Really quite a shocking first half. I don’t think I’ve seen us so clueless since the Garde era. I’m disappointed that Deano didn’t take full responsibility for that blaming it on the players rather than himself. Despite his argument to the contrary, it was clearly the system he played (if it wasn’t, why did he change it and why did things improve significantly when he did?). Just because it worked against Man U doesn’t mean it’s going to work against everyone. Buendia and McGinn seemed to get most of the criticisms but them were overwhelmed and outnumbered in midfield. Deano needs to take it on the chin and learn from this because if he doesn’t call for his departure will get even louder.
Not from me though. I think he’s been brilliant for us. Maybe I’m a bit soft.
p1ss poor effort last night, smith should have changed it after 30 mins, not discuss it with shakespeare for 15 minutes and change it when its too late. I fear he is losing the changing room, too many cooks on board, no cohesive plan. even i'm ready for change.
That first half is the worst I have seen from us in a long time, no cohesion, no closing down and a look of bewilderment under the lights at a noisy Emirates. The players have to shoulder some of the blame for not working hard enough to gain and then retain possession, so unlucky with the penalty decision and resulting outcome but no complaints about the half-time scoreline.
Bailey - what a player, and the look he gave Cash for a poor pass is exactly what I want to see from a Villa side, demanding high standards of each other. His fitness will be so important to our season, Cash did my head in with his failure to quickly get back to his position.
Ings and Watkins are completely different players, Ings is a far better finisher & gets himself into excellent positions - he is too good to be left on the bench. The formation we choose should be tailored to the opposition, it worked very well against Chelsea in terms of the performance and we were 2-0 up a home last week with 11 to go.
Passing - if a player needs to be coached on passing the ball 10 yards then they really aren't good enough for this level.
spot on with the passing comment Westy, our biggest single problem in my humble is that five at the back only ever works if your two wide men of the five are true wing backs, Cash could potentially do that, there is no way that Targett can, lets face it he didnt even learn how to be a fullback till last season. I can see how a five can be useful against very strong sides like Chelski, but in that case you surely play Ash instead of targett, for most games a back four is our strongest foundation.
Something is up, Terry and Riley depart and we change formation, and ship14 goals in 5 defeats!
Two wingers and 4 defenders has seen us progress, why change it???
Just who is picking the team....
I agree in principle Dave but Bailey/Buendia/Traore all have fitness problems which only leaves us El Ghazi for that formation because DS has said Watkins isn't going to be playing out wide. I firmly believe when Bailey is fit we will see a very different Villa but I also think we should not abandon 3-5-2 but look for a wing-back to take up Targett's position depending of course on who we are playing against.
Elghazi left, Buendia Right??
That would I think have worked better against Ar$senal, with McGinn & Ramsey in front of Luiz - the only question then is Watkins or Ings. For me Ings is the preferred option with his movement and clinical finishing, both I think are good at pressing.
I would have to say Watkins with ings an impact sub?