Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Hull

[mottaloo]

One thing that gave me encouragement was elmo and his crossing abilities and how often he looked up to cross.

Kodjia cannot come back soon enough for me.

[TheStagMan]

8 hours ago, Jareth said:

. Bruce is on to a hiding even if we won. 

Rubbish. 

 

If we had won and looked like we deserved it - put Hull to the sword (which given our relevant positions and aims, we should have done) then Bruce would be getting praise for turning it around and would have silenced the doubters, maybe even converted a few.

He didn't. It was the same old same old from last season. He has had the mythical pre-season (which apparently was all that was needed) and has bought in more of his own players early.

Nothing seems to have changed. Sadly.

Do you genuinely think we hate Bruce for Hatings sake? No, we want the best for our club, and on current showing that is not Bruce.

Tell me something. How will you feel if we finish this season, say 10th? What then?

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by TheStagMan

[Jareth]

33 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

If we had won and looked like we deserved it -

 

This is my point, not just if we'd won, but if we'd won and looked like we deserved it. Why not just if we'd won? 

[TheStagMan]

7 minutes ago, Jareth said:

This is my point, not just if we'd won, but if we'd won and looked like we deserved it. Why not just if we'd won? 

Because if we want to be promoted, we need to look like a team that will win games, not one that nicks a goal and holds on. I want to see a decent performance, not lucky wins. If we had won, but all the same frailties were there to be exploited, do you not agree that it would be cause for concern?

We need to play the whole game like we did for the first 30 mins, and not go to pieces, or look to control the game, retain possession and keep pressure off ourselves, look like a team that could stifle the opposition and see out the game, rather than backs to the wall defending for almost a whole half, one that plays on the front foot and attacks - even after going ahead.

This is what we need to do to get promoted. If we do not do this, I will continue to point it out.

[Stockport_Villain]

I've had 24 hours to recover from the disappointment of drawing yesterday and had chance to watch the 3 min highlights. I'm amazed at how Green missed that chance but it was a cracking chance that was created and the lad from spurs had a good chance as well. 

Now while it wasn't the most coherent performance there was still a lot of good stuff in there. If we can come out of the blocks at the start of the second half then we'll be even stronger which both Bruce and Xia have commented on. 

I get the anti Brice stuff and recognise why but I am not joining in this yet as I see progress rather than regressing at this point  in time. Some of the players are starting to see Hogans runs and when he get the first goal at VP they'll be not stopping him. I think the energy the lad from spurs will bring will compliment Whelan and the midfield will be stronger for it and be able to last 90 mins. 

Baby steps and all but I think we will be ok.

[LondonLax]

I've only seen the highlights but we clearly dominated those and had the better chances. Frustrating.

[Godders]

15 hours ago, Stockport_Villain said:

I've had 24 hours to recover from the disappointment of drawing yesterday and had chance to watch the 3 min highlights. I'm amazed at how Green missed that chance but it was a cracking chance that was created and the lad from spurs had a good chance as well. 

Hogan had a couple of reasonable opportunities as well, as well as that pull back which should have been buried as well. Plus 1 or 2 for Lansbury. That's 1 gilt-edged certain goal, and 4 or 5 decent chances that we created. We should have won. 

I'm not totally on board with the "same shit, different season" mentality that seems to be permeating this thread. For Gabby's goal, we had three players in the box attacking the ball in. I can't remember the last time we had more than 2 players in the box attacking a cross. That's a clear change for me. 

[Raver50032]

I have faith in Bruce, but that faith was stretched somewhat Saturday and I gulped (actually gulped) when the team sheet popped up on Facebook. Gabby, I kind of understand, but hope we see more of Green. Bacuna... sheesh. Above all the others? Anyway, it was what it was and as many have already stated, we made a great start... Two chances before we 'finally' netted within the opening 10 minutes. We were away and running, positivity all around and nothing to fear. Several chances later and you just thought, this is going to click at some point... We should be okay.

Half Time...

