First of all, I've not read through any of the other threads posted this afternoon/evening, so if I go over ground already covered by others then I apologise â I just haven't had time. On to the lunchtime kick off (does anyone else hate that kick off time? Everything is so flat). Anyway, apart from the opening five minutes where Villa probably should have taken the lead we dictated the pace of the game and created the more promising openings but once again, our final ball was abysmal. Villa were pretty poor, which I suppose makes the fact we lost even more annoying - they were there for the taking. Guzan was Man of the Match, closely followed by Ciaran Clark, or 'Mr Block' as he will now be known. We played ok, better than ok for periods but today has to go down as a missed opportunity and given that we missed a penalty as well, that was definitely three points dropped that we really should have bagged. Our passing was much improved from last week (probably inevitable - it couldn't have got any worse) - we dominated possession - must have had nearly 70% I reckon and I felt the balance in the centre of midfield was far more what I'd like to see. I'd probably add an extra body in midfield - maybe Tettey, possibly Johnson - and allow Fer and Howson (both of whom were very good today) to break up play AND get forward and take out Elmander as the link man. He looked a bit lost today. We seem to be a bit closer to where we want to be but as I say, our final ball and just as importantly, our decision making in the final third has got to improve or we'll be in for a bigger struggle than we should be. We have a clever centre forward playing who is being starved of the kind of ball he requires to make an impact. The number of times Redmond got the ball in a good position and chose the wrong option was frightening today but he is young and far from the finished article - the more he plays the better he'll get but Hughton was dead right to take him off. By the way, I've never been so incensed by our fans as I was today - booing the decision to take off Redmond - pathetic reaction from the Snakepit (where the booing seemed to stem from). Yeah, that'll really help matters if we make our home matches a difficult environment to play in for our own players - absolute tools, the lot of them. Anyway, I digress - Redmond and Snodgrass, who's delivery and decision making was also useless, failed every single time that they had the ball in a great area, and they had lots of good opportunities to feed RvW and get him in on goal. We may not have tested the excellent Guzan as much as we should have but we had enough good opportunities from wide areas to score three or four times today and took the wrong option or over hit/under hit a cross/pass. Very frustrating indeed because we know these are good players. They aren't world beaters but they are capable and they are not engaging their brains at the moment. At least Snodgrass got a bit better as the 2nd half went on - for 20 minutes in the first half he lost the plot and was a real liability. His head went down but fair play, he got himself back in the game. I'm not sure what can be done about the decision making and final ball other than keep working on it. The manager isn't the one making the pass but it is quite obvious that we can't make that final ball count - the rest of our build up play was nice, lovely at times. Improvement in that area is vital. If players continually chose the wrong option or can't cross the ball, what can we do? RvW must be shaking his head in disbelief at the number of times a midfielder fails to spot his sublime and mesmerising movement. He's absolutely begging for a clear cut chance to come his way, and lo and behold, we get one from the penalty spot (it looked like the correct call but not seen it on tv) and Snodgrass goes and takes the ball off him! I was furious at the time and gut feeling based on his body language made me think he'd miss it. The goal was an absolute shambles from our point of view. It was probably the only time we switched off (apart from the opening moments) and it was very costly. Individual mistakes were the issue here. I can't remember Ruddy touching the ball after they scored, other than a couple of goal kicks. As I say, a missed opportunity. No doubt this will be more ammunition for the Hughton-doubters but I'm not too sure what he could have done differently today. Again he was let down by individuals not making the right choices. We were set up in an attacking manner, we played with gusto, we passed the ball well until the end pass! He was very animated on the touchline, more so than usual - I think he may have felt the pressure a bit after the idiotic chanting. That won't help us one bit. We have to put this result behind us and move on to Watford and more importantly, Stoke. We could really do with a win on the road but three points come before a cup win I'm afraid - it is irrelevant how we perform, just bring the points home please. It is winnable. Ratings: Ruddy 7 - no chance on the goal after