Ratings & Reactions: Play Off Final v Fulham

[striker]

1 minute ago, Daweii said:

I think we'll see a very young Villa side next season. 

And that will be a very good thing under a different manager.

[Demitri_C]

Just now, Eastie said:

They didn’t bottle it - the better team won .

So you thnk we played well easte? Sorry mate but they didnt turn up. They were pussycats and let the occasion get to them.  They bottled it

[briny_ear]

I remember saying a few matches ago that our lack of cutting edge in front of goal could bite us in the playoffs and so it proved.

Wait to see Xia’s plan b.

Really didn't think we would have another season in the shitty Championship.

Grim. 

 

[Davkaus]

How many times has "play all of the strikers" worked? Is it 0,Bruce? Do you see a pattern? I thought not, you stupid bastard. 

[mjmooney]

I'm over it already. We weren't good enough, didn't deserve to go up. Bring on next season. I suspect Bruce may resign. 

[Django_Zooms]

Likely to leave: Johnstone, Tuanzebe, Terry, Chester, Grealish, Snodgrass, Grabban, Onomah, Bjarnason, Lansbury. God help us.

[briny_ear]

1 minute ago, striker said:

And that will be a very good thing under a different manager.

Both of those could of course be very bad things. Not sure many of our own youth players are up to surviving in the Championship.

[bojong]

I know most won't agree, but I don't think it was necessarily that bad tactics. One defensive collapse and nice pass cost as. Even when Fulham were dominating they didn't create good chances. Grealish may actually have had the best chance of the first half (apart from goal). Without that one moment we could now be 1-0 up on extra time.

[striker]

2 minutes ago, flashingqwerty said:

itll take 3/4 more years now to assemble a squad capable of promotion.

this squad will be decimated over the summer and with little to no cash to spend and massive wage cuts needed we will be playing the u23s next season ready or not

Sorry but disagree with that. Villa’s U23s under the right manager will get Villa automatic promotion next season.

[PieFacE]

Hmmm... Gutted. 

Would like to blame it on Bruce but I would have started the game in a similar way. Offensively just weren't on it. Lacked any kind of composure. For all the experience we had, it mattered very little. 

 

[StefanAVFC]

Gutted. Lost in the first half with total anti football tactics. 

Bruce should be gone already. 

[Eastie]

6 minutes ago, striker said:

As commentary just stated end of the road for a lot of that Villa team and I would include Bruce in that.

Simply not good enough and I stress again a travesty that more of the U23s were not given a chance.

Bruce’s tactics have cost Villa today and generally over most of the time he was here.

Looking at that last shot of Xia before the end of the game if Bruce doesn’t fall on his sword it will be pushed in.

Like everyone else, gutted.

Devastating mate - hard to argue with that 

[A'Villan]

I'm a bit shocked at how we started the game. Fulham were effective and it was a killer pass from Sessegnon but that goal was coming one way or another, we just handed the tempo to Fulham on a silver platter.

 

[fifamad]

The better team won, first half they absolutely raped us and we were lucky to not be 2 or 3 down, we had a little bit of a go second half but even against 10 men for 25 minutes we just kept chucking the ball in the box hoping for something, we were pitiful. Gutted. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by fifamad

[Troglodyte]

3 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

I'm over it already. We weren't good enough, didn't deserve to go up. Bring on next season. I suspect Bruce may resign. 

I was thinking about this, but I'm not sure he'll get a job as big as us again (although admittedly, we have a long way to go before we're back where we belong and recognised more widely as a big club).  It's not something I feel comfortable speculating on but I think his decision will  be massively influenced by how he responds to the events in his personal life this year.  And he's entitled to make his own decision about how he best responds to that, be it throwing himself back into work or taking a step back.

If he leaves, I'll be nervous about what direction we take but at the same time it'll probably seem quite refreshing and I'd just hope we can take the opportunity to move forward.  If he stays, I'll still have my reservations about his style of play and I'd be concerned at how well we'd do under him on more of a budget next year, but I'd still be behind him and support the stability - even if in an ideal world we'd be able to move on to a manager who can really get us to dominate and play more positively on a more consistent basis.

Overall, just gutted about today.  I differ from you in that - absolutely not over it at all.  Getting increasingly used to being in this position but it doesn't make it hurt any less.

[lapal_fan]

Their performance in the first half and our apparent lack of anything in the first half gave them the opportunity to defend.

We lacked a cutting edge, we haven't really tested their keeper So really we can't have any complaints. 

Not many opportunities for either side really.. The defending for the goal was criminal, that's why Hutton is gonna be unemployed soon.  Jack was dealt with well, but he was so unlucky with that dribble shot..

Quiet performers were Snoddy, Conor, Elmo, Grabban.. too many.  I'd say Adomah, but he had a lot of the ball but only showed a few aimless crosses for it.  

As soon as the player got sent off, I was resigned to the loss, it let's them become more organised and they obviously try and score.  Our biggest weakness is breaking defensive teams down.

A shame, but it's our own fault.  

3rd have gone up, as they should have done.  

I think we've seen the last of loads of this squad, which is sad as I've become quite attached to some of em.

Be interesting to see where we go from here.

[flashingqwerty]

3 minutes ago, striker said:

Sorry but disagree with that. Villa’s U23s under the right manager will get Villa automatic promotion next season.

Ha! Spoken like a man that doesnt watch many championship or u23 games.

if there are more than 3 u23s capable of playing in the championship let alone getting promotion id be very surprised!

[sidcow]

Well that's us screwed for the next 10 years then. 

[Juju]

You know what, knowing as little about football as I do, I'm going to have a bit fat disagree with most here.

Reality check - we were playing a team who were on paper, a team who should have been promoted automatically. They weren't some dead end team. They were our peers. Any game was going to be, if both teams played well, tight and edgy.

Over the 90 minutes, we played better football than Fulham. It's just regrettable that a lapse in concentration cost us. There's was a good goal, we shouldnt begrudge them that. They were fractionally better in and around the box, and yes, that's important. But I thought Fulham looked fat, slow, and their league position flatters them. Unless they spend big, they're coming straight back down. Neutrals in the pub I was drinking in, all agreed, but we just couldn't do anything right in front of their goal. Most of the second half, the game was compressed into their half. What was so badly wrong there?

Nor or can I  criticise the subs particularly. If one had scored, you'd be praising Bruce as a genius.  We hadn't scored in the prior 70 mins, and on a big pitch, on a hot day, its not a bad thing to make a couple of late subs to shake things up a bit, any game is a lottery by that point. They were, arguably attacking subs as well.

Frankly we owned the second half, and the first was tight, with their goal making the difference. They played defensively, forcing a team to rely on counter attacking football to actually pass it about, which frankly we did.

Disappointed, but there's not many in the team I'd identify as failing to try. Adomah had a lot of the ball, and any player who does is going to be noticed when he slips or trips occasionally. Jack dived about a bit, but that Bestesque oement when we almost danced it into the goal was lovely to watch. We had the pressure we just didnt create enough really good chances. And thats as much about Fulham, a team who frankly were way better than us in our last meeting, as it is about us.

Disappointed, but not displeased with the performance, just the result. Anyone who expects a beautiful game when so much is at stake is a fool.

 

[Demitri_C]

I fear for our future I really do. We are in massive trouble now.  Jts been massive and he will be gone we won't recover for a long long time.

They let down 40k villa fans tonight I won't forgive them for that utter shit display