Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa Play Off Final Post Match Thread

[Dinas_Caerdydd]

wasn't going to post on this thread as i guess your all pretty peeved off right now but looking at the game today fulham edged it . as for next season if you can build a team around grealish you should walk the league . swansea and stoke are no great shakes either but will be interesting to see if SB will be your manager 

for those that went to wembley how was your experience ? hated it when we got beat by blackpool around 7 years ago now but the view , cost of getting to wembley was a downer for me . when the millenium stadium hosted the play offs fans from around the country wanted it to be kept there at the time

[SoccerHQ]

wasn't going to post on this thread as i guess your all pretty peeved off right now but looking at the game today fulham edged it . as for next season if you can build a team around grealish you should walk the league . swansea and stoke are no great shakes either but will be interesting to see if SB will be your manager 

for those that went to wembley how was your experience ? hated it when we got beat by blackpool around 7 years ago now but the view , cost of getting to wembley was a downer for me . when the millenium stadium hosted the play offs fans from around the country wanted it to be kept there at the time

We'll probably be more like you after you lost to Blackpool in 2010...think you lost Bothroyd, Bellamy, Joe Ledley and Chopra all in one go from that side.

Took you a few years to recover from that and build another decent team capable of promotion.

[SoccerHQ]

When we do play, we play decent football. The hoof, hoof, hoof to snodgrass and grabban doesn’t/didn’t work!

Agreed, that mazy run form Grealish came from good control and crossfield ball from Grabban.

Given the way we play it can only be lazy coaching and drills on the training ground all week.

If we were coached to pass and move on the training ground every day it simply wouldn't fall apart on matchday.

[Villa in Denmark]

You knew it was over when he chucked Hogan on, fitting really I suppose.

As soon as they scored I knew we didn't stand a chance. I called it learning from experience.

I can't be arsed to work it out as it would depress me, but I wonder what our record is under Bruce when we go 1 down.

Shit is the answer.

[SoccerHQ]

Last season Newcastle went out to win every game and expected to win every game. They got promoted. If we had that attitude, we’d be promoted.

yep, what did it for me was Bruce looking like he didn't give a shit in the post match interviews when we blew automatic promotion in March.. okay, he obviously had other things on his mind, but i expected him to be livid rather than "meh". Must have rubbed off on the players to a point and something you wouldn't get from FSW, or MON, or Houllier or gregory for that matter.

He just gambled he'd get us up through the play offs like he did with Hull and SHA.

He's finished in the top 6 five times in the championship. This was first time he's failed to get a team promoted from that position.

[aj2k77]

The answer to everything tonight is shit. I'd convinced myself we were going to do it. Never bloody learn.

[OzVilla]

When we do play, we play decent football. The hoof, hoof, hoof to snodgrass and grabban doesn’t/didn’t work!

Agreed, that mazy run form Grealish came from good control and crossfield ball from Grabban.

Given the way we play it can only be lazy coaching and drills on the training ground all week.

If we were coached to pass and move on the training ground every day it simply wouldn't fall apart on matchday.

Its an indictment that that was really our only decent chance, a mazy run that had nothing, absolutely zero to do with tactics and training ground work and more to do with one individuals talent.

Fulham on the other hand played through us for their goal.  You could see that was something they work on all the time.  I still can't believe we just sat in, defended deep from the lone striker back and just waited for something to happen in the 1st half rather than having a crack.   

[SoccerHQ]

When we do play, we play decent football. The hoof, hoof, hoof to snodgrass and grabban doesn’t/didn’t work!

Agreed, that mazy run form Grealish came from good control and crossfield ball from Grabban.

Given the way we play it can only be lazy coaching and drills on the training ground all week.

If we were coached to pass and move on the training ground every day it simply wouldn't fall apart on matchday.

Its an indictment that that was really our only decent chance, a mazy run that had nothing, absolutely zero to do with tactics and training ground work and more to do with one individuals talent.

Fulham on the other hand played through us for their goal.  You could see that was something they work on all the time.  I still can't believe we just sat in, defended deep from the lone striker back and just waited for something to happen in the 1st half rather than having a crack.   

We are always lax in Wembley final, it seems to be the law. Too young to remember us turning up in the mid 90s and actually believing we'd win and play our normal game as we did in 1996.

We just have the air of a plucky underdog now hoping to enjoy the day which is ironic considering many thought that would be Fulham.

The performance really wasn't a shock today given how SB generally sets us up away from VP (and in a few home games).

Amongst all the talk of experience it was forgotten our creaking legs really struggle against midfields that can press and will do quick passing triangles around us.

Fulham did that, scored and then comfortably closed out the game even after going down to 10.

[Dinas_Caerdydd]

HQ your club is unique in terms of size . we are a big club but you lot are huge with a huge fan base

when i look back at the season now warnock has performed miracles he really has

as mentioned in other threads would much prefer AV to come up with us rather than those posh happy clapper gits from west lundun .

looking at the league next season lots of local derbys for you to look forward too now with WBA and stoke in the mix even shrewsbury too .

