Aston Villa v Fulham Post Match Thread

[Perthvillan]

Amazing what a bit of organisation can do. We certainly have the talent to be in contention for promotion. Not getting too carried away but two wins in a row sets us up perfectly for the Blues game. They were singing their usual obsessive chants about us at Burton on Friday night until Burton got their second goal and finished them off. This included "Aston Villa were waiting for you". Bring it on.

[not3bad]

Bruce has got the team more organised in a week than RDM did in his 10 games, you can see a pattern to wok to and the players are all in their right positions.
The back four (Baker headed everything) look more confident with Jedinak in front and two energetic midfielders in front of him, giving us a solid spine.
Bacuna has never been a bad player and his position suits him well, Gardner looks a different player to the one I saw earlier in the season, Kodija is just a constant menace, whilst Ayew causes problems for any defence.
Adomah did well, Buce's substituions were perfect for the match situation.
It's early days but it's looking good, a solid team with a threat...bring on the Scum!

This sums it up good. Bacuna was bad last season but has been abused by inept managers over a score of seasons. He was quite good for us when he first arrived and he is versatile, he can attack, defend and once he wasn't even bad at crossing, passing and taking sets pieces. Then we started getting wingbacks injured and Lambert turned him into the squad band-aid. Sherwood abused him even further and played him all over the pitch during that period when he changed tactics every game. No wonder he lost heart and turned to the crap player we saw last season.

Now its obvious he is head and shoulders over most players in the Championship though and is growing with every chance he gets. Even in some of the poor games that RDM managed , he and Ayew were the only players that didn't look like stiffs.

Hope Bruce keeps playing with that inner middle triangle...rotating Jedi, Gardner, Bacuna, Ross and Tshibola as needed. I dont like when he uses Westwood at all. Not even as a sub like today...its the only part of Bruce coaching today I didnt like. Even if he got away with it...Fulham just wasnt good enough to benfit on letting them have a punt on us the last 10 min.

Ayew doesnt fade like Grealish do and that another big reason why we have 6 points this week. He remains a threat and often gets even better in the late stages...just from scaring the opposing fullback from venturing on the wrong side of Ayew he releives alot of the pressure on our left defender, who suddenly look useful again (i.e Amavi today). With Jack its the exact opposite...he start good and, runs himself out and everyone has to cover for him. Add Pointy and the effect is accelerated....Villa is all of a sudden showing its soft underbelly. 

Confident we going to win against Blues next game but after that Jack is available again...and judging by the media, Bruce is a big fan. Very afraid the nightmare is going to start all over and the slim chance of promotion this year will vaporize before he figure out the Boy Wonder isnt anywhere near the image that the hype built.

Grealish fades for the same reason the whole team was fading - lack of fitness. For me it's a clean slate, new manager new coaches, better organised team including Jack.

[Percy McCarthy]

Well what a difference a week makes.

Steve Bruce has got us organised and I drew comparisons with Brian Little's early reign after John Gregory left. Like Little, he's impressively going about his initial work and we now look a tough unit to break down.
Players are clearly growing in confidence.

Its going to be interesting to see where Bruce takes us.

John Gregory took over from Little, not the other way round.

[in exile]

First time I have left a game before full time in my life.
My wife was taken ill so I had little choice. The noise from the Villa Village car park when we scored was amazing!

Very pleased to get back to back wins and just in time for the visit to Small Heath...excellent!

[Chris Jameson]

Heard The Clash, Undertones, Jam and Joy Division played at Villa Park yesterday. Then heard bloody Emerson, Lake and Palmer, like punk never happened.

[Chris Jameson]

Hope your wife is okay.

[Tony Erdington]

Heard The Clash, Undertones, Jam and Joy Division played at Villa Park yesterday. Then heard bloody Emerson, Lake and Palmer, like punk never happened.

my mate commented on that at the wolves game,

asked me whats this shit (elp)

I said its some old hippy shit, and suggested he get it as a ring tone,

but I don't know wtf there playing it for, to most of us it means FA

get Sabbath or AC/DC on

[robbo1874]

You couldn't get much more clinical than that Kodjia finish. Just seen it on YouTube- what a strike.

Yep great strike but how many chances did Kodjia, Ayew and Adomah miss between them today...and how many chances have they fluffed since the start of the season? They need to become consistently more clinical with every game.

i don't have fox sports anymore mate and getting any kind of on ternary coverage in Aus is nigh on impossible- it's a struggle to even find the score sometimes when h&v goes tits up 🙃 so I'll let others answer your qn. I'm just savouring that goal !!

[Chris Jameson]

Heard The Clash, Undertones, Jam and Joy Division played at Villa Park yesterday. Then heard bloody Emerson, Lake and Palmer, like punk never happened.

my mate commented on that at the wolves game,

asked me whats this shit (elp)

I said its some old hippy shit, and suggested he get it as a ring tone,

but I don't know wtf there playing it for, to most of us it means FA

get Sabbath or AC/DC on

Until the goal the highlight of the day was my son recognising songs by the Clash, Undertones and Jam, he's never shown the slightest interest in any of the 'old persons' music!

[Steve kirk]

Felt giddy with excitement when my son rang to confirm the win, we have suffered for so long which makes 2 wins on the spin seem amazing, we have a proper football manager.

[Matt Collins]

Feels fantastic and suddenly the playoffs don't look too far off

Let's not get too excited. We've not played that well of late but we've been much more solid defensively and that makes a huge difference. There are so many shit defenders and / or mistakes in this league that with our firepower that approach always has a chance

[Exeter 77]

Well what a difference a week makes.

Steve Bruce has got us organised and I drew comparisons with Brian Little's early reign after John Gregory left. Like Little, he's impressively going about his initial work and we now look a tough unit to break down.
Players are clearly growing in confidence.

Its going to be interesting to see where Bruce takes us.

John Gregory took over from Little, not the other way round.

I took this to mean when Gregory left Brian Little's coaching team.

[paul richard]

The good news:  We looked organised, the opposition didn't run straight through us (like Wolves did last week), we didn't concede late, we kept a clean sheet, our centre forward scored an outstanding goal, the substitutions were spot on and perfectly timed, the manager showed leadership from the side lines, Jedinak and Amavi looked better today.
The bad news: not much really.  We should have scored a second (Ayew's chance immediately after JK's goal), the win masks the fact that the game was a rather tight stalemate for long periods and could easily have finished 0-0, and Gestede, Bacuna and Gardner really are very limited players indeed.

[Comrade Blitz]

Then heard bloody Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Fanfare for the conman man?

[Matt Collins]

As much as the midfield is looking a lot better, if and when we do go up you wouldn't want any of those three in your starting lineup