Aston Villa 2-2 QPR post match thread

[PeterWithesShin]

I didn't see any of the game but 2 goals and 22 shots should win you a home game.

[oldham_villa]

I was amazed he didn't change the shape, but he replaced like for like - i didn't understand the Whelan substitution at all.

It's clear some of the players are lacking confidence, but we have to get much better than this. We need far more than flash boy Lansbury coming back.

Nick

[Steve67]

Consistency and decision making is the issue here.  For every one good thing they do, they balls is up with crap decision making and do two stupid things.  Our midfield is really easy to play against. 

[ChicagoLion]

Jacks absense exposes the lack of quality of the rest of them (maybe the exceptions bring Mcginn and Tammy)because he is allways open for a pass, the fact he passes to a team mate wins fee kicks and keeps the opposition thinking about our attacking options.
TWithout  him  and you have a bunch of plodders and a couple of show ponies.
Piss poor again.

[PaulWinch again]

I didn't see any of the game but 2 goals and 22 shots should win you a home game.

It should, but Hutton saw to that.

[Toronto Villa]

I didn't see any of the game but 2 goals and 22 shots should win you a home game.

That’s what makes it so frustrating. Unfortunately most of those shots just weren’t on target. Their keeper had very little to do despite us dominating possession and shots. Add to that their goals came from a screamer and break where Hutton and Chester were exposed.

[paul_e]

We had 60% of the possession, 22 shots to their 11, 9 corners to their 1 and they committed 21 fouls to our 10. Which suggests that we were very much the dominant team. Quite simply, the reason we won't finish in the top two and may not even finish in the top six is that we concede far too many goals for a team hoping to get promoted.

That's about right and fixing the defence isn't easy because we haven't got the players to bring in. Once we make some signings and they have a few weeks to get used to each other I suspect we'll look much more solid and games like today will become far rarer. Once Grealish is back I'd trust this team to score 2-3 (or more) against anyone in this division so even a small improvement in the defence will be huge.

[john2710]

If there's a team out there willing to take Bjarnason please let him go & bring someone in who's suited to how Smith wants us to play.

[dicedlam]

A new year... serving up the same old shit.

DS has got some serious sorting out to do if we are going to make the playoffs.

[PaulWinch again]

We’re not getting to the play-offs unless our level improves a lot.

[john e]

Fucking dreadful.  If Bruce has served up our last few performances this place would be in meltdown.

Did you really expect it to change so quickly? These are all Bruce’s players who for the most part are fucking plodders and the best and most cultured player out injured.

what you’ve got to remember TV is he defended Bruce right up until the bitter end for the endless dross shit and incompetence that everyone else could see apart from him and a couple of others

so now he’s trying to make a point by saying it’s just as bad under Smith and trying to compare the two at this stage and state of play because he doesn’t understand fuck all

And in any event if he reads the thread it is in meltdown so his point is mute anyway

[PeterWithesShin]

Match highlights

[pauliewalnuts]

On the bright side, I thought Bree and Elphick both did well.

[Keeno]

To me we are now a hybrid of Bruce and Smith. And the transition is going to look ugly. We should have won that game based on the possession and shot stats. Something we could never achieve with Bruce. But we are let down still by terrible defending and when we get desperate we go back to hit and hope. Smith needs time to change out the players and reinforce what he always wants to do. It just won’t happen in a few months.

The most measured, succinct analysis. Bang on. Today is frustrating but it'll take time.

[Nastylee]

We're poor in possession and we get done repeatedly from the long ball behind our defence. There are still plenty of games to put this right but we must have pissed away 15 points easily. DS needs to find a balance as it's great scoring 2+ a game but it counts for nothing when we concede the same amount. For all the pressure in the last 20 mins it was all hit and hope and you never really felt we'd get the winner. Poor decisions, poor execution and all in all, it's been a poor festive points haul.

I don't care much for the FA Cup these days so let's rest a few up, get some new bodies in and recharge the batteries.