Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers Post-Match Thread

[eamonn]

Interesting post-match quotes from Bruce on Pravda, including about Kodjas penchant for drifting wide. Can't link, it's too fiddly on a tablet.

[rougegorge]

As others have said,  the first half was just a waste of 45 minutes. There was no intensity and no energy.

I thought Grealish and Gardner were especially culpable in the first half but they did improve.

Jedinak had his best game so far and I thought Adomah really put a shift in,  and although his end product wasn't always there, he ran at their defence and caused problems, much more so than Grealish who, penalty aside, didn't really warrant the amount of adulation he received.

Had a direct view of their goal. Good header but Gollini should've reacted to dive at least. Gallagher is another off the Southampton conveyor belt of good young players...lesson to be learned there.

[Lsvilla]

You don't usually learn anything from Facebook, but somebody there made the astute point that the slow first halfs are Bruce's way of dealing with the squad fitness issue.

Interesting as that was on my mind as well - pressing 2nd half after sitting off first half-  and I was hoping this 2 weeks would give us time to do a bit of fitness work but then see we have players jetting off everywhere e.g. Jedinak playing in Thailand Tuesday before a tough Friday night away game. That's why we spent to have options I guess

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Pleased with that in the end -
poor first half when we let Blackburn play some slick, tidy stuff but with only a few half chances; much better second half - whatever Bruce put in the half time tea needs to be taken before the game kicks off!
Thought Jedinak was calmly immense and showed a lovely bit of vision for Kodjia's winner...jack and Adomah caused them real problems second half and Kodjia dispatched both of his goals beautifully.

Only negatives...yet again we only play for 45 minutes, midfield needs attention (Gardner not good enough/organisation), Hutton weak, McCormack - didn't do enough again!     

[ciggiesnbeer]

You don't usually learn anything from Facebook, but somebody there made the astute point that the slow first halfs are Bruce's way of dealing with the squad fitness issue.

Interesting as that was on my mind as well - pressing 2nd half after sitting off first half

Hmm, intriguing idea. I wouldnt put it past him, he seems a practical bloke.

[Matt Collins]

I feel a bit sorry for McCormack. He's played completely out of position two games running now

He is a luxury though and you wonder if he'll ever find his place. A shame as he's clearly very talented

[Tayls_7]

I feel a bit sorry for McCormack. He's played completely out of position two games running now

He is a luxury though and you wonder if he'll ever find his place. A shame as he's clearly very talented

He could play at the head of a diamond with Jedinak at the base but we currently don't have the right personnel to complete the quartet.

[CT]

Awful, awful first half, Blackburn played all the football, no intensity, nothing.

I said at half time that I hoped that was our "bad half" but feared the worst when they took the lead.

Fair play, Kodjia was like a shining light out there, prepared to run at defenders when no one else would in the first half. Deserved his goals and just hope his injury isn't too bad.

Much better from Jedinak too, lost count of how many headers and tackles he won and his great ball for the goal. Overall great to see us fight back and win a game, it's early days but it's much more promising.

Finally, Gabby. Clearly I'm very much in the minority. His return was greeted with delirium all around us, people sang his name and marvelled at every move he made. The fact that he's back on the pitch just makes me sad. He's duped every Aston Villa fan for years and I for one won't forgive him.

Dick of the day, possibly the season behind me shouted "Gardner you bluenose c***" after a bad pass and then continued to justify that comment to his mate. Quite stunning.

[aj2k77]

Ross/Jack is a one or the other choice IMO.

I'd pick Ayew

First comeback win in a long time? Results are the most important thing right now, we are slowly but surely building up a bit of momentum, it's us making comebacks and getting late winners now as opposed to being the dog that get's kicked.

Really happy with the job Bruce is doing at the moment. Big test against Brighton, if we are still unbeaten after that, then we have

Cardiff H
Leeds A
Wigan H
Norwich A
QPR A
Burton H
Leeds H

Very conceivable we go in to the new year unbeaten at home on that back of 6 straight wins at home. I think we are very capable of taking 2 points per game from that set of fixtures which would put us on the brink of the play offs heading in to January with the chance to sort out our midfield problems.

[PaulWinch again]

Enjoying this winning most weeks business.

[ClarrieBlue]

Quote Of The Day from a wag behind me in the Holte. Jedinak missed a decent headed chance in the second half. Not sure if he was called offside. "You should have put your beard on it"! came the cry.

[Lizz]

Amazing how much difference a Saturday afternoon win can make to a Saturday night's enjoyment.

[ClarrieBlue]

I thought Adomah had a cracking second half. Him and Hutton combined really well down the right after half time. Should I now expect a volley of abuse from the Hutton Haters? I'll get in first. His crosses were still pretty iffy.

[Meanwood Villa]

Terrible first half, I had us down at half time. Great comeback second half, fantastic second goal from Jonathan.  Would be nice to have a more comfortable lead going into last 10 mins, nervy again. Still, wins have been so rare in recent years that goes down as a great afternoon.

[Meanwood Villa]

I thought Adomah had a cracking second half. Him and Hutton combined really well down the right after half time. Should I now expect a volley of abuse from the Hutton Haters? I'll get in first. His crosses were still pretty iffy.

Hutton gets into such good attacking poaitions. Then fecks it up.