Aston Villa v Barnsley - Pre Match Thread

[Steve67]

                               Johnstone
Bree            Chester.                  Baker.       Taylor
                                Thor
                   Lansbury.          Hourihane
Adomah                                                      Kodjia
                                  Hogan

Jedinak unlikely to figure or I'd swap him for Thor. Bacuna for Bree if not fit.

[postal]

I hope, I have some hope left after most of my remaining hope is feeling hopeless.

And normally I'm optimistic

[oswald funkletrumpet]

He'll probably go something like:

Johnstone

Hutton, Richards, Elphick, Taylor

Bacuna, Thor, Gardner, Amavi

Gabby, Grealish

Swap grealish for kozak

[Deano's Mullet]

gotta win again sometime. 2-1 Villa, Kodjia brace.

[levico]

Very difficult to be positive.

0-1.

[Ads]

Very difficult to be positive.

No fucking shit!

You've literally made me lol. Well done.

[nick harper]

                               Johnstone
Bree            Chester.                  Baker.       Taylor
                                Thor
                   Lansbury.          Hourihane
Adomah                                                      Kodjia
                                  Hogan

Jedinak unlikely to figure or I'd swap him for Thor. Bacuna for Bree if not fit.

That looks about right although I don't think Thor is a holding midfield player otherwise he'd already have played him there. I suspect Lansbury has to play there until Jedinak is fit.

Bruce's  problem is he wants to play two up front but that leaves us light in the middle unless he plays the three at the back. Using Kodija as a wide forward as he did early on is probably the way to go. He is not great with his back to goal anyway.

[ChicagoLion]

It will be 5 at the back which makes most of these team selections wrong!

[LukeJames]

It probably won't be as bad as last valentines day.

[Chris Smith]

It will be 5 at the back which makes most of these team selections wrong!

Not if Bruce's post match comments are anything to go by.

[ChicagoLion]

It will be 5 at the back which makes most of these team selections wrong!

Not if Bruce's post match comments are anything to go by.

Sorry did not see them!
What did he say.

[KRS]

It will be 5 at the back which makes most of these team selections wrong!

Not if Bruce's post match comments are anything to go by.

Haven't read or heard his post match comments yet...is he talking about ditching 352/532 so soon after being so adamant that it was the way forward with these players? Any links?

[aj2k77]

Why is he so adamant it's the way forward after initially we used 4-3-3 with these players, whilst apparently advocating the plan was 4-4-2 at the forum but then changed to 5-3-2 after a good hiding.

Bruce needs to stay true to his belief, the model he signed the players for, keep calm, stop flipping tactics around or the pressure will build and things will turn in to a complete mess, again.

[SoccerHQ]

This will be our lowest gate of the season I'd imagine.

In terrible form, miles off the promotion pace with little prospect of that happening now, the biggest date night of the year (apparently) Barnsley on a Tuesday night in the championship is that cliché we were all dreading when discussing the pros and cons of relegation from the prem. Can see it being only 25k.

Funny thing is it will probably be a decent game.

Barnsley like to attack home and away given the amount they score so they'll be open and leave us more space than usual at home. Think Hourihane will have a good game against his old club and we'll nick it 2-1.

[Clark W Griswold]

If he plays the same team as yesterday with Bacuna and Amavi for Hutton and Taylor we'll win 2-1. Otherwise 1-1.