villianusa

3 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

While I'm in statto mode let me add we have averaged 1.77 points with him in the team and that it includes the awful start of the season. 

We've averaged 1.64 without him. 

(I've included Shef Wed as without him as he went off early). 

In terms of our best centre half pairing for points it's Elphick and Chester. But that was only over a 3 game period.

 

I have counted him in the Sheff Wed game as we were already losing by the time he left the field,  and we average 1.63 with him. We are averaging 1.80 without him, but I'd still have him back in.

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

The problem is he is prone to a big error every game. He should have to earn his place back now. 

A big error is something that leads to a goal or at least a good chance to the opposition. To both of them, I would say no.

Every player in any given game is going to make a mistake every game over 90 minutes. A big error, I would say not.

sadly for Whelan, he made two in back to back games, so a number of people forget all the good work he has down.

Just now, bobzy said:

Superb. Again!

Yep!

Welcome back to the Beast, great game today!

He had a couple of big errors that cost us a number of points,, but it doesn't make him a bad player. He did well for the rest of the season, and help us get into a good position in the league.

Glad he wasn't playing today though as Jedinak is a better player.

1 minute ago, Danishlad said:

wel he is the best player we have and were lucky to have him- plus he is only just back from a 3 month injury and will get better

We can certainly say he is one of our most creative players, but Johnstone best goalkeeper, Terry best defender, etc...

It takes a team.

I agree with the just got back thing.

5 minutes ago, Danishlad said:

he always runs at defenders??- and can go both ways

There's running and there's walking fast. Jack has walked fast at players for most of the games I have seen him at. Today, he was flat out and players could cope with his movement and speed. 

He looks like he may have been working at his straight line speed, he seems to be faster.

It shows what pressure can do, not pressure on the Villa manager or players but on the opposition. We never gave them a moment to settle, and we hounded them as a unit, I posted somewhere on here about that a couple of weeks ago. Players weren't working together to close the ball down and not give the opposition a place to go. We did that today and received the ball further up the field to attack their final third. We did it at pace and pushed them onto the back foot.

Great team performance all round and a special mention to Jack, I have called him a luxury player but put in a performance that sets the standard he should only rise from.

P.S. Also finally got some cross into the box. Halleulua!!!

Just now, Grasshopper said:

5-0 unbelievable Jeff

We have the players to be at least 2nd

today showed that

or maybe its all down to Agnew

 

Yes, you could be right if players like Hogan, Grealish, Jedinak hadn't been injured for a good part of the season and still playing their way back into form. Add Terry and Kodjia to that, and you know what you get? Mass Hysteria!!!

Happy New Year!

He gets better every game.

I think Jack has finally worked out, or someone has told him that defenders don't like players running at them.

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Because he can create goals by himself, and scores wondergoals. (He is the equivalent of a Harlem Globetrotter, or streetballer (Basketball), exceptional skill and ability but could never make it in the big league)

This lends more to the fact of how shite the team is managed.

With all the talent we have in the squad, we should not have to rely on him so much.

He is extremely selfish, and we could argue that if the talent in the TEAM was managed better, we could score more without him.

Although in an ideal world, he would sort out the blind donkey side of his game and we could mold it altogether beautifully.

3

All that may be true, but fact was he was our leading goalscorer last season. He adds enough to the team that we miss him when he is gone.

Bold* This could be fact or fiction, or it could be that we just don't have another player like him. I'd rather have him in the team than not.

18 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I stated before, if both live up to the hype around them, they could be our future Big and little strikeforce.

Today was my first time seeing RHM properly, and I like what I saw.

What he said^^^

13 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

 

The problem that RDM had was he forgot to buy a midfield and so the squad was unbalanced. This squad is aging and injury prone and lacks any shape, cohesion or a plan.

1

Idrissa Gueye, Jordan Veretout, Adama Traore, and Scott Sinclair say hi. I wouldn't mind that 4 across midfield.

13 hours ago, sidcow said:

And I am not 100% convinced on Kodjia. Despite scoring loads of goals last season there were still more than a sprinkling of dissenters about his overall contribution to the team and he hardly scored during his comeback.  I know there are probably good reasons behind this but as I say I am still not 100% convinced his absence is somekind of disaster. 

