Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: kippaxvilla2 on March 12, 2023, 03:59:11 PM
-
I’m in Budapest so didn’t see it.
-
You're lucky. It was a bit drab.
Still, a point away from home isn't to be sniffed at, I suppose.
-
Shit performance imo and we're struggling to score.
-
All bore draw. Should have been 1-0 to us dodgy officiating aside
-
Another Ollie goal wasted.
-
I’m in Budapest so didn’t see it.
A fine match report. :)
-
A big opportunity missed, that said we'd have lost that under Steven.
-
Safe to say I've been more excited by games in the past. There's some good stuff in there but it's just not coming together at the minute.
-
A real waste of time watching that, we've improved under Emery, but we're still not very good.
-
Three points lost more than a point gained.
-
Shit performance imo and we're struggling to score.
We have scored in 13 consecutive league games. When did we last do that?
The negativity is ridiculous
-
Three points lost more than a point gained.
How do you figure that out?
-
Disappointed that we didn't go for the win more second half. Seemed tactical.
McGinn my motm.
-
Too much negativity. We played some good stuff, we were clearly the better team, and you can absolutely see the plan - summer re enforcements and very excited by the potential next season.
UTV
-
Turgid crap.
Bailey very poor once again, Cash, Ramsey and Moreno not at the races either. Ollie took his goal well and should have had another. Duran unlucky not to score also.
At least we didn't lose.
-
They got the softest of penalties and then Rice cleans out Buendia in the second half in the penalty area and it barely warranted a second glance. Also someone is going to get seriously hurt for nothing if linos carry on flagging that late.
-
I can see what we're trying to do, sucker them in high to create the space behind. It worked a few times in the 1st half and it coincided with our best 15 minute spell of the game. I just feel going forward a few of these players will be replaced in order for us to continue playing this way. I have no problem with that and it's a decent point to be fair.
-
Weirdly, I concurrently thought we played well yet found it frustrating. Final ball not quite there.
-
Played some very nice stuff at times, 2 penalty decisions proved key. Overall i'm happy with 7 points from the last 3 games.
-
I 'll take the point considering we had one of our best player out.
-
I thought we were much the better side. Undone by what was clearly not a penalty.
Three points would have been better, but I'll take a point.
Oh and no Kamara, either. He's such a good player, big loss.
This summer we need to be making sure we don't feel injuries quite so badly by strengthening the squad significantly.
-
Skill level was low today, from both sides, which made for a pretty dull game. You wouldn't have known that there was plenty at stake. Players started arguing and jostling just to stay warm.
-
I appreciate that it is a bit negative but if we have designs on Europe, this is a game we need to go and win. Soft penalty for them. We are still lacking in a few areas and I hate Leon Bailey but we don't seem to have a great deal coming off the bench with Coutinho and Kamara injured. Fuck West Ham, can't stand them, would like them to go down but with the players they have, they really shouldn't be down there. A useful point, still pick up points on the road and hopefully, we can beat another bogey side in Bournemouth next week.
-
Not an awful point away from home.
Didn't play brilliantly but it wasn't a pen, and we definitely know how to get points out of games where we're not at our best now.
Despite the fact we seem eternally stuck in 11th place, we've narrowed the gap to Brighton/Brentford in the last few games. Definitely still in with a shout of a top 8 finish if we can get Bouba back, IMO.
-
At times, we played like Manchester City.
At other times, we played like Birmingham City.
Draw a fair result.
-
Three points lost more than a point gained.
How do you figure that out?
In terms of our position relative to West Ham clearly
-
A fine point away from home, perhaps it could've been three 'cos they were piss poor and I would've liked us to force the issue.
We rarely looked in trouble and you can see that Emery wants us to remain in control throughout games but that can lead to it being a bit dull at times.
As for Gale, he surpassed himself in the second half, particularly when he all but said Gerrard was a better manager than Emery.
-
An o.k point (as long as we beat Bournemouth).
Only saw the second half but we seemed fairly content to slow the game down at every opportunity. Can understand away but when West Ham are as poor as they are it feels a bit of a miss.
Luiz-McGinn was really good, McGinn has bounced back nicely from a long period of indifferent form which is great to see. Rice had one of the worst games I've ever seen and I'd like to see that penalty again as did he really get anything on the ball? Guess I'll have to wait until MOTD......oh.
Frustrating that our attacking players just aren't capable of doing anything in this type of cat and mouse game. Bailey just isn't on it and Buendia makes some odd decisions with the ball when he has space to run into. Even a mid table prem player like Benrahama would improve us as he is at least direct and takes risks when in possession.
-
The refereeing was really sub-standard today. There were positives today though.. Duran seems to find himself in areas of good opportunity and he’ll bag those chances in the future. I thought McGinn and Moreno were good today. Bert > Bailey, it’s just a matter of match fitness.
We play actual football (hard to believe it..) and I think a year down the road with a better pool of talent and Unai’s tactics firmly in place we will be a consistent and strong team. We’re not even out of first gear yet with Emery, and at times we pass around the opponent like they’re a youth team. West Ham’s reversion to long ball will only take them so far in the grand scheme of things.
It’s a good point, probably should’ve knicked all three but I won’t complain.
-
That was drab. Bailey very poor as ever, and Chambers is shite. Decent chance to get close to the top half wasted.
-
Shit performance imo and we're struggling to score.
We have scored in 13 consecutive league games. When did we last do that?
The negativity is ridiculous
Negativity ;D
We've scored 3 in 3. That's not enough. We can't keep clean sheets every game.
-
You're lucky. It was a bit drab.
Still, a point away from home isn't to be sniffed at, I suppose.
A win would have been nice but given our record against West Ham we'll take that away from home.
-
West Ham are a typical over-physical Moyes side with a couple of decentish players. If they go down, or even if they don't, it will be interesting to see where Bowen plays next season,
-
Shit performance imo and we're struggling to score.
We have scored in 13 consecutive league games. When did we last do that?
The negativity is ridiculous
Negativity ;D
We've scored 3 in 3. That's not enough. We can't keep clean sheets every game.
How about the 4 in 3 we have scored? :P
-
I see something in Duran that I never saw in Keinan: goal threat.
-
I was concerned about McGinn alongside Luiz in the deeper midfield spot today, and he's obviously no Kamara, but he did pretty well overall. His return to form since Emery arrived has been very welcome.
-
Seen us play better and lose
Seen us play worse and win
Close enough game; I’d have taken a point before kick off.
-
Missed it as was out for lunch. It wasn’t going to be easy without Kamara. We need to add some quality in the summer. But we’re picking up points even if not playing fantastically. I’m ok with that.
-
As for Gale, he surpassed himself in the second half, particularly when he all but said Gerrard was a better manager than Emery.
Thank you! I wondered who the fuck that was. What a helmet.
-
I see something in Duran that I never saw in Keinan: goal threat.
Yeah, there was one moment where he did all the grunt work, gave it wide and immediately hared off for the goalmouth. That's the instinct you need.
-
Bailey and Ramsey shouldn’t be starting.
Poor subs.
Not a great manager performance.
-
Turgid crap.
Bailey very poor once again, Cash, Ramsey and Moreno not at the races either. Ollie took his goal well and should have had another. Duran unlucky not to score also.
At least we didn't lose.
Must have watched a different game to me as going forward all of our good play and chances in the first half come through Moreno getting forward. Bowen is decent and he did a decent job of keeping him quiet and it showed how well he was doing when Digne come on and was beaten quite a few times.
-
Bit surprised by the negative reactions, to be honest. I thought it was OK, though not brilliant. There were some great passages of play and we largely dominated possession. You can see the players are really trying to stick to Emery's instructions.
Spam had some decent chances, but so did we, and to be honest some of their personnel are better than ours. Bowen in particular is very good. We were missing possibly our best in Kamara, too. Ultimately it was only a soft pen that stopped us winning.
It's going to be like this until Emery gets a team of his own players together. Quite excited to see that, because we aren't all that far off being properly good IMO.
-
Dire game. Moreno looks dangerous going forward but continuously got done down his side, especially in the first half. They were there for the taking after HT but as usual we didn’t make the most of our chances.
-
Why does Bailey put his hands on the player, he's going away from goal,
-
I always think a point away from home is good. You can see what we're trying to do, there's stuff to work on and improvements needed.
We missed Kamara, and I'd rather have had Dendoncker than Chambers. Coutinho would have been better than Bailey, and he needs to start doing it.
We've gained on Fulham and Brentford this weekend and lost out to Chelsea whilst maintaining position with Brighton. So overall its positive. Just a shame we couldn't capitalise and gain 3 points.
-
Three points lost more than a point gained.
How do you figure that out?
In terms of our position relative to West Ham clearly
Yeah but we didn’t lose three points, seeing as we got one.
-
Bailey should be nowhere near this team. He was abysmal again. One of the dumbest players to ever play for us.
-
Bailey should be nowhere near this team. He was abysmal again. One of the dumbest players to ever play for us.
He's absolutely abysmal. A no-trick pony.
