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

[Ron Manager]

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.

Unfortunately Cambiasso didnt want to come to Villa Park. Probably the Greek club he ended up at offered him considerably more money.

[aj2k77]

And - not sure if this has been covered - why did we kick toward the Holte end first half . Richards must have won the toss as Watford had kick off . Seen other teams turn us round - but never us decide to kick the other way .

Well we are constantly told our mentally weak players struggle with the expectation of not getting beaten every home game so I wouldn't be surprised if they've decided that attacking the bulk of the home support in the second half is too much for them either. The team is pathetic.

[Tom_Mc9?]

To be fair, attacking the Holte in the second half has hardly had much success in recent times so I don't think it really matters.

[nick harper]

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.

I appreciate that Garde has come into an almost impossible position but a couple of points on yesterday and overall:-

His substitution of Gana left us with two in midfield so pretty much 4-2-4 in the last 10 minutes. As a result, we couldn't get hold of the ball and lacked any kind of shape. Not a great substitution.

In our position, tightening up at the back is a must - back to basics defending. The last two games have probably seen our worst defensive performances of the season and there's been some pretty stiff competition. Going forward, there were some pleasing signs of Garde's influence, but I suspect the defensive side was where he leant on the support of the coaches/assistants he couldn't get as we just look completely disorganised.

[aj2k77]

All this "completely rebuild and start again" stuff.

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

You need the right people in place to rebuild, our thicko's came up with Gestede for Benteke.

[ez]

Great isn't it. On the rare occasion we score 2 goals the defence gifts the opposition 2 more. I haven't seen the first one. Watford were not very good but if they can still force errors out of us what hope is there of getting wins or even draws.

[aj2k77]

Great isn't it. On the rare occasion we score 2 goals the defence gifts the opposition 2 more. I haven't seen the first one. Watford were not very good but if they can still force errors out of us what hope is there of getting wins or even draws.

There is no forcing errors out of us though, nearly all of them are either from a lack of concentration playing people onside, ball watching, not tracking runners or spectacular brain farts. I've never seen a defence as bad as this one down the Villa, they crumble through nothing.

[Proposition Joe]

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.

I thought that too - in isolation, yesterday wasn't too bad as defeats go.  But taken in combination with crap that's gone, it's hard to take.

[aj2k77]

Training must be difficult for us to gauge anything from. If we do any defence vs attack routines then the strikers are up against the garbage we have which must make them look world beaters, no wonder Gabby still got games,  he probably shits all over Clark in training.

[Clark W Griswold]

All this "completely rebuild and start again" stuff.

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

You need the right people in place to rebuild, our thicko's came up with Gestede for Benteke.

I know he's no Benteke but he scored on his debut, 2 at Anfield and the winner against Blose. Him, Sinclair and Ayew have all got good goals / min records this season. It's the other end that's the problem, Clark, Lescott and Richardson (even though out of position imo) have all been shambolic, Guzan poor, Hutton mediocre and Richards hasn't exactly been the saviour with his slightly headless chicken shenanigans. And collectively they're even worse than individually for some reason.

[ez]

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.

I thought that too - in isolation, yesterday wasn't too bad as defeats go.  But taken in combination with crap that's gone, it's hard to take.

I remember under Graham Taylor1 we had a poor home run and switched around several times to attack the holte first half. I think it's just to try something different.

[aj2k77]

The defence is a shower of shit I agree but we are also have the second worst goals for in the division. Gestede thrives on crosses, the team doesn't produce them. Sinclair has been used as a Striker at times and now Ayew is doing his best as the main man, it's all been very poorly thought out. The strikers should be the focal point of the teams style of play ours are a confused mess.

[auntiesledd]

Lerner has sole responsibility for this, after MON walked out leaving us with overpaid journeyman stinking the club out

I've never really bought into this bitter and twisted jilted bride mentality many people have against O'Neill.  The day he walked out was the day I knew we were in decline.

I wish we were being 'stunk out' in 6th place every year right now.

I'm with ya Mr W. I guess some folk find it easier to slag off the man who baled - rather than the idiot who displayed apparent commitment & loyalty. 'Funny old game ain't it?

[Clark W Griswold]

The defence is a shower of shit I agree but we are also have the second worst goals for in the division. Gestede thrives on crosses, the team doesn't produce them. Sinclair has been used as a Striker at times and now Ayew is doing his best as the main man, it's all been very poorly thought out. The strikers should be the focal point of the teams style of play ours are a confused mess.

I think that's the thing, we still don't do much creatively despite having some highly rated youngsters there. Traore apparently isn't ready, Grealish's head is somewhere else, Gill is a tidy footballer but seriously lacks penetration, Bacuna has lost form from half decent previous seasons, Veretout is still settling in, Cole appears to be past it and Sinclair is better as a striker. Admittedly there probably isn't a 20 PL goal striker there but given the chances Gestede, Ayew and Sinclair will get you a half decent aggregate return.
I also still think there is a good midfield in there somewhere with Gana, Veretout and Sanchez.

[Clampy]

Someone mentioned Senderos recently which is interesting because whilst no-one was moaning about him being left out of the squad at the time, we could do with someone like him in the back line at the moment. An old head and someone who can organise a bit. I reckon he'll be back in the squad in January.