Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Brentford

[villabromsgrove]

Tuanzebe is a very good prospect!

[terrytini]

11 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

I thought people’s main critique of Bruce was that he was too defensive and played long balls. But tonight we weren’t defensive and we didn’t play long balls, so why are people still saying ‘Bruce out’?

When we win apparently it’s just the performance that matters, and when we don’t; it’s the result. Starting to sound like the bloke can’t win with some people.

Agree.

We were positive. We played by far the better football. 

You don’t always win when you deserve to, just like you don’t always lose when you deserve to.

Wevebmade a good start and if tonight is a benchmark we will do very well this season.

 

[Made In Aston]

14 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

I thought people’s main critique of Bruce was that he was too defensive and played long balls. But tonight we weren’t defensive and we didn’t play long balls, so why are people still saying ‘Bruce out’?

When we win apparently it’s just the performance that matters, and when we don’t; it’s the result. Starting to sound like the bloke can’t win with some people.

I'm one of the Bruce out brigade but I thought he got the tactics right with a high press that stopped Brentford playing for long spells. We dominated the ball and caused a few problems. Some of the one touch passing was sublime at times. 

However it was very one dimensional attacking as we looked to cross on every time we went forward. You need to have some variety to keep opponents guessing. 

He does occasionally get things right but more often than not he doesn't. With Bruce we will never get the consistency needed to win this division. 

Edited August 22, 2018 by Made In Aston

[villabromsgrove]

2 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

Nyland has made too many errors so far, but he did redeem himself in this game with some superb saves.

One of my real concerns from Nyland's Youtube video was that he parry's the ball every time he under pressure. That has to be coached out of him because he could be a very decent keeper.

[sheepyvillian]

8 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

Yep. Closely followed by Jon Moss who looks like the bloody penguin, on crack

Jon Moss ? Didn't he once date Boy George ?

[kiltorken]

15% of people voted Bruce as very poor for the game, its obvious that at least 15% of people voting here will never accept Bruce regardless of what happens. 

[stewiek2]

Bit of a regression from Jack tonight for me. Slowing the attacking play up in the final third, too many sideway passes near their box when in good positios to have a shot and frustratingly scared to shoot. Think as a team we are very goal shy. Oh for a Tommy Johnson mentality.

 

Didn't lose but need to find that killer instinct in front of goal. Brentford did just that, took their chances.

[One For The Road]

35 minutes ago, Gompedyret said:

Also: Don't be too quick at writing off Green. That would be as short sighted as the ones writing off Kodja a few weeks ago.

Green'll come back MUCH stronger and I hope Bruce continues to give him game time to build confidence.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Green is not even close to being good enough to play in a team pushing for the top 6 in the Championship.

I said the same of Delfouneso, Bannan, Gardner and Keenan when many were hailing the arrival of the next big star.

Bruce obviously agrees given that we have just signed two wingers so I'm not concerned. Maybe he will improve in time but he certainly isn't ready now.

Writing off Kodjia who was our best player for a good while and scored lots of goals before his injury, is nothing like writing off a player who has done nothing of the sort.

All that aside, he most certainly isn't the reason for the dropped points. That honour goes to our defence. Again.

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by One For The Road

[Spoony]

I feel like I was watching a different game. I was so frustrated that we barely had any clear cut chances and yet all the possession and we so nearly lost it. For me that is not a good performance at home to a team who actually looked pretty poor. The fact that they’re one of the ‘better’ teams in the league says a lot about the league.

I’m so frustrated we have Nyland in goal when it is so bloody simple to find and experienced championship goalkeeper. He has already cost us a few points.

As for the referee, I think people are ignoring that Kodjia could easily have walked for his studs up challenge.

I’m not happy with this game in the same way everyone else seems to be.

[Brentfordnylons]

Happy with a draw we didn’t play well but maybe that was down to your play.Very poor decision for the free kick in extra time but there again Maupay was lucky to be on the pitch after his stamp.Think we will both be up there at the end of the season.

[AntrimBlack]

Terrific match, which we really deserved to win. Just the final ball let us down.

Well played to Kodjia, has his mojo back.

Thought Whelan was very good, and McGinn was my MOM.

The new signings were the kick up the arse Adomah needed. Green was disappointing tonight, but we need to persevere with him - he has the talent.