making a great save. Made one good save although it was, admittedly offside and wouldn't have counted! A spectator for the 2nd half Martin 8 - had a good game going forward Garrido 6 - did ok, but wasted a couple of good crossing opportunities Turner 7 - steady game, dealt with most things Bassong 6 - switched off for their goal, hobbled off with what looked like a hammy problem Fer 8 - very good game but wasted a couple of chances for the through ball to RvW Howson 8 - linked well with Fer, bombed forward a couple of times but would like to see more of that partnership in coming weeks Redmond 5 - ineffective for long spells and decision making all over the place Snodgrass 5 - poor game by his standards, final ball dreadful but plenty of endeavour. Missed penalty proved costly and sloppy for the goal Elmander 5 - looked lost, didn't use the ball well enough but held the ball up ok RvW 6 - one decent chance on the volley which narrowly missed and another off his chest where he had no time to react but still probably should have scored. Looked fed up with his wingers Subs: Bennett 8 - did very well when he came on alongside Turner Pilkington 7 - one brilliant cross into the box (the only one of the afternoon) his main contribution Hooper 7 - Intelligent running and very unlucky with a chance that flew at him at 100mph, forcing MotM Guzan into an acrobatic save OTBC Ps. People who booed Lambert when he came over to thank the Villa fans - get a life. It's what he wants. Move on.
Agree with a lot of what you say mate, especially the players not engaging their brains and the fact that individual performances were not good enough - I, too, didn't think it was quite the manager's fault, though I do believe Hoolahan would have made an impact, had he been brought on. What I don't agree with is your player ratings. They're all extremely generous. The entire defence for me was awful (apart from Ryan Bennett) and we were lucky not to be 3 or 4 nil down at half time (although we obviously had our own chances as well). After half time they did improve, however (mind you, that was when Benteke and Agbonlahor were off the pitch). By the way Supers, I can only assume you agree that it was moronic to have Snodgrass taking the penalty instead of van Wolfswinkel? Whoever made that decision/ browbeat Ricky into not taking it should be shot.
Execution is a bit harsh, but there should be a serious chat about it and lessons learnt for next time. We could employ a sniper on the roof and the fans could have numbered buttons that corresponds to the players shirt numbers to press when one of our players cocks up and then he is taken down. We may need more than 3 subs though, especially based on the game today. We would be half way through the reserve team already.
The opposition being poor and us not being able to take advantage of it is a worryingly frequent trend of NCFC in this past calender year. Another is that we find it incredibly difficult to come back once we have gone behind in games. Both were evident again today and I am not entirely sure how we approach these problems. Is it psychological? I do sometimes think our players get frustrated a little too easily.
Psychological? How? You see that white net thing that looks a bit like an onion bag? If you kick the ball into it you have a better chance of winning a game. These guys are top pro's getting paid £20-35k p/w they know what they have to do, they are just not doing it. What is disturbing me a bit is the amount of squabbling between our own players today, not good to air it in public.
This is why I'm asking the question of why it keeps happening. We know the players are good enough, so why aren't they able to deliver? Maybe it isn't psychological. It was merely a suggestion based on the fact that every time we go a goal behind in a game or a decision goes against us we aren't ever able to recover from this.
because the coaching is all about keeping it tight, don't take any risks, keep your shape, priority is to not concede.
But what impact does any of that have upon our inability to play those final crucial passes that lead to goals? We work our way into decent positions but it is always the final ball that is lacking.
I think there is ALWAYS a big psychological aspect to the game. How else do we explain that this squad, with much better players, look less capable than the players we came up with from the Championship? I think I remember a quote from Lambert saying that football was played in the head. He's right, and that's why he's such a good manager - he makes players believe in themselves. I've been shot down on here by more rational types for arguing that Hughton is inhibiting our players and making them play with fear, but that's still what I seem to see on the pitch, especially once we go a goal down. I thought the effort today was not an issue, and I agree with Superman that the passing was an improvement over the Hull/Spurs games, but there seemed still a lack of core belief that is in danger of dragging us down into a relegation dogfight.
