Aston Villa vs Manchester United Post-Match thread

[Steve kirk]

Same opinion as the Bournemouth game. I ain't influenced by the result, I just haven't been impressed by our cohesion or performance so far.


I like Richards.
I like Gueye.
I really like Amavi.

Our back four is as disorganised as badly as at time since TSM was here. The coaching team and Sherwood are responsible for that.

Ayew. Omg. Not for me.

Veretout. Yeah he's neat but does he do anything Gary Gardner can't? AND Sanchez looked the better player in the time he was on anyway.

I'm no fan of Ashley Westwood,  but he was smashing today. Played it forward more than usual but set piece delivery needs work.

Sherwood.  hmmmmmm. Gestede and Kozak with a few high balls was worth a try with 15 minutes to go and he didn't go for it.  I also worry about his organisation. It all looks a bit 'try hard' so far.

I think it is way way way too soon to be making definitive judgements on the new players. They've never played together and their clearly not match fit.

This

[Caiphus]

Watching their goal again it was a pretty damn lucky deflection off Clark.

[fredm]

The major difference between the two sides was ball control and passing ability. How many times did we get possession of the ball and then give it straight back to them because our pass was a poor one.
The other thing that disappointed me was an apparent lack of "getting in their faces". We seemed content to play the match at a fairly slow pace when by upping the tempo we might have ruffled their back four.

[AlexAlexCropley]

A bit annoyed by the despondancy here. Apart from a lack of cutting edge we were the better team. We played better than we have a right to expect given the dramatic change in personnel. We are certainly heading in the right direction which is a concept that has been absent for years.

Better team? Whoah there pardner.They were much better than us.Kept us on a leash and zipped it about when they wanted.And they are average.

Bullshite. They were fortunate enough to get the first goal. From that, rather than put us to the sword they continued in a similar vein and struggled across the line. Much better? Rollocks.

Can you illicit your thinking how we were the better team?

[PaulWinch again]

The major difference between the two sides was ball control and passing ability. How many times did we get possession of the ball and then give it straight back to them because our pass was a poor one.
The other thing that disappointed me was an apparent lack of "getting in their faces". We seemed content to play the match at a fairly slow pace when by upping the tempo we might have ruffled their back four.

I don't think we were content to play at a slow tempo I just think we were really unfit.

[villadelph]

The major difference between the two sides was ball control and passing ability. How many times did we get possession of the ball and then give it straight back to them because our pass was a poor one.
The other thing that disappointed me was an apparent lack of "getting in their faces". We seemed content to play the match at a fairly slow pace when by upping the tempo we might have ruffled their back four.

I thought Amavi, Gueye, Richards and Veretout (in the first half) were pretty aggressive. Got stuck in a few times.

[Steve67]

We will be a very different side with Traore, Grealish and Gil in there. Fitness is also key, so is gelling the team. We were not outplayed but equally we didn't create a lot either. Even though it's only two games in, I continue to question what value Gabby offers to the side.  Also, if Bacuna isn't getting forward, he is a liability defensively.  We will be ok.

[IAmTheOneIanOlney]

Ayew had some poor moments, but he worked his nuts off and won the ball back for us on several occasions. When he calms down a bit and adapts to the league, I think he'll be just fine. But he shouldn't be playing alongside Gabby, as they clearly can't communicate well.
Amavi and Gueye look excellent.

[CT Villan]

Thought we were competitive for the first 60 mins then ran out of steam. Gana & Amavi were great, Richards & Clark not far behind them. Westwood started nervously and grew into the game. Vertout, Gabby and Ayew were not good enough. Didn't see Gestede win a header either which is strange.

I also don't understand why Tim didn't bring on Kozak and put him on Smalling so Rudy could exploit the mismatch on Blind.

[Dante Lavelli]

I think Ayew needs to be down the middle not out wide.

Odd, I thought the opposite.  I did not see anything to suggest that he can play off a defender's shoulder but was more impressed 2nd half when he was more involved and had the play in front of him.

[themossman]

Surely it's a joke that people are criticising Sherwood after 2 games with an almost entirely new first team when we have 1 win and have only dropped points against manu, conceding one goal?

[SamTheMouse]

We've got some quality players now, and when they're fully fit and have gelled we'll be capable of very good things.

But the tactics in these first two games have been awful. Starting with two players who are very alike up front, asking them to run the channels right from kick-off with no support, trying to find them with long balls from the back, when the opposition has had plenty of time to regroup and get their defence in position to just collect the hoofs and start building another attack... It's fucking stupid.

I hope Tim has got other plans for the team, because these direct balls are straight out of "Martin O'Neill's Football for Dummies, 1978 ©".

[pelty]

We need a bigger presence up front, which Gestede might bring when he is fully fit, to hold up play and allow our wings to bomb forward. I think Gana is a very good player as is Amavi. I have some concerns about Veretout as he looked a step slow, but it might take some time to get used to the pace of the game and to get fully fit. Also, I am not sure that he really is a wing player, so maybe it is unfair to judge him on his performance in a position not his own. I would expect to see Traore out there instead. I think we are crying out for Grealish and Gil to come in and find those incisive passes. To be fair, Gana had a couple of looks at those today, but they did not come off. Had they done so, one of them would have seen Ayew through... but at least the thought was right. It is too early to judge these players, so let's give them time.

[Nastylee]

Thought we were competitive for the first 60 mins then ran out of steam. Gana & Amavi were great, Richards & Clark not far behind them. Westwood started nervously and grew into the game. Vertout, Gabby and Ayew were not good enough. Didn't see Gestede win a header either which is strange.

I also don't understand why Tim didn't bring on Kozak and put him on Smalling so Rudy could exploit the mismatch on Blind.

Really?

[Smirker]

Just got back. Don't think we should be too disheartened. A draw would have been fair.

We''ll go again