Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: SoccerHQ on August 05, 2017, 07:21:55 PM
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We've seen it all before.
Two points dropped against a team who imo won't be in the promotion shake up.
Neither will we unless we shake off his hold a lead at all costs mentality (that means we stop attacking even from the first half).
Very disappointing. Our defence may look strong but they're not going to keep 40 odd clean sheets and we just don't have the look we're going to score at least 2 goals a game without Kodjia. Hogan just can't get into it at all.
We really need to step things up quickly otherwise teams will move ahead of us like last year. 3 away games coming up.
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Samba up front. lulz.
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Our unbeaten run continues.
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Had a poor 25 minutes and paid for it.
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Another Bruce masterclass.
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Garbage. Can't control a game
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We're going to be trapped in this division forever.
Just like Forest and Leeds.
Today was awful with no improvement from last season at all.
How did Hogan score all those goals at Brentford? One of the great mysteries of football.
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bruce did not impress me with that
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First half good, second half garbage. Humph.
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There are a fair few faults to debate
But the headline is that we missed enough chances to have won three games
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Utter, utter shit.
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Good first 35-40 and should have wrapped up the game, then went utter shit for the next 35 or so. Disappointing start.
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Samba up front. lulz.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hZj7xcehvOU/hqdefault.jpg)
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That second half was unacceptable, first match or not.
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My faith in Potato has gone down.
We looked really good, scored, then regressed.
They eqaualised and went to score more.
It's either the players or manager that makes this happen.
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Utter, utter shit.
Except it really wasn't
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Usual rubbish from Bruce. Very good first half, second half dreadful. We'll never, ever be promoted with that idiot Steve Bruce in charge.
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Same old Villa, season after season
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Not going up are we?
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Again, cant make possession, and attempts count.
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Bruce is clueless, once Hull worked us out he did not know what to do, Bacuna really?
Hogan his most expensive signing is a dud.
Then put a lump on at the end and hoof the ball too him, we ain't going up with this bloke.
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We're going to be trapped in this division forever.
Just like Forest and Leeds.
Today was awful with no improvement from last season at all.
How did Hogan score all those goals at Brentford? One of the great mysteries of football.
Yes.
Yes.
He played for a good team.
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Better when the kids came on, hope he learns but I doubt he will
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No change then...so unless something changes our division won't change this season .
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Di Matteo OUT
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All has the feeling of another new owner's wad being blown on a manager that doesn't deserve the chance.
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5 midfielders signed and he plays Gabby & Bacuna. Fuck off!
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We can't make an assumption about the entire season based on that, either way
Obviously loads of people but Will
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On plus side I thought Whelan and Elmo looked good. Lansbury...... Dire. Was Hourihane on the bench?
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Not going up are we?
It wasn't very good today but it's a bit of stretch to say that on day one. Newcastle lost their first game last season.
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Groundhog Season.
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Three aways coming up. A potentially tricky cup tie and two Championship games against teams that will probably finish in the top half and possibly the play offs.
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We were sharper in the first half, they couldn't cope with Lansbury's and Hogan's movement, it was all going fine. They change one thing in the second half and what happens? Bruce can't cope. Same old stuff.
Also, I absolutely hated his head-on-hands, 'woe what ill fortune befalls the master tactician' pose in the second half. Maybe have a better idea than throwing a lump of lumber on as an emergency forward to lob the ball at.
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Not going up are we?
We need to reserve judgement for a bit on that score. Newcastle had 0 points from first two games last season after all.
We have tricky games coming up though, Reading, Cardiff and Norwich. Smart money would be on another draw or two from that judging by how we approached today once we led.
Losing two points soon adds up as we saw for the first few months last season.
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Good first half, terrible second. Samba as a forward option - no. Learn how to react to a change in the opposition play Bruce.
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Not going up are we?
It wasn't very good today but it's a bit of stretch to say that on day one. Newcastle lost their first game last season.
We look no different.
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The problem is that this is just a continuation of the same pattern, this is Steve Bruce's Villa and this is what you get.
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Negatives: Piss weak nervous team comes to Villa Park just ripe for a kicking, and -after a decent start- we sit off them and let them play themselves into form. Same as it ever was.
Positives: We look like we have legs in all three areas of the pitch, and didn't close the game out looking like a plucky underdog happy to just hold on.
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Samba up front. lulz.
Ironically he looked more of a threat than Hogan
That second half was ghastly. Whelan and Lansbury were absolutely shocking.
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Game of two halves yet again, we really miss Kodja.
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Drizzle of piss again. Must be approaching 3 years without a good full 90 minute performance. A long season ahead. We won't score anywhere near enough to get promoted unless there is a change in mindset, is Potato capable of it? I don't think so.
The Spurs kid to replace Lansbury and anyone to replace Blues Bacuna.
The January transfers have proven to be appalling.
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On plus side I thought Whelan and Elmo looked good. Lansbury...... Dire. Was Hourihane on the bench?
Strange as I thought Whelan looked off the pace and paid the price with a booking for one of many late lunges. Lansbury was one of the most influential players on the pitch in the first half. Elmo blew hot and cold. We should have scored more than 1 and you have to look at the one on one Gabby missed and the Green open goal to blame for that. Green will have nightmares about that.
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One game in where we played pretty well and people are moaning. We do like a good old moan on here don't we. Let give the squad a little slack here.
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Not going up are we?
It wasn't very good today but it's a bit of stretch to say that on day one. Newcastle lost their first game last season.
For some strange reason, that has made me feel a bit better.
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Aston Villa. A team of two differing halves. Yet again.
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Utter, utter shit.
Except it really wasn't
After a good first 15 mins we were fucking terrible, no improvement on last year. You're kidding yourself if you think it was anything else.
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What the hell was Bruce trying to achieve playing Lansbury as a striker with Gabby dropping back into midfield? Lansbury has a footballers haircut but there it ends. Shocking second half.
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Quel surprise.
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Score Surrender Concede Panic. Spend millions. Repeat.
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'We are a point better off than Newcastle were this time last season and they went up as champs'
I think that's the latest straw we are clutching on to
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Started well, took the lead, then let them back into it. We created enough chances to have scored 3 or 4. Should have won.
Hogan needs a goal
I liked Elmo, Green and Onomah. Terry brings a touch of class.
For me there are more positives than negatives.
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Game of two halves yet again, we really miss Kodja.
After this game my new superstition for the season when watching at home is not to pop round to the shop around the corner at half time.
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And people moaning about Samba upfront. He came on in the 90th min so stop making it out to be more than that. IF we'd won a couple of set pieced in injury time it could have been a different story.
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I was desperate to see some style today. Exactly the same as last year. Sit back launch it. Can't retain the ball can't pass. Dreadful to watch
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I'm not worried, it's a long old schlep is this.
Plenty of time for worrying.
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Not going up are we?
It wasn't very good today but it's a bit of stretch to say that on day one. Newcastle lost their first game last season.
For some strange reason, that has made me feel a bit better.
After losing the first 2 they went on a run of W13 D1 L1. Struggling to see us do a run like that.
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I was desperate to see some style today. Exactly the same as last year. Sit back launch it. Can't retain the ball can't pass. Dreadful to watch
there were some good moments in the first half I thought
and I'm Bruce's biggest critic on here
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I suppose, once Kodjia is back, Hogan will be benched. I can already see our starting 11 the next day ...it'll be the fucking same. Jesus.
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When you choose to put samba up front in the first game of the season then questions have to be asked.
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Was looking forward to that all week and......
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And people moaning about Samba upfront. He came on in the 90th min so stop making it out to be more than that. IF we'd won a couple of set pieced in injury time it could have been a different story.
I would start him there ahead of Hogan.
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I knew there'd be a load of stupid comments on here after this
We had a twenty minute bad spell. And there are definite flaws in hogan playing loan striker, especially in spells when we're under pressure. And we can question the game management. And the aimless balls.
But hull had two chances all game. We should have been two up at half time. And green and Onomah missed great chances second half
Whelan was way, way worse than we saw last week - and Elmo much more ordinary
Green was very good but missed an absolute sitter
Hogan good first half but really struggled second.
But to say "we're not going up" based on that. Ridiculous
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'We are a point better off than Newcastle were this time last season and they went up as champs'
I think that's the latest straw we are clutching on to
We need to get behind Steve Bruce, or summat.
Because positive vibes on an internet messageboard will make an iffy manager a good one.
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Slutsky is a character. Good to see a smiley manager.
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When you choose to put samba up front in the first game of the season then questions have to be asked.
Well the positive is that it was an attempt to go for it, not settle for a point
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When you choose to put samba up front in the first game of the season then questions have to be asked.
In the last minute. Behave
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I knew there'd be a load of stupid comments on here after this
We had a twenty minute bad spell. And there are definite flaws in hogan playing loan striker, especially in spells when we're under pressure. And we can question the game management. And the aimless balls.
But hull had two chances all game. We should have been two up at half time. And green and Onomah missed great chances second half
Whelan was way, way worse than we saw last week - and Elmo much more ordinary
Green was very good but missed an absolute sitter
Hogan good first half but really struggled second.
But to say "we're not going up" based on that. Ridiculous
^^^
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We should of won, we didn't, sound familiar?
I thought it would finish 1-1, so overall I'm not too disheartened.
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'We are a point better off than Newcastle were this time last season and they went up as champs'
I think that's the latest straw we are clutching on to
Given there were inverted commas I actually thought at first glance SB had just said that in his post match interview!
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Despite the pre match forecast, was anyone really surprised by the result ?
As much as I want it to work, I can not see it happening with Bruce. dinosaur manager.
We are Aston Villa. we go again.
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The frustrating thing is kidding yourself all summer that they've had time to gel and find a game plan and that we will be good only to be smacked in the face with the truth first game that we are almost a carbon copy of last seasons team. With some older players.
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the problem is Matt he's had 40 games now and apart from a good 25 mins in a couple of them not one of them has been any good even the ones we managed to win
I mean you can defend him all you like but that's just the plain truth of the matter
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Can someone tell me a game last season that matched the first 45 minutes today?
There are various flaws I identified today. But I honestly think the biggest threat is the moaning of a proportion of our fans
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The bad spell was well over half an hour as we were ropey last 10 mins of first half. Onomah didn't miss anything as he was given offside. Wasn't the worst performance ever and especially the first 25 we played some nice stuff. Which is fine and not too much to moan about unless your target is the top 2 and the same issues from last season were on display today.
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Can someone tell me a game last season that matched the first 45 minutes today?
Brighton away?
I can think of loads that matched the second half.
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Despite the pre match forecast, was anyone really surprised by the result ?
As much as I want it to work, I can not see it happening with Bruce. dinosaur manager.
We are Aston Villa. we go again.
I actually said 1-1 in the pre match thread. (or 2-2 but a draw certainly).
Most disappointing thing for me is we got the early goal to set things and the crowd down so there was an opportunity to take the shakles off and win 2/3-0 and send a statement to the rest of the division we mean business.
We missed a few more chances and then had enough of attacking and just retreated back into own half and so Hull didn't have to step it up much to get the equalizer.
I gave SB pretty much a free pass last season based on our position when he arrived. He really has little excuse this season with the squad he's assembled but looks like he's coaching the new boys into his reactive and restrictive game mentality.
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The frustrating thing is kidding yourself all summer that they've had time to gel and find a game plan and that we will be good only to be smacked in the face with the truth first game that we are almost a carbon copy of last seasons team. With some older players.
They need a pre season.
Bruce needs to bring his own players in.
He needs to establish a pet tern of play.
Now it's early in the season.we could have scored more.
The problem is that we can keep making excuses for Bruce until they run out, which they will and it will be too late.
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Can someone tell me a game last season that matched the first 45 minutes today?
There are various flaws I identified today. But I honestly think the biggest threat is the moaning of a proportion of our fans
Preston at home. We didn't win that one either. Huddersfield. We didn't win that one either. Brighton away, we etc etc. Forest at home etc etc.
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Gabby apart from his goal didn't do much for me. You can skate Hogan but no service and he will look poor.
Bacuna starting a strange one for me. Whelan looked worse 2nd half as the movement up front ahead of him seemed to reduce; got back into the game again when Green and Onomah came on as it gave him options.
Ultimately game should go been dead and buried after 30 mins and 1-0 is always a dangerous score.
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the problem is Matt he's had 40 games now and apart from a good 25 mins in a couple of them not one of them has been any good even the ones we managed to win
I mean you can defend him all you like but that's just the plain truth of the matter
The highlights will be available on sky sports later
I presume they'll show about 7 villa chances and two for hull
Not at all saying I have no misgivings. But for me that was better than last season despite our three most potent attacking talents from last season not being available.
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Can someone tell me a game last season that matched the first 45 minutes today?
