Victorious Aston Villa v Derby Post Match Thread.

[BOB MANSFIELD]

I se Kodjia as a player with a mission .......a move to a Top 6 Prem League side.
I don't think he's got enough to warrant that, but HE does.

Hogan will definitely need someone on his wavelength to play alongside and do some clever inter-passing with. But who passes to a team-mate regularly in this current Villa side ?

[Gareth]

3 points was the main thing & to that end it was a job well done with no calamitous errors costing soft goals :-)

Let's start with Bacuna, thought he had a decent enough game showing a bit more urgency than his team mates to go forwards BUT that red card was utterly stupid, he let down his team mates for petulance, he realised that he had fecked up by not clearing the ball & then the linessheep getting the decision wrong and he saw red.  I really do not understand that ovation he got going off, pathetic!

Chester was superb, Baker very good, Johnstones best performance.  Full backs were both better and Hutton played well in patches but they both leave too much space for opponents to cross unchallenged into the danger area.

Jedinak, Lansbury & Bacuna were ok even though the ball was still a grenade.

Green was up against a good opponent in Christie but he showed well enough & was very unfortunate with the header onto the post.

Adomah, was absolutely awful, needs a rocket up him, he is so far on his heels when ball is played into him, half a dozen times they took it off him so easily.

Kodjia, 0% outlet, poor work rate, just didn't help relieve pressure 2nd half

Gardner contributed more in 2 mins than Amavi / Bjarni managed.

Team are so pedestrian with the ball, if we don't sort that out we'll never progress.

[Chris Jameson]

I know he's scored goals but there's just something about Kodijia I just don't like. He's greedy, selfish and just not a team player.

He infuriates me. I hope opposition sides get wise to him and stop kicking the ball out when he's 'injured', twice in the first 12 minutes he went down as if he'd been shot and amazingly once the ball went out he recovered.

[SoccerHQ]

For all his faults he's provided pretty much all the moments of quality upfront this season bar the odd Grealish goal. If he manages 15 goals this season it's hardly the worst debut year from a Villa frontman, there are more pressing worries.

Highlights confirm what I thought at the time from 100 yards away....stonewall penalty.

[paul richard]

Just reading through the posts on this thread I seem to be out of step with most re Bacuna.  Even apart from the crazy sending-off he was awful.  He looks like a ghost of a player; a non-player occupying a shirt in the centre of midfield, chasing for the ball but rarely getting possession, allowing the game to pass him by and making no serious discernible contribution on the rare occasions he found himself with the ball at his feet.  One decent contribution in 90mins (the cross for Green) isn't enough.  We simply cannot move forward with players of his calibre in the team. 

[LukeJames]

I think kodjia is naff to be honest, his awareness is appauling, he is like the selfish kid in the playground, he will score a few  goals but it will always come to the detriment of the team.As i've said before, there is a reason why he is 28 and has never played above midtable in the French League/Championship.

[Ads]

I thought before the game that we had a great opportunity this week against sides low on confidence. I didn't think we'd lose but it's normally the Villa way to grind a draw out after a run of defeats. If we were to win, it was never going to be by 2 or 3 goals.

So it proved but Green and Hutton should have buried their chances. Even Bacuna at the death should have scored.

It wasn't fluid, but we worked very hard and when we did press, we made them.look desperately ordinary. The quality of their delivery was awful. They were completely toothless in attack and had one chance all game. Didn't make it any less nerve wracking at the death, but we showed some much needed mettle.

Midfield dropped far too deep, but then what did we expect would happen after 7 defeats in 8?

The good opportunity continues on Tuesday. Let's make the most of it.

[UK Redsox]

Just reading through the posts on this thread I seem to be out of step with most re Bacuna.  Even apart from the crazy sending-off he was awful.  He looks like a ghost of a player; a non-player occupying a shirt in the centre of midfield, chasing for the ball but rarely getting possession, allowing the game to pass him by and making no serious discernible contribution on the rare occasions he found himself with the ball at his feet.  One decent contribution in 90mins (the cross for Green) isn't enough.  We simply cannot move forward with players of his calibre in the team. 

I thought that Bacuna had a decent game until the sending off. He harrasses opposition players and forces them into mistakes. If Jedinak is playing, you need a player like Bacuna to do the pressing to make up for Jedinak's lack of mobility.

[Ads]

Bacuna worked very hard and pressed well. He had a good game.

[Tayls_7]

I think kodjia is naff to be honest, his awareness is appauling, he is like the selfish kid in the playground, he will score a few  goals but it will always come to the detriment of the team.As i've said before, there is a reason why he is 28 and has never played above midtable in the French League/Championship.

Something is appalling.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

A very welcome three points.

Unfortunately the performance addressed few of the questions about our ability to compete at the top end of the table in the future. The last 20 mins were truly inept and I fear a team in better form than Derby would have run up a cricket score. Still you have to start somewhere.

I admire the defensive performance today but I am beginning to question if Bruce will ever be the man to unlock the creative forward talent we have paid big money for. A disjointed and lethargic midfield and attack that rarely looked like opening up Derby.

Still, better than last time out but more questions than answers for me.

Agree with all of that, i will take an ugly win over a pretty draw any day of the week but fuck me at times in the second half it was as pleasurable as nailing your balls to a table

[kippaxvilla2]

Bacuna on social media.  Fair enough comments at least he cares.

My passion for the game took over today wanted to win thats al i had in my head happy with the win and the 3 points disappointed with my red card almost let the team down ⚽️ fans were fantastic 😱😱🙌🏾🙌🏾

[olaftab]

Just reading through the posts on this thread I seem to be out of step with most re Bacuna.  Even apart from the crazy sending-off he was awful.  He looks like a ghost of a player; a non-player occupying a shirt in the centre of midfield, chasing for the ball but rarely getting possession, allowing the game to pass him by and making no serious discernible contribution on the rare occasions he found himself with the ball at his feet.  One decent contribution in 90mins (the cross for Green) isn't enough.  We simply cannot move forward with players of his calibre in the team. 

I agree that for the first 20 minutes he was all at sea. Not bale to get in the game and wondering aimlessly  all over the pitch however I think he was the main reason for our improvement in the last 25 minutes of the first half and he stayed involved in the second. Very close to MotM for me.

[Brend'Watkins]

I know he's scored goals but there's just something about Kodijia I just don't like. He's greedy, selfish and just not a team player. He did zero today, and that break away when he should have fed it out wide right to Adomah but kept his head down and dithered on the ball was just typical of him. McGrath was right about him.

If I was Kodja I'd have done exactly the same as Adomah is an awful footballer, no I'm wrong, he's not awful, he's really fucking shit. How he is what ever million we paid for him is beyond me.

I felt sorry for Kodja, stuck up front to win a ball to flick on hopefully to no one.

We won thankfully but we really are a poor outfit.

[LukeJames]

I think kodjia is naff to be honest, his awareness is appauling, he is like the selfish kid in the playground, he will score a few  goals but it will always come to the detriment of the team.As i've said before, there is a reason why he is 28 and has never played above midtable in the French League/Championship.

Something is appalling.

Care to offer a counter argument to my points instead of trying to be clever?