Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Peterborough

[holteend1982]

6 hours ago, One For The Road said:

Have a look at your username. That may give you a clue. 

Means nothing though really does it, a lot of villa fans just look for a reason to moan. Fa cup isn't what it used to be and will do nothing but hinder our chances of promotion. 

[Kingman]

15 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Let's get this said first; well played Peterborough, a performance of passion, purpose and pride. Their fans made a good noise throughout and they thoroughly deserved to win the game. They should enjoy their celebrations and I don't want the things I'll say about my club to in any way reflect on their success.

They were the better team in three ways:

Commitment - they cared and they played like they cared, they worked hard, they were brave with and without the ball and they worked for each other.

Passing - they played better football than we did, it was them trying to get it on the deck, it was them trying to pass and move, their football provided them with their opportunities.

Chances - they created a hatful and but for an excellent performance from Steer they could quite easily have doubled their tally today.

For us, we're out of what is arguably the biggest competition we get to take part in - you can bang on about promotion all you like, but the game is about more than money, it's about more than the big TV show, it's about glories and joys and this competition matters. It should matter more, but Sky have said no - that's a different debate, but in a half decade full of shocking seasons, performances and results, this still has to take it's place in the pantheon of shameful days in this new century.

I think once you accept one thing, there are then two ways to look at this defeat. Here's the thing; I think it's important to note that the team we put out were talented enough to have won that game, we had the better players almost without a doubt.

There are two themes for our disappointment, one collective and the other individual.

We'll start in the traditional way with the manager - he's not had a good day - he's picked a reasonably balanced side but they've not performed for him - not tactically, but in terms of their commitment, their enthusiasm and their desire - this wasn't a team that cared about the FA Cup, or the pride of Aston Villa or their personal pride - it's part of the role of the manager and his staff to ensure that's not the case, that the very least we can expect is that those players give 100%, that they try - today that's not true of all of them. He brought on the right substitutes although you can argue that he took off the wrong men - all the paper things he did today were fine for me, all the things that involve thinking about football were good - but this team had no heart and that's one of the things I would expect Bruce to be getting into them. 

The three things they beat us on are all things that a good manager has an influence on, he should be able to inspire and energise, and we should be able to play the kind of football that he'd expect - that we're struggling to play the kind of football that League 1 teams expect is a real concern.

Some things are clearer individually.

First up, let's absolve Jed Steer of any responsibility - he's made a good half dozen excellent saves of the type that might ordinarily win you a match and he can rightly be angry with his compatriots.

Those that can say that whilst they didn't contribute enough, they did at least show a little effort or composure would include DeLaet, Terry, Davis and probably Taylor - they at least showed a willingness to try. Bree isn't a centre half - and I wonder why we keep making this experiment try to work - bless him, he gives it a go, but it's just not his position - he can also be halfway excused. I'm prepared to go easy on Green too as he's just back from injury.

O'Hare was willing and put in some effort, but he looks lightweight and ineffective - after ten minutes when our collective confidence dropped and Peterborough realised we were there for the taking, his performance dropped noticeably and he might well be better in a more confident side, but at times today he looked lost.

Into midfield - Hourihane was the most willing of them, he put in a performance with maybe 80% of the usual vigour of his league performances, short changed us a bit and coasted a little - in comparison to his peers, that's almost acceptable.

Bjarnason then, a midfielder from a nation that doesn't have the talent of some of the larger nations, but has achieved so much through a collective spirit and  a willingness to work harder than anyone else - today he bought the talent bit, not the other bit - the longer the game went on, the less interested in it he looked.

Which puts him some way ahead of the worst player on the pitch - Josh Onomah is fit, strong, mobile and talented - but mentally? He left the field after somehow getting 90 minutes with absolutely spotless shorts and enough in the tank to have played in the 17:30 kick off. He was sloppy on the ball, he didn't chase back, he didn't make himself available - this was as lazy a performance as I've seen in a long time. He needs to take a long look at himself and figure out what kind of footballer he wants to be. I would not be in the slightest bit bothered if he was back at Tottenham next week - there have been hints of it in his play all season but on this performance he made it pretty clear he doesn't care a jot about this football club. I would hope he has the decency to be ashamed enough for it to improve him.

At half time, Henri Lansbury came on. I know this because it was on the big screen. He played a through ball for O'Hare that wasn't bad and later he bottled a tackle - those aren't the highlights of his performance, that's it - before and after those moments, he was less involved in the game than I was.

Overall, this was a performance with less heart than a Vegan stew, less passion than a dirty weekend with Jacob Rees-Mogg and less commitment than a relationship with Mick Jagger. You can say it's just the cup, you can write this game off, you can forget because it's happened so often of late that we should be better than this, but if you do, don't come complaining to me when we bottle a big game in the play off run or lose the derby - these players think the game should be easy and they play that way - fair play to Peterborough for showing them what can be achieved if you go at it right way.

