Well, perhaps that’s a bit over the top.
But there’s no doubting how good that result was.
I might get some stick for saying this, but I honestly don’t think we were very good and it was more Leeds were really poor in what was mostly a very scrappy game.
Not that it matters. You can only beat what’s in front of you and we did that with ease.
Phil the magician scored the first, with perhaps a lucky deflection. I find him just scary in how he seems able to just make something from nothing every time he gets the ball. He’s just brilliant to watch and he’s looking like a player we really need to sign permanently. His reported £480k a week will have to be negotiated down a touch though (!).
Then Matty Cash got the second with another good effort, which was only surpassed by Chambers’ absolutely sublime strike for our third. If the likes of Ronaldo or Messi had hit that one, everyone would have been raving about it, that’s how good it was.
So while it was very scrappy game, our attacking play was excellent. We created 14 attempts against Leeds 2 or 3 and that probably sums things up.
Whatever I think of our performances doesn’t matter really.
The fact is we’ve now scored 9 goals without conceding in our last three games.
And we are also the only team to move up in the top 11, meaning we’re now ninth.
And again, regardless of my view about Steven Gerrard, the fact is that he got things spot on tonight and I’m very happy to see it.
Which reminds me.
My missus, out of nowhere, said that she thinks Gerrard will end up as another “who’s that red nosed bloke?”
“Alex Ferguson?” Says I.
“Yep, him”
Interesting, I thought.
Oh, big shout for Danny Ings, who got well involved and did well on the right.
I’m a happy bunny, hoping that dirty Leeds go down. 🙂
Haha, I’m still laughing.
Roll on West Ham on Sunday. Hopefully they will be a bit tired after the travelling to Sevilla.
Ooh, tough game that, as they’re going well.
A tough next few games too, having just had a look at the fixture list.
Still, confidence is up and we’re on a roll.
“I honestly don’t think we were very good” ?
Badger, were you watching the same game? Perhaps you haven’t been to Specsavers in a while…
Apart from the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, when they threw the kitchen sink at us (and we still held firm) most of our play was (IMO) superb. Some of the passing was absolutely pin-point, and we looked like a division above Leeds.
They were as physical and dirty as usual, but Martinez didn’t have a single save to make. Coutinho, Cash, Chambers and McGinn were brilliant, with Digne not far behind, and Ings worked hard for the team.
OK, WHAM will be a much sterner test of ‘progress’, but to say that we weren’t very good…
I can only presume you actually wrote that just to wind us all up and get a reaction!
Ardent, Yes I must be watching a different game.
We give the ball away so often it’s unreal and I find it to be irritating and pisspoor.
Fortunately, Leeds surpassed us in that department.
I suspect Southampton did the same, but can’t comment specifically.
I get that it comes with the fast pace of the game.
But don’t expect me to like it or think that it’s good, for one minute.
I would accept however, that it seems like it’s the way things are going.
Which is why I think the standard of the Premier league is abysmal lately.
And I’m by far from the only one who thinks that.
It was skittles football at times and that isn’t a good game for me.
I’ve hated watching us giving-away sloppy mis-passes, etc., most of the season.
But I really didn’t see much of that tonight; even Douglas Luiz hardly mis-placed a pass!
Even better, I hardly saw any of our lot slip and lose their footing; maybe they’ve re-discovered some old fashioned studded football boots in the locker room at Bodymoor this week…
Selective viewing, I wonder?
That’s tongue-in- cheek 🙂
But I do pride myself in being able to look at things from a neutral pov.
I watched RT as a counter to the Beeb news until it was cut off, for example.
I wonder if you can remember Mings hoofing it out of play yet again?
I didn’t mention it, as much as I felt like it at the time, but he does it so often, I just don’t know what to say. It’s scandalous to my mind, but hey ho. This is an England defender, too.
It seems to me any old crap will do now as long as you get the result.
Which I partly agree with.
I just can’t call it a good performance though, sorry.
Effective and a good attacking performance, yes. but good overall?
Not a chance.
They were horrendously poor and we were better.
Yes, I did see Mings put the ball out, possibly more than once.
But isn’t that what defenders have to do sometimes?
