Match Thread: Villa v West Ham under the Monday Night Lights | Page 16 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Villa v West Ham under the Monday Night Lights

ldgavfc said:
Wesley looks like he has potential to be a great player if we has good players around him. He was constantly frustrated with long balls up to him and no one to knock it down to apart from El Ghazi. Grealish and McGinn should be up there with him, a lot closer to him. Jota is a little magician, I think the more he plays the more he will spot and the more runs people will learn to make when he has the ball. Guilbert has him sussed.
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Agree with pretty much all of this.

Although I don't think Jota is a winger. Obviously DS has coached him for a number of years and knows much better than I do, but he looks like he would be far more effective in a No 10 role in behind Wesley.

We are a work in progress, 5 games in and we are doing ok. A different refereeing decision (Palace) and a better decision (Heaton v Bournemouth) and we'd have at least two more points and be sitting 13th or so.

The main thing is that we are competing in matches. Better decision making by our players (and the officials) and we'd be much more positive in discussing what's going on.

 
david-avfc said:
West Ham were poor and if we want to stay in the league we have to beat teams like them. Especially at home when we have an extra man.

It isn’t going to be easier against the likes of Man City and Liverpool, or Arsenal next week.
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Well they may have been poor tonight (don't necessarily agree) they are a good side in general hence their established status.

Citeh were poor Saturday but that doesn't reflect them in general.
 
DeanoVilla said:
Interesting ratings. I thought Mings was outstanding.

I also thought Grealish was our best player in the 1st half, but possibly our worst in the 2nd half. Think a 4 is harsh though given his first half performance.

Wesley was the worst player on the pitch for me. Missed a glorious chance, keeps falling over, doesn't particularly hold the ball up very well. That dive at the end was embarrasing.... could he have stuck a leg out and scored if he'd stayed on his feet? I've not actually sen a replay as I switched off as soon as the full time whistle went but at the time I just thought what a shit dive when he could have scored.
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Could have easily rated Wesley as bad as the others in the front 3 but thought i was being too harsh. I think most fans will have come away tonight worried about the quality of our forward line.

Grealish unfortunately just got worse and worse and it got to the point towards the end that whenever we got on the attack I was hoping we wouldn’t pass to him. One of those days where nothing he did was working but I’m sure he’ll be back next week. I liked that he kept trying, to be fair. Maybe slightly harsh.

Mings got done on the halfway line once which is why I rated him slightly lower than Engels but thought both had a solid game overall. I thought West Ham were poor attacking so difficult to say our any of our defenders were particularly exceptional
 
ldgavfc said:
If I were Dean, first thing I'd do at the training ground is rip up the 4-3-3, tell Jesus to scout some decent wingers and left backs, and start working on a 4-2-3-1 with Grealish, McGinn and Jota given a hell of a lot more freedom and a hell of a lot higher up the pitch with Douglas and Hourihane behind them.
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Agreed except it should be Luiz and Marvelous.
 
Melon Donkey said:
Well they may have been poor tonight (don't necessarily agree) they are a good side in general hence their established status.

Citeh were poor Saturday but that doesn't reflect them in general.
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Spam are a good side, no question. Even tonight, they were good for long periods - some of their one-touch stuff was excellent, and there were a number of times when they played two or three quick passes in their half and were suddenly on the edge of our box. I couldn't believe the pace and control of their transition.

But they were tepid in front of goal - Heaton's only real save came from a back header late on (was it Engels?) which I thought was going in!
 
Melon Donkey said:
Well they may have been poor tonight (don't necessarily agree) they are a good side in general hence their established status.

Citeh were poor Saturday but that doesn't reflect them in general.
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I don’t think the initial comment was to disrespect West Ham I think it was a fair comment that these are the teams we need to beat in order to survive.

Anything against the top 6 is “bonus points” it’s basically how many points you can get from the rest. West Ham are a solid prem team but if they play poorly like they did tonight then we have to punish them and get the points - as we would with any team. If your not ruthless in this league you’ll go down and it was points dropped from my view today.
 
JuanPabloAngel said:
I don't agree that Grealish was as poor as some are making out. To my mind, he's trying too hard.

There was a discussion on WM as to whether the captaincy is too much responsibility. I don't think it is. I think football captaincy is completely over-rated when compared with cricket, for example.
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My labrador has a more informed opinion than most who phone in on WM.

Switched over when that idiot said Grealish should give up the captaincy as it's gone to his head. What a clown
 
We are out of the relegation zone. Fast forward to after the last game and that will do for me. It gives you the money and time to establish. We need to walk before we can run. we also need to all keep the faith this season especially.
 
