Post-Match Thread - Aston Villa 1 - 3 Abominable Kit Stealers

[ChicagoLion]

It was 0-0 at HT.

you are right.

[Duncan Shaw]

As bad as the pre lockdown drubbing at The Monster Munch

Abysmal

It was no where near that bad.
My thoughts after reflecting is that yes we were poor, very poor and I do worry if Deano's lack of rotation points to a lack of faith in the squad, but need to freshen up midfield.  West Ham's performance was as good as any (maybe bar Citeh) against us all season, they really were excellent.  And I do wish we'd bought Benrahma - he'd be superb in our formation.

[The Edge]

Smiths achiles heel showed up again. We were lucky to go in nil- nil at half time and all Smith did was a like for like substitution.
He has got to start reacting quicker to the game situation. Look what Burnley did to us second half so Dyche and Moyes have done a number on him.

I'm a big fan of Dean & Co but must admit you have a fair point here. Moyes done a tactical number on us in the first half where his gameplan worked a treat. Our midfield was being over run and there was just no room for us to get anything useful going. They managed to kill the space in midfield and tie Jack up in knots. I said in the match thread that it felt like they had more players on the pitch than us. We desperately needed a plan B. We didn't have one and a like for like substitution was the best we could come up with.  Dean is still learning as a top flight manager and this should serve as a warning that when you come up against a manager like Moyes with years of experience you need to be flexible and fluid in your game management. I'm sure big Sam will be licking his lips at the idea of out flanking us in our own back yard. I still have faith in Dean & Co to get it right. We're getting there.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

West Ham pressed us from the first minute and we had no response to it. Dean can moan about silly mistakes but when your midfield get bullied and are scared to take on a player, preferring to pass it back, it's more than silly mistakes. We lost our shape in central midfield, both SJM and Dougie playing higher up the pitch than normal, Jack doubled often tripled up on and in Barkley and AEG we carried two passengers.

When you give any team as much space across the pitch as we gave West Ham, you can't be that surprised they're going to hurt you. West Ham were good but we really made it very easy for them.

[garyellis]

As bad as the pre lockdown drubbing at The Monster Munch

Abysmal

It was no where near that bad.
My thoughts after reflecting is that yes we were poor, very poor and I do worry if Deano's lack of rotation points to a lack of faith in the squad, but need to freshen up midfield.  West Ham's performance was as good as any (maybe bar Citeh) against us all season, they really were excellent.  And I do wish we'd bought Benrahma - he'd be superb in our formation.

We were well below our best but come on that's just ridiculous to compare it with last March. We must come up with a plan to move Jack when the opposition successfully do what West Ham did last night. Once he moved across the front 3 we created something. We basically played with 10 men the first half and had no threat down the right which makes it easier to nullify Jack. We definitely lacked any zip to our game last night, the quick movement simply was not there.

[Risso]

We've let the opposition have 20 shots each in the last two games. We can't keep on doing that.

[Small Rodent]

West Ham pressed us from the first minute and we had no response to it. Dean can moan about silly mistakes but when your midfield get bullied and are scared to take on a player, preferring to pass it back, it's more than silly mistakes. We lost our shape in central midfield, both SJM and Dougie playing higher up the pitch than normal, Jack doubled often tripled up on and in Barkley and AEG we carried two passengers.

When you give any team as much space across the pitch as we gave West Ham, you can't be that surprised they're going to hurt you. West Ham were good but we really made it very easy for them.

I did think that West Ham had a very good shape to them.

Which when we play normally is also a good shape.

[john e]

I except all the -
we should have done this we should have done that
We should have made changes earlier
We look dead on our feet, they were fitter
Martin should’ve saved two goals
Blah blah blah

It still doesn’t explain why most of our top players suddenly lost the ability to control and pass the ball like they been doing all season

I don’t except the fitness thing
I’ve been on this forum for many years and every single game we have lost and I mean every single one someone will say it’s down to fitness
We look tired we look leggy
Losing teams always look tired and leggy
AEG Should have been the freshest player on the pitch he was the worst player by far

I thought we would beat West Ham last night
I thought we were a far better team than them
They ended up being the best team we have played so far this season

I still think that the West Ham performance is as much of a one off as our performance was
I don’t think West Ham will play as well as that again for the rest of the season and I’m hoping we don’t play as bad as that again either

However we do need to get back to our normal performance levels again
This weekend hopefully

[Footy-Vill]

Martinez 6.5
 Exposed for the goals. Received far too many back passes And called into action too much .Warning signs were there from all the saves Martinez was making from all the strikes by west ham. Could have done better with 2nd and 3rd goals particularly the final one. Kicking distribution poor at times. Made enough saves and solid enough outside of goals conceded.

