Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: SoccerHQ on August 14, 2021, 04:56:08 PM
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Yeah that was 15/16 bad first half. Looked like 11 men who'd just turned up at Watford at 1pm to play a match.
Second half a bit better although two goals came about without much pressure from us (as did their third from the guy who came on).
Fair to see debut to forget for all the new boys, Ings looked like Bent out there on his bad games, Buendia really slow to release ball on edge of the box.
Actually Bailey looked alright, hopefully can start next weekend.
Just need a full week's training at Bodymoor and hope for better at Newcastle. Hopefully Targett dosen't just revert to 19/20 level every week otherwise Saint Maximn will have some fun.
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Glad we polished the scoreline a bit but that's probably the best that can be said.
Bailey showed a few things to make one hopeful. A very worrying debut by Buendia. Did not see much of Ings though penalty was well taken. Midfield remains a matter of concerns just like last year. Defense not convincing.
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Dismal
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Piss poor.
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Complete bottlers. Thought i was watching Arsenal again and we obviously went into the game with the same complacency. Being out-played and out-fought by watford. Embarrassing.. The formation was arse so bin that .Apart from Bailey, the new boys looked like we've wasted 60m on that evidence. Every player wouldn't get more than a 5/10. Smith needs to get a grip fast or he'll be gone before the clocks go back
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Our centre midfield has no organisation or control.
El Ghazi needs flogging.
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The only silver lining I saw was that Ramsey looked very composed when he came on.
Lots of clouds if I look at the rest of the players...
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Too slow can someone delete this thread?
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I understand that the team may not have "gelled" yet and going forward may be a little clunky and broken, but there is no reason for our experienced back four with JM and MN in front of them to give up 3 unanswered goals.
Lange get to work - this squad needs help.
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We have to forget this, Newcastle game is a must win now, to get the start of the season back on track.
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Piss poor.
Giving up midfield from the off, and watching them tear us a new one down the left the entire first half.
On the bright side..
Ramsey did very well
Bailey did too and set up McGinn's (superb) goal
Traore looked busy and full of tricks when he came on.
Everything else, though, was absolutely not good enough.
If Roma really do want El Ghazi, I think we should see if we still have that Ford Mondeo 'Dr' Tony brought Di Matteo back from Rome in and send El Ghazi back in it.
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we need a midfield.
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Really disappointing start to the season but it has been really disrupted, probably for other clubs too. Too little too late for Villa in terms of the goals. We really need a stronger midfield. Bailey, Ings will be fine as I suspect will Buendia but we need more. Watkins energy was missed today.
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The only positives i can find is at least we showed some spirit towards the end, bailey with an assist, mcginn with a great goal, traore looking lively, and it should remove any doubt from those in charge about whether to sign a midfielder or two. The rest was bollocks. [edited due to word filter]
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Need Watkins in there. Buendia, more time to convince. Bailey is class but starting to think our ambitions for champions league are making us sound fucking delusional. Championship will be more likely with performances like that. Early days but Dean needs to sort this shit out and make us no longer a one man team. Noting I’ve seen suggests he will do this and his ceiling has been utterly reached. But that was every bit as shit as anything in last 11 years
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I only heard updates from the BBC but someone must have had a Bingo Villa-card with a "Killer goal on the opening day at a promoted side and it's a deflection"...the type of shit that happens a lot, and to us a fair bit. But I guess you earn your own luck and it sounds like we were dire for a lot of today.
We just can't afford to have passive players or management on the touchline. El Ghazi goes and stays missing most of the time. If there's an offer north of £15m for him, take it and put it towards that physical presence we need at the heart of midfield. Buendia needs to quickly be coached in training how and when to link-up with the other attack-minded players in our team.
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Horrible. We look thoroughly undercoached.
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Ponderous and sloppy. Too much hoofball.
Targett, Buendia and AEG poor. Bailey and Traore decent enough.
We looked clueless like last season when Joe was injured.
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How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.
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Put Douglas Luiz alongside SJM next week. He's a winner in the Copa America & the Olympics with a Gold! Just a bad day at the office. I had a feeling we'd lose today. The preparation has been abysmal.
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How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.
We keep shoehorning McGinn into the role, and expecting Nakamba to improve. It has to stop.
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My take. That was a mirror of the team pre lockdown. Never ready to get back in a cohesive, defensive shape when we lost the ball.
Over the last couple of years when we played 3 in the middle I was never convinced on the right combo if we ever had one. Going to 2 in the centre was even worse. Can't really fault Nakamba and Johns effort but they were crying out for help.
I wonder if the signing of another forward ( a good Ings ) is going to cause Smith problems wanting to play the 2 up top together, one behind or not. Very, very early days but not the most convincing performance from the boys.
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Shite
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Ramsey made an impact. Young did very well at left back. Bailey looks the business. Traore also made a difference.
It made a change to see Dean make necessary changes so readily and effectively. Didn't wait for the customary 65th minute and replace like-for-like.
However, the ball retention and defending in the first half were woeful and Buendia will need to improve his work-rate and his involvement of his teammates - seemed to try to do too much himself.
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This is what happens when you start the season undercooked and lose your best player a few days before it starts. Very disjointed, too many below par performances, plenty of misplaced passes and lacking creativity…but we did improve in the second half particularly with Bailey and Traore coming on. Ings was anonymous but the total lack of service is not his fault. Big improvements needed all over the pitch and we need to buy a midfield.
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How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.
We keep shoehorning McGinn into the role, and expecting Nakamba to improve. It has to stop.
We haven't really had a pairing in the centre since Barry and Petrov.
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The good:
Ramsey and Traore looked good when they came on.
Bailey looks like he'll be class when he gets up to speed
Good fight back second half, with a good goal from Meatball
Debut assist and goal from Bailey and Ings respectively.
The bad
Targett looked like the terrible player from two years ago when he got ripped apart by Traore
Truly horrible debut from Buendia
Defence as a whole an absolute rabble
Another reminder that Nakamba and El Ghazi are nowhere near good enough
Young rather obviously not a winger any more
Cash had a shocker
The media are now going to go about how we're not getting over Greasy leaving.
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How the fuck can the 4 of them sit and watch Brentford yesterday and think yeah what we need is a slow ponderous game plan with a few long balls thrown in.
Nakamba is wank, absolutely wank, and I dont just mean off the back of this game, he's been shit since he joined but today was the pinnacle of his shitness.
How can everyone of us stupid bastards see that we need a proper DM but the coaching staff cant? They cut through us with ease all game, its impossible to be that wide open against Tom Cleverley.
Matt Targett was back to his 2019 form but he's got enough credit in the bank to be forgiven for a one off bad game, how Smith didny change it earlier I'll never know, Sarr was destroying our right hand side.
End the fucking season now.
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How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.
We keep shoehorning McGinn into the role, and expecting Nakamba to improve. It has to stop.
Correct. Neither are the answer and I don’t think Douglas is either. We just get overrun by teams like Watford and don’t seem to be looking to sort it out.
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Well, it's only the first game so I'm not going to panic too much (remember we won our first in 2015/16).
That said, everything I feared might happen, did happen. They looked far more up for it than us and we looked exactly what we were, a team that hardly knew each other.
The players need to work their arses off in training this week, and the manager/Board need to get a midfield enforcer in, as an absolute minimum.
We need to beat Newcastle now, the longer we go without a win the more the "can't win without Quisling" doubts will creep in.
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Today is pretty simple to sum up, we started with 2 in midfield and they couldn't compete with the Watford 3 so we kept losing the ball in bad areas. Combine that with one of the quickest wingers in the league running in behind us and we were totally overrun. A lot of people will blame Targett but for me he was the victim of our failings rather than the cause of them. Once he'd been skinned 3-4 times though he did look like his confidence was shot.
Bringing Ramsey on was a good change and it balanced the game out in midfield which meant they weren't getting so much easy ball in behind our fullbacks. For me we were the better team in the 2nd half but their wonder strike for the 3rd meant the gap was too big.
It does show how important the big strong DM is though, we can't have another season of seeing teams do that to us and stopping us from getting into the game for long periods.
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Not a Buendia at the the office. Vamos otra vez!
Always hate playing promoted teams away first game of the season as they're all still on a high.
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First half an absolute disgrace, poor everywhere, particularly Targett and El Ghazi. Second half much improved but still not great.
Main issue is no centre mid control - McGinn much better second half when he was further forward, but we were totally overrun in the centre. And when Nakamba did get it he tended to give it away again. Meant the defence didn’t trust passing out through midfield so began to aimlessly hoof it forward.
