After I saw the team sheet I knew we would be in trouble. We started brightly for the first 5 minutes and then it was all Villa. For some reason we decided not to play a midfield for much of the game. Janelt played in front of the back four, Damsgaard who was our best player was trying to create something and Yarmo was nowhere to be seen (except perhaps in the time added on in the first half). Until he was subsituted in the second half I hadn't realised Wissa was on the pitch. Mbeumo never really got in the game and Schade (despite his hat-trick and assist on Saturday) was way out of his depth. It also helped Villa that we decided to give Rogers as much space as possible and he scored a beauty to give them the lead (21st minute). Then a clumsy challenge by Pinnock on Watkins resulted in a penalty that Watkins took himself and scored (28th minute) but Flekken, diving low to his left, got a hand to it and nearly saved it. Their third goal again stemmed from a lack of midfield and defenders chasing back. From a cross Pinnock just managed to flick it out of the way from Watkins head but Cash rushing in at the back post scored (34th minute). Three-nil down at half-time and I was very worried they would get a hatful. I assumed Thomas Frank would make substitutions at half time to shore up midfield and give a bit more presence up front, but he didn't. Perhaps he was waiting for us to go 4-0 down? During the game Flekken made some good saves but also some serious blunders. In the second half he nearly punched a ball into his own net when he could have caught it, and then scrambling to push a shot (that was going two yards wide) out for a corner. Somehow, for a 15-minute spell in the second half we got back into it, mainly down our left side where Lewis-Potter (the only other Bees' player who had a good game) was very threatening. Eventually we pulled a goal back from Damsgaard who lashed a shot from close range into the roof of the net (54th minute). Then we had a couple more half chances, but the best chance fell to Thiago with virtually his first touch of the game, but he blasted just over the bar. Then Villa got back into it with Duran tormenting Collins and Rogers almost doing whatever he liked. Inexplicably, Frank subsituted Lewis-Potter late in the game. There were no more goals and we went down 3-1 with the best team winning and the worst team losing. The inconsistency of the Ref made it more frustrating with regards to bad tackles not penalised and soft challenges given as fouls. The only consolation for the Bees' fans was the chips with curry sauce that many of them seem to be enjoying.
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