Aston Villa v Brentford Post-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

I am no Bruce fan but I think that’s harsh. For about 65/70 mins we played some really good stuff.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We should have won that comfortably, but good we fought back st the end. Good to have Kod back, Nyland did well overall, and Axel did well for the most part. Disappointed with Jack tonight.

Agreed. Jack was poor tonight by his standards. First half was as good as we've played for a long time. Fantastic pressing, energy, fight, even movement. Really enjoyable to watch. Second half we tried to play the same but Brentford didn't allow us and slowly took control of the game. Still, a point is better than a defeat but after that first half peformance, it certainly feels like a defeat.

[avfcpg]

Best we played for ages...tempo and pressing were excellent. But we still don't create enough...especially given the possession we had going forward.
Some decent additions but we have to have a set up and style to suit them...currently we don't. And playing a CB at CB would be useful.
Still, it's better. Credit to Brentford. Well organised, well drilled and could have got a few in last 30 mins. 

[Bermuda Villa]

We will win more games than not playing with that intensity however conceding two goals a game with shocking errors is not going to cut it. The goalkeeping situation is baffling, you let Steer go who has experience and did well at Hull and replace him with not 1 but 2 keepers with zero experience of the English game. You then play 2 of the back four out of position and its no wonder we are conceding the type of goals we have so far.

The acid test is will Bruce be brave enough to play like that away from home? I think we know the answer to that.

Dean Smith has done an incredible job there on a fraction of the Budget that Bruce has at his disposal.

[Risso]

I really enjoyed that game

Very encouraging in lots of ways. McGinn was great. Grealish not at his best. Kodjia back. Defence a concern. Keeper overall did well but maybe should have done better with the goal

What game did most of the other people commenting on here watch by the way? I don't think it was the same one as me

I thought it was a very good game. Not sure which Grealish you were watching though as he had a great match! 😉

Andre Green though, dear oh dear. I’d have taken him off after coming on.

[BoVillan esq]

Villa show again how we just don't have the instinct to go and win, kill a game of, once we've clawed our way back into it, on the other hand Brentford show how to win away from home against a decent Championship side, something else we haven't learnt, Bruce will feel satisfied with this.

On to the next.

They showed how to win by drawing?

Of Course, the point I was making was it came pretty close in the end.

[brontebilly]

Played well for 60 minutes.
We defend like a team with a centre back at right back, a right back at left back and a defensive midfielder at centre back.

I only saw the last 35 mins. Only one team looked like winning in that time and were playing all the football. Kodjia's equaliser was the only chance we had in that time.

We are missing Terrys ability on the ball hugely, Jedinak' s air game aside he is a car crash back there with his distribution and positioning. Grealish's attitude was appalling and needs to get over the Spurs transfer falling through asap. Taking up the Wayne Rooney role taking handy ball off the back when he should be at least 20 yards further forward in an area where he might effect the game. Another late goal is a positive but it was far from a siege on their goal for last 5-10 mins.

Green was so bad I felt sorry for him. He will be a long time waiting for another chance. Ollie Watkins looks a real player in comparison.

[itbrvilla]

We saw tonight that we have enough firepower and talent to completely blow this league apart.

But we’ll finish 5th. 

our keeper made more saves. Does that indicate that Brentford have more firepower?

[mcgrath_85]

The equaliser is yet more paper over the cracks. The bottom line is we will not be getting promoted under this manager and his staff.
We play every game like it’s the first time the team have got together and it’s been embarrassing for a while: shambolic.
It’s time to be bold and make a change, which I know is not going to be easy.
The sooner we change it, the sooner we can hopefully compete for automatic promotion this season. At the moment, we are way off that...AGAIN!

[Villan For Life]

I enjoyed and thought that was as well as we have played for a while.

As others have said there were many plus points and just as many negatives. The biggest negative for me was our inability with the final ball. If we could cross we’d be a dangerous team. Hopefully our new wingers will improve this aspect of our game.

[Small Rodent]

We need a new chant.

Square pegs! Round holes!

Every time we do reasonably well it is papering over the cracks.

Glad I've left every villa FB group I was on.

Get rid.

[PeterWithe]

Grealish's attitude was appalling and needs to get over the Spurs transfer falling through asap.

Think that’s incredibly harsh, I’ve seen him play better but he wanted to get involved in everything and was a constant threat. He doesn’t make a great pair with Kodjia though.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Some right miserable gits on here. Best we’ve played for ages

If we won 4-2 there would still be loads of knicker wetters on here.
[/quote) But we didn't .............we  drew at home to the  mighty Brentford FFS - Bruce has "succeeded" in the past by building a side from a solid defence - we don't appear to have that primarily as he is playing players out of position - would be nice to hear the rationale behind that - yes it's very early in  the season but we shouldn't be settling for draws against the likes of Brentford or Ipswich

[Rigadon]

What Brentford did to us tonight was MON-esque.  On the counter, pace out wide.  We were the better side, centre halves aside. 

Add one or two players to this team (seems we have some wingers signed) including a solid centre half, with Grealish and the excellent McGinn, and we win this league. 

[sickbeggar]

The equaliser is yet more paper over the cracks. The bottom line is we will not be getting promoted under this manager and his staff.
We play every game like it’s the first time the team have got together and it’s been embarrassing for a while: shambolic.
It’s time to be bold and make a change, which I know is not going to be easy.
The sooner we change it, the sooner we can hopefully compete for automatic promotion this season. At the moment, we are way off that...AGAIN!

yep, EVERYONE, anti-Bruce or not, saw that team selection and went "buh?" We planning on going up with a defence that's gonna ship a couple of goals every game? Mental that getting an last minute equaliser is seen as some sort of victory because the football wasn't bollocks for once.