I seriously struggle to remember the last time I didn’t want to watch the second half of a Villa game as much as I did today.
There must have been plenty of occasions over the last few years where I’ve felt like that, as we’ve been incredibly poor at times, but I just don’t remember any that made me feel so disinterested.
I stuck with it though and while it might seem we were miles better in the second half after being three goals down at halftime, I don’t think that was quite the case.
So what went wrong here then?
Well, after Leeds overloading Matt Cash, it seemed we were acutely aware that the same might happen today and indeed even expected it.
It didn’t happen like that though, as Southampton’s fullbacks played very narrow and it seemed to me it just caught us out and we didn’t know what to do.
I think I said in the previous thread that I thought we were clueless and I think that probably sums things up. Southampton used the advantage in the middle to good effect and basically just constantly played through us.
It doesn’t help when you give Prowse-Ward free kicks in good positions and to be fair, he did take both very well, with Martinez being blameless.
It also didn’t help when everything you did went wrong, with even the normally reliable Douglas Luiz either falling over or giving the ball away at will.
Fair play to Southampton, they pressed us and we frankly just couldn’t handle it in the slightest.
That worried me and I now wonder if other teams will just use the same tactics to good effect?
When you consider we blitzed Liverpool, you have to wonder how we’re allowing it to happen to us.
The worrying thing for me was the management didn’t seem to see what was going on with Southampton’s narrow play and I have to hold my hands up and say I didn’t either, but nothing changed in that first half, except for Trezeguet coming on for the injured Traore.
To be fair, someone obviously saw what was happening and in the second half Targett was pushed up to assist Grealish, which made us look a more threatening side.
It was pretty much academic though and I always had the strong feeling that Southampton had just backed off massively, which made everything seem quite strange as McCarthy, their goalkeeper, was probably their man of the match in that half.
I’m not going to pick on anyone particularly for that first half performance, but the midfield generally was the liablity and when it’s that lightweight things are going to be difficult for everybody.
It’s Arsenal next up and well, that might be interesting to say the least.
It’s currently looking like we’ll be very glad of our good start in the first four games.
Comments
40 responses to “Villa 3 – 4 Southampton; The scoreline flattered us”
Consider Southampton had two over-ruled for offside and things look much more like how the game really went, imo.
Rubbish, just rubbish, in that first half.
Very much what I said being the last comments on previous post, yes Mon was the goalkeeper, and yes midfielders was missing in first half.
Badger. Delete this post quickly after you read it. Go to sportslive.com. Look for a link to Football.tv with a black glossy football. download that. That operates like Vola but with more irritating ads you have to wait to X out.
What bothers me is Villa either do not watch videos of our opponent’s matches or Villa cannot draw the simplest of conclusions from what they see.
Who amongst you bloggers does not know that the giant Vestergaard is dangerous when he comes into the opponent’s penalty box for corners or free kicks?
Who amongst you does not know Ward-Prowse is in the England squad because he is the best dead-ball kicker in England, and usually favours the nearer post?
Why was Mcginn marking Westergaard, and why did the keeper not have the wall covering the far post – if he bothered with a wall at all instead of a man inside each post and no wall? That is 3 goals conceded that learning from Southampton videos might have helped us prevent.
Yep, you’re right there OLL, especially with the frees.
Had WM on before match and its a few mins in front of streams…..the commentator gasped as he saw Vestergaard walk out….saying not only tall but an all round giant and said he will be a handful from set pieces……..again at the start I dont like the big hoof up to Ollie against their tall defenders as it just gives them possession .Also why do our players have to pass so ohard when quite close as no way off holding it up – it just bounces off…all this kept giving them easy possession and then they used it.
Walcott had his shot which skimmed the bar and Ings scored but cant remember much else from open play.
I finally turned off at 94.5 mins as it said 5 mins extra ( wife calling for me to taxi her) and it was ages before I knew we had scored 3……saved our goal difference and from last season that might be vital.
Thought Davis might have come on for a 2 up front but thats too radical for Deano…..
Spot on originallondonlion, its part of knowing your opposition, I’ve often wondered if Villa are on top of that because many occasions top players have shined when at Villa Park. One springs to mind was Gerrard known to get pens in box and free kicks just outside the box. Do they monitor other teams when play them .
Before we right Villa off it’s only our 6th game loads more but we do need more and better defence players blood some of our younger academy team. From the Warrior. VTID
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This makes sense…….Great interview by Southampton manager after today’s game, spoke really well of Villa on a whole. Doesn’t care about scorelines only 3pts, said not a lot of teams will go VP this season and win. Speaks in great detail about his team and clearly his team do the business on the pitch, have rated this guy for a long time. Hats off….👏🏻 Plenty to take from second half today. As DS said first half had no rhythm due to Southampton antics and style etc, the way they can break forward on counter press is very easy on the eye tbf!! They play a 4-2-4 which is unusual for some but is something he played at Leipzig when manager their and worked perfectly for them and is now working for Southampton. If wasn’t for their keeper making 2 very good saves from Trez we would of got something from the game 😌 I’d of snatched your hand off for this position in the table at this point, if offered at start of season. 💪🏻 UTV 🟣🔵
Diabolical punditry on MOTD 2…O.K. Southampton won but no mention at all about Villas performance in 2nd half. Southampton got out of their half once and scored but that was it…….could have got Rednapps Mom to do a better summary……while on about her she defo could do better than Kane …hit the post from a foot away…
It’s fair to say that predicting results this season is nigh on impossible. I did expect Southampton to beat us but not to stroll to a 4-0 lead. Okay, they took their foot off the pedal and we made the score line look closer than it should have been.