-
Bailey should be nowhere near this team. He was abysmal again. One of the dumbest players to ever play for us.
He's absolutely abysmal. A no-trick donkey.
Fixed it for you.
-
We completed 560 passes today, that’s a lot. West Ham played 43 long balls, that’s a lot.
I know which trajectory I would rather be on. Ollie and Duran both had two chances inside the 6yd box that were saved.. an astonishing penalty decision stole our points.
-
Shit performance imo and we're struggling to score.
We have scored in 13 consecutive league games. When did we last do that?
The negativity is ridiculous
Negativity ;D
We've scored 3 in 3. That's not enough. We can't keep clean sheets every game.
3 in 3? How’s that for negativity? It’s 4.
-
Good to see Bert back and hopefully he will start ahead of Bailey, who hasn't brought anything of note to the table for quite a while.
Chambers is not a great sub to come on and make a difference.
We really miss Kamara.
If that was a penalty, then the Buendia incident was also a penalty as he played the man not the ball, as always inconsistent referring.
We do have a resilience that's been a long time missing, that's a positive to build on.
-
We play some lovely stuff at times, we've scored in all 13 league games Emery has been in charge and compare that to 6 goals in the first 11 under Gerrard. 7 points from the last 9 and a decent away point that was decided by 2 penalty decisions in a match that more than half on here thought we'd lose and 20% thought we'd win. There's way more positives than negatives.
-
Thought we played quite well overall but we need a better player to play up top with Watkins. McGinn has played very well the last few games.
-
It was a bit of a grind. We don’t match up well against West Ham as they are physical and strong. The penalty was dodgy as fuck and we should have for one for an equally innocuous. But we didn’t look in danger too often and we continue to become more disciplined defending as a team. Lots of improvements to be made. I think Europe is a little out of the question now even if we are close but we will get a good top 8-10 finish which is progress. We started so far back of where we are now in terms of performance and results which shouldn’t be forgotten.
-
That's a more than fair point. We keep possession now and actually try to play football. We're on a totally different trajectory than we were 5 months ago. Another day and another ref and we could quite easily have won that 3-0/3-1.
-
Bailey should be nowhere near this team. He was abysmal again. One of the dumbest players to ever play for us.
He's absolutely abysmal. A no-trick pony.
hopefully daddy arranging a transfer for about 30 million, one again disappointed and sure Emery sees it week after week
-
As for Gale, he surpassed himself in the second half, particularly when he all but said Gerrard was a better manager than Emery.
I watched a Spanish feed when I heard that insufferable bellend was on commentary, which was a massive improvement. Thought we did alright, probably a fair result and we'd have lost that under Gerrard, we'd have collapsed like a cheap tent.
-
Not a bad result, but a pretty average performance. Created some good situations, but a lack of quality let us down time and again.
-
Watched the second half on VillaTV, thought we played some decent stuff at times and were under the cosh at times.
From what I saw, I thought Ramsey and Chambers when he came on were better than some of the comments. Bailey though, really is a waste of a shirt at the moment.
-
If the ref does not give the pen we win that comfortably.
-
We play some lovely stuff at times, we've scored in all 13 league games Emery has been in charge and compare that to 6 goals in the first 11 under Gerrard. 7 points from the last 9 and a decent away point that was decided by 2 penalty decisions in a match that more than half on here thought we'd lose and 20% thought we'd win. There's way more positives than negatives.
Absolutely.. stand back and look at the facts and Unai has transformed us. The reason we have to look so far up is because Unai didn't start the season with us. Take the positives. Mid march and we don't have to look down
-
Shit performance imo and we're struggling to score.
Sorry yes but still, we look like we're struggling to score.
We have scored in 13 consecutive league games. When did we last do that?
The negativity is ridiculous
Negativity ;D
We've scored 3 in 3. That's not enough. We can't keep clean sheets every game.
How about the 4 in 3 we have scored? :P
-
Hopefully these fill one of the three basement spots. Pointless club, horrible to play.
-
Emery wants us to keep the ball more. We are doing that better than previously in the season. We now need to add threat on the final third. We are always good for a goal but we need to evolve to more than 1 or 2, and when we do, make sure we continue to keep it solid at the back. It’s coming together.
-
Can see the improvement of McGinnis over the last few weeks, need to spend more time in Dublin, not trying any silly balls across the pitch
-
Hopefully these fill one of the three basement spots. Pointless club, horrible to play.
Think Villa would like the 3m for them surviving
-
We play some lovely stuff at times, we've scored in all 13 league games Emery has been in charge and compare that to 6 goals in the first 11 under Gerrard. 7 points from the last 9 and a decent away point that was decided by 2 penalty decisions in a match that more than half on here thought we'd lose and 20% thought we'd win. There's way more positives than negatives.
Absolutely.. stand back and look at the facts and Unai has transformed us. The reason we have to look so far up is because Unai didn't start the season with us. Take the positives. Mid march and we don't have to look down
Steady on lads that’s far too sensible, you should be listening to the genius that keeps criticising the manager
-
We didn't lose. That's about it.
-
Skill level was low today, from both sides, which made for a pretty dull game. You wouldn't have known that there was plenty at stake. Players started arguing and jostling just to stay warm.
I disagree, it was very competitive with both sides trying to win. We looked like a team with a new identity taking shape. Short, concise passing, trying to move opposing players out of shape and play an incisive ball to get us in on goal. We got the better of their press time and time again. Just let-down by the final pass or shot. But contrast that with West Ham's direct style, long balls over the top and relying on set-pieces. Jarrod Bowen celebrating winning a corner as if he had just scored (or maybe assisted) summed-up the difference in approach.
West Ham have arguably better players but we have the more progressive style and with upgrades for a few of our lot surely coming in the summer, I'm much happier as a Villan than I imagine most Hammers are.
-
WHU deserve everything chucking at them - wholly insufferable. Paqueta a lucky boy - my Argentine feed suggested he was subbed for his own protection. Plus I hate the fact as a taxpayer I've effectively paid for their stadium to fund Porn Dwarf, his cronies & their annoying fan base.
Bailey is a conundrum. Gets in some brilliant positions, but then does something infuriating & before you know it the ball is in our box. Think he'll be shipped on in the summer, but we'll make a huge loss.
-
Skill level was low today, from both sides, which made for a pretty dull game. You wouldn't have known that there was plenty at stake. Players started arguing and jostling just to stay warm.
I disagree, it was very competitive with both sides trying to win. We looked like a team with a new identity taking shape. Short, concise passing, trying to move opposing players out of shape and play an incisive ball to get us in on goal. We got the better of their press time and time again. Just let-down by the final pass or shot. But contrast that with West Ham's direct style, long balls over the top and relying on set-pieces. Jarrod Bowen celebrating winning a corner as if he had just scored (or maybe assisted) summed-up the difference in approach.
West Ham have arguably better players but we have the more progressive style and with upgrades for a few of our lot surely coming in the summer, I'm much happier as a Villan than I imagine most Hammers are.
Well said. “Skill level low today..” ;D
-
The new system is also clearly bringing out more of Meatball and Buendia's game. Jacob's previous license to run free has been curbed somewhat but you could see today how he still has that driving-run capability that no one else on the pitch did. He just needs to know when to try it and when to keep to our patient approach but I thought Ramsey was a big improvement today on recent months.
-
We gave everyone above us an 11 games head start thanks to Gerrard, that we're even talking about the chance of qualifying for Europe is testament to the job Emery has done turning us around from the shambles we were.
-
Decent point away from home. Soft penalty but Bailey was a little clumsy, his only contribution to the game really. Utter shite. Bert will get a start ahead of him soon once he gets a bit of match fitness.
Not sure what’s happened to Cash, he seems to be be slowing regressing after his impressive start with us…..which seems a long time ago now.
Every thing else has been said already but we are definitely moving in the right direction under Emery. Once we get Kamara back and Carlos bedded in alongside Mings we will improve enormously I reckon. A couple of signings in the summer and we’re in for a good time I think. UTV.
-
I thought Bertie T did okay.
-
I thought Bertie T did okay.
Did he grow? He and Duran looked massive out there today.
-
Seeing first Bailey and then his replacement Traore both so left-footed and playing on the right gave me real anxiety. I was just hoping that Spam hadn't done their homework on Bert/or forgot that he existed so that they wouldn't keep showing him onto his right side!
-
Emery has done brilliantly so far, and you can see the way he wants us to play.
We need quality signings in the summer, but I can see where he wants to take us and how he wants us to play, and I like it very much.
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
-
Yeah a point isn’t bad, we don’t get much down there for the most part.
-
Three points lost more than a point gained.
How do you figure that out?
He rolled a dice and came up with 3😂
-
At least we didn't lose. We have an awful record against them in recent years.
-
Emery has done brilliantly so far, and you can see the way he wants us to play.
We need quality signings in the summer, but I can see where he wants to take us and how he wants us to play, and I like it very much.
