It's the kind of defeat that leaves you feeling red raw, isn't it? And this after the sloppy home defeats against Leicester and Southampton and then at Watford.
To go down in a fighting a spirit would be one thing, but at times yesterday - even taking into account City's brilliant play - the Villa players seemed as though they're still recovering from their Christmas pudding! Yes, Jack included. Despite his clever play he still has a great amount to learn. And Drinkwater was clearly not ready to step into a match like this - even Nakamba showed up better after he came on, and Trez also sparked some life in the last few minutes.
Having said all that, the Villa have been ravaged by injuries in key areas of the team, and that has had a significant effect on the situation. To my mind, it's down to improper planning at the start of the season. I felt then that we had bought well on the defensive side of the team, and still feel that basically we have a good defence - particularly with three at the back. But the Villa midfield is giving the defence the jitters, it seems to me. It is so glaringly short of a strong player.
The defence seems to be so aware that having got the ball out, there's no-one up the pitch (at present) who is able to get hold of the ball and stick with it. The ball just comes back again. Yes, again even Jack doesn't do well enough in this department against teams like City, often meandering into corners that he can't get out of.
As someone on another blog has said, unfortunately, we (impressively) spent a significant amount of money before the season started, but a lot of that was spent on players who were inexperienced in the Premier League. Even Mings was short, though he clearly possesses quality. Players like Wesley and Nakamba have proved not to be quite ready at this level. And it surely has been a big error to place so much faith on Wesley taking his inexperience into account. We needed to acquire another - experienced - striker, yet we seem to shy away from bringing back Benteke, even on loan. And why more opportunity has not been given to Kodjia surprises me: is he really ill?
The mistakes made leading into the awful 2015-16 season have vividly been repeated in the summer just gone. Back then we invested in players like Ayew and Traore, but they were not ready for the Premier League: only now have they developed into players worth their place. Back then we also invested - as now - in a light midfield.
We were - and are - so close to getting things right at Villa Park with the kind of structure set up for life in the top flight. But are we still short of another commodity - commonsense?
Oh, dear. After saying all this, perhaps we might now start a run of 10 wins on the trot! But that's probably too much to hope for.
C'mon Villa! Wake up! With a highly remarkable average home gate of over 41,000 this season, the fans surely deserve better than this.
UTV
To go down in a fighting a spirit would be one thing, but at times yesterday - even taking into account City's brilliant play - the Villa players seemed as though they're still recovering from their Christmas pudding! Yes, Jack included. Despite his clever play he still has a great amount to learn. And Drinkwater was clearly not ready to step into a match like this - even Nakamba showed up better after he came on, and Trez also sparked some life in the last few minutes.
Having said all that, the Villa have been ravaged by injuries in key areas of the team, and that has had a significant effect on the situation. To my mind, it's down to improper planning at the start of the season. I felt then that we had bought well on the defensive side of the team, and still feel that basically we have a good defence - particularly with three at the back. But the Villa midfield is giving the defence the jitters, it seems to me. It is so glaringly short of a strong player.
The defence seems to be so aware that having got the ball out, there's no-one up the pitch (at present) who is able to get hold of the ball and stick with it. The ball just comes back again. Yes, again even Jack doesn't do well enough in this department against teams like City, often meandering into corners that he can't get out of.
As someone on another blog has said, unfortunately, we (impressively) spent a significant amount of money before the season started, but a lot of that was spent on players who were inexperienced in the Premier League. Even Mings was short, though he clearly possesses quality. Players like Wesley and Nakamba have proved not to be quite ready at this level. And it surely has been a big error to place so much faith on Wesley taking his inexperience into account. We needed to acquire another - experienced - striker, yet we seem to shy away from bringing back Benteke, even on loan. And why more opportunity has not been given to Kodjia surprises me: is he really ill?
The mistakes made leading into the awful 2015-16 season have vividly been repeated in the summer just gone. Back then we invested in players like Ayew and Traore, but they were not ready for the Premier League: only now have they developed into players worth their place. Back then we also invested - as now - in a light midfield.
We were - and are - so close to getting things right at Villa Park with the kind of structure set up for life in the top flight. But are we still short of another commodity - commonsense?
Oh, dear. After saying all this, perhaps we might now start a run of 10 wins on the trot! But that's probably too much to hope for.
C'mon Villa! Wake up! With a highly remarkable average home gate of over 41,000 this season, the fans surely deserve better than this.
UTV
2 comments:
Just hope they pick themselves up after this hiding.
Thanks for your thoughts.
The problem is they should have picked themselves up after the Leicester home game, but have not done so apart from spasms. Smith says they are learning - but don't. But it's not all to do with the players themselves - it seems to me that there's some direction that's awry, especially in what players are purchased.
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