You couldn’t make it up.
If you wanted a big story for the first game of the restart, what would be better than goal-line technology massively failing and VAR then failing to overturn what was a blatantly obvious goal not given?
If I was a cynic, I’d almost think it’s a case of the Premier league soap opera having given us yet another fantastic episode on a par with Angie and Den’s divorce in Eastenders.
Hmm.
So we’ll have to go with the two failures happening as purely accidental.
It’s a good job it happened for us, as it obviously earned us a point, but you have to feel sorry for Sheffield, as that might just have caused them to miss out on Europe. I genuinely hope it doesn’t affect their chances.
So what about the actual game?
Well, I can see that some of you are not at all impressed, but I actually thought we were okay.
I very much expected Sheffield to dominate us. They didn’t. At all.
In fact, I thought we were the better side by some way.
We created more chances. We stopped them playing mostly and most importantly didn’t look anything like the shambles of a defence that we did earlier in the season.
Not that Sheffield looked to try much and they did indeed make it much easier than expected for us.
But we really should remember that our opponents today are overall a better side who are challenging for Europe.
Yes, it would have been nice if we’d gained all the points today, but secretly I’d got this down as a 2-0 defeat today. I just didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to come across as too negative.
Kienan Davis, while still not being able to seriously threaten the goal gave a highly encouraging performance. He managed to get in the right positions quite often and gave their defenders plenty to think about. He worked hard and was particularly unlucky when he just couldn’t quite reach a nice ball in from the right by El Ghazi, I think it was.
If he looked like an instinctive striker with the way he heads or kicks the ball at goal, I’d say we have a brilliant prospect on our hands. Sadly he just doesn’t, but maybe it will come.
Grealish did well with his runs and one through ball was sublime, but I thought his first touch was often too slow. Again, that’ll definitely improve with playing time.
And I thought John McGinn stood up pretty well, in his first game since the new year. It was obvious he’d tire.
And the rest of the players were ok too, with nothing much to complain about.
Except perhaps for Nyland who should have done much better for the none-goal.
I’d agree, it wasn’t an easy ball, but he didn’t get anywhere in taking charge of it.
And you tell it massively unsettled him.
I must admit I was wondering why Steer hadn’t been picked and I also wonder how he’d have managed with that particular ball in.
But I’m not going to be too critical on the first day. It’s not unusual to see totally non-typical performances and the results normally have very little bearing on what follows afterwards.
But given that our defence has been our biggest problem this season, if we can show improvement in that area we shouldn’t abandon hope just yet.
Maybe not the result we wanted, but we’re also not down yet either.
You’re more of an optimist than me Badger. I think we’re back down considering the games we have left.
Oh don’t get me wrong.
I’m not at all convinced that we’re staying up.
It’s just that it looks better than I thought it would be before the game.
I’m just taking the positive out of it.
Toothless up front – I just don’t understand playing with one striker, especially at home(not that home advantage counts for much). I’m fully aware that moneybags citeh are streets ahead of Villa, but when they attack it’s at 100 mph with about four players bearing down on the opposition defence; Just saying!
I totally agree. We either play Samatta off Davis or play Davis/Samatta with Grealish just off him in the 10.
Trouble is the latter leaves us weak in the middle, as Jack wouldn’t be available to be constantly mopping up way inside our half.
Talking of which, when will Smith see that Grealish is utterly, utterly wasted on the left?
It’s just laughable and if Jack does leave, you watch how much better he is when he isn’t being used as a box to box attacker/midfielder/defender.
I’m seriously beginning to think if we go down, Smith stays.
But if we survive, he has to go.
But am not convinced about it yet.
I’m going to take it as a positive sign – the non- goal that is. We were robbed of a point earlier in the season by second-rate refereeing (Lansbury’s goal) and today we got it back; so maybe the tide has turned.
The 4-3-3 formation clearly isn’t working. Grealish playing wide just wastes his effectiveness. Why not play a 4-3-1-2? After all, El Ghazi or Trezeguet offer little when picked. With Davis and Samatta up front and Grealish tucked in, maybe something different would work. I’m trying to think of positives from tonight but I’m struggling. At least Sunday we will have had a game beforehand to get up to speed whereas Chelsea will play their first.
