Aston Villa’s park the bus show against Chelsea at the weekend certainly got tongues wagging after the match as fans poured over the performance in our second game back after football was suspended.
Old debates about the quality of the side, tactics, formations and one up front, and head coach Dean Smith himself – well they all came pouring out in the Vital Villa Match Thread and more and more fans are becoming understandably concerned about our ability to avoid relegation as two good chances to move out of the danger zone have now been wasted.
Wednesday’s clash with Newcastle should be a third opportunity to make a result count and give us some breathing room, but we all know it won’t be easy – but depending on results elsewhere this week, few can be forgiven for thinking this is the last chance saloon before we find ourselves properly cut adrift.
As for Chelsea though, at least we scored eh and if you want to be ultra positive, we could’ve nicked a point really.
Chelsea MotM?
Kortney Hause
Tyrone Mings
Douglas Luiz
Matt Targett
david-avfc gives the player ratings this time.
Nyland 5 – he made a couple of saves but also nearly dropped another clanger. Certainly does not inspire any confidence in the backline when he’s on the pitch.
Konsa 6 – fairly solid game. Not too much came from their left.
Hause 7 – did well to score. Won a few headers and tackles.
Mings 7 – also did well at the back. Won a lot and didn’t offer their attackers much.
Targett 4 – offered little attacking and gave their wingers too much space including for the cross on their first goal although not helped by poor support from the forward players.
McGinn 1.5 forgot he was playing. 16 touches in 85 minutes, not good enough. I hope he’s lacking fitness because if not that was just woeful. Only way he could have got a worse rating was if he was directly culpable for a goal or had been sent off.
Hourihane 2 – slightly more touches than Mcginn at 24, still nowhere near enough impact. At least he had a shot and had a better pass completion than McGinn.
Luiz 7 – the only midfielder who looked competent which is a surprise because usually he looks the most disinterested. He made a few tackles and interceptions and also put in the excellent cross for our goal.
El Ghazi 2 – about the same as McGinn. In fact literally the same on touches of the ball with an embarrassing 16 – although at least he had 15 fewer minutes to accumulate that woeful number.
Grealish 4 – sub-par performance again. Let them have too much space for their first goal, failed to provide anything going forwards. At least he won a few free kicks which we could have done better from.
Davis 4 – worked hard but nothing he can do when the ball is whacked up the pitch nowhere near him.
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