Villa 5-5 Forest post-match thread

[Legion]

Extended highlights

[pauliewalnuts]

Didn't he take Chester out for their first as well? Thought he had a very poor game all round

Mcginn I think

Hourihane "tackled" Chester leaving a gaping hole in the defence for the first. He also bottled an attempt to close down Lolley for their 4th. Not his best game.

Hourihane had a truly dreadful match, he was awful, the game passed him by.

[john e]

Didn't he take Chester out for their first as well? Thought he had a very poor game all round

Mcginn I think

Hourihane "tackled" Chester leaving a gaping hole in the defence for the first. He also bottled an attempt to close down Lolley for their 4th. Not his best game.

Hourihane had a truly dreadful match, he was awful, the game passed him by.

Hourihane for me is one of those players who will come up with a special moment every so often
a long range shot, a great free kick goal, a decent cross

but his general football play is not good enough, he just simply isn’t consistent enough he just relies on highlights every few games which in fairness do change games and earn points but overall we need a player who offers a lot more in open play

[footyskillz]

He was at fault for first 2 goals . He needlessly challenged and took out chester which left the massive space .

Watch him number 14 not go with the player  Lolley waltzed past Taylor
Check the highlights and you can clearly see the run carvalho makes and horihane starts by his side then carvalho just zooms off.
Shocking exposed for lack of pace.

His all round positional play was awful and he goes hiding like there is a national hide and sneek tournament to be won .
He was hardly making himself available as an option and he keeps it's so basic and simple .
I rather have Whelan there as he does the job .

Doesn't take any responsibility and the the way he throws his hands out for the ball rather than screaming for it is infuriating because mostly the play is ahead of him and he's not a great option .

Clearly players don't see him so why he has arms outstretched when they are looking forward is beyond sense.

For me he's frustrating in as much as he has some talent but doesn't move around enough after passing and when chester Tuanzebe Taylor and Hutton were in possession.

Man needs to step up . The last manager said this a few times and I feel Hourihane doesn't dominate the ball, the midfield and the match.

He has a good left foot though despite his wayward attempt when we went looking for 6th

I think Smith having watched that will look to develop him and hopefully he can learn his role and move around into space .

Far far too ineffective both on and off the ball

[Pat McMahon]

An obvious point is that Hourihane is not a defensive midfielder.

I agree with the comments above about not influencing games enough. He reminds me of Hitz - a great shot and scores good goals but rarely has a sustained influence on games

[martyn ellis]

And I thought it was brilliant the way our fans applauded Grabban when he came off.

And the fact that he also went up to the Holte at the end and applauded himself and then hugged all the Villa boys that were still around the area. There was a lot of respect shown by both sets of players at the end there. They played themselves to a standstill and were out on their feet by the end. That's how it should be.

[SoccerHQ]

Sure they will Stuart, sure they will.

Like to expand on why you think they won't, just watch tonights game back. When at 5:4 you just knew if they had 1 more shot on target it'd be 5:5 and guess what they did and it was.

Forest are a very good team and they just exploited the acres of space we gave them 30 yards from goal very well.

Give that space to likes of Bolton and Rotherham and they simply can't as we saw in the recent games.

It was just a freak one off game, we've shown plenty of times recently that we can outscore many teams at this level no problem.

[SoccerHQ]

An obvious point is that Hourihane is not a defensive midfielder.

I agree with the comments above about not influencing games enough. He reminds me of Hitz - a great shot and scores good goals but rarely has a sustained influence on games

He was box to box at Barnsley but McGinn is just better at that role. Think it's just a case of Dean wants the midfield more on a front foot so will play all the midfielders with that instinct from the start.

Think if Bjarni was fit he'd have played the DM role last night. Hourihane will go back to being a squad player after January I think.

[garyshawsknee]

I wonder if Smith will try and use one of our youth in the role that  Woods had at Brentford eventually, the Irish lad comes to mind.

[paul_e]

I wonder if Smith will try and use one of our youth in the role that  Woods had at Brentford eventually, the Irish lad comes to mind.

I think so, Doyle-Hayes was on the bench last night and I suspect would've been given 25-30 minutes if the game hadn't been so mad (O'Hare as well). I think both of them will get game time over the next month or so (especially during the christmas games) I think Jack Clarke might get a chance as well because he's another who has been moved away from the U23 squad in the last few weeks.

[postal]

2-0 down after 6 minutes to draw 5-5; bewildering game of football! I read on Twitter (I know) that this was the first ever 5-5 draw at Villa Park.