Defence worries me. They always look like a mistake is about to happen. Not impressed by Hutton, Elmohamady and especially Jedinak, and Tuanzebe is both good and bad in equal measure. Bruce really needs to bring in a CB and a LB.

Really enjoyed that game, just disappointed that we did not get the win.

We need to play that way every game.

[AstonMartyn88]

For me the game changed somewhere around the hour mark (I forget when, exactly) but the ball went back to Nyland, and it was noticeable that there was no pressure on him but both Chester and Jedinak were pointing down the field for him to go long. He did just that, gave it straight to their keeper and then they had their best spell of the game - at that point I knew it was either going to be Brentford win or a draw, there was just something about that - it felt so negative

[NeilS]

Having watched the highlights, I will not know how the referee did not spot the stamp. He surely would have been looking straight at it. It doesn’t help us but Maupay will definitely get a deserved retrospective 3 game ban for that. It was caught on camera and mentioned by the commentator a few times, the FA would have to be a bunch of raving idiots for them to ignore that.

[blunther]

26 minutes ago, kiltorken said:

15% of people voted Bruce as very poor for the game, its obvious that at least 15% of people voting here will never accept Bruce regardless of what happens. 

He’s only getting a very poor from me starting a season with that back four. I’ll accept him if/when he plays defenders in defence. 

Edited August 22, 2018 by blunther

[Newry_Villan]

Football at times was very good. Let down by the ref in the most part. 

[kiltorken]

2 minutes ago, blunther said:

He’s only getting a very poor from me starting a season with that back four. I’ll accept if when he plays defenders in defence. 

As much as its completely obvious that Jedinak isn't a centre back, Id still have him over elphick who is basically Jedinak without being as strong in the air. 

[Ingram85]

Just got back home from the match.

Great performance apart from a few basic slip ups here and there. Very positive and attacking which was great to see. I’ll get the negatives out the way first.

- Nyland made some great stops but made a few scary errors and he has absolutely awful long ball distribution. Weird one for him. Jury still out but he needs to get better quick. Doesn’t seem to inspire confidence in his back line. 

- Jedinak needs taking out back and shooting in the head asap. He’s done. Shot to shit. One of Bruce’s negatives tonight was sticking with him throughout. Awful game.

- Ref needs to be sacked and never allowed back in the job. Awful all night and at times seemed to relish in making the wrong decision in Brentford’s favour and turning blind eyes to cynical fouls on our lads. Hope he gets Leprosy.

 

Positives:

Chester is a class above, was solid all night. 

Axel was great, if he continues getting better at this pace we will have one hell of a bright star. Very impressed with him all game.

McGinn was exceptional. Fantastic work ethic and effective going forward and back. Quality player. Can’t fault the lad.

Apart from a few basic lapses I thought Hutton looked dangerous going forward as did Elmo.

Grealish still looks like something is affecting his game. Positive and attacking and created quite a bit but something isn’t fully right with his head. Dunno.

The only meh things were Bruce’s refusal to make changes until it looked too late (Hourihane got 8 minutes of normal time?!) and Kodjia frustrating the **** out of me all night apart from his goals. He is a funny one, I feel absolutely stupid having a go at him as he got both goals so if it wasn’t for him we’d have lost but Jesus wept he doesn’t move at all, doesn’t jump, doesn’t make runs, lives in a permanently offside position and just winds me up but he got both goals so what the **** do I know. Proper mixed emotions with that lad.

Overall I am happy, I’d have took a point at the start of the night as they are our bogey team but that performance was tremendous and we deserved all 3 points. We battered them. But that’s football.

[OutByEaster?]

Strange again, lots of promising stuff, some less so.

I should start with a couple of apologies - Jonathon Kodjia is not dead. He looked stronger, livelier and a threat, it was his best performance in a long time. He's very much alive and deserved a couple of goals. Axel Tuanzebe - sorry Sir. This was easily Axel's best performance in a Villa shirt, particularly in the first half where he defended very well, used the ball intelligently and got forward, showing that he's got a very decent cross on him. I've upgraded him to youthfully inconsistent - a few more performances like this will get him upgraded again.

The concerns for me were in a couple of areas - we still look a little shaky at the back - we got away with Jedinak's undercooked header to the keeper today, but he seems to have one in him every game - which is a shame as he was otherwise excellent - indeed the defence looked much more solid - except for when they didn't - we have an 85 minute defence in a ninety minute game.