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
Yep agree. I thought we were mostly dominant first half, a bit more scrappy 2nd half and they had loads of corners. But i thought we had some lovely passages of play. I thought McGinn and Dougie were good today and if Kamara was in there as well, we probably win. I thought Mings and Konsa were very good as well.
Bailey is obviously struggling and although he did ok, im not sure Bert is the long term answer. Ollie looked good but shame he missed that chance after some lovely football. I would start Duran instead of Bailey now. Chambers had a poor cameo.
Overall, a point away from home is positive, we have some good players and need a few more and we have an absolute top drawer manager, we’re going to go far with him, im convinced.
Finally, the interesting thing for me is three players that lots of us, including myself have said regularly need to be upgraded, McGinn, Mings and Watkins and probably the three most improved players under Emery, actually coaching going on here.
-
I’m in Budapest so didn’t see it.
I'm currently in Mauritius and could not get a feed. Will watch YouTube later
-
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12832289/west-ham-1-1-aston-villa-premier-league-highlights
-
Game was played at a pedestrian enough pace but in the main I thought we played well. Without Kamara I thought both Luiz and McGinn (out of position) were excellent. Mings pocketed Ings. If Watkins and Duran were sharper with their chances we would have taken the three points. I liked Emery's subs, Traores silky first touch was a highlight. Compared to Bailey....
On the flip side, Moreno and Cash particularly were woeful defensively. Even Digne is piss poor when ran at.
Martinez 5 - soft as shit today at set piece time
Cash 3 - useless, no idea how to position himself against bog standard cross field punts
Konsa 6 - no obvious errors but doesn't inspire confidence in anything he does these days
Mings 8 - solid throughout and sharp on ball too
Moreno 6 - horrible start but fine assist and dangerous going forward, defensively average
Luiz 8 - quality yet again, very good on ball and protected area in front of the centre backs superbly
McGinn 8 - out of position but really good driving display, we won the midfield battle easily
Ramsey 7 - very slow start but great ball into Watkins and had a good second half
Buendia 7 - sharp throughout I thought
Watkins 7 - scored the hardest of his chances but was better than the cat kicker
Very lively cameo from Traore, Young saved a certain goal, Duran looks a good addition, Digne can't defend, Chambers can't keep the ball
-
And they have a great recent record of being spawny against us. Today's stupid penalty, the corresponding game at VP in August which was an awful nil-niller but they got a shitty deflection for a barely deserved winner. We also murdered them away in the Covid season and had that Watkins goal disallowed for a dubious offside before he missed a penalty.
-
Emery has done brilliantly so far, and you can see the way he wants us to play.
We need quality signings in the summer, but I can see where he wants to take us and how he wants us to play, and I like it very much.
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
It has been us so often, as well, the backwards club with the lumpen tactics. It is nice to look like a team from the present.
You can see exactly where the holes are, but fill them and I suspect you start to see a real side come through. Of course, I don't know how many times I've said that, but this time does look different!
-
Emery has done brilliantly so far, and you can see the way he wants us to play.
We need quality signings in the summer, but I can see where he wants to take us and how he wants us to play, and I like it very much.
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
I concur with this - I don't think we need that many new players. A couple of upgrades will lift the whole team. Dependent on how good Carlos is, we probably need a Bailey replacement, another quality midfielder and another versatile forward. We also need a good keeper as back up and an even better one if Martinez leaves.
-
We gave everyone above us an 11 games head start thanks to Gerrard, that we're even talking about the chance of qualifying for Europe is testament to the job Emery has done turning us around from the shambles we were.
I reckon unai is the son of Sir Ron. The man that will lead us to the promised land. The man who will make us great again. Where we can piss off motd if it still exists and the top 6 eankfest associated with it. A team that gatecrashes their happy little party. A team that says fuck you we're the villa the most beautifully named football club in the world and being as our founder invented the football league we are here to reclaim our crown. VTID oh and fuck the fuckers. I love the villa.
-
Finally, the interesting thing for me is three players that lots of us, including myself have said regularly need to be upgraded, McGinn, Mings and Watkins and probably the three most improved players under Emery, actually coaching going on here.
Fair point. Good managers find a way to get a tune out of the existing panel. Shysters like Stevie, DOL et al will always witter on about what they don't have. Throw money at it. It's always about the next signing or five for them.
-
I always think a point away from home is good. You can see what we're trying to do, there's stuff to work on and improvements needed.
We missed Kamara, and I'd rather have had Dendoncker than Chambers. Coutinho would have been better than Bailey, and he needs to start doing it.
We've gained on Fulham and Brentford this weekend and lost out to Chelsea whilst maintaining position with Brighton. So overall its positive. Just a shame we couldn't capitalise and gain 3 points.
As others have said we are now looking at catching 3 teams who have massively over achieved this season and one that was European Champions 2 years ago. As opposed to scrambling around with huge under achievers like West Ham and Leicester and the other also rans Leeds Soton Forest etc...
-
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12832289/west-ham-1-1-aston-villa-premier-league-highlights
-
A really poor decision to give the penalty. Given how close the ref was to the incident I can't imagine what he thought he saw that made it a penalty. But we didn't deserve the win.
We have spells where it works really well & others where it simply doesn't. We'll be better with new players more suited to Emery's style & hopefully some more options off the bench.
-
18th v 11th and it looked like it. Biggest single improvement throughout the match was Traore coming on for Bailey
-
Finally, the interesting thing for me is three players that lots of us, including myself have said regularly need to be upgraded, McGinn, Mings and Watkins and probably the three most improved players under Emery, actually coaching going on here.
Fair point. Good managers find a way to get a tune out of the existing panel. Shysters like Steven, DOL et al will always witter on about what they don't have. Throw money at it. It's always about the next signing or five for them.
It’s incredible how he’s turned Ollie and McGinn around. Mings has always been good in my opinion, but saying that his distribution of the ball is much better. Dougie is having a great season as well.
It makes you wonder what Gerrard was doing? The game was up for me with the treatment and egotistical nonsense he used on Mings.
-
18th v 11th and it looked like it. Biggest single improvement throughout the match was Traore coming on for Bailey
Dunno about that. Felt Traore spent his cameo just feeling his way back into the pace of the PL (it has been a year or so since his last appearance) Didn't do much of note.
-
I think we were far the better side without really turning it into loads of chances. I thought Luiz and McGinn were excellent - and Ramsey wasn't bad.
Bailey was woeful, cash had a mare - and we looked shaky from corners. Lacked any real options - someone like Phil could have made a difference.
But - we have lost games like that plenty of times. Going in the right direction, need to add some quality and numbers in the summer
-
I’m in Budapest so didn’t see it.
I'm currently in Mauritius and could not get a feed. Will watch YouTube later
Mauritius is full of Tories at this time of the year so you must be the only Villa fan there😉
-
Emery has done brilliantly so far, and you can see the way he wants us to play.
We need quality signings in the summer, but I can see where he wants to take us and how he wants us to play, and I like it very much.
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
Agree with this.
-
2 poor games, Palace & West Ham. 4 point and no goals conceded from open play.
Not pretty, but sings of progress.
Watkins good. Moreno good but wasteful going forward. Buendia, Bailey and Ramsey far too quiet.
-
Bailey is just a liability at both ends of the pitch
-
Bailey is just a liability at both ends of the pitch
Penalty decision was a joke. Buendia looked more likely to give away a valid one.
-
2 poor games, Palace & West Ham. 4 point and no goals conceded from open play.
Not pretty, but sings of progress.
Watkins good. Moreno good but wasteful going forward. Buendia, Bailey and Ramsey far too quiet.
Getting a tune out of this squad
-
Is the West Hammer Irons Soccer Team from London?
-
Without the stupid pen we would have had a nice 1-0 away win. Can see the beginnings of a possible really good and enjoyable team, individual players seems to been improved under Emery as well but some of them might not have enough to be what need to be at next level.
-
Finally, the interesting thing for me is three players that lots of us, including myself have said regularly need to be upgraded, McGinn, Mings and Watkins and probably the three most improved players under Emery, actually coaching going on here.
Fair point. Good managers find a way to get a tune out of the existing panel. Shysters like Steven, DOL et al will always witter on about what they don't have. Throw money at it. It's always about the next signing or five for them.
It’s incredible how he’s turned Ollie and McGinn around. Mings has always been good in my opinion, but saying that his distribution of the ball is much better. Dougie is having a great season as well.
It makes you wonder what Gerrard was doing? The game was up for me with the treatment and egotistical nonsense he used on Mings.
Not just Gerrard, some of our fans too. Absolutely laughable the way some were writing off Luiz as rubbish , and not that long ago either. Then it was Watkins, McGinn in the firing line and it's constantly Mings being criticised
Players will have dips in form, especially when playing for a novice manager out of his depth. Unai is the real deal and will take us forward
-
2 poor games, Palace & West Ham. 4 point and no goals conceded from open play.
Not pretty, but sings of progress.
Watkins good. Moreno good but wasteful going forward. Buendia, Bailey and Ramsey far too quiet.
