Norwich City vs Aston Villa Match Thread.

[Pete3206]

Quick quiz.  Guess, if you can, who is the only player on the pitch to have touched the ball less than 10 times. 

I'll give you a clue, it's Scott fucking Hogan.

And nobody has worked harder

He runs around like a puppy with a balloon.  If that puppy never actually got near the balloon of course.  He's a waste of a shirt.

With respect, I disagree. Today, the same as Tuesday, he's making runs into spaces and demanding the ball, whilst our midfield and wide players never look up from the football and punt speculative passes into nowhere.

[AsTallAsLions]

Any player will look shit if they only 'receive' the ball two feet above their head with a massive defender breathing down their neck.

It's not just high balls. Adomah has been trying to thread it through for him again and again, but he's not fast enough to get on the end of it. So here we have a player who is too small for high balls, too slow for through balls, and doesn't come deep to hold up play, leading the line by himself.

What exactly is he there for? You have to ask questions both of his ability and of the manager's tactics.

[ChicagoLion]

why play high balls to a player that is his size ?

Norwich have Sussex us out by marking Snow and Albert out the game, so we are left with the punt.
If Bruce had any nous he would have changed it.

[IFWaters]

lets see if Grabban can grab one

[PaulWinch again]

Sort it the fuck out Villa.

[Ads]

Utter fucking listless shite.

No fucking urgency. These are so deep, fucking push onto them. The full backs and wide men are abysmal. Hogan is so isolated, it's fucking pointless him being on the park.

Grealish fucking idle in closing down against Norwich who have been even more wank than us, and we have been fucking wank as we have been in months too.

Fucking sort it out Villa you shower of ******.

[Sexual Ealing]

Any player will look shit if they only 'receive' the ball two feet above their head with a massive defender breathing down their neck.

Why play him then?  He's either shit, or just not suited to the way we play.  In almost every single game he plays he has far, far fewer touches than every other player on the pitch, for both teams.  That can't be a coincidence.  In Snodgrass, Grealish and Adomah we have 3 of the best creative players in the division.

That's one view. Another is that the manager who picks all the players tells the ones at the back to play through our skilful and expensive midfield.

[Risso]

So painfully slow and predictable against another crap team. Bruce just will not send a team out to play on the front foot. Cardiff/Fulham must be amazed at our lack of desire and urgency. I just don't understand the tactics. Its like a pre season friendly.  So I suppose its 4 forwards on in the second halfl!

Agreed, look at Cardiff last night.  Straining every sinew in the last five minutes, leading to the two penalties.  You just don't get that urgency with a Bruce team.  He'll be on afterwards saying it's OK because it was a world class goal and that's the Championship.  Clown.

[Deano's Mullet]

Looks  like another game where the opposition may only have to score once to beat us. Very frustrating as I think we have controlled the game without taking it by scruff of neck.

[kippaxvilla2]

Sort it the fuck out Villa.

Is what his team talk consisted of.

[Smirker]

Bring The Kodge on.

Yes our best player so put him on now.

[Bad English]

Phone rings on 43 minutes so I switch off my stream and answer. I switch back on and fucking this. Fucking believable!

[tomd2103]

We see too many of these performances, lack of energy, no cutting edge or focal point up front, no movement off the ball, passing slow and then a lack of ability by players like Taylor.
Nullify the 2 wide guys and foul Grealish.

Yep.  Thought we started off OK but have steadily regressed to the kind of performance that has happened a bit too often this season and is the reason why we aren’t in the automatic places.

[Risso]

Any player will look shit if they only 'receive' the ball two feet above their head with a massive defender breathing down their neck.

Why play him then?  He's either shit, or just not suited to the way we play.  In almost every single game he plays he has far, far fewer touches than every other player on the pitch, for both teams.  That can't be a coincidence.  In Snodgrass, Grealish and Adomah we have 3 of the best creative players in the division.

That's one view. Another is that the manager who picks all the players tells the ones at the back to play through our skilful and expensive midfield.

His lack of touches isn't a 'view' it's a matter of fact.

[Proposition Joe]

Annoying to say the least. Bruce or no Bruce, the players should realise that when the home fans start booing their own team, it's time to twist the knife in. But we dropped the intensity.

Hogan needs support, and although it would be tempting to take off Hourihane for a forwaed and push Bjarne at bit forward, we need at least two goals and Hourihane always has that in him.