Yeovil Town v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Percy McCarthy]

Play the kids, get loan players in, sign who you want....it won't make much difference until we start playing decent, positive football....
One up front (poor RHM..all alone being marked by two giants), not a lot of attacking intent vs a 4th Division side...says it all really...
3 wins out of 3 kind of papers over the cracks a bit..if we keep grinding wins out then great...but I have my doubts (putting it mildly).

Last season we did well when individual players turned in good performances. In the absence of good team play/tactics, the more players we have capable of doing that the better.

[Villa Lew]

1st half embarassing at times, improved when Kodj and Jack came. Got lucky with the disallowed goal, but we should have had a pen.

First time since 1962, 3 wins on the bounce, gotta be looking at 3 points on Saturday against Ipswich, who lost on pens to Exeter. Let's hope Kodj continues his improvement, we need him badly to find his top form.

[tomd2103]

Pretty awful for the majority of that game to be honest. I do think that a lot of Championship and Premier League sides come unstuck in the early rounds of this competition because they make wholesale changes from their starting XI  and throw together teams full of players who have hardly featured in the early stages of the season.  They then often come up against outfits from the lower leagues who field their first choice side that have played together for a number of weeks and are fairly settled.

That said, that doesn't excuse some of the dross we saw tonight.  I'm not going to mention the goalkeeper, as after seeing what happened on Saturday and then tonight, I don't really know what has gone on there.  If you are going to play young players, at least play them in an environment that is going to suit them.  I've only seen a bit of Doyle-Hayes, but from what I have seen it is clear that he is not an attacking midfielder and playing him and Whelan in the same midfield isn't going to work.  Similarly, playing Hepburn-Murphy up front on his own against two monster centre halves isn't really helping the kid either.  For Bruce to come out after the game and point the finger at them was a bit poor really and I wonder if he was trying to make a point.

Positives for me were Grealish's cameo when he came on and Bruce was obviously looking at Tuanzebe at left centre half and he did OK there.

[paul_e]

Another typical Bruce performance, looked unprepared, rode our luck at times and snuck the win with a bit of extra quality. Just like we did at times last year and the year before we look like we could fall apart any time and go on a long winless run.

What boils my piss though is him picking out the kids and the 'real' football comment. Chycking a bunch of youngsters under the bus when people like Whelan, Elphick and Taylor put in shit performances is just a cunty thing to do.

Yet again though these type of comments are coming in the window, he does it every time, we play like we're not coached and he gets all angry about the poor options he has. It's something he's done everywhere he's been to put pressure on the board for signings.

[Louzie0]

Moreira kept a clean sheet and saved a penalty. I’m not clear about why he’s getting a lot of criticism because it’s not as if there were loads of goals being knocked in at the other end. There’s not a lot more you can ask of a goalkeeper!

[Gareth]

A win is a win but that performance was tripe until Jack & Kodjia came on.

Hourihane, whilst can’t fault his goals record, contributes so so little around the pitch tho, just chases round 2 yards after the ball or fouls.

Adomah, has been poor since Xmas for me, again pops up with a few goals & dances well but he is so slow & should be a squad player at best.

Always think 433 (is that what we were trying to play) is a bit of a wishy washy system - defensive first, Adomah and Green permanently seemed welded to cover our full backs rather than get up and around RHM, makes the aimless hoof ball forward so easy to defend when only one up field.

Good to see Axel get 90 mins at CH but did I hear the commentator say Bruce was going to use him at LB? If that is so then CB on loan has to happen.

Both keepers have looked iffy thus far however hopefully they’ll grow into the team with a bit of patience and games.

[PeterWithesShin]

Moreira kept a clean sheet and saved a penalty. I’m not clear about why he’s getting a lot of criticism because it’s not as if there were loads of goals being knocked in at the other end. There’s not a lot more you can ask of a goalkeeper!

He flapped at just about everything. So i'm going to rename him Flappy McFlapface.

[Des Little]

Just home. I think at best I’d call that a professional job. Haven’t seen any replays of incidents yet so won’t comment but until Jack & Kodjia came on all I could see was penalties. Oh well, we’re in the hat and the M5 is behind me. Let’s hope it’s not Plymouth away next...!

[achilles]

Play the kids, get loan players in, sign who you want....it won't make much difference until we start playing decent, positive football....
One up front (poor RHM..all alone being marked by two giants), not a lot of attacking intent vs a 4th Division side...says it all really...
3 wins out of 3 kind of papers over the cracks a bit..if we keep grinding wins out then great...but I have my doubts (putting it mildly).

Last season we did well when individual players turned in good performances. In the absence of good team play/tactics, the more players we have capable of doing that the better.

Yes, we just rely on individual players to produce a bit of magic to win us games, absolutely no team structure at all!

[PeterWithesShin]

Sky highlights

[brontebilly]

Only saw second half but main positive was that we got minutes into a number of players that needed it and dug out the win. That keeper looked a car crash and surely Nyland needed the game in any case.

Biggest disappointment was Green to be honest. Bar one shot that he pulled wide, he was far too passive in his play. Adamoah wasn't much better but I wouldn't worry too much about him. We really need Green to kick on this season. Disappointing that it didn't go well for JDH and RHM. Honestly think both would be a lot better served by a loan spell at the likes of Yeovil. Green too has precious little adult football played, u23 is a waste of time.

Thought RDL looked solid but we have far too many RB options. Hourihane involved in our best attacking play with set pieces and a fine through ball to Adamoah I think. Scored again of course. Hopefully assist will improve Kodjia' s confidence. Grealish on a different planet to all our other players.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We can't be the only one's to see this surely....? I think he's under a lot of pressure and he knows it...

Yeah but it will be solved by the loans coming in.

Personally, he may be very busy what with taking care of the loans etc but he has to ask wtf his backroom team do at Bodymoor Heath every day. To blame the players for being unprepared is just passing the buck. Shape up or ship out.

[Pete3206]

Kodja saved our blushes there.

Ace kit.

[ROBBO]

Turgid is my description, play the kids? well there was two that were given their chance and neither took it, RHM had one clear chance and muffed it apart from that nothing they did convinced me they were ready to step up. Grealish when he came on lifted the quality of the play but like many Bruce doesn't convince me one iota that he has any kind of game plan or strategy.

[PeterWithesShin]

Sky highlights

Bruce OS interview https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1029472136212168704

Bruce Sky interview