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Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Cardiff


limpid

Match Polls  

138 members have voted

  1. 1. Who was your man of the match?

    • Johnstone
    • Elmohamady
      0
    • Jedinak
    • Chester
    • Tuanzebe
      0
    • Snodgrass
    • Whelan
      0
    • Hourihane
      0
    • Adomah
    • Grealish
    • Grabban
      0
    • Bree (Tuanzebe 25)
    • Kodjia (Adomah 60)
      0
    • Samba (Hourihane 87)
  2. 2. Manager's Performance

  3. 3. Refereeing Performance


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  • Poll closed on 13/04/18 at 18:45

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But it's too late, baby now, it's too late
Though we really did try to make it (we can't make it)
Somethin' inside has died, and I can't hide
And I just can't fake it, oh, no, no, no, no, no

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Jack, Sam and Elmo were our stand outs tonight, the fact Bree is THE worst full back I've ever seen only cements my opinion that Warnock is THE most overrated bell whiff by not exploiting our left back... and he's EFL manager of the year apparently ffs!

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Game of two halves for sure. Whilst Whelan did his best to bag himself a hat trick of own goals Johnstone made some fantastic  stops to keep us in the game. Despite a positive opening three minutes we were much the second best in the first half and were very lucky to have been level at half time. Our passing was sloppy and there was no game plan going forwards. We kept lumping it up to Grabben who was being well marshalled by Bamba. Once again Hourihane and Adomah were largely ineffective and we’re at a crucial point in the season where we can’t afford to carry passengers. What was lacking in the first half was a decent tempo to our play as well as desire and commitment. We were second to the balls and were ducking out of challenges. Second half we were much much better. We played on the front foot and defended well. Chester was everywhere in the second half and led us superbly. Johnstone again did well. Kodjia added a different dimension to our attacking play and despite starting off a bit rusty he got himself into the game far more effectively and caused plenty of problems. He linked up well with Grabben at times and is a player we can feed the ball into and he can make things happen. Unlike in the first half when our attacks would break down constantly, Kodjia’s involvement ensured we asked plenty more questions of their defenders and after we took the lead we could’ve and should’ve added more goals. 

Now on to Jack. Absolutely superb again. He carries us forward and is just relentless with his positive approach. He was kicked all over the park all game and kept his temperament throughout. He was booed from the first whistle by the away fans and once again showed how he can handle that side of things. His goal was top top class and it’s such an amazing site to see him score in front of the holte. He carrried us forward and brings such class to our team. Just love him. 

Only down side is this all feels abit too little too late and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of a missed opportunity from our recent games. Hope we can get some momentum up for the challenge of the playoffs. We need more consistent solid performances to give us a chance of going up and need to try carry on tonight’s win on Friday. 

Edited by roonst83
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Referee was **** shite as I knew he would be. Question : We have the ball in their half, 3 on two with a man over. Their defender is tugging and wrestling with Kodjia and whilst we go through one on one he brings it back for a free kick?

How? Just how?

He was abysmal, just like Bolton at home. Abysmal.

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We finally have a player who does his talking on the pitch, well done Jack Grealish for keeping your cool and slamming it down the throats of Warnock, his lumbering thugs and that sheep loving referee.

It is a little too late for automatic but we're now mirroring the run (I.e. slump)  Hull went on before winning the play-offs. Dare we dream again?

Shout out to Sam Johnstone too - his ability to consistently pull off world class saves is priceless. Well done lads, so nice to leave VP happy again!

Edited by Darth Villa
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I cannot believe they came time wasting, almost looking for a point only.

Fulham will power past them now and not be caught.   Horrible team and a horrible manager with utterly horrible tactics.  I'm so glad they were punished by us, they deserved nothing and their own negativity has blown their own automatic promotion. 

We also know we have absolutely nothing to fear from them in the play offs. I reckon we would be far better at Wemberlee than them as well. Just got to get that far first though! 

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4 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I cannot believe they came time wasting, almost looking for a point only.

Fulham will power past them now and not be caught.   Horrible team and a horrible manager with utterly horrible tactics.  I'm so glad they were punished by us, they deserved nothing and their own negativity has blown their own automatic promotion. 

We also know we have absolutely nothing to fear from them in the play offs. I reckon we would be far better at Wemberlee than them as well. Just got to get that far first though! 

And to think,  certain persons were calling for him  to manage us . Perish the thought.

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1 hour ago, sidcow said:

We also know we have absolutely nothing to fear from them in the play offs.

Apart from the most one sided 3-0 thrashing ever earlier this season and a motm performance from our goalkeeper today you mean :)

 

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3 hours ago, sidcow said:

But it's too late, baby now, it's too late
Though we really did try to make it (we can't make it)
Somethin' inside has died, and I can't hide
And I just can't fake it, oh, no, no, no, no, no

Clearly a carole king fan

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delighted with the win.

Old habits, however, are hard to break.  You analyze every match, even those you win and enjoy the outcome, to see what could improve.

warnock tried the strategy that has beat us all season long, and perhaps most obviously this past weekend.  Foul us out of any rhythm or flow and strike fast on the counter.  We didn't really have a plan to stop it or prevent it.  But up steps young mr Johnstone with a class, class, exceptional (and sometimes very lucky) performance.  When they don't score they can't beat you.  If they had scored 1/3 of their "sure thing" chances the match would have been over before halftime.

Jack did as much as one man can do to stop that tactic.  He kept possession, drew the foul, and pressured the ref to deal with it.  He was successful at the first two.  The ref however, like the one in the last match couldn't spell "persistent infringement" in other words he was oblivious to the obvious cynicism.  TBF, Cardiff was coached well on how to foul repeatedly and make it seem minor.  I was leaning toward giving it to Jack just because he did everything a one man show could do to combat that cynical tactic.  Then came the goal.... wow! what a strike!  

I don't think Whelan for Thor was a good decision if it was based on tactics, or on the performance in the last match. (if it was injury, I have no complaints)  In general, I think Cardiff's preferred attack was the quick counter and Thor's mobility would be much better.  Although I would not have predicted Whelan to try for multiple own goals.  One of which almost earned Johnstone MOTM.

I hope Bruce and staff can discover a way to counter this strategy.  Today we beat it by relying on incredible performances from a few and spectacular good luck.  Opposition managers will keep doing it until we do.

 

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We were very poor in the first half but my God Neil Warnock's Cardiff are the most turgid, anti-football team I've ever seen. They came here tonight looking to play an ugly mixture of rugby and volleyball. Kept bizarrely time-wasting when the game was 0-0 as well.

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