Aston Villa v Chelsea Post Match Thread

[Monty]

We could do with that evil bastard music teacher managing us Monty.

Too fucking right. 'Not quite my tempo.'

[fredm]

I am beginning to think that the players do not believe in the formation/tactics that Smith is asking of them. They appear to be going through the motion half heartedly with no desire.

[PaulWinch again]

We have to try to win games, rather than try not to lose them. That’d be a start.

[Nunkin1965]

Our only hope is if Bournemouth and spam throw in such terrible performances we scrape through and stay up with an insanely low points total AND manage to put in the kind of gutsy performance against spam that is probably beyond us.

Looking at the Bournemouth fixture list I’d say it’s between us and Spam for that last relegation spot.

[steamer]

We set out our stall and could not hold out
Chelsea are a top four team and we are not.
Willian destroyed us at Stamford Bridge and we had no answer on the left again
if we stay up or go down it will not be because of this game, the nett cost of that Chelsea team and their bench against ours must be mind boggling and it showed.
We need to win the winnable games and stay up.
Pause and reset.

[Five Villa Tattoos]

Anyone pining for those times when you could just grab a big Toblerone and watch
" The Wire" for the 40th time over a whole weekend and all you'd have to worry about was the corruption in Baltimore and the troubles of Jimmy McNulty and Bunk?
Safe that ,in no way would it be possible, for the Villa to ruin it.
I know I do.

[hilts_coolerking]

It's a bit of a mystery how he's persisted with a risk-averse strategy for almost all of the season and yet have the worst defence in the division.

[Bad English]

It was like watching the tight-as-fuck big band from that Whiplash movie against a bunch of sixth formers 'free-improvving' a concept album.

It was like the Godfather parts 1&2 against Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

[PaulWinch again]

We set out our stall and could not hold out
Chelsea are a top four team and we are not.
Willian destroyed us at Stamford Bridge and we had no answer on the left again
if we stay up or go down it will not be because of this game, the nett cost of that Chelsea team and their bench against ours must be mind boggling and it showed.
We need to win the winnable games and stay up.
Pause and reset.

Nope that’s too easy. We cannot surrender any games.

[john2710]

We're not good enough to compete with the likes of Chelsea.  Look at the quality of their bench & ours. We looked like what we are a championship side.

The problems started with the bang average recruitment in the summer & complete lack of a goalscorer. The exact same mistakes we made in the year we got relegated. Add in poor game management.

Nyland, Hause, Konsa, Hourihane, Davies, El Ghazi, Trezeguet, Guilbert, Nakamba, Jota, Samata, Wesley & Engles are all Championship players. We'll be a good side next season.

Mings, Luis, McGinn & Grealish will be gone & the management team with them.

[LukeJames]

We have multi billionaire owners and a CEO that comes across very well, We have a manager that supports and gets the the club and looked to be one of the better young progressive managers in the Country when we appointed him and we have a once in a generation talent as captain that has come through our youth acadamy and supports the club.

How the fuck has it turned so lethargic and flat with those ingredients?

[Villa Lew]

Another depressing day, once they got the 2nd, apart from efforts from Hause and Jota, never looked like scoring. If we're gonna survive we need at least one of Grealish or McGinn to be at their best and today both were nowhere near that. McGinn once again way off the pace and Jack's body language looked poor, he just looked totally fed up.

To have any chance of stopping up, need to beat both Newcastle and Wolves and after today's display can't see that happening.

[hilts_coolerking]

We have multi billionaire owners and a CEO that comes across very well, We have a manager that supports and gets the the club and looked to be one of the better young progressive managers in the Country when we appointed him and we have a once in a generation talent as captain that has come through our youth acadamy and supports the club.

How the fuck has it turned so lethargic and flat with those ingredients?

Well for one thing we've learned that supporting and 'getting the club' make no difference whatsoever.

[Steve67]

I can't believe that the owners are happy with this either.

[brontebilly]

There was more intensity from the piped in music than anything the Villa players produced today. Embarrassing really on the pitch and on the sideline. We looked a disorganised rabble from the start, defending far too deep against the pace of Giroud, midfield practically sitting on top of back four and 20 yards plus then to Davis.

At a minimum Smith simply had to change our shape at half time. Failure to do so meant Chelsea would inevitably score and they cruised to victory. Same nonsensical like for like subs. End of the road for Smith today as that can't continue. Grealish's body language as captain was dreadful but hard to blame him at times.

Nyland 6 - nearly threw one in but that aside made a couple of solid saves and took a few crosses.
Konsa 5 - ok in first half but poor in second, somewhat lucky that Chelsea directed nearly every attack down our left. Ambition and ability on the ball Cuellar-esque
Hause 7 - scored and solid defensively. Inability to kick the ball with his right foot doesn't exactly help ball retention.
Mings 7 - solid enough, against I thought a dreadful Giroud, one brilliant block with his head in first half
Targett 4 - improved a lot in second half but first half was embarrassing. So slow and physically weak, identified as a weak link and targeted ruthlessly
McGinn 3 - poor effort with a good chance in first half but that aside there wasn't a positive contribution, miles simply miles off the pace
Luiz 6 - very good first half and excellent assist. Poor for their winner and died away in second half
Hourihane 3 - pace too much for Houri at this level, the ease in which Mount got away from him in first half was pathetic
AEG 5 - probably our best defender on left flank in first half so can't fault his effort. Not strong enough in possession though
Grealish 4 - did well for our goal but absymal effort to try and defend the cross for their equaliser. Body language dreadful throughout and didn't work hard enough.
Davis 5 - Ronaldo at his peak would have struggled to make an impact in the role Davis was asked to perform today. Seemed to lose faith the longer it went on and his hold up play wasn't as sharp as it needed to be

Nakamba was the best of our subs I thought, Jota came close to scoring but lightweight and ineffective would sum up their collective impact.