Aston Villa (A)4:30pm Sunday 22 Oct (Sky Sports)

claretandbluesky

Paqueta often plays as if he is forever in training match, I think that's the cause of the brilliance he often produces and I am sure more players could look a little Brazilian if they adopted the same attitude but I think they play a more risk averse game. I am not saying he should stop as I think we all want to see that brilliance, yet that back pass was never the route to go down and the little overhead type effort could have tried to be brought under control.

No real complaints however as the best team won and showed how far we have to go if we are to compete for Europe this season. Villa looked pretty good and whilst not going to challenge for the top I feel they could be easily finish in the top 6 if maintaining this form.

chicagohammer

Oh and before I forget, those shirts!!!!! what on earth are they made of? I probably would not have noticed had not Aslef pointed them out and given that Villa had most of the possession, there will be those who would have thought the game was being played in a downpour.

If the replica shirts are made of the same material………. I just can’t

Lukerz

We seem to have a lot of games where we are sloppy. I lost count of the amount of goals we let in last season from being sloppy (especially in the ECL) with the ball & making a mistake of some form. Yesterday, Areola should save the first goal, the second is Paqueta mucking around with the ball, the third we lose it half way up the pitch & the fourth is obviously game over by then.

BerlinHammer

Im not even sure Villa were that good yesterday. They made some terrible passes which we didnt capitalise on.
They just showed how important it is to have a top striker.
I wasn't expecting anything from the game, but it would have been nice if we turned up.

Yeoldhammer

Villa have a top striker in Watkins and a progressive manager. Pretty much the difference.

Its a shame as I think our midfield are capable of playing a more possession based game but are limited by the defence who struggle with the right passes downfield.
Antonio also does not have the brains to play a fast paced possession based game but we have no alternative.

The team look better than last season but the teams that finished around the European spots last season all look a lot better than we do. Don't think this squad gets into Europe on league position and it will be something special to win the Europa League.

Kudus needs to come into the team though. Maybe Moyes should experiment with either playing Kudus up top or moving Bowen up top and playing Kudus out wide.

thornburyiron

Antonio doesn’t have the brains to play most types of game. He’s basically a strong athlete who likes to play football. He’s also resorted to keep falling over.

buffybegood

What we all except Moyes saw last season is that Antonio's "beast mode" games are getting fewer and further between, and to have come into this season with him as our only real option up front really detracts from the good signings we made in the summer as we didn't address one of our really pressing needs.

Bowen has looked really good again so far this season, playing where he plays best, but of all the other options (Kudus or Paqueta as CF/false 9) I can see him being switched to CF when Moyes eventually realises that playing Antonio is not only stifling the team but costing us points.

steve

Time for Antonio to be dropped and be our super sub

Lukerz

Shame Emerson is suspended for Everton.

claretandbluesky

I think in time Kudus could become our Watkins if given a chance, he can hold off a man he can turn and he can finish. I feel we have players who can play where Kudus is trying to be fitted at present and I would favour Benni, Paquetta, Bowen with Kudus in for Antonio. kudus natural position would be Bowens and we are not dropping him, or Paquetta's and we aren't dropping him. Antonio is yesterday and Kudus is today in my view.

Slacker

Antonio was poor yesterday but pretty much everyone else was as well. I s’pose every player has an off day, overall I think he’s been pretty good this season.Unfortunately the alternative ( during games at least) is to bring on Danny Ings who has been underwhelming to say the least.

Slacker

thornburyiron said:

Antonio doesn’t have the brains to play most types of game. He’s basically a strong athlete who likes to play football. He’s also resorted to keep falling over.

Bit harsh.

alderz

I still think Antonio is a huge part of how we play, and our best option up front.

Lukerz

Not done badly in terms of goals for a player with no brains.

thornburyiron

A record of about 1 in every 4 games. Compare to other strikers and it pales a bit considering the opinion is we play to his strengths.
My point was I don’t think he has the natural football brain to be aware of what’s going on around him to be in the right position or make the correct pass or know when to pass.

Lukerz

Point is he’s only been a striker for about 3/4 years. What’s his record like in those years compared to other comparable strikers. Can’t include his days as a winger & full-back in those stats.

EXETERHAMMER

On his day Antonio is outstanding. He has played well this season, but yesterday I have to say his touch was poor and he didn't really trkuble Villa.

buffybegood

EXETERHAMMER said:

On his day Antonio is outstanding. He has played well this season, but yesterday I have to say his touch was poor and he didn't really trkuble Villa.

Those days are all too infrequent these days, his best is definitely behind him imo, and in most games he just doesn't influence play (in a good way) often enough. Personally I don't think he's played well on average this season; one of the few times he seemed up for it was after he'd scored against Chelsea with a shot that 9 times (I'm being generous) out of 10 doesn't go in. Then he could be the big "I am" as he had potentially scored the winner, so he was much more motivated to try and preserve "his" winning of the game for us.

Most of the rest of the time this season he's been pretty poor imo, and I fear we're in for a largely underwhelming time of it in the PL if he continues to be our starting CF all season.

Slacker

Mmm, did he cut you up in your car or something Buffy?
Let it go man, let it go.😉

Kuchinghammer

Quite a competition for who played worst today, there were so many having an off-day. Entirely subjectively, I think Areola started the rot, then Paqueta. Antonio's mistakes looked embarrassing, but he did better than Ings.

Whitehorsehammer

I think we just have to accept that we had one of those off days and collectively had a bad game. Hope it was a rare bad day and we do better in Greece and against Everton.

claretandbluesky

I am not writing off Antonio altogether as he can be incredibly effective but those days are becoming less numerous. I feel he could be a really useful impact sub as he is strong and fast, so with 30 minutes to go and tiring legs he could be a great asset. My point about him being yesterday as opposed to today is that he is now 33 and Kudus 23, we need get the hunger Kudus seems to really possess onto the pitch in the premier league and get the best from him, which isn't going to happen from the bench.