Former PL club Aston Villa 2-3 Watford - post mortem thread

[Phil from the upper holte]

It was awful, we started ok, then you concede the inevitable stupid goal then your up against it. Get back in it just before half time but don't kick on. I am seeing improvement but it's not enough. Richardson, Hutton and Clark awful. Hutton is probably the most frustrating player on the pitch. Midfield lightweight, lightweight up front.

I can't see anyway out of this unless Randy splashes the cash which we all know Isn't going to happen. For all his criticism Brad kept it respectable yesterday

[Tom_Mc9?]

Thinking about the game in a bit more detail and it's a particularly tough one to take. No one can claim we played well, but we certainly showed glimpses of it and had to deal with calamitous individual errors and on occasion a lack of luck. You earn luck though and we certainly aren't doing that.

The midfield were all guilty of giving the ball away - Sanchez particularly in a dangerous position, but all showed some ability (particularly Gana I thought).

The defence had a particularly nightmarish performance and when paulie has said a few times that he thinks we're mentally shot and relegated already, you can't look beyond the likes of Richardson and Clarke to see how that's the case. Hopefully when he gets more fitness Okore can be partnered with Richards who is showing a lot of willingness and there will be some improvement.

Gil did not have his best game by any stretch of the imagination and I think Garde rightfully brought him off. The fact that Garde can see that and not make any Sherwood-esque bizarre substitutions at least offers some hope. As does the lack of Gabby at this stage, but we'll see what happens when he gets fit.

I hope Garde gets some results because as far as I can see he's not doing too much wrong.

Like others I am now, despite years of somewhat unwarranted optimism, resigned to our fate. You cannot lose games as often as we do in the manner that we do and display the lack of confidence we have and hope to stay up. Like the disappointed parent I am not angry, but very, very sad about it. Depressing stuff.

Edit to add amongst the sea of negativity, I like Ayew. After a dodgy start for us he's knuckled down and is willing to put a shift in.

[Ron Manager]

Thinking about the game in a bit more detail and it's a particularly tough one to take. No one can claim we played well, but we certainly showed glimpses of it and had to deal with calamitous individual errors and on occasion a lack of luck. You earn luck though and we certainly aren't doing that.

The midfield were all guilty of giving the ball away - Sanchez particularly in a dangerous position, but all showed some ability (particularly Gana I thought).

The defence had a particularly nightmarish performance and when paulie has said a few times that he thinks we're mentally shot and relegated already, you can't look beyond the likes of Richardson and Clarke to see how that's the case. Hopefully when he gets more fitness Okore can be partnered with Richards who is showing a lot of willingness and there will be some improvement.

Gil did not have his best game by any stretch of the imagination and I think Garde rightfully brought him off. The fact that Garde can see that and not make any Sherwood-esque bizarre substitutions at least offers some hope. As does the lack of Gabby at this stage, but we'll see what happens when he gets fit.

I hope Garde gets some results because as far as I can see he's not doing too much wrong.

Like others I am now, despite years of somewhat unwarranted optimism, resigned to our fate. You cannot lose games as often as we do in the manner that we do and display the lack of confidence we have and hope to stay up. Like the disappointed parent I am not angry, but very, very sad about it. Depressing stuff.

Clark!!!!

[Chris Smith]

I thought the same about the kick off FFD, the only thing I could think of was that they thought it might help us get off to a decent start.

Under normal circumstances you might take some encouragement from yesterday, we played some decent stuff and scored two good goals but the collection of clowns masquerading as a defence made sure that the opposition didn't have to travel home empty handed.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Crikey! A first for me with that error. Put it down to fatigue caused by the nightmares he caused me last night.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Under normal circumstances you might take some encouragement from yesterday, we played some decent stuff and scored two good goals but the collection of clowns masquerading as a defence made sure that the opposition didn't have to travel home empty handed.

I said to my Dad that with the defence how it is, we need to score at least two to make ensure a win. I might have been being generous.

[pbavfckuwait]

We really do like to delude ourselves, we have been mismanaged for alot longer than 5 years, Pube head got results, but was allowed to spend like Charlie Sheen in a brothel, to me Bad Management.
He would not go for TSM1 surely, yes he did, Bad Management.
He can see that Lambert is not worth a 4 year extension, oh no he can't Bad Management.
The Cockney chancer, allow the man who has probably never appointed a football manager in his life Fox, just to talk to one guy about the job who had all of 5 months experience, no he wouldnt, yes he did Bad Management.
Now he whether we like it or not has a price in his thick head that he wants back before going back to his, Sholashites or whatever, but we are living in this beautiful dream that when we go down old sceptic tank Randolph will sell to the first willing buyer and hey presto, we all live happily ever after.
The real scenario will be he does not get what he thinks we are worth and in his dumb ass head sets into place a 5 year plan, that's one of his favorites that a 5 year plan and by that time with his back up team of top professionals we are entering the FA Cup in August.
We need to stop up more than ever, it is the only way this guy might f..k off.