Thought Buendia and Ings were poor. No pre-season and might take a few games, but worrying signs for them. We looked much better with Bailey and Traore on.
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Shocked by that performance. I'm hoping it's just one of those days. The alternative doesn't bare thinking about.
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No idea how anyone could watch that and not think he need some midfield strength brought in.
At least a couple more signings in the right place needed. And that doesn't include spunking money away on Cantwell.
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The good:
Ramsey and Traore looked good when they came on.
Bailey looks like he'll be class when he gets up to speed
Good fight back second half, with a good goal from Meatball
Debut assist and goal from Bailey and Ings respectively.
The bad
Targett looked like the terrible player from two years ago when he got ripped apart by Traore
Truly horrible debut from Buendia
Defence as a whole an absolute rabble
Another reminder that Nakamba and El Ghazi are nowhere near good enough
Young rather obviously not a winger any more
Cash had a shocker
The media are now going to go about how we're not getting over Greasy leaving.
Yes to all the above. And to the last point: they will, and they'll be right.
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We paid £38,000,000 for Buendia? Lolz.
Does Cash do any actual defending because all I saw him doing today was pretending to be a attacking right winger?
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Everything has gone wrong for me today. I went to my parents house to do something but wasn't able to. I then missed meeting up for my wife due to a mix up in communications. I then attempted to watch the Villa game on a live stream that kept updating itself into Austrian commentary and then witnessed that total non performance from Villa. All round a day to forget.
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Not good enough, did we have the attitude we only playing little old Watford,too many times we have played so called small teams, attitude need to change,I don't mind losing but when you put that kinda of performance,I do.
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We paid £38,000,000 for Buendia? Lolz.
I think Ollie in front of him will be far more suitable.
Ings didn't have a great game and stood still far to often. He took a ball to the face off of Leon's shot, just standing there..
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No idea how anyone could watch that and not think he need some midfield strength brought in.
At least a couple more signings in the right place needed. And that doesn't include spunking money away on Cantwell.
Yep, totally agree. The main issue is blindingly obvious, the only way Cantwell improves that team (once Bailey replaced El G) is instead of Buendia, which would make a total farce of our summer transfer strategy.
Desperately need one if not two centre mids. We needed them all last season too. I’m staggered e haven’t brought anyone in there yet.
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The only positive I can think of is everybody at the club must see we need to spend on a proper DM now.
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The media are now going to go about how we're not getting over Greasy leaving.
Yep. Predictable and it’s going to be so boring
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Yes, Cantwell isn't the answer, although he's probably a very good player. Either get JWP or a decent defensive midfielder.
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Cantwell plus a proper defensive midfielder who is good in possession and hard as nails, please.
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Either get JWP or a decent defensive midfielder.
Both !
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The good:
Ramsey and Traore looked good when they came on.
Bailey looks like he'll be class when he gets up to speed
Good fight back second half, with a good goal from Meatball
Debut assist and goal from Bailey and Ings respectively.
The bad
Targett looked like the terrible player from two years ago when he got ripped apart by Traore
Truly horrible debut from Buendia
Defence as a whole an absolute rabble
Another reminder that Nakamba and El Ghazi are nowhere near good enough
Young rather obviously not a winger any more
Cash had a shocker
The media are now going to go about how we're not getting over Greasy leaving.
Yes to all the above. And to the last point: they will, and they'll be right.
Just to add, the scoreline flattered us and that disjointed display lies right at Dean's door. We were ridiculously unprepared, no plan and the usual attempt of square pegs in round holes.
If we're going to go retro 2015/16 can I nominate Dean and Skakey for the Ice Bucket Challenge?
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What I never understood if you play 2 midfielders against 3 midfielders, surely they is only going to be one winner?
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I dont want to el ghazi ever start another game for us.
Is Buendía injured ? Could that explain why he was rubbish?
With JT and ROK gone, I’m expecting Smith to become like tinkerman.
Constantly fucking about with the formation hoping to stumble across a way of playing that will make up for losing the bloke who has kept him in a job for the last 2 years.
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That was a wake up call.
Any notion of strolling to 7th-8th have been unceremoniously banished by that performance.
Busy week at Bodymoor Heath:
Match analysis tomorrow
Bollockings on Monday
Formation and tactical preparation for Newcastle to follow.
Johan Lange and Co to get busy: Cheick to check in?
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Yes, Cantwell isn't the answer, although he's probably a very good player. Either get JWP or a decent defensive midfielder.
Or both on today’s evidence. Play them with McGinn and a front 3 from Ings, Watkins, Bailey, Buendia and Traore.
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Trying to take comfort from no team can always start off like we did last season and the last time we played a promoted team in the first game away we won and look how that turned out. But still we were shit today. A bad start by any standard.
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How come after spending eye watering sums in the past two years alone we are still at least two players short of a balanced side - we need a top quality DM and CAM. Why don't we still have them? Gash.
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JWP and someone LIKE Hojbjerg at Spurs.
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We paid £38,000,000 for Buendia? Lolz.
We? Lolz.
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To be honest I didn’t think for a minute we would win. I do worry about what’s happening - 2 assistant managers leaving, and our best player leaving. It feels like we have taken 1 step forward and 2 steps back.
I pretty sure that this is all being worked on behind the scenes - as we tend to be private - but currently I don’t see our team or squad as an improvement on last year.
I think we need 2 more signings - someone who can creat and a big unit in midfield
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If we are looking forward to europe next season we need to get double jabbed and phone jet 2.
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well today's side need quarenteening for a long time
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End the fucking season now.
That’s the spirit!
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Smith picked the wrong team today, starting ashley young on the wing, going with 2v 3 in midfield away from home?
The first half was terrible, Sarr was running riot from the start. On the plus side Ings got off the mark, Baily and Ramsey made impacts when they came on
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The El Ghazi pile on although not altogether unjustified, suggests that others are not deserving of the same treatment. They are.
I'm struggling to remember a worse first half team performance in recent years. As the thread title suggests, this was like a throwback to half a decade ago.
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No idea how anyone could watch that and not think he need some midfield strength brought in.
And how long has this been said, ever since we have been in the PL under Smith. He obviously does not see it as a priority, if he did surely by now he would have made sure we had solved the problem.
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The El Ghazi pile on although not altogether unjustified, suggests that others are not deserving of the same treatment. They are.
I'm struggling to remember a worse first half team performance in recent years. As the thread title suggests, this was like a throwback to half a decade ago.
El Ghazi did well to score 10 league goals last season but he is anonymous and ineffective far too often.
We must get beyond starting him if we want to improve that's for sure.
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A performance that will give the "Smith is useless without Grealish" brigade all of the ammunition they need.
Showed some spirit towards the end (shouldn't have to wait until your three down to do that mind) but we looked undercooked and half-asleep for large periods of that game.
A MASSIVE wakeup call to Dean Smith for me. NSWE have backed him to the hilt so far. They won't tolerate many more days like today
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It was a predictable safety first Smith team selection. Again when it’s not working Smith watches us go 2 nil down before reacting.
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By the time the second half started and we had changed things around, the horse, or specifically Sarr had bolted.
The second half was ok, but nothing more.
El Ghazi is so much a confidence player. He can play but when he doesn’t…
Still not convinced with Nakamba and I am just assuming and hoping Buendia has much more to offer than what I saw today.
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No idea how anyone could watch that and not think he need some midfield strength brought in.
And how long has this been said, ever since we have been in the PL under Smith. He obviously does not see it as a priority, if he did surely by now he would have made sure we had solved the problem.
This is our single biggest issue and as has been said has been so for years.
I just don't understand how the coaching staff can't see it. It is holding us back.
If you can't dominate midfield then there's only so far you can go.
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A game where Targett and Cash looked like shadows of their former selves, a deflected goal, a player scoring a worldie with his first touch after not starting for 4 years, Mike Dean and playing a promoted club in the first game.
Throw in a half arsed performance and the result was inevitable.
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Smiths reckon we had a plan and is chucking players under the bus by the sound of if. Doesn’t expect it to take time at all. Oh dear
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The trouble with the midfield is that John McGinn is a good footballer, being asked to do a job that doesn't suit him by sitting in front of the back four. That is is role that Nakamba is used to, he's just not good enough at it for a team with ideas of pushing for Europe. It doesn't especially suit Luiz either, so the absolutely really, really obvious solution is to buy somebody's who is much better than Nakamba in that role.
