Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Arsenal

[VillaChris]

2 hours ago, wedge said:

Yeah there were thousands still outside in queues well after kick off sadly.

It's always like that outside the North Stand and Witton so not sure it was just tickets not downloading properly.

I wonder how many thousands it would take outside for a game to be delayed by 15 minutes as I can't remember that ever happening at VP since that infamous night against Liverpool in 2002 that didn't kick off until past 9pm.

There was a delay in starting as think the ref and assistants had to change their kick as it clashed with Arsenal and then the minute's applause to remember our former players who'd passed.

[nick76]

1 hour ago, TDR V2 said:

Oh and the LED things Heck was on about looked the same as last season, not sure what was supposed to be different about them

Yeah I was trying to figure out what changed

[VillaChris]

56 minutes ago, TomC said:

I hadn't thought about, but this is an excellent point. We really didn't see the trap at all today. In fact, they were offside only once.

 

Hopefully we realise we can do it v Man. United, we will beat them comfortably with the level we showed for the first hour today as we'll create more chances than against of the best defensive units in World Football.

[TomC]

5 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

It's always like that outside the North Stand and Witton so not sure it was just tickets not downloading properly.

Without going into details, I found the whole e-ticket system unreliable when I did my VP pilgrimage last year. Fortunately, I made sure to have my ticket onscreen well before the match. Is this a common problem?

 

[VillaChris]

2 minutes ago, TomC said:

Without going into details, I found the whole e-ticket system unreliable when I did my VP pilgrimage last year. Fortunately, I made sure to have my ticket onscreen well before the match. Is this a common problem?

 

I had an issue before one of the games about 18 months ago and was trying to get in showing the printable version that didn't have a barcode so had to stand outside and quickly download again.

Generally the best way is just to make sure in the morning you have the ticket transferred to Google/Apple pay app as then you just click on the notification and the barcode will come up and it's an easy scan.

That's just for individual matches though rather than having a season card.

The problem at the North Stand Upper is simply the bottleneck queue that snakes up to the gates as there's only one way to access with the other side out of bounds due to extending the coach park.

Many times in last few years I've turned up at half 2 and only just got in to see kick off, it's that bad.

[Lichfield Dean]

14 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

It's always like that outside the North Stand and Witton so not sure it was just tickets not downloading properly.

I wonder how many thousands it would take outside for a game to be delayed by 15 minutes as I can't remember that ever happening at VP since that infamous night against Liverpool in 2002 that didn't kick off until past 9pm.

There was a delay in starting as think the ref and assistants had to change their kick as it clashed with Arsenal and then the minute's applause to remember our former players who'd passed.

No, it's not always like that outside the Witton. They kept the entrances to the upper tier shut until well after 5pm and huge queues were building up. I honestly think they were still clearing up from the building works inside or something. I've not seen queues and delays anything like that before, it was a proper mess.

[Villastine]

1 hour ago, allani said:

Funny because I thought we probably could have brought on Ramsey for McGinn a little earlier.  We had Arsenal's midfield and defenders scrambling and Ramsey's running with the ball offered additional threat.  But I guess we all see things slightly differently.

But yeah two poor misses and one clinical finish was the difference.

Lots of positives to take away.  Just hope that Ollie can put those misses behind him and focus on making up for it next weekend.

Love how even us Villains see it differently. I thought the ref was great.  My bro wanted to wait for him after the game . He's obviously voted on here (hello Joel!)

But yeah, finishing and keeping determined the result.  Ollie should be raging with himself and Emi should be also. 

Rogers was immense. 

[OutByEaster?]

16 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

It's always like that outside the North Stand and Witton so not sure it was just tickets not downloading properly..

For both stands, the turnstiles didn't open until 16:45 - they were due to open at 16:00 but didn't because there was some sort of issue with either the equipment or the staff.

The queues outside were nothing like those on a regular matchday.

 

[tezzaleed]

3 hours ago, Villastine said:

Reminds me a bit of the West Ham season opener last year.  Huge positives to take from a loss, a rare thing in football. 

As a layman, I'd question the first subs. They made sense last week but I think Maatsen and Duran on would have been a better option. 

Our midfield was purring and in my view the withdrawal of McGinn disorganised us a little. 

As I said, that's how it looked to my untrained eye. It's only an opinion. 

Trossard and Raya were deadly. Ollie and Emi weren't. That was the real difference today.  

This totally.  Emery almost masterminded another brilliant performance and result.  he'd got us set perfectly to nullify their style and posing them real problems.  I think Duran and Maasten would you swung it our way, but taking off onana Ana mcginn, especially mcginn for Ramsey, undid it at a crucial time.  Ramsey just couldn't quite follow the plan and their midfield suddenly started finding gaps between our lines.   That said if you play mcginn every game for 90 minutes then he either gets an injury or his performances drop off, but today I think he should off stayed on.  the subs felt predetermined today rather that a tactical response to how he game was going. 

Edited August 25 by tezzaleed

[Bizzzle]

First game I've seen us lose at home since the last time they beat us at home in that 2-4 defeat. We played well just a shame Watkins couldn't put his chances away

[Hiney]

We played worse against them at home last season and won.

