Aston ‘Barnstorming’ Villa vs Barnsley Post Match Thread.

[rougegorge]

We should've been well out of sight by the time they had their good spell. They pressed higher up in the second half and we got complacent as shown by a few individual lapses, but we were excellent for around an hour.
Bjarnason and Hogan are players I'd written off, but they're proving me wrong at the moment.
Given the first half I thought the crowd was strangely a bit subdued and maybe complacent too. One thing I notice is that the pitch doesn't look great, cutting up a lot, the poorest I've seen in a while.

[TonyD]

Listened to it on the wireless.  Easy win.  I think we are going on big run here.

[Rigadon]

My nephew continues to idolise Alan Hutton. Bloody loves him. First thing he did when getting home to Mum and Dad was to tell them "Alan is number 21." He doesn't understand why the highest number is Adomah (37) yet the 'master,' is only number 26.

Outstanding

[Rigadon]

We have balance with that front 4.  Something we’ve lacked for a good while.  Oh, and goals. Those too. 

[Comrade Blitz]

Having a lie-in until 10:15 was a mistake. Missed both of Hulk’s goals!!!

[PeterWithe]

Good first half, very ropey second.

Very uncharacteristic performance, we were great going forward but looked frail at the back.

Jack looked like Zidane at times today, he really has great balance and poise, Adamoh gave his marker twisted blood in the first half and him and Snodgrass put in some glorious crosses.

Second we took our foot of the gas and we looked weak and a little tired, they only looked dangerous from set pieces,  very dangerous in fact, it was frustrating to see us give so many fouls away in dangerous positions.

[PeterWithe]

One thing I notice is that the pitch doesn't look great, cutting up a lot, the poorest I've seen in a while.

Yes, I wonder if it’s any coincidence that we started to look poor after an hour when the pitch deteriorated rapidly.

[West Derby Villan]

Great result. First half the best team performance I have witnessed in years, at times we seemed to outnumber them by three or four players. We used the full width of the pitch and really stretched them and were unlucky not to score more.
   Second half we took our foot off and they looked dangerous but we were never in danger of losing with Chester and Terry in control and even when they took their eye off the ball, Sam Johnstone was always alert enough to pull off some great saves. All in all we looked like a team that knew one another and knew how to play together.
   Today we were expected to win and we did and long may it continue.

[clash city rocker]

Great performance up until 55 min's. Between then and the 80th minute we allowed them a number of good chances which could well of cost us the 3 points.

[tomd2103]

Good first half, very ropey second.

Very uncharacteristic performance, we were great going forward but looked frail at the back.

Jack looked like Zidane at times today, he really has great balance and poise, Adamoh gave his marker twisted blood in the first half and him and Snodgrass put in some glorious crosses.

Second we took our foot of the gas and we looked weak and a little tired, they only looked dangerous from set pieces,  very dangerous in fact, it was frustrating to see us give so many fouls away in dangerous positions.

Went to the game earlier and went out after, so only just got back in.  Would agree with all of the above.  Looked really good going forward in the first half, if a little shaky at the back especially off set pieces.  Dropped off a bit in the second half and a few mistakes began to creep in.

Thought Grealish was excellent again and looked a different class to most of the others on the pitch at times.  Although he didn't get involved much in general play, I thought Hogan looked a threat when the ball came into the box (especially at the near post where he scored one and hit the post).  Bjarnason did pretty well in the holding role and kept things nice and simple.  The ball does spend a lot of time in the air in that area of the field though and I still think Jedinak's aerial presence would give him the nod in there (especially as we struggled to defend set pieces at times today).

Still, another win and we are right in the mix now.

[adrenachrome]

Great performance up until 55 min's. Between then and the 80th minute we allowed them a number of good chances which could well of cost us the 3 points.

Yes. The BBC stats say that they had 21 shots compared to our 13, with both teams having 6 on target.

A positive spin is that we are going to give away teams at VP more room, on the basis that our solid defense and superior fire power will deliver more home wins.

[lovejoy]

Just back, the boys enjoyed their first visit to VP despite the snow. Snodgrass is a class act. Really enjoyed what was an comfortable victory. I think our greatest problem will be the weight of expectation.

[Pat McMahon]

We should've been well out of sight by the time they had their good spell. They pressed higher up in the second half and we got complacent as shown by a few individual lapses, but we were excellent for around an hour.
Bjarnason and Hogan are players I'd written off, but they're proving me wrong at the moment.
Given the first half I thought the crowd was strangely a bit subdued and maybe complacent too. One thing I notice is that the pitch doesn't look great, cutting up a lot, the poorest I've seen in a while.

I pretty much agree with all of that rougegorge..

They only pressed with one or two players in the first half and we danced around them. Some of our football was lovely, particularly between Grealish and Adomah. In the second half Barnsley pressed as a unit and strangled us more effectively. Some poor individual errors from each of the  back 4, except Hutton, could have let them in but a combination of poor finishing and good saves from Johnstone kept our 2 goal cushion. A bit nervy though.

I was in the Holte upper in K4 and as you say it was strangely subdued given the performance.

Very happy though. M40 weather was abysmal, including a snow storm, so I thought I would miss kick off. Just made it up the steps in time for the tribute to Cyrille Regis

[OzVilla]

Well done lads, regards the weight of expectation it was interesting to hear the Barnsley manager quoted afterwards as saying how their players seemed overwhelmed by us and stood off us too much early on.

A few on here always felt that if we got up a head of steam teams would start to find VP intimidating rather than a day out at a big ground. Starting to happen??

[auntiesledd]

Marvellous.

Indeed. Scenes of a marvellous nature, no less.

UTV!