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The trouble with the midfield is that John McGinn is a good footballer, being asked to do a job that doesn't suit him by sitting in front of the back four. That is is role that Nakamba is used to, he's just not good enough at it for a team with ideas of pushing for Europe. It doesn't especially suit Luiz either, so the absolutely really, really obvious solution is to buy somebody's who is much better than Nakamba in that role.
Absolutely!
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The trouble with the midfield is that John McGinn is a good footballer, being asked to do a job that doesn't suit him by sitting in front of the back four. That is is role that Nakamba is used to, he's just not good enough at it for a team with ideas of pushing for Europe. It doesn't especially suit Luiz either, so the absolutely really, really obvious solution is to buy somebody's who is much better than Nakamba in that role.
Hence the strong links with Anguissa and Doucoure.
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I see we’ve started well with our “winnable” games run!
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On way home. Just hoping the performance was mainly down to the poor pre season. You could have taken off any outfield player after the first half. We looked a couple of weeks away from being ready for competitive games. Really poor..
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Not good enough clearly. As I thought pre-match we seem underprepared. Need to turn it round sharpish.
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Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)
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I see we’ve started well with our “winnable” games run!
On the bright side, had we played the Mancs or Chelski today we would have been properly mullered.
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I see we’ve started well with our “winnable” games run!
On the bright side, had we played the Mancs or Chelski today we would have been properly mullered.
On the downside we'd just have lost 3 points that we probably wouldn't have got anyway.
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I needed a stream and I found a stream, and heaven knows I’m miserable now…
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Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)
It's alarming that we've spent as much as we have since we got back in the Premier League, and yet our midfield remains weak and easy to run through. It needs sorting.
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Are people not happy with 62% possession?
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Are people not happy with 62% possession?
99% and we still wouldn’t have won today
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Worst performance in years and years. Utterly insipid shite.huge problems all over the park.
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I still think one of our main problems start at the back
I’m not talking about actual defending I’m talking about the speed in which they move the ball forward is non-existent
Neither centre backs are ball players And they have literally no idea what to do with it so they just pass it around themselves getting nowhere very slowly
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A bit like watching an organised team versus a disorganised rabble.
Kiss Nakamba off. He just can't retain the football or pass to a team mate.
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I still think one of our main problems start at the back
I’m not talking about actual defending I’m talking about the speed in which they move the ball forward is non-existent
Neither centre backs are ball players And they have literally no idea what to do with it so they just pass it around themselves getting nowhere very slowly
Absolutely this, we slow the game down so much so back there that we give the opposition too much time to get back into shape and then we just end up launching it.
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I still think one of our main problems start at the back
I’m not talking about actual defending I’m talking about the speed in which they move the ball forward is non-existent
Neither centre backs are ball players And they have literally no idea what to do with it so they just pass it around themselves getting nowhere very slowly
how much is down to movement in front of them?
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No idea how anyone could watch that and not think he need some midfield strength brought in.
At least a couple more signings in the right place needed. And that doesn't include spunking money away on Cantwell.
Yep, totally agree. The main issue is blindingly obvious, the only way Cantwell improves that team (once Bailey replaced El G) is instead of Buendia, which would make a total farce of our summer transfer strategy.
Desperately need one if not two centre mids. We needed them all last season too. I’m staggered e haven’t brought anyone in there yet.
Watching Cantwell for Naaarrrich just now, he is definitely not a player we need.
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That was fucking rubbish
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Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)
yeah thats how I see it. If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.
At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6
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It was pretty inevitable really, although I put us down on the pre-match thread for a 2-2 draw.
We were undercooked, missing a couple of important players and playing a newly-promoted side in front of their enthusiastic fans; and we were dealing with the loss of 3 important members of last season's team.
The interesting bit will be to see what a full week of training will do to get things up to speed, and whether new players come in.
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Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)
yeah thats how I see it. If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.
At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6
If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.
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Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)
yeah thats how I see it. If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.
At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6
If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.
I understand criticism and feelings of deflation after a poor loss but to start referencing a relegation battle on the opening day? Bravo.
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I'm not that over the top about it, granted. But if you think that sounds ridiculous, you should avoid Twitter.
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Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)
yeah thats how I see it. If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.
At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6
If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.
I think if at any point we start (seriously) looking over our shoulder then that would be the end of Dean (which I really hope doesnt happen). For me, its more how serious are we about pushing on. I reckon we'll get 1 or 2 more in, and also today will be a kick up the arse for the rest.
Feels a bit like our pre-season was a joke - those away days turned in a circus, lose 2 AMs doesnt feel like how we are doing things in the NSWE era
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The pre season has felt off and it’s showed with a comfortable win for the team most are tipping to finish bottom
Jacks gone and DS needs to find a way to be competitive without him or someone else will be given the task.
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Everything about that preseason was disruptive, from Smith's isolating to internationals missing to that PR training camp. In all honesty pre-season across the Prem has been quite quiet; Villa have been the biggest press draw, I'd say. Today I felt we might well fall flat and so it proved. I don't mind a slow start but it's a hard habit to break.
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When you see the river rising outside your backdoor you take action before it bursts in. Today after 10 mins we saw the problem but waited until the water had flooded the ground floor before we took action.
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Players like El Ghazi & Nakamba haven't improved since they were bought. Unlike Konsa, Luis & Targett. We should never see the them starting a Premier League game unless we have an injury crisis. They've shown time after time that they are not good enough.
But Dean needs to shoulder some of them blame. Our midfield was empty in the first half & only corrected when Ramsey, who looked good, came on.
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If Cash is off form, put Guilbert in. He was excellent on loan to Strasbourg last year. What has DS got against him??
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Everything about that preseason was disruptive, from Smith's isolating to internationals missing to that PR training camp. In all honesty pre-season across the Prem has been quite quiet; Villa have been the biggest press draw, I'd say. Today I felt we might well fall flat and so it proved. I don't mind a slow start but it's a hard habit to break.
yeah and then you look at the games coming up. Newcastle and Brentford we really need to beat because September is a bit rough.
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https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/aston-villa/12381544/watford-survive-late-villa-fightback
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Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)
yeah thats how I see it. If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.
At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6
If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.
I understand criticism and feelings of deflation after a poor loss but to start referencing a relegation battle on the opening day? Bravo.
Thing is whenever Smith has not had Grealish available we have looked poor and had relegation form results. The team we put out cost a lot of money, but looked ramshackle and completely unbalanced. We have all been saying for years that you can't pick a midfield three from our squad that doesn't look weak. Not only have we not addressed that in the transfer window, we seem to have gone and got players that necessitate a midfield 2 to fit them in. The result of doing that was entirely predictable and that was against the worst team in the league.
Not convinced Smith sans Grealish is good enough, but more worrying is the lack of midfield. Put any manager in charge and they will have the same issue until we get a more solid set of players there.
Big couple of weeks, need to make two good signings.
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If I had a penny for every time "undercooked " is mentioned,I'd have 19p.
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Bad day at the office - it was almost scripted. Some of the nonsense after 1 game is hilarious - who needs Peter Kay when you can see the meltdown comments of some fans and guffaw uncontrollably.
The nonsense about us looking over our shoulders is as bad as the nonsense our fans call out when Brentford and Watford fans start talking top half finishes! It’s one game ….. 3 points - there are 111 more points to play for.
It will come good - the new boys need time to settle in and I have no doubt we will be much improved next Saturday in front of a full house.
UTV
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We didn’t look prepared tactically, mentally or physically. It was desperately poor from everyone involved, certainly in the first half.
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When you think back to our intensive pre-season kickabouts by the Thames it all seemed very laid-back.
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Of the the 5 players that could play cm, no combination of any two fill me with confidence. Sanson, Nakamba, McGinn, Luiz , Ramsey, none of them are going to dominate a game, The best you could say about any of them is that they have energy and are tidy. Adding JWP wont change that. We need a bastard in there who will break up play, tackle and move the ball faster. Not cheap at all but we should be sitting on a healthy budget. Put Ndidi in our midfield and we'd be a different animal, obviously we'd never get him but Id like Axel Witsel or Thomas Delaney for a couple of years from Dortmund. Both can dominate, have a good build, have good passing and discipline. Camavinga looks the best upcoming cm but he looks like he will be going to PSG or Real.
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Bad day at the office - it was almost scripted. Some of the nonsense after 1 game is hilarious - who needs Peter Kay when you can see the meltdown comments of some fans and guffaw uncontrollably.
The nonsense about us looking over our shoulders is as bad as the nonsense our fans call out when Brentford and Watford fans start talking top half finishes! It’s one game ….. 3 points - there are 111 more points to play for.
It will come good - the new boys need time to settle in and I have no doubt we will be much improved next Saturday in front of a full house.