Cash 6
Put in some excellent crosses first half. Solid and disciplined up against Benrhama on the whole. Marked down for goal being conceded but like defence as a whole wasn't given midfield support. One of a few who chooses to go to Martinez for a pass. Retains possession but must seek other options. Good block and interception felt he was good with his tackling.

Konsa 5.5
Loose with some poor passing and lacked the general composure had all season. Another who fell below his high standard he met this season. Could have done more in defending at times. Too prepared to pass back to keeper though in part lack of movement by those further forward meant he chose this option

Mings 7
best of the central pair . Wonderful goal line clearance. Composed and solid on ball . Dealt with set pieces and Antonio. Support from midfield lacking

Targett 5.5
Not at his best caught out for a goal. Provided a couple of decent forrays didn't manage to link up too much. Part of the issue for a couple of the goals being conceded in his positioning and awareness as well as sloppy play. Has been excellent this season so below standards.

Luiz 5.5
Tidy but then very casual. One unbelievable bit of football summed Douglas up. Flicked over West Ham player head to go past him then tries to spin a pass with his knee to as ball comes back down to the flank and one of team mates. Didn't come off. Nearly but didn't. Wonderful and ridiculous. This occured 2nd half . I'm all for expression but seemed uneccessary losing of possession when he could have just taken the ball down. Made an excellent interception first half to prevent a goal scoring chance. Super play for a holding Midfielder. Played the deep lying role at the point fantastically well. Felt he was let down by lack of movement when in receiving the ball. Mainly comfortable in possession. Sometimes going sideways and back though didn't look to quicken the tempo. Can see why taken off but was as much McGinn as him performing disappointingly.

McGinn 5
Felt he should have been taken off for Sanson. Offered little alternative option than the predictable. First contribution was a foul. Runs away from the ball or to the side for a pass- basic positioning and not free running or intelligent as know can be. Struggled in holding midfield role
Struggle to get forward and get into box. No offer of goal threat. Box to box and up and down pitch became increasingly difficult. Led a press a few times and all for his energy not seemingly effective in closing down with the press so ineffectual on this occasion.

AEG 5
Shocking when Matty cash threw the ball to him he kicked it out trying to do a simple return pass. Quiet half . One mazy run not enough impact throughout pitch timr. Made a mess of things when switched to left given a pass in space. Grealish was rarely afforded that and would have done better but he moved to right at that time.

Barkley 6
Did not get close enough to Watkins and support him enough. Had a wonderful chance to score and was picking his game up before he was taken off. Made some nice link up but movement for him was slow at times as were the options. Would have kept on rather than McGinn struggling to be box to box but should be given a supporting role to Watkins.

Grealish 6.5
Mainly shackled by Coufal and had difficulty all match. However he played great weighted pass assist fur Watkins goal. Miscontroled ball from Barkley given on a plate for chance in box. Positive he took direct  free kick and also did some unbelievable possess to Watkins. Initially had a good link up with him. However at times predictable with the blind side pass to Targett going out of play , Corner in to hand of Fabianski and the slowing down of play and moving to by line on left hand side got little reward. Maybe a bit jaded and also tried too hard with Southgate watching. Needed more team play but also to step up and be a goal threat as he lacked that all match. Not his creative best but showed glimpses of ability which makes him one of the better performers on the night.

Watkins 7
Excellent goal. The only player who looked like scoring. Handful for Dawson and Ogbonna . Wasn't afforded the support from midfield. Started off particularly well and did some great link up play and touches. Held ball up most of time however two occasions he was loose with possession led to goals for West Ham. Should have done better with a free header and unlucky when hitting post at 0-0. Thought he was the best performing Villa player

Traore 6 Showed Glimpses . Has beating of his man which would have been more useful if given ball more.
Trezeguet 6.5 brought energy. Got into the box better than most in attacking sense.
Sanson negligible . Hope he's afforded more minutes.

Generally lack of movement off the ball
Lack of support to Watkins as I felt he was the best Villa player.
Attacking and defending not the same as the high standards Villa have set ourselves

Hoping that this result gives us a reminder and lesson in what still needs further improvement and could be good for the team and Smith to better themselves once again.
Those that didn't perform which were most of them know they can play better so it's a case of pushing that and showing what capable of Vs Arsenal.

6/10.
Disappointing even if some looked tired, out of sorts , jaded. The play was sloppy , poor and work off the ball and without the ball at times resemble some of the weaker moments of last season.
Better matches to come and I do love this team and players. Quality footballers the lot of them and been so great to watch all season.
Unlucky there boys have faith going to improve on that as that's not a typical Villa showing of this season

Up the Villa.

[Chris Smith]

Smiths achiles heel showed up again. We were lucky to go in nil- nil at half time and all Smith did was a like for like substitution.
He has got to start reacting quicker to the game situation. Look what Burnley did to us second half so Dyche and Moyes have done a number on him.