All that needs to be said about the obvious catastrophe by Nyland and the Blades being ” hard done by”.
Just rewind to the Championship game at Villa Park last year, when ‘little man syndrome’ Billy Sharp almost took Kalinic’s hands clean off in kicking the ball out of the keeper’s firm hold. If the correct decision was made then, we would have won 3-2 and the diminutive big head wouldn’t have got his hat-trick. I didn’t see the arrogant Chris Wilder complaining then.
By the way,I am only 5ft 8 tall myself.
Ah yes, good point. That shouldn’t have been given, I agree.
As for Hawkeye, it turns out seven cameras couldn’t see what happened.
For the first time in 9000 games.
Still doesn’t explain the lack of VAR though.
Perhaps the operators were bored and fell asleep?
not the result we wanted or needed. i thought we played good in patches but we struggled where it matters up front and at the back. a bit like a car that looks good, but engine is fo ok ed.
i thought we had some good individual performances el ghazi luiz and hourihane all had better games than i seen from them for a long time, targget too also shone for the less impressive defence going forwards and he made some good tackles, interceptions.
davis while he led the line well and was a handful, he doesn’t look the goalscorer a team needs. when you play one up, you need a goal threat from midfield and your only striker needs to be a goal threat. davis will be better with a partner who can feed off him.
a draw is not ideal, as that game i expected 3 points and thought they were the easiest game we had left. only way i can see us surviving is other teams suffer playing in a morgue like stadiums and we flourish playing with no added pressure the fans emit
not happy about the bloody time of kickoff, why so early ? what was the rush, give ppl time to get home, talk to family and grab some food fook sake. before being rude and then suffering a nil bloody nil
It was a goal and its hard to admit that, luck was on our side with that cock up on VAR and goal line technologies was a farce. We was again lacking that determination and a drive to take men on instead of getting rid of the ball by passing it marked players. One player in Villa takes the ball finds gaps and goes forward that’s Grealish, yes he’s waisted on the left and that’s down to coaches. Terry looked lost when the camera focused on him as if he didn’t Want to be their. Dean Smith is finding it hard to save his job, at that performance it won’t be long before Smith and Terry part company me thinks. We need luck now to stay up ,other teams performance will decide our fate, West Ham hopefully will faulter and so will we the weekend that point means everything to us. Nice to be back..
Badger123 your comments on last nights game we’re perfect you saw the game through my eyes I would of said we were the better team because SU were poor and I felt sorry for SU because it was a howler from Nyland and we were lucky -1point is better than 0 points room for improvement if Dean Smith is to stay in charge. VTID. Defeat is not an opposition
Have to agree with all of the comments on here.
Luck evens itself out – although I’m not known for saying that when it’s running the other way 🙂 We would have been bemoaning our luck had it been given – although Nyland’s handling was poor- it was a collision with Davis that put him into the net!
I thought we looked more organised in defence with fewer howlers although Hause still managed to pass across the edge of our box direct to a United forward!
I thought Davis up front was a sensible selection as he can put himself about but also that I would have liked to see Samatta playing off him otherwise I thought the selection of the team was OK – well who else do we have!? So if we go with the same team who drops out for Samatta (Luiz or Hourihane?) or do we push Grealish up as a second striker with a roving role around the box?
Last comment – Konsa looks a really good player to me.
i was happy with the performance, but not the result. we still are the makers of our own downfalls. we learn at a early age not to pass a square ball across your box. but we done this all season and again last night which almost cost us.
we are all human and make mistakes, but how many times are we gonna see our team keep making the same old mistakes. i have a big issue with the team structure / formation and balance is missing. we are 3/4 of a way through and we still look like a team who do not have set patterns of play.
everybody i seen post, has said the same about lack of dangers upfront. smith needs to address this. grealish needs to play in midfield or up front with davis or samatta. having him out wide is wasteful and daft, cause he is easier to mark there, he drifts inside anyways and that leaves us open to counter on that flank. but if he stays wide, then he does track back. but do we really want our best offensive player in a left back position.