There are various flaws I identified today. But I honestly think the biggest threat is the moaning of a proportion of our fans
Preston at home. We didn't win that one either. Huddersfield. We didn't win that one either. Brighton away, we etc etc. Forest at home etc etc.
We should never have lost today, based on the 1st half, what the FUCK happened?
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Can someone tell me a game last season that matched the first 45 minutes today?
There are various flaws I identified today. But I honestly think the biggest threat is the moaning of a proportion of our fans
Preston at home. We didn't win that one either. Huddersfield. We didn't win that one either. Brighton away, we etc etc. Forest at home etc etc.
We should never have lost today, based on the 1st half, what the FUCK happened?
We didn't lose did we?
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A big positive is Onoma and Green looking decent. Bacuna out and Onomah in next game hopefully.
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Last minute of a cup match, samba yes. First game following a full pre season... clueless. And i don't want Bruce gone.
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5 pages and it's pretty polarising views on today. Is it that some expect too much from a championship side. Is it that some have accepted the past 5 or so years of garbage and have lowered their expectations beyond recognition?
Overall I thought we were decent for 40 minutes, should have been 2 up easily. Hogan and Lansbury caused them problems and Elmo had enough hot moments to worry them. Even gabby looked a threat.
Then we go really sloppy for 5 minutes and continue that into the second half for 30 minutes. I think Whelan will be a really good signing, although slightly off the pace today, but he needs someone alongside him who is better than bacuna and more mobile than jedinak. If we don't then we won't have anyone in the team who can wrestle games back as they start to slip.
Final 20 minutes were better and I thought green (miss aside) and Onomah looked decent enough and offered a bit more pace and energy.
Overall, we definitely should have won but 35 minutes switching off and not taking the very clear chances we did create and we blew it. We weren't going to win or lose the league today so we shouldn't go over board
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Last minute of a cup match, samba yes. First game following a full pre season... clueless. And i don't want Bruce gone.
If it's ok for last minute of a cup match why isn't it ok for a league game? You're trying to win both right?
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Another positive is we showed in the first 25 what we're capable of, now we need to do it for a lot more than 25 mins and also make the most of it when we're so on top
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A big positive is Onoma and Green looking decent. Bacuna out and Onomah in next game hopefully.
Green was v good. Didn't think Onomah was
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Score one and then do nothing for the rest of the game. Nothing has changed, even when we do manage to win you just know it will be boring as feck to watch. He's holding us back with his 'style' of play and philosophy and I think he'll be gone by October/November.
Hull are piss poor. The teams at the top will beat them comfortably this season.
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Shite. I hate Steve Bruce.
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the problem is Matt he's had 40 games now and apart from a good 25 mins in a couple of them not one of them has been any good even the ones we managed to win
I mean you can defend him all you like but that's just the plain truth of the matter
The highlights will be available on sky sports later
I presume they'll show about 7 villa chances and two for hull
Not at all saying I have no misgivings. But for me that was better than last season despite our three most potent attacking talents from last season not being available.
I actually agree with you that the first half was better than most of the stuff we saw last season
but you really can't use the teams performances under Bruce to try and make a case for him really mate as they have been dire
All the Steve Bruce eggs are in the promotion with Blues/Hull basket every one of them
he ticks no other box not a single one
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Can someone tell me a game last season that matched the first 45 minutes today?
There are various flaws I identified today. But I honestly think the biggest threat is the moaning of a proportion of our fans
Preston at home. We didn't win that one either. Huddersfield. We didn't win that one either. Brighton away, we etc etc. Forest at home etc etc.
We should never have lost today, based on the 1st half, what the FUCK happened?
We didn't lose did we?
In all but points, it was.
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Really disappointed with Whelan. Kept giving the ball away, mouthing off at teammates or opponents who he blamed and diving in to win possession, putting himself under pressure and risk getting sent off.
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Agree on Whelan
Thought he'd be a huge upgrade on Jedinak but thought his decision making was very poor today.
E
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He looked great last week, was poor today though.
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I think people under estimate what an absolute basket case this club was 12 months ago
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Typical Bruce performance. When the opposition step up and change their style, we look flat footed and clueless. Can't see much changing.
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Seriously, what formation were we actually playing?
It looked like 4 4 2 at times then
4 2 3 1
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I knew there'd be a load of stupid comments on here after this
We had a twenty minute bad spell. And there are definite flaws in hogan playing loan striker, especially in spells when we're under pressure. And we can question the game management. And the aimless balls.
But hull had two chances all game. We should have been two up at half time. And green and Onomah missed great chances second half
Whelan was way, way worse than we saw last week - and Elmo much more ordinary
Green was very good but missed an absolute sitter
Hogan good first half but really struggled second.
But to say "we're not going up" based on that. Ridiculous
^^^
This
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I knew there'd be a load of stupid comments on here after this
We had a twenty minute bad spell. And there are definite flaws in hogan playing loan striker, especially in spells when we're under pressure. And we can question the game management. And the aimless balls.
But hull had two chances all game. We should have been two up at half time. And green and Onomah missed great chances second half
Whelan was way, way worse than we saw last week - and Elmo much more ordinary
Green was very good but missed an absolute sitter
Hogan good first half but really struggled second.
But to say "we're not going up" based on that. Ridiculous
^^^
This
Ooooops forgot to say "good evening everybody" I hope you're all well - look forward to sharing your comments again for the next 9 months. UTV.
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A great point, that was a decent performance for a mid table championship side. One going for the title? Nah, got to be much better than that.
Hull will not be up there this season, they'll finish a similar position to us last year.
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We're not going up because nothing has changed and nothing will change under Bruce. We're not going to go out and win games 3 or 4 nil. We start brightly, score 1 and then that's it. Sit back, invite pressure and hope to nick a second goal. It doesn't work. We let a poor Hull side, who will be nowhere near promotion, dictate most of the second half.
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It sounded like we had a rampant first half with a raft of good chances. Obvious we take more than the one we did and we'd probably have won this at a canter.
Where it's frustrating for me is that for a long time Hull were growing in dominance, why not make a change at that point rather than wait to concede?
We have a lot to work on, especially tactically, but there's room to grow as a team.
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Score one and then do nothing for the rest of the game. Nothing has changed, even when we do manage to win you just know it will be boring as feck to watch. He's holding us back with his 'style' of play and philosophy and I think he'll be gone by October/November.
Hull are piss poor. The teams at the top will beat them comfortably this season.
This for me ..........nothing has changed - if you fail to beat Hull at home, bearing in mind the changes they have been forced to make pre season, you are not gonna tear up this league.
Is Bruce the man to take us up, this or any other season? - I very much doubt it
We are so predictable ... I was aware of an early lead but was loathe to check the final result as I just knew we would fuck up.... they certainly know how to ruin your
weekend :(
Only the first game of the season, we are undefeated etc, but it is all so underwhelming .... same old Villa
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Seriously, what formation were we actually playing?
It looked like 4 4 2 at times then
4 2 3 1
Yep. And it worked well first half
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Steve Bruce is fucking useless.
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Agree on Whelan
Thought he'd be a huge upgrade on Jedinak but thought his decision making was very poor today.
E
Great 1st half when there was movement in front of him. 2nd half that stopped from Gabby/Lansbury/Elmo and improved again when Green came on.
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It sounded like we had a rampant first half with a raft of good chances. Obvious we take more than the one we did and we'd probably have won this at a canter.
Where it's frustrating for me is that for a long time Hull were growing in dominance, why not make a change at that point rather than wait to concede?
We have a lot to work on, especially tactically, but there's room to grow as a team.
This is the real problem with Bruce for me. He just doesn't react to the opposition changing things until it's far too late. The changes should've been on the hour and should've seen 2-3 made at once to get some energy into the midfield and try to wrestle back a bit of control. Waiting until after they'd scored was just bad management and it's something that has happened under him repeatedly.
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This seems no different from what we saw last season. He must have been in charge of 30 odd games now and we still have no footballing identity. Ill be amazed if he's our manager by Christmas.
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This seems no different from what we saw last season. He must have been in charge of 30 odd games now and we still have no footballing identity. Ill be amazed if he's our manager by Christmas.
36th league game today.
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Did we sit back after the first?
I seem to remember some pretty good chances after the goal
Definitely agree there was a spell where we did
But would be interested in hull fans perspective. If I were a hull fan I think I'd feel I'd got away with it a bi
We murdered them first half
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Feels like a defeat. Drawing seems the easy option for Villa for God knows how long.
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Steve Bruce is fucking useless.
Sorry to pick on you. But this is such a brainless statement about a manager who's led four promotion campaigns out of this division. You see it a lot. It really pisses me off as you may be able to tell
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I don't think we sat back, Hull most likely got a half time bollocking and it showed. The game should have been over by then anyway. We had enough chances in the first half to have won it comfortably.
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Every one of us could see their goal coming a mile off today yet he did nothing to try and prevent it. Then after it he wasn't proactive either and left it too long. Then the final straw sticking Samba up front and hoofing it up. Desperate.
Half time kills us, I just don't get it and don't know what he says to them? Hull are poor and we should have come out and continued to put them on the back foot and got the crowd going. A second goal would have killed them off. Granted they're going to have a spell in the game but no way should we be letting a poor side dictate the start of the second half the way we did today. Not good enough.
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This seems no different from what we saw last season. He must have been in charge of 30 odd games now and we still have no footballing identity. Ill be amazed if he's our manager by Christmas.
36th league game today.
Bloody hell, thats not far off a full season. Really haven't seen much improvement from RDM.
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What did Hull do to get back into the game, always difficult to work out via TV.
But it is a recurring theme, start well, opposition work it out, Bruce stands on the sidelines gawping and doing fuck all about it.
Result points dropped.
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Steve Bruce is fucking useless.
Sorry to pick on you. But this is such a brainless statement about a manager who's led four promotion campaigns out of this division. You see it a lot. It really pisses me off as you may be able to tell
Crying out for a change on 45 when they were getting on top and doing NOTHING until we were hanging on.
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I haven't read the thread so I do not yet know the mist of what people think.
Here are my thoughts, after getting back, and seething all the way home.
I honestly think the biggest obstacle to us going up this season will the fucking dinosaur that is Steve Bruce.
12 mins to go, at home, and you take off one of the most prolific strikers in this division and replace him with a midfielder.
I guess at that point, he was happy to hold onto the point we had.
Then he has total brain fart and for the last 4 minutes, decided to throw on a huge centre half, play him as a centre forward and try whacking the ball up to him and hope some 'pick up the bits' like some 1970's pub team.
He certainly didn't have a footballing epiphany over the summer.
Decent first half though, but once they got into the game, second half, we had no idea on how to counteract them.
Very disappointing.
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Steve Bruce is fucking useless.
Sorry to pick on you. But this is such a brainless statement about a manager who's led four promotion campaigns out of this division. You see it a lot. It really pisses me off as you may be able to tell
He IS fucking useless. Any team with Bacuna starting doesn't stand a chance of promotion. Hogan is rubbish as well. I'd be surprised if he gets anywhere close to double figures this season. £15m down the toilet.
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Every one of us could see their goal coming a mile off today yet he did nothing to try and prevent it. Then after it he wasn't proactive either and left it too long. Then the final straw sticking Samba up front and hoofing it up. Desperate.]
VCTM Wrote: Indeed the tactics of a desperate manager ........ I read somewhere a fellow poster labelled Bruce a "dinosaur" .... I think that sums him up
Yes, he has had promotions from this league, however I cant see it working with us .....the expectations from the fans here are greater and I don't think he will hack the pressure
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Steve Bruce is fucking useless.
Sorry to pick on you. But this is such a brainless statement about a manager who's led four promotion campaigns out of this division. You see it a lot. It really pisses me off as you may be able to tell
He IS fucking useless. Any team with Bacuna starting doesn't stand a chance of promotion. Hogan is rubbish as well. I'd be surprised if he gets anywhere close to double figures this season. £15m down the toilet.
Yep too kin right, how many times does he need to se Bacuna to work that one out, and yes Hogan the new Balaban.
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Steve Bruce is fucking useless.
Sorry to pick on you. But this is such a brainless statement about a manager who's led four promotion campaigns out of this division. You see it a lot. It really pisses me off as you may be able to tell
It pisses you off because you've put your cards on the table and backed him unconditionally. We should have been out of sight at half time today, thats not Bruces fault, failing to change it when Hull were getting on top is all on Bruce though. 2 points dropped today.
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I haven't backed him unconditionally
I have some doubts
But I think stability is important
And we should have been two or three up. And that would have been credit to Bruce
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Every one of us could see their goal coming a mile off today yet he did nothing to try and prevent it. Then after it he wasn't proactive either and left it too long. Then the final straw sticking Samba up front and hoofing it up. Desperate.]
