Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Hull

[TRO]

2 hours ago, sidcow said:

Worrying similarities to last year for me. Gave the ball away too cheaply time and time again allowing them too much of the ball.

Missing too many chances which would have probably guaranteed us the result. 

Bacuna selection is just bizarre. He is worse than offering nothing, he is a liability. 

Our play was summed up for me by 2 instances towards the end where we had simple chances to play the ball to players unmarked in good attacking positions but instead of playing that obviously correct ball tried something more tricky that ultimately failed and gave possession away and which even if they had come off would not be as good as the original spurned easy chance. 

Our players decision making is so so poor at times. 

That last line is shockingly accurate.

[The Fun Factory]

I have no idea why Bacuna started and I doubt Bruce does either.  I wonder if any other fan says the same but for Villa we always seem to need at least 3 or 4 clear cut chances to score one. We have to be more clinical. Threw 2 points away yet again. Yes some positives today but Hull were for the taking and we blew it.  Yet again strange like of energy after being 1 up. The last 10 minute flurry was too late. If we want to go up this season we can't afford to do this.  Samba as a central forward? The silly season has started.

[sidcow]

Biggest disappointment to be fair was the continuity from the last several years. 

Get in from the match, pick up TV remote. Delete game. 

[TRO]

I cannot for the life of me see what steve see's in Bacuna.....an absolute liability.

disappointing result against a very durable Hull team.

we were in the ascendancy and simply surrendered it.

I think Steve Bruce will have better days, made changes too late.

Edited August 7, 2017 by TRO

[srsmithusa]

4 hours ago, midian said:

Brilliant 35 mins should of had 3 or 4 then changed into a different team from then

The first 35 minutes we looked bright and energetic.  But wasteful and ineffective.  Should have had 3 or 4 and it would have been match over.  Instead, Hull adjusted and we were inept.  And yes, the inability to adapt is Bruce's fault.  Despite those that claim that's deluded.   

[chappy]

Only saw 10 mins late in the first half due to shoddy signal here in Guatemala. We looked good! I was very impressed by Hogan and Elmo. 

 

Second half sounds depressingly familiar. We now need to beat Cardiff and Reading to establish a good start. We saw last season how a sluggish start ended any realistic promotion push.

 

What has Hourihane done wrong?

[Grasshopper]

ASTON VILLA

(Owner wants promotion, £80mill+ squad, Manager 36 games & preseason under his belt, promotion favourites)

V

Hull City/Tigers

(Owner wants ?, best players pillaged, Manager with no CH/English football experience)

Result 1-1 draw - a point a piece.

The game as a whole and at face value, a 90+ min performance/end result for a club wanting promotion.

Simply not a blueprint for success.

[Jareth]

6 pages of reaction and most used to attack the manager. Bruce is on to a hiding even if we won. 3 points would have set us up but there is now a chance at Cardiff to address the mistakes. Pressure is good though, we sleep walked the first 10 games last year and I am sure the likes of Terry will be reminding a few.

[Rodders]

symbolic result - A 2/3-0 win would have represented a step change in progress and indicated we were ready to be better. Instead, we did what we always do. A decent manager would have won that game for us. That draw serves as added ammunition to the view he is remarkably mediocre. Not awful, but utterly uninspiring. If we do go up with him, we'll have sneaked it barely and no doubt with some degree of luck. This result only re-inforces my doubts. If we don't pick up consecutive wins in the next few weeks we should get rid if we don't want to face a failure to go up disaster.  All I can see is draws. 

[AVTuco]

We did enough to win, and should've won. We just can't score. Kodjia is so needed.

[Mjvilla]

Just wanted to give a big shout out to the young lad Jarrod Bowen who scored the goal for Hull. I live in a small town where very little ever happens, so to have one of our own scoring a goal in the championship (even against my own team) is great news for the town. 

And there's a picture of him celebrating in the crowd after the goal on social media, with his dad and I know how much that moment will mean to both of them. 

Just a shame we couldn't get the winner especially with Greens miss! 

[Ponky]

I was  pretty annoyed with the Bacuna hate before the match but to be pretty honest he was terrible and probably did more damage than good. Bruce obviously  likes his versatility and his run, but he was a real momentum killer. 

[rodders0223]

9 hours ago, srsmithusa said:

The first 35 minutes we looked bright and energetic.  But wasteful and ineffective.  Should have had 3 or 4 and it would have been match over.  Instead, Hull adjusted and we were inept.  And yes, the inability to adapt is Bruce's fault.  Despite those that claim that's deluded.   

We would never have got all those chances though if Gabby had scored in the first couple of minutes. Why?....because Bruce would have pulled eveyrone back into our own half when we take the lead, and instruct everyone to stop attacking. Just like he did all through last season.

[S-Platt]

Everyone seems to forget we were on Sky hence we are never going to win!

From the top of the North Stand that first half had me thinking "me likey". I knew it was Villa so not getting a 2nd goal was likely to haunt us and so it proved.

i was encouraged we created chances.  They had a purple patch and scored.  I won't get too upset as I think that is better than last year where we relied entirely on Kodija.