 

Yet we have an average of 2.13 points per game when he is in the team this season, and 1.14 when not. Seems he has some sort of impact, and we might be missing him a little bit.

2 hours ago, Zatman said:

But he still played him for nearly an hour

Fatigue sets in at the end of the game and that's when you are more likely to tear something. You can pull one early on if you haven't warmed correctly or more of a sprinter, but Jack certainly isn't one of those.

Ideally, he would have probably wanted to play him for 30 or so, but that's only if needs must, sadly they did.

Not creating enough chances for the natural ability he has, but held onto the ball towards the end of the game very well, and helped us collect three points. 

His best game of the season.

7 minutes ago, KJT123 said:

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/injury-update-bad-news-aston-13417286

Great to see Bruce's masterplan centered around Grealish is working. By benching him when we need him the most. 

But then he was injured and since he returned to side our points per game have dropped. It very well may have been the plan, but as we have seen injuries happen.

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

If Adomah is fit I think Bruce will go with the 4-2-3-1. 

I don't think Grealish is a luxury at all, I think he's vital to providing some sort of link from back to front - the cohesion between our attack and defence is the weakest part of the side and he makes a positive difference to it. I'd be disappointed to see him dropped, he's been our best player in recent weeks.

 

If we were Man City and players of similar quality around him I would probably agree. 

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

I agree - I checked through and got the same things you did. For me Davis and Hogan isn't a great front two - but with Adomah, Green and Gabby all injured, it's hard for us to play with wide men for this one and I think two up front would be the way to go in a 4-3-1-2 with Grealish adding some creativity for Davis and Hogan and Snodgrass being the wide man who misses out. 

 

It seems Adomah is fit from latest reports so that is a bonus. I'd bring him in for Grealish and put him back on the bench. Our points to game ratio when Grealish has played a part has dropped from 1.73 to 1.33. He is our most gifted player out of our present first team squad but a luxury we don't seem to be able to afford. I feel he could play as a wide left, or behind a front two. I don't think playing him at #10 behind a number 9 is working. His work rate has picked up from last season, but for the most part, he slows down the game and hangs onto the ball for too long at times.

I wouldn't just blame Grealish for the points to decline ratio as other important players are missing. With Terry's absence the ratio dropped from 1.63 with him to 1.50 without, but more alarmingly, it has dropped from 2.13 to 1.31 when Kodjia is out of the team.

We need them both back ASAP.

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

I can't remember us playing 4-4-2 this season. We've almost exclusively played with just one striker haven't we? 

When Kodjia came back, it was pretty much

                 Johnstone

Hutton     Chester    Terry     Taylor

Snodgrass Whelan Hourihane Adomah

                      Davis Kodjia

It was the start of our best run of the season before Kodjia was injured and we went back to more of a 441. We tried it once with Hogan and Davis but lost to Sheff Wed. We played well that game, but got caught cold at the start with a wonder goal, and then Terry got injured. 

The games were

Barnsley 3pts

Forest 3pts

Burton 3pts

Bolton 3pts

Wolves 0pts

Sheff Wed 0pts

I think losing the last two games and Kodjia, Hogan, and Gabby all injured, forced Bruce to move back to a 4411.    I hope Bruce goes with it tomorrow back to it and give the teams better options in attack while still having plenty behind the ball.

Our most successful formation this season has been 442, I would revert back to that with:

                           Johnstone

Hutton     Chester      Elphick      Taylor

Snodgrass Jedinak Hourihane  Grealish

                         Hogan  Davis

Subs

Steer

Whelan

O'Hare

Elmo

De Laet

Hepburn-Murphy

Onomah

Today, I would get the team in who played yesterday, and the U23's in and play a full blooded game. Play the same formations and tell them , the best 18 will play against Boro, the rest of you come in for extra training at the same time.

Sod reputation, and get those who want to dig deep and win and put them on the field.

8 minutes ago, vreitti said:

No, I'm his mother.

Pleasure to meet you, Mrs Bruce.