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

[eamonn]

I only heard updates from the BBC but someone must have had a Bingo Villa-card with a "Killer goal on the opening day at a promoted side and it's a deflection"...the type of shit that happens a lot, and to us a fair bit. But I guess you earn your own luck and it sounds like we were dire for a lot of today.

We just can't afford to have passive players or management on the touchline. El Ghazi goes and stays missing most of the time. If there's an offer north of £15m for him, take it and put it towards that physical presence we need at the heart of midfield. Buendia needs to quickly be coached in training how and when to link-up with the other attack-minded players in our team.

[Monty]

Horrible. We look thoroughly undercoached.

[CT Villan]

Ponderous and sloppy. Too much hoofball.

Targett, Buendia and AEG poor. Bailey and Traore decent enough.

We looked clueless like last season when Joe was injured.

[charleeco7]

How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.

[Villafirst]

Put Douglas Luiz alongside SJM next week. He's a winner in the Copa America & the Olympics with a Gold! Just a bad day at the office. I had a feeling we'd lose today. The preparation has been abysmal.

[villadelph]

How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.

We keep shoehorning McGinn into the role, and expecting Nakamba to improve. It has to stop.

[Tuscans]

My take. That was a mirror of the team pre lockdown. Never ready to get back in a cohesive, defensive shape when we lost the ball.

Over the last couple of years when we played 3 in the middle I was never convinced on the right combo if we ever had one. Going to 2 in the centre was even worse. Can't really fault Nakamba and Johns effort but they were crying out for help.

I wonder if the signing of another forward ( a good Ings ) is going to cause Smith problems wanting to play the 2 up top together, one behind or not. Very, very early days but not the most convincing performance from the boys.

[Gerrin]

Shite

[NorthYvillan]

Ramsey made an impact. Young did very well at left back. Bailey looks the business. Traore also made a difference.

It made a change to see Dean make necessary changes so readily and effectively. Didn't wait for the customary 65th minute and replace like-for-like.

However, the ball retention and defending in the first half were woeful and Buendia will need to improve his work-rate and his involvement of his teammates - seemed to try to do too much himself.

[KRS]

This is what happens when you start the season undercooked and lose your best player a few days before it starts. Very disjointed, too many below par performances, plenty of misplaced passes and lacking creativity…but we did improve in the second half particularly with Bailey and Traore coming on. Ings was anonymous but the total lack of service is not his fault. Big improvements needed all over the pitch and we need to buy a midfield.

[Tuscans]

How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.

We keep shoehorning McGinn into the role, and expecting Nakamba to improve. It has to stop.

We haven't really had a pairing in the centre since Barry and Petrov.

[Risso]

The good:

Ramsey and Traore looked good when they came on.
Bailey looks like he'll be class when he gets up to speed
Good fight back second half, with a good goal from Meatball
Debut assist and goal from Bailey and Ings respectively.

The bad

Targett looked like the terrible player from two years ago when he got ripped apart by Traore
Truly horrible debut from Buendia
Defence as a whole an absolute rabble
Another reminder that Nakamba and El Ghazi are nowhere near good enough
Young rather obviously not a winger any more
Cash had a shocker
The media are now going to go about how we're not getting over Greasy leaving.

[LukeJames]

How the fuck can the 4 of them sit and watch Brentford yesterday and think yeah what we need is a slow ponderous game plan with a few long balls thrown in.

Nakamba is wank, absolutely wank, and I dont just mean off the back of this game, he's been shit since he joined but today was the pinnacle of his shitness.

How can everyone of us stupid bastards see that we need a proper DM but the coaching staff cant? They cut through us with ease all game, its impossible to be that wide open against Tom Cleverley.

Matt Targett was back to his 2019 form but he's got enough credit in the bank to be forgiven for a one off bad game, how Smith didny change it earlier I'll never know, Sarr was destroying our right hand side.

End the fucking season now.

[charleeco7]

How do every other team in the league find hard, no nonsense central midfielders who can win the ball and pass it to their own players but we can’t? It’s been a massive issue for years.

We keep shoehorning McGinn into the role, and expecting Nakamba to improve. It has to stop.

Correct. Neither are the answer and I don’t think Douglas is either. We just get overrun by teams like Watford and don’t seem to be looking to sort it out.

[cdbearsfan]

Well, it's only the first game so I'm not going to panic too much (remember we won our first in 2015/16).

That said, everything I feared might happen, did happen. They looked far more up for it than us and we looked exactly what we were, a team that hardly knew each other.

The players need to work their arses off in training this week, and the manager/Board need to get a midfield enforcer in, as an absolute minimum.

We need to beat Newcastle now, the longer we go without a win the more the "can't win without Quisling" doubts will creep in.