Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: kippaxvilla2 on October 10, 2022, 09:53:33 PM
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Where do you even start?
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I still think failing to beat ten man Leeds was even shitter so, when you think of it that way, we've improved.
Well done, lads.
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Abject
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Nobody can defend that. Fan power. We need to make the change happen.
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Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit get him out
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My god that was bad. Every single one of the midfield were atrociously bad. Watkins just awful.
It was a shockingly inept display.
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If I didnt support Villa I would want us to go down. We keep saying the plan is to compete at the top end of the table and embarrassingly never look anywhere near likely of achieving that. Gerrard never will - its time
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For all his faults Deans teams were invariably pleasing to watch. This bloke has basically strangled any semblance of attacking style from us. A dreadful ‘style’ under a dreadful Manager.
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Total wank. Gerrard out!
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Bye
FeliciaStevie!
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Just wondering where we are in the five year plan?
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Fucking booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!
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This must stop now. If representatives of Aston Villa are not currently winging their way to Pochettino's gaff with a massive contract offer then our owners aren't the brilliant and savvy experts that we hoped for.
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There is a positive.
1 game closer to the scouse Sherwood being sacked.
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The football under this chancer makes your eyes bleed. 9 points after a quarter of the season gone. 3 points above the bottom three. For fucks sake change it before we have another disaster of a season. Newcastle show what a bit of money and a decent manager can do. We just spend a fortune to go backwards.
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Oh come on, we had loads of possession and shots!
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Fuck off Gerrard
Fuck off
Fuck off
Fuck off......
.....Fuck off
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Dreadful felt like a loss. Archer had a quick cameo nice run past a few players.
Someone said Ings came on can anyone confirm that?
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Enough is enough, no creativity no urgency against an awful Forest team.
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Terrible result. Do you reckon we'll get any away wins this season?
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Bye bye Gerrard. You’ve had a chance. Just too much now
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Oh come on, we had loads of possession and shots!
…and not against 10 men this week.
Corner turned.
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Can he take Purslow with him to the job centre please.
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can we give a P45 first thing in the morning to the set piece chancer masquerading as a coach
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This was staggeringly bad. The midfield again absolutely killed us - no momentum, no energy, no plan. Forest set up to frustrate and we had no fucking idea.
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Away fans are singing it…
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can we give a P45 first thing in the morning to the set piece chancer masquerading as a coach
I would have booted that Nickleback twat 12 months ago.
Anyway, it's desperately inevitable so we should just get on and do it. What the Manager has against width is fucking beyond me and that will sink him and he thoroughly deserves it.
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Really poor stuff on the whole. We're in trouble again, as we really needed two wins in the last two games to give us a bit of breathing space going into a harder run of fixtures. We haven't done it and I think it is now probably more than likely that we are going to drop into the bottom three in the coming weeks if this continues.
Watching it, it's hard to try and understand exactly what we are trying to do. He's put together a lopsided squad with no wide options to stretch teams.
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“Aston Villa are undefeated in their last four games, their best league run since going five without losing in December 2020.” - if anything ever tells that stats can be meaningless.
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Roy Keane and Carragher absolutely nailing it. Our attacking play is diabolical. I said before the game that I was worried how narrow that team was. We relied on full backs for crosses into the box and they were utterly abject. It's a disastrous game plan and mind numbingly boring to watch. We had centre half's launching the ball up to Ollie Watkins who lost almost every duel
That style of football went out with the likes of Chris Nichol and Alan Evans. Gerrard needs to go it's just not working. And he can take Rick Wakeman with him. A set piece coach?Our set pieces are bloody awful at both ends. Another chancer.
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Total wank. Gerrard out!
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He has to go now. It’s been terrible for so long. Not beating a ten man Leeds should have been the final straw. Surely , drawing to a team that anyone and everyone smashes should be. Go get Poch. Now.
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Once again, a game where we never looked like losing but have shown absolutely nothing in the final third. They put every player behind the ball and we were clueless trying to find away through that. Gerrard will be lucky to survive this but there’s a real lack of genuine quality on the pitch which any manager will need to put right
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Roy Keane said we lacked bottle. I disagree, I thought it was quality we lacked.
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Seems like the away fans have turned and that's usually the final straw. Club Statement in the morning.
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Without getting over emotional, it’s time yet again to start looking for a new manager.
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Poor throughout except for the wonder strike.
2 of our manager's buddies (Phil and McGinn) were invisible throughout the time they were on the pitch.
We have no speed of thought or movement and no plan in the final third.
We were equally as poor as the poorest team in the league.
Purslow can't defend that! The future is dirge unless a change is made.
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Not normally one for conspiracy theories but I thought there was something almost deliberate in the way the players approached this game. Maybe it’s just poor morale borne out of inadequate coaching but I get the distinct impression they’ll be really glad when he’s gone.
We’re with you lads!
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On a positive note, McGinn's diving header was pretty funny.
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McGinn, needs to not be captain and Gerrard not manager
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Roy Keane said we lacked bottle. I disagree, I thought it was quality we lacked.
We have quality in abundance but the way we play negates it, strangles the players ability, forces everything down the middle and down the drain. We picked up the pace slightly at the restart but then fell back into the moribund, predictable and unimaginative style so beloved by this Manager.
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Not normally one for conspiracy theories but I thought there was something almost deliberate in the way the players approached this game. Maybe it’s just poor morale borne out of inadequate coaching but I get the distinct impression they’ll be really glad when he’s gone.
We’re with you lads!
Roy Keane said of their goal" Villa players made no effort to stop him getting his header in"
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Gerrard interview coming up on SKY after the break.
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Haven’t been this disappointed with the Villa since 8 days ago.
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This season has been so poor in quality and every match I just hope something clicks into place and a formula is found. Then the match passes and it’s the same slow placed one dimension side void of ideas and confidence.
That was a relegation scrap with two poor teams fighting it out. They sacked Smith for this sort of form so surely he’s gone tomorrow?
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Watching us play a game live on tv now, which in the absence of home games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday is how I do get to watch us, it's only a few minutes into a game that my focus on the game starts to wane, habitually reaching a point of boredom bordering on disinterest, well before the 20 minute mark.
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“Aston Villa are undefeated in their last four games, their best league run since going five without losing in December 2020.” - if anything ever tells that stats can be meaningless.
So why repeat it?
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No more to be said than to put the corner flag on the website.
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No point buying a stand ,who's going to pay to watch that shite .
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Got up at 3 am to watch that.
Was thinking throughout the second half that they were there for the taking.
Desperately poor in the final third and feels like a loss.
Not sure where we go from here.
UTV
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On a positive note, McGinn's diving header was pretty funny.
All in a contorted and contrived effort to do anything other than kick the ball with his right foot.
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I made a to do list for our owners.
1: Sack useless scouse chancer.
2: Sack useless chief executive.
3: Hire Pochettino.
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It was quite similar to Leeds in some ways in that we looked quite dangerous for about 5/10 minutes at the start of the second half then looked gradually less and less likely to score until the whole thing fizzled out well before full time.
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I made a to do list for our owners.
1: Sack useless scouse chancer.
2: Sack useless chief executive.
3: Hire Pochettino.
Agree agree agree
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“Aston Villa are undefeated in their last four games, their best league run since going five without losing in December 2020.” - if anything ever tells that stats can be meaningless.
So why repeat it?
To outline a point?