UTV
Agree 100% but I can understand the disappointment.
It's 1 game and I can't wait till next week with an absolutely rocking VP and with hopefully Ollie and Leon starting we can put this poor start right.
UTV.
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I can't honestly say whether Ward-Prowse is the solution to our long-term midfield issues (I suspect not, myself), but it's galling to think that Kante was picked up for five million and does the job expertly, and we'd be spending the thick end of fifty million on somebody who may not do everything we need him to do.
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If I had a penny for every time "undercooked " is mentioned,I'd have 19p.
In that case - do us a loan
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This is the most excited I've felt before a season for a long time, so today's performance was a huge disappointment. The only positives were probably Ramsey and Bailey and Ings scoring. Still feeling positive for next Saturday, hopefully Ollie will be back, Bailey will start and Buendia will show, why we paid all that money for him.
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When you see the river rising outside your backdoor you take action before it bursts in. Today after 10 mins we saw the problem but waited until the water had flooded the ground floor before we took action.
Sounds like the practical real-life comparison that Brian Green would champion.
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Does anyone share my view that for the last few seasons we have never seemed as fit as our opponents - even lower league teams in cup games?
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Worst performance in years and years. Utterly insipid shite.huge problems all over the park.
Nah. Last time we played there, 20 months ago, was even worse.
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A). Disrupted pre-season
B). A lot of new players for the established team to get use to.
C). Newly promoted team with their tails up in front of fans today.
Recipe for a defeat.
Scoreline flattered us to be honest. Just need time for the players to get match sharp and get use to each other. Only one game in.
Big concern is what a number of posters (including myself) have said for awhile and that is the lack of a physical presence who can’t be knocked off the ball in the centre of the pitch. It cost us a lot last season against more physical sides and it was on display again today. If the club don’t address this before the end of the transfer window we’ll be having the same problem all season. Having done a lot of good work in improving areas we struggled in last season (more pace, another top striker, strengthening the squad, spreading the creative threat out, more players who can press) i’m surprised that we’ve not signed the enforcer we need yet. Still time yet.
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what about all the new players that didn't know each other that Watford fielded? Buendia's right toe probably cost more thatn the lot of them. Were were shite - and you can colour that any way you like. Mr Grealish is casting a long shadow.
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Worst performance in years and years. Utterly insipid shite.huge problems all over the park.
Nah. Last time we played there, 20 months ago, was even worse.
Yes, to say that was the worst performance in years and years is a massive exaggeration. There were several worse in that season 2 years ago for a start.
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what about all the new players that didn't know each other that Watford fielded? Buendia's right toe probably cost more thatn the lot of them. Were were shite - and you can colour that any way you like. Mr Grealish is casting a long shadow.
They did, that’s true and it was a very poor performance from Villa. Still along way to go in the season yet. I personally don’t think Joe would have made a difference today. Problems were much further back and in the centre of the park.
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Another game under Smith where we have failed to turn up for the first 65 /70 minutes Yet again we were woeful in midfield and Deano just can not see it
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Just got in and it looks like everyone seems to have covered what I was going to say. What stood out for me in that farce of a first half was how they bullied and pressed the life out of us, with high energy and tempo. We had absolutely no answer to it, some players looked like they were running in a swimming pool at times. That has the be addressed, and quick.
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We conceed the 1st goal and its predominately game over.
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Anyone have any idea when Sansom is going to be fit He seems to have been injured ever since we signed him
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How can all of the backroom staff be happy with the central midfield. Seriously it's absolutely garbage
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Just got in and it looks like everyone seems to have covered what I was going to say. What stood out for me in that farce of a first half was how they bullied and pressed the life out of us, with high energy and tempo. We had absolutely no answer to it, some players looked like they were running in a swimming pool at times. That has the be addressed, and quick.
yep. Like Watford's manager watched the Brentford/arsenal game and took note, while Smith fell asleep in the stands.
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Only seen the hghlights. Disappointing but predictable result. Lots of work to be done by those on and off the pitch all the way up to Lange and NSWE. I'm not a fan of Young's return bearing in mind the stage he is at in his career. Seeing him in the starting 11 had me worried. Buendia and Bailey need to hit the ground running otherwise we may well regret not having brought in more players with proven PL experience like Ings. Time will tell.
Great goal by McGinn. UTV!
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Tel you what we are the Kings of, Excuses
We’ve got bucket loads of them
One’s for playing top teams ones for playing bottom teams ones for playing newly promoted teams,
Cup games, League games, Big games, games played without Grealish
Games played with new signings, You name it there’s always a reason for playing shit
I’m sick of it
With our investment we should be beating Watford who have cleverly in midfield ffs
Or at least match them in every area on the pitch even if it doesn’t go our way
There is not one single thing that happened to the day that wasn’t predicted before the match
And we could do nothing about it
It was shocking, no excuses
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Deano has to accept some responsibility for that pathetic performance, due to the shambles of a pre-season which seemed to have no predefined aims except to get as many players some minutes as possible and then selecting a midfield two that has proven not to work!
However positives to take out of the game is that Ramsey is ready to step into the midfield, he played well in pre-season and then gets dropped, certainly on a short term basis and Bailey looked good especially considering his lack of fitness.
The game also showed us that Cash needs to improve as I thought he was poor in pre-season as well, Targett had a game to forget but it was his first for ages, Buendia was obviously not fit as he is much better than this, Nakamba is not at the level we require unfortunately as I like the guy, El Ghazi is not consistent enough, we desperately missed Ollie, Ings looked lost not helped by a total lack of service, use McGinn as an attacking midfielder he is wasted in his current role.
Yes, we lost but Watford will still get relegated and we will still finish in the top half, have faith! UTV
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Tel you what we are the Kings of, Excuses
We’ve got bucket loads of them
One’s for playing top teams ones for playing bottom teams ones for playing newly promoted teams,
Cup games, League games, Big games, games played without Grealish
Games played with new signings, You name it there’s always a reason for playing shit
I’m sick of it
With our investment we should be beating Watford who have cleverly in midfield ffs
Or at least match them in every area on the pitch even if it doesn’t go our way
There is not one single thing that happened to the day that wasn’t predicted before the match
And we could do nothing about it
It was shocking, no excuses
Fucking this!
We have the best investment in our history.
We have one of the best youth systems in our history.
The opportunity to push us to an unparalleled level is there.
Dont fuck this up Villa.
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Well said John. There’s no excuse for going 3-0 down to a newly promoted team.
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Yes, wholeheartedly agree with this. At times today (well most of it actually), we could have been watching any number of similar atrocities in the dark days of Randy or Xia.
Garbage.
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It could be worse...we could be Leeds !
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It could be worse...we could be Leeds !
Yeah but not feeling too smug as they were playing a team that will be challenging for the title, whereas we were playing a team tipped for rock bottom.
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Worst performance in years and years. Utterly insipid shite.huge problems all over the park.
Nah. Last time we played there, 20 months ago, was even worse.
Just checked back to who started that day and laughed when I saw Henri Lansbury's name so different era.
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It could be worse...we could be Leeds !
Leeds were playing a CL team with some world class players. We were playing Watford.
Spot on John.
It’s just more excuses.
Serious questions need to be asked.
No where near good enougj
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I am also fed up with excuses,as people said those at the top won't accept excuses and nor they shouldn't
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Tel you what we are the Kings of, Excuses
We’ve got bucket loads of them
One’s for playing top teams ones for playing bottom teams ones for playing newly promoted teams,
Cup games, League games, Big games, games played without Grealish
Games played with new signings, You name it there’s always a reason for playing shit
I’m sick of it
With our investment we should be beating Watford who have cleverly in midfield ffs
Or at least match them in every area on the pitch even if it doesn’t go our way
There is not one single thing that happened to the day that wasn’t predicted before the match
And we could do nothing about it
It was shocking, no excuses
Fucking this!
We have the best investment in our history.
We have one of the best youth systems in our history.
The opportunity to push us to an unparalleled level is there.
Dont fuck this up Villa.
Would help though if we had a much better historical record at replacing key players. Not sure when was the last time we lost a major player at prem level and actually improved. Obviously didn't happen in 2015 or 2011 so guessing Barry when he went in 2009 and we eventually slotted Milner in central.
Long time ago now that was. If we had Leicester's record of replacing key first team players then you'd have a reliable air of confidence but we're miles off that so the worry is the season will quickly unravel if we don't win either of the next two given how tough September looks.
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I thought that after queueing one and a half hours to get through the Dartford Tunnel on the way to the game things would only get better.
They didn't.
Agree with most of the above.
