Well, they keep coming thick and fast and today it’s Wet Spam at home. Both teams are going well, with our opponents in 5th position in the league. A win tonight would see us overtake them on goal difference and we’d still have two games in hand. Obviously that would be nice.
West Ham lost at home to Liverpool on Sunday and didn’t create much, but they’d won their four previous games, including a notable win at Everton.
We’ve been a lot more erratic in winning just two of our previous five games, albeit two of those were away to the Manc clubs who we always struggle against.
So the Hammers have the better form, while we’re at home. I’m not sure that’s a good thing for us, but I think us getting the better results away is probably coincidence more than anything.
Squads then and we’re in very good nick, considering it’s the middle of winter and a lot of the first team have played the vast majority of the games up to now.
Hause is still out, as is Wesley. The aim is for the latter to be back this season, but I’m not convinced that will happen. I know his was a serious injury, but Heaton suffered the same in the same game and was fully fit a while back. Something doesn’t ring right to me, but it’s pretty academic at the moment, because if Smith stays with one up front, Wesley has as much chance of starting as I have. It would be nice to have him on the bench or as a viable option just in case Olly gets injured, which he probably will at some point.
As for West Ham, they’re in good shape too. The only news is that Jesse Lingard who signed on loan from Man Utd will be available.
Prediction time then and my default position tends to be a draw because it’s nice and safe and not at all controversial.
But having looked at the table, we’ve only drawn two games this season, hence I think I’m going to have to choose.
I’m still tempted to say a draw, because it keeps nagging me that if we play like we did against Southampton I think we’ll definitely lose.
But we’re always capable of goals and if we fire on all cylinders, I think we can win comfortably.
I’m going to stick my neck out and say we’ll win, 2-1.
Here’s hoping and UTV!
Comments
64 responses to “Villa – West Ham; Are we back in the groove?”
Very poor tonight. Worst showing since Southampton.
I won’t be writing a post tonight, unless there’s some kind of miracle finish.
We are utter dogshit.
This is absolutely crap
They are out muscling us in every department
Bloody hell, what a save by Mings there.
Crap defending again though.
Have we supplied a single decent set piece today?
I honestly don’t remember one.
Olly, yes!!
Lovely finish!
1 -3 I’ve turned it off , had enough.
Martinez, that was poor.
1-3
Anyone who talks about Europe is way off beam. There’s an awful lot of work to do.
And I do think they looked tired and off the pace tonight.
Very disappointing tonight. Got what we deserved.
Stopping Grealish, by doubling up on him, should allow McGinn and/or Barkley the freedom to dominate.Unfortunately, neither were up for it.
It is, in some ways, a good thing that we are disappointed, because we have achieved so much, interms of progress so far this season that the expectancy level has been raised somewhat. Maybe it is time for a reality check.
I am certain that we are good enough for a top ten finish but, zs for Europe, probably not.
It is my view that Mings needs to realise that he isn’ t a nailed on certainty to start every game. His, more than casual, approach is becoming increasingly costly for us. Martinez has also started to make errors to our detriment. I fear that last season’s defensive frailties are slowly creeping back in.
Finally, if Barkley continues to play, like he has done in the last few games, then Chelsea can have him back now.
A really poor performance tonight. Have these players burned themselves out? Smith likes continuity when things are going well. West Ham were physically stronger than us and bullied us. I would expect changes for Arsenal game if only to let players know their place isn’t guaranteed. I was hoping we could push on after Southampton but fact is our current form is poor. We beat Newcastle comfortably but so have most teams. I thought McGinn and Barkley again were weak and were dominated. Time to reset and get back to basics. We are still doing much better than we all imagined so far so I’m not going to get to upset. Grrrrrrrrr
They can’t have burned themselves out. They’re being monitored constantly, remember? 😉
Seriously, I don’t think we’ll know that for a few more games yet.
It is odd though, as we played well against Man U and City, which were much harder games on paper, yet (imo) were crap against Saints and again tonight, which should be much easier games on paper.
I’d expect changes because I thought some of those players looked tired and I don’t care who disagrees. The sharpness and bite just wasn’t there for me.
Sanson’s an option, to give energy, but he’s about the only real one.
Was Barkley carrying a knock, burned out or just plain crap? Who knows?
We have options to make the odd change, but resting the whole midfield is jus a no-no.
Arsenal up next. They don’t bet any easier,do they?
well tonight the manager at least won the fans over, when he used his allotted substitutes 😛
Tbh Nath, I didn’t watch it 100% closely, he subbed EG at half time didn’t he?
Right move, even though I called for him to start, because he was crap.
And having looked around, people wanted Barkley off much earlier because he was crap too.