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https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12717715/gerrard-we-need-more-quality
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Martinez 7 - little to do but looked solid
Cash 5 - tough coming back from injury but no quality out wide and should have been replaced long before the end as was gassed
Konsa 7 - solid enough
Mings 7 - see above
Young 8 - brilliant goal and solid throughout
Luiz 7 - irritated me in first half but much better after the break
McGinn 6 - hasn't a hope thriving on the right of a 3, shocking effort with header
Ramsey 7 - plenty of good runs, spiky and maybe a bit too so but would never have taken him off
Coutinho 3 - disinterested, complete waste of space
Watkins 4 - rubbish
Buendia 6 - ok at times, particularly after half time but couldn't find the moment of quality
Dendoncker - solid cameo, Archer - lively movement anyway, terrible effort with header. Think that was all the subs
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Gosh that was turgid stuff. No flow, no invention just plod, ponder and poor final balls. It’s almost like we play with a heavier ball than everyone else.
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That was fucking dreadful, no excuses for that shite.
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At least my weekend wasn't ruined.
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Martinez 7 - little to do but looked solid
Cash 5 - tough coming back from injury but no quality out wide and should have been replaced long before the end as was gassed
Konsa 7 - solid enough
Mings 7 - see above
Young 8 - brilliant goal and solid throughout
Luiz 7 - irritated me in first half but much better after the break
McGinn 6 - hasn't a hope thriving on the right of a 3, shocking effort with header
Ramsey 7 - plenty of good runs, spiky and maybe a bit too so but would never have taken him off
Coutinho 3 - disinterested, complete waste of space
Watkins 4 - rubbish
Buendia 6 - ok at times, particularly after half time but couldn't find the moment of quality
Dendoncker - solid cameo, Archer - lively movement anyway, terrible effort with header. Think that was all the subs
Got to say remarkably high ratings for the midfield 3. I thought they were all atrocious. Tactics might have been an issue, but they couldn’t control a game against Forest. They were awful.
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can we give a P45 first thing in the morning to the set piece chancer masquerading as a coach
I would have booted that Nickleback twat 12 months ago.
I'd forgotten he existed. And this is how you remind me.
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He's right, we do need more quality. It's just that we need it in the dugout.
Honestly, were it not for Ash's right foot making it party like it's 2009 Forest'd be only one point behind us.
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Martinez 7 - little to do but looked solid
Cash 5 - tough coming back from injury but no quality out wide and should have been replaced long before the end as was gassed
Konsa 7 - solid enough
Mings 7 - see above
Young 8 - brilliant goal and solid throughout
Luiz 7 - irritated me in first half but much better after the break
McGinn 6 - hasn't a hope thriving on the right of a 3, shocking effort with header
Ramsey 7 - plenty of good runs, spiky and maybe a bit too so but would never have taken him off
Coutinho 3 - disinterested, complete waste of space
Watkins 4 - rubbish
Buendia 6 - ok at times, particularly after half time but couldn't find the moment of quality
Dendoncker - solid cameo, Archer - lively movement anyway, terrible effort with header. Think that was all the subs
Got to say remarkably high ratings for the midfield 3. I thought they were all atrocious. Tactics might have been an issue, but they couldn’t control a game against Forest. They were awful.
Thought we owned the ball in midfield and won it back whenever we liked. I detest the midfield three setup, mind.
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Martinez 7 - little to do but looked solid
Cash 5 - tough coming back from injury but no quality out wide and should have been replaced long before the end as was gassed
Konsa 7 - solid enough
Mings 7 - see above
Young 8 - brilliant goal and solid throughout
Luiz 7 - irritated me in first half but much better after the break
McGinn 6 - hasn't a hope thriving on the right of a 3, shocking effort with header
Ramsey 7 - plenty of good runs, spiky and maybe a bit too so but would never have taken him off
Coutinho 3 - disinterested, complete waste of space
Watkins 4 - rubbish
Buendia 6 - ok at times, particularly after half time but couldn't find the moment of quality
Dendoncker - solid cameo, Archer - lively movement anyway, terrible effort with header. Think that was all the subs
Ings 0. To match the number of times he touched the ball
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I don’t think some of the players are good enough to move us forward but they aren’t this bad. Surely by keep stating they need to step up or we need more quality he’s just alienating them even further. If you keep telling them they aren’t good enough they’ll begin to believe it. It doesn’t matter if you think they aren’t good enough, tell them they are, boost their confidence and take the wrap yourself. It’s simple man management.
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I don’t think some of the players are good enough to move us forward but they aren’t this bad. Surely by keep stating they need to step up or we need more quality he’s just alienating them even further. If you keep telling them they aren’t good enough they’ll begin to believe it. It doesn’t matter if you think they aren’t good enough, tell them they are, boost their confidence and take the wrap yourself. It’s simple man management.
Well said. SG's motivational skills are dire.
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The epitome of 14 pampered PL players coasting to their next pay packet.
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For all his faults Deans teams were invariably pleasing to watch. This bloke has basically strangled any semblance of attacking style from us. A dreadful ‘style’ under a dreadful Manager.
I am 100% “Gerrard out,” but this statement suggests you fell asleep throughout much of 2021. Turgid is far too kind for what was on display week in, week out.
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We are boring. Don’t bother with the stadium rebuild. You won’t need it if this shit continues.
My challenge to the owners, if you really want success and a 60k stadium, get rid of this boring chancer.
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can we give a P45 first thing in the morning to the set piece chancer masquerading as a coach
I would have booted that Nickleback twat 12 months ago.
I'd forgotten he existed. And this is how you remind me.
Bravo 👏
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https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12717698/nottingham-forest-1-1-aston-villa-premier-league-highlights
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If our owners had ambition, they would have done something about it by now. They haven’t and expect him to be there until the WC break.
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Smith going was the right choice. I view it like a rocket being fired into space - at every stage you get rid of the engines you don't need any more. Unfortunately Gerrard isn't an engine, more a catastrophic bulkhead design.
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On a positive note, McGinn's diving header was pretty funny.
All in a contorted and contrived effort to do anything other than kick the ball with his right foot.
but it suited his left foot surely?
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How much longer do we have to put up with this shit? Honestly it's fucking dreadful. He got rid of his wingers (and whilst there may have been some quality issues there, they did score goals and made the game more interesting) and then goes through the shite defensive crap that Bruce gave us, hoping for players to do it for him, and Lambertesque throwing on three strikers.
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Commentator summed it up, with all their talent on hand Villa should be doing far better than this. Why bring ings on AGAIN? thought we were toothless up front, no genuine winger to be seen no quality midfielder either.
I really don't see the point of keeping Gerrard apart from he's a known name in the sport.
If the crowd has turned I wonder how long.
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“Aston Villa are undefeated in their last four games, their best league run since going five without losing in December 2020.” - if anything ever tells that stats can be meaningless.
So why repeat it?
Because we are all having a chat?
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See I won’t have him compared to TSM2. As much it all ended like a nuclear explosion we had legitimately superb performances for a brief period under him. There has maybe been 1 or 2 really good displays with SG. It’s genuinely been that bad.
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Smith going was the right choice. I view it like a rocket being fired into space - at every stage you get rid of the engines you don't need any more. Unfortunately Gerrard isn't an engine, more a catastrophic bulkhead design.
Loose gasket on the fuel pipes?
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Have not long woken up, and thankfully missed the whole thing.
Can't remember the last time I watched a full 90 minutes. Possibly the 2-1 win against Chelsea in May 2021.
The football since then has been more often than not, disappointing, crap signings, alot of pathetic management and tactics.
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I thought it was ok until we got to in or around the box and then we didnt have a clue. Their keeper did'nt make a save I don't think. His interview after the game came across to me anyway as a man who knows he might be on his way out.
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Confirmed away fans calling for Gerrard out.....that's usually the end
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See I won’t have him compared to TSM2. As much it all ended like a nuclear explosion we had legitimately superb performances for a brief period under him. There has maybe been 1 or 2 really good displays with SG. It’s genuinely been that bad.
