Ratings & Reactions: Huddersfield v Villa

[avfc456]

Just got back. Half decent first half rubbish second half. Another wasted evening. 

[srsmithusa]

as long as we make and accept excuses the villa curse will continue.

poor finishing is not JUST about bad luck.

a depleted squad is not the biggest problem when those out injured have a history of doing no better (and you can't blame a depleted squad while excusing January because we had too many new players.  If our problem in January was too many new players, then losing some to injury should reasonably help.)  To be clear, I don't think that was our problem or is our problem, I'm just tired of hearing people making excuses for poor performance.

Poor passing is not JUST about too many new players, or players "not good enough" (as evidence that many of them managed to pass and even score before they got here)

accepting villa failure or even mediocrity "considering {insert-best-excuse-of-the-day here}"  is the curse left over from RL's neglect.   And we're still doing it.  Bruce is not successfully addressing the real problem that has eaten away at this club for years.  In fact, I think he's feeding it.

[briny_ear]

2 hours ago, villa89 said:

To be honest I am the opposite. I don't care about the points because we aren't going to reach the playoffs anyway. The important thing is the performances and that Bruce shows us he can get us promoted next season. 

So you were happy with this defeat then?

[Eastie]

Plenty positives - we were arguably the better team for long periods and created good chances and restricted them to hardly a chance.

however we failed to take our chances and again our opponent put away the chance they made - the nucleus is developing of a decent team - those predicting we would be played off the park are wrong but no doubt as we lost it will be another stick to beat Bruce with.

 

[pacbuddies]

4 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Plenty positives - we were arguably the better team for long periods and created good chances and restricted them to hardly a chance.

however we failed to take our chances and again our opponent put away the chance they made - the nucleus is developing of a decent team - those predicting we would be played off the park are wrong but no doubt as we lost it will be another stick to beat Bruce with.

 

If I pop into every thread will I see this same post everywhere?

[Demitri_C]

10 hours ago, tonitottakai said:

Just like Derby, Bristol and Rotherham in the past matches.

For me, a draw would have been deserved result from this.

Yeah two teams in the bottom three

and how about wolves, brentford, Cardiff, Ipswich??

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

9 hours ago, villa89 said:

To be honest I am the opposite. I don't care about the points because we aren't going to reach the playoffs anyway. The important thing is the performances and that Bruce shows us he can get us promoted next season. 

We are only 10 POINTS above the relegation zone, so you should care about points.

[Stevo985]

11 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

We are only 10 POINTS above the relegation zone, so you should care about points.

We're safe.

I care about points, because picking them up regardless of performance will be key next season. So we have to get used to doing it.

But we don't need to look over our shoulder at relegation now. We won't be going down.

[romavillan]

yet another game where we perform worse after the break, it's a bit worrying as a trend really. it's happened a lot, the chances we made in the first half dried up almost completely second half. instead of building on the confidence of the chances made and missed first half we disappeared second half and we haven't shown we can defend 0-0 with confidence this season. especially away.

I'm not completely against the tactics of thinking about shutting down the opposition over and above playing free flowing football, if that measn we will be promoted doing it. If we're going to do it though the minimum should be being able to close out a game and concentrate for 90 mins. we've committed suicide a lot this season. not sayign that was particularly the case last night but still, the pattern was there, miss chances, disappear second half, concede, lose. Bruce has to show that if we're going down the catenaccio route, that we can win consistently doing it before the end of the season. If that's a series of horrible 1-0s in our favour I really don't care. I would take being hated for anti-football boring 1-0s next season if we're 6 points clear at the top this time next year with single figures in the goals against column!

[rjw63]

Just saw highlights...sublime skill from Kodjia to beat three Huddersfield men and break into the box - where he was obviously dragged down for one of the most nailed on penalties ever.

The referee decides to play advantage though, and although Lansbury hit the woodwork when the ball popped out to him it's hardly an advantage compared to a spot kick.

Shit officials yet again.

[WakefieldVillan]

Think Chappy was pretty much spot on with his match summary earlier in this thread, I went with an Ex Huddersfield Town player (supporting Villa) he thought like me we were worthy of at least a point, possibly three. In the end missed chances cost us and a very sloppy goal to concede. My player ratings are as follows;

Johnstone 6/10 - Made a good save early on but the linesman flagged so wouldn't have counted, didn't have much to do other than routine catches. I think it would be a little harsh to blame him for the goal.

Bree 7/10 - Looks a good signing, composed on the ball and nullified the Huddersfield pacy winger. Would have liked him to push on a bit more but that may be Bruce's instructions.

Taylor 5/10 - Think he's a little more solid than Amavi defensively but still got caught a couple of times in the first half where he was a bit hesitant. 

Chester 6/10 - Solid enough.

Baker 6/10 - See Chester. Though he did get caught out in the second half when he pulled down Wells. Rightly carded.

Jedinak 8/10 - My MOTM. We look a much more stronger unit with Mile in the side. Won all his headers. Does the dirty stuff.

Lansbury 7/10 - Worked hard, extremely unlucky with the strike that rattled the bar, felt like he tried the ball into the channel too much second half, again maybe Bruce's instructions.

Hourihane 5/10 - Surprised he's had any votes for MOTM?! Was most looking forward to watching this guy live but was left disappointed. Think the 1st half miss affected his game somewhat - In a Barnsley shirt that breaks the net! Tried hard but quality was lacking. Spent most of the night closing down the Town centre halves, but when we do this we need to hunt in packs not as individuals.

 Adomah 4/10 - That rating could be a little high! Was invisible most of the match and showed nothing on the ball. Disappointing to say the least.

Amavi 5/10 - Looked like he was asking Bruce where he needed to be during the first half. Think it's a straight choice at LB between him and Taylor. Last night with them both on the pitch we struggled physically.

Kodija 6/10 - Showed some nice touches and battled hard against two physical Town defenders but had little support from his team-mates or the referee.

Subs; - Both a little too late to judge

Referee 4/10 - Rated poor - Jedinak harshly yellow carded with his first challenge yet the Town players seemed to get away with lots of similar challenges, niggly ones that went unpunished. Mooy's foul on Lansbury looked a nasty one (yellow given, perhaps a red?! but would need to see it again). Think the pen for the tackle on Kodija would have been harsh, think he should have just fallen naturally and it may have been given, the theatrical dive made it easy for the ref to give it Town's way and to appease the home fans.

Bruce  6/10 - Average - I think he played the right team and on another day we win that, but don't think it was particularly pleasing on the eye from either team. Injuries/Suspensions didn't help as we had no one on the bench who could really come on and affect the game. 

 

 

 

 

[darrenm]

I'm sure referees see us as the big club trying to outmuscle the plucky little other club in every match and automatically do us no favours whatsoever. I bet we would have quite a few more points this season with fairer refereeing.

[MarkLillis]

Haven't seen it mentioned much here but Huddersfield's pressing play deserves a mention. At time our players were surrounded by blue and white shirts.

The effort and fitness levels were all important last night and i just think we ran out of gas in the second half where as Huddersfield players are clearly suited to the style of play and were able to keep it up for longer.

When they had the ball there was little in the way of creativity, Arron Mooy looked like he was very difficult to play against so credit to him.

The pressing game also gives there fans a sense that the players will give 100% in every challenge and whilst SOME of our our players can hold their heads up high,last night others were not at the races and were virtual passengers ....(Albert I'm looking at you!).

On the whole we lost to a club making 100% best out of its resources which results in a very proud set of fans who feel that the club is on the verge of something special.

We on the other hand have a very expensively assembled squad of players that on paper are under performing and most of us,(i think) wouldn't care if they left tomorrow.