Second half... jeemeny cripps... Lions against Tigers... only the lions had some sort of crisis of confidence over the half time oranges... and did nothing but cower in the corner for much of the second half. I have faith in Bruce, but if he couldn't see that Hull goal coming five minutes before they scored and failed to react to their uprising, then that knocks my faith in him somewhat. Changes came too late for me... I don't think Samba as an emergency target man is actually a Plan B given our injuries and players to come back into the side. But if it is, it's as embarrassing as when Lambert played 3 or 4 (?) strikers in the D against Bradford in the Cup Semi 2nd leg. It was obvious intent to hoof the ball to Samba for some sort of lucky run on to a runner. Did we actually pump a ball to him?

It was about as effective as me trying to draw the Mona Lisa with my right hand.

I really want Green to do well... shame for the lad about the miss, but I'll give him early season slack for it, and of course, he was quite fresh on. For me, the positive thing for me is that he was in the position to get the opportunity. He'll be fine.

Felt a little for Bacuna, whether we rate him or not, the ironic jeering was a little out of kilter. Still, I guess you got your wish as he now seems to want to move. Well done.

6/10 overall for me. A positive start, but tailed off badly in ways that reminded me of seasons gone by. Must do better.

I have some faith in Bruce... but for me, he has 9 games to save his job. It's that big a season for us.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Raver50032

[AndyHowell]

I guess the main issue is to focus on what changed in the second half as the first half was excellent.

Whelan tired which is not surprising given the amount of work had to do. We were a man short in midfield until the changes — should have been made earlier. Lansbury faded badly, especially after he went down. Bacon was very poor — he offers virtually nothing when we are having to chase the game. Bacuna would not be my first choice on the team sheet. 

We have an outstanding finisher in Hogan but seem to have problems finding him with the right, early, ball.

Still, it was the first game of the season. I'd like to see Bacuna replaced by Hourahane.

[carewjust4u]

Didn't Newcastle lose their first two games of the season last year? Cheer up boys.

[Grasshopper]

On 06/08/2017 at 12:58, Straggler said:

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.

Top post

Bold

He sees it but doesnt deal with it

so its one of a number reasons

1 - He doesnt know how to

2 - Out of pure stubbornness wont deal with it

3 - scared of the consequences of trying -> failing -> what do I do now ?

or

trying -> succeeding -> doesnt feel comfortable with going against his own inner beliefs

[villakram]

What a tud back down to earth... so much for the pre-season illogical giddy hope.

1) A few mins into the 2nd half and gabby/elmo out wide, the ball cycles back to their center back. Lansbury seeing him isolated charges fwd to press, perfect, he'll have to launch it back to our keeper and/or Terry/Chester **if** there was any coherence whatsoever in our play. Rest of the team stands still and watches as they pass around him and begin settling into dominance in the game. This happened a few more times and points to a completely inept game-plan w/o the ball.

2) Hogan picks the ball up ~30yd out from an attacking corner/throw for huddersfield. He charges up field with a number of opposing players closing, he smartly checked back and with men breaking both left and right to continue the counter attack against a dis-organized opposition, what does he do... pass back to the fupping static defence, completely killing the attack, but it was a successful and safe pass. I see this as damning commentary on the mentality of the team.

3) Bacuna deserves plenty of hate, but Gabby is getting away with murder. An atrocious performance from such a senior player, and likewise I find the praise of the completely in-ept Hutton to be nauseating. His ra-ra-ra effort should not distract from the damage he does to the football team. Unsurprisingly, both were found wanting when the goal was scored, and MIA in the 2nd half.

4) Whelan went missing for large patches of the 2nd half and was straight run past on a number of occasions. None of this is surprising and the manager needs to deploy him accordingly. I was pretty disappointed in Elmo. On far to many occasions he took the easy option and just belted the ball off the full back. He really needs to take on more responsibility.

The same old common thread connects all of these and the many other points made earlier in this thread. 

The positives were our central defense with all 3 of Terry/Chester/Johnstone looking pretty comfortable on the day. Green looks like he could really go on a tear this year if he could just get a goal or two. 

Onwards...

 

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by villakram