Probably just after he came in with new manager bounce, and the couple of matches after he signed Coutinho on loan, but hadn't had chance to "coach" him yet.
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The owners have not shown they are not interested. The plan was to spend and then become self sufficient bringing through the youngsters from an academy they’v chucked millions at. We’ve gone out and got the likes of Coutinho, Buendia, Kamara, Carlos, Ings and Digne. None are bad players and we should’ve improved but we’ve gone backwards. We still have a weak central midfield but unbelievable we can’t score. That for me is a coaching issue.
The owners will rightly ask what’s going on as well and I’d expect them to act swiftly over the next few days.
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I made a to do list for our owners.
1: Sack useless scouse chancer.
2: Sack useless chief executive.
3: Hire Pochettino.
Agree agree agree
Agree. Purslow has made one bad decision. I think he has credit in the bank. Agree.
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"We have tried to change our system a bit to be a bit more bold. We finished with a really bold team out there to try and find that bit of magic and quality."
Throwing on loads of strikers, and then hoofing it is bold apparently, not panic.
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The Grealish money has been spunked down the drain. Buendia, Bailey and his Dad and Ings are abysmal business. Put it together with we've basically got no one from this summers window in the team and you can see why we are worse than we were 2 seasons ago. With a worse manager. We're chucking money at dead wood like Dendoncker and Bednarek because our summers work was poor and we had to panic at the end of it. All in all the last 2 years have seen numerous poor decisions. We still have the long haired guy robbing us. We're still taking unproven managers and offering them a fortune. What is the point of a 60,000 seater to watch a team with a midfield that cost a pittance led by a manager who's only managed in non league football.
The decisions have been shite and we're too slow to react as per usual. Football wise, we are one of the 3 worst watches in the division.
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We should hold a minute's silence for Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa before the start of our next game...maybe wear black armbands.
Utter garbage (again) and he needs to go ASAP. Pay whatever it takes to get Poch in.
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Dreadful. Mid-table championship levels. We will be involved in a 5 team relegation battle probably...unless SG goes
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For all his faults Deans teams were invariably pleasing to watch. This bloke has basically strangled any semblance of attacking style from us. A dreadful ‘style’ under a dreadful Manager.
Yep. I’m done. It’s crept up on me, but I have to acknowledge for all my moaning about games being shifted to a Sunday so I can’t go due to the Mrs working, I’m getting far too accepting of it/being secretly relieved. There are not the green shoots.
Only worth twisting if we’ve got a better option, give the Poch the big bucks to spend.
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I thought it was ok until we got to in or around the box and then we didnt have a clue. Their keeper did'nt make a save I don't think. His interview after the game came across to me anyway as a man who knows he might be on his way out.
I can't agree, everything up until the box was played in front of them with little tempo or movement which meant almost every ball into the box was trying to thread a needle and premier league defenders are generally too good to get caught out by that.
I'd honestly rather have far less possession than we had tonight because as soon as teams let us have the ball we look fucking shite.
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Purslow has made one bad decision. I think he has credit in the bank. Agree.
He made two bad decisions. Sacked Dean Smith and appointed a fake sheikh.
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The reason we are not creating chances is because our football is so slow and predictable.
There is no movement just pedestrian pass sideways backwards repeat.
Then picking the same off form players in the same system.
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This season has been so poor in quality and every match I just hope something clicks into place and a formula is found. Then the match passes and it’s the same slow placed one dimension side void of ideas and confidence.
That was a relegation scrap with two poor teams fighting it out. They sacked Smith for this sort of form so surely he’s gone tomorrow?
I don't think Purslow would be in a hurry to get rid of his head boy.
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This season has been so poor in quality and every match I just hope something clicks into place and a formula is found. Then the match passes and it’s the same slow placed one dimension side void of ideas and confidence.
That was a relegation scrap with two poor teams fighting it out. They sacked Smith for this sort of form so surely he’s gone tomorrow?
I don't think Purslow would be in a hurry to get rid of his head boy.
Probably not but the nod will come from above Purslow. I’m sure it will if he’s going to be stubborn over this mistake.
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The worrying thing is we're frittering away lots of winnable games by being too stubborn and sticking with this horrendous mistake we've made. We're going to get a right run of bastard fixtures coming up and we'll get bugger all from them. We're well and truly in a relegation fight already and we're inflicting more damage on ourselves.
Can we please employ a manager who has an actual track record in a decent league? Relegations, 6 month stints, non league football, French FA, perennially sacked, avoid like the plague. Stop giving fortunes to crap managers.
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I made a to do list for our owners.
1: Sack useless scouse chancer.
2: Sack useless chief executive.
3: Hire Pochettino.
100% agreed. I've had enough.
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The worrying thing is we're frittering away lots of winnable games by being too stubborn and sticking with this horrendous mistake we've made. We're going to get a right run of bastard fixtures coming up and we'll get bugger all from them. We're well and truly in a relegation fight already and we're inflicting more damage on ourselves.
Can we please employ a manager who has an actual track record in a decent league? Relegations, 6 month stints, non league football, French FA, perennially sacked, avoid like the plague. Stop giving fortunes to crap managers.
This
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He says we need more quality. Says it all, for me. He's a Bruce in Scouse clothing. Buy more and more expensive players and hope they get you out of a hole, instead of improving the ones you've got.
You're the Head Coach, Steven. How about doing some actual fucking coaching?
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He says we need more quality. Says it all, for me. He's a Bruce in Scouse clothing. Buy more and more expensive players and hope they get you out of a hole, instead of improving the ones you've got.
You're the Head Coach, Steven. How about doing some actual fucking coaching?
I’m not that fussed about whether the Manager coaches or not, but if he doesn’t then he absolutely needs a coaching staff that are top notch and who he allows to work. Whatever is going on at the moment it’s clear that he’s neither coaching or enabling his staff to. It’s not working.
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This team under Gerrard couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag let alone the relegation battle we’re sleepwalking towards if he remains in charge.
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On the plus side, we're only 2 wins off the European places.
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I made a to do list for our owners.
1: Sack useless scouse chancer.
2: Sack useless chief executive.
3: Hire Pochettino.
100% agreed. I've had enough.
Stuff Pochettino let's get Diego Simeone and let the fun begin!
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The worrying thing is we're frittering away lots of winnable games by being too stubborn and sticking with this horrendous mistake we've made. We're going to get a right run of bastard fixtures coming up and we'll get bugger all from them. We're well and truly in a relegation fight already and we're inflicting more damage on ourselves.
I have to say that this concerns me as well. We're averaging 1ppg with a quarter of the season gone, and we've played six of the bottom eight (excluding us).
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The reason we are not creating chances is because our football is so slow and predictable.
There is no movement just pedestrian pass sideways backwards repeat.
Then picking the same off form players in the same system.
Too many players ahead of the ball in the second half. It was like Gerrard instructed most of the players to push on into their box. This led to Luiz, Konsa and Luiz playing one and two touch passes to each other. Often in the Forest half too. Bringing Ings on, ok it's the obvious sub and switching to 4312. But Archer for Ramsey and moving Watkins to the LW is just Bradford stuff. Dendoncker did ok I thought but surely Sanson has a bit more about him on the ball. No idea what formation we finished with, complete mess.
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Dendoncker looks like a big useless plodder to me. It what I imagine I look like playing football on a Tuesday night. Slow and ponderous.
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I can’t think of any other team that would have 3 ‘attackers’ on the pitch but see the whole creative strategy to be via full backs (failed wingers) who in all fairness have no target because we have no forward tall enough or capable of heading a ball. When we do get ball wide and commit to attack we have 4/5 players in a complete straight line, so piss easy to defend against.
