  Taylor has done fine defensively but offers nothing going forward.  I'd like to see the following formation with the three behind the striker interchanging positions and the full backs getting forward quickly to support.  Hourihane gets the nod for his ability to get into the box and for his set pieces but Trezeguet would also do well in there too. 

                      Heaton
Guilbert   Engels    Mings    Targett
          Nakamba      Douglas
      Grealish   McGinn  Hourihane
                     Wesley

[in exile]

NOW are you worried?

[Legion]

Mildly.

[aj2k77]

NOW are you worried?

No, we lost away at Arsenal, with 32 games to go.

[VillaAlways]

NOW are you worried?

Yes. Reminded me of Leicester in our relegation season

[Risso]

Very worried now.  It won't be long until the players' confidence disappears, and the atmosphere in the ground turns negative.  That was utterly shit today.  Two games in a row now against ten men, and one point to show for it.

[Damo70]

I am not going to panic after a defeat away to Arsenal, even if they did have a man sent off. The next three games against Burnley, Norwich and Brighton are massive. Struggle in those three and we will know it is looking likely to be a relegation battle.

[Drummond]

Very worried now.  It won't be long until the players' confidence disappears, and the atmosphere in the ground turns negative.  That was utterly shit today.  Two games in a row now against ten men, and one point to show for it.

Get some Tena on your next supermarket trip. We've a lot of games to go.

[SoccerHQ]

Next three games are huge for me.

Going into November still in single figure points isn't going to be pretty. We are already in bottom 3 as it is despite some good play in spells of many games.

Massive missed opportunity lost today I'm afraid.