I’m not sure what to think, as I haven’t got a goos word to say about any of them.
At least if we’re crap, Martinez usually plays well.
But I certainly can’t praise him today.
Many people saying you have to hand it to Moyes as he got it spot on.
It’s hard to disagree with that.
Shocking.
I’d blame the midfield, who offered little to no resistance, but I might get attacked for it 🙂
Just poor all round really.
A sudden lack of confidence?
I doubt it.
Not a good night. Very disappointing display. Could it be that covid related, i dont know?? Very poor team effort. Not one player played well. Some strange results this season. All away wins tonight including Brighton beating Liverpool. Wet Spam got their tactics spot on defensively and took their chances when the came.
hammers were man for man the better team. moyles tactics was spot on first half they doubled up on grealish. every time villa tried to get the ball forwards their backline pushed up, that allowed their midfielders to press higher and their forwards harassed mings and konsa. we just couldn’t get a hold of the ball to create much and we missed what we did.
barkley subbed grealish went inside this nearly worked for us we got a goal and looked like we might get another. but we didnt deserve it and hammers scored another. i think moyles game plan was built around stopping grealish and it worked a treat.
Nath, teams often double up on Grealish.
Either Grealish wasn’t as good or West Ham did it much better.
West Ham certainly taught us a lesson in how you should defend in a cool, calm manner, so it was probably that they are just better at it.
i seen every game this season and last. teams havent doubled up like hammers did tonight. two full backs first half. second half when he went into barkley position. he found the space but then moyles brought on johnston and man marked him again.
moyles did a number on grealish and that in turn did a number on villa. wasn’t the whole game plan but in my OPINION it was 75% of the gam plan.
villa will face more teams who copy this tactic. what villa need to do is put grealish in the middle behind watkins then he has more space to drift around and harder to man mark.
Nath, if they doubled up on Grealish the way you suggest, where was our spare player to take advantage?
Answer, there wasn’t one, at all.
It should have been Barkley, but ………
i am very wary of trying to answer your question, as i might go over grounds i already covered.
they definitely doubled up on grealish, coufal was on grealish most even in first half grelaish swapped sides to get away from him. also fredericks was another right back who played in front of coufal. these two are right backs and both doubled up on grelaish.
there was no space, cause they just canceled themselves out down that side containing villa best side too. this is what i was upset at, i was screaming at my tv to put grealish down the middle and move barkley wide or sub him for a winger.
grealish is easier to mark on the wing as proven in first half, second half once they finally removed barkley, grealish then had the freedom to move left or right or deeper. now the full backs had to abandon the man marking and moyles reacted to this by brining on another man marker jonston he was a midfielder.
grealish did not imo play intelligently. when you are man marked like he was, you have to lay off the ball quickly and move always keep moving drifting around that might have created the space you expected. but he was too static or he took too much on. football is played in the head too. like sherringham he was slow but he had a quick brain to find spaces he couldnt out run defenders he was smarter than then
i apologise is i over stretched my answer, i hope i answered you question IMO not fact but i think this is a good attempt. personally after the disappointment went away. i have to applaud the hammers they executed their game plan and we had no answers. until grealish moved inside which i was begging for
Nath, I’m not sure why you keep talking about your replies being too long?
Does it stem back to where you were told “you don’t half go on”?
If so I think that was down to you repeatedly saying the same thing, while being massively in a minority in the debate about the players being tired, that’s all.
If a reply needs to be long to make your points, I don’t think anyone has a problem with that. I certainly don’t.
I’m still weighing things up wrt the the West Ham game and was going to post about it either later or more likely tomorrow.
But I’ve just realised it’s Friday tomorrow and I’ll probably be writing about the Arse game.
I might combine the two, we’ll see. Or maybe Hitch will jump in before me 🙂
trying to explain tactics is sometimes is harder without using the sauce bottles or fruits. basically i know what happened better than i posted, but i still believe i posted a fairly good explanation.
Fruits?
I wonder which Barkley would have been last night?
Plum sounds about right 😉
Utter rubbish tonight and why didn’t we sign lingard I thought we were interested in him a few years back he’s the type of player we like hungry with something to prove.
Players looking knackered to me sorry just no energy. Covid19 catching up and too many games in a short time. Another defeat against arsenal coming up.
Never mind we should be safe from relegation. Plus teams now working out stop grealish and you stop villa. Same as teams have found out Sheffield United.
Just so tied.
Newcastle were reasonable when they came back from isolation and then went terrible…..we have been terrible against Newcastle…..Southampton and now W.Ham.
BUT El Ghazi hasnt played and he was slow as well – but i dont think he had a chance with 2/3 on him as soon as we slowly passed to him.
