If Dean plays one of Marvelous, Luiz, Conor against Arsenal, then I will start to be concerned he isn't understanding that you have to control midfield in this league first, and then you can gain license to attack. Our back 4 are very solid but right (1 goal in 3 games) but we are not creating much of anything because Wes is getting scraps, and Jack is coming too deep (time and again) to support an over-run midfield.
Watching last night it was crying out for another defensive midfielder which would let Jack and McGinn get further up the field and assist Wesley and whoever else was there, be it El Ghazi or Davies. Those two are the heartbeat of the team and having them coming back to our penalty area to mark the opposition/pick up the ball means their threat in the opposition half is nullified. If he plays the same system this weekend then I am afraid he is one obstinate person.
This is where Deano needs to show some flexibility with formations. I think Arsenal away is a good game to try something like a 4-2-2-1-1. Hourihane in there for his set piece threat and get the big lads up, play Grealish higher up the field and look to win free kicks. Be compact and we can nick something there.
Heaton
Fred - Engels - Mings - Taylor
Marvelous - Douglas Luis
McGinn - Hourihane
Grealish
Wesley
no width
The width has got to come from the left and right backs. Guilbert can do it not sure about Taylor.
I am very sure, and he can’t.
I was not impressed with the AEG / Mings handbags though.
If AEG had managed to headbutt Mings, I think the former would have been spark out on the floor, whilst the latter was looking around for the fly he'd felt land on him
I was not impressed with the AEG / Mings handbags though.
If AEG had managed to headbutt Mings, I think the former would have been spark out on the floor, whilst the latter was looking around for the fly he'd felt land on him
He’s a braver man than I.
I hope Supporters don't start turning on AEG he's a great lad and can be class on his day, I just think TM went a bit OTT, England call up prob got to his head and Anwar has reacted. Hopefully that's the end of it , both great lads
From the off last night we were just too slow. It doesn't suit us. There was no pace, urgency or anything to get the crowd on their feet.
West Ham are a good side make no mistake, and it shows how far we've gone backwards in three years out the league when they're considered decent. But all that said, they'll still be a mid table PL side this season and we can't play like that against that level of opposition at home because we're going to go back down without picking up a sizeable amount of home wins this season for sure.
VERY frustrating performance all told. VERY little quality on the ball, front three were hopeless, Jota is completely wasted out wide as he has no pace or strength. And Jack, like it or not is really struggling to show anything of note at this level, which as our talisman and so called creative spark is a MAJOR worry
For me the first thing Dean has to do, whether permanently or not is try a plan B , because to my eyes this formation we're persisting with is not working at all at this level.
When I say the standard of the passing was high (and it did get sloppier when they went down to ten) I mean you have to factor in the quality of the pressing and the defending too. There were plenty of balls that, against lesser opposition, would've been on target and incisive but that were cut out by good positioning and anticipation. This division is a proper challenge.
The issue with that is there were plenty of straightforward A to B passes under minimal pressure that we somehow managed to screw up as well. That seems out of character for us, so I put it down to a day at the office. Under the circumstances - and against a decent side - getting a draw isn't so bad.
I was a bit concerned that we were too deep for too long against Everton at times and that pattern continued last night. In the very latter stages when Luiz came on we seemed to possess more urgency. But we're going at it a bit too Lambert-like for my liking, especially at home.
Heaton- Engels - Mings dont think i would swap them for any other 3 in the prem they have settled in and look solid
Guilbert - love this lad and he will only get better, we have a true Villa star on our hands here
Taylor - did ok but needs an up-grade , in the same way Elmo did ok but we needed someone who offered more and Guibert came in and we look better for it,
don't know if that's Target, if not it was a lot of money to pay for someone who's no improvement on Taylor
Grealish - Mcginn - heartbeat of the villa side, Jacks not reached his heights yet but he is still instrumental in everything we do going forward,
Mcginn is just Mcginn best iv'e seen since Des Bremner, no higher praise than that
Doug - Marvo - play them both, i reckon Doug especially would be just as creative as one of our wide players
El Ghazi- Jota - Trez- not overly impressed with any of them so far, all a bit samey in there performances, but its early days for Trez
hopefully one will come through to be a more dangerous player in the wide areas
Wesley - Davis - not worried about them if we get the shape right they will score the goals
i also agree with Dogtanians post,
enjoyed the game and we are a totally different team from the last time we played in this league
i was a bit disappointed in the sub, bringing on Elmo looked a bit like we were playing for a draw,
then the fella got sent off
so we are playing against 10 men with both Elmo and Taylor in our 11,
we needed to get Davis or at least Hourahane on straight away put pressure on them and give it a right go
This is about right for me, when we were talking about another striker i kept saying I wanted one that could play wide and cut in because I always thought the wingers looked to be where we might struggle. AEG can get better but he's not ready to start regularly at this level, Jota, for me, is a squad player and Trezeguet looks like he'll be great but he needs 6-12 months to settle in I suspect.
1 more with a little bit more to their game would be great for me and would make a big difference to us, either way AEG and Jota both wanted to take too many touches last night and were crowded out too easily.
I no longer get excited when the opposition have a man sent off as we invariably seem to struggle to beat 10 men. Off the top of my head I can remember games against Boro, Ipswich, WBA as well as last night as games in the last couple of seasons that we’ve failed to beat 10 men and yet I can’t remember us winning such a game.
Edit - add the Fulham play off final to the list!
Forest were also down to 10 men when we were leading in the crazy 5-5.
I hope Supporters don't start turning on AEG he's a great lad and can be class on his day, I just think TM went a bit OTT, England call up prob got to his head and Anwar has reacted. Hopefully that's the end of it , both great lads
Well said; exactly my thoughts.
I hope Supporters don't start turning on AEG he's a great lad and can be class on his day, I just think TM went a bit OTT, England call up prob got to his head and Anwar has reacted. Hopefully that's the end of it , both great lads
England call up gone to his head? Bizarre
Top teams are far more organized and would practice in training with 10 v 11 or one more attacker v a defending block. Think it depends on an overall difference like if it was a cup match playing a league 2 team and they went down to 10 players after 60 mins expected to create and win.
At this level and in play off finals and semi finals , as well as Forest example , the teams are relatively equal so it doesn't always mean a great advantage other than the extra space if used effectively
If the team with more players can use the possession and the extra player then it's beneficial.
But teams with 10 who would look to keep the ball , offer an attacking threat , organize in defence would have every chance of still making game competitive.
We saw that with west ham and like others have said in previous games when opposition went to 10.
Now it's a case of having a plan and good tactics to cope with playing against 10 and hopefully that's another aspect can develop with this team .
We need mobile quick forwards. We don’t have one at the club right now. Everything slows down and we get trapped at the edge of the box. It’s all very predictable. We fix the forward situation our defence will do the rest. It’s very good and getting better.