Aston Villa v Wolves Post Match Thread.

[AsTallAsLions]

They weren't, that's how the Wolves play. Very compact and organised.

They never had to break a sweat is the point. If we had any quality at all we'd have made them work a lot harder the 3 points they walked away with at a stroll.

[The Edge]

Wolves were playing in third gear with the handbrake on and still beat us. Smith moaning about the fixture pile up when they’ve racked up god knows how many more games than us so far is also embarrassing. Today was further proof that as a club, we’ve made a proper pigs ear of what was a fantastic opportunity to build something great. It’s a mess.

That last sentence is absolutely bang on. Question is "what are we going to do about it?" More specifically what are our wealthy and presumably clued up owners going to do about it? They've invested massively into our football club and yet we see or hear nothing form them while the good ship Aston Villa drifts rudderless straight for the rocks. 

[adrenachrome]

It was mentioned in commentary that these are chasing CL on two fronts, and that they'd be a match for anyone in Europe. And post-match, that if they were competing in any other league, they'd definitely be CL qualifiers. A front two with 30 already this season.
We, on the other hand, apparently have a mid-table Championship ability squad playing with no organisation, plan, imagination or drive.
Yet it finished 1-0, and other than the goal, our keeper barely needed another save worthy of the name.
Funny old game, innit.

Yes, I can't stop laughing.

I am in broad agreement, though.

[PeterWithe]

I can’t fault the effort and we looked pretty decent defensively limiting them to a few chances through howlers and luck, but they showed a touch of quality for the goal that we never looked like replicating.

The lack of ability in midfield starved Jack of ball in places he needed to be. Front two just didn’t look any kind of threat, nor really did I expect them to be.

I wouldn’t read too much into DSs gripes at the end, he’s obviously trying to build a siege mentality of ‘everyone’s against us’ it’s worth a try because we certainly aren’t going to get out of this soup through quality.

We just look like we don’t belong, simply little ability. Their keeper making just a single save when this was our attacking line up speaks volumes.

On a brighter note I think it’s been a long time since I would have picked the same player as MOM in four matches running. Well done Duggie.

[ChicagoLion]

Every game we start with at least 2 players no where near PL standard, this time Nakamba Hourihane, last game AEG Trez.
I think you can get away with maybe1 passenger but we start with 2 which is on top of a few that are just about ok at best.
Getting 11 starters that are adequate would be a place to start and then build the system around them might be an idea.
Add to this piss poor subs and you can see why we are going down.

[David_Nab]

2 strikers up top but zero service apart from straight long balls.Left can be forgiven as we lost Targett who while not Ashley Cole can be dangerous on the left but the right side , how did Smith plan for attacks down the right with a CB at RB and Hourihane on that side ?

We are not tactically very good and the changing of personnel and formations isn't helping but we also lack passions.Whilst no fans play's its part in this I was sent a clip of from Luton's game yesterday ( who are fighting the drop ) and they where flying into tackles and desperate to get the ball back.
We are not coached /technically good enough to play a slow build up possession game and we lack the motivation or instructions to play with more agression

 

[PeterWithe]

To be fair we didn’t play a slow build up, we hit it long into the front two and tried to start attacks from much higher up the pitch. Issue is the opposition crowd Jack and Connor and Nakamba lack energy and technique respectively to bolster the attack.

I’d certainly be tempted to give a couple of the youngsters some game time, a bit of energy and enthusiasm might rub off on some other players

[David_Nab]

To be fair we didn’t play a slow build up, we hit it long into the front two and tried to start attacks from much higher up the pitch. Issue is the opposition crowd Jack and Connor and Nakamba lack energy and technique respectively to bolster the attack.

I’d certainly be tempted to give a couple of the youngsters some game time, a bit of energy and enthusiasm might rub off on some other players

It was a mixture of both , there was times we hit it long mostly from Mings but other times we just passed sideways slowly.They could sit back and get into position as we were unable to get them running towards their own goal. Our narrow mf required full backs to get forward and we couldn't do that .Konsa is a CB and Taylor is an ok defender but is extremely limited going forward.

