As in the headline, you would think we were the better side today if you looked at the stats.
And it’s about as good as an example of why stats can’t be trusted or relied on.
(Which is exactly why I think moneyball is total bollox too).
So, I don’t do stats at all and go on my opinion from what I witnessed.
Which was utter rubbish.
Where do I start?
As has too often been the case, we started brightly, created a bit (with no penetration whatsoever), looked the more threatening side and then conceded as soon as they had a chance, with some shocking defending, yet again.
I’m sorry, but this pattern of play is all to familiar and as much as I try and give optimistic types of opinions, I can’t get away from thinking we are absolute rubbish as a team.
Is it the players?
Well, Konsa and Mings looked like amateurs today, in my opinion.
You can not go into a game with such a lax attitude that you consistently get caught out so early.
Even if I openly admit to not rating Mings in the slightest, I do rate Konsa.
There’s a problem here, somewhere.
Yet again, our midfield offered nothing.
It is set up to be more defensive than attacking, but the players don’t suit that.
We all know McGinn excels for Scotland when he’s blazing forward, pressuring their defence and trying attempts on goal and is probably the main reason the Scots might qualify for the World Cup.
He’s wasted messing around in our third.
It’s similar with all of them.
Ramsey is crap defensively (although he is nicely learning how to stick the boot in, when needed) because it’s not his game.
Luiz, who I really rate as a midfielder is in a similar position and being ripped to pieces for not being a holding midfielder and I think it’s a bloody shame. He quite rightly is sick of being a scapegoat and wants out. I don’t blame him.
You watch him go elsewhere and be valued at £75 mill in short time, imo.
I don’t have much to say about the game, because frankly I’m not interested. We offered very little. Yet again.
I’ve been sort of called out for saying we’re rubbish, but I’m sorry, we are.
All that mattered today was getting three points. Which I actually thought we would.
But I’m taking a bigger view, where I’m looking at the squad.
I think we have the players to get us into Europe.
Yet, again, we look miles away from that.
I’ve given my thoughts about Gerrard; he isn’t my cup of tea.
And here’s my prediction;
We are going to have a big clearout in the summer.
It’s what Gerrard does.
And we’re going to waste another load of money on big money signings sold at low prices (Ings, Watkins, Traore, half the team) and we buy players at inflated prices again.
Dean Smith practically wasted £90 mill and I can’t see past the same sort of thing happening again.
When, oh when will we get a manager who can actually improve what we have, as opposed to ripping it up all the time?
I’m sick of us continually having to change things and never seeing any signs of trying to build something.
I’m becoming seriously bored with the Vila.
Wolves were poor today, but when you have opponents like us, it’s all to easy.
UTV (but I don’t see it at the moment).
Comments
167 responses to “Wolves 2 – 1 Villa; The stats flattered us, but no doubt they’re all that matter”
An absolute shocker of a season but we still get huge gates which shows how great us fans are we deserve a bit of success
Well, it’s not quite the slough of despond for me.
It’s more massive disappointment, that I’m getting the feeling yet again that we’ve been sold a pup.
Gerrard changing the system doesn’t seem consistent with maintaining a set club ethos to me.
And I’m struggling to get away from the money that we seem to have wasted yet again.
When you consider we got £100 mill for Grealish, £250 million net as it stands is a heck of a lot of money. And we’re still not much better than relegation fodder by the look of it.
How much will Gerrard get in the summer? I’m guessing £100 mill.
How long will our owners be willing to keep that kind of spending up?
You mentioned Lerner, Hitch and this is beginning to look all too familiar.
It doesn’t matter how rich you are, you can only go so far before you think you’re chucking good money after bad.
It seriously concerns me.
But then, we’ve been used to this for how long????
Some clubs, like Pool, can go through bad patches and then come back and win things.
We just seem destined to never do that.
Still, there’s always next season 🙂
I’m reminded of the “11 shirts on a washing line” comment made by Tommy Docherty, Little8
Blimey Badger – I remember that comment like it was yesterday – rather than yesteryear! Went to the first game at Villa Park after The Doc was appointed with new owners – Villa fans had turned out to spruce up and repaint parts of the stadium – a draw if I remember correctly.
New owners, new manager, new hope
Talk about Ground Hog Day 🙂
Reading Brian Little new book he didn’t seem particularly overenamoured with The Doc or his stewardship at Villa Park.