Phenomenal that you field a team with Buendia & Coutinho yet are sooooo boring to watch.
Don’t be scared to give Archer a go, Watkins has the first touch of a pinball machine & Ings moves like the 40 year old tractor crawling round the lanes. Get Archer up top with Coutinho or Buendia behind and get another body in midfield.
We are easy to play against because we don’t have any physical options up front, the last 10 mins was crying out for a big striker who you can hit to mix it up….& don’t start me on Ings on before Archer…that’s picking on reputation alone.
I’ve said before I’m not necessarily in the flame must be sacked camp yet BUT he has absolutely no come back if the owners do sack him, under achieving massively
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The reason we are not creating chances is because our football is so slow and predictable.
There is no movement just pedestrian pass sideways backwards repeat.
Then picking the same off form players in the same system.
Too many players ahead of the ball in the second half. It was like Gerrard instructed most of the players to push on into their box. This led to Luiz, Konsa and Luiz playing one and two touch passes to each other. Often in the Forest half too. Bringing Ings on, ok it's the obvious sub and switching to 4312. But Archer for Ramsey and moving Watkins to the LW is just Bradford stuff. Dendoncker did ok I thought but surely Sanson has a bit more about him on the ball. No idea what formation we finished with, complete mess.
Since StevieG was manager, I've had no idea what formation we have started with.
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Has a substitute ever had less impact than Danny Ings tonight?
Proper Chris Samba moment, that.
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Just watching the highlights and the goal we conceded should be enough to sack the Jesus bloke. I haven't seen such a simple set piece goal in a long time.
If we could keep him on the payroll to work for our opposition every week, he might be worth it.
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Has a substitute ever had less impact than Danny Ings tonight?
Proper Chris Samba moment, that.
He had one touch against Leeds in his ten minutes, and 6 touches against Forest in half an hour tonight. No impact whatsoever, and his introdution killed what very little structure we had.
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Just watching the highlights and the goal we conceded should be enough to sack the Jesus bloke. I haven't seen such a simple set piece goal in a long time.
If we could keep him on the payroll to work for our opposition every week, he might be worth it.
Perhaps he could assist with the half-time catering.
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Just watching the highlights and the goal we conceded should be enough to sack the Jesus bloke. I haven't seen such a simple set piece goal in a long time.
If we could keep him on the payroll to work for our opposition every week, he might be worth it.
Perhaps he could assist the half-time catering.
I'd love to see the reaction if people at VP started asking to see the wine list.
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I watched 2 teams tonight that looked nailed on for relegation.
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Dendoncker looks like a big useless plodder to me. It what I imagine I look like playing football on a Tuesday night. Slow and ponderous.
A massive panic signing bag of shit. Padding the squad out with more players on big wages draining our funds. Him and Bednarek were a sign we fucked up the transfer window big time. The thinking over the last 2 years has been various degrees of crap.
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Signings like Dendonker are the least of our worries. I think he can be an effective player for us, especially while Kamara is out.
It's everything in front of him that I have massive misgivings about.
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He couldn't get in to the Wolves midfield and he currently can't get in to ours. We're both bottom 6 teams.
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The most incisive pass of game was made by Konsa. When you consider the talent in our side, that is bordering on farcical.
We can't go on like this.
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Finally home at 2.30 in the morning after a terrible journey. Just what we needed after another dire performance. The away fans have turned, so I think after Chelsea and Fulham he will be gone.
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For once I agree with Gerrard - we do need more quality. We need it in the coaching department. ASAP.
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That was abysmal to watch. The writing was on the wall in the first game at Bournemouth, and he had Carlos and Kamara playing then. The board need to act fast, but will they?
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I’m hearing our set piece coach has had his hair cut.
He would now go unnoticed in here as a miserable middle aged clone ;)
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A shocking game of football - we are amongst a batch of 6 teams that could go down
Their goal, Mings let his man step a foot away from him to head the ball in the net
Apart from Young's goal which was an excellent shot, there was nothing else!!
Hoping that the owners act before we get dragged into the bottom 3
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Forest are currently the worst team in the division. I’m not sure there are 2 other worse teams and I wouldn’t rule out forest improving either.
With our failure to pick up points from the relatively easy games we’ve had so far I can see us getting dragged into another relegation scrap which is ridiculous with the squad we’ve got.
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Ryan Yates. What an absolute shit house.
Sign him up.
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EMI 6 not much to do.
Cash 4
Konsa 5
Mings 4 goal down to him
Young7 the only decent performance out there.
Mcginn 4
Luiz 5
Ramsey 5
Coutinho 4
Buendia 5
Watkins4
Ings 1 totally pointless
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It was a great opportunity to go 9th in the table last night,facing bottom of the table forest and as expected we messed it up.
I'm not even angry anymore just bored of it.
It's the hyped up talk from the club that does it for me,false hope of a 'journey' and European football. It's literally all talk.
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The owners have not shown they are not interested. The plan was to spend and then become self sufficient bringing through the youngsters from an academy they’v chucked millions at. We’ve gone out and got the likes of Coutinho, Buendia, Kamara, Carlos, Ings and Digne. None are bad players and we should’ve improved but we’ve gone backwards. We still have a weak central midfield but unbelievable we can’t score. That for me is a coaching issue.
The owners will rightly ask what’s going on as well and I’d expect them to act swiftly over the next few days.
Agreed.
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There were moments in the 2nd half that summed things up for me -
(i) Watkins was given an 'out' ball with which he did well, breaking on the right side. When he got about 35 yards out, he looked for support in the middle of the park where there were acres of open space - no Villa player was anywhere near, and Watkins got crowded out;
(ii) A Villa attack on the left was made, quickly and with incision, until it reached McGinn who scooped up the ball toward the goal to no one in particular ... he had all the time in the world to take a touch and then shoot.
We looked unfit and the decision-making on the pitch looks terrible. There appears to be absolutely no understanding between the players, no idea of what their roles are, no link-up play between defence and midfield, no link-up play between midfield and our 1 forward.
Gerrard has to go, it's terrible. Coutinho sums him up - lacklustre and ineffective.
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Oh for a substitute like Traore last night. When you looked at our bench there was just nothing there that made you think it could turn a game around or add much. (Barring Archer but I don't see him in that role, yet).
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It wasn't very good I was there to see it and I'm disappointed coming away from a Villa game again after playing like that.
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Oh for a substitute like Traore last night. When you looked at our bench there was just nothing there that made you think it could turn a game around or add much. (Barring Archer but I don't see him in that role, yet).
It's probably why we went after Sarr so it's a shame that fell through for whatever reason.
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On the bright side its only normally every 10 games or so you get a piece of Sunday League play so bad it actually makes you laugh in disbelief, yesterday we had McGinns and Archers headers in the same half.
Just a lack of effort to support the lone striker. Poor.
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Tried to start watching a rerun of the game at lunch time as missed it last night.
I'd had enough after 14 minutes.
What are our players doing? They weren't very good last season for both Smith and Gerrard.
They're even worse now. Not even the slightest hint of excitement.
A resounding boooooooo for both players and management.
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EMI 6 not much to do.
Cash 4
Konsa 5
Mings 4 goal down to him
Young7 the only decent performance out there.
Mcginn 4
Luiz 5
Ramsey 5
Coutinho 4
Buendia 5
Watkins4
Ings 1 totally pointless
Cash 4? I thought he was our best player, the only person prepared to actually take a man on and beat him.
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How completely and utterly depressing. This is all on Purslow and his star boy, and something has to give soon.
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EMI 6 not much to do.