Targett had a 'mare. Put that one down to a bad day at the office.
Somebody should tell Cash he is not as good as he thinks he is. He might get mistaken for Joe. But he isn't. Should concentrate on getting the defensive basics right before he tries to be a winger.
But the main problem is we need a decent midfield, and we don't have one. McGinn might have scored a goal, but otherwise he was ineffective. Braveheart impersonations are not what are needed at this level.
On the subject of impersonations, Buendia did the headless chicken, complete with tantrums every time he lost the ball, which was often. I don't think he is good enough.
Plus points.
Bailey looked good.
And Traore changed the game when he came on.
Deano reacted and made changes at half-time for a change, rather than the 73rd minute. Probably should have taken more risks given the game was almost lost. Maybe Philogene instead of Ramsey (too light weight and flatters to deceive).
Could be a long season.
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The writing was on the wall with the selection. El Ghazi can’t play right wing, that’s been obvious whenever we’ve tried him there before. Nakamba’s limitations are always exposed against teams we expect to be on the front foot against. Buendia recovering from injury. Young hasn’t played left wing for about six years? They must have been thrilled to see our lineup.
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I haven't been impressed with pre season so today was hardly a shock. The charitable view is that it looks as though the season is starting a couple of weeks too early for us. Nevertheless Deano said before the game that they had some inside knowledge of Watford from Shakespeares time there . I'm afraid I saw previous little evidence of it.
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Tel you what we are the Kings of, Excuses
We’ve got bucket loads of them
One’s for playing top teams ones for playing bottom teams ones for playing newly promoted teams,
Cup games, League games, Big games, games played without Grealish
Games played with new signings, You name it there’s always a reason for playing shit
I’m sick of it
With our investment we should be beating Watford who have cleverly in midfield ffs
Or at least match them in every area on the pitch even if it doesn’t go our way
There is not one single thing that happened to the day that wasn’t predicted before the match
And we could do nothing about it
It was shocking, no excuses
There are explanations though and it's pretty obvious that's what people are looking for. No one is happy with today, including, pretty clearly, Smith but if everyone just says it was shit and walks away how does it get fixed? I want the coaches looking for reasons and if you want to see that as excuses then feel free but that's a shitty attitude to take on the first day of the season.
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The line up was wrong in the first place. With the players we have now, El Ghazi shouldn’t be starting matches. Nakamba is too light weight for that role and, Smith needs to find a way of playing McGinn further up the pitch. Hopefully, Ollie can figure next week but, knowing Villa injuries, he’ll probably be out for 3 months. Let’s hope Smith has quickly learned that you have to press and attack your opponent, starting with Newcastle next Saturday.
You can still see a huge gulf between us and the really top teams who had no problem in dispatching their opponents today.
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All three subs improved us, that alone points to getting the starting eleven wrong and thats down to DS. I am curious as to why we bought a well accredited playmaker who is not a goal scorer and then use him as support for Ings, that and the fact that was definately still carrying an injury. Buendia will be great when he plays in his natural role. When I saw AEG was starting and our leading goalscorer was out I thought at best a draw.
The next few weeks will tell us plenty, but one thing is certain now, as most have said we are desperate for not one but two dominent midfielders, we were overun time and time again leaving the defence exposed. Get it done Dean.
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We were crap but their second goal, that basically decided the result, was the luckiest/spawniest one imaginable. The bloke is crossing the ball to nobody and Mings inadvertently wrong-foots Martínez.
The quality of McGinn's goal will probably get forgotten given it was a consolation. But that was a beauty, and should be in the Goal of the Month contenders.
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How many goals a season does Mings deflect the ball into his own net?
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I feel bad for him - he's already capable of coming up with his own clangers!
Dean mentioned in the post-match interview that we might have nicked a point had someone gone down for a second penalty at the death. Haven't seen it on the highlights so I presume he is clutching at straws?
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Yep.
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How many goals a season does Mings deflect the ball into his own net?
Sounds like lyrics to a Bob Dylan song
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Wince, now you say that, I remember the Dylan song about how many roads etc.
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The answer my friend, is blowing in the Mings?
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Amongst several things that perplexed me I didn’t understand why in the first half, especially when Targett was so obviously struggling is why Young (who did well at left back second half) didn’t drop deeper to help him out.
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A central midfield of McGinn, Nakamba and/or Luiz just isn't good enough for where we are aiming to be.
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The writing was on the wall with the selection. El Ghazi can’t play right wing, that’s been obvious whenever we’ve tried him there before. Nakamba’s limitations are always exposed against teams we expect to be on the front foot against. Buendia recovering from injury. Young hasn’t played left wing for about six years? They must have been thrilled to see our lineup.
The Young selection in that position was utterly perplexing. Especially as not an area of the field where we don't have options
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Sometimes Dean's naivety does make me wonder. It was obvious Watford would be well up for it, have a great home record and knew we'd be fragile.
With our pre-season and the lack of key players we should have started more cautiously.
Back four obviously picks itself, but with the players we had available a midfield three of:
Marv (sitting)
SJM and Ramsey
Then a front three of
Buendia, Ings and one of AEG or Bert
Open the game up later - be I doubt we'd have been 2-0 at half time with that set up.
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A central midfield of McGinn, Nakamba and/or Luiz just isn't good enough for where we are aiming to be.
This
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We need yet another signing - a DM capable of protecting the defence. Nakamba isn’t going to make it. Only positives for me Ramsey and Bailey. Buendia I’m hoping wasn’t fit.
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If I had a penny for every time "undercooked " is mentioned,I'd have 19p.
Agreed. Half baked sounds a lot better
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A game where Targett and Cash looked like shadows of their former selves, a deflected goal, a player scoring a worldie with his first touch after not starting for 4 years, Mike Dean and playing a promoted club in the first game.
Throw in a half arsed performance and the result was inevitable.
i might be in a minority here, but I didn’t think Mike Dean was that shit, thought he did quite well. It’s just that we were pretty gash first half, really bad. Once we’d started to get our shit together, the third goal killed us and we never getting anything from the game after that. On the bright side, Ings can take a penalty, McGinn’s finish was top drawer and Traore and Bailey looked threatening when they were introduced. Ramsey looked decent also. Disappointing result and performance overall though. We either need to find a big hard DM with a bit of nous from the kids, or buy one quickly.
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How long have we needed a defensive midfield player and we start ainother season without one.
We have bought 4 players this window and still so sign of one.
Inexplicable
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All three goals came about as we had players standing off their marker. Konsa for the first goal, also no-one tracking from midfield. The second goal, harshly, because he wasn't Tyrone's man, but Tyrone didn't get close enough. Whilst the third Watford goal was a corker, Cash simply didn't get close enough.
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Just put myself through watching the full rerun on Sky having not seen it yesterday.
It just looked the wrong team. Far too passive, pedestrian in possession and both Cash and Targett far too high with no spare man in midfield to drop back in. Obviously this was more apparent on the left with the pace and power of Sarr.
On that evidence he can't play Buendia as a number 10, in a 4-3-3, we'll be overrun every week. I thought Bailey looked quite bright when we were in possession but tellingly his best moment came when he came over to the right. He'll want to play there I'd imagine.
It's going to be a conundrum fitting all these players in, but let's get Ollie fit and get Ings playing off him first. We missed him massively yesterday.
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Watched the game live in Senegal and pretty much agree with all that’s been said above. Lots going on about the amount of money spent and rightly so but after all that, we still started yesterday with AEG and Marv who were not PL class last season and are not now. When we stop having to depend on players such as this we will improve.
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All three goals came about as we had players standing off their marker. Konsa for the first goal, also no-one tracking from midfield. The second goal, harshly, because he wasn't Tyrone's man, but Tyrone didn't get close enough. Whilst the third Watford goal was a corker, Cash simply didn't get close enough.
Buendia was totally at fault there regardless of where Cash was.
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One look at the bench tells you we are still way off it.
Three academy players, Wesley, Hause and Steer was the bulk of it. The academy players have promise but we need players premier league ready now if we have any designs on breaking the door down of the top 6/7. Wesley, Hause and Steer don’t get anywhere near the sides that finished in last years top 10.
Like others are saying, Nakamba is piss poor and always has been and if we can all see the fact we need a proper ball winning centre midfield player why can’t our recruitment team? Big few weeks for Deano
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Targett had a mare. I hope he’s not a player that prefers behind closed doors games. He did make a somewhat miraculous improvement last season compared to when we had crowds. I’m sure he’ll be fine, it’s just a thought.
