Aston Villa vs Chelsea Post-Match Thread

[SoccerHQ]

Easily our worst performance under Mr Gerrard and worryingly like the Villa of old.

If we're putting in our worst performances under this manager against the top 3 then we'll have a very good second half of the season.

I think as long as we get everyone fit we'll have a real good go at both fixtures against the other Manchester team and win one of them.

Our level was more than fine first half, just a very flat opening to second half that cost us as we lost all momentum.

[tomd2103]

https://www.skysports.com/football/a-villa-vs-chelsea/report/446468

That Mount miss was horrific, two Chelsea forwards waiting for him to square it. Martinez got away with one there. Konsa saved a certain goal from Alonso too. We were battered in the second half.

No we weren't.

I agree we werent battered. In the whole game they were completely on top for about 15/20 mins at the start of the second half. We were the better team first half and i thought Chelsea were there for the taking, but our final ball was just off, but once Cash made his mistake it had a degree of inevitability about how it would end.
I thought we needed to make the subs when we made them, but unfortunately we seemed to get worse when the changes were made.
On a positive Sanson is another good option in the middle and Ramsey continues to impress. Brentford away on Sunday is more of a marker of where we are than yesterday.

Agree with a lot of this.  Thought there were a lot of positives yesterday, especially how we kept the ball at times and played some good football. 

I agree that the quality in the final third is a bit of a problem at the moment, especially in games against the top sides where you don't get as many chances.  Watkins just hasn't got the ability on the ball to play in a creative role in the top flight and needs to play centrally.  It is those playing in those two 'number 10' roles who are giving the ball away too often at the moment, along with the full-backs not delivering quality crosses.

[TonyD]

I also think Chelsea have a dive coach. 
You can just see how their balance and centre of gravity is tuned to theatrically fall at the slightest contact.  Almost balletic. 
Lukaku only had one thing on his mind when he ran into the area.   

[sickbeggar]

End of the day we weren't great 2nd half, but if Lukaku had been playing for us 1st half when we were on top we'd still have won even with Cash's fuck-up.

[TonyD]

Oh don’t get me started on Herr Steptoe. 

[Nunkin1965]

Oh don’t get me started on Herr Steptoe.

I've just re read the article.
What a complete knob.

[CT Villan]

Thought we were good for the first 35 mins, just slightly lacking with the final ball. Then our intensity seemed to drop. Second half was the same low energy crap culminating in some very poor defending by the back 4. Mings appeared to crap himself when Lukaku came on and went to pieces.

[The Edge]

Thought we were good for the first 35 mins, just slightly lacking with the final ball. Then our intensity seemed to drop. Second half was the same low energy crap culminating in some very poor defending by the back 4. Mings appeared to crap himself when Lukaku came on and went to pieces.

I think that's spot on re: Mings/Lukaku

[JUAN PABLO]

Winds me up that the media not only air the rich kids' self-entitled tantrums but actually present them as if they're serious news. Wouldn't it be nice if a hack turned to a Tuchel and said: "As you're so keen on fairness, don't let us delay you while you tell Abramovitch to stop bankrolling you." I don't like football.

Maybe Tuchel should mention how pointless the chump league group stages with the 6 games , but he wouldnt want to have  knockout comp would he , just in case

[kippaxvilla2]

At least Shearer called him out on it on MOTD.

[olaftab]

End of the day we weren't great 2nd half, but if Lukaku had been playing for us 1st half when we were on top we'd still have won even with Cash's fuck-up.

It wasn't just "Cash's fuck up" becuse in the few minutes of play before that we were dreadful. We lost the ball in midfield through messing aboout rather than anything Chelsea did about 3 time and it was on that last breakdown in that spell that they managed the get the ball over to their left to attack and we and Cash were caught napping.

[Bobby Boy]

End of the day we weren't great 2nd half, but if Lukaku had been playing for us 1st half when we were on top we'd still have won even with Cash's fuck-up.

It wasn't just "Cash's fuck up" becuse in the few minutes of play before that we were dreadful. We lost the ball in midfield through messing aboout rather than anything Chelsea did about 3 time and it was on that last breakdown in that spell that they managed the get the ball over to their left to attack and we and Cash were caught napping.

Yes, it was an infuriating goal to give away as Chelsea were doing very little. Ramsey had easy possession and played a poor ball that was nowhere near Buendia.

We were sloppy at times and obviously the better teams will take advantage of that.

What was promising in the first half though was that we were attempting to play composed passing on the deck including the defenders.

It was noticeable that Mings continually tried to pick a pass rather than launching the ball aimlessly forward which is evidently what Gerrard is instilling in the team.

It is promising overall even though there will be the odd blip here and there.

[john2710]

We were the better side for most of the first half. Chelsea offered very little but we had several almost moments, where the wrong or slightly over hit pass could have gone the other way.

Cash's challenge for the penalty really cost us & Chelsea took control afterwards. Mings was rattled by Lukaku.

We have to remember we are only 7 games into Gerrard's reign but he's getting more out of the team than Dean did. We haven't seen our first choice side play together yet & hopefully a few gaps will be filled in Jan.

Buendia doesn't seem to have the pace for the PL, which can be masked if you can physically keep possession.  I will hold judgement on him next season.

Ings just doesn't fit in with how we are set up & is not a back-up to Watkins.

[brontebilly]

I thought Kovacic made a big difference to their midfield when he came in. Kante was quiet enough. While Lukaku was an obvious sub, switching to a 343 was clever from Tuchel. It took Gary Mc far too long to respond.

[Clark W Griswold]

Looking at the big picture we’ve lost to the top 3 and apart from first half against Man City and second half against Chelsea we’ve played quite well.
We’ve won all of the other games, some of which didn’t look very winnable after that Southampton defeat. Gerrard wasn’t there yesterday either.