[#07]

Comprehensively worked today. Not a single positive to take from it.

Its November and we've already lost four Premier League games. Its not unsalvageable. However, to get to where we wanna go we are going to have to have a really, really strong season from here.

 

[siw2007]

Didn’t watch the game, had a feeling this would be a problematic game beforehand due to it being in a long line of fixtures and when I saw the line up, with no players coming back in, more out and the players coming in, the result was coming.

But there are still games to play, there’s no relief. We need Antony and Fernandes back, and even Sancho just so we have another body. Otherwise the team might have hit a bit of a brick wall for a bit.

 

[Utuhu]

We desperately need a ball carrier that is defensively solid who will be pairing with Casemiro and freeing up Ericksen or Bruno to no.10 role.
Also we need a real goal poacher of a striker.

 

[RedIan]

Dissapointing day, playing 3 matches a week and missing key players Bruno, Anthony, Sancho, Varane and martial not really ready. Had some of those been fit Ronaldo and VDB wouldnt have been playing.

we actually controlled a lot of the game, villa took their chances very well… something we are struggling to do.. The goal drought needs addressing in the January window.
we were leggy 2nd half, a hard fought game away in europe with just a day back in the Uk taking its toll..

we go again but be plenty of the usual knee jerk posters.

 

[Quinze]

Very poor game, but I wouldn't be too worried yet. Injuries and the accumulation of games have a lot to do with it.

 

[b20times]

Hate when city win and utd lose, my phone goes a bit mental.
We're still in the Europa placings, early doors yet.

 

[Asger]

Terrible performance. I really hope next summer Ronaldo, Martial and Rashford will not be at the club, at least not as starters.

 

[One Night Only]

Unai Emery, just seems to crop up to get his team's to beat us then fecks off to another team so they can beat us aswell. Like man utd are responsible for something terrible in his life and he just wants revenge.

Not even sure his record against us is great but it feels like he's a pain in our arse.

 

[Jaykespeare88]

Absolutely dire. No way VDB plays again.

Agree, tracking back non existent, no bite in the tackle either. Watched him closely today, was ambling around with little effort, which could be forgiven for lacking sharpness; but theres not abother atandnout characteristic to his game, at least Fred has an amazing engine, can tackle and effect the game through sheer force of will. Donny was on the half way line for the 3rd ffs! Should be called Van de Meek!

 

[Marzo]

The sooner Ronaldo is gone the better, he is holding this whole team back.

 

[Barthez]

If you are a pressing team then you need Bruno and don’t need the likes of Donny & Ronnie - May be a brutal assessment but you press and defend as a team unit (11 players)

 

[daveskimufc]

Any hope for the League cup game??

 

[.Phil1968]

Awful performance. The manager has to take his share of the blame too, but the players looked leggy and half arsed at times.
The world Cup will come at a good time for us, only a handful of games before the transfer window opens and we have to be looking at a striker, we can't keep Ronaldo up front all season.
Inconsistency was always going to be our problem this season but Jesus it's painful losing to teams we should be beating.

 

[Black Adder]

feck me, you’re a bit dense aren’t you

I don't know, you tell me, don't know if I can share my opinion in order not to upset you.

 

[Rodgerzzz]

New manager bounce & a shrewd operator in Unai Emery was always going to make it a difficult fixture. ETH referenced it himself that we didn't know what to expect from Villa. Still, we were rubbish, a lot of sloppiness all around.

 

[Chairman Steve]

A perfect storm of playing too many games in a short space of time, key players who would have played missing and a new manager bounce away from home.

No Bruno, Varane, Antony and possibly even Sancho as a bench option hurts us a lot. Martial only just managed to get fit for this game. Ronaldo is absolutely done. Garnacho is young and inconsistent.

Our squad depth is woeful in attack and defence. Centre mid isn’t bad as Fred and McTominay are decent depth and can perform, but the drop off from Varane to Maguire/Lindelof is staggering.

World Cup has come at a great time quite frankly. Two weeks ago I’d have to said it would work against us but these last games against West Ham and Sociedad have seen some jadedness creep in.

It feels like ETH tried to be too smart with his selection and it backfired. Not the worst thing in the world as Ferguson did it back in the day and Guardiola does it from time to time.