I'm a big fan of Dean & Co but must admit you have a fair point here. Moyes done a tactical number on us in the first half where his gameplan worked a treat. Our midfield was being over run and there was just no room for us to get anything useful going. They managed to kill the space in midfield and tie Jack up in knots. I said in the match thread that it felt like they had more players on the pitch than us. We desperately needed a plan B. We didn't have one and a like for like substitution was the best we could come up with.  Dean is still learning as a top flight manager and this should serve as a warning that when you come up against a manager like Moyes with years of experience you need to be flexible and fluid in your game management. I'm sure big Sam will be licking his lips at the idea of out flanking us in our own back yard. I still have faith in Dean & Co to get it right. We're getting there.

If you watch Dean’s interview on the website he acknowledges where he thinks he got things wrong and the changes he tried to make. The truth is that if we collectively perform as poorly as we did last night then things like tactics and formation become secondary as to why we lost the game.

[john e]

Smiths achiles heel showed up again. We were lucky to go in nil- nil at half time and all Smith did was a like for like substitution.
He has got to start reacting quicker to the game situation. Look what Burnley did to us second half so Dyche and Moyes have done a number on him.

I'm a big fan of Dean & Co but must admit you have a fair point here. Moyes done a tactical number on us in the first half where his gameplan worked a treat. Our midfield was being over run and there was just no room for us to get anything useful going. They managed to kill the space in midfield and tie Jack up in knots. I said in the match thread that it felt like they had more players on the pitch than us. We desperately needed a plan B. We didn't have one and a like for like substitution was the best we could come up with.  Dean is still learning as a top flight manager and this should serve as a warning that when you come up against a manager like Moyes with years of experience you need to be flexible and fluid in your game management. I'm sure big Sam will be licking his lips at the idea of out flanking us in our own back yard. I still have faith in Dean & Co to get it right. We're getting there.

If you watch Dean’s interview on the website he acknowledges where he thinks he got things wrong and the changes he tried to make. The truth is that if we collectively perform as poorly as we did last night then things like tactics and formation become secondary as to why we lost the game.

That’s the thing that I can’t understand
It’s almost as if something else was going on that we don’t know about

I’m not saying there was
We were so bad it just looked that way

[WarszaVillan]

Smiths achiles heel showed up again. We were lucky to go in nil- nil at half time and all Smith did was a like for like substitution.
He has got to start reacting quicker to the game situation. Look what Burnley did to us second half so Dyche and Moyes have done a number on him.

I'm a big fan of Dean & Co but must admit you have a fair point here. Moyes done a tactical number on us in the first half where his gameplan worked a treat. Our midfield was being over run and there was just no room for us to get anything useful going. They managed to kill the space in midfield and tie Jack up in knots. I said in the match thread that it felt like they had more players on the pitch than us. We desperately needed a plan B. We didn't have one and a like for like substitution was the best we could come up with.  Dean is still learning as a top flight manager and this should serve as a warning that when you come up against a manager like Moyes with years of experience you need to be flexible and fluid in your game management. I'm sure big Sam will be licking his lips at the idea of out flanking us in our own back yard. I still have faith in Dean & Co to get it right. We're getting there.

If you watch Dean’s interview on the website he acknowledges where he thinks he got things wrong and the changes he tried to make. The truth is that if we collectively perform as poorly as we did last night then things like tactics and formation become secondary as to why we lost the game.

That’s the thing that I can’t understand
It’s almost as if something else was going on that we don’t know about

I’m not saying there was
We were so bad it just looked that way

I've never seen us play so slow, with so little drive this season. I'm putting it down to a bad day at the office but it was a strange performance

[in exile]

It's been waiting to happen imo.
Now it's out the way, we can get on with getting results again.

[Villa Lew]

2nd best by many miles, painfully slow in our build ups, got what we deserved. Credit to West Ham they came with a plan and executed it well, it's the quietest Jack's being for a while, credit to Coufal for that who marked him very impressively. No doubt about it Moyes is doing a very good job there.

As poor as we were we could very nearly have snatched a point at the end, before Martinez gifted them their 3rd.

[stubbsyandy]

Once it was obvious they were doubling up on Jack (ie once the teams were announced) we should have ensured the rest of the team made the extra man elsewhere play, not keep on playing thru Jack. Or, shift Jack to a different position, say 10, and upset their plans. I don’t think any of the team played well and looked grouchy which doesn’t help.
Singling individuals out doesn’t help much but disappointed with Barkley and AEG was poor. Olly looks knackered which I think contributed to his poor touches, Konsa getting angry doesn’t sit right as he’s normally so unflappable.
Disappointing, not the end of the world but we must be better on Saturday...let’s at least make it hard for Arsenal to score and that means defending from front to back.