Villa 0-0 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Deutsch Wolf]

For me, Silva has efforts on goal / chances and WJ does not. I don't think Silva should start, but surely he deserves more game time.

Give him at least 1/2 hour Nuno, he can't do any worse than WJ. What's the worst that could happen?

You could ask why waste an hour on José when he offers literally nothing. It's pointless, we get nothing out of it. I wouldn't mind so much if he were genuinely an outlet who was just a bit shit at scoring. He isn't, he barely touches the ball. "Physical presence" my arse, I've got a cup of tea right here that's stronger.

 

[AndyWolves]

You could ask why waste an hour on José when he offers literally nothing. It's pointless, we get nothing out of it. I wouldn't mind so much if he were genuinely an outlet who was just a bit shit at scoring. He isn't, he barely touches the ball. "Physical presence" my arse, I've got a cup of tea right here that's stronger.

I get your point, totally. And logically, I don't really have a counter other than Silva is a bit young to be starting for 90 minutes.

Maybe we put Donk upfront when Boly is back as at least he'd run about and offer a physical presence ! (Joke obviously!)

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

This is why Cutrone's lack of application vs Chorley was unreal. Put yourself a bit, maybe knock in a couple against a sixth tier team and you might get a go. Didn't try. We had to go and sign someone else.

Now granted, Valencia is nicer than Wolverhampton but ultimately he's still in a foreign country where I assume he doesn't speak the language, on his own, in lockdown, not playing. Professional idiocy.

José has been a disaster, I don't know why he still has people making excuses for him. If he *looked* like doing something then maybe. He never ever does. I don't know what level of scouting went into him but assuming this is how he always plays (I wouldn't know, I don't watch La Liga any more) then it wasn't good enough. I'm fairly sure we could have done better than that. Sure, at present we are never going to create huge amounts for any striker. That's not the point though. You shouldn't be able to forget one of your own players is on the pitch, his work (in the loosest sense of the word) off the ball is truly horrendous. Not even token efforts at pressing. Making shocking runs that mean he can never get the ball even if we had a midfield of De Bruyne and Modric. Look up when we win the ball in our half, where's your focal point...standing stock still, 60 yards away, giving his marker the easiest day of his season. The penalty box presence of Jake Cassidy.

Absolute shit.

 

[Johnny75]

You could ask why waste an hour on José when he offers literally nothing. It's pointless, we get nothing out of it. I wouldn't mind so much if he were genuinely an outlet who was just a bit shit at scoring. He isn't, he barely touches the ball. "Physical presence" my arse, I've got a cup of tea right here that's stronger.

Aside from that being inaccurate he’s still better than Fabio who clearly isn’t ready to do a full 90 in any form at this level.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You can keep saying I'm wrong all you like mate, but you never explain why.

Where's all this good work that I'm missing? He really isn't better than Fabio.

 

[Johnny75]

I get your point, totally. And logically, I don't really have a counter other than Silva is a bit young to be starting for 90 minutes.

Nothing to do with age, just not got the ability.

 

[Johnny75]

You can keep saying I'm wrong all you like mate, but you never explain why.

Where's all this good work that I'm missing? He really isn't better than Fabio.

I have explained numerous times but we will never agree so no point keep churning out the same arguments neither of us will agree with.

He’s miles better than Fabio who has zero physical presence and the speed of a turtle in quicksand.

Jose is making bad runs in the box but his link play is good and he did show a lot for the wide forwards yesterday but we didn’t have the final ball, which has been said a lot in this thread.

 

[prawnking]

You shouldn't be able to forget one of your own players is on the pitch

I wish I could've forgotten Donk and Moutinho were on the pitch during the first half yesterday...

I have to say, Jose doesn't annoy me that much. He's clearly not the answer, but that's what happens when you don't really have a workable plan B to your most important player being out.

As long as he can stop Fabio from having to play 90 mins every week he's done the bare minimum. Happy for Fab to have more time as the season draws to a close, maybe even start the last couple, then wave bye bye to WJ.

Unless Nuno decides to sign him

 

[Jabbawolf]

Aside from that being inaccurate he’s still better than Fabio who clearly isn’t ready to do a full 90 in any form at this level.

The sad thing is that there really shouldn’t be a debate here - Jose is a seasoned professional with a decent track record, but for us he’s been lazy, powderpuff and appearing to lack instinct - he’s ready but seemingly not willing.

 

[Deano]

I don't think Jose is better than Silva tbh and Silva again yesterday did more in his 10 minutes than Jose did in the previous 80.

