Villa reaction and player ratings

A win is a win, I guess, but the cracks are definitely appearing. The lack of goal threat was well and truly exposed during that first half. They should've had multiple goals but just don't have the killer instinct. A threat from our wide is the number 1 priority before tomorrow night. Undisputably.


Ramsdale - 4. Couple of decent saves but absolutely pathetic at goal. Should be embarrassed asking for a foul. The fuck does he expect? The striker to just move out of his way, ffs? He's becoming a problem.

Tierney - 5. Looks like he's barely played in 6 months.

Gabriel - 5. Looked a wee bit shaky to me again. Not really troubled though.

Saliba - 6. No issues. Didn't look as classy though.

White - 5. Thought he looked decent, actually. Just offers so little going forward.


Lokonga - 6. Very good first half but he fell away in the second half. Looked exhausted. Pathetic, really.

Xhaka - 3. He's a real fuckin problem. Neck high pass to Saka. knee high back pass to Gabriel in a dangerous position. Woeful clearance at the corner which they then scored from. Numerous misplaced passes. Undermining my wide player priority argument, the fuckin idiot.

Odegaard - 5. Good first half. Created a few chances but surrounded by [not very good players]. Poor second half and looked injured long before he actually was, I think.

Saka - 3.5. Fuck me. Had me excited at the start of the game but quickly turned to his usual utter shit. Embarrassingly weak. Literally just falls over now. An absolute sitter and I'm not even sure what he was doing on the goal line one and I never got a replay. Just resorted to giving the ball to Villa players in the second half, ff.

Martinelli - 6.5. Done...ok. was a menace and scored, although it was a pretty shit shot that should've been saved

Jesus - 6.5. More like a fairly prominent apostle.

Yeah after the last 2 games I would say that we definitely need another goal threat. Someone who will help turn 1-0 into 2-0 a lot quicker.

In fairness, it was like pinball in the first half, complete fluke blockages. On other days they go in.

Saka miss unforgivable tbf.

The last few games have seen us struggle as teams drop and don’t push. Thats when we struggle, and that burst from front to back is crucial

Unlike Fulham who affected a decent deep block, Villa were inviting us to score. Martinez had to make a few saves but apart from the Martinelli effort (and even that was a bit Hollywood) nothing that he shouldn’t be saving.

Saka’s missed chance in the first half led me to suspect he’d picked up CJD from a dodgy burger van burger, and that he was about to start twitching and convulsing before soiling himself

The OP clearly can’t tell the difference between standing in front of someone and actually impeding them, their goal shouldn’t have been given in a million years.

Maybe he should have clobbered the guy like Lehmann would have but short of that and risking a pen can’t see what he could do. If Villa feel the need to cheat to get a result it’s best they don’t maintain their presence in the premier league

I honestly couldn’t tell if our performance was any good in midfield because Villa were so shit it’s almost unbelievable, couldn’t pressure us on the ball and wilted when we applied any. The takeaway from this game is profligacy

I was at the game behind our goal in the second half

Just before they took their corner it sounded like a whislte blew which we thought caused our players to hesitate, i didn't really see the impeding of Ramsdale at the time

Thought Martinelli was great though, him, Jesus and Odegaard really gave them problems, also Lokonga in the first half

Ratings:

Ram - 7
Tierney - 6.5
Gabriel - 6.5
Saliba - 6.5
White - 6.5
Lokonga - 7.5 (for the first half)
Xhaka - 5
Martinelli - 8
Odegaard - 8
Saka - 6
Jesus - 8

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mac76

I eqs at the game behind pur goalbin the second half

Just before they took their corner it sounded like a whislte blew which we thought caused our players to hesitate, i didn't really see the impeding of Ramsdale at the time

Thought Martinelli was great though, him, Jesus and Odegaard really gave them problems, also Lokonga in the first half

Ratings:

Ram - 7
Tierney - 6.5
Gabriel - 6.5
Saliba - 6.5
White - 6.5
Lokonga - 7.5 (for the first half)
Xhaka - 5
Martinelli - 8
Odegaard - 8
Saka - 6
Jesus - 8

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The was no impediment on Ramsdale. Their player simply held his position as he's fully entitled to do. Ramsdale could have simply stepped around him. Ridiculous.

Laughable it was even checked...but I suppose every goal is now.

Also it should be noted that we still cannot counter attack.

At least three times last night we had the opportunity to break and there is either no pace or no one runs with the lead player to help them out.

all three times we ended up passing back to the midfield or to defence or enough Villa players got back in time to stop any goal threat.

Pretty poor tbh.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KSE Comedy Club

Also it should be noted that we still cannot counter attack.

At least three times last night we had the opportunity to break and there is either no pace or no one runs with the lead player to help them out.

all three times we ended up passing back to the midfield or to defence or enough Villa players got back in time to stop any goal threat.

Pretty poor tbh.

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Yeah Eddie found himself all alone once or twice near the end, partly because Smith Rowe just walked around in possibly the laziest display i've ever seen, i can't see him troubling the starting lineup if he carries on like that