Getting a tune out of this squad
Music to my ears
-
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
It's got them into Europe the last couple of seasons including a semi final last season while we were battling relegation so I don't think we can be too sniffy.
-
Finally, the interesting thing for me is three players that lots of us, including myself have said regularly need to be upgraded, McGinn, Mings and Watkins and probably the three most improved players under Emery, actually coaching going on here.
Fair point. Good managers find a way to get a tune out of the existing panel. Shysters like Steven, DOL et al will always witter on about what they don't have. Throw money at it. It's always about the next signing or five for them.
It’s incredible how he’s turned Ollie and McGinn around. Mings has always been good in my opinion, but saying that his distribution of the ball is much better. Dougie is having a great season as well.
It makes you wonder what Gerrard was doing? The game was up for me with the treatment and egotistical nonsense he used on Mings.
Not just Gerrard, some of our fans too. Absolutely laughable the way some were writing off Luiz as rubbish , and not that long ago either. Then it was Watkins, McGinn in the firing line and it's constantly Mings being criticised
Players will have dips in form, especially when playing for a novice manager out of his depth. Unai is the real deal and will take us forward
Emery is indeed the real deal. Is it me, or do post these types of things every now and again about the fans being critical?! If you're basing this critique on the match threads, honestly don't. The match thread is generally people sat at home (often a bit pissed) using the internet as a proxy mate sat next to you in the stand. People moan.
If folks were calling 'Emery out' etc four enough. But fans moan.
-
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
It's got them into Europe the last couple of seasons including a semi final last season while we were battling relegation so I don't think we can be too sniffy.
Still those Hammers fans I know have never liked him. Even that season they had Lingard and looked like they were flying they still winged about Moyes.
-
Pleased with the draw. Great to see Ollie scoring again! A proper manager like Unai would always know what to do to get the best out of the current squad! His task will be to upgrade and take us to the next level and I have every confidence that he will do so. UTV!
-
We wuz robbed. At least we didn't end up snatching defeat from the jaws of a draw like we did against the last London team we played...
Love Ollie. Hope Spurs don't start sniffing round him this summer if Harry Kane (allegedly) goes to Manure.
-
As we know from the MON years, when nearly everything goes well that system and style can bring some level of success, but will always have a ceiling as it's so limited. When it isn't working you're left with the situation West Ham are in this season.
-
Can see the improvement of McGinnis over the last few weeks, need to spend more time in Dublin, not trying any silly balls across the pitch
I wonder how long he'll be with us now that Strathclyde Sirens have come in with a big offer.
-
Kamara, Carlos and Coutinho - that’s three pretty big players missing. Put those three in and it creates a massive upgrade on the bench.
Still think McGinn needs upgrading with Guendouzi, Ramsey needs to improve but has plenty of time, and I would like to see middle Ramsey, Tim and Cam fully integrated into the squad next season.
Fair play to Bailey for still trying. I think if I was him I’d have resigned myself to thinking this league is not for me.
-
Imagine being West Ham, shackled to Moyes and his MONish football.
It's got them into Europe the last couple of seasons including a semi final last season while we were battling relegation so I don't think we can be too sniffy.
Still those Hammers fans I know have never liked him. Even that season they had Lingard and looked like they were flying they still winged about Moyes.
Well they're getting what they deserve now then.
-
Finally, the interesting thing for me is three players that lots of us, including myself have said regularly need to be upgraded, McGinn, Mings and Watkins and probably the three most improved players under Emery, actually coaching going on here.
Fair point. Good managers find a way to get a tune out of the existing panel. Shysters like Steven, DOL et al will always witter on about what they don't have. Throw money at it. It's always about the next signing or five for them.
It’s incredible how he’s turned Ollie and McGinn around. Mings has always been good in my opinion, but saying that his distribution of the ball is much better. Dougie is having a great season as well.
It makes you wonder what Gerrard was doing? The game was up for me with the treatment and egotistical nonsense he used on Mings.
Not just Gerrard, some of our fans too. Absolutely laughable the way some were writing off Luiz as rubbish , and not that long ago either. Then it was Watkins, McGinn in the firing line and it's constantly Mings being criticised
Players will have dips in form, especially when playing for a novice manager out of his depth. Unai is the real deal and will take us forward
Emery is indeed the real deal. Is it me, or do post these types of things every now and again about the fans being critical?! If you're basing this critique on the match threads, honestly don't. The match thread is generally people sat at home (often a bit pissed) using the internet as a proxy mate sat next to you in the stand. People moan.
If folks were calling 'Emery out' etc four enough. But fans moan.
Spot on. I used to get really pissed off on here on the matchday thread then i figured out it's just fans venting their spleen on the best place available. I tend to take a step back until about an hour after the whistle.
-
Kamara, Carlos and Coutinho - that’s three pretty big players missing. Put those three in and it creates a massive upgrade on the bench.
Still think McGinn needs upgrading with Guendouzi, Ramsey needs to improve but has plenty of time, and I would like to see middle Ramsey, Tim and Cam fully integrated into the squad next season.
Fair play to Bailey for still trying. I think if I was him I’d have resigned myself to thinking this league is not for me.
I couldn't stop thinking throughout the game how much Coutinho would have been prefect for us today, he'd have loved being up against Rice and Soucek who are a shadow of the partnership that spanked us last year. Rice seems to have one eye on his summer move and Soucek doesn't seem to care. Such a waste but as we know, that's what happens in relegation seasons.
-
Kamara, Carlos and Coutinho - that’s three pretty big players missing. Put those three in and it creates a massive upgrade on the bench.
Still think McGinn needs upgrading with Guendouzi, Ramsey needs to improve but has plenty of time, and I would like to see middle Ramsey, Tim and Cam fully integrated into the squad next season.
Fair play to Bailey for still trying. I think if I was him I’d have resigned myself to thinking this league is not for me.
I couldn't stop thinking throughout the game how much Coutinho would have been prefect for us today, he'd have loved being up against Rice and Soucek who are a shadow of the partnership that spanked us last year. Rice seems to have one eye on his summer move and Soucek doesn't seem to care. Such a waste but as we know, that's what happens in relegation seasons.
Coutinho, from memory, has had one good performance this season (Arsenal and maybe City when he came on when game was long over).
-
Won’t be a game we’ll be talking about in weeks to come , similar to the Palace game in that respect, but good God we’re so much resolute with Unai at the helm. Onwards and upwards.
-
Kamara, Carlos and Coutinho - that’s three pretty big players missing. Put those three in and it creates a massive upgrade on the bench.
Still think McGinn needs upgrading with Guendouzi, Ramsey needs to improve but has plenty of time, and I would like to see middle Ramsey, Tim and Cam fully integrated into the squad next season.
Fair play to Bailey for still trying. I think if I was him I’d have resigned myself to thinking this league is not for me.
I couldn't stop thinking throughout the game how much Coutinho would have been prefect for us today, he'd have loved being up against Rice and Soucek who are a shadow of the partnership that spanked us last year. Rice seems to have one eye on his summer move and Soucek doesn't seem to care. Such a waste but as we know, that's what happens in relegation seasons.
Coutinho, from memory, has had one good performance this season (Arsenal and maybe City when he came on when game was long over).
Thanks, Mr Logic. Yes, Arsenal at home was the last game he started before he got injured. His performance was close to the type most hoped for when we signed him.
-
I thought we were ok. Moreno was great in the first half, maybe found out in the second. A bit disappointed with a point became they didn't create fuck all.
-
For them only Bowen, Benrahma and Zouma stood out for me. Cornet looked lively after he came on, but that's about it..
Couldn't see what the fuss was over Rice from that performance; maybe he just had an off day
-
I don’t think Rice has been as good this season, mind elsewhere maybe
-
Rice,Soucek and Coufal have all had poor seasons - hence the relegation battle.
I would take all 3 off them if they went down though, plus Bowen if the price was right.
Suspect Rice will go for close to £100m whatever division they are in next season though.
-
Didn't realise to whom Bowen was hooked and hence about whom certain unkind parts of the away crowd were making disparaging comments. I'm still none the wiser tbf. If you'd said the lady's name to me then my mind would have been racing...
-
Rice,Soucek and Coufal have all had poor seasons - hence the relegation battle.
I would take all 3 off them if they went down though, plus Bowen if the price was right.
Suspect Rice will go for close to £100m whatever division they are in next season though.
Bowen would be brilliant for us. I think this summer for us to progress we need to be convincing better players of teams around us/below us to join. We haven't done that since MONs time.
-
Today, I saw signs of very good football from the team. It was extremely satisfying. The 61% possession rate was also on the right track.
It was delightful at times as the football interplay was so comfortable between players.
That, in my opinion, is the most important takeaway from the game.
The signs are there in the dominating possession and the steps of clear progression towards full implementation of football.
Overall, a good performance that was consistent with Emery's message about focusing on how the team wanted to play.
Watkins 4 shots 3 on target and a goal was my man of the match. He was close to scoring a sublime goal from some excellent football but failed to finish
I predict a brace is coming for him before seasons end.