We’ve all criticised defenders on here for too-often trying to play out from the back, attempting sideways and backward passes near their area when under pressure, and giving the ball away.
So I don’t see why any defender should take a lot of stick for occasionally doing what most of the TV pundits keep telling them to do – simply hoof it out to safety (but try not to give away a corner…) .
Better a throw-in than an embarrasing mis-pass on the edge of the area, surely?
It wasn’t deliberate! He sliced it. Again.
I give up for tonight 🙂
So when we lose it’s because we’re shit and the manager should go. But when we win handsomely and comfortably it’s because the opposition are shit. Right.
Mark my words. Gerrard will succeed Klopp at Liverpool, where he will be worshipped, and he will be successful, as he will be at VP, in relative terms. We will moan and whine and lament when he’s gone, while the scousers will rejoice.
Advice (for all): enjoy the progress our club will make under his management while it lasts. Appreciate it. Teams will lose games. And they will give the ball away, especially when playing braver, more attacking football, where the ball has to go forward at a quicker pace.
Our attitude to this guy will make it so easy for him to make the decision when ‘Pool come calling.
UTfV
BFR, I hope you’re right, honestly.
Question.
Do you think Leeds were any good today?
On a humorous note I’ve just watched the booing off of Leeds players Thursday night’s game ,Leeds having a go at Mings and Villa giving it back. Its on utube and it made me smile..
Badger. 500 passes 83% successfully completed. So we gave the ball away to an opponent or into touch 85 times – and you remember those! How about the 415 passes to a colleague – slipped the mind?
Villa had to withstand a physical onslaught from a team determined to bully us. We did so brilliantly and gave them a lesson in finishing! Incidentally if you watch our under 23 / 19 matches – you can see why you cant pitch those players into a PL game like that, they would be blown over.
I have to agree with the giving the ball away part it’s horrific to watch at times but we do make up for it with the football we play on the break and in tight areas and the way we knock the ball out of the defence, apart from when it goes straight back to the keeper which often happens at villa park as you don’t have as much as a right to express yourself at home I think especially if you’re a goal up like we were at Southampton. I thought Leeds gave us hardly any breathing space at the beginning of the game, they pressed well, but they got worn out so quickly their fans were pretty dePRESSED 🤣 love beating Leeds of course have to have a laugh and some of the football is outstanding but does seem to always come with bits that pain you to watch sometimes!
Martinez – 7
Cash – 9.5 MOTM
Chambers – 8.5
Mings – 8 because he got an assist after a lot of stick which did get to him in my opinion. Have to justify Mings these days 🤣
Digne – 7.5
McGinn – 8.5
Ramsey – 7.5
Luiz – 8
Coutinho – 8.5
Ings – 8
Watkins – 7.5
My ratings – might be quite generous but I think some good individual performances.
Just to back up what I’m saying;
https://motleedsnews.com/comment/mot-view-leeds-united-player-ratings-v-aston-villa/
It may have slipped your notice Badger but these ratings are from disgruntled home fans venting their frustration. It’s about as objective as you (or me).
We are a decent team at times, but shouldn’t feel the need to excuse every win as meeting a shit team who somehow managed to be worse than us.
Leeds are in a bad place at the moment. Marsch is probably a gamble too far. He just sounds like one of those buzzword speaking characters that America lavishes praise on but most people think are clowns. They might survive by the smallest of margins but there is some serious competition to be the worst 3 teams in the division.
It’s ok for us to beat poor teams. It could be worse…we could be one of them.
Thanks for putting the effort in to running the website btw. I’m sure it often feels like a thankless task.
UTV
Badger’s objective alternative view encourages a wider debate even though I think it’s a little too negative.
Does Gerrard have the makings of a good manager?
On the evidence of his career to date one would have to answer yes. To me he seems strategically aware and has shown he can be flexible by tweaking our formation from his preferred 4-3-3 to get the best out of the players as a team. We look a better balanced side for it.
We’re seeing improvement in individual player performances and, on the evidence of the last three games, the partnership of Ings and Watkins – and he’s willing to make hard decisions for the benefit of the team – dropping Buendia and, quite rightly imho, retaining Chambers even though Konsa is available.