Although I did agree with Gary Thompson. I would ditch a winger.
(Probably Jota. Sceptical when we signed him and nothing has changed that opinion) and play Luiz and Marvelous with SJM and Jack further up closer to Wesley .
 
Jack's main problem is realising when he's in a dead end and simply getting the ball out to somebody else. He ended up passing to too many opposition players. If he can sort that he'd be back to his best.
 
david-avfc said:
My ratings in case any one cares.. which they probably don’t.

Heaton 6 - can’t remember him having anything to do
Guilbert 7 - made some good tackles but ran out of legs towards the end
Engels 8 - looks very comfortable
Mings 7 - looks good but got caught once or twice (hence slightly lower than Engels)
Taylor 6 - ok performance limited going forwards though
Nakamba 7 - decent debut worked hard won some tackles
Mcginn 8 - 100% effort as always
Grealish 4 - worst performance in years
Jota 4 - completely ineffective
El Ghazi 4 - thought he was slightly better than Jota but that incident with mings just plain stupid
Wesley 5 - limited impact and had one or two chances to score
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Think the Grealish 4 is harsh; I'd go 6. Some of his passing was poor but a lot was good, and he was always pressing the opposition.

Thought 4 for Jota was harsh as well; I'd go at least 5. He worked well with Guilbert, gave the opposition something to think about and did his defensive bit as well. Wasn't his day for a killer move, but that happens.

Wonder if Dean will make changes for Arsenal. He's not one to shrink from them. He has Hourihane, Lansbury and Davis queuing up, and Trezeguet available.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
Jack's main problem is realising when he's in a dead end and simply getting the ball out to somebody else. He ended up passing to too many opposition players. If he can sort that he'd be back to his best.
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He's almost trying to do too much. Others aren't helping him by passing him the ball when he's 2 men on him and ignoring other options in better positions as happened several times last night.

Pretty much everyone was guilty of awful decision making in good areas though. McGinn twice at least chose to run across the box ignoring chances to pass before heading directly into a thicket of defender's. Wesley attempted to shoot from distance instead of playing in 2 players who had overlapped him. 1st half Jack and someone else who I can't remember took a short free kick and lost the ball instead of putting it into the box for Wesley and the centre halves. Too many more loose passes and poor decisions to go over.

I can't fault the effort from anyone, they all kept going and kept trying but nothing seemed to come off for anyone. A bad night for both teams I'd say, but better a point than nothing which is what we'd have got in previous years. Mings and Engels though, superb again.
 
McP said it earlier about where we were this time last year.

Most here expected a tough season, many said get 17th and more on to next season. Well this is reality and if people expect a Liverpoolesk performance every week, they will be disappointed.

Talking of Plop, Mr Klopp took a couple of seasons and a shed load of money to get them to where they are now. We got a point guys, with no real threat coming from West Ham. Old adage of build from the back is a good one. Just imagine the meltdown over on the Doghead's forum and their expectation of CL football.

This will take time, build a points base and move forward game by game.
 
Jack has played 39 premier league games compared over 90 championship games.

All but 5 (this seasons games) have been in the last two seasons of us stinking the premier league out for season after season under god knows how many managers.

39 games isn't alot. He still has alot to learn I'm afraid despite our (not his) hype .

He made some poor decisions last night. He has to learn to be quicker in certain situations but then a lot of them do. McGinn was as guilty .
So call jack out then you need to call McGinn out.

But Jack was busting his gut for us last night and whether he makes the grade at a higher level than the standards he set (remember that was championship standards though) or not I'd rather he was with us instead of lining up on the bench for someone else.

And unlike Fulford suggested in one of his sneaky one line posts. No, Grealish will not be dropped anytime soon.
 
Having slept on it, a point isn't a terrible result. Heaton could have taken the day off he had so little to do. If West Ham are planning on pushing the top six, this league is easier than I expected.

I think we are being shown up tactically though. Everyone we play knows we want to play on the counter and use our wingers to get in behind. They keep their defence back and our one tactic is ruined. We end up passing the ball around in front of them.

We are leaving Wesley alone on the pitch and expecting him to score by himself. That's a real concern. After 5 matches, I couldn't tell you what his strengths are because he has had so little of the ball. We need to play in a way that gives Wesley the best chance of scoring. Get the ball into the box earlier? Play through balls for him to run onto? Whatever it is, something needs to change.
 
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