Keener window-cleaner

Taylor was the bright spark of the game for me. I was quite underwhelmed by this signing and his debut didn't change that. Before the game there was talk about what a threat Yedlin and Ritchie was and with Kodjia in front of Taylor it was quite worrying. But I must say I was very impressed by Taylor, he hardly put a foot wrong, was solid in defence and his passing was good (compare with Hutton - who I thought had a good game, but still either hoofs the ball or goes on a run by himself every time he has the ball).

Taylor looked like a player who has played left back all his life. Could it be that we finally have a solid left back? Keep it up!

Question is where this leaves Amavi though...

Though I must say I thought Bruce got the line-up spot on (bar Bjarnason perhaps) and until they scored we were clearly the better team. 

Have we spent around £80M? And this is where we are now?

He plays like a £2M player from a small leauge team. I'm ok with him being a squad player, he can replace Bacuna att doing that job, but he shouldn't start ahead of e.g. Adomah.

Very undeserved. They scored on their only chance. We have been the better team, and I'm quite pleased with the performance so far. Wonder if it is because of Jedinak that we look so much better?

I think Bruce got the line up spot on (perhaps bar Bjarnason) and I have been impressed by Taylor, he seems to be a very accomplished left back.

Hourihane and Lansbury haven't done anything wrong and have shown flashes of quality, but they need to create more, especially now when Jedinak sits behind them.

I like Bruce a lot, but he seems to rate Gabby, Bacuna and Micah Richards. I don't.

I can't even remember when we last won a game :-(

2 hours ago, DK82 said:

Fernando Nelson is the saviour

Ah Fernando Nelson! I was always underwhelmed by that signing. Signing players from smaller countries that aren't regulars in their national team has always been a no-no for me. Or at least it was when we were a PL club   

26 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Right, so, here we go; I know what you'll say, I know how it sounds, and yes, I feel like comical Ali.

We played well.

In normal circumstances, a club that plays how we did, applies the pressure we did, makes the chances and half chances that we did in a game like wins that games by four or five goals. I'm sat here having to convince myself we lost. More worrying than that is that there's almost an inevitability about it - we're cursed, we ran over God's dog, we peed up the wrong caravan. Something, I dunno, but whatever it is, it ain't right - we were the better side by a mile, we had four times the number of chances they did and we've lost 3-1 - I'm as frustrated as a man struggling to find a frustrated thing used as a metaphor to illustrate frustration.

The opening twenty minutes were lovely, we were silky, we passed the ball around, we moved Barnsley all over the field, Lansbury, Grealish and Hourihane passed it around really nicely and in doing so they made lovely spaces for Adomah and Kodjia on the flanks, it was a pleasure to watch at times. I remember thinking I hope we get a couple before half time, because if we do we could go on to get a big score, shake the cobwebs off and give us some confidence for the rest of the season. We were playing that well.

And then they got a penalty and scored.

Now, in the immortal words of Arsene Wenger I didn't see the penalty, there were players in my way - however, based on his performance for the rest of the ninety minutes, I'm going to agree with all of those people in the ground they suggested it shouldn't have been given - if this excuse for a referee thought it was, then it seems unlikely.

Balls.

Anyway, I worried that might shake us out of it and we'd stop playing football, but we kept at it, we were a little more direct but we were still moving it well, controlling the game and creating chances - quite a few of them - and although none were absolute gimme's we were keeping their keeper very busy. I remember thinking, I hope we equalise quickly, I'd like to be ahead going in at half time and I think we're more than capable.

And then they broke and scored again.

Balls.

Now I was concerned - I figured heads would drop, we'd go into our shell. We didn't we kept pressing we remained mostly patient and on valentines day, Jack loved Henri and Henri loved Jack - they were confusing the bejeesus out of Barnsley and kept creating good situations. It was no surprise when we pulled one back and not really any surprise that at half time the crowd stayed with the team. 

Like me, I would have thought that the majority of people in the ground at half time expected us to go on and win the match. We were that much better than them. If you'd asked me for a prediction at half time, I'd have gone with 4-2 Villa.

Barnsley came out a bit better in the second half and for a few minutes I was concerned - but, soon my fears were allayed and we were once more on the front foot, creating chances, sending Kodjia running at them, Adomah scampering down the right hand side, Grealish has gone out left and wasn't quite as involved, but the danger of Kodjia through the middle meant we were still looking dangerous - I remember looking at the clock and thinking if we get one now there's plenty of time for a winner.

And then they broke and scored again.

Balls.

Now this one did put a bit of dent in our football - the players looked like their shells had been shocked, like their gasts had been flabbered, like they couldn't quite get their heads around it. I can't quite get my head around it.

So we became disjointed - whilst still creating chances, quite a few of them to the point where I still felt that 3-3 didn't sound ridiculous. 