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Morning after the night before, and still can't believe we only had two shots on target against them - and one of those was a penalty.
Yes, there was an element of fortune for at least one of their goals, but for all our defensive issues against Sarr (who will do this to many other left-backs this season), the most disappointing element for me was the lack of threat at the other end. With 60%+ of the possession, we should have been creating much more than we did. I'm still hopeful for what we can do going forward when Watkins and Bailey are both fit and firing, but this was not the exciting start I was hoping for from our other attacking debutants.
We need a win and convincing performance against Newcastle, if for nothing else than to stop people going on about the effect of losing Joe.
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The majority of that 60% possession was Mings playing it square to Konsa.
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One look at the bench tells you we are still way off it.
Three academy players, Wesley, Hause and Steer was the bulk of it. The academy players have promise but we need players premier league ready now if we have any designs on breaking the door down of the top 6/7. Wesley, Hause and Steer don’t get anywhere near the sides that finished in last years top 10.
Like others are saying, Nakamba is piss poor and always has been and if we can all see the fact we need a proper ball winning centre midfield player why can’t our recruitment team? Big few weeks for Deano
This 100% yes we’ve had squad improvement and that’s great but we’ve someway to go yet.
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If you spend three days of pre season looking like you’re having a kick around in a public park don’t be surprised if you turn up for the first game looking like you’re a parks team winning a competition to play a PL team.
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Re: Targett - putting yesterday down to him simply being not fit. Last weekend was his first game of pre season (injury)
Hindsight but we should have started Young at left back
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One look at the bench tells you we are still way off it.
Three academy players, Wesley, Hause and Steer was the bulk of it. The academy players have promise but we need players premier league ready now if we have any designs on breaking the door down of the top 6/7. Wesley, Hause and Steer don’t get anywhere near the sides that finished in last years top 10.
Like others are saying, Nakamba is piss poor and always has been and if we can all see the fact we need a proper ball winning centre midfield player why can’t our recruitment team? Big few weeks for Deano
the thing that’s got me scratching my head a bit is that Nakamba’s stats for his breakup play were very good last season. But when you watch him play live, he mostly seems ineffective.
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How long have we needed a defensive midfield player and we start ainother season without one.
We have bought 4 players this window and still so sign of one.
Inexplicable
It's taken them two years to realise we needed another striker!
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They are. He can do the tackling and break-up play stuff. It's the passing to a teammate/not losing it again straightaway he sucks at.
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Nakamba couldn’t pass wind. He wouldn’t get into 75% of teams in the Premier league.
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Nakamba couldn’t pass wind. He wouldn’t get into 75% of teams in the Premier league.
I thought he may have removed the dangerous square pass across the pitch from his repertoire, alas not. Shame as he definitely can do parts of the DM role reasonably well.
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Re: Targett - putting yesterday down to him simply being not fit. Last weekend was his first game of pre season (injury)
Hindsight but we should have started Young at left back
Someone actually coming back and helping him out would have been quite nice too.
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Just put myself through watching the full rerun on Sky having not seen it yesterday.
I thought Bailey looked quite bright when we were in possession but tellingly his best moment came when he came over to the right. He'll want to play there I'd imagine.
His best moment wasn’t the assist then? I haven’t seen anything bar the highlights.
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While I agree with most of the negative comments on here, the fact is that teams can have bad days and come away with at least a draw in games like that. The first goal involved a decent block by Konsa which could have gone anywhere but unfortunately went straight back to their player; the second - well - and the third was class. We were much better in the second half and then got dealt the sucker punch with their third, but McGinn's goal was the best of the match. Factor in Buendia unfit, Bailey only just arrived, Watkins greatly missed and Targett given the runaround, I think we will get much better quickly. Before anyone accuses me of clutching at straws, I don't think I am. We were awful in the first 45, got better but by then the match had got away from us.
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ironically the 15/16 team won their first game away at promoted bournemouth!
at least yesterday is a wake up call for everyone.
2 massive games coming up at a full villa park now.
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Targett had a mare. I hope he’s not a player that prefers behind closed doors games. He did make a somewhat miraculous improvement last season compared to when we had crowds. I’m sure he’ll be fine, it’s just a thought.
The guy playing ahead of him last season usually kept one or two opposition players tied up. Going to take a bit of readjustment for Targett. I'm a bit more worried to read that Cash was poor again yesterday. He was very poor last season when he came back in after injury. If he keeps this up, I'd like to Guilbert given a chance.
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Just put myself through watching the full rerun on Sky having not seen it yesterday.
I thought Bailey looked quite bright when we were in possession but tellingly his best moment came when he came over to the right. He'll want to play there I'd imagine.
His best moment wasn’t the assist then? I haven’t seen anything bar the highlights.
Good run and then a clever pick out for the assist.
But in general terms, there was a moment where him and Traore doubled up on the right and he beat his man with a lovely bit of skill and stood it up.
He looks a real bright spark, but coming in from the right where he can go either way, I imagine will be his position.
If Ings and Watkins play as a two, Bailey in a free role on that side may be our best option. All about getting the balance right though, and we didn't get it right at all yesterday.
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Targett had a mare. I hope he’s not a player that prefers behind closed doors games. He did make a somewhat miraculous improvement last season compared to when we had crowds. I’m sure he’ll be fine, it’s just a thought.
The guy playing ahead of him last season usually kept one or two opposition players tied up. Going to take a bit of readjustment for Targett. I'm a bit more worried to read that Cash was poor again yesterday. He was very poor last season when he came back in after injury. If he keeps this up, I'd like to Guilbert given a chance.
Cash was really terrible. It wasn't as obviously appalling as Targett, as Sarr really did make Targett look abysmal, but he literally did nothing right all game. Maybe the Watford chants of "you're just a shit Jack Grealish" whenever he took a throw in got to him?!
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Good run and then a clever pick out for the assist.
But in general terms, there was a moment where him and Traore doubled up on the right and he beat his man with a lovely bit of skill and stood it up.
He looks a real bright spark, but coming in from the right where he can go either way, I imagine will be his position.
If Ings and Watkins play as a two, Bailey in a free role on that side may be our best option. All about getting the balance right though, and we didn't get it right at all yesterday.
As others have said, that's a strange bit of business then when we already had Traore there, and where people are saying Buendia's best position is. I assumed he was brought in to play on the left, because if he doesn't, who is?!
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Looking at Bailey's best bits video (yeah yeah) he seems capable of appearing anywhere. He just runs at players and beats them so whether he's on the right, left or middle doesn't seem to matter. He doesn't seem like a proper fixed winger sending in crosses to me
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But if we only have El Ghazi who is comfortable on the left (and asleep most of the time), it's hard to see where we fit in our three most dangerous creators (Bailey, Buendia and Traore) as well as two players Smith sees as being centre-forwards (Ings and Watkins) when playing two up-front is not de rigeur.
Have we just quickly bought exciting, attacking players knowing Jack is leaving but without working-out how we fit them all in?
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But if we only have El Ghazi who is comfortable on the left (and asleep most of the time), it's hard to see where we fit in our three most dangerous creators (Bailey, Buendia and Traore) as well as two players Smith sees as being centre-forwards (Ings and Watkins) when playing two up-front is not de rigeur.
Have we just quickly bought exciting, attacking players knowing Jack is leaving but without working-out how we fit them all in?
One of them has to play down the left at times lol. My guess is the 3 will rotate around.
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Lots of negatives yesterday, though it was great to be back at a live game and to see old faces.
A lot of people have summed up the individual failures yesterday, but without rereading the whole thread a real sticking point for me was us losing the ball in dangerous positions on the edge of the Watford area and 10 seconds later conceding a goal without making a challenge - this happened for the 2nd and 3rd goals. We weren’t able to commit fouls early in their breakaway to stop them, then we didn’t get close enough in our own box. I’ve been saying all summer we need a really commanding CDM and yesterday highlighted that. On the plus side the Brazilian fella who runs the coffee shop near our office reckons Luiz was brilliant in that position at the Olympics.
Positives - our substitutions made us better, as did Young nullifying Sarr in 2nd half, McGinn had a decent game and Ings is off the mark. Highlight of the day though was probably the lap of honour and standing ovation for the local NHS staff at half time.
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The writing was on the wall with the selection. El Ghazi can’t play right wing, that’s been obvious whenever we’ve tried him there before. Nakamba’s limitations are always exposed against teams we expect to be on the front foot against. Buendia recovering from injury. Young hasn’t played left wing for about six years? They must have been thrilled to see our lineup.
