Aston Villa v Hull City post match thread.

[olaftab]

It is only the first game of the season but I can sense a lot of frustration coming out very, very quickly if we don't get a few wins. 
And the atmosphere was very subdued.

I agree with both of you, guys. Am looking forward to watching some matches with you in a foreign land sometime soon.

What about around mid December in Singapore or  Melbourne  and in the new year in Sydney or Bali?

[Clampy]

I can't remember Lansbury having two chances. He definitely had one in the first half which he should have done better with.

[SoccerHQ]

I can't remember Lansbury having two chances. He definitely had one in the first half which he should have done better with.

It was before the first goal aswell that.

I tend to exclude them as we scored regardless 5 minutes later.

[Brend'Watkins]

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

No mystery he has a contract and no other ***ker wants him.

Bacuna was sloppy yesterday as was Whelan but less so. But as much as they were they still showed effort which is far more than Lansbury did. That bloke looks knackered after 10 minutes. How he's there before Hourihane is a mystery to me.

[olaftab]

I can't remember Lansbury having two chances. He definitely had one in the first half which he should have done better with.

The second was ball to him from Elmohamady on the edge of the area right hand side all he needed to do was slot it into the goal but delayed and defender blocked it.

[tomd2103]

Oh the goal we conceded -  just seen it again on Channel 5 -how  many chances did  we have to  cut it  out and where was Hutton.

I can  cope with a missed header the other end but our supposed organised defence let us down on that one occasion.

Looked out for that on the the highlights as it was their winger who scored.  To be fair Hutton was tucked in and picking someone up, so I guess it was just one of those things. 

[SoccerHQ]

Not a huge fan but thought Johnstone played well yesterday.

[tomd2103]

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.

There are positive and proactive substitutions that can be made and yesterday was crying out for one after about 55 minutes.  We just needed a bit more energy at that point as Hull were starting to exert some pressure.

[paul_e]

Specific to the subs (which is where I think Bruce is totally lost) people are talking about being proactive but I don't think they're even reactive.  He had 15-20 minutes after the start of the second half to react and get some fresh legs into midfield but he didn't and then he made a change that only partially addressed the problem and it felt very much like the Green and Onomah subs were planned all along and the only one that was off the cuff was to throw Samba on up front for 5 minutes at the end.

[Axl Rose]

It is only the first game of the season but I can sense a lot of frustration coming out very, very quickly if we don't get a few wins. 
And the atmosphere was very subdued.

I agree with both of you, guys. Am looking forward to watching some matches with you in a foreign land sometime soon.

What about around mid December in Singapore or  Melbourne  and in the new year in Sydney or Bali?

Very tempting, though probably impossible right now. I'm heading back to England around December 16th for a couple of weeks-Christmas with the family and taking my wife to her first Villa game on the 23rd.

Then it's back to Japan and up to the frozen north of Hokkaido for new year with the in-laws. No doubt, at the same time you'll be enjoying the heat and the cricket!

[Mossie Hennebry]

Specific to the subs (which is where I think Bruce is totally lost) people are talking about being proactive but I don't think they're even reactive.  He had 15-20 minutes after the start of the second half to react and get some fresh legs into midfield but he didn't and then he made a change that only partially addressed the problem and it felt very much like the Green and Onomah subs were planned all along and the only one that was off the cuff was to throw Samba on up front for 5 minutes at the end.

I agree. It's as if he can't believe it's gone to shit because he started the best 11 and he doesn't trust his bench to improve things. Our manager needs to start managing.

[QuintonVilla]

I think the near misses that Green has had in almost scoring his first goal for the club might be playing on his mind a bit. He's been very close a few times now. Hopefully once the first goes in he'll lose a bit of anxiety. His miss was quite impressive, you'd never have bet that he'd win a corner from that position if you paused the action as the ball came across to him.

For all the "Bruce makes us sit back for the second half", it's worth remembering that the opposition's manager will clearly be laying into his players at half time and demanding they be more aggressive with the ball. It's not like we're playing in a vacuum. Plus teams will usually have a spell of dominance in games even when being on the back foot for long spells. We do need to learn how to deal with that better though, both from the players on the pitch and through Bruce's "in-game management" which has been said, is not pro-active enough.

Unrelated but the two managers in a wrestling contest would be quite the spectacle. Maybe pitch it to Netflix so they appear in the next series of Glow(is that what it's called?).

We all expect that the opposition will at least have a spell in the game and they will come out fired up for the second half. The worry though is that we don't know to how to deal with it and every one of us in the ground and watching at home knew Hull would score during that period of pressure. Other teams weather the 15 minute spell and then regain control of the game, we always seem to concede whenever a team ups the pressure and intensity against us.

[ChicagoLion]

It comes as a total shock to Bruce when the opposition shows some sign of competing.
Classic rabbit in the headlights reaction and inevitably gets run over.

[Clark W Griswold]

I think the near misses that Green has had in almost scoring his first goal for the club might be playing on his mind a bit. He's been very close a few times now. Hopefully once the first goes in he'll lose a bit of anxiety. His miss was quite impressive, you'd never have bet that he'd win a corner from that position if you paused the action as the ball came across to him.

For all the "Bruce makes us sit back for the second half", it's worth remembering that the opposition's manager will clearly be laying into his players at half time and demanding they be more aggressive with the ball. It's not like we're playing in a vacuum. Plus teams will usually have a spell of dominance in games even when being on the back foot for long spells. We do need to learn how to deal with that better though, both from the players on the pitch and through Bruce's "in-game management" which has been said, is not pro-active enough.

Unrelated but the two managers in a wrestling contest would be quite the spectacle. Maybe pitch it to Netflix so they appear in the next series of Glow(is that what it's called?).

We all expect that the opposition will at least have a spell in the game and they will come out fired up for the second half. The worry though is that we don't know to how to deal with it and every one of us in the ground and watching at home knew Hull would score during that period of pressure. Other teams weather the 15 minute spell and then regain control of the game, we always seem to concede whenever a team ups the pressure and intensity against us.

True, and then you predictably know that 'that's it' the best we're going to do from then is to get a draw, because there is almost no chance of us scoring again and it's just whether we can hold on or turn the flow (without actually scoring ourselves). This is especially true when Kodjia is out. It's been like this (or worse) literally for years.

[Villa Lew]

Very few positives to take from the match, hope never to see Gabby and Bacuna in a Villa shirt again, but unfortunately that's not going to happen.

The main positive was the back four, all played well and particular credit should be given to Terry, under pressure in view of all the media hype, but I thought he was a class act, never looked flustered and always seemed to know when to play the right ball, lost count of the number of clearances he made. Obviously he's going to face better attacks in the season, but reckon as long as he legs don't go, he will turn out to be a top signing.

Never thought I would hear the Holte End cheer, when the name John Terry, was announced over the PA.