Ratings and Reactions: Villa v Barnsley

[chrisvilla4]

Yay. No game until Monday. 

[villa4europe]

48 minutes ago, Ingram85 said:

At this point, would anyone blame DrX for cutting his losses and running? 

he wont, more worryingly is that owning us means that his chinese businesses get a tax exemption from mr chinese tax man, that has a value to it, theres no chinese government incentive for us to be successful, merely owning us ticks the box, dont get me wrong i believe his heart is in it but in theory he can properly let us rot, he'll still make money out of owning us

i cant remember exactly what the % is but i think its about 20% tax reduction so its one hell of an incentive from them, thats got to be worth some millions of yuan a year

[OutByEaster?]

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 tonight's wins that game 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 that 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 had 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 a 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 or 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 play 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.

 

 

[darrenm]

@OutByEaster? I agree with most of the above but I'd take about 5 off each of Hutton, Baker and Grealish. I thought they were all terrible.

The penalty looked like a dive from the north. The ref took an age to give it.

Lansbury seemed very effective still when he went off. He was the only one creating stuff and sliding some dangerous balls through to Kodjia. Grealish had no urgency and kept losing the ball through pondering while everyone else stepped the pace up a bit.

[Keener window-cleaner]

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!!

[sheepyvillian]

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

And finding the "right manager' has proved sooooo easy over the past five years, hasn't it?

In a word ,no ,but eventually someone will steer this ship in the right direction. And fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later. 

 

[briny_ear]

16 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

In a word ,no ,but eventually someone will steer this ship in the right direction. And fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later. 

 

So we just go on changing my nanagers every few weeks until we find the "right" one?

[maqroll]

How bad was the booing at the end?

[The Fun Factory]

What can you say after that? 

I hate football, it makes me feel bad

[BigJim]

2 hours 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.

.....

Many thanks for that terrific write up (as usual, I might add). Makes it a little easier to bear the result.

[sheepyvillian]

3 hours ago, briny_ear said:

So we just go on changing my nanagers every few weeks until we find the "right" one?

Depends how competent in the job they are, obviously. 

[jackdaww]

8 hours 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.............

 

 

another great post .

i didnt see the game .

we may be creating chances , but are they the type that go in ? 

so many goals now are from simple squarish passes inside the box to an unmarked man who just side-foots it in , chances created by good build up play - we dont do that .

re johnstone , i dont think he has made any exceptionally good saves , as guzan and friedel did , a good goalie is essential - according to brian clough... 

glad to hear hourihane performing better .

so it seems the players were individually ok 

but can they play together ? is it tactics , coaching , confidence , or do we have a bunch of timeservers ?

i have never like managers who dont make full use of their subs , they need absolute minimum of 30 mins on the pitch .

i am starting to think bruce is hapless , its taking too long to evaluate his players and decide his plans.

no doubt dr tony will be getting plenty of advice.

 

[Raver50032]

I did kind of get the impression under Eck's season that there was more chance of us playing in League 1 within a decade than breaking into the Top 4 of the Premier League. And each passing week seems to bring that whimsical throwaway thought from 5 years ago a little closer to fruition. There is still a slight glimmer of hope in me that SB will come good. My head is telling me that it's now an impossible job for him and it's a case of whether SB or Doctor X will blink first.

Sorry, sorry times for this once magnificent football club. I feel like going to Argos, buying 'Tin Can Alley' and shooting some shit up. I bet you can't even buy that crap in the shops any more can you?

[slowandlow]

as jackdaww alludes to, its no good saying we created 25 chances or whatever, how many were actual clear cut or even half chances?

nearly all our shots were from edge of the area straight down the goalies throat, their goalie didnt make a meaningful save

 

[NulliSecundus]

11 hours ago, Razor said:

Get David Wagner in.

Huddersfield are 3rd. Why on earth would he leave them to come to this absolute shower?

Regarding the game... first 20 minutes we were great BUT too many misplaced passes, poor first touches. Once we went behind, Adomah and Grealish were shocking and Bruce's choice of subs were baffling. Lansbury IMO was our best player on the pitch. Johnstone still fills me with no confidence whatsoever.

[BOF]

Yay, we're up to 23rd in the form guide.  Thanks Rotherham

[choffer]

11 hours 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.

 

So, not a valentines day massacre then?

[Nigel]

How in the world most of the people who saw this game thought the referee was anything other than abysmal beggars belief.

Some times i think I watch a different game than some!

[AndyHowell]

Resilience is a major problem. Our midfield has the beginnings of something really decent about it.  Aside from confidence at th back we have some more serious problems against decent opposition — Barnsley are decent opposition as the League Table shows.

Amardi. If I was he opposition manager I would tell my team to run at him all day. He's not a defender, is not quick enough and most importantly no strong enough. He also knows someone will take him in the summer. I can see why Taylor was signed but like last night there are times he will be injured.

Grealish. It is getting to the point where I don't think he is going to make it in the game. Sure he has skill and he can sometimes pick a great pass but he can't think on his feet and alter his game. If he can't play consistently he probably shouldn't be playing at all, at least not at the moment.

Kodj. An enigma. How can you criticise your amor goalscorer? He has a lot to learn, particularly about tam playing and awareness of his colleagues. As has been pointed out last night we dominated possession but we also created chances. We need strikers who know when not to be selfish.

Finally, we need penetration down the flanks. I'm not surprised Albert was back last night. And I reckon Green will soon be ahead of Grealish in the pecking order.

Edited February 15, 2017 by AndyHowell

[Nigel]

The real funny thing is we are playing so much better than our purple patch before Christmas.

I cant believe we have lost those 2 games!

Lansbury was the best player on the pitch again last night.  Its lovely to see industry again in the centre of the park.

Johnstone is a liability atm!