Norwich City - 0 Aston Villa Youth - 2 Post Match Thread

[Small Rodent]

Some lovely passing in the game.
Watkins needs to sort some of his decision making out, but he brings so much more to the game it’s hard to criticise.
The irony of the commentator saying “there’s no way through the midfield for Norwich”…who did we go out and buy?!

[Chris Smith]

First half was as dominant a performance as you’ll see but without the score line to reflect it. The best teams are more ruthless in those situations. Dean obviously worked on Norwich to up their effort and close us down quicker in the second but we never seemed troubled.

Lovely goal from Ramsey, he’s turned from a youth to a man this season. Really enjoyed his post match interview, obviously a little nervous but spoke well and couldn’t keep the smile from his face.

Still things that can be improved on but difficult to fault the new management team so far.

[The Edge]

From what I have read it was a very poor game, good win, hopefully we will get another win on Saturday

I don't know where you read that but it wasn't a poor game. We played some excellent attacking football with some stand out performances in midfield from McGinn and Ramsey. Norwich were poor but was that down to them our just our overall superiority? Who knows but they did give Man U a really hard time three days ago.

[Brazilian Villain]

I’ve rated Aarons in the past, but his fakery today was pathetic.

He'd still be first on my list.

[Flin5tone]

Pleased with that one , very comfortable and a rewarding performance for the long journey.

4 from 6 with very narrow defeats against two of the best Teams in Europe  . It's looking very good but with Coronavirus and Injuries over a busy Festive period we could be really tested and will need the effort we have seen so far to continue.

Let's hope the Covid 19 outbreak at the Club is contained and we can get a result against Burnley

[Risso]

From what I have read it was a very poor game, good win, hopefully we will get another win on Saturday

I don't know where you read that but it wasn't a poor game. We played some excellent attacking football with some stand out performances in midfield from McGinn and Ramsey. Norwich were poor but was that down to them our just our overall superiority? Who knows but they did give Man U a really hard time three days ago.

Yep, really enjoyed the game. We dominated it completely, and should have had more goals first half especially.

[Villa Lew]

Very impressive performance, only disappointment was we didn't put the game to bed earlier. Top performances from Cash, SJM, Dougie and JJ, what a goal, may have the new Steven Gerrard in the making!

[eamonn]

From what I have read it was a very poor game, good win, hopefully we will get another win on Saturday

I'd ignore what you read then, total domination in the first half and were comfortable second half.

Aye, you read wrong Sid, from a Villa perspective anyway. For the neutral I guess there wasn't too much to get excited by apart from Ramsey's run and shot.

[martyn ellis]

A few comments on here about our solid midfield. Contrast that with the soggy paper towel impression the midfield was giving in the early part of the season and the cries for a defensive midfielder. Interesting that Nakamba went from weak link to MOTM on a number of occasions and now that we have lost him for a while we still seem to manage to fill the gap. With Sanson also looking good when he's fit we suddenly seem to have some depth in that department. That's good coaching and intelligent strategy. Well done SG and his team, which by the way is a nice touch as he always refers to 'we' and not 'I' in his interview and gives credit to others whenever he can.

[The Edge]

Very impressive performance, only disappointment was we didn't put the game to bed earlier. Top performances from Cash, SJM, Dougie and JJ, what a goal, may have the new Steven Gerrard in the making!

Cash was excellent and Targett looks like he may be getting his form back that he showed last season. Both the Matts could be even more effective if they just took a split second to look up instead of swinging the crosses in. It could make all the difference. I think Norwich must have set a record for blocking crosses just by throwing themselves in front of the ball last night.

[Hookeysmith]

Routine win and justified DW's optimism 

Martinez - Kit man could put his away without washing it

Cash - tremendous first half only final ball let him down - superb ball to Chuck for 2ns

Konsa - that good you forget he is there sometimes - just glides through games

Mings - Towering rock of a leader - impressive again if not lost his compass a few times and was playing as a midfielder. Anyone else shit themselves when he dribbled out of the box   

Targett - very solid game - great effort with his right foot - like Cash needs to improve final ball when in great positions.

Luiz - very good, confident (sometimes a little too casual for my heart) performance

McGinn - Terrier like and must be a nightmare to play against - faded after injury so must have been some knock

Ramsey - Just wow - if ever we needed a local lad to step up after what's his name left  - he is the boy / man. Once a promising kid coming through with cameos here and there has now become a first team regular starter - and deservedly so. MOTM

Buendia - thought he was fab 1st half  - his work rate goes unnoticed but his press creates many turnovers. Some lovely touches and great vision at times. Hope the knock (that was a booking every time is see it) is not too bad as will need his guile against the cloggers.

Young - think we may be asking too much of him at present - poorest on the pitch by a mile

Watkins - superb stats, great touch for Ramsay goal, great goal for himself but also frustrates the hell out of me - so many times makes the wrong decision whether it is pass, dribble , shoot etc - just tries to do too much on his own.

Subs

Ings - no real impact and hard to see how he plays with Watkins - still glad we have a natural finisher with us in case we ever need him. Much better bench option that Davis

Chuck - glides around like he owns the place and i just want to see more and more of him. Great impact and i like his first instinct is to drive at defence

Management team

Loving their work ethic, tactics and in game management - clearly the payers are as well

Supporters

Great noise at times for an away team at a god forsaken journey like that in mid week.

To Quote SG  "Will all be in vain if we do not win again on Saturday"

[passport1]

Very impressive again. Amazing what a difference a  bit of hard nosed proffessionalism has made. Can't wait to see what a few SG additions will add.

[exigo]

Special mention to the way we rotated 'cramp' to take the sting out of the game. Proper shithousing.

[Smithy]

I’ve rated Aarons in the past, but his fakery today was pathetic.

He'd still be first on my list.

The bit where he went down pretending to have a head injury? It was just after he was booked for pulling at JJ, so I suspect he was worried about another booking as it was from a shot, and his hand was away from his body - so I think he stayed down hoping to avoid giving away a free-kick and/or being booked. It worked.

[Smithy]

Special mention to the way we rotated 'cramp' to take the sting out of the game. Proper shithousing.

Yeah, I loved that. We've never been good at that sort of thing, so it's nice to see us doing what the top clubs have been happy doing for years to get over the line.