-
Rice,Soucek and Coufal have all had poor seasons - hence the relegation battle.
I would take all 3 off them if they went down though, plus Bowen if the price was right.
Suspect Rice will go for close to £100m whatever division they are in next season though.
Bowen would be brilliant for us. I think this summer for us to progress we need to be convincing better players of teams around us/below us to join. We haven't done that since MONs time.
I'd take Bowen rather than Soucek, he's basically had one decent season and given up.
-
Yep Bowen's a very good player. I'd take him and Barnes from Leicester to play either side of Watkins.
-
We didn't play brilliant but I'll take a point.
-
Yep Bowen's a very good player. I'd take him and Barnes from Leicester to play either side of Watkins.
I posted on another thread, but id love Barnes at the Villa.
-
That, in my opinion, is the most important takeaway from the game.
Ash Foo Young, Chicken Mings, and Declan Rice.
-
Imo we're a couple of players away from being an excellent team. Some really great passages of play today, we need to defend from direct situations better though. We got done with balls over the top and set pieces too often
-
Balti Traoré and Eric Korma for me.
-
Disappointed not to win but I’m increasingly encouraged by our play - a real identity is emerging, very clearly defined patterns of play and I like it. If Emery can add 2-3 players of his liking in the summer I have no doubt we’ll kick on next season.
-
The improvement under Emery is obvious to see. We controlled large parts of today's game with some lovely periods of possession. I'm really excited to see the continued development under Emery. I really hope West Ham go down as I really don't want to go back a third time to the most soulless football stadium in Britain.
-
I don’t think Rice has been as good this season, mind elsewhere maybe
Thought his antics when standing over Buendia were a bit unsavory too. Lucky not to get booked.
-
Swap Bowen for Bailey . Villa win that easy
-
I really hope West Ham go down as I really don't want to go back a third time to the most soulless football stadium in Britain.
Have you been to Kenilworth Road ?
-
No matter where they are in the table, we consistently struggle against this physical west ham team. Thought the game plan from Emery was spot on to draw West Ham out and make it a more stretched game. Unfortunately, when you have clowns like Bailey making idiotic decisions by giving the ref something to think about by putting his hands all over someone in the box, a penalty was inevitable. The penalty changed the game because at that point west ham were getting stretched earlier by having to come out, the crowd we’re getting restless and West ham were clearly rocked.
Thought McGinn was excellent again. Ditto Luiz. Moreno a big threat in the first half going forward. Great to see Bertie T back and he did more in the time he was on the pitch then Bailey. Great goal from us and well done again Ollie. A good point.
-
Rice,Soucek and Coufal have all had poor seasons - hence the relegation battle.
I would take all 3 off them if they went down though, plus Bowen if the price was right.
Never take players from relegated teams unless they are super special. These players have a losing mentality and are comfortable with it.
-
I thought Luiz and McGinn were our best players today and we did better against their midfield than we have done in recent times. I was really annoyed at the penalty as it seemed daft by Bailey but having seen a replay I think it is an incredibly soft decision. It came at a time when their fans were getting onto their players and that would have increased if we had kept the lead for longer. All in all I think today was a missed opportunity to beat a bogey team.
Despite it being easy for me to get to it really is one of my least favourite matches to attend. There is a double security check to enter the ground and the stadium itself is exactly what you expect, namely a good athletics stadium converted into a shit football ground. Long distance from the pitch, big gap between upper and lower tier of away fans and abysmal atmosphere. Plus they pump out poxy bubbles. I hope they go down.
-
I thought we did quite well in spells although sometimes it was hard to see from the distant view.
I think McGinn, Watkins and Luiz did well again, and as has already been said, they were three in the fans' firing line. Emery has done very well with them. However, the same cannot be said of Bailey.
Moreno is clearly better attacking than defending. Bowen seemed to go past him at ease and it's a pity we never signed him.
I would take a chance on Benrahma as well as he was good today and has been out of favour this season.
-
Bowen is the one I would take.
-
I thought Luiz Mcginn Ramsey Mings were very good today.
Cash was disappointing Bailey awful.
-
I thought Luiz and McGinn were our best players today and we did better against their midfield than we have done in recent times. I was really annoyed at the penalty as it seemed daft by Bailey but having seen a replay I think it is an incredibly soft decision. It came at a time when their fans were getting onto their players and that would have increased if we had kept the lead for longer. All in all I think today was a missed opportunity to beat a bogey team.
Despite it being easy for me to get to it really is one of my least favourite matches to attend. There is a double security check to enter the ground and the stadium itself is exactly what you expect, namely a good athletics stadium converted into a shit football ground. Long distance from the pitch, big gap between upper and lower tier of away fans and abysmal atmosphere. Plus they pump out poxy bubbles. I hope they go down.
Spot on.
Poxy bubbles, though? They've gone a step too far, and the authorities must surely clamp down on this practice.
-
A big opportunity missed, that said we'd have lost that under Steven.
Was probably as bad a performance as in the home match, but got away with it this time
-
JM is a different player since his return M.O.M for me, Bailey needs a long spell out and contrary to others I thought Traore didn't give us anything, same old same old. This manager we have is as passionate as they come, always on the line shouting instructions, think back to the previous manager, sat in the dug out, expressionless and out of ideas. I'm certain if he had stayed we would have been facing relegation, with Emre we have a plan, a different style, roll on the summer.
-
I would take a chance on Benrahma as well as he was good today and has been out of favour this season.
Why would we take on a player who has not been first choice for a team in bottom 3?
Apart from scoring the pen he made a right hash of couple of half chances he had.
-
He fashioned those chances for himself in the main and left Cash with twisted blood.
-
I quite liked the shit version of the Chicken Run having a whistle and "blowing up" 2 minutes early to generate loud boos from the West Ham lot.
-
JM is a different player since his return M.O.M for me, Bailey needs a long spell out and contrary to others I thought Traore didn't give us anything, same old same old. This manager we have is as passionate as they come, always on the line shouting instructions, think back to the previous manager, sat in the dug out, expressionless and out of ideas. I'm certain if he had stayed we would have been facing relegation, with Emre we have a plan, a different style, roll on the summer.
Traore made an excellent chance for Duran, it was his first game back for a long time and was so much more involved and physical than Bailey it was night and day tbh. He wasn't perfect, but Bailey was also so poor that my nan could have come on and looked more threatening. First live game for a couple of months and really cannot believe how poor Bailey is in the flesh, pathetic excuse for a player
-
This is no new manager bounce now. We’ve had the initial bounce and then lost a few but we are on another decent run and that’s down to top coaching. We could finish top half and from where we were when Emery took over that would be some improvement. With some decent additions in the summer we could definitely challenge for Europe next season. We’d have lost this game under Gerrard but there’s now an in built resilience as well as a game plan.
-
I’m in Budapest so didn’t see it.
I'm currently in Mauritius and could not get a feed. Will watch YouTube later
-
I’m in Budapest so didn’t see it.
I'm currently in Mauritius and could not get a feed. Will watch YouTube later
Mauritius is full of Tories at this time of the year so you must be the only Villa fan there😉
You are right, I paid for it with my share options when one of my companies I invest in sacked a load of union workers for being...err poor
Still great holiday thanks :)
-
I was in Dudley, and spent the afternoon doing house hold chores, only found out the result at 5pm, watched the 2 minute high lights on Sky Sports.
-
DSTV/Mnet carries 90% pf premier league games live.
Most Hotels in Mauritius have DSTV as their main satellite channel, if you are still there on Sat you should pick up the game.
-
I thought we were excellent at times yesterday. It's obvious that Unai Emery has a plan, a vision of how we should play and I like that a lot. It's not pretty at times but we are definitely heading in the right direction. Yesterday could of easily been another away win. A dubious penalty earned them a point and we had two point blank chances inside their six yard box either of which could of won us the game.All in all I'm very positive about where Unai Emery is taking us.. And a special shout out for Tony Gale. A more one eyed biased commentator would be very difficult to find.
-
A good point against a team, fighting desperately for win, one of the things that pleased me was how well we defended their corners, they had 13 in all, and don't think West Ham created any decent chances from any of them. This has been one of our weaknesses and full credit to Emery and his staff for the improvement in this area.
-
I quite liked the shit version of the Chicken Run having a whistle and "blowing up" 2 minutes early to generate loud boos from the West Ham lot.
That whistle was blown by them about 3 times in the second half. Potential for some real confusion if the players had reacted to it.
What a depressing place to watch football. The only improvement over last season’s visit was that we weren’t marched around the back of Stratford for half an hour after the game by the coppers.
-
It felt, to me, like the perfect representation of where we are at the moment: We're a better team than West Ham, but not quite consistent enough to put them away. We were generally a lot more solid, but looked slightly vulnerable to more direct attacks. Some of our passing was incredible, but we didn't manage to create enough clear-cut chances as a result. Most of our players have improved under Emery, but a couple have struggled.