Fine margins, on another day we take all 3 points there. 

Played well against who are many peoples' favourites for the title. 

Hopefully Watkins can bounce back from those misses and his confidence doesn't take a hit. Duran isn't ready to start for me so we need him firing if we are to perform to the level we all hope this season 

[6065_Villa]

All about the chances and a bit of luck today, we missed all of ours and got punished by the rub of the green for their first and a rare error from Emi for the second.

Played we'll and took it to Arsenal who will be right up there again this season.

Watkins is playing catch up after joining up with the team late on, but he will come good and needs a bit of love from the fans just now while he works it out.

UTV

[Ponky]

Thought the last 10 minutes showed we're still lacking the player that can unlock a low block for us. Rogers certainly will be that player one day - and probably soon - but his final ball is not quite there.

I thought maybe Buendia might have been worth a quick spell at the end.

[OutByEaster?]

I think there were a couple of moments where we were naive yesterday - both involving Partey - and both involving Rogers.

There was a chance for us to break from deep in the second half, and someone played a little ball to Rogers that Partey, already on a booking, stuck a hand out to and got a touch on, it fell pretty nicely for Rogers anyway, so he pressed forward with it and started an attack. If he'd stopped and thrown his arms out exasperated, the ref would have had no choice but to send Partey off - a more experienced player I think does that. (The ref should really have gone back and booked him anyway, but our decision to play on allowed him to let it go).

There was also a great run by Rogers where he starts in our half by running over a weak challenge from Martinelli then powers past Partey, again already on a booking,  who grabs hold of him and tries to pull him down, the ref played advantage and Rogers went on to have a shot that was deflected wide. If Rogers goes down at that point instead, given the cynical nature of the foul, the ref would have had little choice but to send him off, or at least there would have been a cacophony of noise that would have made it impossible for him not to send him off when he grabbed Onana's shirt in a similar situation a few minutes later. (Again, the ref should really have come back and done this anyway, and should definitely have done it for the next offence, but playing on allowed him to let it go).

I think Partey was very lucky yesterday, it took him two or three fouls to get his booking and then there were three potentially bookable offences after it - but we need to make sure as a team we're forcing the referee to do his job - against City or Liverpool there's no way Partey makes it through ninety minutes on that performance, and while I realise it's cynical, we have to get a little more streetwise if we're to find the edge in games like this.

 

[CVByrne]

On another night we win that game. Fine margins in football. Still have to be happy with start to season with a run of games we hopefully can pick up points in. Happy with the performance plenty to work on and improve as Emery said

[delboy54]

Was at the match, thought the referee had  pretty good game, although it is a low bar to be honest, I agree Partey was riding his luck not to get a second yellow.

Thought we played well, if we took our 2 chances we would have won easily. However they took their chances, and that was really the only difference.its fine lines in this league and you really have to take your chances. Arsenal did and won.

Sometimes I think some of our players make the wrong choice when delivering a pass.

Ollie looks rusty and not up to speed yet

I still cannot believe we lost that game...

[bobzy]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think there were a couple of moments where we were naive yesterday - both involving Partey - and both involving Rogers.

There was a chance for us to break from deep in the second half, and someone played a little ball to Rogers that Partey, already on a booking, stuck a hand out to and got a touch on, it fell pretty nicely for Rogers anyway, so he pressed forward with it and started an attack. If he'd stopped and thrown his arms out exasperated, the ref would have had no choice but to send Partey off - a more experienced player I think does that. (The ref should really have gone back and booked him anyway, but our decision to play on allowed him to let it go).

There was also a great run by Rogers where he starts in our half by running over a weak challenge from Martinelli then powers past Partey, again already on a booking,  who grabs hold of him and tries to pull him down, the ref played advantage and Rogers went on to have a shot that was deflected wide. If Rogers goes down at that point instead, given the cynical nature of the foul, the ref would have had little choice but to send him off, or at least there would have been a cacophony of noise that would have made it impossible for him not to send him off when he grabbed Onana's shirt in a similar situation a few minutes later. (Again, the ref should really have come back and done this anyway, and should definitely have done it for the next offence, but playing on allowed him to let it go).

I think Partey was very lucky yesterday, it took him two or three fouls to get his booking and then there were three potentially bookable offences after it 

 

48 minutes ago, delboy54 said:

Was at the match, thought the referee had  pretty good game, although it is a low bar to be honest, I agree Partey was riding his luck not to get a second yellow.

Partey wasn’t booked, was he? Am I missing something?

The ref barely used his cards and I thought there were plenty of opportunities for him to do so (from both sides). I don’t know if it’s good or bad that he didn’t!

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

 

[delboy54]

6 minutes ago, bobzy said:

 

Partey wasn’t booked, was he? Am I missing something?

The ref barely used his cards and I thought there were plenty of opportunities for him to do so (from both sides). I don’t know if it’s good or bad that he didn’t!

Regarding Partey not getting booked, blame me at row 27 Upper Holte wearing glasses ☺

[bobzy]

1 minute ago, delboy54 said:

Regarding Partey not getting booked, blame me at row 27 Upper Holte wearing glasses ☺

He definitely SHOULD have been… but he wasn’t. The ref was really lenient all game tbh.