Badger but what’s £100m going to buy you? Maybe 3 – 4 decent quality players? With the likes of Leon Bailey – Bertrand Traoré – Morgan Sanson – Ezri Konsa potentially going out the door it leaves the squad a little thin on the ground?
Going be an very interesting transfer window.
Well, yes, that’s a fair point.
But to properly compete we’d need to spend £3 or 400 million this season alone and that isn’t going to happen, is it?
Valuations via transfermarkt;
Bailey £27 mill
Traore £18 mill
Sanson £12.6 mill
Konsa £22.5 mill
= £80 million + my guessed £100 mill is beginning to look like serious money.
Whether anyone would meet those valuations is a different story.
Then there’s Trez and El Ghazi, maybe Davis and any others.
So £200 mill could happen and that’s if we don’t get a shock sale like McGinn at another £50 mill.
That’s 10 x £25 mill players or 5 x £50 mill players. And we mustn’t forget the wages.
One of the stories is that we’re willing to pay Phillips £10 mill a year!
Spending that sort of money would probably concern me even more, but in fairness, Gerrard and his team’s buys have been okay.
And if we genuinely want to challenge, that’s the sort of thing we need to do.
I think you can through another £32m for Watkins into the mix.
Yep.
And Ings too, for me.
Agreed Badger, apart form that early wonder goal he’s not really worked out.
Think your all forgetting, it’s not how much you get them for, it’s what you pay them. One thing we have to watch out for, it’s old has been players,I’m for seeing young I want to be an England player and play for the shirt.we have the talent but have we the manager? I think we do.
I did mention the wages Bill.
Yes, you’re right the likes of Suarez (while a great striker) are not what we want.
And I don’t believe we’ll sign any at serious money.
Ashley Young was a bit different as he has made decent backup and hasn’t cost a lot in the scheme of things, I’d suggest.
We need to keep Konsa and Watkins. The best thing is to get rid of the players out on loan even if they don’t fetch as much. It will allow new signings and clear them off our wage bill.
Players who definitely need to go IMO are:-
Targett
Guilbert
Trezeguet
Traore
Davis
El Ghazi
Ings
Players who I’m not convinced about are:-
Mings
Hause
Sanson
Bailey
We all agree we need a Phillips type player and a top drawer CB. For the time being I would play a different formation to try and bolster our weak defence / midfield.
My suggestion would be 4-2-1-3 as below:-
Martinez
Cash Konsa Mings Digne
Luiz Nakamba
McGinn
Buendia Watkins Coutinho
I know Ramsey isn’t mentioned but I think he could play the number 10 role instead of McGinn or even Buendia and Coutinho. I wouldn’t have Buendia or Coutinho as wide men as such. They can still play narrow in the same way Liverpool do with the wide players supporting which is surely the reason we bought Digne!
I know we are great armchair managers but sometimes Gerrard needs to experiment if plan A isn’t working whatever that alternative may be.
Interesting line up but I don’t think you can play both Buendia & Coutinho they’re too similar (imo), leaves you light in midfield.
So either or + Ramsey for me.
My idea of a good transfer policy this summer:
1. Clear out ALL the dead wood – the means any player who has no real chance of making the starting 11 and any player who is not (at least potentially) capable of competing in the Champions League
2. Blood a maximum of 4 youngsters into the first team, but ONLY if they have the aforementioned potential to play CL football. That way, when we get there, they’ve cut their teeth in the PL and are ‘good to go’. To be clear, the potential to play CL is not based solely on talent/ability; it includes the circumference of the player in question’s testicles.
3. STOP buying average players for between 10 and 30 million – see Fat Sam’s comments in 2019 about quality over quantity (although we had no choice that summer)
4. Don’t be afraid to add at least one, maybe two older players who HAVE CL experience, who have the potential to drag us into the top 4 through sheer outstanding talent – that includes Suarez, presuming he still has the desire
5. Don’t be afraid to pay top wages for top players – that includes Kalvin Phillips
UTV (hope I see a goal from the Villa tomorrow, and not just a Spurs pasting!)
Hope you have a great day tomorrow BFR. I got lucky with my first game back in the prem when we beat Southampton 4-0. The one thing I’m hearing is driving to and away from VP is a nightmare. I caught the train in and it was a lot less hassle apart from the 30 minute wait for a train back from Wilton to New Street. Why on earth there aren’t more trains after games finish is ridiculous. Something they need to sort out before adding another 10,000 to the capacity!
