Victorious Aston Villa v Derby Post Match Thread.

[olaftab]

29% possession at home is not the way to succeed long term, but the win was all that was required today.

We are the new West Brazil.

[Ads]

Derby had a lot of the ball and did absolutely fuck all with it.

[olaftab]

Bacuna is an idiot. Absolute dick.

Don't agree. About time our players showed some passion when stupid decisions are dished out by a idiot officials.

[DeKuip]

Derby - the 10th team we've played twice this season but the first we haven't lost to or conceded against.

[Legion]

29% possession at home is not the way to succeed long term, but the win was all that was required today.

We are the new West Brazil.

No.

[LukeJames]

yeah I agree, weirdly i liked him going mad at the decision (the slight barge was daft) and to be honest it was a fucking rediculous decision.

[paul_e]

Derby had a lot of the ball and did absolutely fuck all with it.

That's true, but it was their poor form that won us the game rather than anything we did.  Give a team in form the sheer number of chances to get the ball in the box that they had today and we'd have been smashed.

[KevinGage]

In weird way, it might have helped him connect with the crowd.

There were a few brain donors still booing him earlier in the campaign - when he had actually turned things around.

There are a couple of players last season who I didn't think we're good enough for the top flight, but might be far more effective one rung down.

Sadly, Westwood and Hutton maintained their general shitness, but Bacuna looked OK when called upon. He probably should have featured far more this season.

[PeterWithesShin]

I wouldn't have minded a yellow for dissent but that's probably a 4 or 5 game ban so i'm going to call it a stupid thing to do

[Ads]

Derby had a lot of the ball and did absolutely fuck all with it.

That's true, but it was their poor form that won us the game rather than anything we did.  Give a team in form the sheer number of chances to get the ball in the box that they had today and we'd have been smashed.

I'm fairly sure it was us creating the only chances of the game and denying them anything but a solitary floating header what won us the game. Good job we were on a poor run or it would have been a lot more.

[Tayls_7]

yeah I agree, weirdly i liked him going mad at the decision (the slight barge was daft) and to be honest it was a fucking rediculous decision.

Hold on a flipping second. Yes it was right in front of him and yes it was one of the most basic decisions you'd expect from a none visually impaired human but what can you do?

[papa lazarou]

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.

You are not alone. I appreciate that he put himself about a lot more than usual today but he didn't, as usual, affect the game enough. He is not the only one. Adomah was almost a passenger but he probably won't look good in a team that is so slow in building play. I don't know what they do in training, our ball retention is appalling.

[AV82EC]

Very welcome 3 points even if we did have to grind it out.

Johnstone - 5 - all in all didn't have much to do despite Derbys possession but he seems to have a Shay Given style reluctance to dominate his area, several times he could have claimed and created uncertainty for defenders.
Hutton - 5 - appalling first half where he was caught out of position on numerous occasions and got roasted by Russell too often for my liking. Better second half.
Chester - 7 - back to his best and our MOTM a goal and an assured display.
Baker - 6 - solid and managed to not give the ball away all the time.
Taylor - 6 - got done a few times but stuck at it and they moved Ince inside eventually.
Jedinak - 5 - defensively solid and we look more secure with him in the team
Lansbury - 6 - did well, worked hard though not creative in any sense today.
Bacuna - 6 - was with Chester our best player today until his red mist lost him a mark.
Adomah - 4 - woefully out of form and appears to have lost all confidence, risible
Kodjia - 5 - worked hard but playing an isolated, unsupported role with no service
Green - 6 - got up and down, showed his inexperience at times as he and Taylor got in a muddle, didn't look like he had the belief against his full back but stuck at it, so unlucky with his header from a v tight angle.

Subs - 5 - all ran around a lot to help see the game out.

Bruce - 5 - we can't control a game or dominate possession at the moment but to his credit he's got a shape, a very deep lying one, which makes us look solid but really boring.

Overall I'm happy we've stopped the rot but we need to play a lot lot better to improve our league position from here.

[olaftab]

We are virtually in March and this team looks absolutely knackered after 50 minutes.
Is fitness STILL a problem?

They need a few more games to get fully match fit.

[Sexual Ealing]

We are virtually in March and this team looks absolutely knackered after 50 minutes.
Is fitness STILL a problem?

They need a few more games to get fully match fit.

Ha!

Any team, in fairness, will run out of puff if they never have the ball. I wonder whether we should ever think about trying to have some possession?