Ratings and Reactions: Villa v Ipswich

[OutByEaster?]

We're not great to watch, we're disjointed, we don't pass the ball well, we go long too easily and not very effectively, our movement is limited and we're not particularly hard working off the ball. We are however, quite effective in terms of creating half chances and the occasional decent one; if you don't take those chances though, you're just ugly for no reason. Today was ugly.

All of that said, it's still as jammy an away win as you could hope for. Ipswich never really threatened us all game and looked like they'd be happy to eat the clock and settle for a nil-nil from about the twentieth minutes - I bet they can't believe their luck. It's hard work at the moment, we're not winning and we're not fun to watch- but I've a little more belief in this side than I had in the one that was losing games earlier in the season. At the moment, everything is against us - you expect us to be disjointed with so many new players, you expect the system to take time to bed in, but we've also picked up a big chunk of bad luck and a whole bag of nervous pressure - behind that I think there are some positives, I know you have to look hard for them, but there are some signs of life.

Anyways;

Johnstone (5) - hard to give him a rating, his kicking was alright and they only had one shot on target. He didn't save it, but in fairness it wasn't one you'd expect him too. It's hard to judge him on a day when we could have played Gardner in goal to much the same effect.

Hutton (6) - Hutton'd up and down the right hand side, available, keen, limited.

Chester (6) - had a running battle with Lawrence (who is a horrible happy little character) and in general got on with his job.

Elphick (5) - quietly defended and nothing else

Baker (7) - the centre back that got forward most often and occasionally attempted to play as a winger, he was alright at that and a good target for set pieces - but that Nathan Baker was the player who had to get forward shows that we probably didn't need three centre halves today.

Taylor (5) - solid left back - reassuring in our half, unthreatening in theirs.

Lansbury (7) - head and shoulders the best player in the first half - faded a little in the second

Bjarnason (7) - he's the worst footballer of our midfield three, he's the most limited - he's also the one that worked hardest, showed for the ball, chased people down and got into useful positions most often. This was his best games so far and it looks like he's settling.

Hourihane (5) - it doesn't look like he's settling- the schemer, the dead ball dynamo, the creator supreme - all the things I thought we were buying - they haven't arrived yet. In three full performances so far all we've seen are a handful of decent corners and a player who doesn't quite seem to know where he should be.

Hogan (6) - bustles along, gets into some good positions, should have had a penalty for the push in the back in the second half - he was..I dunno...okay?

Kodjia (5) - when he's pointed at their goal and running at it he's excellent, a dangerous handful - when he's pointed at our goal trying to link things up, less so. I appreciate that Hogan plays off the last man, but Kodjia needs to be encouraged not to keep coming deep - the sight of Kodjia 50 yards out breaking into space with no real plan isn't a representation of the stuff he's good at.

subs

Adomah (6) - livened us up a bit - I'm not sure he's a wing back, but he's the only man unlucky to not be playing due to the new system,

Bacuna (5) - erm...he came on, I saw him.

Green (5) - the manager deciding late on that the stability of Taylor was less important than some pace and attacking purpose if we were to win it. I'm not entirely sure why we didn't just play Amavi who can do both.

So, it's crap, it feels crap, we're horrible to watch and we've somehow managed to lose to a team who had one shot on target in a game where we've hit the bar, should have had a penalty and forced half a dozen decent saves out of their keeper. I'm annoyed, I'm angry, but I'm prepared to submit that despite all of our faults it's still taken a big chunk of bad luck to stop us winning the game today. I'm squeezing that straw until breaks.

Meh.

 

 

 

[Eastie]

17 minutes ago, striker said:

Less I would guess.

Time to polish the chopper just in case

[sheepyvillian]

To think people were quite optimistic at his initial appointment. I would just like to go on record and say, I wasn't one of them .

Its beginning to look like Billy Mcneil all over again .

