Aston Villa 2-0 Rotherham Post Match Thread

[Bad English]

Bruce with his ‘dish it out after an unconvincing win’ bollocks is fast becoming my least favourite manager of recent years.

Yep and mine. We won and so we bloody should do.

Taterz gonna hate.

[Brend'Watkins]

it was nice to see two strikers working together to produce that first goal.  We haven't seen a goal like it under Bruce. Against the weaker teams in the division it is something he must continue to do.  I thought we were very good in spells, always dominant but with only a goal in front there was always a hint of a Reading type equalizer waiting to happen.  Thankfully we had Bolassie's shoulder to make it safe after some smart play with Grealish and Elmo'.

Grealish played well but he really should be sitting behind the front two not out wide.   

[ktvillan]

I was quite stunned to see this in his post match comments:  "I've always wanted to play two up top and for some reason here, it hasn't really happened."

It's taken him what, 99 games to pick two up front?   Amazing how he can disconnect what happens on the pitch with anything he does or doesn't do.  But of course now we've dispatched the mighty Rotherham he clearly knows what he is doing and any criticism of him is nonsense.  What fools we are.

[Ads]

The keeper is a clown because he struggled to control a back pass aimed at his neck?

There's lots to disagree with in that post.

I stopped reading at "Rotherham were on top" as I just assumed he was referring to a different game.

I'm a sucker for punishment though. You didn't miss much.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Nyland : 6/10 Didn't do anything wrong or have much to do

Hutton : 4/10 Such a poor footballer. No idea why he started ahead of Taylor who isn't much better but actually has a left foot
Chester : 7/10 Did his usual job despite switching sides twice during the match
Jedi : 7/10 Audible groans and anger when hearing he was starting at CB pre match. Turns out it was spot on tactics with their giant forward. Decent on both sides
Elmo : 6.5/10 Did well, being comfortable on the ball means he can offer something going forwards as well as at the back

Grealish : 6.5/10 Despite playing wide I thought it was probably his best game this season (not saying much i know) got involved at least. Black mark for the ridiculous second half step over after screaming for the ball to be given to his feet
Hourihane : 6.5/10 Did alright, more noticeable last night without going missing for large periods of the game
McGinn : 7.5/10 Like him a lot. Huffed and puffed a bit but always seems to be involved and have a second wind in him. New Championship Milner
El Ghazi : 4.5/10 Bit anonymous/lightweight. Still coming to terms with the league i'm sure

Kodjia : 6/10 Did ok, showed glimpses. Lovely through ball for Tammy's goal. Inexplicable fancy arsed and failed effort at a cross in the second half which deserved a slap
Abraham : 6.5/10 Decent. Took goal well and was generally involved. More to come

Bolasie : 7/10 Good cameo. Looking forward to seeing him start once 100%. Lovely header and a couple of decent crosses as well
Bree : 6.5/10 Looked steady, would like to see him play more but Elmo deserves to keep the RB shirt at the moment
Adomah : 6/10 Did ok

Overall thoughts ...

Was surprised we went 4-4-2 but a LOT of folks had been asking for it. Seemed to offer more threat but you lose Jack through the middle obviously. No way he could play in a middle two. Not that he's offered much through the middle this season anyway. Maybe playing from wide will be more productive. If not I just don't see how he can fit into a 4-4-2

The only way would be to drop the second striker and play him closer to Abraham, but he doesn't offer enough goal threat to play there surely?

Hats off to Bruce for the Jedi call. I was spitting feathers in the car when the team was announced. But I didn't know they had a big brute up front. So, credit where due. It worked well.

Still can't understand why Hutton started over Taylor. I'm no big fan of the latter but he's a left back. And far more comfortable on the ball than Hutton.

[tomd2103]

I agree with everyone who has said our full backs stunt our attacks and limit us. Hutton can't kick the ball with his left foot so when he overlaps he rarely puts it across with his left and has to cut back.

Full backs are massively important in the modern game. Not for a second am I comparing us to Man City but look at how effective Walker and Mendy are in helping them control the game. They push the opposing winger back and provide an outlet. We should be controlling and dominating games in this league and our full backs should almost be a secondary winger, especially in games like last night where the opposition are poor.

Agree and they are even more important if the player in front of them is on their wrong side as well.  Grealish played out on the left last night and much like Snodgrass on te right last season, he was looking to cut in on his stronger foot.  This creates space outside and is where you really need a full back who can push on and provide that wide option. 

