Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Bristol City

[Deisler123]

When I saw we scored the first goal, I went on VT to check the reactions. And it was down at that point.

Then we scored the second. At that time I kinda hoped that VT was down. So it was.

I guess I know what the problem with Villa is now....

Moderators - can we test this theory at the next game please?

[srsmithusa]

Couldn't see it.  Couldn't hear it. Couldn't follow it.   All I know is we won.  Couldn't be happier.  

[Stevo985]

First half was utterly dreadful. 

Second half much better and very comfortable in the end. 

 

Jedinak MOTM. 

Hutton excellent too. 

Green was very good. Nearly scored an absolute worldy. Would have been some goal. He's got something. 

 

Gardner was diabolical, but he turned his ankle early on so benefit of the doubt given. 

Johnstone's kicking is abysmal. 

[BOF]

10 minutes ago, KJT123 said:

Two disappointments of the night - Adomah and Johnstone. 

Adomah got both assists. I didn't see the game so I can't comment on general play but games turn on key big moments. Surely he was a big reason as to why we won at the end of the day. 

[KJT123]

1 minute ago, BOF said:

Adomah got both assists. I didn't see the game so I can't comment on general play but games turn on key big moments. Surely he was a big reason as to why we won at the end of the day. 

He did get both assists. The first one was an average cross that Kodjia did brilliantly to turn into a goal scoring opportunity. The second one, Kodjia got to the byline, cut it back to Adomah who went to shoot, whiffed it completely, fell out to Hourihane who put it away. 

[Nigel]

4 minutes ago, BOF said:

Adomah got both assists. I didn't see the game so I can't comment on general play but games turn on key big moments. Surely he was a big reason as to why we won at the end of the day. 

wait till you see the 2nd 'assist'!

Hes in poor form atm, highlighted by his lack of pace to stretch the game.  Not sure he is the answer long term.

[ender4]

8 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

 

Hutton excellent too. 

 

second game he's been excellent?

[terrytini]

And a special mention for the Bristol fans for giving us the best fun we've had all season lol.

[Kingman]

Wasn't at the game but from what I've heard the fans need to stop jumping on the players backs at 0-0 

Helps No One! 

[terrytini]

Play football properly, allow midfielders to use their skills and imagination, and Ooh ! Win. Entertain. Good !!

Im convinced the team plays how he tells it to, so for the same reason I would criticise the set up on other occasions ( and first half) I will give him credit for us playing differently second half.

The real test  though is will we do that again, and then again, etc.

[OutByEaster?]

It would appear there's been something wrong with the universe. In more ways than one.

So, at the weekend, England played Italy at something called Rug-by. Now, the Italians came up with some sort of fiendish shenanigan that meant that the sort of rug-by that people are used to, the sort that they think of as attractive and exciting, simply wasn't possible - this made the English coach quite cross and he said "This wasn't a game of rugby, the BBC should ask for their money back."

And that was most of the first half tonight - rather than the usual game of football, instead we were treated to both back fours, joined by deep midfields, gently lobbing or heading balls to each other over the heads of the strikers. Everyone seemed reasonably comfortable with it, except when there was a free kick, when there'd be a bit of an old jostle and things were slightly bad tempered.

Gary Gardner got confused at one point and chased after a loose ball causing the keeper to bring him down and the referee to award a penalty. Thankfully a slightly-too-excited-by-the-boo-boys Jonathon Kodjia managed to smash it against the bar so hard that for a moment I thought he'd turned the ground round. Gardner was substituted for his error.

And after 45 minutes, off they trotted, while I read the back of my season ticket to see if that money back thing was a possibility.

Thankfully, in the second half, football broke out. About three minutes into the half Andre Green decided that rather than pass the ball backwards he'd spin his man and run at the Bristol defence - it caused chaos, the crowd were up and you could almost see the light bulb go on in his head - I swear I saw him tell himself - "I'm better than him" - that helped and the rest of the team seemed to twig - suddenly we'd get the ball and occasionally attack them - completing our first pass of the game on around 50 minutes.

Then friends a small miracle - two goals in five minutes - one a looping header that seemed to take ages to nestle into the back of the net and the other a neat finish from Hourihane after Adomah had smushed over his opportunity. Smushed is a word.

From then, it was sort of end to end - we never looked for a moment like we'd concede, they looked like they'd score with every attack, they put balls into our box, across our box, through our box, over our box - each one dangerous - and yet there was a strange feeling that nothing was going to go in. A spooky calm in the face of obvious danger.

At the other end, Green and Hourihane were picking out nice passes, Alan Hutton was dominating down the right hand side and we looked - I'm not sure dangerous is quite the right word - but certainly as dangerous as we've managed to look a while - and very much like we might score a third. 

We didn't and there's lots wrong with the performance - particularly in the first half - and there are problems with injuries, with both Gardner and Green going down - Green with a hamstring injury that looked pesky - but this winning and keeping clean sheets lark seems like fun. The longer the game went on the better we got - something to do with confidence I believe - the fixture list might have lined us up the right team to be playing next and we might find a little more confidence - three on the bounce could see us starting to feel sort of positive - it's been a while since that's been true.

Anyways - here's some ratings:

Johnstone (6) - he at times did good things - and at times did bad things - in particular in the first half he again found himself in a position where he needed to catch a falling ball in front of a striker and didn't which was a worry - still, there were some good things.

Hutton (7) - He was good tonight - he was good at all the things you already know he's good at, without being all that bad at the things you know he's not as good at - if you weren't there, brace yourself - he got into position for a couple of scoring opportunities tonight. Imagine that.

Baker (7) - He's a big fella with a big head and it hasn't been broken for weeks. I like this.