[Mat Kendrick's Dentist]

31 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Time to polish the chopper just in case

C'mon mate, it's a family forum.

[Paul33]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

So, it's crap, it feels crap, we're horrible to watch and we've somehow managed to lose to a team who had one shot on target in a game where we've hit the bar, should have had a penalty and forced half a dozen decent saves out of their keeper. I'm annoyed, I'm angry, but I'm prepared to submit that despite all of our faults it's still taken a big chunk of bad luck to stop us winning the game today. I'm squeezing that straw until breaks.

Meh.

 

 

 

Good post - just got back from my 200 mile round trip and that is the best summary I have seen. Didn't play well but deserved to win by at least two goals and we'd have been happy with that. Much to improve but we really did lose today because we were unlucky in front of goal. It happens !

[The Fun Factory]

That was as enjoyable and as pleasant as downing a week old pint of cold sick.

7 points from the bottom 3 after 30 games. This is the stat I expected if Lerner was still our owner with a  5 mil net spend and Neil Warnock in charge. WTF.

A total clusterfudge and we are omishambling to league one at this rate. Unacceptable and atrocious.

Mind you Ipswich fluked this win today. Bah,

[pacbuddies]

40 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

To think people were quite optimistic at his initial appointment. I would just like to go on record and say, I wasn't one of them .

Its beginning to look like Billy Mcneil all over again .

Nor was I but what do we know.

[Harry]

Missed the game as I was enroute to Bournemouth for the week so dodged a bullet I think.  Did not even bother to inflict my STs on anyone else. That is how fed up I am of all things Villa.

Coincidentally I arrived just in time to have the pleasure of watching the second half of the rugby where England gave a master class in team work, commitment, skill, coming from behind and never giving up. Sadly Villa virtually never evidence most of those attributes.

Last weekend I was posting on here saying we should stick with Bruce. My son is adamant we should cut our losses. Today I'm less sure. What worries me I am starting to think that Bruce has little or no idea how to set out the team or to vary things to get a result.

[sheepyvillian]

58 minutes ago, Mat Kendrick's Dentist said:

C'mon mate, it's a family forum.

What's offensive about a motorbike? 

[jackbauer24]

Bruce f*cked that up; he says he's playing a back three but with Hutton and Taylor he's really playing 5-3-2 and we're losing the midfield battle on numbers and lacking any width. Far too negative a set up.

I'd rather no Elphick and another midfielder (Adomah links midfield to attack best). No point calling for a change of manager though...I'm beyond hoping that things will ever change...

[Stratvillan]

2 minutes ago, jackbauer24 said:

Bruce f*cked that up; he says he's playing a back three but with Hutton and Taylor he's really playing 5-3-2 and we're losing the midfield battle on numbers and lacking any width. Far too negative a set up.

I'd rather no Elphick and another midfielder (Adomah links midfield to attack best). No point calling for a change of manager though...I'm beyond hoping that things will ever change...

Bruce's fault. If you play 3 centre halves you have 2 play 2 attacking wing backs, not Taylor and Hutton. Green and Adomah, amavi and Adomah not the two he choose, gave the midfield no where to pass to. 

Aargh!

[sheepyvillian]

 Whats" we go again" in geordie ?

[stegzy]

Just home after 3 hour drive from My first trip to Villa Park in about 6 years. I was excited about seeing our new signings at home and thought (naively) we would win quite easily. 

I put the blame completely on Bruce for this one. Why play 5 at the back at home against Ipswich? Especially when the full backs picked offer 0 going forward. We knew that about Hutton and he was bad but Taylor was even worse.

How Bruce didn't see this and change it to 433 or 442 I'll never know. Amavi and Bree (or even Bacuna) could work ok in this system but it's still not necessary home to Ipswich especially without using an advanced midfielder e.g. Grealish.

 

Johnstone 5.

Didn't kick very well and he has a knack of conceding from every shot on target. Would be interested to see his saves/ shots ratio in the league for us.