I'm pretty sure that there havent been too many 5-5 draws anywhere 

I seem to remember that there was one game, maybe 10-15 years ago at Villa against Stoke (I think) that it was 2-2 after 11mins and it stayed like that. That one could have been another crazy game.

Bolton

Bristol City drew 5-5 with Hull last season and John McGinn played in a 5-5 against Rangers last season.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46385157

I remember the 4-4 v Leicester in 95 (throwing a 4-1 lead away?) and the 4-4 at Chelsea on Boxing day 2007

We drew 4-4 at Spurs aswell under MON, 4-1 up with about 20 minutes left. We were singing Happy Birthday to you at 4-1 as it was their 125th? anniversary.

Well I said 5-5 draw not 4-4s . And the bbc have done a piece about 5-5 draws,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46385157
 so they seem to be more common than 1-1s its seems

And thanks for correcting my memory about the Bolton 2-2 game

[chrisw1]

The one thing i keep thinking is, during Bruce's time at the club i enjoyed the Liverpool Semi Final and the Wolves game, cant remember much more than that. Smith has been here 2 months and loved the Derby game, Blues game and this game. Thats already more enjoyable Villa games than Bruce managed in years.

Loving the new Villa.

Sherwood was manager for the Liverpool semi. But I take your point. I'd add Blues last season as another enjoyable Bruce game.

In just over 100 games, under the last regime, entertaining performances and results were few and far between.

Entertaining draws this season were 2-2 at home to Brentford , 3-3 to Preston in the fateful match

Also the 3-2 win against wigan at home with a last minute winner.

The verve of style in attack and football performance was  only shown in a few matches of his 100 or so games with a positive result.

The 4-2 away at sheffield Wednesday
The 4-2 Hourihane hat trick home Norwich
5-0 win v Bristol City
4-1 win wolves

There were a few other memorable victories and decent results in a different way too. Effective and efficient.

The performance against Middlesboro away first leg. 1-0
The away win at Sheffield United 1-0 snoddy last gasp win .
And the 2-0 win over Blues at home.
In 2016 Bruce first away match , his second match in charge we won 2-1 win away at Reading with a last min pen.
(1st victory  in 11 matches and a first away from home since August 2015!)
And when Brucey came in he was unbeaten for first 7 matches . Memories in a different era.


Under Smith though it's already memorable , fresh and far more accepting and what is needed with the players we have.

I don't really like to compare the two as they are very different approaches.
Rarely did we see the open , expansive football now it just seems part of the natural game.

And of course it's enjoyable!

I'll always be grateful to Bruce in his efforts but he should have moved on end of last season .

I don't really think so much of past and how Bruce would have done things unless it's discussed on here. Or really what it was like as we were similarly grateful to Bruce in steadying the ship and nearly getting us over the line.

Like players at Villa it's  time to move on.

And I ,like so many , are far more pleased to have smith in and I have an optimism that haven't felt for a long time .

It's mainly in the met expectation that we are an attacking forward thinking team, visibly seen trying to win football matches , keeping possession .

It's a lot more pleasing having this footballing identity !

Up the villa

Good post Footy

[JUAN PABLO]

1930/1931 we had no games that had less than 2 goals scored in them. And finished the season with these league results. 1-4, 5-2, 2-5, 4-6, 2-2, 2-2, 4-3, 4-3. 1-3, 2-0, 3-3, 7-0, 0-2, 5-5, 3-1, 1-1, 8-1, 6-1, 4-0, 4-2, 2-0, 5-1, 1-1, 4-1, 0-5, 4-3, 4-0, 2-0, 4-2, 0-3.

And earlier in the season we had 6-1, 6-1, 4-3, 4-2 wins.

hope we bloody won the league with those results.

[PeterWithesShin]

Finished second behind Arsenal, but we set the record for most league goals in a top flight season in this country.

[dcdavecollett]

After this memorable game, we walked down behind the Witton Lane Stand just as the Forest fans were coming out, belting out some anti-Derby songs, (they play each other soon and I'm guessing the game will be well worth seeing).

There was no suggestion of trouble, though segregation was minimal. We were making our way by the North Stand gates when this Forest fan said to his mate that the Villa support, "was pathetic. They only made a noise when their team scored."

So that'll be most of the match, then.

I wouldn't mind, but if you've ever been up to the Shitty Ground, you'll know it would make a great prospective World HQ for the Noise Abatement Society.

I passed this info on in a loud voice, but I don't think he heard me.