Aston Villa v Brentford Post-Match Thread

[garyshawsknee]

Yeah, Brentford played through the middle alot which allowed us room on the wings, but other teams will be wise to this when we play at home, so we'll need to mix it up. McGinn can really see a pass though as does Jack.

[SamTheMouse]

We're not going to get promoted with Jedinak in the middle of our defence.

But it's OK, cos we now have several hundred midfielders on the books.

[Villatillidie25]

It always appears to me that no matter who we play the opposition always make our keeper work harder. We had a descent spell and their keeper barely made a save.

that's because, despite playing pretty well last night, almost our sole form of attack is to get it out wide and cross it, which results in one of three things normally; a goal, the defender clearing it, or a very tame effort as the attacker is under too much pressure.
we need to get far better at opening teams up and playing through them - with mcginn, grealish and a few new boys we certainly have the ability to provided bruce lets them

[Marlon From Bearwood]

That’ll be a decent point if / when we win on Saturday. Great to see Kodjia back to his best and Whelan was excellent.

Have to say though, it’s a shame we have so many fans who seem to give up and leave early when things aren’t going our way. The mass exodus when their second goal went in was ridiculous. There were 13 minutes between that goal and our equaliser and yet thousands missed it. I understand some have to leave early but not that many.

[Percy McCarthy]

Dean Smith

"If you remember the incident, Mile Jedinak fell over, got up and then smashed Neal in the back of the head so, if they are looking at retrospective for Neal, then we'll do so for Jedinak.

And for anyone interested, their match thread

http://www.griffinpark.org/forums/showthread.php?t=130656

Might do us a favour.

[andyh]

We're not going to get promoted with Jedinak in the middle of our defence.

But it's OK, cos we now have several hundred midfielders on the books.

And wingers, don’t forget the wingers.
We are getting all the wingers.

[simboy]

Thought we played well last night. I would have applauded them off if there hadn’t been a last minute equaliser, as I thought we were far the better team.

If I was going be to be critical it’s the right hand side defensively that concerns me most and needs resolving. With the loan of El Ghazi I wonder if the plan is to move Elmo back to right back with El Ghazi playing right side and Tuanzebe going to his preferred position.

Nah we can’t do that the Bruce haters would have a fit as that would mean that he might have a clue what he’s doing after all, and no I am not his biggest fan but if you take the relegation three years ago as the real low point then we’ve come a long way and some of that is down to SB ... imho

[Chris Stares]

People saying that we battered them for an hour or so are correct.  They couldn't live with our intensity both in and out of possession.  The turning point for me was when Dean Smith sacrificed McEachran for more legs in midfield.  That coincided with me noticing that as well as they both played, McGinn and Jack especially were beginning to run out of steam a little bit and holes were appearing in midfield as Brentford began to take more control.  Smith brought on even more fresh legs which just exacerbated the problem with our midfield starting to wane on the defensive side of things and more gaps opening up.  The thing that amazes me is how much of an engine Whelan has, despite his age.  That said, he wasn't going box-to-box like McGinn, and to an extent Jack, but I think their second goal was inevitable and we dodged a few bullets both before and after.  I feel that Bruce needed some fresh legs in midfield about 10 minutes before they scored to counter their growing dominance.  That said, I thought we definitely deserved the point at least and it was one of the most enjoyable and exciting games I've watched at VP for a long time.

[The Edge]

Thought we played well last night. I would have applauded them off if there hadn’t been a last minute equaliser, as I thought we were far the better team.

If I was going be to be critical it’s the right hand side defensively that concerns me most and needs resolving. With the loan of El Ghazi I wonder if the plan is to move Elmo back to right back with El Ghazi playing right side and Tuanzebe going to his preferred position.

Nah we can’t do that the Bruce haters would have a fit as that would mean that he might have a clue what he’s doing after all, and no I am not his biggest fan but if you take the relegation three years ago as the real low point then we’ve come a long way and some of that is down to SB ... imho

If Bruce does what you say and stops trying to force square pegs into round holes there won't be any need for Bruce haters.

[AlexAlexCropley]

People saying that we battered them for an hour or so are correct.  They couldn't live with our intensity both in and out of possession.  The turning point for me was when Dean Smith sacrificed McEachran for more legs in midfield.  That coincided with me noticing that as well as they both played, McGinn and Jack especially were beginning to run out of steam a little bit and holes were appearing in midfield as Brentford began to take more control.  Smith brought on even more fresh legs which just exacerbated the problem with our midfield starting to wane on the defensive side of things and more gaps opening up.  The thing that amazes me is how much of an engine Whelan has, despite his age.  That said, he wasn't going box-to-box like McGinn, and to an extent Jack, but I think their second goal was inevitable and we dodged a few bullets both before and after.  I feel that Bruce needed some fresh legs in midfield about 10 minutes before they scored to counter their growing dominance.  That said, I thought we definitely deserved the point at least and it was one of the most enjoyable and exciting games I've watched at VP for a long time.

Hear,hear

[robleflaneur]

It always appears to me that no matter who we play the opposition always make our keeper work harder. We had a descent spell and their keeper barely made a save.

that's because, despite playing pretty well last night, almost our sole form of attack is to get it out wide and cross it, which results in one of three things normally; a goal, the defender clearing it, or a very tame effort as the attacker is under too much pressure.
we need to get far better at opening teams up and playing through them - with mcginn, grealish and a few new boys we certainly have the ability to provided bruce lets them

Exactly what I was saying last night.Our overreliance on getting the ball wide and cross into the box and very little play through midfield which considering we have Grealish and McGinn is a neglectful waste.
Contrast with Brentford who when going forward are looking to play one-twos,have players making angled runs etc.They didn't beat us because we have better players.Kodjia and McGinn being particularly outstanding.

[CJ]

Just saw the highlights for the first time. Should have had a penalty for handball, and they should have been down to 10 for that deliberate stamp on McGinn by Maupay, which was both cowardly and disgraceful. How the ref missed it is beyond belief

[martyn ellis]

Just had a look at the Bees website match thread. Generally very fair minded and balanced comments, all acknowledging our superiority for 70 minutes and Smith's wisdom in bringing on the midfield battlers to blunt our midfield. A decent bunch on the face of it.

[Walmley_Villa]

I knew we wouldn't win when I saw Brentford had turned up as the Cleveland Browns!

Seriously though, we were very good in the first half, playing with pace and taking the game to them. Only let down by poor crossing. The midfield link up play was great plus work rate. Axel is decent but needs to be CH. We should only improve which is a great sign. Potentially we have a better team than last season imo. Great to see Kodja smiling again, we have missed that.

[martyn ellis]

What is it with this stamping? It's cowardly and nasty and can't do much to raise your profile with fellow professionals. But the thing I can't understand is why refs or officials fail to see it. Poor as he was, I can understand John Moss missing the one last night and although Maupay will miss some games it's no consolation to us, so in that respect he got away with it and went on to score what seemed to be the winning goal. I can't understand how the Fredericks one was missed in the playoff final. Right in front of the lino and the ref and no action taken. Both of these were in the first half of the games. It's just a pity they can't be reliably informed at half time and send them off at half time.