Aston Villa vs Brentford Post-Match Thread

[kippaxvilla2]

Christ almighty.  The other week spurs were thumped at Fulham and they had handed the initiative back to us now we draw at home to Brentford who battered manure last week in all but goals it’s not the end by any stretch of the imagination. 

[AV84]

Ollie Watkins: "It's frustrating. We lacked that big team mentality where they kill games off which is really disappointing. I'm not belittling my team. I'm part of it."

As disappointing as it is to admit it’s important they are together on this. It’s a very candid observation by Ollie and something we need to develop as a club. It’s not easy and we have come a long way very quickly.

Its the kind of thing that leads to the best players leaving. I'm not doom mongering or anything, but there will come a point where collectively they become that team, with that mentality, or players like Watkins, Luiz, Martinez etc. start thinking they've given enough time to this project and it's just not happening.

I think quite the opposite. It leads to us bringing in more players who have operated under pressure of being at the top. The manager isn’t going anywhere. He has stressed mentality as a key ingredient in our success. So for me it means players who fail to perform at the top level leaving and bringing better ones in. And we’ve already seen that given just where we are less than 2 years removed from being one of the worst teams in the league.

It's not really the opposite, it's just one way of the team becoming one with a stronger mentality. Replace the ones that can't/won't make that step up. In that respect the summer transfer window will be a hugely important one for us. There needs to be constant progression in order to hold on to the players we really want to be holding on to.

We've been very badly hit with injury and a couple of suspensions,  making it harder to maintain consistency with the line up and keep up that winning mentality we had for the first half of the season. So I don't think it's a massive problem, we don't need to replace half the team, but there is definitely some thoughtful recruitment to be done this summer.

[coreyfeldman]

Ollie Watkins: "It's frustrating. We lacked that big team mentality where they kill games off which is really disappointing. I'm not belittling my team. I'm part of it."

As disappointing as it is to admit it’s important they are together on this. It’s a very candid observation by Ollie and something we need to develop as a club. It’s not easy and we have come a long way very quickly.

Its the kind of thing that leads to the best players leaving. I'm not doom mongering or anything, but there will come a point where collectively they become that team, with that mentality, or players like Watkins, Luiz, Martinez etc. start thinking they've given enough time to this project and it's just not happening.

Honestly what are you going on about, we're battling for champions league after being in relegation places when this manager came in. You're absolutely doom mongering to a ridiculous extent

[taylorsworkrate]

I have to say the ref was absolutely woeful today he literally gave every decision to brentford. A very bias performance

I actually thought he was OK first half, made some decisions that pissed Brentford off. Then that woeful second half. It was like 'Stockley Park' literally told him to even it up during the break. Bizarre.

As others have said, shocking from Konsa, Pau in particular, and I'd add Tielemans to that second half (their quick free kick esp) - we looked a lot more solid on the right when Ginny moved back late on.

We switched off at the 2-0 goal, decided we'd already won. Not a top level mentality. I don't like the bloke, but you think of someone like Henderson when at Liverpool - no way that's allowed to happen. We're still too nice, especially without Ty. Need performances next two Thursdays - I'm expecting nothing at the Arse.

For me 1st half the made thw mpst ridiculous decision not giving a pen to carlos when he was pulled down yet gave foul other way.

I just knew after that what kind of referee we were getting today

He could quite easily have given a penalty for the Bailey challenge in the first couple of minutes too

[andyh]

Incredibly disappointing.
We paid the price for a turgid first half, and a few minutes of absolute madness in the second.

Had we approached the whole game like we did the last 20 minutes, we would have battered them.

[Somniloquism]

What I mean is, I think Carlos would be alright for West Ham. Or someone in upper mid table. 30m or whatever we paid for him is pretty much the going rate for a defender of that standard.

To get 70 points and Champions League, you need a different quality of player than that, who is consistent week after week. Konsa and Torres are there based on their performances across the season. Maybe Mings too (although lets not forget he also consistently has a mistake in him). But we need to be buying another Pau-level CB this summer I think.

For example, Spurs paid £45m for van de Ven this summer who is outstanding. That's the level we need to be shopping around for.

Well Torres was consistent in marking spaces rather then people for all three goals.

[Oklahoma]

When your manager decides to shit the bed in the week, don’t be surprised when the team does likewise.

What a daft comment to make. We are sitting in 4th spot after a remarkable season.
UTV

[curiousorange]

I hate these evenings. People aren't doom mongers - they're having a rant to get it all out of their system. Conversely, people aren't overly optimistic - they're rationalising. Let everyone have their little chunter, whatever it may be.

[Somniloquism]

Incredibly disappointing.
We paid the price for a turgid first half, and a few minutes of absolute madness in the second.

Had we approached the whole game like we did the last 20 minutes, we would have battered them.

The first half were we didn't concede and took the lead (and I won't mention the really strange penalty decision as Watkins goal came within a minute). If the whole match was that turgid we would have won.

[Somniloquism]

When your manager decides to shit the bed in the week, don’t be surprised when the team does likewise.

What a daft comment to make. We are sitting in 4th spot after a remarkable season.
UTV

I'm pretty sure Risso would have been happy after this result, he has been wanting it since Wednesday. Seems I was wrong.

[Astnor]

Positive: two good goals from Ollie.

[AV84]

Ollie Watkins: "It's frustrating. We lacked that big team mentality where they kill games off which is really disappointing. I'm not belittling my team. I'm part of it."

As disappointing as it is to admit it’s important they are together on this. It’s a very candid observation by Ollie and something we need to develop as a club. It’s not easy and we have come a long way very quickly.

Its the kind of thing that leads to the best players leaving. I'm not doom mongering or anything, but there will come a point where collectively they become that team, with that mentality, or players like Watkins, Luiz, Martinez etc. start thinking they've given enough time to this project and it's just not happening.

Honestly what are you going on about, we're battling for champions league after being in relegation places when this manager came in. You're absolutely doom mongering to a ridiculous extent

It's not doom mongering. It's just a fact. We have players other teams want. They're the kind of players who want to win things, and if we don't make that mental breakthrough, they will eventually leave.

[Villan82]

When your manager decides to shit the bed in the week, don’t be surprised when the team does likewise.

Goodness me.

[AV84]

.

[SoccerHQ]

Still scratching my head at what happened in the second half.

2-0 and the game should be done and usually is with our game management under UE.

Instead we had a wretched 10 minute spell of refusing to press, refusing to block crosses and then not bothering to mark anyone in the six yard box when the cross came in.

I don't think we even strung together 5 successive passes between Brentford scoring their first and third we were that poor. Really Unai should've put a sub or two on at that point to try and shake us out of that malaise.

At least we dug a point out in the end but it's very much advantage Spurs now for 4th and we need to make sure we don't mess up the Lille games as it's sort of in our own hands to make 5th 100% true for CL.