And now I'm annoyed - annoyed that we can now play well and lose, annoyed that the manager will take a battering despite picking the right team and seeing them perform pretty well, annoyed that Grealish got booed off after a decent performance, annoyed that Bruce took a load of abuse for substituting Lansbury when it was clear he was completely out of gas, and annoyed that after all we've been through to get here, we've now added rotten luck to our other rotten qualities.

In any sane sensible world, we win that game. Comfortably. I hate this world.

Johnstone (5) - I'm not sure he can be blamed for any of the goals, but he looks a bag of nerves when the ball is coming at him. I'm sure he's a great lad, professional, confident, bold, courageous and a great trainer - but he doesn't seem to be great at saving shots.

Hutton (7) - I thought he was good, he supported well and with Adomah in front of him he didn't have the pressure of needing to be the man who put the final ball into the box. He was solid and he helped link people up down the right.

Baker (6) - Good enough, a couple of ropey touches but nothing too good or too bad.

Chester (6) - He's a big off the form he was in earlier in the season and looks a little less assured, but in common with all of our defenders, we've only really allowed them four looks at our goal (and the penalty) all night - we've conceded three goals and it's not that we defended badly - in fact for much of the game we barely needed to defend at all.

Amavi (5) - he's got mistakes in him that he needs to remove from his game if he's to be successful

Adomah (7) - he's not Zidane, but he's a tenacious non stop beggar who gives his full back a hard time - my understanding is that he crossed the ball into the box more than seven hundred times tonight - many of those crosses were rubbish, but he can be entitled to expect someone to have put one away just on the law of averages.

Lansbury (7) - first half he purred, our midfield three looked imperious (which again, I know sounds ridiculous in a half we lost 2-1) when he gets to a level of fitness where he can play 90 minutes, we'll be better off.

Hourihane (7) - his best performance by a mile - in which he did none of the things I thought he was all about and loads of things I hadn't realised he could do - when he arrived, I'd thought he was the sort of player who was a little bit like Stephen Ireland without the Toss. Tonight he played more like late model Petrov, the one that was neat and tidy and cleared everything up and played simple balls and made sure we kept ticking. If he can do that, I'm happy enough.

Grealish (6) - first half he was as good as anyone on the pitch, the slight change in formation in the second half meant he was a bit less effective, but for me at least he was still doing alright down the left. He's wearing number 40 at the moment, given the reaction to his substitution we should probably give him Westwood's shirt. I missed the bit where we decided that from now on everything's his fault and I'm angry that we feel the need to scapegoat players.

Kodjia (6) - did well on the left, scored a goal and generally ran the defence pretty hard - he was pulled and pushed a lot and didn't get the support of the referee of the run of the green.

Hogan (6) - he bustles around on them little legs of his, he's quicker than you'd think and he's determined - he gets into good spaces and there were signs that him and Kodjia are getting used to each other - what he needs is a goal, once he gets one, again we'll be alright.

Subs-wise Green made an excellent cameo and he can be pleased that he's continuing to show good development, the others were largely nondescript. 

As he sits in his big sofa in his comfortable house in Barnsley tonight with his feet up, I hope tonight's referee, a Mr G Eltringham pauses for a moment and considers what a miserable wretched sorry excuse for a professional referee he is. He conspired tonight to not only get the big decisions wrong, but also to consistently get the small ones wrong too. Dreadful.

Apologies that this is quite long, I'm hoping that if I type for long enough it'll prevent me getting up and kicking the living daylights out of the wardrobe door. I hate football, I hate that we badly and lose. I hate that we play well and lose. I hate all the crap that comes with that. I don't know what else to say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent post!!

I'm gonna miss this thread :-)

I don't know much about him, but he is a midfielder so I'm glad we have signed him. He didn't cost too much so it's worth a gamble, even if he ends up being Aleksandar Tonev v 2.0 we can just loan him out to some club. Also, he is Nordic and has a funny name .  

James will be a fresh breeze in our defence.

This guy seems to be of a rare breed.

7 hours ago, Zatman said:

in fairness in midfield we need BillyBigBollocks players. for ages we have gutless cowards who are afraid to put in a tackle or worse afraid to put their foot on the ball. Lansbury for example seems like an arrogant word removed who isnt afraid to want the ball and thats what we need in there

Up until about two years ago I thought of Gabby as a club hero, from the area, one club player, our leading PL goalscorer etc. Limited player, but still a hero. But then because of his gradual decline and then his unacceptable behaviour last year I changed my mind, thought he was a disgrace and wanted him out of the club, and still do btw.

