Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: SoccerHQ on December 03, 2016, 07:27:11 PM
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Well we lost a game...odd to say that given the last five years but first defeat in two months and first under SB.
Let's not knee jerk and say we're rubbish and doing nothing this season again, we are still well in the hunt for top 6 but obviously need to get back on track next week.
We won't get automatic as we can't win away from home.
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Potato got this one wrong today I think. But 1 wrong 'un in 8 ain't bad.
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Shite.
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Got what we deserved - nothing.
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Hilariously shit starting XI out there.
Gestede can not be allowed to start a football match.
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Hopefully just a blip but I still think we'll finish the season pretty strongly. Shocking once we went behind though.
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Gollini and Elphick - the dream team reunited.
Absolute vomit.
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Defeats will happen
Not a bad reminder that we're still miles off being a good team after some recent smoke up the arse
Passing really is poor in this team
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Utter crap. Fully deserved to lose as I thought that overall we were shit all game. We need to learn from this if we want to be in the top 6 at the end of the season.
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Very poor performance and depressingly fitting that their second goal should come from us needlessly giving the ball away, as we did it all evening. One to forget.
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Got what we deserved - nothing.
But Leeds didn't deserve to win, but they did.
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As for the game....only listened on WM but sounded pretty tight....we seemed to have a few good chances at 0-0 but couldn't score this time.
We've been quite good at getting the first goal since Bruce came in...think we only fell behind v Blackburn so not sure we're that great at coming back when we're behind particularly away from home.
It happens...we can still have a good xmas I reckon.
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Was worried with the starting XI, & it proved right, Bruce should learn from this mistake.
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Roll on January and sort that fucking midfield out, that's our biggest problem
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Gollini and Elphick - the dream team reunited.
Absolute vomit.
Hmm...Captain Calamity Elphick back in and we lose...coincidence...
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15th in the table
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That was bad.
I said in the Pre-Match Thread that Jedinak, Gary and Westwood in the middle just wasn't going to create anything. By limited the supply chain to the forwards we left Kodjia alienated and rendered Gestede completely useless.
That was a really poor line up and I think Bruce will recognize that.
This is a league where we have to stay threatening up top to boss the game. We gave Leeds far too much respect, and they didn't exactly have a great game either.
I thought Hutton, Gary, Gestede and even Amavi were pretty poor today.
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I suppose we were due a defeat. Not much between the teams. Could have gone either way.
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Replace Gardner and Westwood.
Bruce must think Tshibola is fucking shit.
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Got to take our chances.
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shows we need two midfielders , a CB and a RB still
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Villa are back.
Today was a very bad day, but I'm afraid I've seen little to convince me we're anything more than ok as things stand, or have any realistic chance of promotion this season. Players like Hutton, Gardner, Westwood, Gabby, Elphick and probably Gollini just aren't good enough and need to be replaced at the soonest opportunity.
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Elphick starts, Gollini looks crap again.
We looked awful after they scored, never looked like getting back into it.
Leeds were pretty gash too but scored there only two real chances.
Bruce has enough credit in the bank to just right this one off as a bad day.
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Again let's not knee jerk....two other play off teams today lost 0-3 at home and the other 5-0 away.
It's the nature of the division...we weren't going unbeaten for the rest of the season.
It was a tight match that could've gone either way....Leeds didn't seem to create much before the first goal either. We've tended to get the first goal in games since SB came in, today we didn't and we suffered as a result.
Very surprised neither Ayew or Grealish started though...think that was wrong.
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Dear Steve - don't pick a side not to lose - pick a side to win .
Buy a decent goalkeeper .
Don't leave jack on the bench again.
And never play gestede down the middle whilst playing kodjia wide.
It's not hard - tosser
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Starting 11 was wrong. Rudy. Do me a favour
Get me a goalkeeper with some balls
Awful midfield.
Dont think we are getting out this shite league this year
And Leeds are awful. Absolute gash
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When Jedinak plays badly our midfield is a disaster zone. Our distribution was fucking awful.
Still, one loss in eight. Not a crisis. Need to bounce back next week.
Hopefully Bruce has learned that Gardner and Westwood can't play together (or, indeed, at all).
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If the goalkeeper does his job we don't lose that, how many points has he cost us?
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I suppose we were due a defeat. Not much between the teams. Could have gone either way.
They had more fight. We had none
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Steve Bruce has got to go....... and get a midfielder centre half and Gk January
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
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They made plenty of mistakes. We made more.
Never worried their keeper even when we went 1-0 down.
15th in the table in December. There has been an upturn under Bruce, no question. But when you get any sort of advantage as we did against B-lose and Brighton away, or boss the game as we did for the first 60 minutes today you have to be ruthless.
Don't think we have it in us to get back up this season.
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
Could've made up some decent ground with 3 points..
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
We were no worse than we were at SHA.
It's funny how points on the board can change perceptions of performances.
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I wanted Jack on but we were well on top prior to him coming on and then they scored almost directly after the change. First time I think Steves subs have had a negative impact I think. We just weren't at the races today.
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
Could've made up some decent ground with 3 points..
Of course but there was no way we were going to go on a 35 match unbeaten run.
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Over-cautious with the starting XI. Unfortunately Gollini and Elphick are a liability and I don't get Gestede starting.
Gollini has cost us lots of points and never saved us any so far.
We didn't deserve anything although Leeds were not that deserving either.
I know it's only one defeat but if we're to get out if the division this season some good transfers are needed in January as we need a string of wins and we've only won once away.
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Elphick poor, Gollini no better.
Though biggest issue was starting with Gestede.
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I'm still struggling to see what we're trying to do in attack. There doesn't seem to be a plan.
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Gestede just isn't a starter to me, even at this level.
Impact sub.
Baker is better than Elphick aswell, Chester prefers him alongside but the problem is relying on him to stay fit.
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
We were no worse than we were at SHA.
It's funny how points on the board can change perceptions of performances.
I think thats the point. We were poor against Blose but got away with it
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Villa are back.
Today was a very bad day, but I'm afraid I've seen little to convince me we're anything more than ok as things stand, or have any realistic chance of promotion this season. Players like Hutton, Gardner, Westwood, Gabby, Elphick and probably Gollini just aren't good enough and need to be replaced at the soonest opportunity.
The reason I tend to give up on football matters on H&V. What on earth are you on? We've just lost one match in eight. We've not looked good in two/three of them. And they weren't really any better than us.
Goodnight.
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Elphick starts, Gollini looks crap again.
We looked awful after they scored, never looked like getting back into it.
Leeds were pretty gash too but scored there only two real chances.
Bruce has enough credit in the bank to just right this one off as a bad day.
If Adomah would've finished that chance on the break-away it would've been a completely different game.
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Wrong starting 11. Rudy??
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The goal was thier first attempt on target.
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
We were no worse than we were at SHA.
It's funny how points on the board can change perceptions of performances.
I think thats the point. We were poor against Blose but got away with it
Aye but people were falling over themselves to laud it as tactical masterclass.
It's a bit like tonight....Adomah slots it home at 0-0 and we probably win and it's another great gameplan from SB. We lose and it's wrong line up, wrong subs etc. Fine margins.
Way I'd look at it....we're looking pretty strong at home now. Away from home though we're still not looking that convincing and we'll certainly need some more away wins if we're to finish top 6.
Disappointing considering we played 3 in central midfield and we have pace in the final third in Kodjia and Adomah.
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Top of the shopping list is a goalkeeper. Never been impressed at all with Gollini - surgically attached to his goal line, doesn't dominate his area, and when he does come out he flaps. Get someone who'll attack the ball in his box and clear out anyone who gets in the way. At fault for the first and should have done better with the second today. And a jittery goalkeeper = a jittery defence. Get rid
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These are the games you win 1 nil if you are going up
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Villa are back.
Today was a very bad day, but I'm afraid I've seen little to convince me we're anything more than ok as things stand, or have any realistic chance of promotion this season. Players like Hutton, Gardner, Westwood, Gabby, Elphick and probably Gollini just aren't good enough and need to be replaced at the soonest opportunity.
The reason I tend to give up on football matters on H&V. What on earth are you on? We've just lost one match in eight. We've not looked good in two/three of them. And they weren't really any better than us.
Goodnight.
Shall we resume this conversation in May?
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Elphick is the weakest link. Him, gollini, Westwood and Gardner is some right soft shite through the spine of the team.
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Got what we deserved - nothing.
But Leeds didn't deserve to win, but they did.
