Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Arsenal

[tonyh29]

12 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

.

What was the first?

Fairly sure one of the defeats at the emirates he let a soft one in , possibly even 2  ? 

[Nicho]

Can’t believe Raya got man of the match over Saliba let along Rodger’s

[duke313]

I thought we played better yesterday than we did at West Ham. The result is disappointing, but we actually look so much better, once all players are back, we will cook teams.

[Lochheads twin]

Definitely one of those days.

Was it just me or did you feel that Arsenal seemed to be more determined not to get beat, rather that go all out for a win. For them any points were an improvement over last season.

Positives 

• A good team performance.
• 2nd week running we matched up to a very physical side and were not intimidated (real progress here)
• We don't look out of place when going toe to toe with these sides now.
• Rogers, enough said
• Tielemans playing the full 90 minutes for the second week and not looking gassed. A big improvement on fitness over the past year.

Fine Margins

• Missed chances
• lenient referee, could easily have produced a second yellow for a couple of Arsenal players
• deflection falling for them in the box.
• when they fall your way great, when they go the other way it feels tough to take. Que sera!

Plenty to build on. Lets hope Cash's injury is not severe (likewise Bailey is also ok). Although Kosta did ok, you can see the step up in level required. Valuable minutes and hopefully a few easier games than Arsenal. Will this just tip the balance on concluding the Geertuida deal?

Onwards!

 

[Delphinho123]

I won’t lie, it’s taken me a sleep to fully digest the match and for the anger to subside.

This one hurt more than most. Maybe it’s because it’s Arsenal for whom I loathe, from the manager, to the fans, to the club for playing Partey.

The match. I’d have taken a draw before the match but to not win that game given the chances we had, is a travesty and quite frankly, ludicrous.

Watkins. The lack of a pre-season I’ve already spoken about in his own thread (to which is inexcusable in my opinion), but the performances both this week and last week against West Ham have been nothing short of embarrassing. And he will be embarrassed. The world was watching this week, maybe not last.

The blame lies directly with him and almost him entirely Im afraid. And that’s coming from someone who loves him. He was a complete disappointment yesterday and I hope he works considerably harder this week on the training pitch to make sure he’s firing next week. We need 3 points at Leicester.

The overall performance itself. So much to be pleased about. Arsenal are arguably a top 5 side in Europe. In fact, there are plenty of people tipping them to win the league this year and I can understand why. Quality all over with the likes of Saka, Odegaard, Saliba, Rice etc.
To play the way we did, match them in nearly every department, create two clearcut chances and deserve to win the match is testament to how far we’ve come as a side and under this genius manager.

Our central midfield of Tielemans and Onana just looks like it has a bit of everything. McGinn compliments them with his work rate and energy and then you have the likes of Bailey and Rogers just looking so lively. The centre halves look as good of partnership as they did the first half of last season and we are fluid again in the way we build up from the back - a slight tactical tweak perhaps?

And remember, this is a team without the likes of Maatsen, Ramsey and Kamara starting. There is so much cause for optimism.

I read it on twitter somewhere, but it was quite apt. Emery set us up and won that match, we just didn’t get any points. Feels about right.

On to Leicester. Play anywhere near as well as we have this first two weeks and it will be a comfortable win. 

[John]

Even Arteta had some good things to say about us after the game and it is so rare that he says anything complementary about their opponents. "Great coach, a great team and a hard place to come to get a win" or something like that, is what I think that he said. We went toe to toe with Arsenal and you could see that Arsenal (unlike on some past visits) knew they would be in a real game. The game turned on two golden opportunities that our England striker would have gleefully put away last season, but he's in one of his lean runs and still hasn't shaken off the ring rust yet. If one of those chances had been converted, we might well have won this one.  

[onmeedson]

We look a far more solid team and when we get up to speed and polished we will give most teams a scare. The only difference for me yesterday was they wanted it more and we were still  in relax mode, we can only improve and now have the base of a decent side to progress to another level.   Should have said we now have a squad to progress.

[foreveryoung]

1 hour ago, Nicho said:

Can’t believe Raya got man of the match over Saliba let along Rodger’s

To be fair, it's telling how good we played when they give it to the opposition goalkeeper.

All the negatives in the first half, when in reality, apart from the Watkins misses, we stopped Arsenal from playing, an were basically better than them.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Delphinho123 said:

I won’t lie, it’s taken me a sleep to fully digest the match and for the anger to subside.

This one hurt more than most. Maybe it’s because it’s Arsenal for whom I loathe, from the manager, to the fans, to the club for playing Partey.

The match. I’d have taken a draw before the match but to not win that game given the chances we had, is a travesty and quite frankly, ludicrous.

Watkins. The lack of a pre-season I’ve already spoken about in his own thread (to which is inexcusable in my opinion), but the performances both this week and last week against West Ham have been nothing short of embarrassing. And he will be embarrassed. The world was watching this week, maybe not last.

