18 Mar 2024 00:01:58
Lots of hand-wringing from various pundits and media outlets about how great/unlucky the Hammers were. What all the 'highlights' don't seem to 'highlight' is our 70% possession and the fact that we got good away point against the side that was competing for exactly the same European trophy last year. Muppetry ?
18 Mar 2024 08:19:20
70 percent possessions counts for nothing if for 50% of that 70% we go backwards, sideways and move the ball far too slow.
West Ham looked far more dangerous than us for the first hour, the game changed when we made changes and when West Ham took Antonio off which took away the press from West Ham which we struggled with allowing our defenders to carry the ball higher up the pitch.
This narrative a lot of our fan base force is that the whole league and media is against Villa and anytime things don’t go our way it’s all a conspiracy or if we aren’t being praised constant then the media hate us. Maybe it’s a case of yesterday West Ham over the whole of 100 plus mins were the better team for 75 minutes, pressed us well, sat in well, broke on us with purpose and looked dangerous going forward along with torturing us from set plays.
18 Mar 2024 11:57:46
Dan, fair points, I previously commented I found it a difficult watch, our choices when defending set piece's and crosses needs addressing, we look vulnerable.Emery knows Duran shouldn't start and Konsa at right back simply doesn't work.Both Torres and Langlett are poor at defending crosses, can't wait for Mings to come back. Let's hope that that we set up with Cash Konsa Torres Digne, Mcginn Luis, Tielemans, Ramsey (if fit) Bailey Watkins obviously subject to injuries and Suspensions. Rogers, Moreno, Duran and Diaby Zaniola can then be impact players off the bench, no more experimenting it hasn't and doesn't work.
18 Mar 2024 13:57:16
It’s hardly surprising we are a little more susceptible from crosses as we haven’t had a settled back four for a while and having two left footed centre halves causes more problems than it solves in my view so in future I think Konsa has to start with Torres and Cash has to play. It will be interesting come next season with Mings fully fit, as to who will start I don’t like two left footers so for me Konsa starts but who with? My gut feel is Emery will go with Torres because he values his greater ability on the ball and Mings will end up warming the bench but we will see I guess.
18 Mar 2024 14:23:42
I agree with menace to a point and Dan at the same time, we played 100 minutes yesterday meaning that for 70 minutes of the 100 West Ham didn’t have the ball, Pak I ask how they were the better team for 75 minutes? Because they defended well? Obviously not well enough to stop us scoring the equaliser, if you base your whole strategy on defending in the premier league you get punished, time and time again we see teams trying to hold out on a 1 goal lead till the end and they end up crumbling, if your going to rely on defence you have to be 100% for the whole game not just 70 or 80 minutes, don’t get me wrong I would at times like to see the ball going forward quicker but possession seems to be the name of emery’s game, I know it’s frustrating to watch at times but it’s also very frustrating for the team defending and they make mistakes eventually, I watched city and united 2 weeks ago and it was exactly the same I thought them slow building up and way to much backwards but they kept at it and eventually United made the mistakes and city scored the goals to win it, so compare the quality they have available and look at our inferior squad and injuries to boot and a draw away to West Ham does not look like a bad result, Jarrod Bowen has being prolific all season and he hardly got a sniff yesterday apart from his dead ball deliveries which we can’t control. you say they attacked with purpose when they had the ball, they had exactly the same shots and shots on target as us with only 30% of the ball so would you ask maybe if keeping them from having the ball was a better strategy than sitting in and offering up more chances? Don’t forget to add in home advantage and us missing 2 of our regular and best midfielders into the equation, 4 points from 2 games against them is not to be sniffed at.