The Storming Aston Villa 2-0 Delia's Norwich

[olaftab]

Other than scoring two Kodjia worked very hard today specially in the second half when we had very little ball.

[tomd2103]

Just got back in after being at the game.  Similar story to the last few weeks really, not a great performance but got the win and another clean sheet.  Thought the keeper and defence were very good today and Jedinak helped out defensively as well.  We looked off the pace in midfield though and Gardner was very poor when he came on. 

Despite the result, I was a little disappointed with Bruce today.  We started positively with a 4-4-2 formation, but soon as we scored he immediately switched to a 4-5-1.  We never really regained any momentum and Norwich were the better side in the second half, but got the win in the end.

It was forced though, due to Hogan's injury. A pragmatic decision that ended with a 2-0 win is hard to fault.

Hogan wasn't injured when the change in formation was made.  I think he might have injured himself doing the turn and shot which brought a smart save from their keeper. 

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Enjoy!

[olaftab]

10 minutes after start of the game I was totally confident we will beat Norwich even if they scored first. They had some neat passing  with good midfielders but very ineffective forwards. Felt a little nervy when they had lot of possession at the start of the second half however in that 20 or so minutes we actually had two  clear cut chances , Hourihane miss  and Kojdia just wrong side of the post from Adomah assist, they created nothing.
Very pleased with Hutton MotM for me and also special mention for Amavi.

[PeterWithe]

Effective. Routine. Dull.

A typical Bruce performance. Well done Villa.

[PeterWithe]

Thought their 21 was impressive.

[Richard]

Alex Pritchard - like Will Hughes I thought or Barry Bannan - tidy but nothing special. We gave him space and he hardly delivered.

[rougegorge]

Alex Pritchard - like Will Hughes I thought or Barry Bannan - tidy but nothing special. We gave him space and he hardly delivered.

Yes I agree. He seemed to take nearly all the set pieces and a lot of corners but delivered little.

In fact, although they had a lot of possession in the second half they had precious few attempts which was testament to the defence and protection in front of them.

I'm still expecting a bit more from Hourihane and Lansbury but it's better than it was.

Without Kodjia we'd be lost up front. He can be selfish but he probably mistrusts the others to score. Adomah worked hard and Hutton and Chester played well. However Gardner looked shattered after 5 minutes and there was a case for subbing the sub.

[andyh]

Kodjia's a lazy little git at times, but his finishes were pretty impressive today!

Lazy is not a word I would ever attribute to Kodjia.

[tomd2103]

Thank goodness Norwich forwards were crap. We held on for a period in the second half.  Kodja outstanding and Albert decent. Wish I could say the sane about Gardner when he came on.

Need to find another midfield option on the bench because he is becoming almost a liabitlity when he comes on. 

[Virgil Caine]

It makes you wonder where we would be without JK's goals. Does anyone know percentage wise how many he has against total goals scored?

[Richard]

I'd rather Grealish had come on instead of Gardner who was woeful.

[brian green]

Just home. Strange thing to say but all around me we agreed that it is still hard to believe we don't screw up our games. Us losing all the time is a hard mind set to get rid of.  Johnstone gets better and better.  Mile is a pants footballer but by God does he do the business for us.

[CJ]

Weird atmosphere today - very quiet, probably because they had the bulk share of the ball. Only 31% possession but it's what you do with it that counts - for all their possession Naarich didn't create a great deal, didn't have much of a threat up top, and the two superb goals by Kodjia were the difference, with some resolute defending and a little bit of luck delivering yet another clean sheet. I do find it frustrating that we sit so deep, more or less surrender the midfield, and invite pressure on, and the longer the second half went on and the more corners we conceded I was convinced it was only a matter of time before they scored, but at the end of the day they didn't and it's the end result that counts.  Maybe if we left someone upfield at corners (especially when they were down to 10 men) the ball wouldn't come back so quickly. Ironically when Hogan went off I thought we had a more balanced shape, but the longer the game went on the deeper Amavi got and at times it was more 5-4-1.  Thought everyone put in a good shift today, although I'm still very doubtful that Gardner's up to it even at this level - thought he had a shocker when he came on. I could get used to all this winning and clean sheets

[tomd2103]

Wondered what the applause in the 3rd minute was for and have just read about it.  Terribly sad and belated thoughts go out to his family and friends.