The Young selection in that position was utterly perplexing. Especially as not an area of the field where we don't have options
I disagree. Go on his thread and loads before yesterday were saying how good he looked in pre season and many were calling for him to start so easy to say it's wrong just because the performance while he was on the pitch was a disaster.
What I said weeks back is anyone expecting him to be on the wing like he was in 2008 is going to be disappointed, he is 36 now after all so really his role in season needs to be last 10 minutes sub for games we're winning to close it out or start on odd occasions at left back which might happen as soon as Saturday the way Targett played yesterday.
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Disappointed with the result but I was so happy to be in a full ground watching my team I never thought this would happen but I'm so glad to be back.
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Targett had a mare. I hope he’s not a player that prefers behind closed doors games. He did make a somewhat miraculous improvement last season compared to when we had crowds. I’m sure he’ll be fine, it’s just a thought.
The guy playing ahead of him last season usually kept one or two opposition players tied up. Going to take a bit of readjustment for Targett. I'm a bit more worried to read that Cash was poor again yesterday. He was very poor last season when he came back in after injury. If he keeps this up, I'd like to Guilbert given a chance.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Watkins given a runout wide left. His energy and pace would be a massive help to Targett and although a very different player to Grealish he could be very useful for us.
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While I agree with most of the negative comments on here, the fact is that teams can have bad days and come away with at least a draw in games like that. The first goal involved a decent block by Konsa which could have gone anywhere but unfortunately went straight back to their player; the second - well - and the third was class. We were much better in the second half and then got dealt the sucker punch with their third, but McGinn's goal was the best of the match. Factor in Buendia unfit, Bailey only just arrived, Watkins greatly missed and Targett given the runaround, I think we will get much better quickly. Before anyone accuses me of clutching at straws, I don't think I am. We were awful in the first 45, got better but by then the match had got away from us.
I am not very angry yet as I agree with the above post and the more we play this way even Stevie Wonder could see we need a strong CM in there (and Luiz is not the answer) so I'm sure it will be addressed.
I wish also that we were a little more communicative when it comes to injuries, sanson springs to mind.
We must have VP bouncing and punish an awful Newcastle on Saturday or there could be a confidence crash.
On the absentee front. I see Richarlison played and scored for Everton yesterday even though he was at the Olympics. If he can play why is Dougie not?
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I thought we were God awful yesterday.
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Looking back,we had new players coming in and thinking we are moving forward,at first I was a bit angry (insert any swear words you wish to put in trying to cut down on thelanguage) but calmed down now and say it was a bad at the office lessons need to be learnt and hopefully have
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But if we only have El Ghazi who is comfortable on the left (and asleep most of the time), it's hard to see where we fit in our three most dangerous creators (Bailey, Buendia and Traore) as well as two players Smith sees as being centre-forwards (Ings and Watkins) when playing two up-front is not de rigeur.
Have we just quickly bought exciting, attacking players knowing Jack is leaving but without working-out how we fit them all in?
I don't see much evidence of a plan to be honest. I'm sure all the players we have got are good players in their own right but do they all fit together into a coherent unit. Will be interesting to see how Watkins will be fitted back in.
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But if we only have El Ghazi who is comfortable on the left (and asleep most of the time), it's hard to see where we fit in our three most dangerous creators (Bailey, Buendia and Traore) as well as two players Smith sees as being centre-forwards (Ings and Watkins) when playing two up-front is not de rigeur.
Have we just quickly bought exciting, attacking players knowing Jack is leaving but without working-out how we fit them all in?
I don't see much evidence of a plan to be honest. I'm sure all the players we have got are good players in their own right but do they all fit together into a coherent unit. Will be interesting to see how Watkins will be fitted back in.
You'd have to be either cynical or brontebilly to think that there isn't a plan. It might turn out to be a bad plan, but Dean isn't in his job by accident, and the people above him would soon turf him out if he was. We had a bad game. It happens.
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When we get the ball in the final third I think we could look really dangerous
However the slowness of the back for playing the ball to each other for ages before lumping it is a problem
The Centre Half’s are not ball players so we need some sort of proper ballplaying midfielders to step in and work the ball up the field so those forward players can be the dangerous little buggers we all hope they will be
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Agreed. What looks obvious from yesterday is we need to be much quicker and show far more quality in (modern day buzz word alert) transition. The ponderous build up doesn’t suit us at all.
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Agreed. What looks obvious from yesterday is we need to be much quicker and show far more quality in (modern day buzz word alert) transition. The ponderous build up doesn’t suit us at all.
Ponderous is exactly the right word
Even Dean Smith says we we’re too slow and he’s the one picking their team and style
My teenage daughter always says to me when she’s watching Other teams play on telly why are they quicker than us dad
It’s so obvious I can’t see why we keep doing the same thing over and over again
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Martinez 7
Cash 5.5
Konsa 5.5
Mings 5.5
Targett 5
McGinn 6.5
Nakamba 5
Buendia 5
Young 6
AEG 5.5
Ings 6
Subs
J. Ramsey 6
Bailey 6.5
Traroe 6.5
Disappointing first half understatement.
Though some good football in bits and second half there was an improvement and good performances by the subs
Young was more comfortable at left back though made some good early runs
The midfield was lacking something and the support to Ings was lacking.
Hoping for a vast improvement as players get match fit and can only improve.
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I'd go:
Martinez 5
Cash 3
Konsa 5
Mings 6
Targett 3
McGinn 7
Nakamba 5
Buendia 4
Young 4 (first half) 6 (second half)
El Ghazi 4
Ings 5.5
Subs
Ramsey 6
Traore 7
Bailey 7
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I'd go:
Martinez 5
Cash 3
Konsa 5
Mings 6
Targett 3
McGinn 7
Nakamba 5
Buendia 4
Young 4 (first half) 6 (second half)
El Ghazi 4
Ings 5.5
Subs
Ramsey 6
Traore 7
Bailey 7
I would agree with that, other than the 7 for McGinn. Scored a good goal, but otherwise was a liability I thought.
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Having read the observations of the game - I agree with John E comments, we are the kings of excuses, hopefully the owners and Purslow wont allow the excuses to continue, we should not be losing to Watford, if we are serious about breaking into the top 7 of the premier league.
Agree also about our pre-season the kick about in the park, that is not the way you prepare for a Premier League season or is it having a few drinks afterwards, this is Aston Villa not the Red Lion who are playing in the Birmingham Parks league
Notice comments about Buendia and Nakamba - before the game according to comments on this forum these two players were going to show us what we good players they were - Nakamba is not good enough and Buendia will need to make massive improvements in his game.
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Shit performance given a sheen of respectability by the last 20 minutes.
I seem to recall a similarly shite performance at home to Wigan in about 2008 where we got mullered 2-0 at home on the first day. I was apoplectic with rage at the time but my advancing age has bought a bit more sage reflection than knee jerk reaction and on seeing the full time score I was minded to a mild shrug of the shoulders a muttered “meh” rather than a puce faced rant.
All that said, this clubs motto used to be “Prepared”. I think even the most generous commentator would struggle to justify that’s being met after Saturdays shitshow.
However, one game down and no reason for panic or that said mindless optimism.
We go again…..
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I’d not look too much into this performance. We’ve had a very lousy pre-season, two matches called off so this is probably our third game we’ve had.
I don’t think the first game of the season is an indicator to how it will all unfold for any team just very underwhelming after the excitement of the season starting and having a crowd there.
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Having read the observations of the game - I agree with John E comments, we are the kings of excuses, hopefully the owners and Purslow wont allow the excuses to continue, we should not be losing to Watford, if we are serious about breaking into the top 7 of the premier league.
Agree also about our pre-season the kick about in the park, that is not the way you prepare for a Premier League season or is it having a few drinks afterwards, this is Aston Villa not the Red Lion who are playing in the Birmingham Parks league
Notice comments about Buendia and Nakamba - before the game according to comments on this forum these two players were going to show us what we good players they were - Nakamba is not good enough and Buendia will need to make massive improvements in his game.
I doubt that 'kick about in the park' as you call it would have even been brought up had we won. I blame the barbecue afterwards personally.
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I’d not look too much into this performance. We’ve had a very lousy pre-season, two matches called off so this is probably our third game we’ve had.
I don’t think the first game of the season is an indicator to how it will all unfold for any team just very underwhelming after the excitement of the season starting and having a crowd there.
We've got to integrate 5 new players - and possibly more - and so there will definitely be a slow start to the season. We started badly; shit happens. This game may have been the coming-to-jesus moment that the squad needed: but they do need a really good week in training.