We're a work in progress. Mings, McGinn, Doug and Watkins continue to look like top-half Premier League players and I thought Buendía looked good again - we just lacked that final ball, or that decisive run. I don't like pinning too much blame on one player, but someone else in Bailey's position that offers more of a goal threat could make such a difference to this team. Nothing is happening for him at the moment. I think if Kamara, The Donk or Phil were fit for that one, we'd have won. Largely because any one of them could have come in for Bailey and it would have improved us. (I am still clinging to the hope that things might click for Bailey, but it's getting increasingly difficult to justify that stance to be honest).
A point isn't the end of the world by any stretch, even if it is frustrating not to close the gap on the teams above us. The progress we're making is there for anyone that wants to see it. With no threat of relegation the pressure is off, but the players have to prove their worth to the manager - that could mean that us fans get an enjoyable end to the season. A convincing win on Saturday would be most welcome for a start.
-
A good point against a team, fighting desperately for win, one of the things that pleased me was how well we defended their corners, they had 13 in all, and don't think West Ham created any decent chances from any of them. This has been one of our weaknesses and full credit to Emery and his staff for the improvement in this area.
Their penalty came as a result of a bit of panic defending a corner. It was very harshly awarded but it came seconds after a goal line clearance.
-
We missed Kamara but even so the midfield coped well. Positives - McGinn’s much improving form. Negatives, Chambers isn’t bad but isn’t much good at anything. Bailey offers little and is now also a liability. I think UE has a good idea where we need to improve and don’t think it involves either.
-
It is clear that Unai means real business and our players have responded magnificently to date. The transformation from the Gerrard days beggars belief.
If Hammers go down, I would like Jarrod Bowen in our claret and blue. I think he would suit our style of play and offer so much more (including consistency) than Bailey and Traore.
-
Add Bowen to Watkins and that's an attack that would frighten defences. I think somebody else said earlier in this thread, swap Bailey for Bowen and it's difficult to see how we wouldn't have comfortably won the game.
-
What an awful, awful stadium.
-
Bowen is the one I would take.
The way we play I agree. I wouldn't touch Benerhama although he played well yesterday
-
Reflecting on the game , we usually have problems with WH in the midfield but on this occasion the problems were down our flanks, which shows how well Mcginn Luiz and also Buendia did as he often dropped in and did well.
-
Bowen would be an upgrade on Bailey but I'm not sure he'd be as good a fit as some suggest. If we're looking for players at London clubs that are below us in the table Eze would be above him for me. Similar in terms of goals and assists but has a little bit more chance of doing something spectacular to change a game.
Of course the links in January means that Nico Williams is the benchmark now and he'd take some beating.
-
What an awful, awful stadium.
And we, the good old taxpayer, paid for it so they can sell their own ground and rent this for peanuts
-
What an awful, awful stadium.
Just been reading the KUMB (West Ham forum) thread on the stadium, interesting reading.
https://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=164789&start=15480
-
What an awful, awful stadium.
Agreed, it’s horrific for so many reasons.
The song we sang about “You sold your soul” couldn’t have been more apt.
-
Well in the end I think that was one of those matches where both teams a probably satisfied with a point but disappointed not to have taken all three.
West Ham started brightly enough, but a bit of huffing and puffing aside didn't really create a great deal. Then it's the classic sucker punch of your opponent scoring with their first attack. In truth though for me that goal underlined why West Ham are having problems this season, and it's the tale of two opposing recruitment policies at full back and the mentalities of the teams. Villa having added Moreno after already signing Digne last season have a left back looking to get forward wide on the overlap and put in good crosses. West Ham, satisfied with one half decent season from Coufal who cost peanuts have not strengthened, and so had the centre back Kehrer nominally at right back, scared seemingly to move away from the comfort of the penalty box and giving Moreno plenty of space to line up a cross.
Still, at the least West Ham did not crumble like they did down at Brighton last week, and were rewarded after a sustained period of pressure with a clumsy penalty from Bailey after Paqueta had had his shot cleared off of the line.
Much of the rest of West Hams play has been typical of this season. Some great play down the wings by Benrahma or Bowen that in the end lead to nothing, normally because there was no-one in the box each time that Bowen skinned Moreno (Ings seemed a yard off of the pace to me - have you lot sold us a dud there?) or because Benrahma did too much like he normally does, shortly before ballooning a shot over the bar. Still, it's testament to these two that Emery took both of your full backs off before the end. Moyes of course would never dream of doing such a thing, expecting the game to change itself. Indeed, it was the 76th minute when he took Paqueta off for Fornals, a like for like sub and only because Paqueta was looking like he might pick up a second yellow, and then the 86th minute before he swapped out Danny "ten touches all game" Ings - but for Cornet, and NOT Scamacca.
You can understand the frustration of Paqueta, a player who is best utilised with good players in front of him, moving around, making runs and creating space. Instead he always gets the ball with Sideways Pass Rice and Soucek behind him, the big Czech only ever driving forward looking to get onto the end of a cross. So he can do nothing but ping balls out wide to Bowen or Benrahma. Then upfront we've got a lone striker who was only sold to us because his former club didn't consider him suitable to play the lone striker role, one that Scamacca is even less suited to than Ings. Still, come the end when Emery swaps out a striker for a defender and makes it clear Villa are settling for a point, why not chuck in Scamacca AND Cornet, sacrificing either Soucek or one of the centre backs? That sort of negative mentality for me is a big reason why West Ham have gone from challenging for European spots in back to back seasons to battling relegation. It filters down from the top and infects the whole team.
I suppose at the least the players showed some fight this game. First Paqueta hacking down McGinn and then Rice getting in the face of Buendia when he was screaming like his leg was hanging off only to jump up and start sprinting again 5 minutes later. That's not to condone foul play, but at home in a relegation fight you want to feel like your players are giving their all - something we didn't see last week vs Brighton.
Villa for their part look much improved with mostly the same players as earlier in the season. When they got the ball down and moved it around they played some good football, passing freely though our static, supposedly world class midfield. The difference, once again, in having a progressive, forward thinking manager, and the reason why you lot are thinking about whether you could qualify for Europe despite a poor start.
-
Hiya Sendo, hope you're well. Ings isn't a dud but you have to play in a very specific way to get the best out of him. He isn't going to run and chase balls all game, but put the ball in space in the area and he's very clinical.
I don't know what's gone wrong with your lot this season, as for the last two years Rice for example has looked world class in lots of games, but seems extremely ordinary this year. You seem a bit like Leicester, still got lots of very good players but for some reasoning it's just not happening.
-
Hiya Sendo, hope you're well. Ings isn't a dud but you have to play in a very specific way to get the best out of him. He isn't going to run and chase balls all game, but put the ball in space in the area and he's very clinical.
I don't know what's gone wrong with your lot this season, as for the last two years Rice for example has looked world class in lots of games, but seems extremely ordinary this year. You seem a bit like Leicester, still got lots of very good players but for some reasoning it's just not happening.
Ings won the Ashley Westwood ‘oh he was playing?’ award on The Villa Podcast.
-
Hiya Sendo, hope you're well. Ings isn't a dud but you have to play in a very specific way to get the best out of him. He isn't going to run and chase balls all game, but put the ball in space in the area and he's very clinical.
I don't know what's gone wrong with your lot this season, as for the last two years Rice for example has looked world class in lots of games, but seems extremely ordinary this year. You seem a bit like Leicester, still got lots of very good players but for some reasoning it's just not happening.
Multiple things tbh Risso. Without going too in depth, it's a mixture of becoming too predictable with Moyes only being able to play one way with the mid/low block and counter/set pieces, key players falling off a cliff (Antonio) and poor recruitment, with square pegs (Scamacca, Ings) trying to be forced into round holes. Add into that we've lost a lot of voices/leaders in the back room (Noble, Stuart Pearce, Alan Irvine, Dawson), some other players have simply suffered from poor form plus the classic injury problems that have made it hard to play a settle back 4 all season.
Heads seem to have dropped, and in all honesty I think certain people are going through the motions because they have their eye on a summer exit.
Hope you are well though. You at least much be pleased that your club are seemingly moving in the right direction?
-
Multiple things tbh Risso. Without going too in depth, it's a mixture of becoming too predictable with Moyes only being able to play one way with the mid/low block and counter/set pieces, key players falling off a cliff (Antonio) and poor recruitment, with square pegs (Scamacca, Ings) trying to be forced into round holes. Add into that we've lost a lot of voices/leaders in the back room (Noble, Stuart Pearce, Alan Irvine, Dawson), some other players have simply suffered from poor form plus the classic injury problems that have made it hard to play a settle back 4 all season.
Heads seem to have dropped, and in all honesty I think certain people are going through the motions because they have their eye on a summer exit.
Hope you are well though. You at least much be pleased that your club are seemingly moving in the right direction?
That Scamacca looks absolutely dreadful, I have to say.
Yes,we've got lots to look forward to hopefully. Personally, I was disappointed that we didn't try to do more in the January transfer window, as after shifting out Ings to you lot, and other deadwood like Nakamba and Sanson, plus Archer on loan to Boro, our squad is now so small we haven't been naming 9 subs, and have two keepers on the bench. We've been promised a bit of a spree in the summer though, so we'll see.