This wants printing off and send to every player at the club, 

Stick it up in the dressing room, Training ground and just incase it gets missed leave one under the wiper blade of each motor at Bodymoor Heath!

[Grasshopper]

15 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Let's get this said first; well played Peterborough, a performance of passion, purpose and pride. Their fans made a good noise throughout and they thoroughly deserved to win the game. They should enjoy their celebrations and I don't want the things I'll say about my club to in any way reflect on their success.

They were the better team in three ways:

Commitment - they cared and they played like they cared, they worked hard, they were brave with and without the ball and they worked for each other.

Passing - they played better football than we did, it was them trying to get it on the deck, it was them trying to pass and move, their football provided them with their opportunities.

Chances - they created a hatful and but for an excellent performance from Steer they could quite easily have doubled their tally today.

For us, we're out of what is arguably the biggest competition we get to take part in - you can bang on about promotion all you like, but the game is about more than money, it's about more than the big TV show, it's about glories and joys and this competition matters. It should matter more, but Sky have said no - that's a different debate, but in a half decade full of shocking seasons, performances and results, this still has to take it's place in the pantheon of shameful days in this new century.

I think once you accept one thing, there are then two ways to look at this defeat. Here's the thing; I think it's important to note that the team we put out were talented enough to have won that game, we had the better players almost without a doubt.

There are two themes for our disappointment, one collective and the other individual.

We'll start in the traditional way with the manager - he's not had a good day - he's picked a reasonably balanced side but they've not performed for him - not tactically, but in terms of their commitment, their enthusiasm and their desire - this wasn't a team that cared about the FA Cup, or the pride of Aston Villa or their personal pride - it's part of the role of the manager and his staff to ensure that's not the case, that the very least we can expect is that those players give 100%, that they try - today that's not true of all of them. He brought on the right substitutes although you can argue that he took off the wrong men - all the paper things he did today were fine for me, all the things that involve thinking about football were good - but this team had no heart and that's one of the things I would expect Bruce to be getting into them. 

The three things they beat us on are all things that a good manager has an influence on, he should be able to inspire and energise, and we should be able to play the kind of football that he'd expect - that we're struggling to play the kind of football that League 1 teams expect is a real concern.

Some things are clearer individually.

First up, let's absolve Jed Steer of any responsibility - he's made a good half dozen excellent saves of the type that might ordinarily win you a match and he can rightly be angry with his compatriots.

Those that can say that whilst they didn't contribute enough, they did at least show a little effort or composure would include DeLaet, Terry, Davis and probably Taylor - they at least showed a willingness to try. Bree isn't a centre half - and I wonder why we keep making this experiment try to work - bless him, he gives it a go, but it's just not his position - he can also be halfway excused. I'm prepared to go easy on Green too as he's just back from injury.

O'Hare was willing and put in some effort, but he looks lightweight and ineffective - after ten minutes when our collective confidence dropped and Peterborough realised we were there for the taking, his performance dropped noticeably and he might well be better in a more confident side, but at times today he looked lost.

Into midfield - Hourihane was the most willing of them, he put in a performance with maybe 80% of the usual vigour of his league performances, short changed us a bit and coasted a little - in comparison to his peers, that's almost acceptable.

Bjarnason then, a midfielder from a nation that doesn't have the talent of some of the larger nations, but has achieved so much through a collective spirit and  a willingness to work harder than anyone else - today he bought the talent bit, not the other bit - the longer the game went on, the less interested in it he looked.

Which puts him some way ahead of the worst player on the pitch - Josh Onomah is fit, strong, mobile and talented - but mentally? He left the field after somehow getting 90 minutes with absolutely spotless shorts and enough in the tank to have played in the 17:30 kick off. He was sloppy on the ball, he didn't chase back, he didn't make himself available - this was as lazy a performance as I've seen in a long time. He needs to take a long look at himself and figure out what kind of footballer he wants to be. I would not be in the slightest bit bothered if he was back at Tottenham next week - there have been hints of it in his play all season but on this performance he made it pretty clear he doesn't care a jot about this football club. I would hope he has the decency to be ashamed enough for it to improve him.

At half time, Henri Lansbury came on. I know this because it was on the big screen. He played a through ball for O'Hare that wasn't bad and later he bottled a tackle - those aren't the highlights of his performance, that's it - before and after those moments, he was less involved in the game than I was.

