Aston Villa vs Chelsea Post-Match Thread

[gpbarr]

The good news is Gerrard will have watched that and learnt a lot.

Mings has been a very good servant to the club but I think Gerrard will see that a big decision is needed there, he's always been inconsistent and prone to the gaffe - need better if we are to go where Gerrard hopes to take us.

Agree regards Ings - bad buy, he's cover for Watkins and not a strike partner - Gerrard will know he needs to make another difficult decision there which Ings wont like. 

Am sure he already sees Targett is limited.

That for me will be where he will look to do business in January.

[PaulWinch again]

Pretty disappointing second half display.

[frank black]

Personally I think Ings is a great player (to have on the bench). He won’t like that, but that’s where he should be.

[pauliewalnuts]

Ings isn't a bad player. He's a player we did not, and do not, need.

[KevinGage]

We had fought our way back into it.

But the subs made us worse, if anything.  Bert I can understand after so long out. He's still feeling his way back. Chuck has been in and around the side the last few games and looked sloppy and leaden footed when he came on.  Worth bearing in mind in future, when people assume brining subs on will provide an automatic uplift.

Meh, Sky got what they ultimately wanted.

Ably abetted by that clart Martin Atkinson.

[andyh]

Haven’t read the thread yet but my thoughts..

Very disappointing performance.
Riddled with mistakes, poor decisions and zero real chances created.
Chelsea are a good team, no question, so one of the things you have to do is not give the ball back to them, which we did, constantly.
We started the second half poorly and looked lacking in energy for most of it.

And Watkins and Ings together just does NOT work. There is no partnership, no chemistry there whatsoever.

Positives.
JJ looked very good in flashes, as did Sanson, and at least he didn’t get injured.

[OzVilla]

I’d be shopping Ings to Newcastle and see if we can make a profit on him in January.

They’d be tempted I reckon.

[Risso]

Watkins is such a frustrating player. Gets into good positions but makes bad decisions more often than not.

[sickbeggar]

Once Chelsea changed to the back 4 we were in trouble. 1st half they were blunt up front. Lukaku is a very cute player- that free kick in the 2nd half -he knew what mings was gonna do and just waited for him.

[Brend'Watkins]

There’s some shit talked on here tonight about the game. A game we lost because their subs massively improved them as it would. Lukaku is one of the best forwards in the league and will make them better that’s obvious to anyone who knows a little bit about football.  Ours marginally improved us but not enough. Mings played well overall, won most headers from their corners. I’m not blaming him for the goal. That goes to Bundia who yet again lost his man allowing the cross. I like Bundia but some of his play does land us in trouble. I’m sure Gerrard sees it too.  Sanson played well which is encouraging, as did Cash again. 

[brontebilly]

Watkins is such a frustrating player. Gets into good positions but makes bad decisions more often than not.

His limited technical skills are exposed more on the wing where he can only turn inside. At least down the middle he can turn both ways and tends to drag centre backs down the left channel. Silva could have brought a pipe and slippers for all Ings threatened down the middle.

[astonvilla82]

I must have been at a different game as well, the only thing lacking was the threat from the forwards

[Villafirst]

Guys, losing McGinn on top of Nakamba's injury is simply too much out of our midfield. McGinn would've made a big difference. I presume it's Covid with him being out? I'm sure Stevie G will by another DM in January. Cash put in poor challenge for the first pen when we were comfortable. Too much giving the ball away in the second half is something you simply can't do against a top side like Chelsea.

[Beard82]

Think some serious questions need to asked about our summer business.  I guess you can’t expect everyone of our signings on come off immediately - but for all 3 of our signings to look like a mistake after half a season isn’t really very good.

Ings is a complete flop, poorly scouted and will never fit our style of play. Feel sorry for him. Buendia I had huge hopes for but particularly against the better teams he looks completely lost. Yard short in every facet of his play, so disappointed with him so far. Bailey unfit and disinterested in an admittedly few horror appearances. Replaced Grealish with those three!

Yet we're still top half with more potential to grow in next six months.

I think we've got a decent chance of finishing above West Ham and they're 7th currently so might be a bit over ambitious but that will be Gerrard's mentality even if we're a long way from finished article which games like tonight show.

Yes we’re still doing well and think maybe top 10 or even top 8 is where we should be.  My point is more that last year we spent similar money and transformed the team - this year - the players we haven’t spent haven’t taken us any further forward.  I know we lost Joe - but can we honestly say any of them are any better then Barkley - he won us a few games last year.

Ramsey has been like having a new signing this year - but if we want to get better we can’t afford to get too many big purchases wrong.  Particularly when we talk so much about how amazingly well thought out all our transfer business is

[Gareth]

Thought we were competitive, first half our challenging and intercepting were generally first class.  Second half with Lukaku they took a degree of control & we didn’t go toe to toe anything like as well.

Cash having a brain fart and lunging in is something he has to work on, he has given away too many penalties….something I guess happens a lot with converted wingers.

For the Lukaku goal neither centre half covers themselves in glory, Mings will get the brunt of it and the fact he doesn’t even leave the ground doesn’t help but Konsa let him go too.

Targett for me will definitely be the first upgrade that Gerrard looks at, he simply has no speed so cannot get up the pitch to be that overlapping full back that he wants and the way Lukaku just jogged away from him like he was running in concrete was so so poor.

Lost count of the amount of times Buendia tried to pass it through an opponent like there was no one there - still think he will come good but he needs to calm down a bit and play the simple ball rather than constant Hollywood

Ings and Watkins, again I felt they were trying to be too polite and rather than selfishly go for goal they were looking to pass and be recognised as a partnership.

What I come back to is the 3/4 games before we changed manager and how soft we had become…tonight individual errors cost us but we weren’t soft