Sheffield Wednesday v Aston Villa Post Match Thread

[mattjpa]

I think the issue with Hutton and Cissokho is that neither did anything spectacularly badly. They get to the byline and get a cross in. It doesnt go out or sail 20yards pass the box but time and time again we dont score from them - its always half a yard away from an attacker or half a yard too high. They will never do that extra thing - cut inside an smash one in the bottom corner or nutmeg a man and put it on a plate for an attacker. Hutton achieved this once but again, it was delayed by half a second too long.

You can get by with one like this but if we are going to carry on playing this way we need amavi back quickly

[Ads]

I think Tshibola will start next week. Far more presence and drive about him.

I don't want Amavi to be rushed and if its the case that he can't do 90 minutes for a month or so, then get Bennett in.

[cdward]

Elphick is a legend in the making, he showed more spirit, fight and determination in one game than some of our players did in a whole season. He is just what we need, a leader. Good move by RDM to make him captain.
Gollini looked good, an improvement on Guzan/Bunn.
McCormack looks good, and but for a brilliant block by their defender could have scored, still encouraged by him.

Midfield is where we need a bit of guile, Gardner did nothing, maybe he will improve. Westwood is just a bit light in everything he does, there is no real impact to his play.
Tish looked OK, and Grealish could be very effective this season.
Bacuna is hot and cold, but doesn't influence a game enough.
It may take a bit of mix and match to find the right blend, but a midfield enforcer needs to make his mark. I really want Gardner to be that player, but in reality it will probably be Tshbola.
Gestede needs to be more of a menace, defenders will find it easy to play against him, he needs to put himself about more.

Overall disappointed with the result, but we weren't completely blown away.
However i think most teams will relish playing us and raise their game, we are a big scalp, so we have to be prepared to fight.

[PeterWithe]

In the second half at least there were signs that we aren't too far away from being a decent side.

Prior to the game I was a little worried that we lacked pace at the back but for the first time in years we looked pretty solid, the comedy goal aside. My fears that we lacked mobility at centre midfield were well founded but I guess being away from home drove RDM to set up so we had players there rather than pushing on.

The obvious problems may be solved with players already here, we lacked a little creativity to isolate McCormack and Ayew running at defenders and Jack can provide that. We lacked width but Amarvi, Traore and Green can provide that. Hopefully the Reading lad can provide the mobility we were lacking in midfield.

Contrary to most I thought Westwood, Bacuna and Hutton were fine, they all looked comfortable and didn't struggle the way they have done at the higher level.

Which just leaves the centre forward issue.

[LukeJames]

Yeah I thought Hutton, Bacuna and Westwood were fine.

Only Gardner and Cissokho stood out as not good enoigh for this level based on that game.

[PeterWithe]

Cissokho just looks awkward, even when he's not making goal conceding gaffes. One positive is that he's a lot taller than any alternative left back which counts when defending corners etc.

I'd rather we wait for the right time to bring back Amarvi if he's not 100%

[ASHTONVILLA]

Thought we would win. Not overly concerned as we played pretty well, and certainly were not outclassed.

Given that Sheffield Wednesday are one of the better teams in the division, we should be in for a decent season. We could easily have won, and we have some signings yet to come. By the end of the transfer window we will have probably the best squad in the league.

Defence looked far better with Elphick in it. Left back needs sorting, especially if Bennett is not looking a better option than Cissokho. Amavi to come though, so it will be interesting to see how he does. Hutton was fine, he caused them problems.

McCormack looked good, intelligent player slightly short of match fitness. Ayew was lively. Gestede sadly looked just as poor as last season. We are being linked with some good strikers, so I don't expect him to feature much post transfer window.

Midfield Looked better with Tsibola and Grealish. Westwood played well, he can contribute at this level so long as we sign a Jedinak. Gardner was disappointing, but I am prepared to be patient. I think he can contribute, but should not be a certain starter (alternate with Westwood).

That team with a new Hernandez/Bamford/Kodija, Jedinak, Morrison, and a new defender will be right up near the top of the championship all season.

Newcastle looked pants against a Fulham team that could well go down. Title will be us or Norwich.