Under Emery, it feels like we've got a modern, intelligent manager for the first time in god knows how long. It's also nice to be observing a ridiculously tight relegation battle from afar without being embroiled in it. I'd say good luck mate, but I'd love it if West Ham went down sorry*. Come and say hello when you're playing our beloved neighbours Small Heath next season! ;)
(*I actually think you'll be OK though)
-
With your system, Watkins is the player you need, Sendô.
You can have him for 100 million. You'll have money to burn when you flog Rice.
-
DSTV/Mnet carries 90% pf premier league games live.
Most Hotels in Mauritius have DSTV as their main satellite channel, if you are still there on Sat you should pick up the game.
Thanks buddy but I will be back at VP by sat
-
Still great holiday thanks :)
It must be lovely being there just now, lucky man and enjoy.
-
With your system, Watkins is the player you need, Sendô.
You can have him for 100 million. You'll have money to burn when you flog Rice.
No no. They need Bailey and Chambers. Should be able to pick up both for circa £40M.
-
Well in the end I think that was one of those matches where both teams a probably satisfied with a point but disappointed not to have taken all three.
West Ham started brightly enough, but a bit of huffing and puffing aside didn't really create a great deal. Then it's the classic sucker punch of your opponent scoring with their first attack. In truth though for me that goal underlined why West Ham are having problems this season, and it's the tale of two opposing recruitment policies at full back and the mentalities of the teams. Villa having added Moreno after already signing Digne last season have a left back looking to get forward wide on the overlap and put in good crosses. West Ham, satisfied with one half decent season from Coufal who cost peanuts have not strengthened, and so had the centre back Kehrer nominally at right back, scared seemingly to move away from the comfort of the penalty box and giving Moreno plenty of space to line up a cross.
Still, at the least West Ham did not crumble like they did down at Brighton last week, and were rewarded after a sustained period of pressure with a clumsy penalty from Bailey after Paqueta had had his shot cleared off of the line.
Much of the rest of West Hams play has been typical of this season. Some great play down the wings by Benrahma or Bowen that in the end lead to nothing, normally because there was no-one in the box each time that Bowen skinned Moreno (Ings seemed a yard off of the pace to me - have you lot sold us a dud there?) or because Benrahma did too much like he normally does, shortly before ballooning a shot over the bar. Still, it's testament to these two that Emery took both of your full backs off before the end. Moyes of course would never dream of doing such a thing, expecting the game to change itself. Indeed, it was the 76th minute when he took Paqueta off for Fornals, a like for like sub and only because Paqueta was looking like he might pick up a second yellow, and then the 86th minute before he swapped out Danny "ten touches all game" Ings - but for Cornet, and NOT Scamacca.
You can understand the frustration of Paqueta, a player who is best utilised with good players in front of him, moving around, making runs and creating space. Instead he always gets the ball with Sideways Pass Rice and Soucek behind him, the big Czech only ever driving forward looking to get onto the end of a cross. So he can do nothing but ping balls out wide to Bowen or Benrahma. Then upfront we've got a lone striker who was only sold to us because his former club didn't consider him suitable to play the lone striker role, one that Scamacca is even less suited to than Ings. Still, come the end when Emery swaps out a striker for a defender and makes it clear Villa are settling for a point, why not chuck in Scamacca AND Cornet, sacrificing either Soucek or one of the centre backs? That sort of negative mentality for me is a big reason why West Ham have gone from challenging for European spots in back to back seasons to battling relegation. It filters down from the top and infects the whole team.
I suppose at the least the players showed some fight this game. First Paqueta hacking down McGinn and then Rice getting in the face of Buendia when he was screaming like his leg was hanging off only to jump up and start sprinting again 5 minutes later. That's not to condone foul play, but at home in a relegation fight you want to feel like your players are giving their all - something we didn't see last week vs Brighton.
Villa for their part look much improved with mostly the same players as earlier in the season. When they got the ball down and moved it around they played some good football, passing freely though our static, supposedly world class midfield. The difference, once again, in having a progressive, forward thinking manager, and the reason why you lot are thinking about whether you could qualify for Europe despite a poor start.
I thought Pacqueta was useless to be honest. Looks half a yard short for PL football. Skipping off down the tunnel after he was hooked too, not a great sign for a marquee signing. Tactically Moyes was all over the shop, neither of our CBs like being pressed from the front. The snail like Ings made it very easy for them.
Usually Villa get physically dominated by the WHU midfield so it was a surprise without Kamara that Luiz and McGinn won that battle easily. Both your wingers were very dangerous.
-
I'd say good luck mate, but I'd love it if West Ham went down sorry*.
Don't worry, I said the same about you lot on KUMB when you were struggling a couple of seasons ago. I don't think certain people have ever forgiven me. ;)
With your system, Watkins is the player you need, Sendô.
You can have him for 100 million. You'll have money to burn when you flog Rice.
Yes he's the sort of player Moyes loves. Rumour was last summer we were after him for £50m, but I couldn't see us bidding that much for him and I couldn't see Villa being willing to sell their main striker for that little.
Tactically Moyes was all over the shop, neither of our CBs like being pressed from the front. The snail like Ings made it very easy for them.
Usually Villa get physically dominated by the WHU midfield so it was a surprise without Kamara that Luiz and McGinn won that battle easily. Both your wingers were very dangerous.
Yeah Moyes never likes pressing from the front. Your defenders and Martinez were practically asking to be pressed first half, yet we stood off, stayed narrow and static and made it easy for Villa to pass through us and down the wing. Unfortunately it's been a long time since we dominated anyone in midfield, which I believe is a big part of our problems.
-
Why has Rice dropped off so much this season?
-
Same with Soucek, a couple of years ago he looked to be the complete midfielder. Now he just looks completely crap.
-
I'd say good luck mate, but I'd love it if West Ham went down sorry*.
Don't worry, I said the same about you lot on KUMB when you were struggling a couple of seasons ago. I don't think certain people have ever forgiven me. ;)
With your system, Watkins is the player you need, Sendô.
You can have him for 100 million. You'll have money to burn when you flog Rice.
Yes he's the sort of player Moyes loves. Rumour was last summer we were after him for £50m, but I couldn't see us bidding that much for him and I couldn't see Villa being willing to sell their main striker for that little.
Tactically Moyes was all over the shop, neither of our CBs like being pressed from the front. The snail like Ings made it very easy for them.
Usually Villa get physically dominated by the WHU midfield so it was a surprise without Kamara that Luiz and McGinn won that battle easily. Both your wingers were very dangerous.
Yeah Moyes never likes pressing from the front. Your defenders and Martinez were practically asking to be pressed first half, yet we stood off, stayed narrow and static and made it easy for Villa to pass through us and down the wing. Unfortunately it's been a long time since we dominated anyone in midfield, which I believe is a big part of our problems.
Don't play the innocent; you said a lot more about us.
-
Same with Soucek, a couple of years ago he looked to be the complete midfielder. Now he just looks completely crap.
Or was he just a Fellaini lite in that his goals were masking very average midfield play. Rice has his head up his ass about his next move I'd suggest.
-
Rice is still very good. He might be suffering from a downturn in form from playing in a struggling side, but that shouldn't detract from the fact he's been an outstanding PL midfielder for years now.
-
Dermot on Ref Watch reckons it was a pen, which has now convinced me even more it wasn't.
-
Same with Soucek, a couple of years ago he looked to be the complete midfielder. Now he just looks completely crap.
Or was he just a Fellaini lite in that his goals were masking very average midfield play. Rice has his head up his ass about his next move I'd suggest.
Yes I think it's a bit of this. Soucek is great at running around a lot, making tackles and them bombing up the pitch to get onto the end of crosses. His engine is great, and coupled with Rice it made us very combative. However he doesn't offer a lot else. He doesn't have much skill and his passing is poor. Rice seemed to think he could be an all round box to box, Gerrard type midfielder, so for a while it was Soucek holding back more whilst Rice went forward, which didn't work. To be fair, Soucek has been mostly better of late, but the midfield three of him, Rice and Paqueta doesn't really work because they don't really compliment each other, and all three want to play deep too much.
Plus Rice seems to have got ahead of himself and seems to be looking elsewhere.
-
Don't play the innocent; you said a lot more about us.
That calling us "kit stealers" is cringe (it is), and I think I criticised how easily your players all followed Grealish in chucking themselves on the floor at every opportunity back then (you did) from memory.
This is like the wife bringing up things I've done in the past whenever we have an argument. ;D
-
Yeah but...yeah but...
Isn’t it time that you resumed blowing your babbles?
-
Read this morning that all West Ham players have a relegation clause in their contracts and wages reduced significantly if they go to the Championship. Same applies to more recently acquired Leicester players.
Could be worth sniffing around.
-
Read this morning that all West Ham players have a relegation clause in their contracts and wages reduced significantly if they go to the Championship. Same applies to more recently acquired Leicester players.
