Aston Villa v Hull City post match thread.

[PaulWinch again]

The biggest thing he has to do is know when to make a change when things aren't working. It doesn't have to be a substitution, but he needs to do something to address the situation when we're on the back foot.

[Ads]

I wouldn't say it's fitness as once Green came on we finished the game strongly.

[QuintonVilla]

How bad must Hourihane be in training for Bacuna to start ahead of him? Or is it that Bacuna suits Bruce's 'style' in that he runs about a bit whereas Hourihane is more of a creative player? I'd even stick the new kid Onomah in there instead of Bacuna, hopefully he has a stormer at Colchester so he has to start at Cardiff.

[Mister E]

What happened at half-time?!
First half: purposeful, energetic, movement and poassing and players who seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing.
Third quarter: back to last season's cluelessness.
Final 15 minutes: back to focus and energy.

Should have been home and hosed by half-time.
Disappointing, although the first half was very encouraging.

[curlytailavfc]

I wonder if the tea lady puts sleeping tablets in the drinks at half time she might be a blue nose

[Brend'Watkins]

There's an air of confidence about the Tottenham lad which I like because that midfield is still the problem. Hull were much better than I thought they would be but even so we should have been out of sight in the first 45 minutes. 2nd half was Groundhog Day. Sort it out Bruce.

[tomd2103]

How bad must Hourihane be in training for Bacuna to start ahead of him? Or is it that Bacuna suits Bruce's 'style' in that he runs about a bit whereas Hourihane is more of a creative player? I'd even stick the new kid Onomah in there instead of Bacuna, hopefully he has a stormer at Colchester so he has to start at Cardiff.

Mentioned it before, but I think Bacuna's mobility saw him get the nod over Hourihane.  It might be felt that a midfield partnership of Whelan and Hourihane might be too one paced.

[saunders_heroes]

It's one of life's great mysteries how Bacuna is still an employee of Aston Villa.

[Clampy]

A quick mention on Gabby. Saw the best and worst of him yesterday. Took his goal well but missed yet another one on one (which was a lovely move by the way) but he did ok overall. He faded as the game went on though. His support for Ikeme was very also a nice touch.

[PeterWithe]

He did well although his best work was going backward rather than forward, the goal aside. I think he earned another start.

[saunders_heroes]

i thought Gabby had a good first half yesterday but he and the whole team faded second half. If we're looking for a scapegoat then look at Green who already has a contender for the miss of the season. A professional footballer of any standard should be capable of a simple header.
I know he's young, but that miss was absolutely dreadful.

[dorsetvillian]

We looked very organised first half and although sitting Villa did create enough chances to finish the game off by the break. I'm sure the tactic of sitting deep will prove very effective away from home, however, I think for Villa to get promotion and Bruce to keep his job, Villa need to play on the front foot at home.  Every time we pressured Hull high up the pitch they conceded possession. Our defence is good, we have two screening players, so why are we sitting so deep? Teams come to Villa Park and we give them possession, making life easy. We need to get at teams, get the crowd going and let them know that coming to Villa Park is going to be a real test for the whole 90 mins.

PS. I hate August homes games as the whole M5 is like one carpark. 4.5 hours to get to the game yesterday.

[Villatillidie25]

i thought Gabby had a good first half yesterday but he and the whole team faded second half. If we're looking for a scapegoat then look at Green who already has a contender for the miss of the season. A professional footballer of any standard should be capable of a simple header.
I know he's young, but that miss was absolutely dreadful.

and it's the third (although easiest) missed header he's made that I can think of straight off the top of my head (no pun intended!)

[saunders_heroes]

i thought Gabby had a good first half yesterday but he and the whole team faded second half. If we're looking for a scapegoat then look at Green who already has a contender for the miss of the season. A professional footballer of any standard should be capable of a simple header.
I know he's young, but that miss was absolutely dreadful.

and it's the third (although easiest) missed header he's made that I can think of straight off the top of my head (no pun intended!)

Can't say he's impressed me at all so far. Early days of course but he rarely seems to want to beat his man and looks to get rid of the ball asap. I hope I'm wrong but he seems another in a long line of youth team players we tend over rate.

[Clampy]

I like Green, he gave us a spark when he came on yesterday which is what we needed to get us going again. He should have buried his chance though.