The blame lies directly with him and almost him entirely Im afraid. And that’s coming from someone who loves him. He was a complete disappointment yesterday and I hope he works considerably harder this week on the training pitch to make sure he’s firing next week. We need 3 points at Leicester.

The overall performance itself. So much to be pleased about. Arsenal are arguably a top 5 side in Europe. In fact, there are plenty of people tipping them to win the league this year and I can understand why. Quality all over with the likes of Saka, Odegaard, Saliba, Rice etc.
To play the way we did, match them in nearly every department, create two clearcut chances and deserve to win the match is testament to how far we’ve come as a side and under this genius manager.

Our central midfield of Tielemans and Onana just looks like it has a bit of everything. McGinn compliments them with his work rate and energy and then you have the likes of Bailey and Rogers just looking so lively. The centre halves look as good of partnership as they did the first half of last season and we are fluid again in the way we build up from the back - a slight tactical tweak perhaps?

And remember, this is a team without the likes of Maatsen, Ramsey and Kamara starting. There is so much cause for optimism.

I read it on twitter somewhere, but it was quite apt. Emery set us up and won that match, we just didn’t get any points. Feels about right.

On to Leicester. Play anywhere near as well as we have this first two weeks and it will be a comfortable win. 

I'd have taken a draw, before the match, so that brings me on to a slightly different angle of view, and away from the missed chances.

Firstly, I don't subscribe to the view of some that Arsenal was not great, for me they have one of the best defences in world football, yea world football.

We created chances, enough chances to have scored 3 goals, can we really expect to create more against such a formidable physical and defensively competent side?....sure the missed chances, was significant and one a howler, but Ollie has been playing great for us and will come back to form....I have marginal concern towards our ability to score goals this season, I think that will come.

my comments are trying to apportion a view that doesn't condone Ollies misses, but doesn't entirely blame him for the result either.....other players can feel disappointed with the 2 goals conceded too....so it's not all on Ollie.

Most of our football was sublime and as is mentioned Morgan Rogers is amazing, maybe the players playing with him, need to be more aware to capitalise better.

My concern, once again points to conceding goals, as you say many of us would have taken a 0-0 and we can't blame Ollie for that.

I will stick my neck out and say, if we concede the same amount of goals as last season, we will achieve very little.....At this level, its paramount to keep clean sheets.

I think it was clear from this game, where they secured a possession stat of reportedly 61% away from home, that they had a much stronger defensive side than us.....That stat was a clear sign they kept the ball much better than us, and eventually it wears you down.

I would say, that their goals stemmed from individual errors from us, but they won't get highlighted as much as Ollie's misses. I say again 0-0 would have been ok as a result.

We are not at the same level as Arsenal imo, understandably so(despite their 2 bloody noses of last season,from us) they are better defensively than us, and that is what has projected them from being a good football team to title chasers.

If we want to go to the same level as them.... we have to stop conceding the type of goals we do, and at the rate we do.

but generally many, many points of encouragement from us, we are WIP and a couple more seasons of this progress and we will be title contenders.

 

 

Edited August 25 by TRO

[TRO]

15 hours ago, holteend1982 said:

Thought we played well, can't miss the chances that we did against teams like arsenal, you will always be punished for it. Onto next week! 

Only if we don't defend properly....at half time it was 0-0 I would have taken that, even though we was at home.

There are 2 sides to a game of football and defending will take us to the next level.

[VillaChris]

10 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

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.

 

That is pretty poor. Turnstiles normally open 90 minutes before the game starts so people who want to go into the ground early can rather than lingering outside.

Must've been close to a safety issue given many more thousands use Witton lane to get to the Holte if they're coming from Perry Barr direction, I use that route.

At least the Weather was o.k by 5pm yesterday, torrential rain and I imagine the mood would've turned very sour if no one could get into the stand before 5pm.

We probably should've just asked to switch the Leicester and Arsenal games and start with two away if we weren't confident all the comestic changes in the ground would be finished before the day of the game.

[TRO]

15 hours ago, Herman22 said:

Big few weeks for Ollie ahead. The two misses today are absolutely shocking and he’s cost us 3 points. 

 

He has cost us 2 points....we could have got 1 from half time result, if we didn't continue conceding sloppy goals.

[TRO]

15 hours ago, villa4europe said:

Poor after the goal, really poor at the start, Rogers took us by the scruff of the neck, fine margins Vs a very good team, going to be lots of disappointment and Ollie's getting a lot of stick 

The two Ollie misses, the JJ chance with his bad touch, the Konsa across the goal volley

Decent game overall though, 2nd best team in the league, I thought we actually did more over 90 mins than we did in both games last year yet we won both those games, funny old game 

because we kept 2 clean sheets.