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Having read the observations of the game - I agree with John E comments, we are the kings of excuses, hopefully the owners and Purslow wont allow the excuses to continue, we should not be losing to Watford, if we are serious about breaking into the top 7 of the premier league.
Agree also about our pre-season the kick about in the park, that is not the way you prepare for a Premier League season or is it having a few drinks afterwards, this is Aston Villa not the Red Lion who are playing in the Birmingham Parks league
Notice comments about Buendia and Nakamba - before the game according to comments on this forum these two players were going to show us what we good players they were - Nakamba is not good enough and Buendia will need to make massive improvements in his game.
I doubt that 'kick about in the park' as you call it would have even been brought up had we won. I blame the barbecue afterwards personally.
But I think that's kind of his point. We didn't win partly because of the prep which involved a kick-about in the park and sausages and Sol beer with wedged-lime as a 'treat' afterwards.
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Having read the observations of the game - I agree with John E comments, we are the kings of excuses, hopefully the owners and Purslow wont allow the excuses to continue, we should not be losing to Watford, if we are serious about breaking into the top 7 of the premier league.
Agree also about our pre-season the kick about in the park, that is not the way you prepare for a Premier League season or is it having a few drinks afterwards, this is Aston Villa not the Red Lion who are playing in the Birmingham Parks league
Notice comments about Buendia and Nakamba - before the game according to comments on this forum these two players were going to show us what we good players they were - Nakamba is not good enough and Buendia will need to make massive improvements in his game.
I doubt that 'kick about in the park' as you call it would have even been brought up had we won. I blame the barbecue afterwards personally.
But I think that's kind of his point. We didn't win partly because of the prep which involved a kick-about in the park and sausages and Sol beer with wedged-lime as a 'treat' afterwards.
With the resources we have we should have had a team ready to compete with Watford without going 3 goals down.
It is a piss poor start to the season whichever way you look at it.
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Didn't watch the game live but was very disappointed with the outcome. I don't think it is time to panic but we need to start on the front foot at the weekend and Dean needs to be reacting if plan A doesn't work not leaving it till its too late.
Unlucky on the second but am I alone in thinking that Martinez should have better with the first. Lingard put two like that past him last year so maybe it's a weak spot
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Every player that started has played in the premier league. The defence and midfield were not new and have played together lots. Fed up with excuses, a shit performance so be called just that a shit performance
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Didn't watch the game live but was very disappointed with the outcome. I don't think it is time to panic but we need to start on the front foot at the weekend and Dean needs to be reacting if plan A doesn't work not leaving it till its too late.
Unlucky on the second but am I alone in thinking that Martinez should have better with the first. Lingard put two like that past him last year so maybe it's a weak spot
Yeah I thought it was a soft goal. Could've just kicked it away with his foot, sometimes you don't need to save every shot with your hands as brilliant as he is at doing that.
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Forty eight hours later and I am still reeling from how bad we were.
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As I am working from home - listening to The Villa Podcast about our NON performance at Watford - it is making me laugh - the 2 guys are very good and funny
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Yes it was alarmingly bad. Tactically it was naive, but he unforgivable part was the lack of intensity. They need to show so much more intent and desire in the next game.
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Forty eight hours later and I am still reeling from how bad we were.
It's only been forty three hours, so don't worry too much.
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Having watched the highlights I feel Mings should have reacted a lot quicker to the movement down our left side which resulted in the first two goals. Having seen the problem Targett was having he should have been moving across to cover but appeared to be very slow in reacting on both occasions. If he had reacted quicker he maybe could have got a block on the first cross and made a better block on the second.
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If you listen to the Holy Trinity YT post he hits nail on the head when he states how much we miss Watkins and how the team was so disjointed without him at the head of our attacking threat.
It was clear Buendia not fit and neither was Targett and Cash needs a kick up the arse.
I fear that McGinns cracking goal will mask another pretty inept midfield performance again.
Oh and Mr Woodhall - i fecking told you!!!!!
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Why do I always read comments about the team having to gel? Didn’t Watford have 2 players that scored on their debuts? Other teams do not appear to need this “gelling” process. I also think Newcastle will be a tough proposition and, just hope St Maximin doesn’t put in a similar performance that he did on Saturday. Him v Targett…hmm!!
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
If that was the case you have to ask why did Deano play them then?
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Well quite, maybe he thought they were ready. But it’s a lesson to be learned.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
what did they do or not do during the close season that left them unfit vs the rest of the team ?
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
what did they do or not do during the close season that left them unfit vs the rest of the team ?
Buendia was injured for the last two friendlies, assume Targett had a knock too. Should have played Young at LB (where he has performed well pre-season) and started McGinn further forward with Ramsey deeper. Better than both selecting unfit players and also playing fit ones out of position.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
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Confirm it didn’t look any better on second watch.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
True, but some are more reasons than excuses. If you play players who aren’t fit enough against a team who seem to be physically ready you’re hindering yourselves, particularly if one of your unfit players is matched up against the oppositions best player. It’s not the reason for defeat in isolation, but it’s an important factor.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
If they’re all bullshit excuses, why didn’t we win then?
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
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Still can’t get over how good we made Tom Cleverley look
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Still can’t get over how good we made Tom Cleverley look
When you have Nakamba as your dm in a 2, we'd make Drinkwater look good.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
Or people are trying to find reasons why a team that we all think can challenge for Europe looked poor. Giving reasons for a poor performance isn't excuses and it's getting really fucking tiring reading the same people moan about 'all the excuses' all the time.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
But aren’t they your excuses?
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
But aren’t they your excuses?
Reasons excuses, you take your picks.
Many like to live in a world where it’s no one’s fault.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
But aren’t they your excuses?
Reasons excuses, you take your picks.
Many like to live in a world where it’s no one’s fault.
Well half of John’s list of ‘excuses’ are another way of saying we weren’t prepared, which is one of your ‘reasons’.
I just think that if there were no mitigating circumstances we’d have won, so if people want to post their opinions on what they were it’s a bit unfair to dismiss them as excuses.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
Or people are trying to find reasons why a team that we all think can challenge for Europe looked poor. Giving reasons for a poor performance isn't excuses and it's getting really fucking tiring reading the same people moan about 'all the excuses' all the time.
maybe performances like Saturday knock that belief that we can challenge for Europe. My view is that we are not in a position to challenge for Europe and the excuses or reasons are a denial . The denial, that when Plan A fucked off up the M6 he took our chances of challenging for Europe with him.
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
Spot on.
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Nail on head
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
Or people are trying to find reasons why a team that we all think can challenge for Europe looked poor. Giving reasons for a poor performance isn't excuses and it's getting really fucking tiring reading the same people moan about 'all the excuses' all the time.
maybe performances like Saturday knock that belief that we can challenge for Europe. My view is that we are not in a position to challenge for Europe and the excuses or reasons are a denial . The denial, that when Plan A fucked off up the M6 he took our chances of challenging for Europe with him.
Fair enough. But careful though, because ‘we lost our best player’ could easily fit in John’s big bag of excuses
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I think gelling is less of an issue than fitness. Targett and Buendia clearly weren’t fit and were exposed as a result.
Because it comes out of the big bag of excuses
Same as if players haven’t played for a while they are rusty
If they have played two games in the same week they are tired
Two or three new players in a team need time to gell
the same players in a team grow stale
Play rubbish first game of the season, no preseason
Play a player that’s over 32 he’s too old
Play a young player he’s not experienced enough
Player has a shit game, he’s obviously not fit
Honestly you can go on forever
It’s endless the excuses you can find
Because it’s more palatable to come up with excuses than face reality.
How about, we were not prepared, we picked the wrong team and we failed to react during the match.
Or people are trying to find reasons why a team that we all think can challenge for Europe looked poor. Giving reasons for a poor performance isn't excuses and it's getting really fucking tiring reading the same people moan about 'all the excuses' all the time.
maybe performances like Saturday knock that belief that we can challenge for Europe. My view is that we are not in a position to challenge for Europe and the excuses or reasons are a denial . The denial, that when Plan A fucked off up the M6 he took our chances of challenging for Europe with him.
Fair enough. But careful though, because ‘we lost our best player’ could easily fit in John’s big bag of excuses
agree they could, but i think John has a different view on the cause and effect.
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Only just caught up with this
Seems my big bag is a thing now
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John’s got a brand new big bag.
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All been said -undercooked & injured players = a very poor first-half, though I did think we were coming back into it just before they scored the fluke goal.
Consolation was in the three subs all making an impact in the second half, esp. Ramsey.
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Oh, and let's hope that none of the players come on the site and see the 'threadline' -actionable, shurely??!!