The Storming Aston Villa 2-0 Delia's Norwich

[Mister E]

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.

Toyally agree with your comments about Bruce.
Gardner is really not up to it. End of.
Best game I've seen from Adomah.
Hogan looked good until his enforced departure.
Johnstone looking much more secure.
And, well done to Taylor for keeping cool and doing okay.

[paul_e]

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?

41% (17 out of 41) it's the 2nd highest in the league behind Wood at Leeds.

[adrenachrome]

Enjoy!

Thanks, Rudy.

I bet you just loved that second goal in which our GK got the assist. :Winkything.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Great result, Kodjia brilliant! Taylor played well on what may have been a difficult day for him. I didn't like the way the club announced the starting 11 pre-game. Did anybody else have problems downloading it?
Keep the run going Villa!! VTID

[DB]

Norwich played ok, quite dodged but not end product
 We did what we had to. We did sit back and try and get them on the break 2nd half. Albert is so frustraiting to watch.
Saw a quite lovely rainbow over the Witton lane too

[oswald funkletrumpet]

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

Agree with all of that

Fuck me gardner is a terrible player, he looked fucked 5 mins after coming on

[Dante Lavelli]

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

Indeed.  Grealish has too much talent to risk ostracising him.  He needs to be involved.

[Keeno]

Get quite sad watching Gardner come on and have the shocker that he did. From all the promise that he showed coming through, he's letting his confidence affect his technique to such an awful extent now that it's sometimes hard to watch. Even the most simple of decisions (there was on in the second half when he gave Amavi what should have been a routine 10-yarder two potential hospital passes) he is second-guessing himself on now, and its difficult to see (other than a run in the side or another 6 month loan spell where he plays well) what would fix it.

Great, solid, performance by the Villa today mind. The kind of performance you have to have to keep the winning run going.

[cheltenhamlion]

That's 19 for Kodjia now, right?

[Matt Collins]

We seem to have had the better chances and quite a few of them. I'm confident we can hold on to kodjia and mount a challenge for the top two next year

Although the evening mail'a description of a few highlights were hyperbolic to say the least:

- brilliant move for the first goal
- wonderful finish for the second
- amavi through on goal and brought down for the red

Erm . .

Defending in the championship is terrible isn't it. When Cameron Jerome waltzed through our back four four before miskicking -even a bottom four premier league team is probably gonna stick that away

If you add a better centre back than baker and better central midfield cover than Gardner who I've now given up on, both of which should be manageable, I really do think we can be strong next year.

[l_mckay]

Decent 3 points in the end,until the sending off though we stood off them and made it easy for them,luckily the defence and the keeper look solid now. Onto Tuesday and hopefully another win. UTV

[eamonn]

Another impressive win against decent opponents. Our second goal though was like something out of a junior match. Rank defending, great awareness from the old codger though.

We still need a midfielder who can dictate play.
Chasing the ball over two thirds of the time can be overlooked when we're in-form and resilient but will make our bad runs longer when they come round again which they inevitably will. We need to start bossing games.

[Legion]

Highlights

[AV82EC]

3 points, clean sheet, job done. Onwards and upwards, time to stick one up the West Country Goblins arse on Tuesday.

[Ian.]

When you weigh up January and the wholesale changes we had plus missing Kodjia it's no wonder we was at the races. Any team would seriously miss Mr Danger.