VCTM Wrote: Indeed the tactics of a desperate manager ........ I read somewhere a fellow poster labelled Bruce a "dinosaur" .... I think that sums him up
Yes, he has had promotions from this league, however I cant see it working with us .....the expectations from the fans here are greater and I don't think he will hack the pressure
See that's the thing, it might sound arrogant but you can grind your way to 1-0 wins at Hull but playing that way here is very risky as we saw today. You try and play out a 1-0 and then end up drawing and you have a very expectant fan base of a historically big club on your back. I think we'd all agree we'd take narrow victories just to get out of this crap league but come on, with the players we've got we shouldn't be trying to see out 1-0 wins. He even did it at Burton away last season, fecking Burton. I just don't think he's the right fit for us as a club and a fanbase.
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Before we scored, we looked really good. Going out and wanting to win. Passing and moving really well. It just stopped from scoring. Is that manager or players?
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What tends to happen in games is that the team losing at half time will come out and have a bit of pressure. It usually lasts about 10 minutes. The leading team weathers the storm and then the game settles back into how it was going before. With us though it just carries on until we concede.
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I haven't backed him unconditionally
I have some doubts
But I think stability is important
And we should have been two or three up. And that would have been credit to Bruce
We weren't though, and then he let them back in, he did not know how to get back on top, then the desperate stuff at the end.
I would be interested to see what you think Bruce is going to do to stop this happening.
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Fulham drew at home to Norwich today. I bet their fans think that was a killer but we're well set
We seem to want to sack our manager and start again
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I have supported Villa since the 80s but Villa fans right now just piss me off. Bunch of whinging fuckers who drain the club of anything positive, We even moan when things are going well (albeit a while ago).
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I dont want him sacked, i want him to make better decisions.
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Fulham ended the season in fine form, playing great football and scoring lots of goals.
Villa ended the season looking as they had the majority of it, shit.
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I have supported Villa since the 80s but Villa fans right now just piss me off. Bunch of whinging fuckers who drain the club of anything positive, We even moan when things are going well (albeit a while ago).
Yep it's the fans fault.
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Fulham ended the season in fine form, playing great football and scoring lots of goals.
Villa ended the season looking as they had the majority of it, shit.
How did the free flowing Fulham get on today?
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The worry for me is what happens when we go 1-0 down in a game? We went 1-0 up today and didn't know how to play or how to control the game. When we go 1-0 down we're even worse and I think this season will be the same as last. He doesn't react to how the game is going.
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Yeah the reason we can't beat Hull at home is all down to a few dozen fans on a thread on a message board.
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Played well first half, should have been 2-0 by half time, and in spite of playing absolutely pants in the second half we spurned two more good chances to take all 3 points. Their goal had been coming for about 10 minutes so no surprise when they equalised. Lansbury was crap, Bacuna shouldn't be in a starting 11, the ref was a joke, but on the plus side Terry is effortlessly quality, Elmo is a much better option down the right, think Green and Onomah showed signs of promise, and travel wasn't anywhere near as bad as expected.
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I have supported Villa since the 80s but Villa fans right now just piss me off. Bunch of whinging fuckers who drain the club of anything positive, We even moan when things are going well (albeit a while ago).
And the positives right now are?
I have supported the Villa since the early 60`s and have had all my optimism and positivity drained from me over that time ... its just no fun any more... we are second rate and its hard to accept
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A point better off than this time last year so we've improved ( sniggers )
Nah I thought we do look a better "team" than last season, far too many individuals who lacked cohesion then. I think we'll be a tough nut to crack, Chester and Terry were very good, Hutton seemed more assured too. I'm more positive this time about now than last year, I just don't see us with the personnel we have going on a run over January and February like we did last time round.
Hogan with the right service and the rub of the green will get goals, his finishing at Brentford and his 2 goals against MSV proves he knows where the back of the net is. Having Kodjia back will guarantee us 20 plus goals I reckon so I think we'll be there or there about's come May.
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Villa are unbeaten so far.
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Yes, it was a bit better than last season. Yes, we controlled the game a bit more.
But it's still shit, and it's Bruce's and the club heirachy's fault. People moaned when Lerner spent fucktons and only got us to 6th. We were competing with Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Man City and Everton then.
Since we've been in the second division, which other club comes even close to our stature or resources? Newcastle. What did they do? They appointed Rafa Benitez and got promoted because it was unthinkable that they wouldn't.
We're in a fucking timewarp. 'Creating chances' doesn't cut it. We need to convert them and if we don't the manger is 100% accountable. Steve Bruce is really bad at his job. As a manager of a pisspot club, he's obviously pretty good, but he's been promoted to the level of his incompetence. He clearly didn't watch, or at least understand, what Hogan did at Brentford before wasting £15 million of the club's money on him. That alone is a sacking offence.
It's a fucking outrage actually, until you realise that it's only football so it doesn't really matter.
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Lansbury is a fancy dan, you can tell he came through the Arsenal academy. Struts about with his man bun but is actually garbage. He does nothing to influence the game.
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Oh, and the sooner we get Kodjia back, the better. Risky relying on one player to score the goals, to win the games and get promotion though.
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A point better off than this time last year so we've improved ( sniggers )
Nah I thought we do look a better "team" than last season, far too many individuals who lacked cohesion then. I think we'll be a tough not to crack, Chester and Terry were very good, Hutton seemed more assured too. I'm more positive this time about now than last year, I just don't see us with the personnel we have going on a run over January and February like we did last time round.
Hogan with the right service and the rub of the green will get goals, his finishing at Brentford and his 2 goals against MSV proves he knows where the back of the net is. Having Kodjia back will guarantee us 20 plus goals I reckon so I think we'll be there or there about's come May.
I tend to agree with this.
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Just got back in after being at the game earlier. Good first half and created quite a few good chances, but then much like the early games last season, we regressed badly in the second half and ended up under pressure and losing our lead. As with last season, I just can't see us getting anywhere without someone up front who can hold the ball up. Also, Bacuna and Agbonlahor are not long term options in central midfield and on the left going forward.
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I said 1-1.
I said Flabby.
I said we will go up.
Relax.
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
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I said 1-1.
I said Flabby.
I said we will go up.
Relax.
What you say or think has no bearing on anything, so I'll pass on the advice thanks.
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
You're wrong so don't bother praying, it's all bullshit anyway.
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Not fair to slate the players 100% down to Steve Bruce too cautious with selection and tactics we went one up after one or two good moves and wam bam hull got more and more into the game because we stopped pressing. Suppose the two relatively early bookings didn't help and bacuna apart from one or two decent balls looked completely out of tune
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Sky highlights here http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10976165/aston-villa-1-1-hull-city
Pretty reflective of the match for me
Don't let that stop the doom mongers suggesting we're fucked tho
This is a bang average league. We've got a very good chance of promotion
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Not sure this is the right place to mention this, but why were tickets sold for the very back row of the Upper Holte? We've been told for years that nobody can stand there because they need the back row for the stewards to walk along. Now we get there and there are a row of people behind us! If I'd wanted to be in the last-but-one row I would have got my ST for there. Why didn't the club tell us that they were proposing to do that and offer all of us back-row ST holders the chance to move to the 'new' back row?
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I thought we was good in first half.
in first few minutes.
Lansbury shuffle a goal attempt with poor misshot at far post.
Gaby - overthink and take too many touch in 1-1 against goalkeeper but he score about a minutes later.
Hogan had a shot saved. Then later on he went on dribbling run to beat 3 or 4 players but the ball end up too close to goalkeeper and he just stood tall. After that there is nothing much happening.
I noticed Hull had focus on stopping two midfield players from playing.
Second half was very bad and we play too many long / high ball instead of keeping the ball on the ground and pass it round. We need to be more like Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. I do wish Steve Bruce look at Alex Ferguson's United footprint and make it work for Aston Villa. Steve Bruce had a perfect method to copy and use but he doesn't use them.
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It was pretty poor after the first 20 minutes but I saw a bang average Huddersfield get promoted from this division last time out so I'm not abandoning all hope just yet.
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not long home. Not complete shite, but not far off. I saw no demonstrable improvement in the quality of our passing or movement from last season. Bacuna was beyond awful and must never appear in the side again and much as I want him to succeed, Hogan is never going to cut it in a Villa shirt. Unless Bruce undergoes a metamorphosis into 21st century coach, we're not going to trouble the upper echelons of this league. Very disappointing.
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Not fair to slate the players 100% down to Steve Bruce too cautious with selection and tactics we went one up after one or two good moves and wam bam hull got more and more into the game because we stopped pressing. Suppose the two relatively early bookings didn't help and bacuna apart from one or two decent balls looked completely out of tune
Aww poor footballers.
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You would think this is the Yeovil Town forum this evening.
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This is a bang average league.
Must be why we look so at home in it then.
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You would think this is the Yeovil Town forum this evening.
Nah there wouldn't be so many happy with a draw at home to Hull on a Yeovil forum *winky*
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Are there any old style bosses without a huge favourable media backing who are still doing or perceived to be doing any good?
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I said 1-1.
I said Flabby.
I said we will go up.
Relax.
What you say or think has no bearing on anything, so I'll pass on the advice thanks.
It resonates with me. Good call!
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Sky highlights here http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10976165/aston-villa-1-1-hull-city
Pretty reflective of the match for me
Don't let that stop the doom mongers suggesting we're fucked tho
This is a bang average league. We've got a very good chance of promotion
It is a bang average league no one disputes that. That we don't look remotely out of place is the problem. We want to go up in the top 2 and we've spent more than enough money to do it. It's not being a doom monger to think that games where you are 1-0 up at home after an hour are the sort you need to take 3 points from.
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I thought we was good in first half.
in first few minutes.
Lansbury shuffle a goal attempt with poor misshot at far post.
Gaby - overthink and take too many touch in 1-1 against goalkeeper but he score about a minutes later.
Hogan had a shot saved. Then later on he went on dribbling run to beat 3 or 4 players but the ball end up too close to goalkeeper and he just stood tall. After that there is nothing much happening.
I noticed Hull had focus on stopping two midfield players from playing.
Second half was very bad and we play too many long / high ball instead of keeping the ball on the ground and pass it round. We need to be more like Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. I do wish Steve Bruce look at Alex Ferguson's United footprint and make it work for Aston Villa. Steve Bruce had a perfect method to copy and use but he doesn't use them.
He good. We bad. You ok. Understand? Think you not good. Yes?
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You would think this is the Yeovil Town forum this evening.
Nah there wouldn't be so many happy with a draw at home to Hull on a Yeovil forum *winky*
I saw some decent things today, it's hardly the end of the world a point, no matter who it's against. I'm more positive rather than happy, I can't cry over the first match of the season...I'm sure Boro fans aren't right now.
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When I arrived and saw the midfield line up I feared the worse, although after 20 minutes I was more enthused as we played with some verve and good movement.
Hogan did much better in the first half but was back to last season in the second, whilst Gabby blew himself out after the first half. We need Kodjia back and another option up front
The negativity of the first part of the 2nd half cost us when they obviously came out with more purpose; Whelan , Lansbury and Bacuna were cumbersome or giving the ball away repeatedly. If that's our preferred midfield for the season then I fear we won't get far.
Elmohamady did ok but we still lack pace and speed of thought going forward.
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Lansbury is a fancy dan, you can tell he came through the Arsenal academy. Struts about with his man bun but is actually garbage. He does nothing to influence the game.
Agreed. The very emodiment of all fart and no shit.
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Lansbury is a fancy dan, you can tell he came through the Arsenal academy. Struts about with his man bun but is actually garbage. He does nothing to influence the game.
Agreed. The very emodiment of all fart and no shit.
I've always thought this about him and didn't want us to sign him, he does something decent about 1 game in 3 but that's what the highlight reel shows so people think he's better than he is until they watch him week in week out.
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I have supported Villa since the 80s but Villa fans right now just piss me off. Bunch of whinging fuckers who drain the club of anything positive, We even moan when things are going well (albeit a while ago).
Ive supported villa since the seventies and overly optimisic fans piss me off
Everyone has opinions and even if you dont agree they are entitled to them
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
You're wrong so don't bother praying, it's all bullshit anyway.
What am I wrong about? Maybe you could enlighten me?
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
You're wrong so don't bother praying, it's all bullshit anyway.
What am I wrong about? Maybe you could enlighten me?
The mid table team and lack of change from last season.
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First half we actually looked good, with Hutton and Elmo linking up well on the right, and Gabby and Taylor doing OK on the left. Lansbury looked useful and Hogan looked lively too. The defence was fine, and we had plenty of chances.