True they looked very poor too, hard to believe they won 2-0. Adamoah missed a 1on 1 when at 0-0, thought we looked like the only winner up to their first. Truly awful game, standard was beyond abysmal. Unfortunately, the game only ended up confirming a number of things we all knew already.
- Gollini cost us a point today by bottling that collision, we need an experienced keeper in asap
- if we play three in midfield them two of those can't be Westwood or Gardner
- Gardner isn't good enough at all
- Kodjia is not a left sided forward at all
- Gestede isn't good enough at all
- we can't afford to keep leaving much better players on the bench, I'm all for competition for places but the three we brought on are better than those on the pitch, yes unfortunately that includes Gabby
Ratings today on starters
Gollini 3, Hutton 6, Elphick 5, Chester 6, Amavi 5, Westwood 5, Jedinak 7, Gardner 4, Adamoah 7, Gestede 4, Kodjia 4.
Can't say a single Leeds player impressed either
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What a frustrating game. We bossed most of the game but created feck all. I thought Leeds were nothing much really, and we should have got something from the game. Midfield poor again, way too many sloppy passes, and the keeper should have don't better for both goals. Let's hope we bounce back next week.
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We've been relying on fairly fine margins during our unbeaten run, so I'm not surprised or overly worried that we lost today. We haven't been playing that fluidly, especially today, so conceding the first goal was a real blow. I didn't have confidence that we would get back into the game, as Leeds looked pretty solid, and we hadn't looked like creating much.
However, I'm never very confident when we have Gestede leading the line. He is very limited with the ball on the deck and nothing seems to stick to him. It seems like conceding the initiative to some extent - accepting that we'll be relying on punting the ball up for him to flick on, which has pretty much never worked as a tactic.
I think Elphick's confidence is pretty shot. Whilst Gollini was at fault for the first goal, Roofe shouldn't have had a clear run at the cross. I don't think Elphick knew where he was at all.
We were going to lose at some point, so let's see how we react now. It would be good to go on a five game winning streak like Reading had done. That would really push us up the table.
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There's clearly a gulf in this division.
The top 2 are proper teams, can defend and have fluency in attack. I'd be amazed if Newcastle and Brighton don't get automatic.promotion. We need to stop dreaming about getting top 2, we've had a good run recently and are still miles off either, it's not going to happen.
Look in the play offs though....Reading had a great run yet got smashed 5-0 today, Huddersfield haven't won for ages and SHA lost 3-0 at home to Barnsley.
IMO none of them will finish in the top 6.
I think it will be Derby, Sheff Weds, Us and one other surprise team.
Our big problem is we're being massively handicapped by the abysmal start we made under RMD, I think we're forgetting how bad it actually was, 1 win in 11. Laughable.
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Never thought I'd say this, but we miss Baker. Elphick is garbage.
Lack of creativity in midfield a massive problem. Gardner and Westwood offer nothing.
Leeds and their fans were crap until they scored.
Important to bounce back next week and go on a little run again.
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It was such a close game before the first goal, I thought a mistake would see something happen. Unfortunately Gollini obliged.
Gestede is nowhere near good enough to be starting, but to be honest, I'm just putting this down in the "bad day at the office" file and moving on.
We've lost. I'm not used to losing. It's not very nice.
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Just for the the Mail and the tabloid rags - Useless bluenose t**t ... (removes tongue from cheek :-)).
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Get through to January, make two or three signings. Poor result, poor performance. It happens. Bounce back next week.
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Ultimately we were outfought. Fair play to Leeds. Bastards.
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Villa are back.
Today was a very bad day, but I'm afraid I've seen little to convince me we're anything more than ok as things stand, or have any realistic chance of promotion this season. Players like Hutton, Gardner, Westwood, Gabby, Elphick and probably Gollini just aren't good enough and need to be replaced at the soonest opportunity.
The reason I tend to give up on football matters on H&V. What on earth are you on? We've just lost one match in eight. We've not looked good in two/three of them. And they weren't really any better than us.
Goodnight.
Shall we resume this conversation in May?
Chill out Jimbo, you're spot on.
I suspect even SB knows it too.
Tonight showed us what we already know. We have a very average squad. There are a couple of players with a bit of quality and the rest are mix of mediocre and garbage.
For now we have to get to the play offs. After, there is a lot of deadwood that needs clearing out.
That's straightforward fact not over reaction.
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We will bounce back under Bruce from this I am sure plus with the transfer window looming we will get stronger. i think it's unlikely we'll go up this season thanks to RDM but we will next.
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I am not a Leeds admirer but they had a lot of youngsters playing today. who made mistakes
We in my view never looked like scoring, The goalkeeper should have done better with the first, but where the fuck were the central defenders.
wrong game plan
Move on, buy a couple of midfielders/defenders and we, go again.
I watched the Chelsea City game, The mountain to climb is high.
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Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water here.
A poor night, but it's on the back of a decent run for a club that's been in turmoil for years.
We ain't suddenly going to turn into Barcelona before tonight's game and we are now not going to go back to being utterly shite.
The improvements are there for all to see.
We'll win more than we lose, but we'll lose a few more before the end of season.
All that said, Elphick is a liability and I don't want him playing.
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You have to field your strongest team to compete and we didn't. Aye and Grelish should never be on the bench
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Gollini and Elphick - the dream team reunited.
Absolute vomit.
Hmm...Captain Calamity Elphick back in and we lose...coincidence...
Well yes. It's not anything he did that contributed to the defeat. We were very poor overall as a team. The goalkeeper has made a terrible mistake for their goal. But in truth pinning it on him is unfair. Nobody played well and Bruce, I feel was tactically poor going with a conservative, contain based approach. Injuries aside there was no reason to change anything from last week in terms of system and tactics. But we looked disjointed, complacent and lacking in any quality today.
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Bruce paid for his cautious approach today. Wrong team selection however we lack quality to dominate ordinarily teams at this level.
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Can't criticise Bruce after the start he's made but...how can you start Gestede and Gardner ahead of Ayew and Grealish? Trying to stifle Leeds rather than play our own game and try to win. We barely created a chance all game, and it's no surprise with no creativity in midfield and that lump up front.
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
We were no worse than we were at SHA.
It's funny how points on the board can change perceptions of performances.
I think thats the point. We were poor against Blose but got away with it
Aye but people were falling over themselves to laud it as tactical masterclass.
It's a bit like tonight....Adomah slots it home at 0-0 and we probably win and it's another great gameplan from SB. We lose and it's wrong line up, wrong subs etc. Fine margins.
Way I'd look at it....we're looking pretty strong at home now. Away from home though we're still not looking that convincing and we'll certainly need some more away wins if we're to finish top 6.
Disappointing considering we played 3 in central midfield and we have pace in the final third in Kodjia and Adomah.
I don't remember anyone lauding the blose game a tactical master class we were rubbish
Could have nicked a result today but we can't keep having the luck of the green
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I'm getting increasingly annoyed that we cannot spank every miserable small team in this league.Fucking fuckers.
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Can't say the teamsheet filled me with optimism. Poor after the goal.
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Just got back from the game. Great atmosphere, poor performance.
Nothing wrong with the energy and enthusiasm of the team but Westwood, Elphick and Gestede are just not good enough. And Gollini is certainly not the finished article, even though the first goal was set up with a cracking cross.
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
We were no worse than we were at SHA.
It's funny how points on the board can change perceptions of performances.
I think thats the point. We were poor against Blose but got away with it
Aye but people were falling over themselves to laud it as tactical masterclass.
It's a bit like tonight....Adomah slots it home at 0-0 and we probably win and it's another great gameplan from SB. We lose and it's wrong line up, wrong subs etc. Fine margins.
Way I'd look at it....we're looking pretty strong at home now. Away from home though we're still not looking that convincing and we'll certainly need some more away wins if we're to finish top 6.
Disappointing considering we played 3 in central midfield and we have pace in the final third in Kodjia and Adomah.
I don't remember anyone lauding the blose game a tactical master class we were rubbish
Could have nicked a result today but we can't keep having the luck of the green
You're talking like every result we've had has been down to luck. We were unlucky not to beat Brighton. 2 games we had some luck with were Wolves and Blues
Edit- Ignore me you're not saying that at all, I've had too much wine.
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I know that nobody will agree with me but I thought Westwood was one of our better players
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I think the starting-line up was down to Bruce wanting us to stifle Leeds in the first half and make sure we were still in the game before becoming more expansive later. We did that and it worked up to a point. The game was really even with both teams having a go right before their first goal. That goal was a turning point and I except that they dominanted afterwards and were worthy winners. But I am mostly pleased with the performance tonight. There are still things to improve on and one or two signings to make in January but we already knew that. We'll bounce back I'm quite sure.
