Watford 3-2 Aston Villa 15/16 tribute act post match thread.

[Mister E]

It was pretty inevitable really, although I put us down on the pre-match thread for a 2-2 draw.
We were undercooked, missing a couple of important players and playing a newly-promoted side in front of their enthusiastic fans; and we were dealing with the loss of 3 important members of last season's team.
The interesting bit will be to see what a full week of training will do to get things up to speed, and whether new players come in.

[curiousorange]

Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)

yeah thats how I see it.  If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.

At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6

If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.

[Tayls_7]

Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)

yeah thats how I see it.  If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.

At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6

If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.

I understand criticism and feelings of deflation after a poor loss but to start referencing a relegation battle on the opening day? Bravo.

[curiousorange]

I'm not that over the top about it, granted. But if you think that sounds ridiculous, you should avoid Twitter.

[Beard82]

Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)

yeah thats how I see it.  If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.

At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6

If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.

I think if at any point we start (seriously) looking over our shoulder then that would be the end of Dean (which I really hope doesnt happen).  For me, its more how serious are we about pushing on.  I reckon we'll get 1 or 2 more in, and also today will be a kick up the arse for the rest.

Feels a bit like our pre-season was a joke - those away days turned in a circus, lose 2 AMs doesnt feel like how we are doing things in the  NSWE era

[PeterWithe]

The pre season has felt off and it’s showed with a comfortable win for the team most are tipping to finish bottom

Jacks gone and DS needs to find a way to be competitive without him or someone else will be given the task.

[curiousorange]

Everything about that preseason was disruptive, from Smith's isolating to internationals missing to that PR training camp. In all honesty pre-season across the Prem has been quite quiet; Villa have been the biggest press draw, I'd say. Today I felt we might well fall flat and so it proved. I don't mind a slow start but it's a hard habit to break.

[clash city rocker]

When you see the river rising outside your backdoor you take action before it bursts in. Today after 10 mins we saw the problem but waited until the  water had flooded the ground floor before we took action.

[john2710]

Players like El Ghazi & Nakamba haven't improved since they were bought. Unlike Konsa, Luis & Targett. We should never see the them starting a Premier League game unless we have an injury crisis. They've shown time after time that they are not good enough.

But Dean needs to shoulder some of them blame. Our midfield was empty in the first half & only corrected when Ramsey, who looked good, came on.

[Villafirst]

If Cash is off form, put Guilbert in. He was excellent on loan to Strasbourg last year. What has DS got against him??

[sickbeggar]

Everything about that preseason was disruptive, from Smith's isolating to internationals missing to that PR training camp. In all honesty pre-season across the Prem has been quite quiet; Villa have been the biggest press draw, I'd say. Today I felt we might well fall flat and so it proved. I don't mind a slow start but it's a hard habit to break.

yeah and then you look at the games coming up. Newcastle and Brentford we really need to beat because September is a bit rough.

[Legion]

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/aston-villa/12381544/watford-survive-late-villa-fightback

[ASHTONVILLA]

Wishful thinking but JWP and Bissouma in for Nakamba and SJM, then SJM possibly in the 10 for Buendia, and that team becomes amazing. (assuming defence performance was just because we were under cooked)

yeah thats how I see it.  If we want to challange for europe - we were looking at players like JWP and ESR with Grealish - so dont see how Ings and Baily without Grealish suggest the progress we were hoping to make.

At the moment, and I know it is a work in progress, it feels more like a team trying to maintain midtable then push for top 6

If it felt like that today it would have been a start. To me, it felt like a team that might be looking over its shoulder.

I understand criticism and feelings of deflation after a poor loss but to start referencing a relegation battle on the opening day? Bravo.

Thing is whenever Smith has not had Grealish available we have looked poor and had relegation form results. The team we put out cost a lot of money, but looked ramshackle and completely unbalanced. We have all been saying for years that you can't pick a midfield three from our squad that doesn't look weak. Not only have we not addressed that in the transfer window, we seem to have gone and got players that necessitate a midfield 2 to fit them in. The result of doing that was entirely predictable and that was against the worst team in the league.

Not convinced Smith sans Grealish is good enough, but more worrying is the lack of midfield. Put any manager in charge and they will have the same issue until we get a more solid set of players there.

Big couple of weeks, need to make two good signings.

[AlexAlexCropley]

If I had a penny for every time "undercooked " is mentioned,I'd have 19p.

[gpbarr]

Bad day at the office - it was almost scripted. Some of the nonsense after 1 game is hilarious - who needs Peter Kay when you can see the meltdown comments of some fans and guffaw uncontrollably.

The nonsense about us looking over our shoulders is as bad as the nonsense our fans call out when Brentford and Watford fans start talking top half finishes! It’s one game ….. 3 points - there are 111 more points to play for.

It will come good - the new boys need time to settle in and I have no doubt we will be much improved next Saturday in front of a full house.

UTV