Second half was garbage. I don't know if Bruce instructs the team to sit on one goal leads, and that invites pressure, or if the team are just feckless but it happens far too often.
That team is not getting promoted under Bruce, time to get shot before he does too much damage to our promotion chances. Put someone with half a brain in charge of that squad and we will do well.
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Lansbury is a fancy dan, you can tell he came through the Arsenal academy. Struts about with his man bun but is actually garbage. He does nothing to influence the game.
Agreed. The very emodiment of all fart and no shit.
Do you mean imodiument?
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
You're wrong so don't bother praying, it's all bullshit anyway.
What am I wrong about? Maybe you could enlighten me?
The mid table team and lack of change from last season.
Oh right so you think we looked better today than last season and also we're not mid table at present.
That makes me wrong does it?
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Lansbury is a fancy dan, you can tell he came through the Arsenal academy. Struts about with his man bun but is actually garbage. He does nothing to influence the game.
Agreed. The very emodiment of all fart and no shit.
I've always thought this about him and didn't want us to sign him, he does something decent about 1 game in 3 but that's what the highlight reel shows so people think he's better than he is until they watch him week in week out.
I agree, he's shite. I'd tell Hourihane he's got the next 5 games to make it his own or he can fuck off as well.
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Lansbury is a fancy dan, you can tell he came through the Arsenal academy. Struts about with his man bun but is actually garbage. He does nothing to influence the game.
Agreed. The very emodiment of all fart and no shit.
Apart from playing gabby through for a one on one he should have buried?
Not saying he's great. Just don't get why people feel the need to reduce everything to simplistic "he's good / he's shit" statements
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Lansbury is a fancy dan, you can tell he came through the Arsenal academy. Struts about with his man bun but is actually garbage. He does nothing to influence the game.
Agreed. The very emodiment of all fart and no shit.
Apart from playing gabby through for a one on one he should have buried?
Not saying he's great. Just don't get why people feel the need to reduce everything to simplistic "he's good / he's shit" statements
He's shown very little of anything since he arrived. A 4/10 signing so far.
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Lansbury the newest scapegoat at 2:7m.
Thought he looked ok tbh, first game he will get better.
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
You're wrong so don't bother praying, it's all bullshit anyway.
What am I wrong about? Maybe you could enlighten me?
The mid table team and lack of change from last season.
Oh right so you think we looked better today than last season and also we're not mid table at present.
I know it's officially the first game of the season but I think every club is still tinkering, assembling the team, working on competitive match sharpness, shape and so on. As unit I was pleased with the structure today more so than against Sheff Wed last year and of course we might not be everyone's flavour of the month the way we set up but I think we'll definitely finish no lower than the play offs. That might be below some expectations but I'll take that if it means promotion.
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Fulham ended the season in fine form, playing great football and scoring lots of goals.
Villa ended the season looking as they had the majority of it, shit.
How did the free flowing Fulham get on today?
They were a pleasure to watch, passed it about beautifully, just lacked a finisher.
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Didn't watch Football on 5....was it better than last years dross?
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Didn't watch Football on 5....was it better than last years dross?
Christ yes.
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Sorry I am with Risso on Lansbury at the moment. Hourihane has more ability on the ball and looks more likely to scrore a goal to me. I thought Lansbury became more and more of a passenger and should have been the one to make way not Hogan for Onomah.
More than that though, why the fuck is Bacuna in that starting line up. Whelan can do all the tackling for 3 men, he clearly loves a tackle, so why on earth is Hourihane not starting in there with him to give us some quality on the ball. Bacuna succeeded in doing sweet FA for however long he was on the pitch. Awful.
On the positives, Terry, Chester and Johnstone looked good, Hutton just got drawn away from the man for their goal but otherwise looked good, Elmo can't have control a ball (and thus relieve pressure) but looks a bit lost as to what to do with it, and as we have said for the last couple of weeks, we are still a target man and a winger from being a decent side. Stick a target man into that 11 alongside Hogan today we win the match.
Hogan is a lucky goal from scoring a few. He was inches a few times today, and worked his knackers off in the first half. We overpaid by about 6 million for him, but he will be useful.
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Lansbury the newest scapegoat at 2:7m.
Thought he looked ok tbh, first game he will get better.
You have to pick a side
He's either the best midfield in the league and we've ruined him
Or he's shit
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
You're wrong so don't bother praying, it's all bullshit anyway.
What am I wrong about? Maybe you could enlighten me?
The mid table team and lack of change from last season.
Oh right so you think we looked better today than last season and also we're not mid table at present.
I know it's officially the first game of the season but I think every club is still tinkering, assembling the team, working on competitive match sharpness, shape and so on. As unit I was pleased with the structure today more so than against Sheff Wed last year and of course we might not be everyone's flavour of the month the way we set up but I think we'll definitely finish no lower than the play offs. That might be below some expectations but I'll take that if it means promotion.
If Kodjia isn't fit very soon or we don't get in another forward then we'll be too far off the pace for the play offs. The two who played today are not good enough.
Last season our poor start cost us and one of the above needs to happen or it will cost us again.
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The trouble with starting the likes of Bacuna is you don't get the crowd fully onside because most are thinking 'why the feck is he playing?' and rightly or wrongly most are waiting for him to be subbed off because he's garbage.
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The trouble with starting the likes of Bacuna is you don't get the crowd fully onside because most are thinking 'why the feck is he playing?' and rightly or wrongly most are waiting for him to be subbed off because he's garbage.
He wasn't great. I did think he looked a lot sharper than hourihane last weekend tho so can understand the decision. suspect he wont start v Cardiff
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Sorry I am with Risso on Lansbury at the moment. Hourihane has more ability on the ball and looks more likely to scrore a goal to me. I thought Lansbury became more and more of a passenger and should have been the one to make way not Hogan for Onomah.
More than that though, why the fuck is Bacuna in that starting line up. Whelan can do all the tackling for 3 men, he clearly loves a tackle, so why on earth is Hourihane not starting in there with him to give us some quality on the ball. Bacuna succeeded in doing sweet FA for however long he was on the pitch. Awful.
On the positives, Terry, Chester and Johnstone looked good, Hutton just got drawn away from the man for their goal but otherwise looked good, Elmo can't have control a ball (and thus relieve pressure) but looks a bit lost as to what to do with it, and as we have said for the last couple of weeks, we are still a target man and a winger from being a decent side. Stick a target man into that 11 alongside Hogan today we win the match.
Hogan is a lucky goal from scoring a few. He was inches a few times today, and worked his knackers off in the first half. We overpaid by about 6 million for him, but he will be useful.
I think Bacuna started because we need some legs alongside Whelan. Bacuna simply isn't good enough in possession to play regularly in central midfield, as he showed again today. Hourihane and Lansbury haven't got the mobility to do the required role and although the kid from Spurs can supposedly play there, we might have to look at bringing someone in.
Have to disagree with you about Hogan, as I just don't think he fits our style of play and vice versa. We desperately need a physical presence up there with Kodjia working off them when he comes back.
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Decent first half, totally fell away as per normal in the second until the appalling Bacuna got taken off. I wonder if there's any chance SB could play someone with a left foot in that position? If only there was someone on the bench....
Happy with Terry, Hutton and Elmo today.
Apart from the tragically bad Bacuna, I have to say Henri Lansbury was hideous. I fail to see what he does or offers.
What really boiled my piss was when we get a free kick was a few minutes left, zero urgency, just struts over at snails pace and lobs in another average cross. For me, today, he was a total show pony. I can only hope he gets better.
Thought a draw was fair. Going to be a long season...
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Didn't watch Football on 5....was it better than last years dross?
Christ yes.
Good Good, might tune in for more than the 27 seconds I did last season.
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I salute anyone who thinks today was a positive.
Two mid table, at best, teams slug out a draw with neither wanting to win.
Today made most of the belief of ever leaving this league leave me. Not all my belief but most of it.
I pray I'm wrong, I really do. Nothing today suggested anything has changed from last season.
You're wrong so don't bother praying, it's all bullshit anyway.
What am I wrong about? Maybe you could enlighten me?
The mid table team and lack of change from last season.
Oh right so you think we looked better today than last season and also we're not mid table at present.
I know it's officially the first game of the season but I think every club is still tinkering, assembling the team, working on competitive match sharpness, shape and so on. As unit I was pleased with the structure today more so than against Sheff Wed last year and of course we might not be everyone's flavour of the month the way we set up but I think we'll definitely finish no lower than the play offs. That might be below some expectations but I'll take that if it means promotion.
If Kodjia isn't fit very soon or we don't get in another forward then we'll be too far off the pace for the play offs. The two who played today are not good enough.
Last season our poor start cost us and one of the above needs to happen or it will cost us again.
Yeah getting Kod back, fit and ready will be key to our season but I disagree that Hogan isn't good enough. The service he thrives on isn't there and I think an unselfish No.10 next to him would suit him better. But I don't think that will happen a partnership between him and Kod will never take off. Hogan is a bit of a weird signing if you have Kodjia but I still rate him.
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Sorry I am with Risso on Lansbury at the moment. Hourihane has more ability on the ball and looks more likely to scrore a goal to me. I thought Lansbury became more and more of a passenger and should have been the one to make way not Hogan for Onomah.
More than that though, why the fuck is Bacuna in that starting line up. Whelan can do all the tackling for 3 men, he clearly loves a tackle, so why on earth is Hourihane not starting in there with him to give us some quality on the ball. Bacuna succeeded in doing sweet FA for however long he was on the pitch. Awful.
On the positives, Terry, Chester and Johnstone looked good, Hutton just got drawn away from the man for their goal but otherwise looked good, Elmo can't have control a ball (and thus relieve pressure) but looks a bit lost as to what to do with it, and as we have said for the last couple of weeks, we are still a target man and a winger from being a decent side. Stick a target man into that 11 alongside Hogan today we win the match.
Hogan is a lucky goal from scoring a few. He was inches a few times today, and worked his knackers off in the first half. We overpaid by about 6 million for him, but he will be useful.
I think Bacuna started because we need some legs alongside Whelan. Bacuna simply isn't good enough in possession to play regularly in central midfield, as he showed again today. Hourihane and Lansbury haven't got the mobility to do the required role and although the kid from Spurs can supposedly play there, we might have to look at bringing someone in.
Have to disagree with you about Hogan, as I just don't think he fits our style of play and vice versa. We desperately need a physical presence up there with Kodjia working off them when he comes back.
Hourihane at Barnsley was one of the stand out players in that position in the league. How on earth is he less mobile than Bacuna? I just don't get that.
Agree on a physical presence but I think Hogan would benefit from that too.
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Laughable how Hogan is m classed as shit. He seemed to be good when playing in a better team. Nobody's thought it's the team and not him?
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A
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Overall I thought we were ok, we had so many chances to finish Hull off and the fact we only ended up with a point might be a wake up call to the players that we have got to be ruthless in front of goal. So in hindsight today's result might be a blessing in disguise. I was actually encouraged how we were set up and I thought we were quite entertaining to watch for the majority of the game. 45 games to go and I still think we are going up.
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Sorry I am with Risso on Lansbury at the moment. Hourihane has more ability on the ball and looks more likely to scrore a goal to me. I thought Lansbury became more and more of a passenger and should have been the one to make way not Hogan for Onomah.
More than that though, why the fuck is Bacuna in that starting line up. Whelan can do all the tackling for 3 men, he clearly loves a tackle, so why on earth is Hourihane not starting in there with him to give us some quality on the ball. Bacuna succeeded in doing sweet FA for however long he was on the pitch. Awful.
On the positives, Terry, Chester and Johnstone looked good, Hutton just got drawn away from the man for their goal but otherwise looked good, Elmo can't have control a ball (and thus relieve pressure) but looks a bit lost as to what to do with it, and as we have said for the last couple of weeks, we are still a target man and a winger from being a decent side. Stick a target man into that 11 alongside Hogan today we win the match.
Hogan is a lucky goal from scoring a few. He was inches a few times today, and worked his knackers off in the first half. We overpaid by about 6 million for him, but he will be useful.
I think Bacuna started because we need some legs alongside Whelan. Bacuna simply isn't good enough in possession to play regularly in central midfield, as he showed again today. Hourihane and Lansbury haven't got the mobility to do the required role and although the kid from Spurs can supposedly play there, we might have to look at bringing someone in.
Have to disagree with you about Hogan, as I just don't think he fits our style of play and vice versa. We desperately need a physical presence up there with Kodjia working off them when he comes back.
Hourihane at Barnsley was one of the stand out players in that position in the league. How on earth is he less mobile than Bacuna? I just don't get that.
Agree on a physical presence but I think Hogan would benefit from that too.