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Just got back from the game. Great atmosphere, poor performance.
Nothing wrong with the energy and enthusiasm of the team but Westwood, Elphick and Gestede are just not good enough. And Gollini is certainly not the finished article, even though the first goal was set up with a cracking cross.
I thought Westwood was one of our better players tonight
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Just got back from the game. Great atmosphere, poor performance.
Nothing wrong with the energy and enthusiasm of the team but Westwood, Elphick and Gestede are just not good enough. And Gollini is certainly not the finished article, even though the first goal was set up with a cracking cross.
I thought Westwood was one of our better players tonight
Maybe he was even at Championship level he doesn't convince me. He is an example of a area we need to improve in.
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Bag of shit performance, hopefully we move on.
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Just a bad day. Think we'll bounce back next week. It's obvious that we're nowhere near the finished article but we're heading the right way. I've said it before but since my first game in 1969, Gestede is the worst player I've seen in a Villa shirt. Please no more
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I thought we were controlling the game without looking too dangerous. Shame Albert couldn't put that chance away, that fecking ref went and gave a goal kick. I was surprised that Jack didn't start, am sure the Leeds dressing room would have been pleased with that. We need to be winning games and need our best players on the pitch. That said I thought Gestede did ok first half in holding the ball up, but didn't have much support, Kodjia didn't have his best game against that twat of a right back. I thought Jedinak (but for the second goal) played well and I also thought Westwood had a decent game. The keeper should have done far better for the first goal and thought he could have done better with the second goal also. I would be tempted to put Bacuna at right back if he aint going to play in the middle. I think we will be around the play offs and will improve, was a bad day but lets just not go overboard.
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Westwood was fine this evening. As was Hutton. The issue is we have Gollini as well, and it is too much to expect all three of them not to sink their own boat. At least one of them usually finds a way.
That's a real kick in the balls this evening. With the way other results went there was an opening to get right back in amongst it. I wonder if the players felt that too and flapped it.
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First...Bruce sets this game up for Rudy. I think that in part he makes provision for a game where we need him in OUR box.
Chester still got broken nose.
Elphick has trouble finding anything that resemble a form.
Jedi is tower , clearing alot but he cant be everywhere. Rudy DID help alot when they had Sets especially 1st half.
Trouble is he didn't help much up front. One exception: early 2nd half he heads it on for Westwood on the right and runs free in the middle.....Westwood then gets it wrong obviously and decides to finish with power, hits the goal (yeah, shocker!) but also the keeper. Rudy wasn't happy...but to be fair that's the only time he managed to get himself open in a forward position.
While Rudy might seem the best defensive option , he comes with a terrible offensive price. Kodjia is sacrificed (how much better isnt he in a central role?). Whenever Adomah or Kodjia manages to get the bal out wid Rudy is too slow getting in the center.
Now Westwood, while he is not directly to blame for their first goal...but I think its his job to pick up Roofes run in the middle but he just lets him go. Jedi is great in positioning and mopping up in front of the defensive line but isn't fast enough pick up every midfielder when they running into the box without ball. Granted that Gollinis and Elphicks faults are even worse , standing back and waiting for the ball to arrive....but its not the first time Westwood opens the door on our inside. Elphick cant handle that, and Jedi suffers aswell. Thats Westwoods MO, he makes other players in his vicinity look bad.
1st half...we get a break on the right. Westwood crosses to the left...no Villa player is close in that area. Its not even a bad cross...its just the area is totally deserted!
2nd half ...5 min from the end we get another break...every forward scrambles forward. String of good passes..then Westwood manages to get a short pass just a tad behind Huttons run. Not much...just enough so he has to stop to gather it and lose enough momentum for Leeds to get back and our forwards to mistime their runs and get stationary.
The scary thing...factor his workrate, his passing stats for this game. Westwood might even have one of his better games in Villa shirt today!
Respect to Bruce for all that he has done so far... Grealish had 2 really good games before this one. Amavi is finding form after his teerrible injury. Jedi has been shining (apart from the jet-lag game)...but he CAN NOT instill talent in Ashley Westwood. Its just not there! For the love of Villa ... its time to stop pretending Ashley Westwood a Aston Villa playmaker!!
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Exactly this
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Given their reputations at the beginning if the season it seems odd that we look much solid at the back with Baker than Elphick.
Tonight we lacked a cutting edge or the ability to unlock a well organised defence something Ross McCormack could be able to do if we could accommodate him the team.
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Never thought that game was lost until the second went in, so in that sense it shows we never looked second best. However, I never really saw us look like scoring either.
I don't rate Gestede personally and I think starting him does us no favours at all, and although Gardner and Westwood put in the leg work the lack of actual quality between them is a major problem. I will say this for Westwood though, he ran his socks off from start to finish.
One to take on the chin and move on to the next match.
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Just got back from the game. Great atmosphere, poor performance.
Nothing wrong with the energy and enthusiasm of the team but Westwood, Elphick and Gestede are just not good enough. And Gollini is certainly not the finished article, even though the first goal was set up with a cracking cross.
I thought Westwood was one of our better players tonight
He wasn't bad but he is not really adding anything.
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My thoughts are is that SB has instilled into the players that they have to work hard. However, other than the Brighton match, which we deserved to win, I do feel we have ridden our luck in a few matches.On more than one occasion people around me look bemused when the starting 11 is announced. SB must really start with our best 11 which does not include Westwood, Gardner or Gestede. No good bringing Ayew on for 15 minutes as he just sulks. No good playing Kodjia wide as he is totally wasted there.
I'm certainly not panicking but, we are Aston Villa FC and we need to always be on the front foot not just looking for a possible point. Player for player we still have one of the best teams in this division.
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Two key moments, Green saves the one on one, Golini hesitates & bottles the cross. Two poor teams, with little to choose between them. Gestede starts!
We haven't been convincing in any game other than Brighton. Bruce will adjust things in January & we'll make the playoffs but top two is not going to happen.
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Gestede away from home was always a really odd choice
I thought Leeds were there for the taking defensively but we didn't show enough ambition quality or movement
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Let's face it Bruce has done remarkably well considering that a combination of Gollini, Hutton, Westwood, Gardner, Gestede mean that we usually play with 8 players every week.
We still have a genuine opportunity now from games with Wigan, QPR, Burton, Leeds again to get into the play offs.
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Elphick....deary me.
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Elphick....deary me.
I know. Get well soon Baker
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The fact people think Westwood was one of our best players tonight shows how crap we were. He and Gardner are absolute toss. Can't defend and offer nothing going forward.
Gollini very error prone and worries me. Elphick awful. Hutton gives his all but lacks any real quality. Gestede garbage. Why would you play your best striker on the wing to accommodate that clumsy giraffe? Still a lot of work to be done and a few signings needed in January.
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I didn't think we were too bad tonight. In fact, I'd say we just about edged it in the first half. Second half they took it to us. Just to repeat the mantra; if we had better midfielders I don't think we would have lost tonight. We barely created anything, although we worked really hard at limiting them.
The individual errors are a bugbear but I think with better coaching this will slowly edge out. With Hutton for instance, so many times tonight we played it to him where he had no options. We're asking him to beat sometimes two players before options appear for him. If the other players helped him a touch more I don't think he'd lose it quite so often. This led to at least two break aways that I can remember.
All that said, Leeds are a decent team, credit where it's due. On to the next one.
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I thought Leeds were very average tbh
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I thought they were crap, just like every other team we've played this season. We haven't played anyone who I thought were any good, Wolves probably looked about the best against us and look where they are! The problem is, we're now one of those crap teams in this league who can all beat each other and are up for a scrap. Leeds have got Chris Wood up front ffs, the stereotypical battering ram Championship striker. If they finish above us this season I'll be very disappointed.
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Play your strongest starting 11
Its quite a simple concept
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Sounded poor, but was bound to happen eventually. We need to bounce back now and win the next game.
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I can't understand leaving Jack out tbh. He is in form and is someone the opposition will be wary of. We need wins and he is someone who can unlock defences
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I can't understand leaving Jack out tbh. He is in form and is someone the opposition will be wary of. We need wins and he is someone who can unlock defences
Didn't they say he'd picked up a slight knock and also been unwell this week.
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I didn't think we were too bad tonight. In fact, I'd say we just about edged it in the first half. Second half they took it to us. Just to repeat the mantra; if we had better midfielders I don't think we would have lost tonight. We barely created anything, although we worked really hard at limiting them.
