Aston Villa v Wolves Post-Match Thread

[Zouch Villa]

Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??

Didn't RDM come in and mention the fitness almost immediately? Or was that Garde?

I think both Garde and RDM mentioned fitness as basic fundamentals they would be working on.

I know there has been a lot said about BMH already, but it seems like these bunch of pampered princesses need a right shock to the system, so I'm hoping Bruce really puts them through the mill.  Not only will it improve their fitness, it will show Bruce who is truly up for it and who's just coasting, and will teach them some proper respect for the management team.

[Chris Smith]

I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.

The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.

Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.

Agree with all of that. We desperately need some energy in midfield.

[aj2k77]

I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.

The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.

Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.

Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself.  Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.

4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.

[Five Villa Tattoos]

Imagine if our current squad had proper jobs.
Imagine walking up to your manager and telling him or her that even though you still have half your shift left you will be doing the some total of fuck all.
Oh and going on to say that you still expect to be paid your full wages.
What exactly do they do in training all week?

[tomd2103]

Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??

Didn't RDM come in and mention the fitness almost immediately? Or was that Garde?

I think both Garde and RDM mentioned fitness as basic fundamentals they would be working on.

I know there has been a lot said about BMH already, but it seems like these bunch of pampered princesses need a right shock to the system, so I'm hoping Bruce really puts them through the mill.  Not only will it improve their fitness, it will show Bruce who is truly up for it and who's just coasting, and will teach them some proper respect for the management team.

From where I was sat in the North Stand yesterday, I looked at the side in the second half and saw:

Richards - looked overweight and calf went
Elphick - calf went
Chester - looked OK
Cissokho - looked tired and was struggling to get back and defend
Jedinak - exhausted towards the end of the first half
Tshibola - known injury problems so there is a fear he could break down at any moment
Adomah - see Jedinak
Grealish - looked OK
McCormack - see Jedinak and Adomah
Kodjia - looked OK

We're never going to get anywhere if our fitness levels are inferior to the teams we are playing.  I do have to wonder if they have actually done anything over the international break giving that we didn't have a manager in that time.

[auntiesledd]

The thing about how we play that gets on my tits the most? Not being able to take a decent fucking throw-in. Everything else - dribbling, passing, crossing, shooting - can be trained (allegedly, but at Villa that's not apparent), but these people have been playing the game since they were knee-high and they don't seem to be able to perform the simple task of chucking a ball next to a teammate's feet.

Completely infuriating isn't it? A couple of Richards' were absolutely criminal. Also just general technique. It must be confidence surely? Average Championship side Wolves are flinging passes at each other's feet at 100mph with barely a mistake. Our passes are almost always inaccurate and we end up coughing up possession again and again.

I just don't understand it, on paper we have a lot of very good players (for this level)

Is that the same Mica Richards who - according to his personal website - "has been described as one of the finest defenders in Europe since making his debut in 2005"?! What a knob.

[tim]

Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself.  Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.

4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of fickle. Being shown up for months on end and still having anyone show up at all is actually rather impressive.
Having said that, booing is hardly inspiring and I think it undoes the good will of fans showing up to support the team. There's no point in being proud of high attendances when it's such a load of arse on the pitch, if the reason for going is to bring everyone down with negativity. Not fickle, just counter productive.   

[Pete3206]

But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.

Codswollap.

The vast majority of our fans are magnificent.

[Brend'Watkins]

Bruce really does have a major job to do.  Since the Forest game when we played really well we have become useless. I just don't get it.

[Jimbo]

The shit performances and negative reactions become a downward spiral that's very hard to get out of. The more fraught and tense the atmosphere becomes, the more nervous and edgy the players get. Mistakes are made, the groans get louder. It's a very difficult cycle to break out of.

The solution, I expect, will be to instil into the players a Keep-It-Simple-Stupid mindset. Stick to a rigid, highly organised system where each man plays out his function simply and boringly. Have everyone know their role inside out. Play as a team.

