Villa v Leeds post match thread

[aj2k77]

With hindsight we were too open and should have condensed the space a lot more, they had a lot of areas for players to break in to and balls to be played in to. A tighter game could have produced different results BUT we've played 5 games and won 4 of them which is a fantastic start.

Tactically it wasn't a good match up for us with their energy and pace, Barkley looked unfit. It's important to keep grounded. We don't have the best manager, we don't have the best players, we need to learn and not go back to open games where we are conceding 20+ shots per game. Keep it a bit tighter, don't get carried away with our attacking prowess. We'll have more good results and more bad results this season. The aim is for top 10, that would be a fantastic step up.

[OzVilla]

Even Smith commented on how fit Leeds are.  Well, make our players fitter then.  You can't make a player more skilful, but you can run him harder, so how about trying it?

You’re conveniently forgetting how they blew up the season before last and were well on the way to doing the same when lockdown came. They’ve never kept it up for a season in the championship so I’d be amazed if they did in the Premiership. They are a decent side but they’ll fade playing that style.

They won the last 5 games in a row before lockdown.

Yep you’re right, I must have been thinking of their run in Jan/ Feb where they won 1 in 7 losing 4.

[PaulWinch again]

We really need to bounce back strong from this and show it was an off night. I expect the players to fully at it next week and Dean to be tactically sharp.

[Rudy65]

Even Smith commented on how fit Leeds are.  Well, make our players fitter then.  You can't make a player more skilful, but you can run him harder, so how about trying it?

You’re conveniently forgetting how they blew up the season before last and were well on the way to doing the same when lockdown came. They’ve never kept it up for a season in the championship so I’d be amazed if they did in the Premiership. They are a decent side but they’ll fade playing that style.

 Blew up?  They got promoted!

I thought they were one of the best Attacking sides we had played against For some while

Not sure how Bamford had so much room for his second and third goals though. Similar to Salah’s second

[Big Ming]

Unlike most on here, I thought they easily outplayed us in the first half before ripping us a new one in the second.

Tactically and fitness-wise, they were streets ahead.

Just one thing though (not sour grapes)..... Bamford threw himself to try to steal a penalty and the reason Mings got so mad was because it was as blatant a bit of cheating as his play acting at Eland Road in our promotion year.

[OzVilla]

Even Smith commented on how fit Leeds are.  Well, make our players fitter then.  You can't make a player more skilful, but you can run him harder, so how about trying it?

You’re conveniently forgetting how they blew up the season before last and were well on the way to doing the same when lockdown came. They’ve never kept it up for a season in the championship so I’d be amazed if they did in the Premiership. They are a decent side but they’ll fade playing that style.

 Blew up?  They got promoted.

I’m pretty sure we did actually.

[TopDeck113]

Ho-hum.  Next!

[Gareth]

Not read a single thing on Twitter / internet since the game kicked off as the fawning over Leeds would wind me up.

They were decent, showed their fitness that I still stand by will see them finish season at top end of bottom six, no higher.   

Was a very disappointing 2nd half once Jack didn’t finish that run - before that it was very 50/50....the commentary made out they were all over us but they absolutely weren’t - the amount of ball we nicked betw the defence/midfield it was poor that we didn’t punish them.

Annoying that horrible cheat Bamford scored a hat trick, all good finishes but the way he flung himself in the air to try and get a penalty was nearly as bad as the one with El Ghazi last time we played...at least when Jack went down there was contact.

Whilst Trezeguet & Targett were obvious weak links, it would be hard to pick anyone who played well...Douglas was probably the best.

[Proposition Joe]

Update at 13:31 on Sat 24th: weekend *still* ruined. God dammit, I'm almost feeling like we lost a cup final.

[brontebilly]

Tell you what, Gary, the one thing that Leeds didn't lack was something they had in abundance and that one thing was pace, movement and desire.

That's with Leeds: missing their main centre back and holding midfielder, having a day less rest from the previous game and Bielsa hooking one of their midfielders after 20 mins and bringing a kid in.

Huge week for players and management to turn around that shit show of a performance in second half and prove to Southampton that it was a one off. I'd certainly be in favour of a high profile player or two being dropped as a result and a complete tactical overhaul of our midfield.

[Monty]

Leeds will blow up at some point in the new year, in time-honoured Bielsa fashion. In the meantime they'll be fine.

I was pissed off with the performance and the match-up of styles exposed our tactical weaknesses, but every side has them, it's an inevitable consequence of actually having tactical strengths - the same thing happened to Leeds against Wolves. It's a pisser, we live and learn, but let's not act like this means Dean or Jack or Ross are suddenly shit having been brilliant all season so far.

(As an aside, maybe this doesn't hurt as much because I don't have any particular hatred for Leeds. I don't love them, with their sanctimony and Bamford and pretentious Real Madrid shirts, but maybe because the Revie era was before my time and my main memories are feeling sorry for the fans after the Ridsdale shit, I don't feel a special antipathy towards them.)

[john2710]

They stopped us playing out from the back, whilst we allowed them all the time in the world.

We kept going long & immediately gave the ball back to them.

They closed us down quickly, while we never got near them. We took 2 touches where they took 1. Our setup made it too easy for them & Smith did nothing to change it.

But 12 points from 15 is still a wonderful start.

We need to learn from it quickly because Southampton will set out to do exactly the same next week.

[The Edge]

Had Jack scored or better passed to an open Ollie after that spectacular run this game would have been so different. It’s harsh to criticize him after that run, but that decision there, in isolation might have decided the game, or certainly what could have happened after. And he did much the same in the game vs Leicester. He has to be better at getting others involved at the key moments. If he tries to do it all alone we will be back where we were last season. It cannot be all about Jack.

Totally agree with this.
They have got to work on Jack having more of an end product when he goes on one of his runs. It's the difference between him becoming world class and him being remembered as a top player who didn't quite fulfill his potential. If we scored from that run it would have made a dramatic difference on the night. Leeds are a very good side with a world class coach. They will surely ruffle the feathers of many top teams this season. If we finish above them we will be at least top half.

[kippaxvilla2]

I know all the 12 points from 15 is great and a bad day at the office bla bla is fine.  But it isn’t as if we weren’t aware of how they were going to play.  They never change.  Why we were so tactically inept therefore lies at the feet of Dean’s door.  I hope Barkley doesn’t become one of these players that are undroppable.  If he’s not fit he should be rested or at least replaced when we are chasing a game.

[Risso]

Ah well, we move on. Decent break before the Southampton match, so chance for things to be put right and any slight knocks to get over.