The individual errors are a bugbear but I think with better coaching this will slowly edge out. With Hutton for instance, so many times tonight we played it to him where he had no options. We're asking him to beat sometimes two players before options appear for him. If the other players helped him a touch more I don't think he'd lose it quite so often. This led to at least two break aways that I can remember.
All that said, Leeds are a decent team, credit where it's due. On to the next one.
Thanks, I feel more optimistic about our prospects after reading that!
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Not sure what Bruce is hoping to achieve by constantly changing the set up, Gestede is a passenger and we have two midfielders that badly need dropping. There was no cohesion in the side and the times we passed the ball to the opposition when under no pressure was disturbing.
I thought Leeds were useless until they scored then their confidence rose and they were the better side.
Lost count of the times the ball was played to Hutton when we attacked a sure sign the midfield isn't working.
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Not sure what Bruce is hoping to achieve by constantly changing the set up, Gestede is a passenger and we have two midfielders that badly need dropping. There was no cohesion in the side and the times we passed the ball to the opposition when under no pressure was disturbing.
I thought Leeds were useless until they scored then their confidence rose and they were the better side.
Lost count of the times the ball was played to Hutton when we attacked a sure sign the midfield isn't working.
He's lost 1 game in 8. Not sure we're in a position to question his tactics just yet. I really think today was just one of those days nothing went our way. By the way I hate it when we get player /manager of the month it's a bloody jinx
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Off day.
Next.
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Play your strongest starting 11
Its quite a simple concept
This for me. 100% agree.
Grealish should always play, Ayew, too. They're the players who will get us out of this league. The two cretins in midfield who don't even need to be named, are the type of players that will help keep us in the Championship.
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I thought they were crap, just like every other team we've played this season. We haven't played anyone who I thought were any good
I agree with this.
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Bit mixed really. I didn't think we played well and the inclusion of two or three rank players in the starting XI consigned us to that. We lacked urgency and when Adomah went off we had no balance.
Jedinak seemed off the boil while the other two midfielders offered little.
That said Gardner and Adomah should have scored while they created nothing all night and but for a goal keeping error...
Very frustrating and disappointing to lose to a side like that.
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Play your strongest starting 11
Its quite a simple concept
This for me. 100% agree.
Grealish should always play, Ayew, too. They're the players who will get us out of this league. The two cretins in midfield who don't even need to be named, are the type of players that will help keep us in the Championship.
Totally agree
Where did starting justhead come from?
why didnt ayew start?
why was kodija wide?
Why no tish?
its not astro physics
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Way I see it is that in this league all teams lose games like those. It's disappointing, but not unexpected, it's how we react from now. We need to go on and win next week and then the week after. We're well capable of being in the promoting mix, we just need to respond to today in the right way.
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Grealish looked ill as he was warming up on the touchline. I reckon Bruce's word to the wise in his shell like as he was coming on, and which brought a smile to his face, was along the lines of who she should vomit on. Probably a match official.
I also think that SB told Westy to run beyond the front line and the player thought this meant he should do the modern equivalent of what used to be called goal hanging.
As for Gestede, I can offer up no explanation whatsoever. He is what he is and I should imagine we will sell him soon.
Gabby is like one of those mafia guys whose days have long gone but the young guns still respect him lest he bust a cap in their ass. Whenever he mixes it up and it is about to kick off he does his knowing grin and they end up touching fists.
Collini might be a world class keeper in 5 years, but meanwhile we are getting fucked.
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Bruce paid for his cautious approach today. Wrong team selection however we lack quality to dominate ordinarily teams at this level.
Lack quality - after spending over £50m in the summer....Jesus there is something wrong if that is the case.
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I thought they were crap, just like every other team we've played this season. We haven't played anyone who I thought were any good
I agree with this.
And me. And I think Bruce got taken in with their over performance in midweek at Redscouse - he scouted them then. As it was Leeds were jack average and but for two mistakes self inflicted by our shit keeper and the unfortunate Jedi, there was nothing in the game. But we continue to start with Westwood and for all the money we have spent, still don't have a decent createive midfielder.....we need 9 points from our next four matches....
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This league is fucking gash and by early jan need to be in the top 6
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Just goes to show how tight the margins are in this division, if only it had been Kodjia in on goal rather than adomah we'd have been one up and coasting instead we end up gifting two goals to a team we dominated for long spells.
I think we have the necessary skills in the squad to get top 6 but they need to start thinking like a Championship team and be stronger on the ball and stop moaning about decisions all the time. The offiicials in this division are attrocious every match we need to accept that and just get on with it, how many cards have we picked up for backchatting the ref?
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Our next 11 games - every single one of these is emanently winnable - only Norwich cause me a concern out of this lot.
Aston Villa
vs
Wigan Athletic
13 Dec - Championship
Norwich City
vs
19:45
Aston Villa
18 Dec - Championship
QPR
vs
12:00
Aston Villa
26 Dec - Championship
Aston Villa
vs
15:00
Burton Albion
29 Dec - Championship
Aston Villa
vs
19:45
Leeds United
2 Jan - Championship
Cardiff City
vs
15:00
Aston Villa
14 Jan - Championship
Wolves
vs
17:30
Aston Villa
21 Jan - Championship
Aston Villa
vs
15:00
Preston
28 Jan - Championship
Aston Villa
vs
15:00
Bristol City
31 Jan - Championship
Brentford
vs
19:45
Aston Villa
4 Feb - Championship
Nottm Forest
vs
15:00
Aston Villa
11 Feb - Championship
Aston Villa
vs
15:00
Ipswich Town
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Didn't see the match as away on holiday. Hard to judge how we played as some quite diverse reactions on here. I always moderate views by accounting for fans immediate disappointment of losing. I listened to Bruce's post match interview and he was disappointed that we didn't get anything from the game and felt we should have.
Sounded as though confidence went after the first goal and we didn't pull ourselves together. I still feel there is mental weakness in the squad and you probably have to look at the players that were here before the summer the most. Will they ever lose that mentality, I don't think so as they have taken too many hits. We cannot afford that.
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Two average sides and had we got a draw it would not have surprised me.
Gollini may have been late for the cross, (excellent cross) but that may have been assisted by Elphick making out it was his ball and when he realised it was not, gave the call to late.
Strange line up, but all the calls for Jack to have been a starter, some say he has been ill, as when he came on, to me the game passed him bye.
One player who had a shocker, yet no one has mentioned was Amavi, he was all over the place.
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Play your strongest starting 11
Its quite a simple concept
This for me. 100% agree.
Grealish should always play, Ayew, too. They're the players who will get us out of this league. The two cretins in midfield who don't even need to be named, are the type of players that will help keep us in the Championship.
Totally agree
Where did starting justhead come from?
why didnt ayew start?
why was kodija wide?
Why no tish?
its not astro physics
It's extremely frustrating, mate.
Gestede is beyond dreadful. Should never play a minute for us, unless we are really throwing the kitchen sink at someone, desperate for a goal.
I'd banish those pair of farts in midfield. I'm embarrassed by them, scuttling about like ants, doing absolutely nothing. Stealing a living.
Elphick-deary me. No pace, no stature, no good.
Other teams bring through youth and play them. Leeds are a fine example of this. I can't believe we don't have some decent central midfielders and right backs in our youth set up. I'm sure we do. Get them in.
If I had my way, Elphick, Hutton, Westwood, Gardner and Gestede would never be anywhere near our squad, let alone the first team. Agbonlahor, neither. Fat shit. It's a tough league to escape anyway. Don't make it even harder by playing woefully inept dregs. I've often felt physically sick just seeing their names on a Villa team sheet. It's also weird how players like Westwood rarely get injured. He's a central midfielder in the thick of the action. He rarely gets injured because he does fuck all. No muscle strains, because again, he does fuck all.
My team would be:
Gollini, (youth team right back), Baker, Chester, Amavi, Jedinak, Tshibola, Grealish, Adomah, Kodjia, Ayew for home matches.
Maybe solidify things away, but without compromising the attacking threat. Possibly sticking Bacuna in a three man midfield and rotating Adomah/bringing him on for a tiring Grealish/Ayew/Kodjia.
I think we'll bounce back next weekend, but we do make it unnecessarily difficult for ourselves by playing such talentless rubbish in important positions on the pitch.
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I'd banish those pair of farts in midfield. I'm embarrassed by them, scuttling about like ants, doing absolutely nothing.
Unfair to ants. One of the most awesome examples of relentless teamwork you could ever hope to see.
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I'd banish those pair of farts in midfield. I'm embarrassed by them, scuttling about like ants, doing absolutely nothing.
Unfair to ants. One of the most awesome examples of relentless teamwork you could ever hope to see.