At the moment we're like prisoners digging a tunnel. We're going to have to perform the same dull tasks over and over before we see any light at the end.

[aj2k77]

I think we might actually look better with Jedinak and Elphick both out injured. They're both carthorses, like playing two tugboats slowly drifting around the pitch as players stream past them.

Gollini
Amavi
Bacuna
Baker
Chester
Tshibola
Westwood (god help us, we are back to square one with this donkey again)
Gardner
Adomah
Ayew
Kodjia


Steer
Hutton
Cissokho
Jedinak
McCormack
Grealish
Gestede

[cheltenhamlion]

Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself.  Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.

4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of fickle. Being shown up for months on end and still having anyone show up at all is actually rather impressive.
Having said that, booing is hardly inspiring and I think it undoes the good will of fans showing up to support the team. There's no point in being proud of high attendances when it's such a load of arse on the pitch, if the reason for going is to bring everyone down with negativity. Not fickle, just counter productive.   

But they didn't get booed until after the game. When for 45 minutes most of them put in little by way of effort and far less by way of application. 6000 people didn't go to Preston in the hope of getting upset with them.

[Tony Erdington]

Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??

Didn't RDM come in and mention the fitness almost immediately? Or was that Garde?

I think both Garde and RDM mentioned fitness as basic fundamentals they would be working on.

I know there has been a lot said about BMH already, but it seems like these bunch of pampered princesses need a right shock to the system, so I'm hoping Bruce really puts them through the mill.  Not only will it improve their fitness, it will show Bruce who is truly up for it and who's just coasting, and will teach them some proper respect for the management team.

From where I was sat in the North Stand yesterday, I looked at the side in the second half and saw:

Richards - looked overweight and calf went
Elphick - calf went
Chester - looked OK
Cissokho - looked tired and was struggling to get back and defend
Jedinak - exhausted towards the end of the first half
Tshibola - known injury problems so there is a fear he could break down at any moment
Adomah - see Jedinak
Grealish - looked OK
McCormack - see Jedinak and Adomah
Kodjia - looked OK

We're never going to get anywhere if our fitness levels are inferior to the teams we are playing.  I do have to wonder if they have actually done anything over the international break giving that we didn't have a manager in that time.

From where I sat in the lower Holte, only one player actually looked to have any ambition of winning the game, Adomah. there were some shocking performances out there, Cissokho try's but he is always open to error, Grealish aint doing anything, when at the start of the season he was winning me over now he is window dressing, and no punch. Richards when fit will be an asset but he does look heavy, Jedinak he is such a disappointment, he is a yard slow. 

Bruce made good substitutions and at the right time imo. The fact that what he brought on are players i'd rather not see playing in claret and blue aint Bruce's fault just shows where we are right now.

I thought both teams were poor maybe wolves slightly better than us, and the referee fitted in with the game, poor.

[Clark W Griswold]

I might be in the minority but I thought Richards was actually trying yesterday, he looked a little rusty at times but I thought his effort was fine. Adomah did also, but he wasn't very effective to be honest.

[Tony Erdington]

Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself.  Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.

4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of fickle. Being shown up for months on end and still having anyone show up at all is actually rather impressive.
Having said that, booing is hardly inspiring and I think it undoes the good will of fans showing up to support the team. There's no point in being proud of high attendances when it's such a load of arse on the pitch, if the reason for going is to bring everyone down with negativity. Not fickle, just counter productive.   

But they didn't get booed until after the game. When for 45 minutes most of them put in little by way of effort and far less by way of application. 6000 people didn't go to Preston in the hope of getting upset with them.

Hold on I was there, and although it wasn't brilliant up to half time, the team got applauded off the pitch, at half time, the ground was magnificent the support was there, nothing on the pitch apart from Adomah, but support we did, and in fairness the wolves fans were good as well, both sets of fans deserve more than what was on the pitch,

Steve Bruce will sort it out, of that I'm confident, so we got a draw yesterday which was a point gained, on reflexion of the performance.