Sorry Jim, but Bacuna is far more mobile and athletic than Hourihane. I just think a midfield two of Whelan and Hourihane or Lansbury is going to be a bit one paced. I can only think that is the reason why Bacuna started today.
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Not read through the thread but my views were;
Good first half, should have got 2/3 but again we just didn't finish it off, second half Hull came out with more intensity but we just didn't react, from the bench there seemed to be no immediate reaction which is often a criticism of Bruce, he seems to dither for 20 minutes after the break before considering switching it.
Thought Johnstone & Chester were very good & Green added a spark when he came on. Hooking Hogan seemed odd as he was working his nads off and looked most likely to pop up with anything. Bacuna less so, that performance is up there with some of the most inept we've had from an individual in years - think the first pass he competed to Villa was to the ball boy when he misplaced a 5yd ball.
I will mark the day down in the calendar though as I thought I'd never see Huttton compete a cross & assist ever again!
Gabby looked lively for half hour but for the next hour he just chased shadows or fouled defenders, his mistackle lead to the equaliser.
Personally I would still like to see a target man in that side.
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We've got to start taking our chances.
We completely bossed them for 45 minutes and should have been 2 or 3 up and let them off. The start of the second half was shamobilic. For 25 minutes we laboured. While their goal wasn't exactly coming in the sense that they weren't battering our goal, our inability to get a grip of the ball for long made it unsurprising.
Green's introduction immediately wrestled us back the game and he should have scored. Young Joshua's chance was a tough one.
Bacuna should never start. I get he offers energy but only in small doses. I thought Gabby and Hogan drifted out of it when Lansbury waned. Second half he made some decent runs but he looked laboured.
Positives to take was how dynamic we looked with some width. Elmo is adding something. Terry is a class above.
We created plenty of nailed on chances which is something we've been missing under Brunce.
The negatives was the 25 minute spell of desperate football that enabled them to steal a point. Hutton's delivery from deep is awful. Our fluffing of chances.
Boro and Wednesday losing and Fulham drawing is a bonus too.
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The worry for me is what happens when we go 1-0 down in a game? We went 1-0 up today and didn't know how to play or how to control the game. When we go 1-0 down we're even worse and I think this season will be the same as last. He doesn't react to how the game is going.
We have an old slow team, expect it to happen a lot this season.
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Overall I thought we were ok, we had so many chances to finish Hull off and the fact we only ended up with a point might be a wake up call to the players that we have got to be ruthless in front of goal. So in hindsight today's result might be a blessing in disguise. I was actually encouraged how we were set up and I thought we were quite entertaining to watch for the majority of the game. 45 games to go and I still think we are going up.
I agree 100%
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Drawing today doesn't mean we won't go up, not that anyone is suggesting that, but we need to very quickly learn how to win games. Particularly when we're the better team, like today - even if that was largely down to Hull being worse rather than us being better.
We need energy and ambition in our players, which only Green really showed in any consistency. For long periods in the second half we looked like a team of old men.
The biggest worry though is that the fans could clearly see the win slipping away, and our manager did nothing until it was too late. And not for the first time. It was two points dropped by the manager. He can't afford many more days like today.
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Young Joshua's chance was a tough one.
Pretty sure he was given offside anyway.
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First game and we can't judge the season on that. Things will be much clear after 10. Anyway today I thought it all started going wrong when Hull's limited but energetic midfield started running past Whelan with ease and Bacuna was not able to cover him. Bruce never spotted that and that is a worrying factor. Green added required energy and should have been on earlier and Bruce also needed to replace Whelan at the same stage. Having said that we should have still won it 2-1 but Green's heading is abysmal as has happened previously and again today. Everyday after training he needs to stay back and get some practice in for an hour or so.
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I think every Villa fan watching today thought we'd rue those first half missed chances. The second half was lousy really. Playing Hogan on his own up front is never gonna work.
Disappointing day all round.
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Overall I thought we were ok, we had so many chances to finish Hull off and the fact we only ended up with a point might be a wake up call to the players that we have got to be ruthless in front of goal. So in hindsight today's result might be a blessing in disguise. I was actually encouraged how we were set up and I thought we were quite entertaining to watch for the majority of the game. 45 games to go and I still think we are going up.
I don't think they're actually trying to be shit in front of goal. I could understand why anyone might think this however.
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Spot on olaftab
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Fulham ended the season in fine form, playing great football and scoring lots of goals.
Villa ended the season looking as they had the majority of it, shit.
How did the free flowing Fulham get on today?
Drew 1-1, why? I'm sure they've seen enough good football over the past 6-8 months to know what they are capable of playing like. Where as us?
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Just home. Traffic as bad as ever. The Villa football was the same old same old. Start brightly then start to sit deeper and deeper until the opposition seize the initiative. Steve Bruce has the intellect of an I Speak Your Weight Machine. Steve, Steve, we are sitting too deep, what shall we do? Ten stone six.
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Fulham ended the season in fine form, playing great football and scoring lots of goals.
Villa ended the season looking as they had the majority of it, shit.
How did the free flowing Fulham get on today?
Drew 1-1, why? I'm sure they've seen enough good football over the past 6-8 months to know what they are capable of playing like. Where as us?
We played some good stuff first half though, let's not forget that just because the second half was disappointing.
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Fulham ended the season in fine form, playing great football and scoring lots of goals.
Villa ended the season looking as they had the majority of it, shit.
How did the free flowing Fulham get on today?
Drew 1-1, why? I'm sure they've seen enough good football over the past 6-8 months to know what they are capable of playing like. Where as us?
We played some good stuff first half though, let's not forget that just because the second half was disappointing.
It's the same as last season, decent 30 minute periods, then falling away and deeper and conceding. The team by and large looks a slightly more experienced version of last seasons side, pre season and ''gelling'' has had minimal effect and it looks like another tough season.
There will be no brassing of the league, that's for sure.
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Great in the first half, pretty poor for part of the second.
I think we have a problem with fitness, we really lost momentum when Hull stepped it up.
I thought that the players did ok but lacked direction in the second half, Bruce has had all Summer to identify plans, tactics etc and to see him put on Samba and belt the ball toward him was laughable, if wasn't Villa.
Green was very good, the defence was solid, the midfield looked more mobile. It's not all bad but the manager continues to be a worry.
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Free flowing Fulham conceded a late equaliser
Free flowing Boro lost to the Dogheads.
Real Wednesday lost to Preston.
It happens, it would seem.
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Very good first half, poor 30 mins then good final 15 in the second.
Whelan was the best player in the pitch in the first half, he was involved in everything.
At half time you just knew we'd rue missed chances, and so we did.
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Thought we were nailed on championship winners in the first half, then we lost our way for 30 mins. I still think we are going up though, as long as Kodija comes back soon.
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We were very good first half. We looked short of fitness second half. I'm not going to cry myself to sleep on the basis of one game.
Let's batter Colchester and get our first away league win at Caerdydd.
Mon you Lions.
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First game and we can't judge the season on that. Things will be much clear after 10. Anyway today I thought it all started going wrong when Hull's limited but energetic midfield started running past Whelan with ease and Bacuna was not able to cover him. Bruce never spotted that and that is a worrying factor. Green added required energy and should have been on earlier and Bruce also needed to replace Whelan at the same stage. Having said that we should have still won it 2-1 but Green's heading is abysmal as has happened previously and again today. Everyday after training he needs to stay back and get some practice in for an hour or so.
Pretty much my feelings Aftab. Generally a good first half with decent movement up front and we should have scored more than one. I finally saw that Hogan could be a good player if he has service though I still have doubts over him, particularly his touch and ability to hold onto the ball. But Hull started to come into it in the last 10 minutes and kept that momentum in the second half. It was around this point too that they worked out how to nullify the clearance to El Mohammady to flick on routine, though it obviously didn't stop us from pursuing it with no further success.
Whelan had been good in the first half but then started to make mistakes (stamina?) and we lacked any energy until Green came on. He made a difference but should have done better with his header.
Lansbury - I am still not sure what type of player he is. Watching from the Holte he has the look of Andy Carroll trying to get around the pitch.
It is only the first game of the season but I can sense a lot of frustration coming out very, very quickly if we don't get a few wins.
And the atmosphere was very subdued.
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Just seen the Green miss again. Christ what an absolute sitter.
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First game and we can't judge the season on that. Things will be much clear after 10. Anyway today I thought it all started going wrong when Hull's limited but energetic midfield started running past Whelan with ease and Bacuna was not able to cover him. Bruce never spotted that and that is a worrying factor. Green added required energy and should have been on earlier and Bruce also needed to replace Whelan at the same stage. Having said that we should have still won it 2-1 but Green's heading is abysmal as has happened previously and again today. Everyday after training he needs to stay back and get some practice in for an hour or so.
I agree that was a warning sign, but Bruce did not act. We went through a fairly lengthy period at the start of the second half where we just couldn't get the ball.
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When are we ever going to cure this second goal syndrome? Until we do, we're fucked.
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First game and we can't judge the season on that. Things will be much clear after 10. Anyway today I thought it all started going wrong when Hull's limited but energetic midfield started running past Whelan with ease and Bacuna was not able to cover him. Bruce never spotted that and that is a worrying factor. Green added required energy and should have been on earlier and Bruce also needed to replace Whelan at the same stage. Having said that we should have still won it 2-1 but Green's heading is abysmal as has happened previously and again today. Everyday after training he needs to stay back and get some practice in for an hour or so.
Pretty much my feelings Aftab. Generally a good first half with decent movement up front and we should have scored more than one. I finally saw that Hogan could be a good player if he has service though I still have doubts over him, particularly his touch and ability to hold onto the ball. But Hull started to come into it in the last 10 minutes and kept that momentum in the second half. It was around this point too that they worked out how to nullify the clearance to El Mohammady to flick on routine, though it obviously didn't stop us from pursuing it with no further success.
Whelan had been good in the first half but then started to make mistakes (stamina?) and we lacked any energy until Green came on. He made a difference but should have done better with his header.
Lansbury - I am still not sure what type of player he is. Watching from the Holte he has the look of Andy Carroll trying to get around the pitch.
It is only the first game of the season but I can sense a lot of frustration coming out very, very quickly if we don't get a few wins.
And the atmosphere was very subdued.
I agree with both of you, guys. Am looking forward to watching some matches with you in a foreign land sometime soon.
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The Achilles heal that Bruce talks about is same as usual. It cannot be coincidence that as soon as we go 1-0 up we retreat and try and hold on for for the result. Issue with this when we go 1-0 down, we won't win that game. It has to be down to coaching/management? Cannot be coincidence.
We could all see what was going to happen second half, Bruce has to take responsibility to try and change the game when we can all see we are on the back foot. All subs are reactive and then throw of dice moves.
Picking Bacuna over Hourihane is ridiculous, especially considering the natural balance CH would bring to the midfield.
Thought Lansbury got into some good positions 1st half and if more composed could have scored. 2nd half he ran out of gas.
We are still crying out for a player like Jota at Brentford, really hope we see a couple of new additions before the months out.
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We didn't retreat and try and defend a 1 goal lead.
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I personally thought there was a nice shape about us first half. Last year too often that lone front man was too isolated. Yesterday (in the first half) Lansbury joined in nicely and looked v effective.
We should have been comfortably ahead which makes the fact we didn't kick on second half even more frustrating.
But conveniently forgetting the first half didn't happen or ignoring the number of positives to suit an agenda is wrong.
If Bruce doesn't get us up this year, he knows he'll be gone. He understands the expectations. A few tweaks and that formation could be incredibly effective for us this season but we do need to start putting chances away. If ever a club needed a few comfortable wins to get it going, it would be us.
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You could layer that performance over about 15 from last season and they'd all be the same. What is really starting to get on my tits is the fact we signed one of the championships best midfield players last year and since Jan he can't get a game. Not only that but we appear to be playing a guy who was part of our worst sides for 30 years over him.
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So many individuals faded badly in the second half it does make you wonder if we're still not fit enough.
We could all see that changes were needed after 55 minutes but as per usual Bruce leaves the substitutions until the last 20 minutes. He's just too cautious IMO.
Finally, how many goals do we concede due to defenders (e.g. Hutton) being dragged out of position? Three defenders move towards the ball leaving their player completely unmarked to score. (Hull's defence did the same on our goal too).
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Not really bothered about the result first game of the season and I have to say I didn't see it, but sounds like the same old Villa story of a game of two halves.
Hopefully Bruce will get his shit together sooner or later, it is still a worry though that we can't put teams to the sword when we are on top.
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The biggest thing he has to do is know when to make a change when things aren't working. It doesn't have to be a substitution, but he needs to do something to address the situation when we're on the back foot.
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I wouldn't say it's fitness as once Green came on we finished the game strongly.
