Aston Villa v Fulham Post Match Thread

[mr underhill]

had a great view of Kodjia's goal from my seat - it was a fantastic effort that sent the Holte collectively nuts with glee.  Ayew should have buried his best chance but we won which is all that counts.

[pbavfckuwait]

Good win, average performance, but a performance that showed some discipline and common sense, lead from the bench, Brucey just may have the making of a team here. Well done Villa.

[Jimbo]

Link to  the goal:

https://www.facebook.com/myoldmansaid/videos/1295169837194657/

A comments on that link refers to the goal being similar to Tony Daley's against Everton in 1988 which is exactly what I thought at the time. One of my all tine favourite Villa goals.

What's funny is it was exactly 28 years ago to the day. 22nd October, 1988.

And Kodjia was born one year to the day after Daley's goal, which makes me feel like an old Kodjia.



I love that Kodjia/codger gag, me.

[Oooh_andy]

Kodjia's finish was top quality. He is a premier league player.

I thought he and Hutton linked up nicely on the right side. So much so I watched thinking "god if only we had a decent RB" which we have but sadly.......

Not a great performance especially 1st half. The fans were brilliant 2nd half, really good atmosphere.

Jedink looks a better player since Bruce arrived he looks like he knows and UNDERSTANDS his role. The defence looks tighter without elphick (though I might be doing him a dis service as under Bruce he may turn out to be the leader he was bought for?)
Gollini had little to do but what he did was solid and the defence looked at ease with him.

I like Rudy but yesterday we did at times fall into the hoof it long to him trap, from deep it never works he's so much more a threat when the ball is delivered from a wide area.

Listening to 606 on way home a Sunderland fan was very confident Bruce will get us into the play offs, we may well do it. We gotta stick with Bruce not turn on him when/if we have a bad run.

[Tony Erdington]

view from the lower holte:

bit different from what has been said above, Our best performance this year! yes imo we actually looked like a team. all starting 11 had "good" games I believe we kept Fulham to "no shots" on target, a team with an enviable away record , that is . 3 wins 3 draws. considering our lack of concentration in previous games and losing points at the death, I was very nervous that we were going to slip into that trap, but no theres a bit more steel in the lads.

The fans, first half very quiet, the fact that there was only 1100 away fans who did not sing at all, didn't help. but second half much better performance, and the holte resembled something of what has made it famous.

Gardner is definitely an improvement on westworld. I'm not saying he is the answer but, an improvement.

[Ads]

We've matched last seasons wins and points tally with 24 games to spare.

[ldavfc4eva]

Thought Rudy was hopeless yesterday, fell over at least twice and doesn't run or do a lot apart from trying to win flick ons. The rest of the team were solid and did the basics right whilst also putting a shift in.

The spine of the team looked good yesterday, Chester and Baker, Gardner and Jedinak all looked very comfortable and then Adomah and Kodija and Ayew worked the channels well. Would like to see McCormack up front instead of Gestede as Rudy offers very little.

Massive improvement all round though and the one word I will use was effort, every player put a shift in and it made a massive difference.

[Matt Collins]

Thought Rudy was hopeless yesterday, fell over at least twice and doesn't run or do a lot apart from trying to win flick ons. The rest of the team were solid and did the basics right whilst also putting a shift in.

The spine of the team looked good yesterday, Chester and Baker, Gardner and Jedinak all looked very comfortable and then Adomah and Kodija and Ayew worked the channels well. Would like to see McCormack up front instead of Gestede as Rudy offers very little.

Massive improvement all round though and the one word I will use was effort, every player put a shift in and it made a massive difference.

McCormack can't play the centre forward role in a 433

[ldavfc4eva]

To be honest Matt if Rudy is up there as a solution then I'm sure McCormack could do much better. I get what you are saying as I don't think he is a lone forward and is better off in a two with perhaps Rudy or  Kodjia alongside him.

Wonder where Kozak is....

[The Edge]

Thought Rudy was hopeless yesterday, fell over at least twice and doesn't run or do a lot apart from trying to win flick ons. The rest of the team were solid and did the basics right whilst also putting a shift in.

The spine of the team looked good yesterday, Chester and Baker, Gardner and Jedinak all looked very comfortable and then Adomah and Kodija and Ayew worked the channels well. Would like to see McCormack up front instead of Gestede as Rudy offers very little.

Massive improvement all round though and the one word I will use was effort, every player put a shift in and it made a massive difference.

McCormack can't play the centre forward role in a 433

True but one thing is  for sure. Brucie will know that and find a solution. I must admit I was totally underwhelmed with his appointment but I am won over in 3 games. We're no Barcelona but somehow in 2 weeks he has made us look like a team with a plan and a purpose. For that reason I salute you our very own Mr Potato head.

[Chris Smith]

Bruce appears to be a very pragmatic manager. No trying to shoehorn players into roles that they are not comfortable with. He also uses his subs well, he seems to appreciate that it is a 14 man game and hopefully the players will buy into the idea that they may not start every week.

He pushed us ten yards further forward in the second half and it looked like Gardner had been asked to keep an eye on Parker who went from dictating the game to watching it. We also started pressing the keeper and that eventually paid off for the goal.

[Chris Jameson]

I don't know if it makes any difference but a lot seem to think it does but I don't think Bruce sat down once during the game and was forever issuing instructions.

[supertom]

What struck me yesterday while keeping my eye on the text commentary at work was Bruce's substitutions. Something Di Matteo got consistently, hideously wrong. In fact his substitutions contributed in no small part to us losing grips on games, and not being equipped to see them out (like leaving one recognised CM on the pitch FFS). Bruce however, made good changes at good times, which contributed to the result, in a game where we kept a solid side at bay for 90 minutes. We didn't play brilliantly on the ball, but we could have won by 2-3. Bruce has been very pragmatic and organised us very well. We don't have a dominant midfielder at the club. I don't see us dominating too many games as far as possession goes. We did under RDM, without creating anything. Just like that period under Lambert when we started getting 60% possession (by passing it pointlessly around the back) but creating fuck all.

We've approached the last two games pretty well. We've had the majority of the chances. Deserved both wins and we've let the opposition have the ball in areas it hasn't hurt us.

[Risso]

I don't know if it makes any difference but a lot seem to think it does but I don't think Bruce sat down once during the game and was forever issuing instructions.

Like you, I don't know if it makes any difference, but a leader should be demonstrating leadership.  Sitting down for most of the match like RDM used to didn't come across very well in my opinion.

[not3bad]

I quite like the spontaneous adoption of Don't Look Back in Anger.

It's got good ju-ju. I remember it being the last song I heard on the radio before we got to Wembley in 96.

It will be even sweeter to hear it from the travelling hoardes if we win against that lot next week. They'll be too thick to understand the irony however.

I'm hoping to hear this song a lot as we climb the table.