Cash 4
Konsa 5
Mings 4 goal down to him
Young7 the only decent performance out there.
Mcginn 4
Luiz 5
Ramsey 5
Coutinho 4
Buendia 5
Watkins4
Ings 1 totally pointless
Cash 4? I thought he was our best player, the only person prepared to actually take a man on and beat him.
4 might be a bit harsh, but his final ball was really poor last night and has been for some time.
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EMI 6 not much to do.
Cash 4
Konsa 5
Mings 4 goal down to him
Young7 the only decent performance out there.
Mcginn 4
Luiz 5
Ramsey 5
Coutinho 4
Buendia 5
Watkins4
Ings 1 totally pointless
Cash 4? I thought he was our best player, the only person prepared to actually take a man on and beat him.
4 might be a bit harsh, but his final ball was really poor last night and has been for some time.
since and including the last game of the season when he was abysmal.
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Having three strikers on at the end smacked of desperation, who is supposed to feed the three? I can't help but believe Gerrard just ran out of ideas. Buying Dendonker and Bednorack should have prepared us for what was to come. I still believe we have a squad that is has more talent than most but are stuck with another manager who just can't perform.
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EMI 6 not much to do.
Cash 4
Konsa 5
Mings 4 goal down to him
Young7 the only decent performance out there.
Mcginn 4
Luiz 5
Ramsey 5
Coutinho 4
Buendia 5
Watkins4
Ings 1 totally pointless
Cash 4? I thought he was our best player, the only person prepared to actually take a man on and beat him.
4 might be a bit harsh, but his final ball was really poor last night and has been for some time.
You beat me to it. And the main reason is he just doesn't look up when he gets into a decent position from which to cross the ball. He just keeps firing the ball across with no accuracy or even a hint of picking a player out. We are relying on failed wingers to supply our strikers and it just ain't happening. I could of set up a team to stifle Villa last night. Once the teams were announced it was clear we had no width and would rely on full backs to supply the final ball. All they had to do was pack the central areas of the defence to nullify Buendia and Coutinho. There was just no room for them to do anything. The only real chance for both was a free kick ina decent position. Both had a go. Both hit the ball straight into the wall. Maybe we should try bringing in a set piece coach to give us some innovative ideas instead of just whacking it into the wall or floating it aimlessly into a bunch of great big defender's.
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Three good chances second half:
Ramsey - instead of shooting, crossed, although that was good defending too from the Forest player.
McGinn - should have used his foot.
Archer - instead of heading toward goal knocked it back across the goal.
Bad decision making
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Three good chances second half:
Ramsey - instead of shooting, crossed, although that was good defending too from the Forest player.
McGinn - should have used his foot.
Archer - instead of heading toward goal knocked it back across the goal.
Bad decision making
That’s a bit harsh on Ramsey. He did the right thing and we would have scored had Watkins be more aware.
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Coach who still doesn't know his best team. Too stubborn and too late to make obvious changes. Key players shorn of confidence. Rinse & repeat.
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Three good chances second half:
Ramsey - instead of shooting, crossed, although that was good defending too from the Forest player.
McGinn - should have used his foot.
Archer - instead of heading toward goal knocked it back across the goal.
Bad decision making
That’s a bit harsh on Ramsey. He did the right thing and we would have scored had Watkins be more aware.
I think it's down to a general lack of confidence which seems to have evaporated. Confidence of course comes from winning games which we are not doing. I guess we all know where this is going.
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Three good chances second half:
Ramsey - instead of shooting, crossed, although that was good defending too from the Forest player.
McGinn - should have used his foot.
Archer - instead of heading toward goal knocked it back across the goal.
Bad decision making
That’s a bit harsh on Ramsey. He did the right thing and we would have scored had Watkins be more aware.
Nah, he should have shot, if its the chance I'm thinking of. Watkins was in the right place to put it in but the ball never got to him.
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Only 2 positives I can think of were Young's goal and Cam's cameo appearance, otherwise it was utter rubbish. Playing against a team, who have conceded 16 goals in their last 4 games, we looked clueless, painfully slow build ups, lost count of the aimless balls we put into their box and the lack of width, made it so much easier for Forest to defend.
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There were moments in the 2nd half that summed things up for me -
(i) Watkins was given an 'out' ball with which he did well, breaking on the right side. When he got about 35 yards out, he looked for support in the middle of the park where there were acres of open space - no Villa player was anywhere near, and Watkins got crowded out;
(ii) A Villa attack on the left was made, quickly and with incision, until it reached McGinn who scooped up the ball toward the goal to no one in particular ... he had all the time in the world to take a touch and then shoot.
We looked unfit and the decision-making on the pitch looks terrible. There appears to be absolutely no understanding between the players, no idea of what their roles are, no link-up play between defence and midfield, no link-up play between midfield and our 1 forward.
Gerrard has to go, it's terrible. Coutinho sums him up - lacklustre and ineffective.
The bit that summed up our "buildup" play for me was when Doug had the ball deep in our half, between CB and LB, and Buendia came running all the way back to take the ball off him. And then he passed it straight back to Doug. So we were in exactly the same place as we were before but now with Buendia miles out of position. Genius.
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Three good chances second half:
Ramsey - instead of shooting, crossed, although that was good defending too from the Forest player.
McGinn - should have used his foot.
Archer - instead of heading toward goal knocked it back across the goal.
Bad decision making
That’s a bit harsh on Ramsey. He did the right thing and we would have scored had Watkins be more aware.
Nah, he should have shot, if its the chance I'm thinking of. Watkins was in the right place to put it in but the ball never got to him.
I also was screaming at him to shoot - this to me is partly down to him and Mcginn playing on the wrong side - can anyone tell me what benefit there is to having midfielders playing on their weakest foot? Ir absolutely drives me fucking mad watching mcginn especially turn back into trouble because he can't kick it with his right foot.
If that chance for mcginn that he attempted that 'header' had falled to JJ he'd have belted in with his right foot, as it was mcginn didn't know what to do as it was moving towards his weaker side. Was still an embarrassing attempt mind.
Just seems to me that they all look uncomfortable out there and subsequently are making bad decisions
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Not for the first time we came up against an opposition who set up to frustrate us and we lacked the ability to break them down. Too slow physically, in decision making and in moving the ball. Currently we are a team delivering less than the sum of its parts and that, ultimately, is on the manager.
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Slow, cumbersome and forward players shot of any confidence. The Captain shitefest has sadly destroyed McGinn, that is at the manager's door. Inability to defend the set-piece last night was laughable.
Against a team like Forest with a leaky defence we should have gone for the jugular from the off but ended up devoid of a plan and ideas. Remember how well we played v Leeds away last season, this group is capable so something is wrong at Bodymoor. Gerard throwing the players under the bus is not going to get a reaction. His days must be numbered.
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There were moments in the 2nd half that summed things up for me -
(i) Watkins was given an 'out' ball with which he did well, breaking on the right side. When he got about 35 yards out, he looked for support in the middle of the park where there were acres of open space - no Villa player was anywhere near, and Watkins got crowded out;
(ii) A Villa attack on the left was made, quickly and with incision, until it reached McGinn who scooped up the ball toward the goal to no one in particular ... he had all the time in the world to take a touch and then shoot.
We looked unfit and the decision-making on the pitch looks terrible. There appears to be absolutely no understanding between the players, no idea of what their roles are, no link-up play between defence and midfield, no link-up play between midfield and our 1 forward.
Gerrard has to go, it's terrible. Coutinho sums him up - lacklustre and ineffective.