Could be worth sniffing around.
I'd hope we were generally aiming higher than that.
The only two I'd consider from West Ham are Rice and Bowen.
I'm struggling to think of one from Leicester, I'm not convinced by Barnes.
-
I'd have Fabianski as a number two keeper.
From Leicester I'd take Barnes, Maddison or Tielenans I think.
-
Fabianski as a No2 keeper is a good shout.
Tielemans has been disappointing whenever I've caught him for Leicester this season. Maddison I'd completely overlooked.
-
I think the whole Leicester squad have been disappointing, but I'd trust Emery to get them playing at potential.
Of the players mentioned, Barnes is the one who'd probably get a start, Tielenans would be good for squad depth and Maddison would be up against some decent players to play, but he'd be a great option I think.
-
I think the whole Leicester squad have been disappointing, but I'd trust Emery to get them playing at potential.
Of the players mentioned, Barnes is the one who'd probably get a start, Tielenans would be good for squad depth and Maddison would be up against some decent players to play, but he'd be a great option I think.
Maddison is a great player, but he isn't a one man team. We've seen ourselves how a very good player can look lost when the rest of the team isn't up to it. I think even with the shit season Leicester are having he's still right up there as one of the highest achievers for goals and assists over the last three years. Unfortunately, if he does leave Leicester I think he'll have teams higher up in the food chain than we are currently after his services. Probably Chelsea for £300m or something.
-
Newcastle were linked and perhaps Arsenal but I think we'd be in with a good shout
-
I think the whole Leicester squad have been disappointing, but I'd trust Emery to get them playing at potential.
Of the players mentioned, Barnes is the one who'd probably get a start, Tielenans would be good for squad depth and Maddison would be up against some decent players to play, but he'd be a great option I think.
Maddison is a great player, but he isn't a one man team. We've seen ourselves how a very good player can look lost when the rest of the team isn't up to it. I think even with the shit season Leicester are having he's still right up there as one of the highest achievers for goals and assists over the last three years. Unfortunately, if he does leave Leicester I think he'll have teams higher up in the food chain than we are currently after his services. Probably Chelsea for £300m or something.
He's from Coventry as well, I'm not sure we'd be to too high up his list of favourite clubs.
-
He’s said before as a ‘Cov lad’ how much he likes beating Villa.
-
He’s said before as a ‘Cov lad’ how much he likes beating Villa.
I think there was a bit of that with Callum Wilson too when we were in for him, the pair of batch munching twats.
-
Yeah, but it wouldn't stop him coming. Everyone loves beating the Villa, even our homegrown ex-players.
-
Maddison is 26, and so is too young to have any memories of Villa ever having played Cov, so I imagine that is being overplayed, possibly.
-
Maddison is 26, and so is too young to have any memories of Villa ever having played Cov, so I imagine that is being overplayed, possibly.
Just going on what I saw him say, after beating us.
Also, don’t forget, they’re obsessed with us. That runs deep.
Fwiw I think he’s a great player but he spends too much time injured for what he’d cost.
Tielemans and Barnes are both excellent.
-
The time to sign Maddison was the summer Grealish left. Maybe we tried, he said no and we entered into the '3 players replacing one' nonsense. Actually, the more I think about that the more laughable it is. Barnes has been good when I've seen him (v us). Not sure about Tielemans. I'd expect that Leicester squad looking a bit different next season. Same with the West Ham squad.
-
Maddison is 26, and so is too young to have any memories of Villa ever having played Cov, so I imagine that is being overplayed, possibly.
Just going on what I saw him say, after beating us.
Also, don’t forget, they’re obsessed with us. That runs deep.
Fwiw I think he’s a great player but he spends too much time injured for what he’d cost.
Tielemans and Barnes are both excellent.
He doesn't spend that much time injured does he?
These are his PL games played for Leicester in the last 5 years: 36, 31, 31, 35, 19 (to date this season). He played 53 games in all competitions last season. More importantly, these are his goals scored: 7, 6, 8, 12, 9. 9 goals in 19 games this season for an attacking midfielder in a struggling side is brilliant in my opinion. Then you have the assists: 7, 3, 5, 8, 5. So that's 70 goals or assists in 152 games, just about 1 in 2. Compare that to Bailey, Buendia or anybody else in our team, and weep!
-
He's from Coventry as well, I'm not sure we'd be to too high up his list of favourite clubs.
Oh he'll be fine. Having worked and known lot of friends from Cov they know their place in the food chain. Maddison will be delighted to play for us and we have had one or two decent signing from City in the past.
-
I think the whole Leicester squad have been disappointing, but I'd trust Emery to get them playing at potential.
Of the players mentioned, Barnes is the one who'd probably get a start, Tielenans would be good for squad depth and Maddison would be up against some decent players to play, but he'd be a great option I think.
Pereira is a cracking right back, injuries are his problem though.
-
Yep, anyone sniffing at Maddison needs to give their head a wobble. Yes, he's "not as good as Jack was", but he's still very good indeed. I suspect he'll be off in the summer anyway, Newcastle probably. Possibly Arsenal.
There are easily four or five players across the Leicester and West Ham squads who are good enough to play for teams in Europe, and if they're available, I hope we are interested.
-
Isn't he meant to be a bit 'difficult' though? If that's the case we should steer clear we've had too many of those over the years. If not and we can get him then sure.
-
The time to sign Maddison was the summer Grealish left. Maybe we tried, he said no and we entered into the '3 players replacing one' nonsense. Actually, the more I think about that the more laughable it is. Barnes has been good when I've seen him (v us). Not sure about Tielemans. I'd expect that Leicester squad looking a bit different next season. Same with the West Ham squad.
I thought Barnes was player we should have signed when Grealish left. We would have massively overpaid though and no guarantee he would have come as they were 2 x 5th places and FA Cup winners.
-
Read this morning that all West Ham players have a relegation clause in their contracts and wages reduced significantly if they go to the Championship. Same applies to more recently acquired Leicester players.
Could be worth sniffing around.
I'd hope we were generally aiming higher than that.
The only two I'd consider from West Ham are Rice and Bowen.
I'm struggling to think of one from Leicester, I'm not convinced by Barnes.
Aside from Tielemans and Maddison - who will realistically attract top 4-6 bids - the Belgian centre half they signed to replace Fofana (Faes?) has looked decent when I've seen them this season. Soyuncu looked a step up from Maguire for the first few years he was there, not sure what's happened recently.
Nididi and James Justin would be decent squad options. And Iheanacho has a better than average goalscoring record at VP.
-
Isn't he meant to be a bit 'difficult' though? If that's the case we should steer clear we've had too many of those over the years. If not and we can get him then sure.
Other than the time he was said to have gone to a casino when meant to be too injured for England duty, haven't heard much about him being a problem. Whenever he's been interviewed I've always been impressed at how articulate and thoughtful he sounds to be honest.
-
I haven't seen much mention of it but wasn't Ings monumentally useless against us? All capped by being bullied in the box by the diminutive figure of Bundia at corners, how much has Antonio's form dipped if he's preferred?
-
I haven't seen much mention of it but wasn't Ings monumentally useless against us? All capped by being bullied in the box by the diminutive figure of Bundia at corners, how much has Antonio's form dipped if he's preferred?
Yes, and Tony Gale blathering on about our high line when the reason for this was because Ings can't run and we know it best.
-
According the commentator over here Antonio was injured.
-
According the commentator over here Antonio was injured.
Must be West Ham's version of our two keepers on the bench.
-
Isn't he meant to be a bit 'difficult' though? If that's the case we should steer clear we've had too many of those over the years. If not and we can get him then sure.
Other than the time he was said to have gone to a casino when meant to be too injured for England duty, haven't heard much about him being a problem. Whenever he's been interviewed I've always been impressed at how articulate and thoughtful he sounds to be honest.
My biggest concern is his recent injury record.
-
Same with Soucek, a couple of years ago he looked to be the complete midfielder. Now he just looks completely crap.
Or was he just a Fellaini lite in that his goals were masking very average midfield play. Rice has his head up his ass about his next move I'd suggest.
Yes I think it's a bit of this. Soucek is great at running around a lot, making tackles and them bombing up the pitch to get onto the end of crosses. His engine is great, and coupled with Rice it made us very combative. However he doesn't offer a lot else. He doesn't have much skill and his passing is poor. Rice seemed to think he could be an all round box to box, Gerrard type midfielder, so for a while it was Soucek holding back more whilst Rice went forward, which didn't work. To be fair, Soucek has been mostly better of late, but the midfield three of him, Rice and Paqueta doesn't really work because they don't really compliment each other, and all three want to play deep too much.
Plus Rice seems to have got ahead of himself and seems to be looking elsewhere.
I was listening to an overseas journalist on 5 Live a few weeks ago , possibly Julien Laurent or Guillem Balague, who reckoned that Liverpool and West Ham are struggling with the sheer volume of games they have played in the past 18 months. Two consecutive seasons in the Europa League with a manager who likes to use the same core group of players must have some impact on consistency.