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How bad must Hourihane be in training for Bacuna to start ahead of him? Or is it that Bacuna suits Bruce's 'style' in that he runs about a bit whereas Hourihane is more of a creative player? I'd even stick the new kid Onomah in there instead of Bacuna, hopefully he has a stormer at Colchester so he has to start at Cardiff.
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What happened at half-time?!
First half: purposeful, energetic, movement and poassing and players who seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing.
Third quarter: back to last season's cluelessness.
Final 15 minutes: back to focus and energy.
Should have been home and hosed by half-time.
Disappointing, although the first half was very encouraging.
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I wonder if the tea lady puts sleeping tablets in the drinks at half time she might be a blue nose
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There's an air of confidence about the Tottenham lad which I like because that midfield is still the problem. Hull were much better than I thought they would be but even so we should have been out of sight in the first 45 minutes. 2nd half was Groundhog Day. Sort it out Bruce.
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How bad must Hourihane be in training for Bacuna to start ahead of him? Or is it that Bacuna suits Bruce's 'style' in that he runs about a bit whereas Hourihane is more of a creative player? I'd even stick the new kid Onomah in there instead of Bacuna, hopefully he has a stormer at Colchester so he has to start at Cardiff.
Mentioned it before, but I think Bacuna's mobility saw him get the nod over Hourihane. It might be felt that a midfield partnership of Whelan and Hourihane might be too one paced.
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It's one of life's great mysteries how Bacuna is still an employee of Aston Villa.
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A quick mention on Gabby. Saw the best and worst of him yesterday. Took his goal well but missed yet another one on one (which was a lovely move by the way) but he did ok overall. He faded as the game went on though. His support for Ikeme was very also a nice touch.
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He did well although his best work was going backward rather than forward, the goal aside. I think he earned another start.
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i thought Gabby had a good first half yesterday but he and the whole team faded second half. If we're looking for a scapegoat then look at Green who already has a contender for the miss of the season. A professional footballer of any standard should be capable of a simple header.
I know he's young, but that miss was absolutely dreadful.
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We looked very organised first half and although sitting Villa did create enough chances to finish the game off by the break. I'm sure the tactic of sitting deep will prove very effective away from home, however, I think for Villa to get promotion and Bruce to keep his job, Villa need to play on the front foot at home. Every time we pressured Hull high up the pitch they conceded possession. Our defence is good, we have two screening players, so why are we sitting so deep? Teams come to Villa Park and we give them possession, making life easy. We need to get at teams, get the crowd going and let them know that coming to Villa Park is going to be a real test for the whole 90 mins.
PS. I hate August homes games as the whole M5 is like one carpark. 4.5 hours to get to the game yesterday.
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i thought Gabby had a good first half yesterday but he and the whole team faded second half. If we're looking for a scapegoat then look at Green who already has a contender for the miss of the season. A professional footballer of any standard should be capable of a simple header.
I know he's young, but that miss was absolutely dreadful.
and it's the third (although easiest) missed header he's made that I can think of straight off the top of my head (no pun intended!)
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i thought Gabby had a good first half yesterday but he and the whole team faded second half. If we're looking for a scapegoat then look at Green who already has a contender for the miss of the season. A professional footballer of any standard should be capable of a simple header.
I know he's young, but that miss was absolutely dreadful.
and it's the third (although easiest) missed header he's made that I can think of straight off the top of my head (no pun intended!)
Can't say he's impressed me at all so far. Early days of course but he rarely seems to want to beat his man and looks to get rid of the ball asap. I hope I'm wrong but he seems another in a long line of youth team players we tend over rate.
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I like Green, he gave us a spark when he came on yesterday which is what we needed to get us going again. He should have buried his chance though.
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I think the near misses that Green has had in almost scoring his first goal for the club might be playing on his mind a bit. He's been very close a few times now. Hopefully once the first goes in he'll lose a bit of anxiety. His miss was quite impressive, you'd never have bet that he'd win a corner from that position if you paused the action as the ball came across to him.
For all the "Bruce makes us sit back for the second half", it's worth remembering that the opposition's manager will clearly be laying into his players at half time and demanding they be more aggressive with the ball. It's not like we're playing in a vacuum. Plus teams will usually have a spell of dominance in games even when being on the back foot for long spells. We do need to learn how to deal with that better though, both from the players on the pitch and through Bruce's "in-game management" which has been said, is not pro-active enough.
Unrelated but the two managers in a wrestling contest would be quite the spectacle. Maybe pitch it to Netflix so they appear in the next series of Glow(is that what it's called?).
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I think we lost something after Whelan was booked and he had to be more restrained when tackling and this was a factor in the build up to Hull's goal.
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He shouldn't have been diving in and losing possession so sloppily, then.
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I like Green, he gave us a spark when he came on yesterday which is what we needed to get us going again. He should have buried his chance though.
You're probably right. I'm just seriously pissed off he didn't score that piss easy chance and win us all 3 points.
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There was something for everyone yesterday. What happened after half time will give fuel to the people who have decided that Bruce is the wrong man for the job. The performance in the first half offered encouragement to those with the opposing view. Overall we created enough chances to have won comfortably.
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There was something for everyone yesterday. What happened after half time will give fuel to the people who have decided that Bruce is the wrong man for the job. The performance in the first half offered encouragement to those with the opposing view. Overall we created enough chances to have won comfortably.
They ended up with more chances than we did.
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There was something for everyone yesterday. What happened after half time will give fuel to the people who have decided that Bruce is the wrong man for the job. The performance in the first half offered encouragement to those with the opposing view. Overall we created enough chances to have won comfortably.
Yes we had enough chances in the first half to put the game out of Hull's reach but the second half issues should still be addressed regardless.
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Oh the goal we conceded - just seen it again on Channel 5 -how many chances did we have to cut it out and where was Hutton.
I can cope with a missed header the other end but our supposed organised defence let us down on that one occasion.
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Did we actually create that many chances first half.
Gabby should've buried his one on one but we scored two minutes later regardless. After that Hogan bulldozing through was the only one clear one unless I've erased some already.
Hull should've equalised at the end of the first so warning sign right there.
It didn't quite compare to Huddersfield home last season when we really did batter them for 45 minutes and should've been 4-5 up.
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Oh the goal we conceded - just seen it again on Channel 5 -how many chances did we have to cut it out and where was Hutton.
I can cope with a missed header the other end but our supposed organised defence let us down on that one occasion.
The mistake for the open goal was far worse than than the goal we conceded.
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Did we actually create that many chances first half.
Gabby should've buried his one on one but we scored two minutes later regardless. After that Hogan bulldozing through was the only one clear one unless I've erased some already.
Hull should've equalised at the end of the first so warning sign right there.
It didn't quite compare to Huddersfield home last season when we really did batter them for 45 minutes and should've been 4-5 up.
Hogan should have had 2 goals first half in my opinion.
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Yeah he had another crossshot that looked like it was drifting in but replay showed it was going quite a bit wide before Dawson I think hooked it clear.
Hogan's shaping up to be one of those nearly strikers for us. I still have hopes he can contribute more than McCormack but he just can't get on a role here, always hitting the keeper whereas he'd roll them in the corner for Brentford.
We really need Kodjia back.
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Yes score able chances wise
Gabby
Hogan x2
Lansbury x2
Green
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It's one of life's great mysteries how Bacuna is still an employee of Aston Villa.
No mystery he has a contract and no other ***ker wants him.
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Yes score able chances wise
Gabby
Hogan x2
Lansbury x2
Green
Green was second half. Neither of Lansbury chances made the TV highlights so they can't have been that close.
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It is only the first game of the season but I can sense a lot of frustration coming out very, very quickly if we don't get a few wins.
And the atmosphere was very subdued.
I agree with both of you, guys. Am looking forward to watching some matches with you in a foreign land sometime soon.
What about around mid December in Singapore or Melbourne and in the new year in Sydney or Bali? ;D
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I can't remember Lansbury having two chances. He definitely had one in the first half which he should have done better with.
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I can't remember Lansbury having two chances. He definitely had one in the first half which he should have done better with.
It was before the first goal aswell that.
I tend to exclude them as we scored regardless 5 minutes later.
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It's one of life's great mysteries how Bacuna is still an employee of Aston Villa.
No mystery he has a contract and no other ***ker wants him.
Bacuna was sloppy yesterday as was Whelan but less so. But as much as they were they still showed effort which is far more than Lansbury did. That bloke looks knackered after 10 minutes. How he's there before Hourihane is a mystery to me.
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I can't remember Lansbury having two chances. He definitely had one in the first half which he should have done better with.
The second was ball to him from Elmohamady on the edge of the area right hand side all he needed to do was slot it into the goal but delayed and defender blocked it.
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Oh the goal we conceded - just seen it again on Channel 5 -how many chances did we have to cut it out and where was Hutton.
I can cope with a missed header the other end but our supposed organised defence let us down on that one occasion.
Looked out for that on the the highlights as it was their winger who scored. To be fair Hutton was tucked in and picking someone up, so I guess it was just one of those things.
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Not a huge fan but thought Johnstone played well yesterday.
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The biggest thing he has to do is know when to make a change when things aren't working. It doesn't have to be a substitution, but he needs to do something to address the situation when we're on the back foot.
There are positive and proactive substitutions that can be made and yesterday was crying out for one after about 55 minutes. We just needed a bit more energy at that point as Hull were starting to exert some pressure.
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Specific to the subs (which is where I think Bruce is totally lost) people are talking about being proactive but I don't think they're even reactive. He had 15-20 minutes after the start of the second half to react and get some fresh legs into midfield but he didn't and then he made a change that only partially addressed the problem and it felt very much like the Green and Onomah subs were planned all along and the only one that was off the cuff was to throw Samba on up front for 5 minutes at the end.
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It is only the first game of the season but I can sense a lot of frustration coming out very, very quickly if we don't get a few wins.
And the atmosphere was very subdued.
I agree with both of you, guys. Am looking forward to watching some matches with you in a foreign land sometime soon.
What about around mid December in Singapore or Melbourne and in the new year in Sydney or Bali? ;D
Very tempting, though probably impossible right now. I'm heading back to England around December 16th for a couple of weeks-Christmas with the family and taking my wife to her first Villa game on the 23rd.
Then it's back to Japan and up to the frozen north of Hokkaido for new year with the in-laws. No doubt, at the same time you'll be enjoying the heat and the cricket!
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Specific to the subs (which is where I think Bruce is totally lost) people are talking about being proactive but I don't think they're even reactive. He had 15-20 minutes after the start of the second half to react and get some fresh legs into midfield but he didn't and then he made a change that only partially addressed the problem and it felt very much like the Green and Onomah subs were planned all along and the only one that was off the cuff was to throw Samba on up front for 5 minutes at the end.
I agree. It's as if he can't believe it's gone to shit because he started the best 11 and he doesn't trust his bench to improve things. Our manager needs to start managing.
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I think the near misses that Green has had in almost scoring his first goal for the club might be playing on his mind a bit. He's been very close a few times now. Hopefully once the first goes in he'll lose a bit of anxiety. His miss was quite impressive, you'd never have bet that he'd win a corner from that position if you paused the action as the ball came across to him.
For all the "Bruce makes us sit back for the second half", it's worth remembering that the opposition's manager will clearly be laying into his players at half time and demanding they be more aggressive with the ball. It's not like we're playing in a vacuum. Plus teams will usually have a spell of dominance in games even when being on the back foot for long spells. We do need to learn how to deal with that better though, both from the players on the pitch and through Bruce's "in-game management" which has been said, is not pro-active enough.
Unrelated but the two managers in a wrestling contest would be quite the spectacle. Maybe pitch it to Netflix so they appear in the next series of Glow(is that what it's called?).
We all expect that the opposition will at least have a spell in the game and they will come out fired up for the second half. The worry though is that we don't know to how to deal with it and every one of us in the ground and watching at home knew Hull would score during that period of pressure. Other teams weather the 15 minute spell and then regain control of the game, we always seem to concede whenever a team ups the pressure and intensity against us.
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It comes as a total shock to Bruce when the opposition shows some sign of competing.
Classic rabbit in the headlights reaction and inevitably gets run over.
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I think the near misses that Green has had in almost scoring his first goal for the club might be playing on his mind a bit. He's been very close a few times now. Hopefully once the first goes in he'll lose a bit of anxiety. His miss was quite impressive, you'd never have bet that he'd win a corner from that position if you paused the action as the ball came across to him.
For all the "Bruce makes us sit back for the second half", it's worth remembering that the opposition's manager will clearly be laying into his players at half time and demanding they be more aggressive with the ball. It's not like we're playing in a vacuum. Plus teams will usually have a spell of dominance in games even when being on the back foot for long spells. We do need to learn how to deal with that better though, both from the players on the pitch and through Bruce's "in-game management" which has been said, is not pro-active enough.
