tom_avfc

This guy is bad. I have no idea how he gets semi regular game time.

The booing at half time was completely ridiculous. You can guarantee that teams like Cardiff and Fulham won't be booing every time they go in behind at half time. Bruce had been bigging up the connection between players and fans as well and then at the first sign of a poor performance the boos return. A couple of the guys around me in particular appear to be extremely negative. Quotes of the season so far include "This doesn't feel like a game that should be 5-0" against Bristol City and "They look like the side that are 4-1 up" in the last few minutes against Wolves. It does make you wonder what some people get out of going.

Very much this. Let's concentrate on winning one game at a time and see where we end up. Go and beat Bolton on Saturday and we'll be four points off Cardiff. Cardiff then have a difficult trip to Derby on Sunday. If we're sat four or five points off Cardiff with 8 games to go, a similar goal difference and a home match against them still to play then I'm sorry but I won't be giving up on automatic promotion. As you say it's a hell of a run that we'd have to go on but those runs happen in the Championship. Cardiff have just won 8 and drawn 1 of their last 9 matches. So yeah let's take it one game at a time - I'm sure we're not the only team who will slip up unexpectedly in the run in.

I don't think it's the criticism of his performance last night that people are taking issue with. I think almost everybody would admit he had a poor game (as did every other Villa player). The accusation of him not trying is what most people would struggle to agree with. He tried hard but nothing he did came off (barring the ball for Grealish's header and the pull back for Chester's goal). Actually reading that back even having a bad game he still should have had two assists. Wasn't the worst player on the pitch and certainly didn't show a lack of effort or not try in my opinion.

He was dreadful - they all were. However, I don't think his effort can be questioned. He tried hard but had a poor game. Too many players had poor games last night hence the result.

No brainer at that price for me. Been very impressed for the most part this season.

Interesting. Didn’t put a foot wrong for me!!

I would like to think that if we have substantiated evidence of wrongdoing by any club in the league be they top or bottom that we'd raise our concerns with the appropriate governing body. If we're making baseless accusations then I completely agree we shouldn't be but if we have legitimate concerns with proof then I'd be confused and slightly worried if we weren't making some kind of report.

You can feint during the run up but not at the end of the run up. He completely stops for a reasonable amount of time and then takes a small step and hits the ball. Its debatable perhaps but I’d argue that he’s done more than stutter/feint during the run up in that instance and to be honest I’d be happy to see an end to penalties being taken like that.

Agree with almost all of this. The media seem to try and portray every VAR decision as controversial though which isn’t particularly helpful. I think the Son penalty was correctly disallowed though. Stopping in your run up is considered unsporting and an automatic yellow card as far as I’m aware.

Yeah I've never really got the impression that Richards is a bad influence or a trouble maker. He simply can't get fit and hasn't been fit for a long time. Poor signing due to fitness issues and he wasn't very good when he did play. I don't think he ever looked fully fit even when he was playing to be fair to him. Is a bit of a shame for him as he was excellent when he burst onto the scene at Man City.

I think I mostly agree with you but I think the automatic use for a goal is pretty reasonable as goals are the defining moments of games. I can see why people may have an issue with the pull back by Llorente being given as a foul as that is the only debatable use of VAR I've really seen. Out of interest, the Times has the longest of the delays for VAR decisions in the Spurs game clocked at 1 minute 32 seconds (the penalty decision on Trippier). Too long some may say but not the 5 or 6 minutes that people are claiming. I think the main issue in the Spurs game was that it was used a lot more than in your average game.

Yeah I can't see them getting out of this. Realistically they're likely to need somewhere between 17 and 20 points out of that lot. I know you get odd results at this point of the season but with the majority of teams still having plenty to play for it'd be an impressive turn around from here.

I don't really agree with this. The same happens with a wicket in a cricket match or a try in a rugby match. Celebrated, reviewed and then chalked off. It's new and its not perfect but if it leads to more correct decisions it has to be kept and improved. Effectively this argument is that we should allow illegal goals because the fans may be angry when they get correctly overturned. I still think I'd rather have the correct decisions.

Yeah it was a definite penalty and a good example of VAR preventing a wrong decision. I don’t really like the way the media are so anti VAR. Its making decisions more accurate. I can understand the issue with how long it’s taking and the poor communication but I’d have taken 5 mins of stoppage time for the red card in our 2010 league cup final for example.

I think it’s harsh in that it wouldn’t be given without VAR. Doesn’t stop it being a foul though even if it may have gone unnoticed. Again I think VAR has worked ok it’s just the length of time to get a decision which is frustrating.

I kind of agree with this. However it is baffling why he's being picked when Grealish and Adomah are both out and therefore he is always going to have a limited supply. I don't actually think he's even that good. As someone said he's a bit like Darren Bent was when we had him - offers very little when he doesn't score. The only issue is that he seems to be a lot less likely to score than Bent was.

Yeah great performance again. The save after Chester cleared off the line was fantastic and a few other good saves also. You can always tell when he’s had a good game as this thread is exceptionally quiet. The joys of being a goalkeeper I suppose!

Hourihane needs to put more of a shift in here. Not helped by playing in a two with whelan though!

Completely agree with this. I think telling people that "having the strength to be happy" is the way to deal with a mental health issue is a dangerous attitude to have. I actually struggle to believe anybody still feels this way - I thought the discussion had moved on from such an outdated viewpoint.

You'd want your striker to be at least hitting the target from that position. The technique was all wrong and he never looked like he was going to score to be honest. I think a lot of what Davis does is very good but I'd question how far a striker can go when they don't ever really look like scoring.

This. I couldn't care less about the Winter Olympics to be honest but to laugh at someone who's dedicating years of her life to achieving something when she fails is pretty poor form to be honest. I don't get the need some people have to laugh at sports people when they don't quite achieve their goals particularly when its someone who as far as I'm aware hasn't done anything to warrant it.

I'd suggest that he's won us more points this season than he's lost us. Even in the game yesterday he made a couple of very good saves after the mistake. He's a keeper so his mistakes are going to lead to goals. He hasn't made too many this season and hopefully the last two weeks are just a minor blip and he can get his confidence back.

I'd say 24 is pretty young for a goalkeeper. He's played around two years of Championship football. Still plenty of time for him to develop and fulfill the potential that he's shown this season.

I find him strange as a keeper. On the rare occasion that he does come confidently for a high ball he seems to take the ball reasonably well. He clearly doesn't want to come off his line at corners which I think is generally fine if the defence know that he's not coming and adjust accordingly. The main issue this time is that the ball was in the air for such a long time that he simply has to come aggressively and claim the catch. If he does that the worst he's going to do is get the free kick. I actually think it was a foul anyway but he's come so weakly that the ref hasn't given it. Again, I'm not going to slaughter a young goalkeeper for a couple of mistakes though. Every keeper makes them and the fans getting on his back isn't going to help him improve. The save from the one on one in the second half was brilliant I thought - he was so quick off his line to prevent the goal. I'd still have him up there with our better performers this year - hopefully he can regain some confidence (may be easier away from home after the atmosphere around the ground yesterday) and get back to the standards he's set for most of the season.