Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Sheff Wed

[OutByEaster?]

1 minute ago, Philosopher said:

He didn't make any mistakes. But what did he do that made him stand out apart from not **** up?

He was the one driving us forward, taking people on, moving the ball from the sidewards zone of the halfway line to the middle of their half. 

[markavfc40]

15 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

He looked to be okay during play - there was one incident where he had a bit of a wince - and he was playing okay. He was absolutely furious coming off the field and for a few minutes afterward judging by the volley of things he was launching from the dugout. If it was the injury, then I think the substitution you're suggesting makes some sense - or maybe just Grealish on for him and Adomah over to the right - in the context of the game, the one we were crying out for was O'Hare or Grealish for Hogan - moving Hogan to right wing for five minutes smacked of thinking you crap out of the joint in your arm.

 

I agree on the Hogan going right wing for 5 minutes was a real head scratcher.

I can see why he wanted to keep the two strikers on the pitch though as we were 2-0 down and there wasn't another forward on the bench to switch things back again if need be. The manager therefore tried to jig what he had and certainly in putting Hogan wide he got it wrong. Thankfully he quickly rectified it though and second  half we came out very well and pinned Wednesday right back.

In hindsight Grealish, who instantly got into the game when he did come on, should have come on earlier and maybe instead of O'Hare who struggled to get into the game. Grealish can also play out wide where as O'Hare looked lost out there. Hindsight though is a luxury a manager does not have.

Edited November 4, 2017 by markavfc40

[BruLan]

Could someone remind me how much we paid for Scott Hogan ? And why ??

[briny_ear]

Wasn’t around this afternoon, only managed one sneak look at the score around 4pm . That was an unpleasant shock. So this is a reaction not a rating. We really need to be winning games like this.

I guess you could say a day on  which we lost our unbeaten home record, gave Wednesday only their 2nd away win of the season, found out Hogan and Davis in a  442 doesn’t work and lost Terry and Snodgrass to injury all adds up to a pretty shite afternoon.

Not too happy atm.

[briny_ear]

With our current squad, the midfield in a 442 looks a bit inadequate and vulnerable. I feel far happier playing 5 in midfield.

[OutByEaster?]

It'll be interesting - we've learned today that our best side only features one of either Kodjia or Davis and that if the other is one the bench, Hogan doesn't need his boots.

 

[Philosopher]

19 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

He was the one driving us forward, taking people on, moving the ball from the sidewards zone of the halfway line to the middle of their half. 

Davis was taking people on, roughing up the opposition defenders and winning balls, but people single him out as the worst player on the pitch. To me  Hutton was playing safe easy passes, he took on and beat players about 3 times and was playing deep crosses that never amounted to anything. He is shit in attack apart for taking players on. I think he is better as a left back than a right back as he is safe in his use of the ball instead of giving it away when he tries put a product on the end of his runs. For me only the two subs get out of being called shit today. But Davis, Hourihane and Whelan get a little credit for trying hard.

[OutByEaster?]

I'm with you on Davis and Hourihane, I thought they worked their socks off.

Incidentally, I can't remember a game two goals where two goals have  been so far apart - one after 17 seconds and one after 95 minutes.

 

 

[Philosopher]

I find Bruce really frustrating. Has done good work getting the defense solid and organised. But on the other hand we still play uninspiring football. Has done well to find a first team formula, but has no plan b.  Has done well to get us fight for promotion and get some unity into the squad, but his tactical decisions for some game and in particular his tactical substitutions have been shocking. Bruce is doing  a decent job, but i firmly believe that with what he has at his disposal we should be top 2 in this league!

[AntrimBlack]

This is my fear. Put our team under pressure and it goes to pieces. That is why I don't fancy the playoffs, which is where we are heading, at best.

[peterms]

1 hour ago, markavfc40 said:

Samba has rings ran round him and we are two down

To be fair, it's a tough ask to expect a striker to play central defence.

[PompeyVillan]

The tactical decisions by Bruce today were confusing to say the least. 4-4-2 looked the wrong formation today. Wednesday exploited gaps in our midfield on many occasions and the extra player up front made no difference to our attacking threat 

Hogan, unfortunately, looks completely lost at Villa and I've little faith he'll be the goalscorer we hoped he would. For the money spent, it seems an incredibly poor return indeed. He doesn't seem to have any outstanding quality. But his major flaw is that he's unable to hold the ball up at all, either by stretching play with runs out wide or by holding off defenders. 

