Aston Villa - 1 Southampton - 0 Post match thread

[eamonn]

And his Dad is Villa...

[AV82EC]

I think I’m probably going against the grain here but I quite enjoyed the win on Friday. It wasn’t spectacular by any means particularly in an attacking sense and many of the usual frustrations with some players were on show (McGinn, Watkins) but despite my initial annoyance at the dropping of Luiz to shoehorn Coutinho into the team we did look more solid and balanced even if the attacking play lacked structure and flow.

Mings - MOTM.

Coutinho - much better and more influential.

McGinn - appalling in possession but much much better when we didn’t have the ball.

Bailey - bit lightweight but definitively a confidence player.

[PeterWithe]

I thought Watkins worked very hard and took up some promising positions. What I dont get is why we are finding it so hard to improve his first touch, which is horrific. Just dont let him off the training pitch until the groundsman is swinging his keys around and complaining that his tea is going cold.

[Drummond]

It wasn't the best performance, granted. Soton dragged us down to a mediocre level, But lets look at the positives, watkins looked threatening. Ming was commanding. The subs were well timed, and a wins a win.
Keep the faith, Steveies interview was far more upbeat than previous interviews, and that'll filter through to the lads.. FACT

I wont be suprised if there's not a run coming on!

Facile Anti-Cognitive Thoughts?

[Drummond]

I thought Watkins worked very hard and took up some promising positions. What I dont get is why we are finding it so hard to improve his first touch, which is horrific. Just dont let him off the training pitch until the groundsman is swinging his keys around and complaining that his tea is going cold.

I thought his first touch on Friday was improved?

[Risso]

I thought Watkins worked very hard and took up some promising positions. What I dont get is why we are finding it so hard to improve his first touch, which is horrific. Just dont let him off the training pitch until the groundsman is swinging his keys around and complaining that his tea is going cold.

I thought his first touch on Friday was improved?

Didn't look like it to me, it was as bad as ever.

[eamonn]

I thought Watkins worked very hard and took up some promising positions. What I dont get is why we are finding it so hard to improve his first touch, which is horrific. Just dont let him off the training pitch until the groundsman is swinging his keys around and complaining that his tea is going cold.

Great imagery. The camera would zoom in on his belt with a chain attached to it and keys being swung lazily from waist to hand in a bored manner.

[Smithy]

Ok for all those picking apart my comment I say this. Watkins is not a goalscorer. Simple. How many one on one's have we seen him fluff? He had two away at City last season which would of seen us go 3 or 4 nil up against one of the best sides on the planet. I'm aware of inflation so the 40mil Liverpool paid for Salah would be more than that today. But he was still a relatively cheap player inthe scheme of things and if we are serious about challenging at the top end that's precisely what we should be trying to emulate. I can't understand why people are arguing against it.

Again, if it's so easy why isn't everyone in the league doing it?

Salah joined a side in the Champions League for a fee 5 years ago that is still more than we've ever paid for a player. Those are the reasons i'm saying it's not easy. No one is saying they wouldn't like an upgrade on Watkins, but it's not as easy as you are trying to make out.

I never said it was easy. I said it's what we should be aiming to do. My point is Watkins is not a goalscorer. He's an absolute machine with his work rate and gives the opposition nightmares but we need a 20 goals a season striker if we are going to challenge at the top. I suppose I'm guilty of stating the bleeding obvious.

Unless a player is the very best in their position, then I'm never 100% against trying to improve the side by bringing in better, but sometimes you have to accept other positions are priorities, and that the players who ARE better that what we have, simply aren't gettable (at the minute). 

I don't think a striker capable of getting (or likely to get close to) 20 goals a season is going to join us, in our current position.  We need to be in Europe, and looking to challenge the top four before we can attract that level of talent.  We might unearth someone, get lucky with our recruitment, or strike gold with a homegrown player, but to go out and splash the cash to recruit that striker who guarantees goals simply isn't realistic right now.  That's not to say I don't think we're trying, I'm just sure we don't get a look in once champions league sides start sniffing around.

All that said, Man City won the league last year and their top scorer was a midfielder with 15 (De Bruyne).  Sterling was their top scoring forward with 13.  If we spread the goals around a bit more we wouldn't NEED a 20 goals a season striker.  We just don't create enough full stop.  Haaland would be lucky to have three or four by this stage if he was in the middle of our front three.

[paul_e]

Ok for all those picking apart my comment I say this. Watkins is not a goalscorer. Simple. How many one on one's have we seen him fluff? He had two away at City last season which would of seen us go 3 or 4 nil up against one of the best sides on the planet. I'm aware of inflation so the 40mil Liverpool paid for Salah would be more than that today. But he was still a relatively cheap player inthe scheme of things and if we are serious about challenging at the top end that's precisely what we should be trying to emulate. I can't understand why people are arguing against it.

Again, if it's so easy why isn't everyone in the league doing it?

Salah joined a side in the Champions League for a fee 5 years ago that is still more than we've ever paid for a player. Those are the reasons i'm saying it's not easy. No one is saying they wouldn't like an upgrade on Watkins, but it's not as easy as you are trying to make out.

I never said it was easy. I said it's what we should be aiming to do. My point is Watkins is not a goalscorer. He's an absolute machine with his work rate and gives the opposition nightmares but we need a 20 goals a season striker if we are going to challenge at the top. I suppose I'm guilty of stating the bleeding obvious.

Unless a player is the very best in their position, then I'm never 100% against trying to improve the side by bringing in better, but sometimes you have to accept other positions are priorities, and that the players who ARE better that what we have, simply aren't gettable (at the minute). 

I don't think a striker capable of getting (or likely to get close to) 20 goals a season is going to join us, in our current position.  We need to be in Europe, and looking to challenge the top four before we can attract that level of talent.  We might unearth someone, get lucky with our recruitment, or strike gold with a homegrown player, but to go out and splash the cash to recruit that striker who guarantees goals simply isn't realistic right now.  That's not to say I don't think we're trying, I'm just sure we don't get a look in once champions league sides start sniffing around.

All that said, Man City won the league last year and their top scorer was a midfielder with 15 (De Bruyne).  Sterling was their top scoring forward with 13.  If we spread the goals around a bit more we wouldn't NEED a 20 goals a season striker.  We just don't create enough full stop.  Haaland would be lucky to have three or four by this stage if he was in the middle of our front three.

The last line is far and away the most important part of this, the days of 20 a season strikers are gone, across the 5 main European leagues there were about 6-7 out and out centre forwards who got that figure and most of those players are worth £100m+. More often the players getting those sort of numbers are wide forwards now, players like Salah and Son. The sort of forward I'd like us to look for is a Firmino, a Kane or a Muller, someone who can score goals but who brings so much more on top. The issue is those players are only moving to teams in Europe.

[SoccerHQ]

Giroud would've been perfect a few years back, he said in his book we wanted him in January 2020 and he considered our offeer but decided to stay at Chelsea.

We signed Borja Baston a few days later....

[eamonn]

Where is he now? Get him in, seeing as we couldn't compete with selling the Wolves dream to Diego Costa.

[PeterWithesShin]

Where is he now? Get him in, seeing as we couldn't compete with selling the Wolves dream to Diego Costa.

AC Milan, and scoring a few.

[cdbearsfan]

Nope, he's at Oviedo.

[PeterWithesShin]

Nope, he's at Oviedo.

Giroud is at Milan.

[KevinGage]

Found out the result after the longest train journey in the world from Yerevan to Batumi. Seven hour drive according to google maps, 17 hours by train. Still seems more fun that having to sit through the game.

Glad for the three points. The next few games look winnable. Which is usually where the problems start with us.