Aston Villa 2-3 Leeds United Post Match Thread

[brian green]

Whelan being our midfield playmaker says the same.

[David_Nab]

Our full backs drive me insane. Not only are they prone to the more than occasional fuck up, they are never close to their man and just let them ping the ball in with ease...Stop it coming in and that's half the job done.

Hutton especially is the worst at that.  He gave their right side all the time and space in the world today.  He's never where you'd hope a full back should be.  I'm absolutely sick of him being torn a new one by averagely skilled wingers.  We need an entire new defence.

We don't tend to rely on the two wingers to get back to cover, therefore, the three central midfielders need to cover across the pitch together.  Whelan is no longer capable of doing that and Hourihane is powder puff. 

Exactly this ,Whelan did do some ok covering back but he just doesn't have the legs to cope with a team playing like Leeds.That said BB when he came on was awful but likely from a good period out and us rushing him back onto bench due to others being out.

Leeds play alot like Wolves they keep the ball well in tight spaces but are always looking for the crossfield balls into space.We lacked the energy in mf to win the ball and when we did have the ball we failed to keep the ball well enough to have them working hard to get it back.

In terms of game management Smith decided to stick with what he had and go for the 3rd goal and to be fair the first 10 mins of second half we did look as if we could put the game to bed.Once they got the goal though we struggled and always looked in danger.Under Bruce we would have come out in 2nd half and just sat back and IMO we would of got the same outcome it just would have come early that injury time.
We fundamentally don't have the players to tough out holding onto leads we lack pace and strength in midfield to win the ball back , the full backs are dodgy and CB has no one who dominates in the air to clear arial attacks

Where I am envious of Leeds and Norwich is they are leading the league not because they went and brought players but because they have  good coaching.We apparently have a good youth development at the club but evidently no one good enough to come in and play at this level unlike Leeds who had 2 kids playing today one of which scored !!

[Border villan]

Play off teams are often under prepared for the following season as they cannot team build until well into June. Perhaps anotIiher season in the Championship where Dean can move on many of our underperformers and bring in players who can flourish in his system will be a better long term bet.
Also the result today was a fair reflection of the game.

[SoccerHQ]

Hutton still being a first choice full back says it all.

Elmo being anywhere near the First XI says a lot too.

He has his limits but was generally fine last season.

Terrible last few games. If we actually had some CBs fit I wouldn't be against playing Bree at full back and seeing how he does but guess he'll have to stay at CB up to January which isn't great.

[Risso]

We won't know if the kids are good enough if we never give them a chance.  You'll never convince me that O'Hare would be as monumentally useless as Hogan though.

[andyh]

I thought the midfield three all played well in their own right

But I also agree that we need more technical players to play how Smith wants. Grealish is proving how good he is at the moment. He'd have made a huge difference today

If the rumours are true then we are without Jack for a good while yet. We have to find a way to win without him (and it’s probably good practice for next season).

[sickbeggar]

The problems with the squad are there for all to see. As the distance between Bruce's exit lengthens i'm still no clearer what happened last summer. Just a huge fuck-up in transfer strategy? Did he think he'd get another season out of the likes of Whelan? Some sort of breakdown? Still none the wiser.

[SoccerHQ]

Play off teams are often under prepared for the following season as they cannot team build until well into June. Perhaps anotIiher season in the Championship where Dean can move on many of our underperformers and bring in players who can flourish in his system will be a better long term bet.
Also the result today was a fair reflection of the game.

Starting a season well would do wonders for us. Cardiff last season started with 5 straight wins as did Leeds this season. Gives you an immediate points bugger.

All three seasons down here we've had poor starts and had to play catch up and no matter the league that's not an easy thing to do. We saw this last season even when we had that 7 game winning run.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

Play off teams are often under prepared for the following season as they cannot team build until well into June. Perhaps anotIiher season in the Championship where Dean can move on many of our underperformers and bring in players who can flourish in his system will be a better long term bet.
Also the result today was a fair reflection of the game.

Starting a season well would do wonders for us. Cardiff last season started with 5 straight wins as did Leeds this season. Gives you an immediate points bugger.

I'm not sure another pain in the arse is what we need.

[Bad English]

From a mate on Twitter: "Anyone know what time Birmingham City's civic reception and parade through the city takes place tomorrow because they are above Villa at Christmas?"

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Play off teams are often under prepared for the following season as they cannot team build until well into June. Perhaps anotIiher season in the Championship where Dean can move on many of our underperformers and bring in players who can flourish in his system will be a better long term bet.
Also the result today was a fair reflection of the game.

I understand what you are saying, but if in May we are at Wembley beating Forest 5-4 in the play off final with 5 minutes to go I may beg to differ.

[Toronto Villa]

We won't know if the kids are good enough if we never give them a chance.  You'll never convince me that O'Hare would be as monumentally useless as Hogan though.

The kids thing is pissing me off right now. We have a very good academy and kids that deserve a chance. Leeds brought on an 18 year old at HT and his goal changed the entire game. Why we keep persisting with the likes of Whelan and others is baffling. Throw them in and make them the future.

[myf]

Play off teams are often under prepared for the following season as they cannot team build until well into June. Perhaps anotIiher season in the Championship where Dean can move on many of our underperformers and bring in players who can flourish in his system will be a better long term bet.
Also the result today was a fair reflection of the game.

I understand what you are saying, but if in May we are at Wembley beating Forest 5-4 in the play off final with 5 minutes to go I may beg to differ.

nah. Albion please. that ****** lepkowski is on twitter calling our fans idiots for the Ron Saunders display

[sickbeggar]

We won't know if the kids are good enough if we never give them a chance.  You'll never convince me that O'Hare would be as monumentally useless as Hogan though.

The kids thing is pissing me off right now. We have a very good academy and kids that deserve a chance. Leeds brought on an 18 year old at HT and his goal changed the entire game. Why we keep persisting with the likes of Whelan and others is baffling. Throw them in and make them the future.

Ironically i think if Smith brings in some players next month, the kids may start to get more of a run. I'm not sure its a great idea to bring young players into a situation where we're so flakey defensively.

[Pvb1968]

Hutton still being a first choice full back says it all.

Elmo being anywhere near the First XI says a lot too.

Yes, yes and er yes.