We have strengthened the team from last season and I would expect us to finish around mid table. Listening to our fans opinions about conceding seven goals in the last two games, the opinion is not necessarily our defence but our midfield are easily played through and tracking back opponents runners seems an issue.
With Arsenal up next and Citeh being our game in hand. You would assume we would still be on 12 points which would see us mid table.
I think we are still a few players short because Smith apart from Trezeguet or Traore, he doesn’t seem confident in putting anyone else in to change things. The substitutes are more for injuries than replacing someone who is off form and that is disappointing.
After Arsenal I think we have yet another pointless international break. I hope it gives Smith an opportunity to see if he can introduce a plan B to future games.
Need to move to plan A + first……which is getting plan A working…then get a plan B to fall back on during games.
Why did it take so long for Villa to get going Dean Smith should have been kicking ass after Saints first goal was disallowed. Warrior VTID
very interesting watching how Leicester tackle leeds and its not too play um at their own game like we tried, they are deep very deep and hit them on the counter
foxes have got their tactics against spot on. whether they win they stand a far greater chance. they are deep and not allowing leeds to get in behind. then they hitting long balls for vardy and co to chase they just scored as iam tying this. i can see them beating leeds big score cause leeds commit so many forwards
ppl will say leeds were off their game but real reason is Leicester knocked them off their game. leeds started well but soon hit the brick wall, foxes sitting deep then picked their counters well, really could have been greater score line at half time. leeds had two great chances but bumford missed to sitters.
leeds finished the half shell shocked, cause they are stumped how to break foxes down. leeds also well drilled pressing has also been beaten countless times. mostly with a long ball to vardy,
makes me mad to watch most teams play the short passing game all the time. cause leeds want you to play short like we did, so they can pounce on you and get into your defence, but foxes didnt do this and leeds have been very poor by their very high standards. but don’t believe those that will say it was a off day. foxes should take the credit
leeds scored 2 1
ayling great dive lol leeds players dont cheat
3 1 foxes
4 1 foxes
full time leeds got battered 4 1 foxes win away.
bumford was back to his shit standards his goals at villa must have been a fluke
bugger I missed the 2 missed sitters…did he mysteriously fall over after…..
he missed a one on one with goalie too bumford did, he seemed to shit his pants as schmeichel flew out to meet bumford and ball. bumford saw the goalie and seemed to pull out of the challenge, he looked certain to beat scheichel to the ball. but schmeichel reached the ball first and whacked it and caught bumford alittle, but bumford avoided the full contact cause he chickened out or we was looking to get the goalie sent off.
foxes should have won be a greater margin. goes to show you having the right tactics counts. playing leeds like we did. only encouraged them to press and play. foxes and wolves sat deeper and countered leeds. deny them space to attack catch them over committing. also bypass the main pass with a long ball for two or three forwards to chase. foxes got in behind leeds all night first. leeds got a lucky goal start of second and that rocketed foxes, it was a cross / shot but mostly it was a cross to back stick bounced deep inside the box and straight in goal. but foxes regained their stranglehold and returned to the first half tactic
You’ve won ,, all them that voted and boycotted PPV.. £14.99 will no more pay, that’ll teach BT and Sky the robbing gits.
I don’t think Villa fans have won though if PPV charge is scrapped. It won’t happen till after the weekend so Villa fans still have to fork out £14.95 for Arsenal game which conveniently for premier league is the last game of the weekend. Assuming charges resume after December 2nd, we will have only one game which would be eligible for PPV mainly because of the international break which means there wouldn’t have been that many PPV games anyway.
So in conclusion, we are still being fleeced.
True Holte, but by boycotting the games that was is why, so hats🎩off to the ones that did. Badger, Hutchins, both refused to pay and so they should.
now that the ppv has been scrapped. lets get this international nations cup what ever its called scrapped too. soon it will be international footy played weekly and club footy played every blue moon,clubs do still pay the wages don’t they. maybe the english fa should pay villa players wages, they use um more than we do
personally i am not bothered about england unless its the wc. it used to come around once every 4 years and that was too much. now we got euros in between that now this rubbish comp. now this nation cup league whatever. players play too much but they still dream up more games to play. whats the answer they want to reduce the premiership, start by reducing international footy except the world cup. what is the point of euros and nations cup england know they can beat most,except the spain french germany holland italy portagul iceland
breathe lol bring on arsenal this is a game i like, i will wait for the preview post to predict. but iam really looking froward to this.
I don’t mind the euros too much Nath but the biggest problem is the amount of qualifying games and there seems to be new countries entering all the time. The nation’s league is a pointless competition that no one cares about. I don’t think players would care if it was scrapped. And like you said Klopp and Guardiola complain about too many games yet never mention the international fixtures that disrupt the season.
As for Villa, we have a really tough game tomorrow on PPV which means I won’t be watching. I think we can all predict the starting eleven which is a bit of a concern. If Smith can’t mix it up then we become predictable and teams find us out, just as Leeds and Southampton did. Unfortunately we haven’t got the quality in depth to impose ourselves on the better teams and the element of surprise has gone. I think it will be 3-0 to Arsenal although we have a good haul of points in the bag thankfully.
The previous international break came at the wrong time so I’m hoping this next one proves beneficial.
too much international soccer. how many international breaks have we had since the start of this season alone. i think its three or four and we havent played 10 yet not even close. its like every three weeks theirs a stoppage for international its b/s
leeeds behind again at palace, thats not the funny part leeds just equalised bumford beat the offside to converted. but when he beat the offside he stuck his hand up in the air to tell klick he was ready for the pass, his hand was offside and the goal was disallowed lmao, now thats funny cause he was definitely onside, but his hand was offside as he raised it lmao or it could have been his nose, faking injury against el ghazi. lees dont cheat