Ratings & Reactions: West Ham v Villa

[Lichfield Dean]

I think this will be looked back upon as one of the results of the season. West Ham have strengthened well, have a new manager, are difficult for us at home....

I'd have settled for a draw tbh. A win at their place puts us in a great position.

And yay Duran!!! 

[UpTheVilla26]

Deserved that, I thought we were excellent through out and Onana was MOTM for me. 

Special mention for JJ. So bloody happy to see the lad back. And Maatsen looks a bit of a player. 

As for Duran, you just knew it. 

West Ham - If that's their new style of play, good luck

[Delphinho123]

Right.

Im just gonna throw a few things up for you motherf*ckers while it’s fresh in my mind and adrenaline gets the better of me.

In no particular order. Stuff.

1. Onana is a beast. A beast. He has SO much more to his game than I have him credit for. There is no way a 6ft5 bloke should be so calm bringing the ball down in mid air like he is. He tackles, he carries, he rarely loses possession. He’s a beast.

2. Onana cont. I liked Luiz. I thought he was decent. Overrated on here, but decent. In the first 5 minutes of today’s game Onana won a header from a set piece, a cross and then went on to win a tackle all in the same phase of play. As creative and slick as Luiz was, it was SO good to actually see that from one of our players. He brings something we haven’t had in a LONG time.

3. Onana cont. cont. We scored from a set piece. It felt…refreshing. Bullet header, albeit from 3 yards out. Only HE was winning that ball.

4. Tielemans and….Onana. That was one of the best central midfield performances I’ve seen in a long time. Probably since Luiz and Kamara were struttin’ their stuff in Q3/Q4 of 2023. They compliment each other very well. Tielemans is so silky on the ball. With Kamara coming back. erm. Good luck picking two to play in there.

5. I forgot what 5 was.

6. It’s a squad game. We brought on Ramsey and Duran who linked up for the goal. A lot of us have bemoaned the Summer window but look at our bench. Look at our options. That’s the best bench we’ve had for a PL game in probably 20 years. I mean that.

7. I thought we were phenomenal from the get go. Kudus aside, we put them to the sword. Watkins was poor, but that can be excused. I thought Rogers was oozing confidence turning and driving. He could and should have had a couple himself.

8. I just feel really really happy at that performance. I’m not going to talk about the penalty. It is what it is. Even if we’d have drawn, there was so much to like about the way we played. We moved the ball SO much quicker than we have in preseason and at the back end of last season. Emery deserves huge credit for setting us up the way he did.

9. Who needs Felix?

UTFV

 

[NorthEastVillan]

So glad Duran is still here. Not just because of the goal but as he's such a shithouse to play against. Just annoying in every way  

[OutByEaster?]

Genuinely this is the VAR reason for the penalty:

“Matty Cash gets a touch on the ball but his intention isn’t to play the ball”

[foreveryoung]

Bloody Unai giving us the shit housery in pre season, the cheeky monkey 

[HalfTimePost]

1 minute ago, Villan_of_oz said:

Just irony that's all ..

I don't mind suggesting the best team for the next game, I don't like the pile on of half the forum mindlessly personally attacking a player who makes a mistake. 

Apologies if your post was included by mistake but was amongst a sea of overly negative posts.

[Villaphan04]

Can't wait to see who NBC gets out to interview in a few

[Jas10]

[wishywashy]

Thank god football's back. UTV

[HeroesAndVillans]

Just now, Jas10 said:

Very nearly a chaotic evening for VT there mate hahaha

[OutByEaster?]

There were some very good individual things going on - Onana obviously, and Duran with the impact, but I thought Tielemans was excellent too and Torres looked sharp, lots of people were solid and Maatsen looked very alert when he came on. If we'd put our chances away we could have been home and dry before the boys in the office put seven minutes on us.

[Jareth]

Cannot believe we get Kamara and Mings back soon, we are stacked

[Tomaszk]

12 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

Who gives a shit about pre-season?

Duran has done everything he needs to for redemption.

Also, we should have scored 5 in that match.

**** delighted with this.

Agree.

We probably could have conceded 3 though. We need to deal with it as we warm up this season.

[Rightdm00]

Look at the players who didn't even get off the bench. Wow, quality just oozing from all corners of our squad. Im going to absolutely enjoy this season. 

[Jas10]

 

[The_Steve]

[TreeVillan]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

Genuinely this is the VAR reason for the penalty:

“Matty Cash gets a touch on the ball but his intention isn’t to play the ball”

The only logical explanation is the assistant believed it to be the defender taking the man out and then stretching to get the slightest touch on the ball by shear chance to cover the foul. 

[Aston_Villan4]

It’s amazing how young that front line was after the subs. Ramsey, Rogers, Duran and Jaden? Average age of 22. Very very bright future assuming they all stay for awhile.

[striker]

1 minute ago, stewiek2 said:

That Onana lad is gonna be one hell of a player for us.

Told you all you've got a player in Onana.

Concerning game Villa fully deserved the 3 points for the brilliant football they played particularly in the first half.

Also of note how more compact Villa looked with Onana in the team and the pace Villa now have without Luiz. It was the right move to sell him.

This is now Emery's team, youthful, full of skill and pace which Villa haven't had for a very long time!

Very exciting time to be a Villa supporter and shame on me for thinking West Ham would stuff Villa by three.

A lot of teams this season are going to struggle against Villa's pace and power.

Fantastic performance