Ratings & Reactions: Wolves v Villa

[AVTuco]

9 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

I think in defense and attack we are as good as anyone, but the centrre midfield is poor. Hourihane is decent, Whelan is a ball winner whose legs have gone (both slow), Lansbury has been poor, Jedinak is strong and good in the air, but otherwise the same as Whelan. We need to play Onomah in central midfield he is the only real quality there. Against most of the teams in this league we can win as only really reading can keep the ball as well as wolves and they don't have as much quality in forward positions, so promotion should still be a realistic target. Any team that knows how to keep it and use in midfield will give us major problems.

Haven't seen enough of Wolves, but their attackers looked clearly better than especially Kodjia today. They're real class, just hope we were able to find players like that.

Midfield and defense I agree with you.

[Philosopher]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

Players have to step up to the plate.....our midfield was lacking in just about everything.

we can't expect to go far playing like that.

We were tight but scruffy in the first half, second half we just ran out of steam and allowed them to play.

we have players who can play the ball quickly....but we don't play them.

Onomah should have been in today.....but i fear in general we are not geared for retaining the ball.....I think we are going to disappoint, unless we can improve the basics.

ps i think that was the worst game i have seen Kodjia play for us.

So basically you agree with me! Other than Onomah who can play quickly? I don't think we have anyone except maybe the untested O'hare. Going away to wolves we were never going to have as much possession as them but we could have made it harder for the to keep the ball and given ourselves more of a chance of getting out of our own half by have a good technical player and a good athlete in midfield, we had neither.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

In the build up to this game Bruce was alluding to his first game in charge last season against Wolves at Villa Park saying how he went home that night feeling lucky in regards to the result and that his 4-4-2 couldnt live with their 4-3-3. Funny that, yet he thought with different personnel he could challenge their updated more perfected version of it? Then when it didnt work and clearly wasnt going to work why didnt he have a counter productive idea that should have been worked on in the build up to this game. Its just bad management. Identifying a threat he knew was coming, but just let it happen anyway.

[AVFCDAN]

We were unbeaten in 8 and had won 4 ok the bounce, I think people just need to step back and look at the bigger picture here. Yes wolves were better today and will no doubt finish above us but we are doing ok at the minute, win the next 2 and we’re right up there.

[Philosopher]

3 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

Haven't seen enough of Wolves, but their attackers looked clearly better than especially Kodjia today. They're real class, just hope we were able to find players like that.

Midfield and defense I agree with you.

That's partly due to kodja's game and partly to how he was played. He was clearly instructed to push up and look to get in behind, but he got no service. Kodja always wants the ball though and likes to go looking for the ball. This type of game is not for him which is why i would've dropped him and played Onomah. Bruce is old fashioned! He want to do the whole play your best players every game and keep the same tactics every game if they are working. Ironically he will probably change things for the next game because of the loss. Only teams with immense quality that's really well balanced can keep the same tactics for ever game.

[TRO]

9 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

So basically you agree with me! Other than Onomah who can play quickly? I don't think we have anyone except maybe the untested O'hare. Going away to wolves we were never going to have as much possession as them but we could have made it harder for the to keep the ball and given ourselves more of a chance of getting out of our own half by have a good technical player and a good athlete in midfield, we had neither.

Sadly, yes i do.

I think our whole work is far too untidy and riddled with indecision, for us to be expecting to achieve any thing in this league at present.

[pacbuddies]

Bruce has had 12 months, 2 transfer windows and £millions to spend on players yet his team was taught a footballing lesson by a manager that has only been in the country for a few months and a team with a number of players that have never played in England before.

When managers like this are available to the likes of Wolves why on earth does our owner think it is a better idea to hire a tactical dinosaur!

[Mantis]

4 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said:

We were unbeaten in 8 and had won 4 ok the bounce, I think people just need to step back and look at the bigger picture here. Yes wolves were better today and will no doubt finish above us but we are doing ok at the minute, win the next 2 and we’re right up there.

It's not the result that bothers me, it's the performance.

[MikeAVFC]

Only one team wanted to play football and they deserved to win. Beaten by a far superior team from 1 to 11. As disappointing as we were I was surprised at how potent and pacey they are. Easily a cut above anything else we'll play this season imo

[TRO]

14 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

That's partly due to kodja's game and partly to how he was played. He was clearly instructed to push up and look to get in behind, but he got no service. Kodja always wants the ball though and likes to go looking for the ball. This type of game is not for him which is why i would've dropped him and played Onomah. Bruce is old fashioned! He want to do the whole play your best players every game and keep the same tactics every game if they are working. Ironically he will probably change things for the next game because of the loss. Only teams with immense quality that's really well balanced can keep the same tactics for ever game.

We play very laboured and indecisive and it slows the whole thing down, we then get caught in possession far too easily and it makes the whole thing look scruffy. We are unable to dictate because  we are being taken out individually far too easily.

its just not right at times like this.....whether the internationals have had a effect on us, i don't know.....but that football will take us no where.

it hasn't been right whilst we have been winning, but its hard to get the point across when you win.

its just far from convincing.

Edited October 14, 2017 by TRO

[TheStagMan]

so, about this corner we supposedly turned?