Haha. Fair point. We should get some leafcutter's in. They'd quickly trim Agbonlahor down to a more manageable size, before carrying Elphick away to feed their Queen. He might put up a fight of some sorts, possibly kicking them as part of some superstitious ritual...but I think they'd succeed.
Apologies to any ants for my bad manners.
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Play your strongest starting 11
Its quite a simple concept
Two best players in the division on the bench...
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It is a really mediocre league isn't it? The quality is poor. I wouldn't fancy any team I've seen in the premier league, maybe Newcastle but I don't think they're great
Part of me thinks we'd be better off having two years down here - Bruce should be capable of turning us into a title winner next year and we'd be better placed to stay up with a better team
The other part thinks we'd lose some of our few premier league quality players if we did stay down here one more year and it would be even harder
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Being in the 'Championship' for another year would be shit. The league is full of bang average sides full of journeymen players and the odd promising youngster. Some are well organised and difficult to break down but the level of quality between the Premier League and here is massive. We would need half a new team to compete. As for this team, it's easily good enough for top 6 and I think with Bruce we will achieve this fairly easily and will be ruing the dog of a start we had.
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I thought they were crap, just like every other team we've played this season. We haven't played anyone who I thought were any good
I agree with this.
me too, this league is lacking in quality
unfortunatly we seem right at home in it
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It is a really mediocre league isn't it? The quality is poor. I wouldn't fancy any team I've seen in the premier league, maybe Newcastle but I don't think they're great
Part of me thinks we'd be better off having two years down here - Bruce should be capable of turning us into a title winner next year and we'd be better placed to stay up with a better team
The other part thinks we'd lose some of our few premier league quality players if we did stay down here one more year and it would be even harder
I agree, Matt. Especially regarding staying for a second year. If it was guaranteed that we'd go up, I wouldn't mind. But sadly, football isn't so cut and dry as that. I think we'd possibly lose Ayew if we didn't go up, but the team seems loyal at present and enjoying their football to an extent.
Anyone seems to be able to beat anyone in this league. Barnsley lost 5-2 at home, then best the 4th placed team away, 3-0, as an example.
I think we'll go up. Hopefully second, if not, by beating Wednesday in the playoff final. How about a Westwood screamer at Wembley like Savo's in 1996?
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Play your strongest starting 11
Its quite a simple concept
This for me. 100% agree.
Grealish should always play, Ayew, too. They're the players who will get us out of this league. The two cretins in midfield who don't even need to be named, are the type of players that will help keep us in the Championship.
Totally agree
Where did starting justhead come from?
why didnt ayew start?
why was kodija wide?
Why no tish?
its not astro physics
It's extremely frustrating, mate.
Gestede is beyond dreadful. Should never play a minute for us, unless we are really throwing the kitchen sink at someone, desperate for a goal.
I'd banish those pair of farts in midfield. I'm embarrassed by them, scuttling about like ants, doing absolutely nothing. Stealing a living.
Elphick-deary me. No pace, no stature, no good.
Other teams bring through youth and play them. Leeds are a fine example of this. I can't believe we don't have some decent central midfielders and right backs in our youth set up. I'm sure we do. Get them in.
If I had my way, Elphick, Hutton, Westwood, Gardner and Gestede would never be anywhere near our squad, let alone the first team. Agbonlahor, neither. Fat shit. It's a tough league to escape anyway. Don't make it even harder by playing woefully inept dregs. I've often felt physically sick just seeing their names on a Villa team sheet. It's also weird how players like Westwood rarely get injured. He's a central midfielder in the thick of the action. He rarely gets injured because he does fuck all. No muscle strains, because again, he does fuck all.
My team would be:
Gollini, (youth team right back), Baker, Chester, Amavi, Jedinak, Tshibola, Grealish, Adomah, Kodjia, Ayew for home matches.
Maybe solidify things away, but without compromising the attacking threat. Possibly sticking Bacuna in a three man midfield and rotating Adomah/bringing him on for a tiring Grealish/Ayew/Kodjia.
I think we'll bounce back next weekend, but we do make it unnecessarily difficult for ourselves by playing such talentless rubbish in important positions on the pitch.
Agree with all of that
if we had won yesterday we could have been 12 behind newcastle
if grealish is unwell then he shouldnt be on the bench
Central midfield is our big problem and hopefully bruce has seen it and will get a couple in during the window
perserving with point and gardner will get us to eeerrr exactly the league position we are in now
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They key is how we bounce back. Important we respond with a win nect week and take 7 from Wigan, Norwich and QPR.
We've got to pick our best players though.
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Against one of the better teams in this league we got shown up in midfield as the game progressed. Thought their defensive midfielder Viera (?) was very solid as was their back 4.
Highlights for us were Jedinak and Adomah before he clonked his thigh. Kodjia suffered the last usual curse of winning player of the month by having his worst game in ages.
All in all we were in it for an hour then got overpowered. Ho hum, Wigan next.
And sign some midfielders in January.
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I disagree. We were poor but it wasn't because Leeds showed us up; let's have it right, they were as shit if not worse than us.
They created zip from open play and Gollini being a tit cost us a point.
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I thought we again played well until they scored the first in terms of stopping the opposition, I think it was their first shot on target and only their second chance. We were a little sloppier than we had been though, and giving them free kicks and corners was always likely to concede at some point as their ball delivery into the box was very good and far better than ours I must say. Which brings me onto the second point, that our performance when in possession was very poor and we never really looked like scoring. Gestede is ok as an impact sub when throwing the ball into the box constantly, but shouldn't be starting as he's not mobile enough to build play. Kodjia should be in the middle and of course Ayew should have been left side. In the midfield we need replacements for Gardner and Westwood in the form of two players who get all over the pitch and particularly join attacks as we don't ever seem to get enough men forward at present. Elphick is really poor, Hutton tries but is also poor, and although I think Adomah is a top guy and great to have in a team in many ways, his delivery into the box is comically bad and link up with team mates needs a lot of work. Gollini continues to show his inexperience at times.
Still a brilliant start though for Bruce and I hope he adds at least 3 in January if we're serious about going up through the play offs.
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When I saw the team news yesterday, I immediately thought of Brighton away, the only difference being the ineffective gestede for the ineffective agbonlahor and elphick for the injured baker. Some questions for Bruce...
Why did you set your team up in the same way as you did for a game 2 weeks ago? It wasn't perfect then (the performance only started to come together after agbonlahor went off vs Brighton) so why would it work against Leeds? Besides championship players don't have the consistency to transfer performances between away fixtures.
Do you believe in playing your best/in form players in their best positions? If so why didn't the best forward (Kodjia) currently at the club start as the main striker?
If you're prepared to give an old has-been like agbonlahor game-time why are you not prepared to give hungry talented players like Murphy and greene game time also, or do you have an aversion to youth?
What are you doing to get the best out of Tish? Surely if managed /coached properly he is better than
some of the dross you have in midfield?
I like what Bruce has started to do, but there's a long way to go and the more games Bruce manages the more responsibility he has for the performances/results.
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Oh I agree Ads being one of the better teams in this league is hardly a compliment but our lack of midfield strength meant we couldn't shift a limited but very well organised Leeds team to get back in the game.
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Losing away to Leeds isn't the end of the world as it's obvious we'll lose a few before the end of the season, the concern for me was how bad we looked.
We were no worse than we were at SHA.
It's funny how points on the board can change perceptions of performances.
An astute observation and very true
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Elphick is the weakest link. Him, gollini, Westwood and Gardner is some right soft shite through the spine of the team.
exactly mossman , these players lost RDM his job , come on SB get rid .
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Maybe it's an indication of how poor we were but i'm another who thought Westwood was one of our better players. January will hopefully see the likes of Gestede, Elphick, Gardner, Hutton and Gollini replaced, they are all very average at best and two are amongst the worst I've seen in a Villa shirt. Amavi looks decent going forward but a liability in defence and I wish Kodjia would stop spending so much time rolling about in agony whenever he's tackled.
Leeds were poor, we were slightly worse but Bruce has got his hands tied until January. I wish we'd sell Tshibola simply because every time I see his name I get bloody Bohemian Rhapsody in my head. Damn, done it again.
My son is dreading getting 'roasted' by his Leeds supporting mates at school on Monday.
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Thought we looked ok if not spectacular for most of the game and were the one's most likely to score. Set pieces aside, they offered very little at all.
Harsh on Gollini as was a great ball in and right in between the two CB's. Even if he had stayed on his line he wouldn't have got a sniff.
Adomah's one on one was massive..and didn't even get a corner from it. Just looked like one of those days when we weren't going to score..could have had a pen on another day too.