He just sorta rubs around in circles looking busy but not really having any impact on the game. I don't see it. 

 

 

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Philosopher said:

Hutton was shit! Grealish at least gave us some intelligence, O'hare don't anything of note apart from a last minute assist when the game was over. Davis didn't get the support tonight. Everytime the ball was sent in his direction at least two Wednesday players were around him. In fact there were a couple of time Davis brought the ball down, was surrounded by 3 wednesday players and not one villa player to support him.  Against Preston Onomah was always there for Davis. Davis still got stuck in and worked hard. Not his best game, but no worse than anyone else in claret and blue tonight. Hutton never once provide width on the left. offered nothing good forward as usual. Taylor would have at least provided some decent crosses into the box.

Hutton was possibly our best player on a poor day, but hey ho!

[BruLan]

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

Wasn’t around this afternoon, only managed one sneak look at the score around 4pm . That was an unpleasant shock. So this is a reaction not a rating. We really need to be winning games like this.

I guess you could say a day on  which we lost our unbeaten home record, gave Wednesday only their 2nd away win of the season, found out Hogan and Davis in a  442 doesn’t work and lost Terry and Snodgrass to injury all adds up to a pretty shite afternoon.

Not too happy atm.

Compounded by the fact me and Mrs L Paid £60 for tickets 7.50 to park the car and sat in front of Neanderthal Man and his Spawn for 90 minutes. As you say Not too happy , UTV 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2017 by BruLan

[TRO]

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

With our current squad, the midfield in a 442 looks a bit inadequate and vulnerable. I feel far happier playing 5 in midfield.

You only play 5 in any department when individually they are not good enough or not rounded enough.

[BruLan]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

Hutton was possibly our best player on a poor day, but hey ho!

Hutton and Whelan gave it everything

 

 

[TRO]

Hogan was not even in the game, but Keinan looked raw today, despite his effort.

thought elmohamady had been hypnotised.....looked no where near the pace.

Edited November 4, 2017 by TRO

[The Fun Factory]

One of those days. The biggest negative was the Terry injury- that could be months. That is a huge blow as the last month he was really settling in and showing his class. We got caught cold on the first goal (that  must be the fastest goal I have seen scored at Villa Park) and then the second with big Samba clearly not up to speed after just coming on.

The first half was very poor and Wednesday took full advantage of it. The second was a bit better but I never really thought we would get back into it. A shame as had it been 1-2 we  would  have had 6 minutes of injury time for a grand stand finish due to the time wasting of the Owls. They deserved the win, however the stats showed we had more of the ball and more shots. However a lot of stats are a load of bollocks. 

Perhaps Bruce could have done some more changes to freshen things up as Snodgrass was clearly not fit and Whelan looked knackered, however there is a argument to stick with a winning side. Before the game I wanted to see Hogan and Davis up top- I don't want to see that again.  I think 4-5-1 seems the best fit with our squad. That is what I am taking from today, like Bristol we were poor in a  5-3-2. 

Davis did not have a great game either however he is young and that is going to happen. It is really not working for Scot at Villa as he was again largely anonymous apart from 1 decent run and shot into the box. This could have been a great game for him to prove his worth, score a goal, and demand Bruce to pick him. That did not happen and I think this is the beginning of the end of his short time with us.  Still- just- in the top 6, however today showed that we are a long way behind the top 2 chasers of Wolves and the Blades at present. We go again.

Edited November 4, 2017 by The Fun Factory

[CosmicVillan]

Just got back...first goal was a worldie out of nothing, if not a foul on Terry prior to it.

We never seemed to recover from that and Terry going off seemed also destabilise the team the team even further. The Owls played well to be fair...Samba is no replacement to JT 

Davies and Hogan up front just seemed like a mismatch and when O'hare came on , Elmohandy just didn't want to seem to pass to him down that flank. He was screaming for the ball and every time he was ignored and the ball was cut in to a more central player ( usually Davies ) who lost possession.

Adomah probably had the worst game I've seen him play...passes going astray and losing possession. Can't think of many positives except Jack looked bright when he came on.

 

 

[BigAl]

Just one of those days where everything went wrong ,Bruce got it tactically wrong we struggle when we play 442 against the better sides ,we are still in a good position and there's a long way to go yet no need to panic yet have a decent run of games aswell coming up .