[Witton Warrior]

Under normal circumstances you might take some encouragement from yesterday, we played some decent stuff and scored two good goals but the collection of clowns masquerading as a defence made sure that the opposition didn't have to travel home empty handed.

I said to my Dad that with the defence how it is, we need to score at least two to make ensure a win. I might have been being generous.

The lad and I always shout "3 for the win!" when we score - have watched us play for too many years to expect anything without a 3 goal cushion

[Chris Harte]

Well they've finally done it and sucked the enthusiasum out of it for me.

Just about every other two-bit club has rocked up at Villa Park over the last five years and taken the piss. Really, really sick of what Lerner has let our club become.

[olaftab]

Amongst many "worst" episodes yesterday I thought our teams collective performance post Ayew's goal was unbelievably unprofessional and totally devoid of passion and fight. There were about 12 minutes of football left and there was no one on the field to remind the team of that fact and try to get something out of the match. There were some headless chicken type attacks that nearly resulted in conceding more goals but not a single chance was created in that period. Two incidents that totally pissed me off were Hutton arguing over a throw in at half way line and wasting about 30 seconds and then Guzan taking what seemed like a full minute in getting a free kick  in that resulted in a throw in for Watford in line with the 18 yard line. Oh what we'd give for some leadership on the pitch in times of crises.....

[itbrvilla]

We really do like to delude ourselves, we have been mismanaged for alot longer than 5 years, Pube head got results, but was allowed to spend like Charlie Sheen in a brothel, to me Bad Management.
He would not go for TSM1 surely, yes he did, Bad Management.
He can see that Lambert is not worth a 4 year extension, oh no he can't Bad Management.
The Cockney chancer, allow the man who has probably never appointed a football manager in his life Fox, just to talk to one guy about the job who had all of 5 months experience, no he wouldnt, yes he did Bad Management.
Now he whether we like it or not has a price in his thick head that he wants back before going back to his, Sholashites or whatever, but we are living in this beautiful dream that when we go down old sceptic tank Randolph will sell to the first willing buyer and hey presto, we all live happily ever after.
The real scenario will be he does not get what he thinks we are worth and in his dumb ass head sets into place a 5 year plan, that's one of his favorites that a 5 year plan and by that time with his back up team of top professionals we are entering the FA Cup in August.
We need to stop up more than ever, it is the only way this guy might f..k off.

Spot on.  I doubt he's willing to take a cut on his investment.

[CT]

All this "completely rebuild and start again" stuff.

I thought that's what we did after the Cup Final?

[Clampy]

That's what annoyed me at the time as well. When the referee signaled 10 minutes added on time, a huge roar went up but it looked as if it was Watford who were trying to score rather than us. Like Olaftab said, there were a few attacks which only resulted in them catching us on the break and the result could have been a lot worse than it was.

Looking back as well, I do wonder if  the stoppage for their goalkeeper (who was bloody woeful) stopped us in our tracks a bit. I'm not trying to make excuses for us but we seemed to go backwards after it happened.

[wittonwarrior]

The referee tried to make himself a star in those added minutes.

Why make a point about hurrying up with corners and then doing nothing.  To be honest we huffed and puffed and got nowhere the whole of the second half.

We failed to test the "dodgy" substitute keeper and that was our biggest failing  in the match, even more than the defensive  mistakes.

[Billy Walker]

Amongst many "worst" episodes yesterday I thought our teams collective performance post Ayew's goal was unbelievably unprofessional and totally devoid of passion and fight. There were about 12 minutes of football left and there was no one on the field to remind the team of that fact and try to get something out of the match. There were some headless chicken type attacks that nearly resulted in conceding more goals but not a single chance was created in that period. Two incidents that totally pissed me off were Hutton arguing over a throw in at half way line and wasting about 30 seconds and then Guzan taking what seemed like a full minute in getting a free kick  in that resulted in a throw in for Watford in line with the 18 yard line. Oh what we'd give for some leadership on the pitch in times of crises.....

I agree.  I'll add to that the five minute spell directly after the second half kicked off, it was as though our players had totally switched off and didn't realise the match had restarted.  You're spot on, we need an experienced, winning leader on that pitch, someone  left field like Cambiasso.