Thought Bruce got this one wrong..Kodija out wide is wasted when you've got Ayew and Adomah to play wide. And as solid as the midfield three are (thought they did well until Leeds scored), the lack of creativity hurt us today. Jack / Bacuna / Tishbola would improve that..at least one of them should start.....
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I don't think the it was harsh on Gollini at all.
There were some poor performances in that game by usual suspects. Hutton, Amavi, Gestede, Gardner all spring to my mind.
Before you try to tell me that Amavi just had an off day, save your time
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The fact people think Westwood was one of our best players tonight shows how crap we were.
nail on head
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I thought they were crap, just like every other team we've played this season. We haven't played anyone who I thought were any good
I agree with this.
me too, this league is lacking in quality
unfortunatly we seem right at home in it
I don't think there is a great deal of difference between the top 8 in this league and the bottom 8 in the PL, then you see Albion sitting in 6th place and think perhaps the mediocrity goes higher than that.
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Agree totally in exile, how Amavi has not been slated on here for his performance yesterday is amazing, Hutton was like Cafu compared to Amavi.
2 loan midfield players required 1st January and as for the next 3 games, not 7 points but 9 is required, to move up this league you have to string wins together, not a win and a couple of draws, no good at all.
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I disagree. We were poor but it wasn't because Leeds showed us up; let's have it right, they were as shit if not worse than us.
They created zip from open play and Gollini being a tit cost us a point.
Yep, it was heading for a draw until that moment.
The commentator said that Grealish had suffered a knock in training and was why he didn't start, if we had I think we'd have won.
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I think we were great yesterday, really really great. We should pick ourselves up and, erm, go again.
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Gollini and Elphick - the dream team reunited.
Absolute vomit.
No. We didn't look tight last night.
Hmm...Captain Calamity Elphick back in and we lose...coincidence...
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Disappointed as had got used to this not losing lark. Thought we were comfortable for an hour without creating many clear cut chances. Alberts chance looked a good save to me. Agree with many that Leeds were poor until they scored and their crowd was very quiet.
What we need to do is go on one of those runs that teams like Derby have when you win 4 or 5 in a row. We are capable.
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Disappointed yesterday but not gutted. We were going to lose again at some point and as long as we bounce back from it and go on another run, it shouldn't be a problem. I thought Bruce had an off day as well as some of the players. Starting Gardner was understandable but I presume Gestede was put in as a tactical measure, but in any case it didn't work, he was awful. I actually thought one of our better players was Westwood, which is something I didn't think i'd write.
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Maybe it's an indication of how poor we were but i'm another who thought Westwood was one of our better players. January will hopefully see the likes of Gestede, Elphick, Gardner, Hutton and Gollini replaced, they are all very average at best and two are amongst the worst I've seen in a Villa shirt. Amavi looks decent going forward but a liability in defence and I wish Kodjia would stop spending so much time rolling about in agony whenever he's tackled.
Leeds were poor, we were slightly worse but Bruce has got his hands tied until January. I wish we'd sell Tshibola simply because every time I see his name I get bloody Bohemian Rhapsody in my head. Damn, done it again.
My son is dreading getting 'roasted' by his Leeds supporting mates at school on Monday.
Revenge will be had later this month
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Leeds were awful until the goal. We were marginally better without creating much. Echo those posters saying about the first 11 choice. Very strange
What was noticeable was how either side failed consistently to put three passes together. Awful quality
Im not sure we have yet to play well at all under SB (maybe Brighton was the best) so lots of work in progress.
Also agree about how bad our youngsters must be if they cant get in this squad. Whats halpended to Green or RHM?
The good thing is the matches come round thick and fast so immediate opportunity to put things right
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Golini has played well over the last few games - in fact since Baker has partnered Chester centrally. I think the indecision shown yesterday is in part down to Elphicks return. Their first goal Elphick stopped... personally I'd be looking for a better centre half not necessarily a better keeper.
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There was a spell just after half time where Westwood was really lively, it was good to see but it also underlined just how limited a footballer he is. He just hasn't got the ability or subtlety of thought to make anything happen in those areas, he's so easy to read.
It's amazing how many games he's played for us, I really think where we are now is still above his real level.
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Highlights (http://www.skysports.com/football/leeds-vs-a-villa/358332)
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Leeds will not finish in the top six. They were garbage. Unfortunately having reflected on it I don't think we will either. It's not that we won't lose games but given the start we had this season any defeat really really costs us. From 11th back down to 15th after one defeat in 8 is testament to that.
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I thought they were crap, just like every other team we've played this season. We haven't played anyone who I thought were any good
I agree with this.
me too, this league is lacking in quality
unfortunatly we seem right at home in it
I don't think there is a great deal of difference between the top 8 in this league and the bottom 8 in the PL, then you see Albion sitting in 6th place and think perhaps the mediocrity goes higher than that.
There's a lot of talk about how poor this league is, but look where we are in it. All that matters is what's relative to us now, not the league we used to be in.
Likewise with Leeds. I keep reading how bad they were, but they beat us 2:0. They could easily have scored with a free header in the first half, which was a much better chance than the Adomah or Gardner ones. But we can forget all the ifs and buts, because they won't get us promoted in May. Only wins can do that, and we're just not getting enough of them.
As I've suspected all along, we'll more than likely be stuck in this crap league another year, and that's hardly surprising given our sorry state when we arrived in it. If by some miracle we do go up, it will be via the playoffs, but those places seem rather far away at the moment. Let's see where we are after the new year.
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After such a mediocre start, I think we've done well in the past few weeks to have gotten ourselves in within 3 points of the play offs. Yesterday was hopefully a minor setback. It'll remind the players there's a lot of hard work still do to and there's still a heck of a lot of games to play so i'm not too downhearted about yesterday.
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An old cliche but true. The important thing is not the defeat, but how we respond.
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Agree with a lot of what is said above,
but one word will sort this!
Midfield
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Leeds fans were very poor and quiet until they scored, but after that it was the loudest ground I'd heard away for a while.
Re: our support. We're getting like West Ham with Bubbles, churning 'HEITS' out 27 times a game. What's happened to all our chants? We've got hardly any songs for the players. Adomah, Kodjia, Chester to name a few, all good additions but no chant for them.
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Leeds fans were very poor and quiet until they scored, but after that it was the loudest ground I'd heard away for a while.
Re: our support. We're getting like West Ham with Bubbles, churning 'HEITS' out 27 times a game. What's happened to all our chants? We've got hardly any songs for the players. Adomah, Kodjia, Chester to name a few, all good additions but no chant for them.
I know I shouldn't approve, but the jimmy Saville song was funny. Fuck it.
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Yeah. With everything that has come out this week. Hi larious.
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No problems with our support yesterday, great as ever. Leeds were loud behind the goal though.
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After such a mediocre start, I think we've done well in the past few weeks to have gotten ourselves in within 3 points of the play offs. Yesterday was hopefully a minor setback. It'll remind the players there's a lot of hard work still do to and there's still a heck of a lot of games to play so i'm not too downhearted about yesterday.
Not at all downhearted. I thought we played well as a unit for most of the match. As Clampy points out there are many games to go. Can't win or draw them all
as Steve Bruce knows. We are doing all right this season considering what has gone on in the past.
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Steve Bruce has got to go....... and get a midfielder centre half and Gk January
Genius and idiot in one sentence. One defeat and hopefully he'll put it right in January. The only other goalkeeper Villa have is Bunn and he is even worse. Why doesn't Tshibola get a game?
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I have to admit to feeling a bit flat today. None of the top 4 won and all but Brighton lost. We sit with more or less the same amount of teams above us now as we did when Bruce first joined us and 6 points off a play off spot. I appreciate that the table means very little at this stage of the season but we;ve somehow got to put a run of wins together if we want to climb the table. Newcastle won 7 on the trot, Reading 6 on the trot, Derby 5 on the trot and Leeds and Brighton both 5 out of 6 recently. Those runs are the reason why these sides are where they are in the table.
The way we are setting up, especially away from home, I can't see us ever winning 5 or 6 on the trot. We've won once away under Bruce and that was by virtue of a last minute penalty. Comparinng Newcastles performance away at Leeds to our own tells me the difference between the 2 sides.
I'm also back to doubting the keeper again, just when I felt that we'd got the mistakes out of his system. The first goal was reminiscent of Guzan's howler for Leicesters 3rd goal last season and although the second didn't matter, it was sttil worrying that the ball appeared to find a way to go underneath his hand.