The bit that summed up our "buildup" play for me was when Doug had the ball deep in our half, between CB and LB, and Buendia came running all the way back to take the ball off him. And then he passed it straight back to Doug. So we were in exactly the same place as we were before but now with Buendia miles out of position. Genius.
The worst part of last night was the amount of times that one of Coutinho, Buendia or Ramsey was the 3rd deepest player in the team and taking the ball off the centre backs. There's absolutely no chance that you'd be asking any of them to do that if you were vaguely competent, all three need to play much closer to Watkins if we want to start creating proper chances.
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We've been playing the '3 pronged attack' since 2017 and i've never liked it. Liverpool do it but with better players that are closer together and that get more support from the midfield. Ours are too spaced out from each other, it did work when Grealish was in the team and in form because he kept hold of the ball, occupied at least a couple of players and allowed our players time to catch him up and it also allowed them more space. He also won a lot of set pieces up there. Whenever we've played it without him during the last 5 years it has pretty much been a waste of time. The moment mentioned above when Watkins had it on the right hand side with zero support is something i noticed myself and is a typical example of the problem.
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There were moments in the 2nd half that summed things up for me -
(i) Watkins was given an 'out' ball with which he did well, breaking on the right side. When he got about 35 yards out, he looked for support in the middle of the park where there were acres of open space - no Villa player was anywhere near, and Watkins got crowded out;
(ii) A Villa attack on the left was made, quickly and with incision, until it reached McGinn who scooped up the ball toward the goal to no one in particular ... he had all the time in the world to take a touch and then shoot.
We looked unfit and the decision-making on the pitch looks terrible. There appears to be absolutely no understanding between the players, no idea of what their roles are, no link-up play between defence and midfield, no link-up play between midfield and our 1 forward.
Gerrard has to go, it's terrible. Coutinho sums him up - lacklustre and ineffective.
The bit that summed up our "buildup" play for me was when Doug had the ball deep in our half, between CB and LB, and Buendia came running all the way back to take the ball off him. And then he passed it straight back to Doug. So we were in exactly the same place as we were before but now with Buendia miles out of position. Genius.
The worst part of last night was the amount of times that one of Coutinho, Buendia or Ramsey was the 3 deepest player in the team and taking the ball off the centre backs. There's absolutely no chance that you'd be asking any of them to do that if you were vaguely competent, all three need to play much closer to Watkins if we want to start creating proper chances.
Yeah, at one of those points I thought I'd try and spot where McGinn was, because surely he should be one of the players we'd want taking the ball off the defence. McGinn was drifting over to the right side to mark a Forest player, or rather, to make sure he himself was marked. This says to me he was hiding from the ball.
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There were moments in the 2nd half that summed things up for me -
(i) Watkins was given an 'out' ball with which he did well, breaking on the right side. When he got about 35 yards out, he looked for support in the middle of the park where there were acres of open space - no Villa player was anywhere near, and Watkins got crowded out;
(ii) A Villa attack on the left was made, quickly and with incision, until it reached McGinn who scooped up the ball toward the goal to no one in particular ... he had all the time in the world to take a touch and then shoot.
We looked unfit and the decision-making on the pitch looks terrible. There appears to be absolutely no understanding between the players, no idea of what their roles are, no link-up play between defence and midfield, no link-up play between midfield and our 1 forward.
Gerrard has to go, it's terrible. Coutinho sums him up - lacklustre and ineffective.
The bit that summed up our "buildup" play for me was when Doug had the ball deep in our half, between CB and LB, and Buendia came running all the way back to take the ball off him. And then he passed it straight back to Doug. So we were in exactly the same place as we were before but now with Buendia miles out of position. Genius.
Well what about the one late in the 2nd half where Mings surged into the Forrest half gave it to Young and ran on for the one-two when Young shit himself, turned 180 and passed it back to Konsa who was deep in our own half? Players don't trust each other.
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There were moments in the 2nd half that summed things up for me -
(i) Watkins was given an 'out' ball with which he did well, breaking on the right side. When he got about 35 yards out, he looked for support in the middle of the park where there were acres of open space - no Villa player was anywhere near, and Watkins got crowded out;
(ii) A Villa attack on the left was made, quickly and with incision, until it reached McGinn who scooped up the ball toward the goal to no one in particular ... he had all the time in the world to take a touch and then shoot.
We looked unfit and the decision-making on the pitch looks terrible. There appears to be absolutely no understanding between the players, no idea of what their roles are, no link-up play between defence and midfield, no link-up play between midfield and our 1 forward.
Gerrard has to go, it's terrible. Coutinho sums him up - lacklustre and ineffective.
The bit that summed up our "buildup" play for me was when Doug had the ball deep in our half, between CB and LB, and Buendia came running all the way back to take the ball off him. And then he passed it straight back to Doug. So we were in exactly the same place as we were before but now with Buendia miles out of position. Genius.
Well what about the one late in the 2nd half where Mings surged into the Forrest half gave it to Young and ran on for the one-two when Young shit himself, turned 180 and passed it back to Konsa who was deep in our own half? Players don't trust each other.
That's a confidence issue, our players are scared of getting caught short by giving the ball away with people out of position so we reguarly play it safely backwards and then launch it up field where we'll have time to get into position if the ball gets lost (as it usually does).
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That's a confidence issue, our players are scared of getting caught short by giving the ball away with people out of position so we reguarly play it safely backwards and then launch it up field where we'll have time to get into position if the ball gets lost (as it usually does).
Fair. You can't play Pep ball unless you have Pep's players.
I'm going to get slated for saying this first part, but I'll say it anyway......2 goals conceded in 4 games with minimal opportunities for the opposition (City aside as they are different). He's certainly made us harder beat and fixed the defensive side of things - which he had to do. I don't know how he fixes the forwards when you have Watkins who can't trap a ball or hold it up and Buendia who goes over at the slightest puff of wind. Coutinho is good in flashes, but is a luxury we can't afford when not in possession. McGinn is just not good enough to run the midfield.
The squad isn't good enough, we badly needed a striker and didn't get one. Not sure if that is on the manager or those above him.
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I'd like to see us create chances, any chances, before deciding if we need a striker.
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That's a confidence issue, our players are scared of getting caught short by giving the ball away with people out of position so we reguarly play it safely backwards and then launch it up field where we'll have time to get into position if the ball gets lost (as it usually does).
Fair. You can't play Pep ball unless you have Pep's players.
I'm going to get slated for saying this first part, but I'll say it anyway......2 goals conceded in 4 games with minimal opportunities for the opposition (City aside as they are different). He's certainly made us harder beat and fixed the defensive side of things - which he had to do. I don't know how he fixes the forwards when you have Watkins who can't trap a ball or hold it up and Buendia who goes over at the slightest puff of wind. Coutinho is good in flashes, but is a luxury we can't afford when not in possession. McGinn is just not good enough to run the midfield.
The squad isn't good enough, we badly needed a striker and didn't get one. Not sure if that is on the manager or those above him.
Maybe he needs to take Watkins and McGinn out of the firing line?
It worked by dropping Mings. Whether that was intentionally done but Mings has been outstanding since he’s come back. He’s also left Luiz out a few times.
I don’t understand why he hasn’t given Archer a run, or Sanson. Chambers is another who’s looked very good who can’t get a sniff.
With McGinn and Watkins it’s like Southgate for England trying to play Maguire back into form, but all it’s doing is turning the fans against said players and then their confidence is further shot.
All of that is on the manager.
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He needs sacking if he has McGinn, Coutinhio and Luiz anywhere near the starting places on Sunday.
