Aston Villa 0-1 West Ham Utd (28/8/22)

[Hamburger]

I’d struggle to give Fornals and Bowen higher than a 5/10 for that game.

I keep hearing how Pablo is so important to us, but I genuinely cannot remember his last good game he had for us? He’s been a complete passenger for around 6 months now

I agree but his work rate at least around a pretty static midfield has been important. I suspect with Benny finding his best role, Fornals will be the one to suffer for Paqueta’s arrival?

[pablo jaye]

Clearly not at our best yesterday and this really is a test of the character of the side especially with the new players having to bed in and become part of the team. Scamacca, Kehrer and Emerson all looked quality at least in parts.

Benny is playing well and hopefully Rice’s improvement in the second half continues to be positive. Soucek covered a lot of ground and Fornals’ goal will have given everyone confidence … and you can’t fail to be lifted by his infectious smile.

Spuds might be a bit soon on Weds though …. but we can do it!

[Bond Holder 59]

Left it until today to make sure my contribution is more thoughtful than normal.

I think some may be over looking a key point regarding first half. Moyes and his team setup to ensure we didn’t concede first half. Keep the fans quiet. Avoid the game being an open basketball type game (see wolves v Newcastle). It was turgid but, and remember we needed a minimum of a point, the objective was achieved. Clearly I don’t know, but I suspect the second half changes were also planned. Nearly everyone changed their approach and style which is unlikely to have come from 10 minutes of team talk. Yes we changed formation, but that reflected the let’s get at them second half tactic. Over 90 minutes the old ‘grind out a result’ is probably close to reality.

Positives for me include: clean sheet, central defence partnership, Emerson will fit in. Scamacca is improving. Dec was motivating and encouraging other players more (again). Our bench changes had an impact (compared to previous seasons).we got some luck.

Negatives: not going to bother. Focus on the positives.

Well done you Irons.
⚒

[Pete647580]

We need to break new ground and initiate a counter counter press.

Typical ironing board comment.

[Up the Junction]

Aston Villa 0-1 West Ham United (by Chris Wilkerson)
https://www.kumb.com/report.php?id=121382

[funky chicken]

The opposition view should make for good reading! Their fans are as bad as the Spuds.

[TokyoVibe]

I agree but his work rate at least around a pretty static midfield has been important. I suspect with Benny finding his best role, Fornals will be the one to suffer for Paqueta’s arrival?

He’s been pretty inconsistent overall, I think he also feeds off the energy a bit of others. He does have an eye for a pass though when he’s on it like through balls that others don’t or can’t do. He’s a decent general all round midfielder.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

Every year they spend a tonne of money, everyone thinks they'll be pushing for Europe, then they're rubbish.

It gets funnier every year.

Someone mentioned earlier that Kamara should have gone somewhere better, I think he blew that chance himself, Atletico turned him down due to his attitude, they're the only club who have admitted that publicly but I wonder if there's others.

[Bond Holder 59]

….
He’s been pretty inconsistent overall, I think he also feeds off the energy a bit of others. ….

Hi TV, the problem is this section of your post could be applied to almost every player, including Dec, since about March. Therefore it seems a bit harsh to focus on him alone, albeit your point is perhaps valid.

Chicken and the egg, is the team performance affecting him, or is he the main cause of the team performance?

Personally, I’d keep him and lose others before him.
Imo

[Up the Junction]

The opposition view: Aston Villa
https://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=137308

['stone hammer]

Not loving Gerrard are they :lol: Arsenal and Man City next for the Villa, I reckon he won't make it to Man City if they get mauled by Arsenal.

A few of their fans have given us far too much credit there, claiming that being atrocious first half was part of our game plan.

[funky chicken]

By their own standard, that wasn’t too bad!

[Up the Junction]

Poor marking at the near post with the header off the post.

Watch it again. Scamacca is shoved away from the man he's marking as the corner is delivered.

[Pete647580]

'We're basically a Ferrari without a steering wheel'.

[prophet:marginal]

The opposition view: Aston Villa
https://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=137308

In brief: Gerrard stays, they go (down).

[WestHamLyallStyle]

[Crossd_Hammrs]

Watch it again. Scamacca is shoved away from the man he's marking as the corner is delivered.

Sometimes it's down to luck. The way the ball canons back of the post and across can leave defenders flat footed.

There's no shoving at the back post though. Cresswell points at the runner as he lets him go, while Zouma and Rice turn their backs on him and leave a nice big space for him to run into. I have no idea what Rice is actually defending from the position he takes up - he's literally defending the back post instead of the goal.
It's not bad luck if your defence just switch off and ball watch.

[Crossd_Hammrs]

I'm certain they won at least three in a row 3 or 4-0, then lost to us and only won one more game all season.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/aston-v ... atum_bis=-
Gerrard's first PL game was 20th Nov v Brighton - they won four of his first six, losing to Man City & Liverpool. They had a wobble at Christmas and New Year losing both fixtures, then their form was variable... D W D L L.
Then their return match v Brighton was the first of three wins in a row 2-0, 4-0, 3-0 - a run ended by us.
They picked up only two more wins in the remaining 10 games - v Norwich and Burnley.

They were two points clear of the relegation zone when Gerrard took over, and finished 10 points clear.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/footbal ... ier-League

The latest setback means Gerrard has now won just 12 of his 33 matches in charge of Villa, while he has lost 52 per cent of his games at the helm. Tim Sherwood (57 per cent) and Remi Garde (56 per cent) are the only other Villa managers to boast worse records.

[Ethanadict]

I like the fact Everton and Villa have given two young English managers in Lampard and Gerrard a chance…

… but I’m glad we haven’t.