Ratings & Reactions: Preston v Villa

[thunderball]

We are getting better and still 30 odd games to go. 

[Stockport_Villain]

First trip away this season and picked a good one. Many good performances. I had a choice of two in the end. Hutton for making things happen going forward as well as his excellent defending and Hourihane for his tireless running and play making, it was immense. In the end Hourihane nudged it for me.

Excellent night and hopefully many more to come.

[AntrimBlack]

Well done Bruce and team. Excellent result. Fifth. Beginning to hope.

Took their foot off the gas in the second half and made it more edgy than it needed to be, but apart from that - enjoyable.

Loved the commentator,``They'll be looking over their shoulders now and seeing the huge shape of Aston Villa coming over the horizon''.

Edited November 2, 2017 by AntrimBlack

[Grasshopper]

Unbelievable

Shamefull performance.

I‘ll explain fully in the Bruce thread why when I get home late tonight.

[AVFCDAN]

Quote

Maybe i'm being too pessimistic but i'm certain we will lose this.

Back to back away games, no Kodija, on SKY, good home team. I'll honestly believe we can go up this season if we could win this one.

Posted this in the pre-match thread, humble pie for me.

Davis man of the match, unbelievable performance from a teenager, his hold up play is outstanding. 

What a joy to have players actually playing for the shirt, its taken a good 5 years to get here though. Also how great is it that at the heart of this renaissance is John Terry, a Chelsea legend - not a Villa legend, playing with as much heart as he did for his boyhood club, say what you want about his character off the pitch, i couldn't give a stuff frankly. If we had 11 JT's playing for us every week we could walk this league.

Special mention for the Scottish marauder, who would have though a career right back could be putting in some of his best performances for us at left back!

[Eastie]

13 hours ago, smg said:

some regular posters missing at the moment perhaps their internet connections are playing up?

I think every single person on this site is delighted with the win and performance last night .

[Eastie]

12 hours ago, smg said:

Not the Onomah that was so shit on Sunday that he should have been sent back to Spurs? Why can't we accept a good performance and move onto the next game with some confidence ?

Criticism of onomah was justified on Sunday as much as praise  was justified last night - it’s a forum and players and manager are judged on performances in games - we have the momentum to move forwards but of course players will be slagged  off when they don’t perform - that’s football . 

In match threads judgements are made based on what we see in that game .Fair play to josh and Bruce for delivering last night - bring on sheff weds !

Edited November 2, 2017 by Eastie

[rubberman]

Very pleased with that.  I was not happy with the line-up pre-match and am still bemused how we can perform so differently from match to match with pretty much the same formation and players.  Anyway, well done SB - you shoved that criticism down my throat.  Can we please start to do this consistently now.

Big calls to make for the weekend if Kodjia is fit again, Taylor ready etc.  Not to mention Grealish and O'Hare.  Don't screw it up.

[wedge]

Well what a bloody joy to watch that was!

 

 

[One For The Road]

Very happy with the result and performance. Our best of the season imo. Long may it continue! 

[dont_do_it_doug.]

6 hours ago, Raver50032 said:

Funny you should say that TRO...

All the guff in here about giving heads a wobble, slow internet connections and hand wringing in the pre-match thread decries from the moment and is every bit as childish and blush inducing as when the muck is flying in the other direction.

Having had our fingers burned with repeated false dawns under this manager, people (including myself) were quite valid in second guessing how it was going to go. Sorry folks, I'm still on the fence with Bruce and not once sung his name. A good distance yet from convinced about the guy from a footballing perspective - there is no consistency in performance of the team or a plethora of individuals.

That said, very happy with THIS performance and of course the result. Yeah, I'll give my head a wobble if the improvement continues. But for all you 'regular posters with fast internet connections,' you had an opportunity here to take the high ground (insert Obi Wan Kenobi gif here). Instead, you went all Anakin.

I still have no idea what to expect from this team either home or away. What will we see on Saturday? Will we see a Wolves performance? A Fulham performance? Or maybe somewhere in between like Blues? Come on, if y'all so smart.

Thanks all for making me lose the winning feeling. Thanks all for making it feel like I have to smile whilst sticking a fork in the back of my hand.

Played 12

Won 7

Drawn 4

Lost 1

I mean yes of course you can bemoan the style all you like, but I'm more inclined to see Wolves as a blip on the radar than the norm at this stage. Of those wins which one of them was 'lucky'? Forest perhaps, but then endeavour goes a long way in football.

This feels wholly different to the bursts we had under Bruce last season. The team are settled, organised, brutal on the break and markedly more confident in their ability to see out the result from the off. The high ground at this stage would surely be to say OK, I hold my hands up, I was wrong to call for his head quite so early in the season even if at the time I was so sure I was right. That's where I'm at. 

No it's not often scintillating. It is battling, functional and at times swashbuckling football. Exactly what I expected from Bruce and it will get us out of this division if we carry on in this manner. Yes, that's the next test, can we keep it going, it's one every club faces, week in week out but we are at this present moment a very bloody good Championship side. So I'm going with that.

[Davkaus]

Can't believe I sat through the shite at the weekend but missed this 

[MONCABA]

11 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

Well done Bruce and team. Excellent result. Fifth. Beginning to hope.

Took their foot off the gas in the second half and made it more edgy than it needed to be, but apart from that - enjoyable.

Loved the commentator,``They'll be looking over their shoulders now and seeing the huge shape of Aston Villa coming over the horizon''.

Was the commentator a Villa fan as he made a comment about the blues when Brentford scored.

[TRO]

5 hours ago, Davkaus said:

Can't believe I sat through the shite at the weekend but missed this 

It was no expansive spectacle......but it was a exhibition of control and composure.

very professional job.

[sne]

Was a very effective away performance.

Preston never looked like threatening (bar the penalty not given)

The fact that they very missing 5 defenders and got another 2 injured surely helped, but that's not our fault and we took advantage of it as we should.

Good display.

[Xela]

Very good result and performance