[Clampy]

Very disappointed obviously. We lost it in the first half and as bettter as we were in the second, I wasn't that overly confident we would score. A massive opportunity wasted.

[leylandalbion]

wasn't going to post on this thread as i guess your all pretty peeved off right now but looking at the game today fulham edged it . as for next season if you can build a team around grealish you should walk the league . swansea and stoke are no great shakes either but will be interesting to see if SB will be your manager 

for those that went to wembley how was your experience ? hated it when we got beat by blackpool around 7 years ago now but the view , cost of getting to wembley was a downer for me . when the millenium stadium hosted the play offs fans from around the country wanted it to be kept there at the time

Dont find it too bad. Park at Stanmore. Some west African dude let us park in his drive for free. Tinnies from Sainsburys and sandwiches from home. Live in Leyland a good 4 hrs from London and back by 11:30.  Getting away from Wembley a lot quicker than VP! Ps if you do go for Johnston can we have your lad in goal?

[tomd2103]

As with the FA Cup final three years earlier, I found myself standing in a queue waiting outside Wembley for a train feeling thoroughly dejected and wondering just where Aston Villa are going as a club.  Although the thought of Villa being in the Premier League next season was a pretty daunting one, not going up today feels like a massive step backwards. 

I can’t help but think that the club is now at a major crossroads and some major decisions are going to have to be made in a pretty short timeframe.  Do we simply keep Steve Bruce at the helm, try and trim the squad a bit (easier said than done as we know) and continue pretty much business as usual as we have over the past 18 months or is this the point at which we look to totally remodel the club, knowing that results may suffer for a time as a result?

As for the game today, awful first half, but as with many of the games this season we picked it up in the second half.  Things just didn’t fall for us in the final third and it didn’t help that there were a number of below par performances from our forward players.  I felt that Bruce began making substitutions about 10-15 minutes too late and even then, went down the Lambert route of throwing on forwards without any real plan which dampened the momentum we had built up.

As for Fulham, I thought Cairney was excellent in midfield for them and I thought Mitrovic also had a very good game. He held the ball up really well and caused Chester and Terry problems with his physicality,  That said, I thought they began to buckle a bit in the second half, but we just couldn’t capitalise on it.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

One thing I noticed, at least second half, was that Agnew was standing next to Bruce exchanging ideas. It made me wonder where was Calderwood or even fucking Clemence, as they seemed to be the only two that had Bruce's ear all season.

Bruce said in his pre-match press conference that more than worrying about the transfer window, his first thought was to have a holiday, something he really needed. He's stuck in there like a trooper, and I'll always respect him for that but when you're struggling, either with poor performances, results or just emotionally knackered, you rely on those around you carrying the baton. I've struugled to understand who Bruce was sharing his heavy load.

He's without doubt a very decent man, an old school, salt of the earth type, when you hear him talk about his father, completely no-frills, wouldn't be arsed with the bollocks that is Wembley, you see a man that has stuck to his roots. Our problem is those days have long gone and tonight we count the cost of relying on somebody, no matter how decent and a great representative of the traditions of our club, a man that was so out of his depth in modern football, at least one with ambitions of successfully returning to the PL.

Wyness was right to appoint a manager who could deal with the size of Aston Villa. The problem was the said manager wasn't the right fit to deal with the minimum of expectation this club and its fans require. We wanted stability, understandably so, but stability in Aston Villa terms is being a PL club, not a club stable in the bloody Championship.

If I'm honest, despite trying to convince myself, thanks much to the wonderful faith and enthusiasm on here, that we could win today. We all referenced the Wolves game of how good we can be. Sadly, as the season shows, that was an exception, not the rule. To expect the same today was asking for a massive seismic shift. Right now I feel like I've just suffered an earthquake but like every victim that has lost their home, their possessions, we'll have to keep strong and rebuild. It may take longer than we planned.

26th May, 2018 - yet another chapter in the what seems never ending story of 'Aston Villa - The Missed Opportunities'.

[Brend'Watkins]

It has nothing to do with previous Wembley appearances. We finished 4th and we confirmed our 4th spot today.

[Villatillidie1982]

Why do I get the sinking feeling Bruce will still be in charge next season?

I have that horrid feeling.

Who’s out there that will do a better job?

For me, we should stick with him.

I agree....he’s made us better not worse, unlike the previous 4 or 5 managers that couldn’t do it

This is still the best Villa team for a number of years. Unless we can get Guadiola, Klopp, Pellegrini etc. then he deserves at least until Christmas. He wasn't adventurous enough yesterday until it was too late. There wasn't enough movement off the ball. So many times, Jack or Grabban were looking for someone to pass to and nobody was available.

Villa's best performances have come when players have been willing to keep moving into spaces so that the ball can keep moving forward. How many times did an attempt to keep passing the ball end up with Johnstone, who is the worst kicker of a football that I have ever seen? Pity as he is a decent goalkeeper.

We need to keep as many of these players as possible (especially Jack) and go again.