The squabbling always seems to involve Snodgrass. I get the impression he thinks he is the top dog and let's people know it.
I agree about that. I thought our left side play suffered through Johnson's absence. I didn't expect us to beat Villa, we very seldom do (only 11 wins in 44 matches against them); I anticipated a draw. In fact we could and should have won it, and not drawing it was a travesty. As I said on another thread, I think CH was right to persist with Snodgrass and start him as he did, simply because the best way to get him back to form is to play him. But it looks as if form is not the problem; he should be omitted now until whatever is bugging him is sorted.
Why is it that so few people can take any positives from the performance: yes it was a ****e result but we could have easily won. there was some superb passing moves yesterday. oh feck it, what's the point? everyone has either rose tinted or dark and foreboding glasses on
I think the overall performance was encouraging with the way we passed the ball around and moved it wide, getting into really good positions, but once there our players seem to have no idea what to do with the ball. We seriously need wide players who can cross from the by-line on their stronger foot. RvW and Hooper aren't going to be winning aerial battles with the CBs in this league, they need low crosses from the by-line to attack using their pace and movement to get across defenders. How many high, hanging balls did Snodgrass put in yesterday? Complete waste of time, everytime. It must have been like catching practice for Guzan yesterday. No one ever challenging him for the ball and it was usually straight to him. I have to agree with you Supers about our fans not covering themselves in glory. A chap that sits near me had clearly had a few too many before the game and couldn't stop shouting profanities at all the players, Snodgrass mostly. It's not the way to motivate a team. Snoddy definitely needs to get a boot up the backside from someone! If Hughton doesn't seem to want to take him off the pitch then players like Russ and Bass need to tell him to deflate his head because it's not helping the team!
I agree with what your saying Supers, except the Lambert comment. Onthe subject of the wingers they are well too zonal, they need to move inwards more, it would help if they stopped taking on three players at a time, also they need to stop being greedy 100% with you on this there has been games we could of easily put away but they choose to go for glory, how about spotting the striker who is finding space in the box unmarked? It ****ing winds me up big time.
Snodgrass lately has got it into his head that he needs to beat the SAME player three times before crossing / passing the ball. When Wes used to take on one player too many, he often used to get slated for it. Plus the longer he spends fannying about, beating his full back on the outside, then checking back to beat him (again) on the inside....the entire midfield have had a chance to retreat and stifle whatever Ricky / Elmander may be waiting to do.
They were average not awful, their marking really had a lot to be desired, far too much space given. How many were in he box when the goal was scored?, about two wasn't it?, Snodgrass was the biggest let down for me, I just can't understand why he was given a start if he's playing that badly.
Turner and Bassong both switched off massively for the goal and were both at fault. With hindsight Bass was probably hampered somewhat by his dodgy hamstring but I'm not sure what Tina was doing.
Turner pushed deep but Bassong didn't go with him so Turner ended up playing them onside. I can't blame Turner for not wanting to play offside against that pace that far up the pitch. Onto the OP, I think it is only because it is Aston Villa or rather Paul Lambert's Aston Villa that people are so pissed off. I agree Elmander was ineffective, Redmond was greedy and the penalty is a bit of a farce situation, but you've been far too harsh on Snodgrass. He easily beat Luna everytime he ran at him. He might not have found the crosses he would like, but other than one peach from Garrido nobody else did either. He found some excellent passes along the floor to his other teammates. If we looked like scoring, it would have been through Snodgrass IMO.
I disagree Snodgrass was the weakest link for me, his passing was terrible, CH needs to rethink his inclusion for Stoke, hopefully he won't be featuring in the Watford game, I say give someone else a start, give him a bit of competition.