i don’t think the players know how to play the system smith wants to play. i would switch to 442, start playing two strikers or push grealish into that second striker role. but the problem is, we do not have two wingers who will work back as this system requires.
also while iam in a whining mood. under big Ron during the 90 minutes we constantly put good moves together. not all resulting in goals. we passed the ball quickly and with purpose. each player knew instantly what his teams mates where going to do.
watching the game last night, we had many instances where the players were unsure what their team mates were doing. they train daily for the season and they still look like strangers to me.
we did create good moves and created opportunities first half, but i think the mistakes outweighed the good stuff. i also think we over play by some way. there is no need to play dangerously across the back, inviting the press cause we are not that good at countering ourselves,
And who’s the worst one for messing around at the back? It’s bloody Mings, by a mile. I always go into panic mode everytime he does it and it needs to stop.
It’s my biggest criticism of him and it makes him look a liability.
Sheffield didn’t score though and accept for the goalkeeper and Davis knocking into their own net, the Blades got no where near! That’s a positive.
Davis is only 22, it’ll come and yes it needs to come fast. Samatta looked off the pace. There need to be 2 up front, or we are down. Agreed, Grealish is wasted as leftback, it’s stupid. Maybe he just chooses to drop back, who knows.
Our wingers aren’t good enough at this level. Lets see what the American kid can do at least for 30 minutes.
grealish is doing his job correctly, when he finds himself in the left back spot. he is tracking the right back (his man) when they have the ball. but i would argue is that getting the best out of your best offensive asset. have him play as supporting davis.
davis holds the ball up far better than the rest of his game holds up in this league. but to benefit from that good hold up. he needs a support. grealish would score loads if he played off davis up against the slower feet of the central defenders.
i thought hourihane did good and mcginn is back,we also got luiz and nakamaba. time to stop messing around now. grealish down the middle and free role meaning no tracking into our half. play him off smatta or davis but two up top
i blame mings too for the trying the fancy stuff at the back. Paul god Mcgrath used to play midfield earlier in his career and when he was at the back he knew when to pass the ball and when to play it simple but SAFELY. he led by example just like mings should. hause is a novice and mistakes are bound to surface in his game. mings should be setting a better example to players like him.
i remember a ball at the edge of the box in the left back position. too far really to demand the goalie to come, but mings left the ball and demanded the goalie to come, i recall this same thing happened earlier in season was it at old trafford my memory is shot. but it cost a goal last time and almost yesterday. mings needs to remember he is a defender. if in doubt get rid of it, row z if needed.
if we only cut the mistakes down by half, we will cut down the goals conceded for sure, then that means our shotshy strikers only need to score once to win
Nowich 0-3 Southampton
Not good.
i heard smith suggest that the formation we have been playing is the formation we will finish with. so two up top you can forget about. we seem to be happy with how well its working. i have to say i think that is a bad call. granted if its not broken why fix, but i think i can see many faults with my amateurish eyes.
grealish is wasted out on the left. two reasons he has to do lots of tracking when we do not have the ball, ( and we generally have less ball ) he is also much more easier to mark out there compared to in the middle.
whoever plays the lone ranger is so isolated its a joke. he is miles away from any support. davis is more suited to the role. but can not finish and being a striker it is kindof important part of his job. samatta would have buried the header davis missed. but i think samatta thrives on service like crosses. another problem we can not seem to get two wingers who can cross the ball. a position i like. i can see talent in both trez and el ghazi but both play the game and make it look harder than it should.
i was intending short post, now turned into a 100 words essay lol defence scare the life out of me. mings has lots of talent and is physically a man mountain. but he dwells and takes it easy too often like hes eating a cadbury caramel choc bar. if he played the game like a man lacking is self belief or skill he would not make the errors he does. instead of giving the players around him confidence he must be scaring the sh it out of them too.
