Victorious Aston Villa 2-0 Sheff Wednesday

[mr underhill]

Seemed like more than that.

[CJ]

Lansbury injured in warm up, Baker off injured - is there no end to these injuries? I think that's 11 out now?? Squad down to the bare bones so to pick up 3 points in a battling win against one of the teams in the play-off positions deserves pats on backs all round. Could have made things more comfortable if Hutton and Hourihane had put their chances away. Kodjia's goals both well worked - think that puts him on 15 now - but Jedinak MOTM for me, especially as he had to play out of position for a while - won everything in the air, but his distribution was a bit iffy at times. And I know he's not everyone's cup of tea but McCafu made a difference when he came on. Thought it was quite telling that Bruce preferred to try Jedinak at centre back rather than bring Mad Tom on straight away. Bannan bossed the midfield for them - always seemed to find loads of space and distributed the ball well, but at the end of the day they didn't carry much of a threat up top.  Three points, clean sheet, not pretty, but considering the injuries I'll settle for that.

[tomd2103]

Just got back in after being at the game earlier.  Can't say we were brilliant, but another win and clean sheet.  Interesting that Bruce changed formation to 4-4-2 when Baker went off (least surprising injury of the past few weeks) and them going down to ten was an obvious help.  Going to 4-4-2 changed things a bit, as Jedinak did well at CB, Kodjia looks better with a strike partner and Hutton did well on the right wing.

Was interested to see what Bannan was like and it was pretty much the same as I remembered - neat and tidy on the ball, some needless give aways and generally ineffective.

[SheffieldVillain]

Lansbury injured in warm up, Baker off injured - is there no end to these injuries? I think that's 11 out now??

13 now I make it who could be involved with the squad- Lansbury, Baker, Bacuna (not injured but still out), De Laet, Kozak, Gabby, RHM, Green, Hogan, Steer, Lyden, Bjarnesen, Grealish.

[brontebilly]

Lansbury has an Achilles injury according to SB. Hopefully not too serious. You have to question the fitness of this squad. A lot of soft tissue injuries and what seems like poor overall conditioning.

Improving fitness in a squad midway during the season tends to have that effect. Not helped by some of the recent signings like Bjarnason and Lansbury were short of match fitness before they joined so immediately back playing 2 games a week hardly helps. Shouldn't be happening though to the extent we are seeing without a major flaw in the training regime.

The solid base should be put in during pre season. Ours must have been a holiday camp again last summer.

[saunders_heroes]

Good result, another clean sheet, and we're now truly starting to look like a team with a defence we can rely on. I think we're now treating the rest of the season like its a pre-season in preparation for next. Think we'll go up next year, and I've put my money where my mouth is because I've just bought a season ticket for next season after a gap of 3 years.
Up the Villa!

[supertom]

Good result. Got to be pleased with that really. Winning against bottom feeders is one thing, but we've got to be getting results like this against the top 6. We need to be getting the results now that we really should have been getting throughout most of the season and get momentum for next season.

Yes we're reliant on Kodjia, but lets be honest, most sides generally have that one player who stands out. Also give credit to Adomah. He's not the most consistent throughout a 90 minutes, and has quiet patches, but he will still create chances and he seems to have a great understanding with Kodjia. Adomah has 9 or so assists now and most of those have been for Kodjia I imagine.

[Ads]

Walking to the ground a coach load of Wednesday fans emptied and quickly started singing "I'd rather be a Paki than a Blade". On a UK Street, in 2017. Wankers.

More injuries! Lansbury was a blow as I felt we lost his quality on the ball. The tactical change to get a body closer to Adomah worked.

We didn't create much first half and limited them to the one effort where we gave the ball away and Winnall had an opportunity.

Second half, we should have 3 or 4 more.

On balance it was very comfortable, even if our use of the ball could have been better. Jedinak dominated Rhodes at centre half, while I thought Hourihane and Gardner pressed the life out of them. If anything we bullied them.

5 games, 4 wins and 4 clean sheets, only one goal against. We've turned a corner.

[Risso]

Didn't see any of the game, but you have to be happy with a 2-0 win against one of the bigger teams in the division who are having a decent season.

[PeterWithesShin]

Good result under any circumstances but to do it with so many out is really pleasing.

[four fornicholl]

On the basis of our recent upturn in form and results, I cant see any reason why we can't win our next four, all doable if some of our crocks recover quickly.

[Richard E]

I thought Taylor and Amavi worked well together today. I was quite sceptical about Taylor when he first arrived but he seems to be developing into quite a solid performer for us.

[saunders_heroes]

Yeah I've been impressed with Taylor as well as the defence as a whole. They seem to play as a unit these days. Have to say Jedinak is fast becoming my favourite player. When was the last time he didn't win a header?

[CJ]

Another thought - first goal came from variation of a corner.  Good run by Bree but looked straight off the training ground

[Ads]

Jedinak comes back and we concede 3 goals in six games
No coincidence.