 

[Blood Mage]

We just have too many crap players still. Lindelof, Rashford, VDB and Elanga all shite. Garnacho not ready and Ronaldo is finished.

 

[The Irish Connection]

Perhaps understandably the team seemed tired, with two tough away games in 3 days. Martinez was noticeably affected, with mistakes for all their goals and his worst match since the initial games of the season.

Beyond that though a huge part of the blame for the defeat has to go to ten Hag. Maybe he still has distant memories of VDB being useful at Ajax, but he's beyond redemption at Utd and a waste of a shirt.The win should have been more important than his desire to give VDB yet another undeserved try. The obvious choice to start the game would have been Fred or McT alongside Casemiro, with Eriksen pushed up. No way would Villa have had it so easy with that. He must learn from this.

Shifting an in form Rashford out of position to accommodate a still raw Garnacho was also a mistake; if he wanted to give Garnacho more minutes he should have been on the right instead.

Ronaldo also was a waste again, but with Martial still not fully fut and the squad lacking in depth there wasn't much else to pick.

Ten Hag was also too slow in rectifying what obviously wasn't working - the subs needed to happen at half time when Utd were still in the match.

Overall a difficult game for a team struggling with so many fixtures on top of a thin squad.

Agree with this. We looked tired and the squad is thin.

 

[Maticmaker]

Eriksen/Casemiro as a mid-field duo.... really?

 

[GazTheLegend]

Our second string is nowhere near our first. That's all, really. Antony, Bruno and Sancho are a light year ahead of Elanga, Ronaldo and Garnacho. That said:. 4 shots on target and 3 goals for villa says it all for me. Just one of those days, but we obviously didn't deserve to win.

Won't let the media overplay it, we were in Spain winning 3 days ago, not surprised we are tired. World cup break is actually a blessing.

 

[BarryWinks]

Only saw about 65 minutes today of the game because I was in transit. Unfortunately the lack of cutting edge again is our greatest undoing, but even that can be explained by us missing two of our most important creators in Anthony and Bruno, playing our most dangerous forward out of position and playing with a striker in quite bad form.

Unfortunately, we are also seeing the same problems that many have highlighted in the last few weeks, even with our entire team playing. We just aren't creating enough chances! Today despite taking control of the game midway through that first half you could count on one hand how many chances we were able to fashion for ourselves. This is not merely a tactical problem, but maybe a mentality one too, our players do not take risks with their passes or are often times not on the same wavelength as their teammates.

 

[Gordon S]

We are run into the ground early november! Doesn`t look good for the rest of the season. Honestly thought we were heading in the right direction after the Spurs game, and that Erik might be the right guy. Not so sure anymore. A bit better in possession with Eriksen and Casemiro and midfield of course but yikes, we have no idea how the create good chances. Even when we play well amd have lots of possession we don`t create more than a handful of decent chances.

 

[Barthez]

We missed Fred

 

[eire-red]

Strange decision for VDB in the 10 and Eriksen deeper. I thought we'd see McTom/Fred alongside Casemiro, Eriksen in the 10. VDB is terrible and should be sold for whatever we can recoup.

The wings were always going to be a problem, Garnacho looked out of his depth and Ronaldo up front is just not good enough at this level.

Lindelof was absolutely shocking. One of those deceptively bad performances because he just ghosted the entire game, not engaging the opposition like for the third goal. Take the yellow you absolute wuss. Martinez had to carry him for 90 minutes. I hope he's done after this season at the club.

It's a shame we have only Elanga to turn to, while Amad Diallo is on loan at in the Championship and has more quality in his weaker right foot then Elanga.

ETH needs to take this one on the chin for a poor lineup and bad subs. We should have shored up midfield at half time, and to concede within 3 mins of the restart while chasing 2-1 down is shocking.

Back to the drawing board. Martinez and Casemiro can come out of this with some respect. Too many fairweather players apart from those. Chasing a goal in the last 15 mins and we couldn't put together a single attack.

Brutal.

 

[DevilRed]

The sooner Ronaldo is gone the better, he is holding this whole team back.

I feel it would free up our attack and make us quicker and more energetic in pressing.

He just doesn't fit what ETH wants to do. But ETH has no choice but to play him because of his stature at the club.

I really hope his agent finds him another team in January. Praying for a good worldcup from him and someone will take him.