Silva might be looking ok when he comes on as he's fresh against tired legs, alternatively he could be adapting to the league a bit and progressing - either way we might as well play our own player surely? Don't get what we are getting from playing someone we definitely won't be signing. Even if you think WJ is better and he knocks a couple in, it might mean the difference between a league place or two in mid table, it's pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Johnny75]

The sad thing is that there really shouldn’t be a debate here - Jose is a seasoned professional with a decent track record, but for us he’s been lazy, powderpuff and appearing to lack instinct - he’s ready but seemingly not willing.

I don’t think he’s lazy at all but he isn’t very mobile and doesn’t make defenders work hard enough in the box. And for a seasoned pro I agree with you that’s not good enough. You have to wonder on the coaching there.

The laziest performance yesterday was Adama’s first half. Utterly disgraceful.

 

[Johnny75]

I don't think Jose is better than Silva tbh and Silva again yesterday did more in his 10 minutes than Jose did in the previous 80.

Silva might be looking ok when he comes on as he's fresh against tired legs, alternatively he could be adapting to the league a bit and progressing - either way we might as well play our own player surely? Don't get what we are getting from playing someone we definitely won't be signing. Even if you think WJ is better and he knocks a couple in, it might mean the difference between a league place or two in mid table, it's pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

What did Silva do?

 

[prawnking]

We're all sticking the boot into WJ, but he didn't sign himself, and I presume the other players didn't sign him either?

Coupled with the very mixed bag of our summer business and the fact that only really Neto has been any cop transfer-wise for the past couple of years, has the WJ signing given any previously optimistic posters pause about our likelihood of successfully bagging these two pivotal first XI players in the summer?

 

[prawnking]

I don't think Jose is better than Silva tbh and Silva again yesterday did more in his 10 minutes than Jose did in the previous 80.

Silva might be looking ok when he comes on as he's fresh against tired legs, alternatively he could be adapting to the league a bit and progressing - either way we might as well play our own player surely? Don't get what we are getting from playing someone we definitely won't be signing. Even if you think WJ is better and he knocks a couple in, it might mean the difference between a league place or two in mid table, it's pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

We're presuming we're not signing him...

Seriously though, I've given my thoughts on the playing time of WJ and Fabio above, but it is weird that despite signing mainly young players during the summer none of them are really getting much action. You'd think if we're focusing on youth we'd be seeing more of them, especially in a dead season?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

They should be playing, given we have nothing to play for. You could even give Semedo a break and play Jonny at RWB to get RAN in, Nelson has played nearly every minute since he's been here.

José might not have signed himself but he certainly signed his contract himself. So I don't think "showing for a pass" is too much to ask.

 

[Deano]

What did Silva do?

Won the free kick near the box at the end, also carried the ball up the pitch on the break - already 2 up on WJ who did absolutely nothing again

 

[Johnny75]

Won the free kick near the box at the end, also carried the ball up the pitch on the break - already 2 up on WJ who did absolutely nothing again

That’s the same moment. He had a 5 yard head start on Konsa who caught him as Fabio was running away from goal and Konsa inexplicably pulled his shirt. Silva didn’t have to do anything other than run as it was Konsa’s stupidity that gave away the FK.

Jose was also asked to defend at set plays which is why he wouldn’t have been in a position to do that.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

At the moment we play like Big Trak when we have the ball, it's like we have a set of pre-programmed plays that we attempt regardless of what the opposition are doing. Teams just hold us at bay, we'll pass around in front of them then give up, pass back to Coady or just lose possession.

Apart from the odd spark from Neto, we seem to have lost the ability to sniff out weakness or exploit a situation, as Kenny says we kill our own momentum half the time. It's like we're playing in our heads... just not in the moment.

I found myself commentating like the Harry Enfield sketch and it’s Charles charlie Charles passing the the ball to ..........

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1485367/LiveStatistics/England-Premier-League-2020-2021-Aston-Villa-Wolverhampton-Wanderers

29 touches in 77 minutes. You can blame service all you like but a huge part of that is because he never ever looks for the ball. Watch him properly, he stands stock still nearly all the time.

You get those positional maps which I can't find right now, he normally has the smallest circle of any player on the pitch, in a totally pointless area. I don't even know what he's supposed to be.

 

[Deano]

That’s the same moment. He had a 5 yard head start on Konsa who caught him as Fabio was running away from goal and Konsa inexplicably pulled his shirt. Silva didn’t have to do anything other than run as it was Konsa’s stupidity that gave away the FK.

Jose was also asked to defend at set plays which is why he wouldn’t have been in a position to do that.

What did Jose do? I keep seeing people saying he's a presence but he never wins a header and apart from dropping deep 2-3 times a game and performing a simple lay off I can't remember any contributions from him?

Again pretty much everyone agrees he won't be signed, what's the point playing him? If it means we get a few less points what does it really matter long term ? I'd sacrifice a few points so we can give Silva minutes and experience, so we can have a look at Vitinha in his proper position, play Hoever and possibly RAN, also bed in the system we want to use going forward.