Preston NE 1-1 Aston Villa Post Match Thread

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Poor today again. I felt we made it harder with selection and how slow we move the ball.

Thor isn't as good technically as either Hourihane or Whelan, and he's returning to fitness, but I felt he suits the system and helps transition the ball far quicker into the wide areas. It was only when he came on that El Gahzi got into the game.

McGinn and Thor missed sitters and the referee failed to send Johnson off, who naturally squares for the equaliser.

Positives

Unbeaten despite not playing well.

Negatives

Poor performance.

Whelan is too slow and it's no surprise since he's come into the side we've looked absolutely turgid as he cannot press and cannot move the ball on.

Hourihane in an advanced position is just as much a part of the problem.

Sitters missed, two of them.

The high ball. Preston are as big a bunch of hoof merchants as you'll find, but first half it caught Chester out (for a change) and second half it's all they did.

We didn't rotate. Bolasie and Hutton were very poor. El Ghazi put a beauty of a ball for McGinn but didn't really see more until the last 10 minutes.

That transition wide is too slow. Whelan is the culprit. He must be dropped for Thor.

Too many draws of late, but that's 4 poor performances on the bounce now and Smith has to ackowldge that you cannot play a high line, high press, quick transition game with a dinosaur like Whelan.

A point gained on the top 2, but we've really lost ground on the top 6. Reinforcements needed asap.

[Matt Collins]

The main mitigation is that so many other leading sides struggled today. I can only assume fatigue

But that does rather suggest we should have freshened it up

Not optimistic about Qpr game. We're just not playing very well at the moment

[AlexAlexCropley]

Poor today again. I felt we made it harder with selection and how slow we move the ball.

Thor isn't as good technically as either Hourihane or Whelan, and he's returning to fitness, but I felt he suits the system and helps transition the ball far quicker into the wide areas. It was only when he came on that El Gahzi got into the game.

McGinn and Thor missed sitters and the referee failed to send Johnson off, who naturally squares for the equaliser.

Positives

Unbeaten despite not playing well.

Negatives

Poor performance.

Whelan is too slow and it's no surprise since he's come into the wide we've looked absolutely turgid as he cannot press and cannot move the ball on.

Hourihane in an advanced position is just as much a part of the problem.

Sitters missed, two of them.

The high ball. Preston are as big a bunch of good merchants as you'll find, but first half it caught Chester out (for a change) and second half it's all they did.

We didn't rotate. Bolasie and Hutton were very poor. El Ghazi put a beauty of a ball for McGinn but didn't really see more until the last 10 minutes.

That transition wide is too slow. Whelan is the culprit. He must be dropped for Thor.

Too many draws of late, but that's 4 poor performances on the bounce now and Smith has to ackowldge that you cannot play a high line, high press, quick transition game with a dinosaur like Whelan.

A point gained on the top 2, but we've really lost ground on the top 6. Reinforcements needed asap.

Thor not as good technically than Whelan?

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The amount of 0-0s tells you how many knackered players there were.

[kippaxvilla2]

Why is anyone surprised?  For years this has been Aston Villa.  We don’t sack the bloke that failed with the best squad in the league early enough.  For the second time in three seasons we waste a quarter of the season as a result.  Meaning constant self imposed pressure by not being able to afford an off day like today.  Result fcukin no progress for the third season in a row.  He’s had ten games and only lost once but we are still five points off 6th.  The play offs are not going to be at all easy to get into.

[Ads]

No he's not. Whelan can find a pass, it's just it takes about 5 minutes for the pass to happen.

[Toronto Villa]

haha fuck off Norwich but it fucked us also as we are 5 points back of the playoffs.

[Risso]

I’m not confident we’re even going to make the play offs. As usual, our ‘easy run of games’ gets off to a shit start. Smith’s honeymoon period is drawing to a close.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Winnable games eh?
Don't you just love em?
Plenty of games to go but as mentioned above the gap to 6th has started to open up - disappointing not to be beating teams who are so depleted like Preston today
Play offs?? Gonna be tough

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Well our "easy run" has returned 4 points. So it's not that poor a start.

[AlexAlexCropley]

No he's not. Whelan can find a pass, it's just it takes about 5 minutes for the pass to happen.

Christ

[The_ads]

5 points is nothing in this division. Especially when you look at the next 6 games. We should be aiming for 14 points. It’ll put us in the top 6 with 45 points to play for. Far from over. We are always one game from disaster on here.

[Ads]

What is the point you're trying to make?

[hilts_coolerking]

First choice defence isn't up to much and our strength in depth all over the park isn't that good either.  Which considering the money we've spent is disappointing.

[ChicagoLion]

If Preston was so depleted why did Smith not take the opportunity to freshen it up?