Hutton 5

pretty poor. Gave them the ball from a promising attack we had at the start of the match when he had a simple pass but messed it up.

 

Taylor 3

He kept throwing the ball in to Ipswich especially one time which was quite inexplicable. His passing was poor and every attempted cross was just hit blindly into the first man. May be ok in a back 4 but no way wingback material.

Baker, Chester and Elphick all 6

no point in them all being there but did ok and Elphick was unfortunate with slip.

Lansbury 7

probably the pick of the midfielders with a great range of passing. Look forward to seeing him more advanced when Jedinak is back

 

Bjarnason 6

great energy and got into some good positions but doesn't seem very technical. Good effort off the bar.

Hourihane 6

can definately see he has great technique and sent in some fantastic dead balls. Just needs to impose himself on the games a bit more and find his role in the team.

Kodjia 7

 Was the only player that got me excited in that match with his dribbling and directness today. End product wasn't quite there but almost got an acrobatic goal.

Hogan 6

His performance reminded me very much of Weimann today. Hard working with a bit of pace and strength about him but not a lot else today. One example was him chasing a long ball right down to the corner flag, doing brilliantly to win it then just shinning it out of play. Signs are there though he will come good and you can tell he would really benefit from and in form Jack Grealish playing behind him.

Im happy for Bruce to have a bit more time but if he put that same lineup out on Tuesday (which I'm sure he won't) I'd want him gone. The real concern for me is he can't see the obvious sometimes and make the required changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2017 by stegzy

[AVFCDAN]

I appreciate people are trying to look at the positive side and adopt a more 'realistic' view of what's going on but I think it's time we stopped looking over he hill and hoping or expecting things to magically improve. We need to acknowledge what we are dealing with right now and the cold hard facts. The reality is that we are 16 in the championship, bottom of the form table, lowest away scorers in the English football league, playing badly almost every week and getting the results those terrible performances deserve. The cold hard facts right now is that we are in dire straights and if this continues relegation is not impossible. Add to that we seem to have a manager that is more than happy to point out how bad everything is week after week but continue to do nothing about it.

I'm finding it harder and harder by the week to stick by this club, sooner or later they really need to give the fans something back because we don't deserve this and neither does Tony.

Edited February 11, 2017 by AVFCDAN

[philgetaway]

8 people voted Bjarnson as MOM. 

[OutByEaster?]

12 minutes ago, philgetaway said:

8 people voted Bjarnson as MOM. 

For me it came down to Baker, Lansbury or Bjarnason. I think on the first half performance Lansbury would have walked it, he was excellent, but overall I felt Bjarnason deserved it even though I'd have been happy with any of those three. 

[romavillan]

I only followed on the radio but how the **** we have managed to lose that is completely beyond me. The fact we have is a problem in and of itself and its not the first time, feels like preston all over again. 

 

Its odd we can be so on top till the break and then come out so flat again. It suggests that they are being asked to do something at the break that as a group they cannot put into practice. 

I'm a fan of 3 at the back, but Hutton is not the man to play down the right if the 3 isn't really a 5. At home we should play a genuine 3-4-1-2 and go for it. 

 

No win in 8 is hard times for Bruce, he needs a win badly.

[terrytini]

Thanks Stesgy saved me reviewing it agree with your assessments.

Keepers kicking, Lansbury playing on the edge of our own box, Taylor's woeful debut, and awful team selection were the lowlights for me.

I disagree with those who say Ipswich flukes it we always thought they looked more purposeful and played the more threatening football.

One good moment, Lansbury doing that brilliant dummy second half.

Edited February 11, 2017 by terrytini

[sheepyvillian]

In situations like we're in ,who gives a friar Tuck about man of the match ?

[rjw63]

4 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

In situations like we're in ,who gives a friar Tuck about man of the match ?

So we can laugh at whoever voted for Westwood...oh...