Aston Villa v Only Rotherham United Post-Match Thread

[supertom]

Good result, good performance. Having a decent CH pairing will make a world of difference too and it'll help our fullbacks out no end. If you've got two solid in the middle, and a half decent defensive mid, then you can afford to have an attacking fullback who may not necessarily be great defensively. Today that is Bacuna, another day it may be Amavi. It just gives them license to attack and if they leave gaps, a decent pairing in the center of defense won't get pulled all over the shop trying to cover.

Attack wise, if you give Gestede service he will score. You have to play to his strengths. Funnily enough his second goal seemed totally un-Gestede like. Great movement to anticipate the flick on, left the defenders for dead and a cute finish. The first was classic Rudy though. We still need another option up top as we could do with a mobile option. Someone who can play on the shoulder of the last man or work the channels. Do that and we've got a great mix. I think even as things stand you've got three strikers here in Gestede, McCormack and Ayew who could hit 15 goals a piece in their own right in this division. It's a long old season though and we still need another variant up top unless we've enough faith in RHM. 

Grealish showed today that he will tear up this league given the chance.

Huddersfield will be tougher but we should be beating them. Villa park needs to be imposing again. We pulled in 33k. We need to make this place intimidating for the opposition and comfortable for us.

[garyfouroaks]

Am in a state of shock, trying to remember when we last won 3-0 at home, can't, don't care.

[Richard E]

Some team spirit appeared to be in danger of breaking out! Great to go home happy at last.

Bigger crowd than I expected. Gestede won everything in the air, the defence looked a lot better- I thought Cissokho had a really solid game.

[Tony Erdington]

Happy, such a strange sensation.

loving OUR NUMBER10,

Confidence, that's all it is, even scisoko got it at the end. Jacks Back, we do need that strong midfielder, and we wont be far away.


Time to Drink our victory.

LOVE ASTON VILLA , LOVE OUR TONY.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Stuck at Brum International. In addition to all the foregoing praise, how good it was to see Tommy Elphick talking to the referee.  We have not had a captain doing that for years.  It settles the players who don't go kamikaze and it stops the ref going into anti Villa mode. Wonderful captain. Wonderful day.  Perfect day to be thrown off a train with a dud ticket a hundred miles from home.

Mr Green the fare dodger?!?

Brian's more like Mr Benn with his adventures.

[Toronto Villa]

If we get some confidence behind us we'll do some real damage to this division, especially attackwise. You could see the players improve after we scored. Rudy was laying off one touch passes, Ayew was terrifying them, even Sisko was doing some nice stuff.

Momentum will be a massive part of this season. And going on long unbeaten runs will be critical to positioning ourselves appropriately for the run in come March.

[CJ]

What a fantastic afternoon! Dr Tone on the pitch before the game bowing to the fans, great performance, great result, clean sheet, great atmosphere, and at last a feelgood factor on the way back home. Rudy should have had his hat-trick after a superb run by Ayew put it on a plate for him, and I thought Jack had overrun the ball before he slotted it in. Thought the whole team played well but, as he normally gets so much stick (including from me), a special mention for Bacuna at right back who had probably his best game for us so far - maybe we don't need a new RB after all. And a special mention for Elphick - a proper defender and a proper captain. All afternoon he was directing the other defenders and for once we looked solid at the back. And at the end of the game when the players were heading towards the tunnel he called them back to come to the Holte to acknowledge the fans. And to cap it off an intelligent manager giving his appraisal of the performance in the post match interview. Haven't felt this good after a Villa game for absolutely ages. Long may it continue

[Dave P]

It's my Sisters wedding day today and it's been a great day. Even better when I could interrupt the photos to let me old man know the score updates!

[saunders_heroes]

Sorry; couldn't resist the title edit.

Only a joke I know, but we shouldn't start patronising any clubs yet, theres an awfully long way to go.

I think Dave is pointing out the posts on here and elsewhere that state "I know it was only Rotherham but....", not having a pop at the club himself.

Either way, we are not in a position to call out clubs one way or the other.

Why, what harm would it do anyway?

Anyway I think it was aimed more at certain fans from the "lets not carried away" camp who might say "we only beat Rotherham you know".

[brian green]

Mr Green the old bloke who can't read the small print on a Super Off Peak ticket and an Off Peak ticket.  Not valid during the hours of daylight when there is not an R in the month.

[saunders_heroes]

I thought Ayew and Grealish were excellent. I know Grealish scored but the one frustrating thing about him is his poor shooting. If he gets that right he'd complete and we'd have a star on our hands.

[nigel]

Great attendance, too. 33,286

[UK Redsox]

Well done Villa.  It's going to make a lovely change going out to the pub tonight with a win in the bag.

How did Adama play when he came on?

Two runs but not much else

[kippaxvilla2]

Great attendance, too. 33,286

Which is about 9,000 more than Smethwicks average last season.

[nigel]

3 goals and, importantly, a clean sheet.