Villa 0 – 1 Wolves; Mediocre, mediocre, mediocre

I honestly struggle to think of a game that depressed me more than that one.

Our play lacks invention, it lacks incisiveness, it lacks desire and urgency, it lacks pace and it lacks quality.
We’re just a very, very poor side and it seemed to me like Wolves never even got out of second gear.

I just don’t get it.
How can we lack urgency when we’re in the position we are?
Douglas Luiz, who I thought looked very decent, apart, we just look directionless and clueless.

We played two strikers, which was needed in my opinion, but they were usually so far apart there was no way they’d link up.
Likewise, Grealish again played miles too deep, too often and it just totally frustrates me.
Then again, when he did get on the ball, he was mostly useless. I’ve not said anything before, but I’ve thought for a good while that he’s lost interest now and is frankly sick of watching the pure lack of quality around him.
I’ve never been a big believer that players have their next club in their head, but I think it’s definitely the case with him. He just looks like he’s given up.

Our setpieces were horrendous today and I’m struggling to think of a ball that didn’t go clean over the players’ heads. If Hourihane can’t get that right, he’s an utter waste of time on the pitch and he was invisible yet again.

As for Nyland, I’ve never seen a Villa goalie that scares me as much as him.
He’s fumbled the ball so many times lately and after the way he mis-threw that ball to Taylor, means he has to be dropped now. He looks devoid of any confidence and Smith needs to take him out of the firing line.

It’s the lack of direction that worries me most though and I just don’t see what we’re trying to achieve on the pitch.
When we do attack, we inevitably slow it down and Grealish was the most guilty of this, which means that the opposition have time to reorganise and the chance is lost. Loads of times, I heard myself saying “too late”.
It’s like the team have no belief and it’s this which will see us go down.

The result is bad enough in itself, but it’s the performance which has got me down more.
There’s the age old saying that the table doesn’t lie and I think that’s exactly the case.

We are where we are, because we’re frankly just awful.
And boring with it.

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