Thanks, Holte, appreciate that, mate. Plan to get there a couple hours before kick-off and find a parking spot on the outskirts to allow for a quick getaway by car. Fingers crossed!
Absolutely, Holte, enjoy the occasion, regardless of the score.
Returning to VP still makes my hairs stand on end, I’m glad to say.
The first sight of the Holte end every time I go there is something that I truly believe will never leave me until my dying day.
If you get stuck in the car, turn the engine off, tune into WM and listen to the fans’ views. The time soon passes.
I was going to write a preview, but it’s quite simple.
I can’t see past a convincing loss.
Our record against the top six or so this season is a bloody disgrace and I don’t see it changing for this one.
0-2 at least, I think, as their attack just proves too clever for our poor defence.
BFR have great day fella (:
Badger we’re on a hiding to nothing so who knows?
Great opportunity for Gerrard to experiment so fingers crossed he pulls something out the bag?
Up the Villa!
Looks like Mings days are numbered according to the Daily Mail. Seems SG is looking at replacing him as Captain. Hopefully as a centre back too.
Not even sure I want to watch the game tbh.
I don’t normally make predictions but today I will !! Not a cat in hell chance of winning, no footballing brain in the team,3-1 Spurs.
2-1 to Villa. God knows why…
Well, the missus asked me to put a bet on the National for her.
I have an account, but haven’t used it since 2020, so had to go through verification again. What a pain.
Anyway, the upshot is I’ve put a score on Spurs to win.
If Spurs win, I double my money.
If I lose the bet, it means we’ve got a point or three.
I figure it’s a win/win.
A Mings blunder is better odds than a Villa win. Kane and Son will have too much for our back four. My prediction is a bright start for us in the first 5-10 minutes. We lose possession in their final third and within 5-10 seconds and a couple of passes we are split wide open and we go 1-0 down. The rest of the half we struggle to get out of our own half and concede two more. Second half we show an improvement as Spurs settle for what they have and still have the better of the chances before completing the rout at the end of the game to win 4-0! 😏
Teams are out and the only matters of interest are Nakamba being on the bench, the Sanson experiment has been binned and Ings is back playing alongside Watkins.
Looks remarkably like Alf Ramsey’s wingless wonders LOL
Hope Nakamba gets a few minutes.
I’m pretty sure he will, Hitch.
Oh, Sanson’s death warrant signed, imo.
He’ll be out of here.
And still Gerrard perseveres with Watkins AND Ings up top despite hardly any success so far! What does Buendia have to do to get a start? Chambers too will feel a little hard done by after the last couple of games.
This is a game where we ought to sit back, try and hit them on the counter, like they do.
And not go for it.
Let’s see, but I think this is a mistake going two up top.
I don’t get that at all.
Ffs
I was optimistic with a good 5-10 minutes ☹️
Haha, we are so shit, it’s laughable.
Game over and I’m in the money 🙁
Konsa with a shit header. I’m afraid on current form he should be dropped.
Yep, that was so, so poor.
Ings has had 3 good chances now and just proved what I think of him.
He has to go.
The really annoying thing is we’ve pissed all over them, but they still lead.
LOSERS, as SG would say.
How the f&*£ are we losing this ???
Watkins FFS follow the ball in and don’t get me started on Ings 😡
Spurs mate watching the game is amazed we’re not ahead…
So am I.
It’s the Villa all over and it seems we’re just not destined.
😂😂
No wonder we have a poor record against Spurs and at home generally. Even when we play good football we can’t actually score!
Ings has missed at least two gilt edged chances.
As always we give away a goal.
Can’t see us keeping this up 0 – 2 Spurs with another defensive error no doubt
You got a crystal ball?
We have done everything except put the ball in the net. Amazing that we have two strikers and neither of them to be seen when Lloris spilled the ball on a few occasions. Also why wasn’t it a penalty when Hojberg followed through a tackle and took Ings out? It was deemed a foul when Mings went through on an earlier tackle. Only difference was one was inside the box. Inconsistencies!
Purselipps get that cheque book out, now write one out for £60 and send it to Benfica for Darwin Núñez.
Sixty quid is a bit vheap!
They’re having a sale 🤣
(£60m)
I was trying to think of the last time we got a follow-up for a goal.
I’m struggling.
It’s all typical Villa.
That free, where PC lobbed it up for Ings was superb and really inventive.
You can’t budget for a shit striker who’s miles off form and has been horrendous for us missing it though.
That should have been a pick of the weekend all over the world for being something different.