Edited August 25 by TRO

[TRO]

15 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

The fine margins at the VERY top.

We are a very good side, but we simply aren't at THAT level yet.

I also think we still need " something " despite how good we are.

Something unpredictable like Rogers but in the lock pick sense.

Aside from this, if a firing Ollie turned up today we win or draw at worst.

I was hoping for a draw, but don't think there is shame in losing to Arsenal.

Geertruida....we need to make it happen, somehow.

a 0-0 draw with those creative chances and we would have been reasonably happy...despite the misses.

[TRO]

15 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

As everyone has noted, we played well. Even if you ignored the goals I think they shaded it on general play but we played lots of good stuff ourselves, and matched up very well tactically. In the end Nedeljkovic has been caught out for both their goals, though the second is really on Emi. But it's not a disaster that we're holding our own with one of the two best sides in the league apart from a couple of lapses from a sub who wouldn't have been on apart from injury. We should go out and buy Gertruida. 

Ollie getting a lot of the blame for his misses, and rightly so with the first one, though I think in the case of the second one he's stretching to reach it so was probably hard to direct and it's a worldie of a save. Duran didn't do much of anything to suggest he should be starting instead. 

Rogers had another spectacular game. The lad is box office. He's nothing like Grealish in how he plays but he has the same 'I'm turning up to watch *him* even if we lose' feel about him. Really optimistic for the season he'll have. 

We played well, it was a game of fine margins, we're still right up there among the best sides in the league. Let's go beat Leicester and put a smile back on everyone's faces. 

Some players, make a real difference to a teams profile.....I think Gertruida could do that for us.

[TRO]

15 hours ago, ozvilla28 said:

3 goals in 2 games conceded. We need to improve our defence because it will cost us.

I agree.....and I am surprised, that the main view is just of the missed chances.

It will go a long way to defining our season......2 games is no sample size, but if we do not achieve clean sheets, our success will be marginal.

We had a better record in the 2022/23 season.....we have to get back to those levels whilst maintaining our offensive prowess.

Edited August 25 by TRO

[sidcow]

On the way to Villa Park I said to Sidcow Jr, regardless of the result I just want us to compete with them, to show we're on a level with them and last season wasn't a flash in the pan. 

I think we did that.  It's disappointing to lose but there's no shame in losing to the possible champions.  We just need to swap out last year's home with against them with an unexpected loss like Brighton or Forest and we can still progress. 

Edited August 25 by sidcow

[TRO]

15 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

As good as Rodgers is, and was, in this game, he still needs to brush - up on the defensive side of his game. After watching their first goal again, I actually think Rodgers could have been a bit more assertive when the ball came across him. 

I think that observation could be levelled at a lot of our players.....

There is a lot of learning to do from our boys, and without the ball, might be the main theme. If we could have maintained that clean sheet, I would have been chuffed, under the circumstances.

[sheepyvillian]

5 minutes ago, TRO said:

I think that observation could be levelled at a lot of our players.....

There is a lot of learning to do from our boys, and without the ball, might be the main theme. If we could have maintained that clean sheet, I would have been chuffed, under the circumstances.

It's those second balls again, costing us. You have to want it at both ends of the pitch. I thought Konsa was excellent, and unlucky not to score a goal from that set - piece. 

Edited August 25 by sheepyvillian

[Pelle]

It's a rather odd feeling for me to lose a game, especially against arsenal, and not being too upset about it. Before the season took off I was a bit worried about how this season would turn out. We lost Douglas Luiz and we played rather poor football during pre season. There were a bit too many negative things going on around Villa to make me feel optimistic. Now, two games on, I feel encouraged. Yes, we lost last night but we played well and stood up well ahainst one of the best teams in the league, maybe the world right now, and we didn't do it by only fighting but by playing well. It was a good game, IMO, and I think they deserved to win the most, but it wouldn't be totally undeserved if we'd won. As many have already pointed out, if Ollie scores at least one of his sitters we would probably go on and maybe even win it. 

I'm not too worried Watkins. I'd be more worried if he hadn't got any chances at all. All he needs right now is to score a goal, probably a lucky goal, and he will be off again.

How good can Rogers become? Really? Any other club would kick themselves for selling him, not to mention only for a million quids. But citeh probably don't even remember he was there once. 

We're building a very strong side and the final piece will be to improve our defence. Not necessarily by signing new defenders or players at all, but through organising and get them together better. And keep the quality in the defence even if we need to change players. And I also think that when Kamara comes back and is fit we will be better in that part. Him and Onana together and let Tielemans go higher up the pitch will make us even better.

And I think the ref was pretty good. IMO he was fair, and that's the most important thing for me. And he didn't make any big errors. All in all it was a good game. On to the next. And then the dreadfull international break.

UTV!