Because there are so many sides above (and around) us, some of them are always going to win every week. I can't see us moving much from between 10th & 16th by winning one, drawing one and then losing the occasional one. We have to somehow put together a winning run, like other sides have done.
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May I be apprised of the words used in the aforementioned 'Savile' chant?
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Steve Bruce has got to go....... and get a midfielder centre half and Gk January
Genius and idiot in one sentence. One defeat and hopefully he'll put it right in January. The only other goalkeeper Villa have is Bunn and he is even worse. Why doesn't Tshibola get a game?
I'm not one for over reacting but I'm going to say this anyway. Gollini, Hutton,Elphick, Chester, Westwood, Gestede. Simply not good enough.
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May I be apprised of the words used in the aforementioned 'Savile' chant?
Us: Jimmy Savile, he's one of your own
Them: Jimmy Savile, he's friends with Steve Bruce (is what it sounded like to me)
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Thank you. Not the greatest of exchanges heard on the terraces.
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Steve Bruce has got to go....... and get a midfielder centre half and Gk January
Genius and idiot in one sentence. One defeat and hopefully he'll put it right in January. The only other goalkeeper Villa have is Bunn and he is even worse. Why doesn't Tshibola get a game?
I'm not one for over reacting but I'm going to say this anyway. Gollini, Hutton,Elphick, Chester, Westwood, Gestede. Simply not good enough.
Chester? What brings you to that startling conclusion then?
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May I be apprised of the words used in the aforementioned 'Savile' chant?
Us: Jimmy Savile, he's one of your own
Them: Jimmy Savile, he's friends with Steve Bruce (is what it sounded like to me)
I think that the Leeds response to the original chant was "Jimmy Savile, he fingered you mum"
There was something about Bruce later on but I couldn't make it out
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6 goals in 10 away games and 8 points. Bruce needs to find a better system away from home if we are going to make real headway.
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Only saw the brief highlights on sky sports as I was out.
I'm amazed nobody has referenced the less than heart hearted attempt from Amavi when their player broke through.
I wonder who had scouted Elphick, as he gets beaten by the attacker all of the time and constantly loses the flight of the ball when it goes above his head. Not good traits for a centre half
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Steve Bruce has got to go....... and get a midfielder centre half and Gk January
Genius and idiot in one sentence. One defeat and hopefully he'll put it right in January. The only other goalkeeper Villa have is Bunn and he is even worse. Why doesn't Tshibola get a game?
I'm not one for over reacting but I'm going to say this anyway. Gollini, Hutton,Elphick, Chester, Westwood, Gestede. Simply not good enough.
Chester? What brings you to that startling conclusion then?
I don't know why i included Chester. Must of still been drunk when i posted that lol
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Well as one former manager might say we go again next week.
However I have some faith in Bruce to believe we will bounce back straight away and bag 3 points.
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6 goals in 10 away games and 8 points. Bruce needs to find a better system away from home if we are going to make real headway.
To be fair to him, he's not doing too badly compared to recent managers.
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Gollini is mixing some good games with less stunning performances.
Not ready to give up on him yet...still way better then Guzan and notch above Bunn.
Reminds me a bit of when De Gea came to England. Almost afraid of the physical aspect of the English league and approached the aerial game "awkwardly".
Good reach and reflexes.
Just needs bulk and coaching on how to become Master of his Domain....
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Where we are in the league is irrelevant. It's how far we are away points wise from 6th. It's a two game turn around and they all have to come to Villa Park.
If we don't make the Play Offs we deserve shooting. Bruce is doing a good job considering the holes on his boat with Gardner and Westwood for example. There's a long way to go, a transfer window to come and I still stand by the prediction about SHA, Leeds and Huddersfield; none of them have the quality or depth to finish on the top 6 after 46 games.
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All Gollinis errors have been in games when Elphick is playing at the back, and unfortunately yet again yesterday Elphick was as much to blame for the first as Gollini.
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Steve Bruce has got to go....... and get a midfielder centre half and Gk January
Genius and idiot in one sentence. One defeat and hopefully he'll put it right in January. The only other goalkeeper Villa have is Bunn and he is even worse. Why doesn't Tshibola get a game?
I'm not one for over reacting but I'm going to say this anyway. Gollini, Hutton,Elphick, Chester, Westwood, Gestede. Simply not good enough.
I was thinking earlier today how we managed to get Chester. I think he is a top player and only his height and perhaps overall build stops him being one of the very best.
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Where we are in the league is irrelevant. It's how far we are away points wise from 6th. It's a two game turn around and they all have to come to Villa Park.
If we don't make the Play Offs we deserve shooting. Bruce is doing a good job considering the holes on his boat with Gardner and Westwood for example. There's a long way to go, a transfer window to come and I still stand by the prediction about SHA, Leeds and Huddersfield; none of them have the quality or depth to finish on the top 6 after 46 games.
Agree about Huddersfield and The Shit, but Leeds look like stayers to me.
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I thought we were easily on course for at least a point until the goal but after that we didn't seem to be able to shake the disappointment and our performance petered out poorly. A few too many had off days and we just couldn't get hold of the game in midfield - Leeds, for their obvious limitations - managed the game very well once they were in front; an art we need to master very soon.
Desperately need a couple of midfielders in January.
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I thought we were easily on course for at least a point until the goal but after that we didn't seem to be able to shake the disappointment and our performance petered out poorly. A few too many had off days and we just couldn't get hold of the game in midfield - Leeds, for their obvious limitations - managed the game very well once they were in front; an art we need to master very soon.
Desperately need a couple of midfielders in January.
We kind of killed our comeback efforts by putting Grealish next to Jedinak in the middle. Adamoah might have been carrying a knock but if not Kodija should have made way. We ended up with no width and too many players in central areas.
Kodija is a very talented player but I've noticed he tends to shy away from the physical stuff a bit too much like in the derby. Their right back was a hacker but as a former Bristol team-mate he seemed to know that by kicking Kodija enough eventually he wouldn't want to know. It worked
Think some of the commentary here is giving Leeds way too much credit. We were well on top when they got the first. Watching that goal again, a load of our players need to take a share of the blame. Adamoah's efforts to stop the cross were poor, Elphick is too far ahead of his front post and needs to be touch tight with their attacker, noone tracked the run from midfield, Westwood should have, Gollini watches the whole situation develop and might as well have jumped out of the way for the gumption he showed. At this level it's generally mistakes that do you not quality play as last night proved.
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6 goals in 10 away games and 8 points. Bruce needs to find a better system away from home if we are going to make real headway.
To be fair to him, he's not doing too badly compared to recent managers.
That shouldn't really be the benchmark though, should it, Chris?
Having watched far too many times (thanks to Leeds friends) the first goal, I really don't think anybody is to blame. It really was a fantastic piece of football, stringing passes together before a wonderful, undefendable cross into the box. Excellent move and goal.
The second was all started by another Jedi mistake. He seems to make at least one a game, normally to Hutton but yesterday we got punished. I'm more concerned about our lack of goals and opportunities than anything else right now. I said last week and again yesterday, I'm still struggling to see what we're trying to do in attack, other than bang our heads against the wall.
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If Gollini is going to commit to punching it then he simply has to get there first. That's not to take away from the move and cross that preceded it because it was very good. As I said in my summary, it was a poor team performance so as much as Gollini is to take his share of the blame for both goals the rest of the team performed poorly also. We looked very flat and the tactics employed by the manager in my opinion were wrong and more negative than they needed to be.
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Gollini just didn't look like he had any conviction when he came out to punch. He needs to flatten everything in front of him. Other than the two goals, he had nothing to do, so it's really disappointing. I wish we would exploit our own potential instead of deploying tactics to stop the opposition from playing. We have far better attacking players that most of the sides I've seen so far, including Leeds, but we looked to nullify yesterday instead of getting stuck in to them. I still think we are carrying too many players at the moment and hope we can bring in at least three in the transfer window. Even if we just replace Westwood and Elphick from yesterdays team, we are easily good enough to get in to the play-offs. Am I being greedy by asking for a left winger too?
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It is a really mediocre league isn't it? The quality is poor. I wouldn't fancy any team I've seen in the premier league, maybe Newcastle but I don't think they're great
Part of me thinks we'd be better off having two years down here - Bruce should be capable of turning us into a title winner next year and we'd be better placed to stay up with a better team
The other part thinks we'd lose some of our few premier league quality players if we did stay down here one more year and it would be even harder
I agree with that.
If the relegated trio are going to be Hull, Sunderland and Swansea I don't see why we couldn't dominate next season in the way Newcastle and Brighton have so far.
