Aston Villa fans were hoping to see us pick up all three points in today’s Premier League trip to Southampton and a win would’ve opened up a breathing space on those in the relegation spots below us.
Making the trip to St Mary’s Stadium, head coach Dean Smith’s side were clearly second best in the first half and the hosts took a deserved lead eight minutes into the game. Despite their control, it was a one goal game at the half time break, and we came out far better and showed significant improvement in our play but not where it mattered. Four efforts at goal all game long and a paltry one effort on target.
With goalkeeper Pepe Reina gambling at the death and coming up for a corner, Southampton broke to make it 2-0 five minutes into stoppage time and our goose was cooked.
All eyes to Watford on Sunday and West Ham United on Monday – either win, and we fall into the bottom three again.
Smith pulled few punches at the full time whistle as he spoke to the BBC:
“My feelings are embarrassment with the performance. The thing that hurts me the most is a lack of fight. It has to be the lowest of the low. The defeat at Watford was bad but this was on a par. They’ve let themselves down with their own personal performances. We got beaten and deservedly so. There were too many training-ground players. You’ve got to perform on a match day and too many players didn’t. Our quality just wasn’t there today. Some of them have played their way out of a cup final.”
FFP - Have We Done The Right Thing This Year?
Yes
No
Time Will Tell
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It Won’t Be A 14 Player Exodus At Villa, But There Will Be Plenty Of Change Over The Summer
St Mary's Stadium
Premier League
22/02/2020 4:00 pm
Attendance: 31478
Referee: Pawson
| Southampton | Aston Villa | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long (8), Armstrong (90+5) | |||||||
| McCarthy | Reina | ||||||
| Ward-Prowse | Konsa | 59 | |||||
| Stephens | Mings | ||||||
| Bednarek | Hause | ||||||
| Bertrand | Guilbert | ||||||
| Armstrong | Targett | ||||||
| Smallbone | 80 | Nakamba | 81 | ||||
| Hojbjerg | Douglas Luiz | ||||||
| Djenepo | El Ghazi | 28 | |||||
| Long | 73 | Grealish | |||||
| Ings | 73 | Samatta | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Vestergaard | Drinkwater | ||||||
| Adams | 73 | Hourihane | 59 | ||||
| Romeu | 80 | Trezeguet | 28 | ||||
| Boufal | Baston | 81 | |||||
| Obafemi | 73 | Engels | |||||
| Gunn | Nyland | ||||||
| Valery | Elmohamady | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 28 | Goal attempts | 4 |
| 9 | On Target | 1 |
| 9 | Corners | 6 |
| 13 | Fouls | 17 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 4 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 46 | % | 54 |
wtf ,is it me or am i reliving 2015\16 , i cant stomach the absolute bull that falls out of this mans mouth, the reason for the lack of fight is the lack of real preparation ,the underestimation of southampton thinking that they wont be physical in everything they do ,the poor defending which was set in motion from minute one when mings trys to turn on a bouncing ball only to cause confusion which nearly costs us a goal ,reinas distribution of the ball was shocking ,jack was kicked all over the place and not once did anyone kick out in defence of there team mate when some real stength and bravery was needed ,this whole team is lacking some real balls and i dont mean trying a trick here and there or shooting from outside the box i mean some hard honest physical fight tough in the tackle really hard in the air shoulder to shoulder bollocks ,instead what do we have, a punch of over rated whimps with no guts for the fight ,theres no smoke without fire and smith is starting to struggle ,hes fanning the flames himself ,by hook or by crook if we stay up surely moving him on for a real genuine coach should be the priority hes tried hes had a crack it and hes done what every other villa manager has done and that try to buy his way out of trouble so ,one with a honest plan and a plan b and one who can like the club motto says be” prepared” for each game properly.
Couldn’t agree with you more bigdaz, defensively we’ve been useless all season, even when we’ve scored two goals we don’t look comfortable. I expected a tough season but this is becoming embarrassing, 52 goals conceded tells you a lot about the defensive side of things and there’s no grit in midfield. Losing McGinn was a major disaster for us, I just hope he’s back soon. Big match next week, hope we don’t get hammered again.
If I’m being honest I’m surprised Smith hasn’t been replaced before now, I personally don’t think he’s got the tactical awareness for the Premiereship. Anyway I really hope we can stay in the Prem and make some changes in the summer….UTV
Time to get grounded: one week from going out of existence, managerial appointment that pulled the whole club together, promoted on year ahead of squad development, FFP restrictions on recruitment meant we ended up with a poorly resourced squad. Manager developing his trade but like manager everywhere can’t go on the pitch with them. If people think world class managers would have joined us for the fight then they really should have a word with themselves. January window We couldn’t even attract “experienced” players with the bottle for it. This squad ain’t like 2015/16 they had the skills but didn’t use them. We have to survive with what we have. After yesterday I do a Pool and field the up and coming youngster for the Carabo. As a long time supporter I know we’re hurting means, crying at the end of 1969/70 seasons I thought it was the end of the world but we came back and I was able to strut my stuff around the De Kuip. That’s the mountain we have to climb. Keep the faith but keep it real…UTV
keeping the faith is all that we have, if we are keeping it real lets all be honest ,forget the monetary value of all the players purchased and give a genuine appraisal of our defending and those entrusted to do that job .alot of villa fans constantly ask why Engles isnt in the team ,his mistake against spurs was just one of many mistakes that have cost us goals and points ,Mings who many seem to think embodies the best a central defender has to offer,and lets also take into account that he is currently in the England squad ,is poor in the air he cant attack the ball and prefers to lets it bounce, has terrible positional sense and constantly plays himself into trouble,Hause isnt a center half hes a full back who happens to be playing in a central three has only one pass and thats mostly backwards ,konsa is the only centerhalf whoses making progress its slow but progress .
of all of these only konsa and engles are genuine center half because mings is also a full back who thinks hes a centerhalf ,he was a left back at ipswich when bournemouth paid 8 mill for him ..so we wonder why we concede so any goals .im not including guilbet and taylor who have been consistant all year ,guilbert has on many occasions been the last man chasing down the opposition .
all of the mistakes made arent addressed on the training field because if they where these mistakes would be eradicated ,proper training brings real results not a constant flow of errors .
the midfield arent innocent in all of this as shown in saturdays game a poor no show a lack of bottle and genuine fight in the first half left jack to carry the fight on his own,which brings me on to jack the only player with real heart passion ,skill and desire give absolute everything game in and game out ,i dont think any other player give more .
So ask yourselves honestly where does the blame lie ,i accept that this season was going to be hard that poor results would happen
but i also accept that some progress will be made ,i dont see any progress ,no team should be waiting for its supporters to carry them across the line thats up to the players to carry the supporters over line by performing by giving everything and down to the manager to carry the players to teach and coach them properly , i stand by my opinion that smith should be moved on after this season no matter what the out come of the final or wether we stay up or relagated ,i dont think his affection for the club makes him immune to criticism infact it worse because failure isnt an option he can afford to embrace especially if your not making some real progress ……
i should re read my own post ,im refering to mat targett not taylor
Smith is out of his depth but it’s too late now to do anything about it Next year when we are in the Championship it’s time to start again with a first class Manager.