We fell off a cliff on about 65 minutes - whether that's fitness or mental tiredness or a lack of depth I don't know - but the legs went just after an hour - we need to find a way to fix that - that's a big worry.

Our wide men are also a little concern - Elmohamady is sort of competent without ever being a threat down one side - he's never going to try to take someone on or go on a Hutton-esque galavant - he's far too risk averse for that - he instead plays a sort of sensible wide midfield role and hopes someone else will come and get the ball off him. On the other side, Adomah is all out of form, his timing is a little off and he's struggling to make anything happen - Green if anything is worse, the snap has gone out of his game and he doesn't seem to have the edge he'll need to succeed - confidence will go a long way with both, but they aren't at the races at the moment.

That said, for 65 minutes we played the best football we've played all season - we moved the ball well, we moved off the ball well, we held it up, we took people on - Brentford are a football side but we completely out footballed them - this was not the Bruce-ball of legend. I thought we were excellent for much of that period. For the first twenty minutes of the second half in particular we were utterly dominant and should have put the game to bed... and then we spluttered and there only looked like one winner.

For them Maupay was a handful and a horrible little shit. Their first goal was both well worked and well finished and he showed good opportunism for the second. However, he seems to think he's big enough to celebrate in front of the Holte End and have a bit of a go and he also thinks he can fight fully grown men - for that and being a whopper in general I hope he's got very brittle hamstrings. I didn't see the stamp he's supposed to have made on McGinn and I'm unsurprised that the referee didn't either - he 's away with the fairies is Jon Moss - today was one of his better performances - I thought he was awful.

We have the talent to pull a goal out of anywhere though and we deserved an equaliser - it was a game we deserved to win handsomely for a bit and then a game we deserved a little luck in. I thought overall we were the better side 

What's most promising for me was the football we were able to play despite areas of weakness - McGinn and Grealish are the best attacking midfield in the Championship - and what's more, they compliment each other very well. Bruce has them rooming together on away trips and tonight I think we saw the start of an understanding that will suit us very well. They each create space for the other. I also think Whelan is a good sensible foil for their wit going forward. It's a very promising midfield.

What's really exciting is what we could become this season - If El Ghazi or Bolasie arrive with any form, we will be something of a force going forward. We looked like we could be today with wingers in no form at all - if one of those two arrives and is a real threat, we'll score bucketloads of goals. A midfield four with McGinn and Grealish and two wide threats could make this Villa side the most fun to watch in years - it could be sensational. I can see us in a couple of weeks letting in a couple of goals a game and scoring four or five - genuinely. If this clicks we're in for real entertainment, because that middle two are almost able to blow teams away on their own - almost - if these loans pay out, I think it's going to be all the fun.

Tonight was entertaining, and promising - ultimately you'd have to be a complete idiot to not be happy to snatch a point with a 95th minute equaliser. I thought we should have won it.

Draw your own conclusions.

 

 

 

 

[M_Afro]

1 hour ago, Rugeley Villa said:

Don't get the negativity and anti Bruce thing on here tonight. 

Played a right back at left back, a centre back at right back, a centre mid at centre half, a wing back/full back as a winger and a right winger as a left winger. When they started to dominate the centre of the park at around 55 minutes he took off a left winger and replaced him with a left winger totally ignoring the real issues we were confronted with. When we went 2-1 down he did what he always does and brings all the forwards on and launches long balls up the field. During that period Brentford should have scored 3 or 4. They didn’t and we fluked a last minute goal.

Our defence looked vulnerable every time they attacked. Credit to the goal keeper who kept us in it. 

I am sick of us playing square pegs in round holes. Our entire left hand side is unbalanced by playing right sided players down there. We are desperate for a centre half, he signs one and then plays him full back whilst a midfielder played centre half. We have a million right backs, no centre half’s and he plays our new centre half right back. You could not make it up!

Apart from that, I think he is doing ok

[stewiek2]

Hate to say but atm Jack is reminding me of Jack Wiltshire. Alot of pretty play but nothing that contributes from an end point. Maybe all the Spurs stuff is affecting him more than we know. I'd like to see how a McGinn/ Hourihane partnership would look. Think it'd more productive in a Cowans/Platt scenario.