[Philosopher]

9 minutes ago, TRO said:

We play very laboured and indecisive and it slows the whole thing down, we then get caught in possession far too easily and it makes the whole thing look scruffy. We are unable to dictate because  we are being taken out individually far too easily.

its just not right at times like this.....whether the internationals have had a effect on us, i don't know.....but that football will take us no where.

it hasn't been right whilst we have been winning, but its hard to get the point across when you win.

its just far from convincing.

Bruce is never going to give us this free flowing football we all want to see, certainly not with this group of players. However he has galvanised the defense, made the whole team better organised and given chances to the younger players, it's not all bad. I do think we will finish top six and so have a good shot at promotion, most teams in this league are far more limited than us. We must not forget we still have some big players missing at the moment. Wolves strengths play to our weaknesses so it seems much worse. 8 games unbeaten isn't an accident, but neither is being dominated by wolves.

Edited October 14, 2017 by Philosopher

[LoughboroughLion]

We don't need to win every game, we need to get out of this shit show of a league.

Wolves were decent, not amazing. Thought if we had set up without Davis and an extra man in MF it would have been a better game for us.

Got to press on, the Championship is a long old slog, we're gonna lose some. We need to win the home games, games vs weaker teams and limit our loses vs the 2 or 3 other good sides in the division. 

It hurts, but we need to bounce back behind the team and be in the mixer come April/May next year! 

[TRO]

12 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

Bruce is never going to give us this free flowing football we all want to see, certainly not with this group of players. However he has galvanised the defense, made the whole team better organised and given chances to the younger players, it's not all bad. I do think we will finish top six and so have a good shot at promotion, most teams in this league are far more limited than us. We must not forget we still have some big players missing at the moment. Wolves strengths play to our weaknesses so it seems much worse. 8 games unbeaten isn't an accident, but neither is being dominated by wolves.

Oh i understand the rationale for supporting Bruce, he has done a job that needed doing.

and i am not about to turn on him.....but its not even just about free flowing football.....some of that was bankrupt of basics.

I can only see the problems....i'm not advocating the blame.

The talent we have is being suppressed.....when a player like Hutton is held up as an example of Urgency and desire.....we have a problem.

so far, i only see top 6 as any kind of chance for us.

Edited October 14, 2017 by TRO

[Vive_La_Villa]

One thing that struck me today was the atmosphere. The fans are being entertained and boy have they responded. The place was buzzing. Such a stark contrast to Villa Park. Very depressing day today and not just because of the result.

[BigAl]

We were outclassed no complaints ,Wolves are a proper side  ,we struggle to hold onto the ball and against sides with a lot of pace we struggle ,we don't have a lot of legs in our team ,all is not lost but I can't see us finishing above Wolves at the seasons end.

[sheepyvillian]

46 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

In the build up to this game Bruce was alluding to his first game in charge last season against Wolves at Villa Park saying how he went home that night feeling lucky in regards to the result and that his 4-4-2 couldnt live with their 4-3-3. Funny that, yet he thought with different personnel he could challenge their updated more perfected version of it? Then when it didnt work and clearly wasnt going to work why didnt he have a counter productive idea that should have been worked on in the build up to this game. Its just bad management. Identifying a threat he knew was coming, but just let it happen anyway.

He's just clueless, this club is just too daunting a task for him , the sooner the people in charge realise that, the better .

[USA_Villa]

1 hour ago, Rodders said:

and here is what all us sceptics were worried about after the run against largely shit sides. Play a decent team was an acid test - as usual, we're a **** bag of shit with this word removed in charge. Such a waste of time with this mediocre clearing in the woods at the helm, yet we will win against the smaller sides and do just enough to remain in the top 6, never quite justifying sackings on results alone, yet will never, ever threaten to be really good, to dominate, despite our talent, to go on a big winning run that actually includes tough competition. All hail king bruce king of mediocrity, king of lowering expectations, king of being crap and cowardly in the face of a challenge. 

Spot on.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, romavillan said:

I don't think that was the two central midfielder's fault, I think it was Bruce's fault, they were massively outnumbered in the middle.

They played 3-4-3?.....so had 4 in the middle the same as us.

we had 2 wide midfielders who offered very little in terms of synergy, so I guess the 2 in the middle did have too much work.

at times like this they don't look like they are supporting each other, its disjointed.

I can't say where the problem is.....i can only speculate......but i can say there is one and it is rearing its ugly head in more than just this game.

Edited October 14, 2017 by TRO

[Chewie]

1 hour ago, AVFCDAN said:

We were unbeaten in 8 and had won 4 ok the bounce, I think people just need to step back and look at the bigger picture here. Yes wolves were better today and will no doubt finish above us but we are doing ok at the minute, win the next 2 and we’re right up there.

Unfortunately the below sums up the bigger picture quite well for me.

1 hour ago, pacbuddies said:

Bruce has had 12 months, 2 transfer windows and £millions to spend on players yet his team was taught a footballing lesson by a manager that has only been in the country for a few months and a team with a number of players that have never played in England before.

When managers like this are available to the likes of Wolves why on earth does our owner think it is a better idea to hire a tactical dinosaur!