[in exile]

I just can't see Bennett (or Gardner while we are on the subject) being good enough

[PeterWithesShin]

I'd play Bennett against Luton and see how he does. We already know what Sisko can, and can't do, and i'd keep Amavi back to try and have him fit to start against Rotherham.

[Pat McMahon]

I just can't see Bennett (or Gardner while we are on the subject) being good enough

I was in Cambridge last weekend and bumped into a Boro fan in a pub, gleefully informing me they had beaten us 3-1.

We chatted for 15 minutes and he reckons Bennett is awful, even at championship level. He says they replaced him with some lad for £500k and he maintains the fella is / was much better.

I thought Bennett looked like a tidy player, but not a defender, certainly at Premier league level. Boro bloke reckons he was not even that good in the championship for them.

[CT]

A little taste of the atmos in our end yesterday.

http://youtu.be/AwTp6__3kCo

[tomd2103]

I think the issue with Hutton and Cissokho is that neither did anything spectacularly badly. They get to the byline and get a cross in. It doesnt go out or sail 20yards pass the box but time and time again we dont score from them - its always half a yard away from an attacker or half a yard too high. They will never do that extra thing - cut inside an smash one in the bottom corner or nutmeg a man and put it on a plate for an attacker. Hutton achieved this once but again, it was delayed by half a second too long.

You can get by with one like this but if we are going to carry on playing this way we need amavi back quickly

Sorry Matt, but Hutton's effort at defending when he turned his back on the edge of area was spectacularly bad, as was his attempted cross in the first half which didn't even reach the six yard box before going out.  Cissokho was constantly caught out of position in the first half and pretty much everything they created came from there.  Hopefully Amavi comes good, but we desperately need a better option than Hutton.   

[Bad English]

About three days ago I became 'friends' on Facebook with a lad with whom I went to primary and secondary school. He used to live a couple of doors from our house on Chelmsley Wood. I hadn't seen him since 1982 thereabouts.

I got my first message from him today, 34 years after I last spoke to him: he commented on my 'status' pointing out the I was cheering on the Villa boys at a local bar.

It read 'Boing Boing!'

Who is it mate? Next time I'm coming home from the Night Owl I'll go round and bounce a house tick off his windows. How's that for boing boing?

Surname: Smith
;-)

[mattjpa]

I think the issue with Hutton and Cissokho is that neither did anything spectacularly badly. They get to the byline and get a cross in. It doesnt go out or sail 20yards pass the box but time and time again we dont score from them - its always half a yard away from an attacker or half a yard too high. They will never do that extra thing - cut inside an smash one in the bottom corner or nutmeg a man and put it on a plate for an attacker. Hutton achieved this once but again, it was delayed by half a second too long.

You can get by with one like this but if we are going to carry on playing this way we need amavi back quickly

Sorry Matt, but Hutton's effort at defending when he turned his back on the edge of area was spectacularly bad, as was his attempted cross in the first half which didn't even reach the six yard box before going out.  Cissokho was constantly caught out of position in the first half and pretty much everything they created came from there.  Hopefully Amavi comes good, but we desperately need a better option than Hutton.   

Maybe, I was contending with an 18month old whilst trying to watch the game so maybe missed some of the shite! My point is more that we could fill the team with people of Hutton and Cissokhos level and probably lose most games by a goal margin, usually by an individual error, most likely a different player every week. If you have one or two exceptional players like Benteke or Delph you can carry weaker players through a season but i dont think we even have that any more. based on yesterday, I would say we had 6-7 players in that mould, unspectacular and more likely to lose you one in every 10 games than win you one with some individual brilliance.

[paul_e]

The big issue is that, between them, our fullbacks had 10-12 good chances to get balls into the box and they never gave Rudy anything to attack from all of those chances, that's just not good enough and puts huge amounts of pressure on everyone else to create when those 2 are the ones with all the space to work in.

If they were defensively sound I'd let it go but when you see them making fundamental defensive errors as well it's clear that they offer us nothing other than being an out ball to slow our possession down.  The 2 of them and Gardner were easily the worst players on the pitch from either side (Gestede was nearly as bad but I put a big part of the blame for that on those 3 anyway).  I'll cut Gardner a little slack in the hope that once he gets up to speed he'll be better but the other 2 were exactly the same last season with the same weaknesses and being exposed by the same attacks.