Exactly what defines ‘playing well’ or, more relevantly perhaps, playing badly?
I think we can all agree we played badly against Newcastle and Watford. By that yardstick alone we played well in each of our last three games and put in full 90 minute performances.
Can we improve – of course we can – but that applies to almost every team in the EPL.
UTV
Of course any team can improve.
Whereas we won 3-0 last night, a ‘better’ performance might have meant we won 6-0 or 9-0, but how often does ANY team get those sorts of results against anyone else?
However, it’s not as if we’ve won the last 3 games on dodgy VAR decisions (unlike many of the ‘top 4’ seem to), dubious penalties, or fluke own-goals, etc.
The performances have been good, and what’s important to me is that we’ve also managed to keep 3 clean sheets in the process (never once loking as if we were going to concede) – and remember that both Brighton and Southampton were above us in the table when we played them.
West Ham will be a sterner test – but the last few results have been soild!
I’m loving this did we play well or was we crap., let’s take a look at Leeds way of playing the game, crowd on Mings back although the match, tackles that would break legs and shirts being pulled. I think any team having to go through that gets my vote. James had a vendetta against Mings I could see in in his play. Villa did ok for me and Luiz played a better part lastnight in the game..Villa well done.
James had a great game last time we played Leeds. Last night he was his usual crap self. I think their game plan figured he would run Mings ragged and he failed to do that so was a bit frustrated. He’s quick but that’s about it.
Personally I judge our performance on how much i’m enjoying watching the match. Last night I was thoroughly entertained and never once thought we would concede yet we looked like scoring on most attacks. So a top performance for me, we really did a job on Leeds, a team I have recently felt a certain desire to beat! I dont know what it is but probably stems from those Championship grudge matches. How good is Matty Cash by the way, stunning last night. Anyway, tougher game on Sunday, however, I’ve just read that no Jarrod Bowen for West Ham which make me feel a lot more confident if we continue our good performances on the pitch. One last thing, i really like the way Gerrard speaks during interviews, it’s clear he does his homework and is a very intelligent manager. UTV
I really was concerned after the Watford defeat that we were going down a slippery slope. So it’s true I overreacted and I began to question Gerrard and his team. On the other side of the coin now we have won 3 games on the trot and played really well too, I will not get too carried away about talk of us getting into Europe.
The best thing Gerrard has done is to bring in Coutinho. All he needed was a bit of love and praise and behold we have a world class player. Personally I think if we can get him on a permanent deal then we will become a much more attractive proposition for other world class players. He is already an idol especially for the young supporters who want to model themselves on quality players. Losing Grealish was a disappointment, but Coutinho is simply better and his goals / assists are amazing considering the short time he has been back in the premier league and getting his fitness levels back.
The next half a dozen games represent a sterner test but if we want to compete at the top we need to beat some of the teams coming up.
Re posted due to it jumping.
On a humorous note I’ve just watched the booing off of Leeds players Thursday night’s game ,Leeds having a go at Mings and Villa giving it back. Its on utube and it made me smile..
See Davis scored two more in Forests 4-0 win including opening the scoring in the first minute. His price must be increasing exponentially:-)
Archer played but didn’t score – would have been difficult to do so in a 0-0 draw 🙂
Talking about younger players trying to make it – Carney Chukwuemeka needs to think carefully. Apparently he has not signed the contract out in front of him and will wait until the end of the seas season.
Carney should go and chat to Dan Cowley about being the next big thing and jumping ship. The grass is not always greener. He should realise that Villa have a tradition of giving young players a start. I think he is badly advised. In fact there almost appears to be a ‘Pogbaesq’ surrounding him. I hope he thinks carefully.
Buendia and Sanson are coming in for JJ and Ings and we’re changing to 4321 formation. Weird considering it’s a winning team 3 times in a row that we’re changing here. But then again we did play Thursday and Ings and Ramsey are both older and one younger so can’t expect them to be able to play every game.
I guess it makes sense to change things around as Moyes will have been studying tapes of our last 3 wins. Can we make it 4 on the trot????