It would just be better for all parties involved.

We need to rebuild with youth, and he needs to find a team thats in the CL or similar. My worry is that nobody will take him after all the shennanigans this season. Who wants to deal with a player who can't accept coming off the bench or playing a squad role in a team at times?

 

[FreakyJim]

Ronaldo pressing more than Rashford really irked me, not gonna lie. Rashford is such a lazy man, infuriating.

 

[HookedOnAPhelan]

Collective failure again. We've seen it so many times (last was vs. City). All of a sudden all of our players look insecure, nervous, slow, and lose just about every physical duel of consequence.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

Irrelevant result. The upward trend is good but we were always going to have bumps and lose to poor teams. Especially with the schedule and injuries.

Onto the next one.

My sentiments exactly. Although it always sucks to lose, we are still trending in the right direction with the usual suspects doing what they do.

Team is still being built and we have to focus on that more than anything else.

 

[mitchmouse]

ETH deserves all the criticism he gets today. Very poor team selection, subs and game management. Say what you want about Maguire but he’s a better defender than Lindelof and should be ahead of Lindelof.

he really is not

 

[phelans shorts]

I don't know, you tell me, don't know if I can share my opinion in order not to upset you.

Alright bungalow

 

[90 + 5min]

Lack of central midfield seasoned with individual misstakes for first and third goal.

I can't understand decision not to play Fred or McTominay.

 

[drdoityourself]

Without Bruno, Sancho, (Martial), Varane and Anthony and playing a good squad with a new and better manager than Gerrard, this was always going to be tough. I'm not that bothered about the result.

The way Martinez and Varane worked together to get infront of strikers and win back the ball was paramount to our upturn in form. We lose so much intensity with replacing Varane with the soft Lindelöf who will always back off, the opposing teams can settle. Bailly would be better suited to this kind of defense, but it's too late now.

Aaand van der Beek offers absolutely nothing.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Yes, disappointing today; deservedly beaten. After four very positive performances I was confident; our record at Villa Park is superb. That said, I haven't been getting carried away; it's early days in the Ten Hag re-build and there will be setbacks. I'm still positive about the overall trajectory of the team, but there will be defeats; we aren't yet ready to go on a long unbeaten run. Just a poor performance all round, which is hard to explain after four good results.

 

[Freak]

he really is not

He really is.

 

[Jaykespeare88]

ETH deserves all the criticism he gets today. Very poor team selection, subs and game management. Say what you want about Maguire but he’s a better defender than Lindelof and should be ahead of Lindelof.

Watkins gets away from Maguire even easier for the first, Licha gets dragged out ever so slightly and allows the space behind for Bailey. Both CBs were really poor today, Martinez could sort out his feet and passing was poor.

 

[Ish]

A lot ten Hag has to answer for here. Ronaldo, maybe I’ll give you because of injuries. But rashford wide right? Donny over Fred? (And I’m no fan of Fred). Lindelof can feck off too. Never was a critic of his but not tackling the guy for the length of the entire half, and allowing him into our box is cowardice.

 

[Cantonalegod]

World class peformance from Martinez. Same from Caseimiro, the rest were dog toss all game.

Martínez, are you kidding???

 

[fergieisold]

Ugh. Hate new manager bounces. Always feel like we’ll get done by them

 

[space]

Yes, disappointing today; deservedly beaten. After four very positive performances I was confident; our record at Villa Park is superb. That said, I haven't been getting carried away; it's early days in the Ten Hag re-build and there will be setbacks. I'm still positive about the overall trajectory of the team, but there will be defeats; we aren't yet ready to go on a long unbeaten run. Just a poor performance all round, which is hard to explain after four good results.

this, just hope we have enough in us to get that UCL spot

 

[Jazz]

Was always gonna happen. A packed schedule, injuries and an ineffective almost non existent Ronaldo and we were begging for another shit result soon.

We need players back from injury. Clear we still need to make a cull and get better players in for certain positions.

Just need to forget this, recover as best we can and move on. Don't play Donny again unless we're winning by at least 2 goals and he can come on so we rest someone.

One big criticism of ETH today is not playing Fred or even Scott with Casemiro. Donny too lightweight and can't have him and Eriksen together.

Have to assume Ronaldo is playing because of injuries. Surely we won't ruin the whole damn season for him?