...we were today IMO. And that makes the defeat all the harder to take. We knew Villa would play us on the break, and that is exactly how it panned out today with a long throw from Guzan catching Bassong out and we never recovered our shape. Losing Bassong in the process of failing to break down a team that hadn't kept a clean sheet in months is obviously a big negative but we definitely had enough chances to win. We were really productive in wide areas but the final ball just wasn't there today, even on set-pieces too often straight into Guzan's hands. I wasn't sure what to make of the penalty, the guy's hands where outstretched but he didn't have much time to get them out the way. Either way, it was saved and the referee more than evened up by giving Villa players free-kicks in all manner of confusing situations and failing to award corners etc. But there are plenty of positives from today. IMO John Ruddy was unlucky not to get a clean sheet, he made some top saves. Russell Martin had an absolute stormer at RB today. Jonny Howson had a great game too patrolling the deep of midfield, and it was nice to have a player who tries to find the killer forward pass. Finally Snodgrass, despite seeing his penalty saved, was my MOM. He had the Villa full-back on toast all match. Everytime he went 1 on 1 with him, he was able to beat his man. Our right flank looked really dangerous today. I thought Elmander was a bit out of the match today, van Wolfswinkel missed a few good chances too but generally nobody was worse than ok today. Michael Turner nullified the threat of Villa's forwards more of the game (If Bassong had dropped back with for Villa's goal, we could have cut out Wiemann's pass) and Garrido was improved greatly from the Spurs game. Redmond didn't contribute much tbh although we were concentrating on attacking on the right hand side. Finally Fer didn't have the best first half but got into more in the second half. I do wonder if he wouldn't be better behind Wolfswinkel will Tettey/Johnson taking the vacant central birth? I really hope we play much more like that vs Stoke than we did vs Spurs. OTBC
That's why I feel more annoyed and disappointed I think. We had 2 great chances to score, and we conceded a sloppy goal.
I agree with the OP. CH was absolutely right to persevere with Snoddy. The best way to get him back to top form is to keep playing him. Once Hooper gets some game time under his belt he will put away chances like the one today. Tuesday night's game is another opportunity to tweak things. I hope Pilkington starts and forces his way back into the starting eleven in the league.
Sorry, what? I'm not here to pick a fight, and I certainly do not want the manager sacked, not at all. I'm happy with how the club have progressed overall and ecstatic with our Premier League status. But I couldn't disagree more. My assessment of the game: Appalling defending in the first half, where, were it not for Ruddy, we would have been three or four goals down. All of the back four were poor at best, but Russell Martin coped best, although he was regularly outwitted by Agbonlahor. I have no idea why Snodgrass took the penalty. It should have been van Wolfswinkel. The penalty was awful; tamely hit and at a perfect height for the goalkeeper. Snodgrass was absolutely terrible throughout. I simply cannot believe you named him your man of the match. He had about three good touches all game. Otherwise, every single cross he had (and it must have been a good dozen) was floated straight into the goalkeeper's arms. He had no end product whatsoever and should have been replaced by Pilkington instead of Redmond. Howson wasn't bad but he made far too many misplaced passes and was largely ineffective. Certainly one of our better players, however. Not that that's saying much. Fer tackled back well but looked largely clueless when on the ball. We need a creative midfielder so badly. Someone Fer or Howson or Johnson can give the ball to, who can then thread the ball through to the strikers or wingers. Elmander was completely ineffective and van Wolfswinkel looked to have an off day, but I'll give them both the benefit of the doubt for now. Turner looked completely out of sorts and was very much at fault for Villa's goal. Him and (I think) Russell Martin just stood there, waiting for the linesman to wave his flag, as the Villa striker (forgotten his name) had two shots, the second of which went in. Comical defending. Just before that, both players simply left Agbonlahor to run down the left flank completely unchallenged. Turner actually ran away from him, and Martin was nowhere to be seen. As for Garrido, I'm getting fed up with his long, aimless passes and his largely ineffective attacking play (though he did provide one very decent cross today). Basically mate, that was, in my opinion, our worse home performance under Hughton since we lost 5-2 to Liverpool a year ago. We were awful, disorganised, and played at a stupidly slow tempo for large portions of the game. I'm not saying anything drastic. The manager should stay, and the players will come good, but that was pathetic I'm afraid. I will say one good thing; Hooper looked decent. Seemed to be the only player out there with some real urgency about him once he came on. Had anyone scored for us today, it would have been him.
That's because we lost. Read the papers, who give about as an objective view as you're likely to find (which admittedly isn't much), but to a man they say Norwich dominated, deserved more and that Guzan had a stellar performance. We were ok. Not very good. We had moments of real quality, but they were all in non-threatening areas on the pitch. Our defence did pretty well, but you have to accept that the advantage is its the attackers and when you have someone as quick as Agbonlahor playing well (which he always seems to do against us) we have to accept that if Bassong falls asleep once, it's eventually going to result in a goal. The problem was in the attack. Both Redmond and Snodgrass were poor. Redmond was very poor, Snodgrass was just poor. Snodders had the running of Luna, and created lots of chances so I don't see how you can possibly he was entirely awful, but I agree that too many of his crosses were floated or fell short. Both our wingers are capable of beating their man, but then are making dreadful decisions. I agree that Elmander had an off day, but at least he holds the ball up well. I also thought RvW was good, a couple of incredible touches, but both of these players suffered from the wingers' decision making. Dropping Johnson was the rut decision for 4-4-2. We can't carry his poor passing in that formation, if we go 4-5-1 he has to play though. The team I'd like to see: Ruddy Martin Turner Bassong (if recovered, otherwise Bennett) Olsson Whittaker Fer Howson Pilks Elmander RvW Maybe switch Elmander for Snodders, not sure. Snodders was not so poor that he deserves all this lambasting, he is still our most creative outlet. Even with the poor crosses he created far more than Redmond. My feeling is that his problem is he is trying too hard and needs to relax and think a bit. Some time on the bench may do it for him.
Well, we'll have to agree to disagree then. I think you have been far too harsh on our players there and you think I have been far too nice. I understand your frustration and Kemp too but the team performance as a whole I genuinely thought was to a decent standard.
kemp and hucks have over reacted to the defeat (they are not alone) while DM has probably been a little lenient on snodgrass - he was quite right that most of our best moves featured the scot, though his final ball was wayward. he was by no means 'terrible'. i agree with most of his original post though
It has been a while since In have been to a game because of business and family commitments but I am just saying what I saw at the match. Not sure where it could be said I have over reacted? We have seen unprecedented investment in the squad this season but the same problem exists. Putting the ball in the onion bag. We were very poor in the final third, like we have been for the last year or so? Except for a few odd games here and there. I witnessed it first hand that's all rather than hearing it from everyone else. More than anything I was shocked that the defence was so bad for the goal and in the first 10 minutes when we are supposed to be so solid we should have been 2-3 goals down. Then there is the toothlessnes in attack and the disjointed midfield between midfield and attack. Ok we were positive in some aspects but almost all of our offensive play was easily read, slow and easy to defend against. Snodgrass did have a bad game and I don't care what anyone says and it's not just about the penalty, he was petulant, diving and hardly ever tracked back when he lost the ball which was a big problem when you have agbonlahor on the wing and your leaving him one on one with the wingback. I am not overreacting, villa have a better manager than us. It's simple as the figures proves........ 3 home games and 3 defeats, you can't argue with the numbers. I'm not in the Hughton out camp yet but he needs to start getting it together and quickly as he should know who is the penalty taker in the team is and should have the man management skills to implement it.