Chester (7) - He's a smaller fella with a calm head that doesn't look you could break it with a big spanner

Taylor (7) - I've been worried about this chap - he was excellent tonight, solid, supportive, sensible - he and Green seem to be finding some sort of understanding, which is promising, but unfortunate.

Jedinak (8) - clearly no one has told him I've said he's finished. He was man of the match for me - solid as you like in the first half, sensible in the second - but with added big tackles, getting forward and organising others. I thought he was excellent, even though I did try hard not to think he was excellent.

Lansbury (6) - very quiet in the first half, and I'm not sure he had a good game overall - however, toward the end when others were flagging, he was a trojan, putting in tackles, getting about the place and getting in Bristol faces. 

Gardner (6) - while he was on, he was the least busy of our midfielders, a peripheral figure - yet also our most effective.

Adomah (6) - busy, busy, busy - not quite found the little moments that he enjoys in the last couple of games, but he's an absolute nuisance to a left back - I bet they go home knackered.

Kodjia (6) - came out of the traps like a greyhound with a big bag of whizz - all over exuberance and eagerness to put the Bristol fans back in their box. He had a shot from a silly angle very early on, tried to take on the whole defence a little too often and then hit the penalty like he was trying to remodel the North Stand - but, he kept getting up and coming back and his goal was decent - after he scored he calmed down a bit and looked better for it - he was breathing out of his backside after 70 minutes again and I worry he'll run out of gas soon - but, 12 in 24 and you can shove tonights goal right up your Clifton Observatory.

Green (8) - the first man to try to take the game by the scruff of the neck - not much of a first half and a short second half, but he turned the game - the effort where he tricked his through three men from wide and hit the bar from 25 yards would have been something very special - and he was looking very dangerous when sadly his hammy went. Hopefully it's nothing too bad.

Subs 

Hourihane (7) - took the remains of the first half to settle, then took his cue from Green and started to pull strings and engineer things - he really enjoyed his goal - I think he'll benefit from confidence in the team - tonight he looked a lot more settled.

Bree and Bjarnason - came on and chased about a bit, gave us enough energy to see out the game without ever really adding to it.

The only other thing to mention is that the referee was poor, letting far too much go, Bristol City had four booked and should have had at least another three - a foul in the first half on Kodjia in the corner in front of the Bristol fans, a foul on Green by Flint with a very high foot both went unpunished and the keeper putting his arm around Green's neck and pushing him onto the floor which should have been a second yellow for him resulted in a free kick against Green.

No matter - three points - thank you very much - we're not good, but we're winning and we're getting better while we're winning and that's a good sign - football might break out yet.

 

[terrytini]

3 minutes ago, Kingman said:

Wasn't at the game but from what I've heard the fans need to stop jumping on the players backs at 0-0 

Helps No One! 

Agree - booed off at half time. Can't ever agree with that.

Im not sure it was really at the players though, everybody's comments were about the cautious approach.

[limpid]

31 minutes ago, Deisler123 said:

Moderators - can we test this theory at the next game please?

I don't think we can arrange for Amazon's AWS (Eastern US) to be offline just for the match.

[terrytini]

Brilliant OBE especially the match report that should be framed, absolutely spot on.

The only bit I'd differ on is Lansbury I thought he was outstanding. Other than that I agree with every word and rating,

It was sort of surreal that sudden change in the second half... suddenly it was fun to be at a football match !

Edited February 28, 2017 by terrytini

[PieFacE]

31 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

First half was utterly dreadful. 

Second half much better and very comfortable in the end. 

 

Jedinak MOTM. 

Hutton excellent too. 

Green was very good. Nearly scored an absolute worldy. Would have been some goal. He's got something. 

 

Gardner was diabolical, but he turned his ankle early on so benefit of the doubt given. 

Johnstone's kicking is abysmal. 

Agree with all of that. Good summary. 

 

I was disappointed Jack didn't come on for Adomah though. 

 

, 

[AJ]

8 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

It would appear there's been something wrong with the universe. In more ways than one.

No matter - three points - thank you very much - we're not good, but we're winning and we're getting better while we're winning and that's a good sign - football might break out yet.

 

Excellent summary, and muchly appreciated. However, reading your post made me feel like I was reading a match report by D

[Stevo985]

17 minutes ago, Kingman said:

Wasn't at the game but from what I've heard the fans need to stop jumping on the players backs at 0-0 

Helps No One! 

I agree. And I don't boo at games.

But even I felt like booing in the first half. It was **** terrible. 

We never looked like conceding. But that was why it was annoying. They were there for the taking. But the ball just kept going back to Johnstone or baker, who would hoof it in the general direction of Kodjia, who wouldn't win it. Then Bristol would hoof it back to our defence and we'd do it again. For 45 minutes. 

[Stevo985]

34 minutes ago, ender4 said:

second game he's been excellent?

Nope. First. 

I don't think he was excellent vs derby. He was better tonight than that game. Looks more confident than I've ever seen him. 

[TRO]

The player on paper I was least impressed with in our window was Taylor.

in the last 2 games while unspectacular, I thought he has been competent, busy, full of nous and awareness.....and generally acquitted himself well.....he has gelled pretty quick, so far.

I like this guy on what I have seen and confident to say an improvement on the current form of Amavi

[The Fun Factory]

That was pleasant- apart from the M5 being closed and monsoon rain conditions.  We looked like a football team in the second half, which is nice. Green had a great game, hope the injury is not too bad.  Kodjia was a lesson in keep trying, and excellent to see out another clean sheet, albeit versus a poor side. I would love it if Hutton connected one of those shots one day  for the winner versus the Blues for the lols.

I hope this ends the relegation concern now. Bring on the Millers.