Overall, this was a performance with less heart than a Vegan stew, less passion than a dirty weekend with Jacob Rees-Mogg and less commitment than a relationship with Mick Jagger. You can say it's just the cup, you can write this game off, you can forget because it's happened so often of late that we should be better than this, but if you do, don't come complaining to me when we bottle a big game in the play off run or lose the derby - these players think the game should be easy and they play that way - fair play to Peterborough for showing them what can be achieved if you go at it right way.

This ^

Bruce has to go.

He is the one who can either steer the ship or let it run its own course

[striker]

Didn’t see the game but followed the match thread which has been brilliantly summed up by OutByEaster’s post.

Watched the post match interview with Bruce. Although his words showed disappointment his manner did not nor did it show embarrassment.

In fact I would go as far to say that performance by the team reflected Bruce’s attitude towards the game.

 

Edited January 7, 2018 by striker

[BOF]

... or, y'know, we could treat it like a cup game instead. Either's good.  

[slovenian]

[Skills]

On ‎7‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 04:09, holteend1982 said:

Don't see why people are so upset, we've played a load of kids which is what a lot of fans wanted instead of seeing players like hogan, wheelan, elphick, hutton etc and they've shown theyre not ready, we've rested a team after a hectic schedule and have picked up 0 injuries, roll on forest game with a strong squad. 

I think you've touched on why people are upset

[fightoffyour]

On 1/6/2018 at 18:09, holteend1982 said:

Don't see why people are so upset, we've played a load of kids which is what a lot of fans wanted instead of seeing players like hogan, wheelan, elphick, hutton etc and they've shown theyre not ready, we've rested a team after a hectic schedule and have picked up 0 injuries, roll on forest game with a strong squad. 

We did not play a load of kids though, despite what Steve Bruce would have you believe as his excuse. I wrote this in his thread:

On 1/7/2018 at 12:32, fightoffyour said:

The problem wasn't playing too many youngsters though. In fact, he hardly played any. The only youngster for me, in the context, was O'Hare. You also have RHM's 10 minutes if you want to be picky.

Davis, Green and Onomah are young yes, but they have been first team regulars. Bree hasn't played much for us but was a first team player for Barnsley. Steer is young for a GK but is older, and possibly even better than SJ.

Playing youngsters would have meant Suliman or Clark at CB instead of Taylor, with Bree in his correct position at RB and RDL at LB, JDH in midfield instead of Bjarnasson and a start for RHM. I have no doubt that that team would have performed better than the one Bruce picked.

By all accounts O'Hare and Steer were our best players anyway and Bree can be excused for being hung out to dry in the wrong position by the manager. If anything, we would have got a better result if we actually had played a load of youngsters.

 

I do agree that going out *might* help our league form by saving us an extra game or two on some of our opponents and not picking up more injuries, but by no means whatsoever does that mean that we should accept the result, the performance,  nor the manager's poor excuses.

Edited January 8, 2018 by fightoffyour

[Kingman]

Fry Apologises To Tony Xia

Barry Fry has apologised to Aston Villa owner Tony Xia.

Posh Director of Football Barry Fry has issued an apology to Aston Villa owner Tony Xia.

First and foremost I must apologise to Tony Xia, the owner of Aston Villa Football Club for questioning his ambition last week without knowing the full facts. Before the game on Saturday, I spent 30 minutes in the company of Steve Bruce who explained that his owner had put in £80 million in last two years at Villa.

As usual, I got the wrong end of the stick and I apologise to Mr Xia. I had read an article a few weeks ago where Steve Bruce was quoted as saying he wouldn’t have any funds in the transfer window and that he had to beg, steal and borrow from his mates in the Premier League. Steve explained that was down to the Financial Fair Play rules, which we all have to abide by.

I wrongly took that as the Villa owner and board were not backing Steve. Anybody that puts £80 million into a football club and who signs the best captain in the land in John Terry, has certainly got the ambition followed by his passion and commitment. I should have got my facts right and I am sorry.

I thank the Aston Villa supporters too for their sportsmanship in clapping our players off the pitch and the wonderful comments we received after the game. Now, I urge all of the Villa fans to stay united and get behind Steve and the players and I am sure you will reach your goal of Premier League football.

It was a marvellous occasion for us and it was great to meet my old mate Doug Ellis in the boardroom. He is 94 years-old now but he was still there supporting his beloved Villa. It was also great to catch up with Brian Little and I wish Mr Xia, Steve and his team, all the best in their attempt to return to the Premier League.

In conclusion, I would like to thank our manager Grant McCann, who went to Villa Park, as I suggested he would, and played attacking football and he should be very proud of each and every one of his players. I would also like to thank the magnificent Posh fans, nearly 5,000 of them, who cheered the team on from start to finish – they certainly responded and did you all proud.

https://www.theposh.com/news/2018/january/fry-apologises-to-tony-xia/