Worse thing tonight was Emi…thought it was Guzan 2nd half….
el ghazi hadn’t played much football certainly hadn’t started any lately. he was poor first half. surely that is not down to tiredness ??? our flare players struggled tonight cause hammers starved um of the ball and space.
they did a number on grealish and we lost a major player in our game. when hammers regained the ball it was high past our midfield and our defence was exposed
they won no complaints from me. gutted but that is football. hammers were really poor against pool. they certainly didnt play like they did tonight, they were on it from the first whicstle to the final
good night god bless me
Stop Grealish, stop Villa. We all suspected it and last night demonstrated it – even though he assisted the Watkins goal – Wets Ham managed to strangle him for long periods.
I admit to not seeing the whole game but what I did see was of concern particularly around our absent midfield and it’s failure to adapt to West Ham’s tactics.
McGinn was anonymous and Barkley tip tapped with the ball repeatedly losing it in dangerous positions and El Ghazi – well at his ineffective worst. The passing was woeful – it was like half the team had never played together.
There wasn’t the usual protection of the back four by Luiz / McGinn – Lingard (sic) was continually finding lots of space and ran the game – why weren’t we in for him? 20 shots allowed when the defence has prided itself on restricting the opposition to a Scrooge like few.
Martinez had his worst game in a Villa shirt; probably should have saved the third goal and his distribution was poor again by his high standards. However, it would be harsh to over criticise for one poor game.
Tired bodies, tired minds?
The danger is – and I’m as guilty as any other fan – is over expectation. Smith, the team and everyone at Villa Park are doing a brilliant job. We’re in a strong position way and above anyone’s expectations this season but there’s a lot more to do to get us to a top 6 or even top half side.
I cannot add to what’s been said, you all seen it lastnight we are a spent force and only 1 player that can drive us forwards. Stop him game over, that’s what they did, why oh why did Dean put el-Garzi on ? Why didn’t he see we needed a new midfield player that they knew nothing about. It’s over lads mid table for us.
The Warrior here and last night’s game was pure shite no one had a clue bring on fresh blood were supposed to have all the best young starlets in the country that everyone wants so what’s the problem come on Dean bring on the young ones. VTID
Management lacking nous again. Moyes plays 2 right backs to double up on Grealish. Smith – I thought – had trumped that by playing a left winger El Ghazi so Grealish could swap to the right.
That is what could have happened, and as was proved too late when Grealish did swap to the right side, there was a hole in the Hammers defence. But No. Smith sends them out with one player double-covered and the other on the wrong wing. Traore comes on but plays in-field not on the right.
In two home games now Martinez has gone to pieces once he has conceded the first, even if it wasn’t his fault. Midfield was anonymous – what happened to them driving forward and taking a shot? New player is needed in there.
Hammers also forced Villa to play a predictable sequence by pressuring Konsa and marking Cash. That forces this repeated outcome. Konsa plays the ball to his left to Mings, Mings hits it long to Watkins or Grealish up our left wing. total comfort for West Ham and their left sided players can move into space, they won’t be needed to defend and can be ready in space if West Ham win the ball on the other wing.
Before last nights game I was quietly confident of beating Arsenal. With only a two day gap surely Smith will have to utilise his squad. I can see Sanson making his first start and possibly even Nakamba. I would drop Barkley and McGinn and also give Trezeguet a run out instead of Traore. The back four pick themselves at the moment so they will have to be ready.
The positive is we are still in a good position and a couple of wins would make last night less significant. I think it will be hard to maintain the quality of our football with so many games in a short space of time. Winning ugly like we did against Southampton is something we need to work at. Last night was a game where West Ham rolled up their sleeves for the battle and we wanted to play beautiful football. Unfortunately you have to win the battle first before the quality of our players shines through. Too few of our team looked like they were at it for whatever reason. Tactically too Moyes won that and Smith took a long time realising Grealish wasn’t getting any success from his two markers before eventually moving him to a more central position where he had more joy.
Unfortunately we aren’t blessed with top back up players for every position. Hopefully this will be addressed in the summer.
I’ve just seen that Jack contributed £2k to a funeral.
Fair play to him.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jack-grealish-pays-funeral-aston-23445504
I’m contemplating a write-up on yesterday’s game, but more likely I’ll combine it with a preview for Arse tomorrow.
arsenal can not defend like hammers, one thing which villa struggle with is players ganging up on grealish. i do not believe arsenal will stifle their own game to stop us. another words they will believe they can beat us playing their game. so we will get space something hammers denied us.
we will bounce back in a few hours when the game kicks off again. we tend to answer a defeat with a good solid performance so back us to win 2 0 early prediction