[Neil Hawkes]

I keep hearing 4-4-2 is not best suited for us - what's wrong with 4-3-1-2?
Grealish as the 1 and a direct link to the forward 2

[tomd2103]

I keep hearing 4-4-2 is not best suited for us - what's wrong with 4-3-1-2?
Grealish as the 1 and a direct link to the forward 2

Could work Neil, but would mean that we wouldn't really play with wide players which wouldn't be ideal seeing as we've signed a couple on loan this season. 

[AV82EC]

There was a glimpse of the right formation for about 5 mins after Kodjia went off as Grealish went central with Adomah and Bolasie wide and Abraham’s up top with Hourihane and McGinn providing the midfield energy. It looked balanced and we seemed to be holding the ball and shape really well. Then he changed it again to make his quite ridiculous defensive substitution and move everyone to different positions again.

4-2-3-1 with this set of players is the answer, or 4-3-3 if you prefer.

His 4-4-2 to start the game was ok but was soon nullified by an organised but limited Rotherham team who fair play to them kept themselves in it for 80 minutes.

[tomd2103]

There was a glimpse of the right formation for about 5 mins after Kodjia went off as Grealish went central with Adomah and Bolasie wide and Abraham’s up top with Hourihane and McGinn providing the midfield energy. It looked balanced and we seemed to be holding the ball and shape really well. Then he changed it again to make his quite ridiculous defensive substitution and move everyone to different positions again.

4-2-3-1 with this set of players is the answer, or 4-3-3 if you prefer.

His 4-4-2 to start the game was ok but was soon nullified by an organised but limited Rotherham team who fair play to them kept themselves in it for 80 minutes.

Agree somewhat and one of the problems I saw last night was that Grealish and McGinn in particular were doing a lot of their work in deeper positions and not really hurting the opposition too much.  We really need those two a bit further up the field where they can cause problems. 

That would mean an eventual midfield / attacking unit of something like:

                                    Defensive Midfielder

                       Grealish                                  McGinn

Bolasie                                Abraham                       Kodjia 

I like the look so far of the Abraham and Kodjia partnership and we could always switch to that if necessary. 

[Matt Collins]

it was nice to see two strikers working together to produce that first goal.  We haven't seen a goal like it under Bruce. Against the weaker teams in the division it is something he must continue to do.  I thought we were very good in spells, always dominant but with only a goal in front there was always a hint of a Reading type equalizer waiting to happen.  Thankfully we had Bolassie's shoulder to make it safe after some smart play with Grealish and Elmo'.

Grealish played well but he really should be sitting behind the front two not out wide.   

But you then have to play a diamond or 352.

[Matt Collins]

I keep hearing 4-4-2 is not best suited for us - what's wrong with 4-3-1-2?
Grealish as the 1 and a direct link to the forward 2

Works for Grealish and possibly the front two. But you can't play wingers and you need attacking full backs.

I like this formation but I don't think Bruce has ever really played it. Its quite hard to get right - the risk is it's incredibly narrow

[ChicagoLion]

Bruce with his ‘dish it out after an unconvincing win’ bollocks is fast becoming my least favourite manager of recent years.

Yep and mine. We won and so we bloody should do.

Taterz gonna hate.

A chip on both shoulders.

[tomd2103]

it was nice to see two strikers working together to produce that first goal.  We haven't seen a goal like it under Bruce. Against the weaker teams in the division it is something he must continue to do.  I thought we were very good in spells, always dominant but with only a goal in front there was always a hint of a Reading type equalizer waiting to happen.  Thankfully we had Bolassie's shoulder to make it safe after some smart play with Grealish and Elmo'.

Grealish played well but he really should be sitting behind the front two not out wide.   

But you then have to play a diamond or 352.

Diamond might be interesting, but not sure either Hutton or Taylor would be suited to play full-back in that system and again we would have to leave out our wide players. 

[ChicagoLion]

it was nice to see two strikers working together to produce that first goal.  We haven't seen a goal like it under Bruce. Against the weaker teams in the division it is something he must continue to do.  I thought we were very good in spells, always dominant but with only a goal in front there was always a hint of a Reading type equalizer waiting to happen.  Thankfully we had Bolassie's shoulder to make it safe after some smart play with Grealish and Elmo'.

Grealish played well but he really should be sitting behind the front two not out wide.   

But you then have to play a diamond or 352.

Diamond might be interesting, but not sure either Hutton or Taylor would be suited to play full-back in that system and again we would have to leave out our wide players.

He has bought too many wide midfielders to play a diamond.