Unrelated but the two managers in a wrestling contest would be quite the spectacle. Maybe pitch it to Netflix so they appear in the next series of Glow(is that what it's called?).
We all expect that the opposition will at least have a spell in the game and they will come out fired up for the second half. The worry though is that we don't know to how to deal with it and every one of us in the ground and watching at home knew Hull would score during that period of pressure. Other teams weather the 15 minute spell and then regain control of the game, we always seem to concede whenever a team ups the pressure and intensity against us.
True, and then you predictably know that 'that's it' the best we're going to do from then is to get a draw, because there is almost no chance of us scoring again and it's just whether we can hold on or turn the flow (without actually scoring ourselves). This is especially true when Kodjia is out. It's been like this (or worse) literally for years.
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Very few positives to take from the match, hope never to see Gabby and Bacuna in a Villa shirt again, but unfortunately that's not going to happen.
The main positive was the back four, all played well and particular credit should be given to Terry, under pressure in view of all the media hype, but I thought he was a class act, never looked flustered and always seemed to know when to play the right ball, lost count of the number of clearances he made. Obviously he's going to face better attacks in the season, but reckon as long as he legs don't go, he will turn out to be a top signing.
Never thought I would hear the Holte End cheer, when the name John Terry, was announced over the PA.
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Yes score able chances wise
Gabby
Hogan x2
Lansbury x2
Green
Green was second half. Neither of Lansbury chances made the TV highlights so they can't have been that close.
Well they were .....so there🙃
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I think the 'if we scored our chances' argument is a misleading one. There's a lot of stats been done around this and they all return a conversion rate of somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6. If you can think of 5-6 decent-good chances in a game then you'd expect to see 1-2 goals. That's why I don't like the argument that if XX had scored his chance then... because it's just not realistic. Sometimes teams will have 3 chances and score all of them, but other times they will have 20 and not score but it will always average out.
When we were relegated our conversion rate was about the same as anyone else in the league, we just had so few shots that we weren't playing the odds. Last season we were, from what I remember, slightly low on chance conversion and near the 1 in 5-6 end of things so there is room for improvement but we also need to create more and get more people in the box. Yesterday wasn't massively different. When we scored we had 3 players in the box, other than set pieces I don't think that happened again all game.
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Ho hum.
We could have scored 2 or 3 in the first half but we didn't. We could have made a change at the start of the second half when Hull put the pressure on but we didn't. We could have subbed Bacuna earlier but we didn't. We could have scored late on to win it but we didn't. Kodjia might not be injured but he is. The start of the second half made me feel a little sad - an almost silent 31k VP expecting an equaliser. I'm really starting to worry that this is the new "normal" for Aston Villa.
Lots of football to play of course and if we can continue to create chances and improve our conversion then on this showing we should be in the mix I guess but I left feeling a bit flat to be honest.
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Fucking hell that miss from Green is incredible
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That miss of Andre's is on a par with Richards heading a Villa shot that was about to cross the line out for a goal kick. Not that I am comparing my kinsman with the spaniel who chases a balloon.
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I think the 'if we scored our chances' argument is a misleading one. There's a lot of stats been done around this and they all return a conversion rate of somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6. If you can think of 5-6 decent-good chances in a game then you'd expect to see 1-2 goals. That's why I don't like the argument that if XX had scored his chance then... because it's just not realistic. Sometimes teams will have 3 chances and score all of them, but other times they will have 20 and not score but it will always average out.
When we were relegated our conversion rate was about the same as anyone else in the league, we just had so few shots that we weren't playing the odds. Last season we were, from what I remember, slightly low on chance conversion and near the 1 in 5-6 end of things so there is room for improvement but we also need to create more and get more people in the box. Yesterday wasn't massively different. When we scored we had 3 players in the box, other than set pieces I don't think that happened again all game.
You can quote all the stats in the world but none of them explain a player missing with a free header into an unguarded goal. I just had another look at it and it was an absolute sitter.
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I thought we played well in general and I'm pretty positive about this season. One thing I did learn is that if during a match you search the word Aston Villa in You Tube, setting the filter to live video, you get some surprisingly good results.
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I think the 'if we scored our chances' argument is a misleading one. There's a lot of stats been done around this and they all return a conversion rate of somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6. If you can think of 5-6 decent-good chances in a game then you'd expect to see 1-2 goals. That's why I don't like the argument that if XX had scored his chance then... because it's just not realistic. Sometimes teams will have 3 chances and score all of them, but other times they will have 20 and not score but it will always average out.
When we were relegated our conversion rate was about the same as anyone else in the league, we just had so few shots that we weren't playing the odds. Last season we were, from what I remember, slightly low on chance conversion and near the 1 in 5-6 end of things so there is room for improvement but we also need to create more and get more people in the box. Yesterday wasn't massively different. When we scored we had 3 players in the box, other than set pieces I don't think that happened again all game.
You can quote all the stats in the world but none of them explain a player missing with a free header into an unguarded goal. I just had another look at it and it was an absolute sitter.
but that wasn't my point. My point was that listing 4-5 chances that we could've taken to win it comfortably is pointless because almost every team could do that after almost every game. The difference between the teams that win regularly and others is that they have more chances to score, not that they're better at taking them, it's an argument I've seen repeatedly over the last few years and it's just not true.
That we missed a sitter doesn't change that fact.
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I think the 'if we scored our chances' argument is a misleading one. There's a lot of stats been done around this and they all return a conversion rate of somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6. If you can think of 5-6 decent-good chances in a game then you'd expect to see 1-2 goals. That's why I don't like the argument that if XX had scored his chance then... because it's just not realistic. Sometimes teams will have 3 chances and score all of them, but other times they will have 20 and not score but it will always average out.
When we were relegated our conversion rate was about the same as anyone else in the league, we just had so few shots that we weren't playing the odds. Last season we were, from what I remember, slightly low on chance conversion and near the 1 in 5-6 end of things so there is room for improvement but we also need to create more and get more people in the box. Yesterday wasn't massively different. When we scored we had 3 players in the box, other than set pieces I don't think that happened again all game.
You can quote all the stats in the world but none of them explain a player missing with a free header into an unguarded goal. I just had another look at it and it was an absolute sitter.
but that wasn't my point. My point was that listing 4-5 chances that we could've taken to win it comfortably is pointless because almost every team could do that after almost every game. The difference between the teams that win regularly and others is that they have more chances to score, not that they're better at taking them, it's an argument I've seen repeatedly over the last few years and it's just not true.
That we missed a sitter doesn't change that fact.
You can post all the stats you like but this is the post match thread to a game that took place yesterday and consequently that is what I was referring to.
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I think the 'if we scored our chances' argument is a misleading one. There's a lot of stats been done around this and they all return a conversion rate of somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6. If you can think of 5-6 decent-good chances in a game then you'd expect to see 1-2 goals. That's why I don't like the argument that if XX had scored his chance then... because it's just not realistic. Sometimes teams will have 3 chances and score all of them, but other times they will have 20 and not score but it will always average out.
When we were relegated our conversion rate was about the same as anyone else in the league, we just had so few shots that we weren't playing the odds. Last season we were, from what I remember, slightly low on chance conversion and near the 1 in 5-6 end of things so there is room for improvement but we also need to create more and get more people in the box. Yesterday wasn't massively different. When we scored we had 3 players in the box, other than set pieces I don't think that happened again all game.
You can quote all the stats in the world but none of them explain a player missing with a free header into an unguarded goal. I just had another look at it and it was an absolute sitter.
but that wasn't my point. My point was that listing 4-5 chances that we could've taken to win it comfortably is pointless because almost every team could do that after almost every game. The difference between the teams that win regularly and others is that they have more chances to score, not that they're better at taking them, it's an argument I've seen repeatedly over the last few years and it's just not true.
That we missed a sitter doesn't change that fact.
You can post all the stats you like but this is the post match thread to a game that took place yesterday and consequently that is what I was referring to.
As was I, we made enough decent chances to score 1-2 and so did Hull so it's no great shock that it finished 1-1.
Yes Green missed a very good chance but so did they when they were through late in the first half and both teams scored when a bit of iffy defending left someone free on the left of the box to put home a right wing cross.
This is the problem with a few posters after games like this, they seem to view every chance that we have as a goal we've missed but don't do the same for the opposition and the post I replied to is another that does that because it lists 5 other chances we had but doesn't say anything about the chances Hull created. What if ... can be a valid discussion point if it's balanced but doing it as 'what if we took every chance we had and they missed all of theirs' is about as valuable to the discussion as 'what if Benteke never left' or 'what if we'd won the league in 92'.
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Hull had two chances of note.
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I also don't get this "if only we could take the chances we create" theme. Our problem is, we don't create enough chances. The reason we don't create enough chances is because we lack players with imagination, pace, touch, and energy and we lack any semblance of a game plan.
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I don't think that's true of the last two league games.
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So many individuals faded badly in the second half it does make you wonder if we're still not fit enough.
My thought too.
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I don't think that's true of the last two league games.
We created less chances that the opposition in both.
Yesterday we missed 2 good chances, 1 was a gabby one-on-one which literally no one expected him to score and the other was the Green sitter. They missed a couple of very decent chances as well (although none as easy as the Green one).
You make your own luck and when it comes to scoring goals that means creating more chances and getting more shots away. In this league at least defences and keepers are average enough that they'll make mistakes if you put them under pressure but we aren't able to sustain any real pressure.
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It all started off so well...the Holte End in good voice and seemingly the team were in good form taking control of the game and scoring within the first 15 minutes...then we allowed them back in the game by conceding possession cheaply, unable to pass the ball to each other for the next 60 minutes and their equaliser came as no surprise at all.
The back four were rarely troubled by a toothless Hull side, however against better opposition we could have been under a lot more pressure. Our midfield is so weak it's pathetic...not being able to pass to each other and not being able to retain possession is criminal so at least Bruce got it right by bringing off Bacuna. As has been said by someone else on this thread, our squad must be terrible if Bacuna makes the starting XI ahead of them...he genuinely is a poor excuse of a footballer and completely one footed.
I struggle to understand how our midfield is so weak in terms of quality and creativity with the players at our disposal, so it can only be that the players themselves aren't good enough. I can only hope that our midfield will improve by dropping Bacuna and Lansbury, but fear that we don't have the quality to bring in to make those improvements at the moment. Similar things could be said of the forward options without Kodjia as Hogan and Gabby simply aren't the answer to scoring or holding the ball up.
One other thing that worries me is that we simply don't have a player in the squad that you look at and think he is a game changer...that player that will up his game to spark some life into the team, create a chance or do something special. Both Kodjia and Grealish do have that in their locker to an extent, but that quality isn't out there at the moment.
edit: ...and bringing on Samba to hump high balls into him was a joke...I was actually laughing at Bruce for being such a dinosaur at this stage as you wont get a clearer sign of a completely clueless and desperate manager.
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I think the 'if we scored our chances' argument is a misleading one. There's a lot of stats been done around this and they all return a conversion rate of somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6. If you can think of 5-6 decent-good chances in a game then you'd expect to see 1-2 goals. That's why I don't like the argument that if XX had scored his chance then... because it's just not realistic. Sometimes teams will have 3 chances and score all of them, but other times they will have 20 and not score but it will always average out.
When we were relegated our conversion rate was about the same as anyone else in the league, we just had so few shots that we weren't playing the odds. Last season we were, from what I remember, slightly low on chance conversion and near the 1 in 5-6 end of things so there is room for improvement but we also need to create more and get more people in the box. Yesterday wasn't massively different. When we scored we had 3 players in the box, other than set pieces I don't think that happened again all game.
You can quote all the stats in the world but none of them explain a player missing with a free header into an unguarded goal. I just had another look at it and it was an absolute sitter.
but that wasn't my point. My point was that listing 4-5 chances that we could've taken to win it comfortably is pointless because almost every team could do that after almost every game. The difference between the teams that win regularly and others is that they have more chances to score, not that they're better at taking them, it's an argument I've seen repeatedly over the last few years and it's just not true.
That we missed a sitter doesn't change that fact.
You can post all the stats you like but this is the post match thread to a game that took place yesterday and consequently that is what I was referring to.
As was I, we made enough decent chances to score 1-2 and so did Hull so it's no great shock that it finished 1-1.
Yes Green missed a very good chance but so did they when they were through late in the first half and both teams scored when a bit of iffy defending left someone free on the left of the box to put home a right wing cross.