I do still think we'll make the top 6....but I'm not unconvinced we have the bottle and resilience to actually win them. Probably I've been scarred down the years in league and cup games when it comes to the crunch so not convinced it will be any better at a lower level.
Yeah we'd probably lose Amavi and Ayew....but neither are exactly firing us to promotion atm anyway, Ayew isn't even a regular starter under Bruce.
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When I saw the team news yesterday, I immediately thought of Brighton away, the only difference being the ineffective gestede for the ineffective agbonlahor and elphick for the injured baker. Some questions for Bruce...
Why did you set your team up in the same way as you did for a game 2 weeks ago? It wasn't perfect then (the performance only started to come together after agbonlahor went off vs Brighton) so why would it work against Leeds? Besides championship players don't have the consistency to transfer performances between away fixtures.
Do you believe in playing your best/in form players in their best positions? If so why didn't the best forward (Kodjia) currently at the club start as the main striker?
If you're prepared to give an old has-been like agbonlahor game-time why are you not prepared to give hungry talented players like Murphy and greene game time also, or do you have an aversion to youth?
What are you doing to get the best out of Tish? Surely if managed /coached properly he is better than
some of the dross you have in midfield?
I like what Bruce has started to do, but there's a long way to go and the more games Bruce manages the more responsibility he has for the performances/results.
Well obviously you need to rotate in this division....it's impossible to have an unchanged team for 46 games.
I think SB has looked at it and doesn't trust Ayew and Jack in away games yet. If you look at it both have started the home games so far but both have rarely started away from home.
Think SB is looking at it as 3 points at home and 1 away should be a formula to eventually get us in the top 6.
The trouble is playing the workmanlike midfields away from home mean we struggle to create many chances.
We are still struggling to win away games so it's not a magic formula either.
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If that's his strategy (and I suspect it is - we were seemingly still playing for a point even when we were 1-0 up against B-lose) it is giving the absolute toss in this division too much respect.
Leeds were like countless other teams we have played this season; nervous, respectful and standing off us early on. But we let them grow into the contest. You know the opposition is limited when Westwood is calling the shots in the centre of the park.
The only teams who have impressed me so far were Wednesday, Newcastle (first half) and Wolves (second half).
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Bruce said recently that any point away from home is a great result. I thought he was trotting out an age-old cliché but the way he sets us up away does suggest he buys into it, regardless of the quality of the opposition which is a shame as others have said, considering our arsenal.
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Gollini just didn't look like he had any conviction when he came out to punch. He needs to flatten everything in front of him. Other than the two goals, he had nothing to do, so it's really disappointing. I wish we would exploit our own potential instead of deploying tactics to stop the opposition from playing. We have far better attacking players that most of the sides I've seen so far, including Leeds, but we looked to nullify yesterday instead of getting stuck in to them. I still think we are carrying too many players at the moment and hope we can bring in at least three in the transfer window. Even if we just replace Westwood and Elphick from yesterdays team, we are easily good enough to get in to the play-offs. Am I being greedy by asking for a left winger too?
Remember when Bosnich flattened Klinsman.? A few have forgotten he also sent McGrath flying as he came out. That is the kind of keeper I want. Decisive and ultra confident
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I'm trusting Bruce's judgment for getting out of this division at the moment. He must see we have a poor selection of midfielders and hopefully a couple of new ones are on his Christmas list.
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Bruce said recently that any point away from home is a great result. I thought he was trotting out an age-old cliché but the way he sets us up away does suggest he buys into it, regardless of the quality of the opposition which is a shame as others have said, considering our arsenal.
Our previous manager had that attitude that could just steamroller teams and look where that got us. That kind of arrogance has a habit of biting you on the arse, they might not be the strongest opponents but most sides have players who can hurt you given the chance as Leeds showed. Yes, it was poor defending but the cross and run by the scorer where both very good.
I think Bruce has decided to make us more solid and up until yesterday it had worked, that instills confidence and gives us something to build on in the second half of the season.
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I'm trusting Bruce's judgment for getting out of this division at the moment. He must see we have a poor selection of midfielders and hopefully a couple of new ones are on his Christmas list.
Total faith in Bruce. He'll buy the right players at the right price in January.
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What a rubbish, shit hole Elland Road is.
Their Eastern Stand is impressive from a distance. The three other sides are shite.
I'm glad i went to the game.
Good parking, but I'll never go there again.
Villa Park. We don't realise how fantastic it is.
I'll be interested to see how many Leeds fans turn up at Villla Park.
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I'll be interested to see how many Leeds fans turn up at Villla Park.
They'll fill their end with ease
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I know that nobody will agree with me but I thought Westwood was one of our better players
Just to prove you wrong- I agree with you,I was showing my youngest son ( 6 years old ) who seems to be jumping on the anti Westwood bandwagon
that nearly every time a Leeds player was in possession Westwood was there chasing them down. Agree with most other comments - Elphick a disappointment, Rudy only a sub ever, no creativity with Ayew and Jack on the bench , fine margins of winning and losing, we were the better of two average teams until they scored,never looked like getting back into the game afterwards, Gollini should have punched player and ball into next year.... but one loss in eight ... only three more defeats until the end of the season if we can keep that ratio up ( Wolves, Toon and Norwich away ? ) can we win the others , why not ? I am still up for us finishing second especially with Brighton as our last home game .... winner goes up :) :) :) :) :)
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The day started well, no traffic hold ups, friendly greetings from the police and stewards and the gates & bar in the ground were open at 3:30.
Once pitchside though it was a different matter. No one was happy with their view from the overpriced seats. Those at the front had the security staff standing blocking sight of the pitch and in the main chatting and laughing, not needed for crowd control. Others told of restrictions to the view including in the disabled area, duplicate tickets causing extra areas to be opened , and spurious evictions including I am told one for throwing tinsel around.
The applause for the Chapecoense disaster was distasteful and inappropriate, everyone else appeared to have managed a period of silence. You don’t applaud 71 people dying.
Then we lost and the behaviour of some of our fans was not what we want Aston Villa to be known for.
And it’s still a second rate stadium. I am tired of journalists telling me of the joys of ‘atmospheric’ grounds, they don’t get a poor view or fight to get near the toilet whilst being ripped off over prices.
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What a rubbish, shit hole Elland Road is.
Their Eastern Stand is impressive from a distance. The three other sides are shite.
I'm glad i went to the game.
Good parking, but I'll never go there again.
Villa Park. We don't realise how fantastic it is.
I'll be interested to see how many Leeds fans turn up at Villla Park.
The stand we were in was very poorly laid out. Not enough turnstiles to get in, a complete crush to get up the stairs, the commentary/camera gantry hanging down and various poles/cables obstructing the view.
However, that "Pavilion" set up was very good. I was in there with some of my Leeds mates for around an hour (after they'd tried and failed to get me into the Peacock beer garden).
I haven't parked that close to a ground since the late 90s when my mate had a permit for the North Stand car park. On the motorway within five minutes of getting in the car and back home by 11pm.
Considering the 400 mile round trip, it couldn't have gone any better (apart from the result)
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I'm surprised they moved the away fans.
In the prem days it always used to be in the corner by the corner flag and large allocations would get behind the goal.
Half of the main stand can't hold that much?
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Bruce paid for his cautious approach today. Wrong team selection however we lack quality to dominate ordinarily teams at this level.
Lack quality - after spending over £50m in the summer....Jesus there is something wrong if that is the case.
Absolutely, we lack quality all over the pitch.
We have at best 3 or 4 players who could conceivably cut it in a higher league, Grealish, Kodija, Chester and possibly Baker if he could stay fit form more than a nanosecond.
The rest are either horses for courses or out and out garbage. The only saving grace is that pretty much every team we've played against is equally bereft of quality.
This is no doubt a competitive league, but it's not a quality league.
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I don't think the it was harsh on Gollini at all.
There were some poor performances in that game by usual suspects. Hutton, Amavi, Gestede, Gardner all spring to my mind.
Before you try to tell me that Amavi just had an off day, save your time
You're right.
A diagonal ball into the box from about 30 yards out. How on earth is it harsh to expect the keeper to come and get it, or stop on his line and deal with it?
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I don't think the it was harsh on Gollini at all.
There were some poor performances in that game by usual suspects. Hutton, Amavi, Gestede, Gardner all spring to my mind.
Before you try to tell me that Amavi just had an off day, save your time
You're right.
A diagonal ball into the box from about 30 yards out. How on earth is it harsh to expect the keeper to come and get it, or stop on his line and deal with it?
It was a great ball in, but his slight hesitation fucked him. The quality of delivery didn't leave much margin for error.