Dean Smith

[Merson08]

2 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I think the celebrations were way over the top for my liking.

It's not even the final yet and they are celebrating like they got promoted already. 

Sorry but this isn't right. They have just beat a local team on penalties and taken us to Wembley. Let them celebrate, whats the worst that can happen. It will bring the team morale and bonding as high as it could ever be this season. 

This is football, live for the emotions. If ya want them to be quiet the venue should change to a graveyard. 

[DCJonah]

15 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I think the celebrations were way over the top for my liking.

It's not even the final yet and they are celebrating like they got promoted already. 

Bet you were furious with the pitch invasion last year.

[DCJonah]

I think, given the circumstances, its an incredible achievement that he has matched what we did last year. 

Has shut a lot of doubters up and continues to show how terrible the last guy was. 

I bloody love him.

[AntrimBlack]

I admire this team's will to win, but I am certainly perturbed about the recent performances. 

During our record breaking winning run we played with a freedom and elan we have not seen in one of our teams for some considerable time, and looked unstoppable, but we have not got anywhere near that level of performance since.

We will really need to up our game against Leeds. Perhaps being at Wembley and Leeds style of play will make the difference.

If we can get back to our winning style we can definitely beat them.

[PieFacE]

49 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

My main criticism was not bringing Kodjia and Davis on much sooner. Kodjia at half time even and the pair as soon as they went down to 10 men. Kodjia is exactly the type of player you want in that situation, the wild card and as soon as Davis came on the ball began to stick. 

I'd want to see Deano more proactive in the final. 

Wasn't really necessary, Kodjia's build up play is a bit shit, we needed precision imo, Lansbury would have been a good player to come off the bench yesterday, unfortunately he wasn't on it. Totally understand why Smith didn't bring on either Kodjia or Davis on til late, wasn't really the right game for them.  

Edited May 15, 2019 by PieFacE

[dont_do_it_doug.]

1 minute ago, PieFacE said:

Wasn't really necessary, Kodjia's build up play is a bit shit, we needed precision imo, Lansbury would have been a good player to come off the bench yesterday, unfortunately he wasn't on it. Totally understand why Smith didn't bring on either Kodjia or Davis on til late, wasn't really the right game for them.  

Except 1) we weren't getting that precision and 2) Green nor subsequently Adomah offered it. Neither are players I would associate with precision. 

So had we had a better option, like Lansbury, then fine. But we didn't. Davis is fairly precise also, I would say. He's not just some lump. 

[KenjiOgiwara]

Can we all agree on that the reason we struggled breaking down albion was due to the fact that they played 5 at the back and were incredibly defensive, while man marking Jack? 

Seems obvious that our lack of quality on the wings means teams laying this defensively will be difficult for us to break down. I don't know what the solution is? 2 strikers?

Either way. I can't see Leeds playing that defensive, so I think we will get a lot more space to play with in their half. 

[Merson08]

5 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Can we all agree on that the reason we struggled breaking down albion was due to the fact that they played 5 at the back and were incredibly defensive, while man marking Jack? 

Seems obvious that our lack of quality on the wings means teams laying this defensively will be difficult for us to break down. I don't know what the solution is? 2 strikers?

Either way. I can't see Leeds playing that defensive, so I think we will get a lot more space to play with in their half. 

Could be Derby yet. Another game to go and Derby have to go for the win. I think there's going to be another twist in this race. 

[PieFacE]

11 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Except 1) we weren't getting that precision and 2) Green nor subsequently Adomah offered it. Neither are players I would associate with precision. 

So had we had a better option, like Lansbury, then fine. But we didn't. Davis is fairly precise also, I would say. He's not just some lump. 

I like Davis quite a lot and have always preferred him over Kodjia for his overall build up play, I've never once thought of him as a lump.

I think the point i'm making is, sticking more players in an already crowded box wasn't really the answer to the problem yesterday, we needed to keep the ball moving from side to side patiently, and try to open up and angle for Jack, McGinn or Hourihane to hit one from the edge of the area. Which we did, we were patient, we were probing, we were very good in that regard, it just wasn't our day. We hardly looked any better when we brought more strikers on, it just wasn't really that type of game with the way they setup. 
 

Edited May 15, 2019 by PieFacE

[AvfcRigo82]

54 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I think the celebrations were way over the top for my liking.

It's not even the final yet and they are celebrating like they got promoted already. 

I agree, we should have left the Hawthorns wearing black ties while mourning, walking back onto the team bus in single file with our heads down!

 

We were written off back in February!

To now be in the play off final!!!! - I hope they are still partying today!

Well done to all the players, the manager and coaches for getting to this stage!

Up the Villa!!

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I wouldn't have asked Kodjia to stick in the box. 

[PieFacE]

Just now, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I wouldn't have asked Kodjia to stick in the box. 

Then you see something in him that I don't see. Which is completely fair enough!