The thing that pissed me off the most was.  They had ran out of pies and crisps 5 mins before halftime!! First game of the season wtf!  Sort it out Tony!!

 

[chrisp65]

I only saw the second half, so I guess I got the worst of it.

I see we still favour the medium length 50/50 clearance / pass over actual posession or a string of passes aimed at actual specific players on our team. So many balls lacking control and going slightly long and turning in to another 50/50 situation. I know it's silly to say it, but the wages on that pitch yesterday, tens and tens of thousands of pounds for that week's work and we lack the ability to pass with a degree of accuracy. i know the other team earn similar money so should therefore be able to break up an attack, but they didn't need to, just hold off until a Villa player lobs in a non-specific 30 yard ball. So frustrating. 

I guess I was hoping to tune in and see a team that was clearly up for it and aiming to win this league by being obviously better than the mediocre opposition. One game down, we looked about equal to a reasonably competent opposition. Long way to go, at least we're starting this season with competent, that'll give us a fighting chance in the second half of the season.

[Harry]

14 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Is that not similar to last season? When on top we failed to take chances, gave the ball away needlessly, and at other times were just straight crap.

With the money we have spent, missing our "Star striker" shouldn't necessarily be an excuse for some of our complacency.

Hogan should be a "star striker" in theory. I thought one of the reasons for the squad improvement was to lessen reliance on Kodjia?

Anyway i'm deviating from the point, eventually, those 1 pointers which could/should have been 3 points come back to haunt you in the end.

Of course there are positives, and I would usually be one of the people saying EXACTLY what you just have in your post, BUT this isn't our first rodeo.

If we played a team better than Hull today I feel like we would have lost. (Although we sometimes have a knack of raising our game against better opposition)

I DESPERATELY WANT US TO GO UP.

I don't think there is any room for "Mr. NiceGuy"

No one is saying anything is set in stone, however we are seeing certain signs of things which aided to our undoing, Bruce STILL takes too long to make changes etc.

I don't see anything wrong with that nervousness some have.

JV I agree with what you are saying save for one point, i just think its too early to extrapolate this performance to how we may perform over the season. I agree its disappointing we have seen the same frailties in yesterdays game. TBH if it does continue this way I don't see Bruce remaining as our manager

[AVFCDAN]

3 minutes ago, Harry said:

I just think its too early to extrapolate this performance to how we may perform over the season.

Exactly. Too many people are letting the frustrations of the last 5-6 years boil over after one game this season, you have to give us 10 to see where we are.

[magnkarl]

I for one thought we played well for about 50 minutes. We then let them back into the game by making silly mistakes (both Whelan and Bacuna). I have no idea how Bacuna is playing ahead of Hourihane when he's clearly STILL not learnt how to pass at the right time 4 years later. Elmo was a positive surprise and we shut them down most of the game defensively except for when Bacuna gave them the ball.

Hogan showed glimpses, I think we'll see a lot more from him.

[Straggler]

We have had a jolly long time to prepare for this game and I am thoroughly disappointed with what I saw.  Plan A includes Gabby out wide and Bacuna through the middle and plan B includes humping the ball at Samba as an improvised forward.  I know we have the odd injury, but most of them we have known about for long enough to have made adjustments and indeed signings/loans to cope.  Even from the options available on the bench I don't think there is an excuse for starting Bacuna.  It smacks of over caution from Bruce as does the inclusion of Gabby.  Actually scratch that, the inclusion of Bacuna is just a shocking poor judgement of a player, he has never shown that he is good enough at this level, almost any other option is better than him.  Gabby I can kinda understand from the position we have found ourselves in, even though I would prefer Green to start and Gabby to be an impact sub if Green is not having a good game.  Gabby hasn't done 90 mins for a long time so why not give him max activity for 30 minutes rather than start him?

I put my head in my hands when Samba came on and went up front.  It is desperate and shows a paucity of ideas and over abundance of panic.  Samba as a forward is an admission of failure for the entire team, the manager and the "plan".  Every positive from the first half was undone by the second, it is all too familiar and all too predictable.  The only person who doesn't seem to see it is Bruce and that worries me.  Waiting for the mythical day when we have all our first team available is not an option.  We have to make do with what we have now and we have to be able to get results.  There will always be injuries and if we have plans for promotion we need to be able to win games when things are tough too.  I've not written a negative post about Bruce so this is a first, but I can't ignore the apparent psychology of his decisions and the negative connotations they present.  I would prefer us to be braver.

[LakotaDakota]

2 hours ago, S-Platt said:

Everyone seems to forget we were on Sky hence we are never going to win!

 

Well we're going to be on another 20+ times this year so something needs to change.

Honestly don't think the first game of the season matters too much,  Nobody wants to get off to a losing start so perhaps taking the foot off the gas and sitting back a bit was more about trying not to get caught out.

It didn't work out this time and Bruce was too slow to make changes but we were still unlucky not to have won it at the end & It's what we do from now on that counts.

Away at Warlocks Cardiff isn't the ideal next game though, Think he may well get them in/around the play-offs this year :/ 

Will be interesting to see the team for the cup game midweek