McGinn - has become so poor that i actually feel sorry for him - he should be put out of his and our misery. Poorly positioned, loses the ball so often i lost count, tries too many Hollywood balls which rarely find the target. The amount of times he takes the ball facing the wrong way then has to control it then spin where he is inevitably caught by an opponent is unbelievable. His header just about summed up his ineptness
Coutinhio - Done just enough to get himself bought and now a shadow of the former self - no wonder we got him so cheaply
Luis - absolutely fucking shocking at almost everything he does - every time he loses it, and that is a lot, he goes down like he has been poleaxed. Yet another player who believes his own hype and thinks he is so much better than he actually is. The odd gimmicky goal from a corner does not make up for the rest of your total shitness
Finally
As good as our owners are, just look at where we are in recruitment costs compared to others that are considered our peers. Buendia is our costliest player at £33m when i really thought we would be up there with some serious purchases yet the nucleus of what started last night was
Young (who played very well) but aged 37
Mings
McGinn - all in championship team in 2018
Konsa
Luiz
Nakamba
Guilbert - all in squad that struggled to stay up in first year 2019
Sanson
Cash
Watkins - added in 2020
Hardly ripping up the transfer windows are we?
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That's a confidence issue, our players are scared of getting caught short by giving the ball away with people out of position so we reguarly play it safely backwards and then launch it up field where we'll have time to get into position if the ball gets lost (as it usually does).
Fair. You can't play Pep ball unless you have Pep's players.
I'm going to get slated for saying this first part, but I'll say it anyway......2 goals conceded in 4 games with minimal opportunities for the opposition (City aside as they are different). He's certainly made us harder beat and fixed the defensive side of things - which he had to do. I don't know how he fixes the forwards when you have Watkins who can't trap a ball or hold it up and Buendia who goes over at the slightest puff of wind. Coutinho is good in flashes, but is a luxury we can't afford when not in possession. McGinn is just not good enough to run the midfield.
The squad isn't good enough, we badly needed a striker and didn't get one. Not sure if that is on the manager or those above him.
Maybe he needs to take Watkins and McGinn out of the firing line?
It worked by dropping Mings. Whether that was intentionally done but Mings has been outstanding since he’s come back. He’s also left Luiz out a few times.
I don’t understand why he hasn’t given Archer a run, or Sanson. Chambers is another who’s looked very good who can’t get a sniff.
With McGinn and Watkins it’s like Southgate for England trying to play Maguire back into form, but all it’s doing is turning the fans against said players and then their confidence is further shot.
All of that is on the manager.
Exactly, I think he got very lucky with Mings and to a lesser extent Luiz. Both of them could easily have sulked about how they've been treated since he arrived but instead have just got on with it. With McGinn and Watkins (and a couple of others) it would be the other way round because he's backed them irrespective of form and it's not working so now resting them looks more and more like a punishment instead of looking like rotation if he'd been more decisive earlier. As you say it also means the players are starting to get abuse from the fans which clearly won't help, the reaction to McGinn gonig off last night was an example of how that works, that'll have been tough on him.
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Three good chances second half:
Ramsey - instead of shooting, crossed, although that was good defending too from the Forest player.
McGinn - should have used his foot.
Archer - instead of heading toward goal knocked it back across the goal.
Bad decision making
That’s a bit harsh on Ramsey. He did the right thing and we would have scored had Watkins be more aware.
Nah, he should have shot, if its the chance I'm thinking of. Watkins was in the right place to put it in but the ball never got to him.
Watkins might well have been offside, actually.
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I'd like to see us create chances, any chances, before deciding if we need a striker.
That's a confidence issue, our players are scared of getting caught short by giving the ball away with people out of position so we reguarly play it safely backwards and then launch it up field where we'll have time to get into position if the ball gets lost (as it usually does).
Fair. You can't play Pep ball unless you have Pep's players.
I'm going to get slated for saying this first part, but I'll say it anyway......2 goals conceded in 4 games with minimal opportunities for the opposition (City aside as they are different). He's certainly made us harder beat and fixed the defensive side of things - which he had to do. I don't know how he fixes the forwards when you have Watkins who can't trap a ball or hold it up and Buendia who goes over at the slightest puff of wind. Coutinho is good in flashes, but is a luxury we can't afford when not in possession. McGinn is just not good enough to run the midfield.
The squad isn't good enough, we badly needed a striker and didn't get one. Not sure if that is on the manager or those above him.
I agree with some of what you are saying but you cant say with all the international we have that the squad is not good enough.
We simply don't create enough chances and you have to allow for Strikers going through Barren spells. Okay you can criticise Watkins for his finishing but how often do we put a decent cross in the box for him? I don't really rate Ings but again the service we've given him hasn't been great either. We almost inevitably hit a defender and when we stop doing that we start the usual floaty bollocks cross
Its fairly easier to make yourself difficult to beat but to have a system that creates lots of chances requires a lot more thought and creativity from the Coaching team.
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He needs sacking if he has McGinn, Coutinhio and Luiz anywhere near the starting places on Sunday.
McGinn - has become so poor that i actually feel sorry for him - he should be put out of his and our misery. Poorly positioned, loses the ball so often i lost count, tries too many Hollywood balls which rarely find the target. The amount of times he takes the ball facing the wrong way then has to control it then spin where he is inevitably caught by an opponent is unbelievable. His header just about summed up his ineptness
Coutinhio - Done just enough to get himself bought and now a shadow of the former self - no wonder we got him so cheaply
Luis - absolutely fucking shocking at almost everything he does - every time he loses it, and that is a lot, he goes down like he has been poleaxed. Yet another player who believes his own hype and thinks he is so much better than he actually is. The odd gimmicky goal from a corner does not make up for the rest of your total shitness
Finally
As good as our owners are, just look at where we are in recruitment costs compared to others that are considered our peers. Buendia is our costliest player at £33m when i really thought we would be up there with some serious purchases yet the nucleus of what started last night was
Young (who played very well) but aged 37
Mings
McGinn - all in championship team in 2018
Konsa
Luiz
Nakamba
Guilbert - all in squad that struggled to stay up in first year 2019
Sanson
Cash
Watkins - added in 2020
Hardly ripping up the transfer windows are we?
Luiz spent a lot of time on the floor last night, and whinging generally, but did his primary DM role well. Thought he had a fine second half to be honest and made some excellent turnovers. Granted Forest sat deeper and deeper as the game went on but he's a long way down our current problems.
Agreed on Coutinho, harsh on McGinn as clearly been played in the wrong position. Against granted a limited Ireland side a couple of weeks ago he was a different player playing off the front man. Playing him on the right of midfield really pisses me off as he is completely left sided.
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I'd like to see us create chances, any chances, before deciding if we need a striker.
That's a confidence issue, our players are scared of getting caught short by giving the ball away with people out of position so we reguarly play it safely backwards and then launch it up field where we'll have time to get into position if the ball gets lost (as it usually does).
Fair. You can't play Pep ball unless you have Pep's players.
I'm going to get slated for saying this first part, but I'll say it anyway......2 goals conceded in 4 games with minimal opportunities for the opposition (City aside as they are different). He's certainly made us harder beat and fixed the defensive side of things - which he had to do. I don't know how he fixes the forwards when you have Watkins who can't trap a ball or hold it up and Buendia who goes over at the slightest puff of wind. Coutinho is good in flashes, but is a luxury we can't afford when not in possession. McGinn is just not good enough to run the midfield.
The squad isn't good enough, we badly needed a striker and didn't get one. Not sure if that is on the manager or those above him.
I agree with some of what you are saying but you cant say with all the international we have that the squad is not good enough.