Edited May 15, 2019 by PieFacE

[dont_do_it_doug.]

3 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

Then you see something in him that I don't see. Which is completely fair enough!

He's at his best when running at players, causing a scene. Davis likewise in all fairness. What we were doing wasn't working under the circumstances as they were evolving, so give them something additional to think about. 

Edited May 15, 2019 by dont_do_it_doug.

[alreadyexists]

Why shouldn’t we celebrate! We won! We’re in the play off final, after what was a very difficult two legged tie. Baggies aren’t some relegation candidates, they missed automatic by 3 wins. If anything we were the underdogs in that tie, at least by going on league position, and games won, and goals scored. 

I know we haven’t got promoted yet, but to win, and in such a nail biting way was fantastic! 

Edited May 15, 2019 by alreadyexists

[AvfcRigo82]

8 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

Why shouldn’t we celebrate! We won! We’re in the play off final, after what was a very difficult two legged tie. Baggies aren’t some relegation candidates, they missed automatic by 3 wins. If anything we were the underdogs in that tie, at least by going on league position, and games won, and goals scored. 

I know we haven’t got promoted yet, but to win, and in such a nail biting way was fantastic! 

Bloody right! Makes up for that try by Rodriguez that beat us that night aswell. 

I am glad Karma collected on that one.. now give us Leeds for all their shite this season, their spy gate shenanigans, cocky fans telling us how to get out this league, the farce of a game a few weeks back and the fact everyone will be rooting for us against that Dirty shower.

If it's Derby then atleast we can enjoy a Sky Sports News wankfest for a fortnight over Lampard and Terry being in the final against each other and the build up and exposure it would bring us. 

I feel alot if neutral fans are getting behind us to get back to the Premier League!  

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by AvfcRigo82

[alreadyexists]

Just now, AvfcRigo82 said:

Bloody right! Makes up for that try by Rodriguez that beat us that night aswell.

I am glad Karma collected on that one.. now give us Leeds for all their shite this season, their spy gate shenanigans, cocky fans telling us how to get out this league, the farce of a game a few weeks back and the fact everyone will be rooting for us against that Dirty shower.

If it's Derby then atleast we can enjoy a Sky Sports News wankfest for a fortnight over Lampard and Terry being in the final against each other and the build up and exposure it would bring us.

I feel alot if neutrals are all behind us to get back to the Premier League!

 

 

Totally. Especially if it’s Leeds, the whole country will be behind us except that bit of South Yorkshire. Dirty, dirty Leeds, ‘twas ever thus!

[villalad21]

20 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

We were written off back in February!

 

But none of it will matter if we lose the final. Wait with celebration if we win the final i'd say

[hippo]

35 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

I like Davis quite a lot and have always preferred him over Kodjia for his overall build up play, I've never once thought of him as a lump.

I think the point i'm making is, sticking more players in an already crowded box wasn't really the answer to the problem yesterday, we needed to keep the ball moving from side to side patiently, and try to open up and angle for Jack, McGinn or Hourihane to hit one from the edge of the area. Which we did, we were patient, we were probing, we were very good in that regard, it just wasn't our day. We hardly looked any better when we brought more strikers on, it just wasn't really that type of game with the way they setup. 
 

I could accept that more if was just last night. 

But this taking lots of extra touches around the penalty area - and slowing the game at the penalty area has been a feature in our game for the last few weeks

[Stockport_Villain]

11 hours ago, Daweii said:

We were trying too hard especially with the corners. We had 15 corners and I believe 12 of them were played short. How often in a game do clubs see a corner pinball off several players and somehow wind up in the net? It happens quite a lot and we had 15 chances to make that happen tonight, but didn't take most of them.

My personal take on this is that we were a much smaller team than Albion so were looking at different ways of getting the balls in the box to try and nullify that advantage. Didnt work though on the night.

[Indigo]

Some people are staggeringly miserable. What's the point in football if you can't celebrate something like last night.

Genuinely surprised by how WBA approached the two legs (when they had 11 men on the pitch anyway), naturally I've not seen as much of them this season but I'd associated them with being a decent attacking side with some talented players, especially at this level. There's a balance to be struck between pragmatism and negatively and they strayed too much into the latter I think, they could have easily set out to maintain a lead but give us something to think about on the break at the same time, but outside of the the occasional flashes it was largely the stereotypical West Brom.

Wouldn't be too critical of our tactics, ultimately once they nicked a goal it was always going to be a struggle to break them down. When you're parking the bus as they did you tend to overload the middle, so the attacking team usually rely on width where unfortunately we're lacking in quality relative to Jack/Tammy/McGinn/Hourihane. They're our most effective players but easiest to stifle when you're playing the way WBA did.

Whatever the case we won't be presented with the same problems in the final, whoever we play. Will still be shitting it either way mind, but for now I'm just enjoying the moment while it lasts. That was some night.