I would definitely be looking at some of the kids now , Jota and Drinkwater on bench is a total waste of time currently why not stick some kids on there.

[CT]

To be fair we didn’t play a slow build up, we hit it long into the front two and tried to start attacks from much higher up the pitch. Issue is the opposition crowd Jack and Connor and Nakamba lack energy and technique respectively to bolster the attack.

I’d certainly be tempted to give a couple of the youngsters some game time, a bit of energy and enthusiasm might rub off on some other players

It was a mixture of both , there was times we hit it long mostly from Mings but other times we just passed sideways slowly.They could sit back and get into position as we were unable to get them running towards their own goal. Our narrow mf required full backs to get forward and we couldn't do that .Konsa is a CB and Taylor is an ok defender but is extremely limited going forward.

I would definitely be looking at some of the kids now , Jota and Drinkwater on bench is a total waste of time currently why not stick some kids on there.

I’d say exactly the same as regards blooding some of the younger players, but I reckon we’re in Eric Black territory here. We'll end up sticking with the tried and tested before we plunge over the cliff.

They can’t blame fans for possibly getting on their backs, because we ain’t there!!

[KevinGage]

I am a big critic of Smith but you can't get away from the fact that the money we spent last year was thown away. Cannot name one player that we bought is of premiership standard

Heaton at the time and Luiz subsequently. But yes, it's slim pickings after that.

[RamboandBruno]

It’s interesting to me that the victory of Watford in the league and the draw with Leicester away in the cup,  were games when Vasillev was introduced, didn’t look a world beater, but gave us an energy in attack, especially against Watford that just wasn’t there before. The kid just cannot possibly offer anything less than El Ghazi, Trezeguet or Jota.
I’m not saying introducing him will keep us up, but it might just give us a spark

[Villa Lew]

Without making excuses, why were we playing our 4th game before everyone else plays their 3rd? Having already played an extra game that most of the others shouldn't we have been playing our 4th a day or two after most of the others not before in order to spread the fixtures out a bit?

Because TV rules, BT wanted our match and 12.30pm Saturday is their slot.

[ChicagoLion]

It’s interesting to me that the victory of Watford in the league and the draw with Leicester away in the cup,  were games when Vasillev was introduced, didn’t look a world beater, but gave us an energy in attack, especially against Watford that just wasn’t there before. The kid just cannot possibly offer anything less than El Ghazi, Trezeguet or Jota.
I’m not saying introducing him will keep us up, but it might just give us a spark

Agree, can’t see how he could contribute less than those 3.

[SoccerHQ]

Wolves were playing in third gear with the handbrake on and still beat us. Smith moaning about the fixture pile up when they’ve racked up god knows how many more games than us so far is also embarrassing. Today was further proof that as a club, we’ve made a proper pigs ear of what was a fantastic opportunity to build something great. It’s a mess.

That last sentence is absolutely bang on. Question is "what are we going to do about it?" More specifically what are our wealthy and presumably clued up owners going to do about it? They've invested massively into our football club and yet we see or hear nothing form them while the good ship Aston Villa drifts rudderless straight for the rocks. 

Edens comments worried me a few months ago, basically saying in interview how great the transfer strategies were at Liverpool (fair enough) and Arsenal (oh dear) and how we wanted to copy it.

Not sure if he was on about the Liverpool transfer strategy from 2014 which signed likes of Lazar Markovic and Balotelli or the more recent one that got in Van Dijk and Alisson.

I think he was a big driver before what we were doing last summer. Suso is just the public face of it and will probably be the sacrificial lamb once it's all over.

[Mister E]

Poor quality players compounded by an out-of-his-depth manager and mediocre coaches.
It's not Smith's fault that we went up a season too soon, or that he had John Terry foisted on him. Unfortunately, Smith himself is not good enough.
After the game yesterday, I went round to a mate's house where we watched the second half of the Leeds-Fulham game. Although it's a different league, the contrast in home-team performances could not have been starker. Leeds were aggressive, compact, quick on the break, crisp in passing and decisive in front of goal. And good to watch.
It compounded my disappointment in our game ...