We simply don't create enough chances and you have to allow for Strikers going through Barren spells. Okay you can criticise Watkins for his finishing but how often do we put a decent cross in the box for him? I don't really rate Ings but again the service we've given him hasn't been great either. We almost inevitably hit a defender and when we stop doing that we start the usual floaty bollocks cross
Its fairly easier to make yourself difficult to beat but to have a system that creates lots of chances requires a lot more thought and creativity from the Coaching team.
That he could head at goal from we put in 1 last night and it drew our only other shot on target and probably the best save of the match (Emi's from Kouyate looked flashier but was at a nicer height). I'm think the grief Watkins gets, and the number of goals he scores, would be very different if he was getting 2-3 chances like that per game (and I don't see creating 2-3 heading opportunities around the 6 yard box per game as particularly over-ambitious or unrealistic). This is where removing our width has really hurt us as a team because I think Ings would look better in that setup as well.
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Three good chances second half:
Ramsey - instead of shooting, crossed, although that was good defending too from the Forest player.
McGinn - should have used his foot.
Archer - instead of heading toward goal knocked it back across the goal.
Bad decision making
That’s a bit harsh on Ramsey. He did the right thing and we would have scored had Watkins be more aware.
Nah, he should have shot, if its the chance I'm thinking of. Watkins was in the right place to put it in but the ball never got to him.
I also was screaming at him to shoot - this to me is partly down to him and Mcginn playing on the wrong side - can anyone tell me what benefit there is to having midfielders playing on their weakest foot? Ir absolutely drives me fucking mad watching mcginn especially turn back into trouble because he can't kick it with his right foot.
If that chance for mcginn that he attempted that 'header' had falled to JJ he'd have belted in with his right foot, as it was mcginn didn't know what to do as it was moving towards his weaker side. Was still an embarrassing attempt mind.
Just seems to me that they all look uncomfortable out there and subsequently are making bad decisions
Is it just me that thinks if Mcginn was wearing dark blue he’d have smashed it in!
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I’m still amazed they haven’t sacked SG yet. No good keeping him until the World Cup starts as we’ll be well into the relegation zone by then, making it much more difficult for a new manager. At this particular moment in time, I would put the ground improvements on the back burner until we actually look like a club that’s going to stay in the PL. As others have mentioned, we need to start looking at £45 million+ players instead of our usual bargain basement signings. Coutinho was heralded as the second coming but, another one we would do well to ditch asap.
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We're half arsed again. Letting things drift. Hoping for the best instead of planning for it. We will never be a big club again whilst we look dreamy eyed at big names with no track record in management. We play at being a big club but look at who's behind the scenes. The assistant manger, the manager, the coach, the dead ball specialist etc etc. We talk about levels and aims and then employ people way below them because they're ''famous''.
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I'd like to see us create chances, any chances, before deciding if we need a striker.
That's a confidence issue, our players are scared of getting caught short by giving the ball away with people out of position so we reguarly play it safely backwards and then launch it up field where we'll have time to get into position if the ball gets lost (as it usually does).
Fair. You can't play Pep ball unless you have Pep's players.
I'm going to get slated for saying this first part, but I'll say it anyway......2 goals conceded in 4 games with minimal opportunities for the opposition (City aside as they are different). He's certainly made us harder beat and fixed the defensive side of things - which he had to do. I don't know how he fixes the forwards when you have Watkins who can't trap a ball or hold it up and Buendia who goes over at the slightest puff of wind. Coutinho is good in flashes, but is a luxury we can't afford when not in possession. McGinn is just not good enough to run the midfield.
The squad isn't good enough, we badly needed a striker and didn't get one. Not sure if that is on the manager or those above him.
I agree with some of what you are saying but you cant say with all the international we have that the squad is not good enough.
We simply don't create enough chances and you have to allow for Strikers going through Barren spells. Okay you can criticise Watkins for his finishing but how often do we put a decent cross in the box for him? I don't really rate Ings but again the service we've given him hasn't been great either. We almost inevitably hit a defender and when we stop doing that we start the usual floaty bollocks cross
Its fairly easier to make yourself difficult to beat but to have a system that creates lots of chances requires a lot more thought and creativity from the Coaching team.
It's also fine margins. Take one of the 25 chances we had at Leeds and Watkins use his head last night and not be offside, we'd be having a totally different conversation today. Not to say the football couldn't be better, but those are mutually exclusive things.
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It's also fine margins. Take one of the 25 chances we had at Leeds and Watkins use his head last night and not be offside, we'd be having a totally different conversation today. Not to say the football couldn't be better, but those are mutually exclusive things.
True but the sides that get the little things outside of games right tend to have the little things in games go their way.
)
Work on our attacking shape and maybe Watkins is slightly less eager to get in and holds his line better (especially if you've targeted him to do it in training), get the players confident with their weaker foot and maybe McGinn slots home with his right foot instead of that header, or Ramsey shoots instead of trying to cut back to Watkins.
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Mings omission to step across for the goal aside we do the final defensive third well of late. 2 goals in 4 games is testament to that.
There's the old adage of win your home and draw your away, the issue is, you don't feel at the moment that what happens progressively in the middle third and what we do in the final, will result in many goal scoring opportunities. Do you trust Watkins to have an economy of goals for limited chances? No. Leeds, last night and many other examples suggest otherwise.
We simply don't have patterns of attack. Football is about creating space and then exploiting it. You can do it in a number of ways. We tried to shorten the game first half with long balls and it was poor. We were better on the ball 2nd period but had no answers to a low block. We seldom played a percentage cross and the delivery isn't good enough.
We are static, movement is non-existent and its clear we don't work on patterns. If you want to play wide, you have to narrow the opposition with positional passing that draws them into create space. We didn't do that with any regularity and got choked not knowing how to penetrate them.
I listened to Gerrard stuck in traffic around Meadow Lane getting out and I didn't think he was throwing anybody under the bus. I thought I heard a worried man.
Coutinho is the impressing at all. Watkins without Grealish shouldn't be our intended main goal threat. McGinn is so poor at retaining possession, which just isn't good enough at this level. His miss was ridiculous.
Archer's movement was really good to watch. He shifts the opposition and drives at them. Ings however doesn't impact the game at all, while Ramsey has lost his way.
Seldom do the midfield break beyond the forwards and comitt in any numbers. We're too slow to transition and ultimately adopt an attacking shape that just appears to be a rigid compression of our defensive shape, only pushed higher.
He's got a lot of good players at his disposal, but finding an attacking system, with a couple of patterns of attack that works appears to be beyond him this season. It wasn't present for the last 2 months of last season either.
A portion of the away crowd turned. When you think the run points wise isn't particularly bad since Man City, it shows patience is wearing thin. I don't think anything will happen pre-World Cup, but he will ultimately only have himself to blame. There has to be more risk.
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I agree with Al, of that bar Ramsey. He's the only player we have that breaks the lines, the offside goal and the chance we he squared it but should've shot showed that, and it was the same in the previous drab affairs.
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Is Ramsey being told to drop back when the full backs are advancing?
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Is Ramsey being told to drop back when the full backs are advancing?
Not really, no.
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Is Ramsey being told to drop back when the full backs are advancing?
No. But you can clearly see he hates the role he is being asked to play. It’s doesn’t take advantage of his attacking intent and he’s left tracking back helping out midfielders who give the ball away constantly. He’s frustrated and it’s showing itself in his attitude and body language. He was a red card waiting to happen last night so it was right to pull him out of the game.
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Has a substitute ever had less impact than Danny Ings tonight?
Proper Chris Samba moment, that.
I had absolutely completely, totally and utterly forgotten all about Chris Samba. Only 5 years ago...
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The last time we lost a match the country had a different monarch and Prime Minister. And we are one of only two teams to have taken league points off the best club side in the world at the moment. Which goes to show that ultimately it's not just results that matter...