This is the problem with a few posters after games like this, they seem to view every chance that we have as a goal we've missed but don't do the same for the opposition and the post I replied to is another that does that because it lists 5 other chances we had but doesn't say anything about the chances Hull created. What if ... can be a valid discussion point if it's balanced but doing it as 'what if we took every chance we had and they missed all of theirs' is about as valuable to the discussion as 'what if Benteke never left' or 'what if we'd won the league in 92'.
I am so grateful to you for telling us what is wrong with a few posters on the site, I am sure everyone will try harder to not disappoint you in the future. Is it insecurity that makes you feel the need to patronise everyone who disagrees with you?
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You're talking about chances in a statistical way. Other than the goal, they had one meaningful effort just before half time. They had two or three chances in 10 seconds granted.
We had gilt edged opportunities, the same as against Brighton.
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You're talking about chances in a statistical way. Other than the goal, they had one meaningful effort just before half time. They had two or three chances in 10 seconds granted.
We had gilt edged opportunities, the same as against Brighton.
We had 2 of them (other than the goal). The way you write anyone would think that the Green miss was 1 of 5-6 absolute sitters.
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So many individuals faded badly in the second half it does make you wonder if we're still not fit enough.
My thought too.
We havent looked fit for i dont know how long which is a disgrace given that we employ fitness coaches
However it comes as no surprise as gabby got a couple of stone overweight during the season without anyone noticing
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You're talking about chances in a statistical way. Other than the goal, they had one meaningful effort just before half time. They had two or three chances in 10 seconds granted.
We had gilt edged opportunities, the same as against Brighton.
We had 2 of them (other than the goal). The way you write anyone would think that the Green miss was 1 of 5-6 absolute sitters.
We should have been out of sight at half time. You're in a minority if you saw it any different.
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I am so grateful to you for telling us what is wrong with a few posters on the site, I am sure everyone will try harder to not disappoint you in the future. Is it insecurity that makes you feel the need to patronise everyone who disagrees with you?
See I found 'you can post all the stats in the world' to be a patronising so I replied in kind.
I posted stats because the posters I'm referring to tend to like terms like 'a win is a win' so talking about anything qualitative is a waste of time.
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I've just had a rewatch of the game, maybe we weren't as bad as I thought we were during the second half, it was all us first half as all agree but they hardly created anything worth repeating save the goal. Then at the end it was all us again.
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You're talking about chances in a statistical way. Other than the goal, they had one meaningful effort just before half time. They had two or three chances in 10 seconds granted.
We had gilt edged opportunities, the same as against Brighton.
We had 2 of them (other than the goal). The way you write anyone would think that the Green miss was 1 of 5-6 absolute sitters.
We should have been out of sight at half time. You're in a minority if you saw it any different.
We should have been.
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You're talking about chances in a statistical way. Other than the goal, they had one meaningful effort just before half time. They had two or three chances in 10 seconds granted.
We had gilt edged opportunities, the same as against Brighton.
We had 2 of them (other than the goal). The way you write anyone would think that the Green miss was 1 of 5-6 absolute sitters.
We should have been out of sight at half time. You're in a minority if you saw it any different.
We should've been 2 up on the chances, the others in the first half were 50/50 at best.
I've said there were promising signs in the first half but if things go back to the '1 good half-1 shit half' that we saw all last season then I fail to see how us having a couple of decent chances that we missed is relevant. The gabby one on one was a great chance by any measure but add in that it's gabby and he's shit at them and it's not such a good chance. Same with Green, we know he's missed a couple of good chances and he's not great with his head, add the pressure of wanting to get his first goal and it wasn't as simple as it seemed (it's still a shocking miss). Both good chances but they fell to the wrong people.
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Gabby should have scored. Hogan should have had a brace.
We didn't have an entirely shit second half. We had control once Green came on.
For Cardiff I'd like to see Hourihane come in and rotate with Lansbury in hitting the box and getting closer to Hogan. Lansbury worked very hard, but it was laboured second half.
I wouldn't be adverse to Onomah providing the legs in there, but Hourihane gives the midfield balance.
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It basically comes down to this - Green nods that sitter in, and everyone's happy. He fluffed it so we aren't. The lad desperately needs a goal soon to settle him down...see also Hogan, S.
Keep the faith!
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Gabby should have scored. Hogan should have had a brace.
We didn't have an entirely shit second half. We had control once Green came on.
For Cardiff I'd like to see Hourihane come in and rotate with Lansbury in hitting the box and getting closer to Hogan. Lansbury worked very hard, but it was laboured second half.
I wouldn't be adverse to Onomah providing the legs in there, but Hourihane gives the midfield balance.
See the top line is what I was talking about when I say some fans expect us to take every chance we get, it's just unrealistic to expect a team at our level to take all of those chances. If we'd had 9-10 chances like that then we'd have probably taken 2-3 of them.
I agree we didn't have an entirely shit 2nd half, when Bruce woke up and realised he had options to change things we got back on top, that's the thing I found most frustrating about the game. He waited for them to score before he even got players to warm up, it's something he's done too many times.
I'm worried that opposition managers know that if they ride things out for the first half we'll simply let them take control after the break and not do anything about it until it's too late. It was blamed on fitness last season and even this thread has posts about us being unfit. I don't know if that's true but it's definitely a worry.
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Bruce has now had enough time and more than enough money to be sending out teams better equipped to deal with Hull City at home than we saw yesterday. Forget Kodija and Grealish. Forget ifs buts and maybes. If we get another half dozen performances like that then he should start screening his calls.
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I expect chances like that to be scored.
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Gabby should have scored. Hogan should have had a brace.
We didn't have an entirely shit second half. We had control once Green came on.
For Cardiff I'd like to see Hourihane come in and rotate with Lansbury in hitting the box and getting closer to Hogan. Lansbury worked very hard, but it was laboured second half.
I wouldn't be adverse to Onomah providing the legs in there, but Hourihane gives the midfield balance.
I'd go with that Ads. Bring Green and Onomah on as soon as legs start to tire in the second half. It will be interesting to see what team he fields on Tuesday.
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Bruce hasn't a plan A, B or C. In no other profession could you be so
obviously inept.
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Bruce hasn't a plan A, B or C. In no other profession could you be so
obviously inept.
Apart from president of the USA, prime minister, health secretary, education minister, justice secretary, foreign secretary etc
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So many individuals faded badly in the second half it does make you wonder if we're still not fit enough.
My thought too.
We havent looked fit for i dont know how long which is a disgrace given that we employ fitness coaches
However it comes as no surprise as gabby got a couple of stone overweight during the season without anyone noticing
Given the amount of 30 + players we have in the team we lack endurance I think. Pretty ironic given our captain noted this of the MON teams he used to play against when we were up there with Chelsea...we'd put in a lot and then be gassed around the hour mark so would retreat to the edge of our box and try to hang in games.
Gabby was a case in point. Excellent in the first half but he was a real passenger in the second. Amazed he completed the full game, dosen't have 90 minutes in him anymore.
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Bruce hasn't a plan A, B or C. In no other profession could you be so
obviously inept.
Apart from president of the USA, prime minister, health secretary, education minister, justice secretary, foreign secretary etc
Yeah but those are insignificant and unimportant jobs in comparison to being manager of Aston Villa.
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So many individuals faded badly in the second half it does make you wonder if we're still not fit enough.
My thought too.
We havent looked fit for i dont know how long which is a disgrace given that we employ fitness coaches
However it comes as no surprise as gabby got a couple of stone overweight during the season without anyone noticing
Given the amount of 30 + players we have in the team we lack endurance I think. Pretty ironic given our captain noted this of the MON teams he used to play against when we were up there with Chelsea...we'd put in a lot and then be gassed around the hour mark so would retreat to the edge of our box and try to hang in games.
Gabby was a case in point. Excellent in the first half but he was a real passenger in the second. Amazed he completed the full game, dosen't have 90 minutes in him anymore.
2nd half we got pushed back and Gabby was spending most of his time tracking back to help Taylor which knackered him out , that he was then moved to play upfront with Hogan subbed was simply mystifying .
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2nd half we got pushed back and Gabby was spending most of his time tracking back to help Taylor which knackered him out , that he was then moved to play upfront with Hogan subbed was simply mystifying .
I couldn't understand why Gabby was pushed back into midfield and Lansbury pushed up to striker where he chased the ball like an excited dog on his weekly day in the park. Mental tactics.
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I think the 'if we scored our chances' argument is a misleading one. There's a lot of stats been done around this and they all return a conversion rate of somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6. If you can think of 5-6 decent-good chances in a game then you'd expect to see 1-2 goals. That's why I don't like the argument that if XX had scored his chance then... because it's just not realistic. Sometimes teams will have 3 chances and score all of them, but other times they will have 20 and not score but it will always average out.
When we were relegated our conversion rate was about the same as anyone else in the league, we just had so few shots that we weren't playing the odds. Last season we were, from what I remember, slightly low on chance conversion and near the 1 in 5-6 end of things so there is room for improvement but we also need to create more and get more people in the box. Yesterday wasn't massively different. When we scored we had 3 players in the box, other than set pieces I don't think that happened again all game.
You can quote all the stats in the world but none of them explain a player missing with a free header into an unguarded goal. I just had another look at it and it was an absolute sitter.
Put another way, Ronnie Rosenthal, a player of endless ridicule had a much harder chance. Green will never again have an easier chance.
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Bruce hasn't a plan A, B or C. In no other profession could you be so
obviously inept.
Apart from president of the USA, prime minister, health secretary, education minister, justice secretary, foreign secretary etc
Yeah but those are insignificant and unimportant jobs in comparison to being manager of Aston Villa.
Three good posts in a row. You took me on a great ride. Take a bow gents.
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Yep the Green miss was one of those things where if it happened another 10,000 times I'd expect him to score every single time.
On reflection I think there was plenty to be encouraged about on Saturday. We're capable of playing like we did in the 1st half and if we can build on that we'll be very strong. Terry and Chester, if they stay fit, will be the best centre half pairing in this league by a distance.
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It's surprising the number of chances like Green's that are missed. They expect the 'keeper to get something on it and are waiting for that, rather than expecting the ball to come straight to them.
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Bruce hasn't a plan A, B or C. In no other profession could you be so
obviously inept.
Apart from president of the USA, prime minister, health secretary, education minister, justice secretary, foreign secretary etc
However on the other hand Kim Jong-un has a plan so not all leaders are clueless.
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Yep the Green miss was one of those things where if it happened another 10,000 times I'd expect him to score every single time........
Isn't that (at least) the second one of those he has fluffed?
I seem to recall one from last season that was easier to score than miss.
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I remember him rattling a 30 yarder off the bar, but I cannot recall another sitter.
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I remember him rattling a 30 yarder off the bar, but I cannot recall another sitter.
Cant remember who against but sure I remember a header at the far post at VP last season?
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Concerns from this game were again a safety-first approach from Bruce.
At 1-0 up, he simply will not change things, regardless of how we are playing, or how many warning signs there might be.
I don't see it being a ruthless enough approach to get us in the Top 2, he needs to be a lot more pro-active, especially when we have a bench containing midfield options most teams at this level could only dream of (Hourihane, Onomah, Green).
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Apparently having Samba up front is "something we've got in our armory now". I can feel the other teams in the division quaking in their boots.
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I remember him rattling a 30 yarder off the bar, but I cannot recall another sitter.
Cant remember who against but sure I remember a header at the far post at VP last season?
Yeah Derby at home. Pretty sure there was another game where he fluffed a header at the back post.
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Apparently having Samba up front is "something we've got in our armory now". I can feel the other teams in the division quaking in their boots.
Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with this. If we have 5 minutes left and need to rattle a backline then no issues. If I ever see him start a game upfront then that's a completely different kettle of fish.
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Apparently having Samba up front is "something we've got in our armory now". I can feel the other teams in the division quaking in their boots.
It made the last few minute entertaining but that really shouldn't be Plan A for changing the attack. However, given the bench picked by Bruce, it was
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Apparently having Samba up front is "something we've got in our armory now". I can feel the other teams in the division quaking in their boots.
Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with this. If we have 5 minutes left and need to rattle a backline then no issues. If I ever see him start a game upfront then that's a completely different kettle of fish.
Plenty of managers do it. However plenty do it when there's an injury crisis and there's no one left to stick up front or if you're going out of a cup competition (Mourinho used to put Huth upfront in his first Chelsea spell).
I just thought doing it first game when you're setting your stall out for the season was a bit desperate.
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Maybe it was a message to Tone about his lack of striking options. No forward on the bench with Kodjia injured and McCormack out of favour.
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Preston at home. Didn't overly matter to the score as it was 0-0 and we then went 2-0 up, awful header mind.
The Derby one, which in fairness isn't the easiest of chances
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Safety first approach was summed up by Flabby after the game when interviewed he said it was a mustn't lose game. The shit the bed tactics are deep set.