Aston Villa v West Ham post-match thread

[olaftab]

I can say “I was there”...you don’t often see 2 winners on Prize Where It Lies...magical stuff!

Absolutely the best match ever. I have videoed it and might load it up on my Youtube channel.

[Arsey]

Dean takes some of the blame for me, at times we had 5 players passing the ball around on the half way line with only one WHU player in the same postcode.

We really needed to think that fortune favours the brave and push a couple of players forward, and keep the ball better.

Frustrating, and not the mentality I expected.

I think that is pretty unfair. We did push on in the last 10min especially after Davis came on.

Even Mings and Engels pushed forward and at times we had every outfield player in their half. West Ham dropped deeper and deeper and resorted to lumping long balls forward

[themossman]

Defence looks really solid. I love watching Engels. There was one tackle where he got his foot the other side of a player and came through/around him with the ball. How he did it without conceding a foul is beyond me.

Guilbert wasn’t his best but has this amazing knack of getting caught out and dealing with his own mess via sprinting and last ditch tackling.

And a shout out to Taylor who has been a really capable stand in, not at all exposed against some quality players like I thought he would be.

[charleeco7]

Bloody hell, having finally got home I read this thread and thought we’d lost. The kit stealers are a decent team who haven’t lost this season. We had the better chances, Wesley should have scored and I can’t recall a hen testing Heaton at all.
We struggled late on as they were knackered.
I thought Marvelous looked promising and the defence superb. We all knew the front line would be a problem but we will get there.

[MalcolmP]

That second half was utter garbage. I'm struggling to find someone who had a good game...Engels, McGinn, Heaton maybe ?

Wesley, Jack, Guilbert and El Ghazi were poor.

Guilbert poor? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 did you go to the game?

[itmustbe_it is!]

Defence looks really solid. I love watching Engels. There was one tackle where he got his foot the other side of a player and came through/around him with the ball. How he did it without conceding a foul is beyond me.

Guilbert wasn’t his best but has this amazing knack of getting caught out and dealing with his own mess via sprinting and last ditch tackling.

And a shout out to Taylor who has been a really capable stand in, not at all exposed against some quality players like I thought he would be.

He offers absolutely nothing going forward. Less than my gran . Is Targett injured? if not he must be bobbins not to get a game

[PeterWithesShin]

Bloody hell, having finally got home I read this thread and thought we’d lost. The kit stealers are a decent team who haven’t lost this season.

Apart from losing 0-5 on the opening day.

[JUAN PABLO]

I was hoping he would bring Hourihane on for the last thirty minutes.

me too. The times Hourihane has come up with a goal when we havent looked like scoring.   Im suprised he wasnt brought on .

[MalcolmP]

Frustrating but not disastrous.  Odd how we fell apart once they went down to 10 men.  We looked tired, which perhaps explains the multiple misplaced passes towards the end.

Positives: Nakamba had a decent debut,  the defence didn't give them a clear chance on goal, we created the clearer chances, Guilbert looked quick and committed, Grealish looked good first half.

Less positive:  Tempo still too slow,  way too many sloppy passes, neither winger much cop, centre forward a bit isolated and missed two free headers even if one was offside, Taylor, whilst ok defensively, is useless when attacking, a seeming reluctance to have a pop (Taylor and Grealish had sight of goal second half and bottled it), Jota looks lightweight, a bit slow and very one-footed,  struggling against 10 men.

All in all we don't look a bad team, certainly nothing like 3-4 years ago, we maybe need a bit more time for players to bed in and for things to click.  And maybe Dean needs to re-think the formation.

Cant agree with the bit about Nakamba. Gave the ball away numerous times under little pressure. Hopefully was just a bit nervous on his debut.

  Nakamba gave the ball away about 3 times but on 2 of those he quickly got back and  won the ball back. He had a very good game  and was probably the difference to winning a point or losing the game.

[OzVilla]

Didn't stretch them enough, kept coming inside to an already congested area, Wesley way too isolated and lacks presence for a big lad.  Grealish had a poor night as did ElGhazi.

Defence looked sound, thought they looked far more dangerous than us especially when they went down to 10 and stretched us far more.  Smith got out coached at 11 v 10 for me.  Still a point isn't the worst result, in fairness we deserved no more.

[olaftab]

Over 42000 in the ground. Well done to all of us.

[PeterWithesShin]

Highlights

[D.boy]

Final ball was very poor. Wes was found offside too many times. Why are we always gash whenever we are against 10 men.

[Monty]

Should have won, but once they had the man sent off they stopped in their own half, denied us or themselves any space, and the odds on the draw shot up.

Overall I'm surprised to see people complaining about the quality. I actually thought everything - passing, pressing, defensive shape, decision making - was of high standard, with the exception of actually finishing the bloody chances. It's an odd division, with ten teams capable of finishing between tenth and bottom, and none of them, not even Newcastle, are what I'd call bad. Three pretty good sides will go down this year, and while we might well be one of them it is nice to actually have a pretty good side.

[Risso]

Should have won, but once they had the man sent off they stopped in their own half, denied us or themselves any space, and the odds on the draw shot up.

Overall I'm surprised to see people complaining about the quality. I actually thought everything - passing, pressing, defensive shape, decision making - was of high standard, with the exception of actually finishing the bloody chances. It's an odd division, with ten teams capable of finishing between tenth and bottom, and none of them, not even Newcastle, are what I'd call bad. Three pretty good sides will go down this year, and while we might well be one of them it is nice to actually have a pretty good side.

The passing and crossing in the second half was absolutely abysmal.  I can't recall a game where we made so many sloppy, unforced errors.  The second half was really poor almost from start to finish.