i do think the performance against sheff utd was good. but i fear it might be more down to utd being slightly off their game. chelsea game will be more of indication of our weakness. i guessing we will be seeing less ball, lone striker only player in the opposition half. backs to the wall all game and a 3 nil defeat. you can also guarantee we will start well but carry no dangers. then a mistake will open the flood gates as we retreat
I agree with you Nath. Chelsea will win comfortably tomorrow and probably in the way you said, beginning with a defensive error. The only hope we have is having a game under our belt while Chelsea will be rusty at the start. We need to use this to our advantage and go for the jugular from the off. I think Samatta will start tomorrow purely because Smith will rotate him and Davis. Unfortunately the predictable 4-3-3 will be deployed and this puts Grealish out wide and isolated because he isn’t a winger. El Ghazi has been a massive disappointment and offers little on the right side. Trezeguet has more quality but less pace. There is a saying you get what you pay for and it shows with the entire squad. Any player around £10m in today’s premier league market is considered a squad player at best. Occasionally you get lucky but our recruitment in the summer was awful. We have a piss poor squad excluding Grealish and McGinn. Mings too has been disappointing this season and our only other quality player, Heaton is injured. Let’s get ready for the championship and whether Smith is the man to take charge.
three nil was alittle harsh i forgot it was at home. but i do believe if we carry on this same fashion we will lose to chelsea and we will probably go down, it will depend on others and how they cope. but i can not see many wins in games left playing same way we have. too toothless up front and reliant on one man
Dean Smith talking about Davis and Samatta;
“Being a lone striker is tough. There are times when I will be asking them to play together as well but they need to make sure both of them are ready.”
Maybe we will see two up top?
Seems to me he has to try it, because what we have isn’t working.
But I worry that we’ll weaken our lightweight midfield even more.
I’d still rather see Grealish in the hole.
the interview i heard him say, he will be continuing one up or 433 system. but he will have to rotate davis / samatta. cause the games come fast. three days until chelsea.
end of the day we have to win games. drawing or losing will just not do. to win games you need to score. both soton and norwich had two up front soton had four on four loads against norwich. thats how you win games
What I don’t understand is why Smith has pushed Grealish out wide. Bruce played him there and when Smith came in he switched him to attacking CM and we went onto win 10 games on the trot. We all said at the time that Bruce was playing players out of position. So now Smith goes and copies the Bruce master plan. Jota and Trezeguet were signed alongside El Ghazi to fill the wide positions. Elmo can play out wide too. By playing Grealish as a LW then he is admitting the club screwed up with signings!
Our defence is a shambles, our best GK is out, the midfield is lightweight and our forward line lacks creativity so few goal scoring opportunities! Add to that we don’t have any leaders on the pitch, we are doomed! Might as well blood some of the kids for next season or like Doyle-Hayes and O’Hare just let them go and spend wasted money on players who are no better than the kids we let go.
Question to all I have read the above rights or wrong And I totally agree with everything that’s been said but why oh why can’t Dean Smith see where he is going wrong. A quote from Dads Army comes to mind we are Doomed captain Grealish. VTID
if you go back to his walsall days and definitely brentford days. he has played this system, but at brentford his players had years playing that way. i do not recall many games where he has played the 2 up front.
at brentford and walsall his teams were always attack minded and given time he will probably get that working at villa.but currently in the top flight and players below the league standards, its hard to play his way at villa. I THINK ANYWAYS.
also a major factor is this squad where strangers at the start of the season and its not gelled as fast as he’d hoped.
Norman, it’s difficult to answer that one.
Maybe he thinks like he does because he realises we just aren’t good enough all round and the way he sets us up is just the best option?
anybody watching rerun of england portugal. we played that day without any real wingers.
i forgot how bad the referees were this guy was definitely rooting for portugal and he wasnt shy about showing that
vassell playing too lol came on for rooney
Just started watching Baggies v Small Heath. I think Small Heath have advantage of playing in front of no fans!
Brighton,beat Arsenal 2-1 now the shit comes.
Bloody Maupay as well! I have resigned myself for relegation Bill. I expect West Ham to beat Wolves too. The team we have now is worse than the one that got promoted. Tuanzebe and Abraham we replaced with Engels and Wesley.
I’m watching that game now, I fear the worst Holte, to be honest nothing between the two teams after 34 minutes.