However, reflecting on it I actually think that Bruce has handled the situation in a really good and responsible way. He has apparently managed to motivate him (which the previous four mangers couldn't) got him into shape and I guess he is one of the hardest workers in training as he starts the games (can't be of ability in any case). I think that the alternative to ban him from the first team is worse, having an Nzogbia situation with one of the highest payed players being paria, placed among the kids, not caring at all but still hanging around the team. That just creates such bad tension and is demoralizing for the whole club. From an employer perspective, the way Bruce has handled the situation is very responsible. Who knows, perhaps he might even score a goal, or attracts interest from another club, against Cardiff his cameo was actually not that bad and almost even scored. Now what I don't agree with Bruce on is that he is starting, and for example that he didn't take Gabby of earlier against Leeds or what team it now was. But all in all I really respect Bruce for the way he has handled this.

3 hours ago, Mantis said:

Someone need to do a definitive line-up of players that were supposed to be nailed on but never signed.

Hoolahan, Stephens, Defoe, Belhanda. Any others?

Robbie Keane before he signed for...Coventry?

5 hours ago, maqroll said:

Lansbury out

Anonymous, no impact at all so far. Big disappointment.

£10M for Rhodes, about the same for Brady or Schlupp, that now slipped away. I didn't think I would say this but right now I feel like I prefer us to buy the £1M Hourihane or £3M Landsbury. Players that regard a move to Villa as a step up, players on our level, in order to bulid a sustainable team step by step, rather than just throw away silly money. And rather give our younger players a chance. I'd prefer to risk staying in the Championship a seasong longer and build a sustainable team with players who want to be here because it's villa and not because they earn silly money. 

What if we could merge Jedinak and Westwood into one player, would be one hell of a deep lying midfielder. Future England captain imho.

17 hours ago, srsmithusa said:

The part I emphasized is simply inexcusable if true!!!!!!  They are professional footballers.  Supposedly there on merit.  Which ought to include a modicum of intelligence and experience playing in adjusted formations.   If you are professional and you are asked to do something you don't understand, you say "I don't understand that job, you should find someone who does", or you figure out how to do it before you dig in and botch the job.  

Whether he "contributes a lot" or "has delivered as expected" can be discussed and I suspect you are likely even right about them, but the he was "confused by the formation" excuse is utter crap.  You might as well just say "he's good except that he doesn't have the intelligence or experience to do the job."

unless of course, you meant that he was calm and organized and efficient but everyone around him was confused so nothing he did carried off.... in which case... nevermind.... after you fire every one of them except him.

I'm glad to see my posts from September come to life again :-)

Having seen Jedinak for about 4 months now, my view on him is more nuanced. He is even more limited on the ball than I realized. I agree with you that a good player should be able to adapt, and I also think that a complete football player should be able to play in any position. Going back to the formation part, I still think he can do a job in a three man midfield, being the defensive destroyer with good passing midfielders on each side of him. I think the Wolves game showed quite clearly that he isn't suited in 2 man 4-4-2 midfield, it puts too much preassure on the other central midfielder and makes the midfield unbalanced. My point is not that we should build the team around him or that the formation should be adapted to him instead of vice versa, but simply to try to see if he could fit into a system.

Still, I think he plays the destroyer role quite well, wins almost everything in the air and is good at breaking up play. Seems to have more energy than the younger mf as well.

I'm a bit concerned that he has got such a long contract and is on so high wages, perhaps it could be an idea to play him as a central defender? 

I'd like to have a back four of Chester, Chester, Chester and Chester. Think he would do a job as a defensive mf as well.

1 hour ago, Kuwabatake Sanjuro said:

He doesn't do anything any better than Yacouba Sylla did when he was here. Apart from him being somewhat big I don't see the potential unfortunately.

I don't agree, I think he is technically gifted and doesn't just tap the ball back to the nearest player but keeps the ball and tries to find a pass. I see big potential in him. But I agree that he didn't make much of an impression today, faded and was anonymous for periods, I'd like to see him take more initiatives going forward. He and Jedinak was too static, like two holding players. In a 4-4-2 I'd say one on the CM must be more creative, Jedinak clearly isn't as he is a destroyer and Tshibola didn't do enough.

Btw I think Sylla was bought as a defensive midfielder, but Lambert quickly found out that he couldn't be trusted with the ball in our own half so he mostly played him further forward as a pressing midfielder (and did that role ok)

I think I have run out of rants against Bacuna. Fair play to him today, he wasn't awful and actually had a couple of good moments. Nevertheless, he also had a couple of his trademark stupid passes, just luck that it didn't result in more goals against us. He just makes such a stupid impression. Is he in the team because he works hard in training and runs quite much during the games? We had 4 midfielders on the bench, and he plays the whole game. It must be so demoralizing sitting on the bench seeing him play. 

Getting into shape should be a basic condition for getting a salary as a professional footballer. He clearly is a very limited footballer. The only position I would consider playing him in is as a wide forward in a counter attack set up.