Ratings & Reactions: Villa v sha

[Rugeley Villa]

1 hour ago, brommy said:

Definitely looked around 10% empty seats in the upper and lower away sections and that doesn’t include the netted separation seats. Blose either didn’t sell out or there was a low key restriction on their number. Interested to find out.

They sold out their allocation within 24 hours. Allocation was 2200 for safety reasons. We get the same at their place. The empty seats were extra segregation . 

[foreveryoung]

Any trouble outside today?

[peterms]

2 hours ago, tinker said:

Ref should have given an early yellow card for the tackle on Grealish , he never and that was the green light for blues to switch their game on.  

Commentators talk about not giving cards in the first few minutes so as not to set the wrong tone for the match, make it harder for themselves, or whatever.

I really don't get it.

I was rhinking afterwards how I would have handled that (never having reffed anything beyond a friendly match for 8 year olds), and decided I would have booked him immediately, and also summoned both captains and instructed them to tell their team there would be more bookings and sendings off if they did not immediately restore some basic control.

And I would have spoken to both teams beforehand to make it clear there would be no suspension of normal rules because it was a derby,  no period of grace where you can kick tne shit out of someone without penalty, etc.

Am  I hopelessly naive?  (People from the politics threads, please do not comment here).

 

[chappy]

We woke up when they hit the post and from then on our class showed. We really missed McGinn, especially in the first 20 minutes.

Two fantastic crosses by Albert in three minutes, what a turnaround.

Gave MOTM to Kodjia, thought he worked really hard today, great finish and it was his driving run that set up our second too.

Banging atmosphere at times today, even in the upper trinity where I was as I left it too late getting a ticket on the Holte, really enjoyed the view from up there though I have to say!

My first live derby, not a bad one! That Hutton goal will be replayed for years and years, wonderful stuff.

We have a really good team, hope the start of the season doesn’t leave us playing too much catch up chasing those top2 as we are good enough to win this league this year.

[7392craig]

Thought we played well for the most part today. We are opened up too easy at the back, and we look ropey on set pieces but I’m sure that’ll be adressed given time. Our attacking talent is unbelievable though, and the football under Smith is a cracking watch, he’s certainly proving me wrong. 

Also, you guys should head over to the SHA forum, I’ve just dipped in for the last half an hour and it’s absolute gold .

[8pints]

"Some of us are born Villa, some just fall in love"

We'll be seeing this image and quote for many years to come I feel

 

[The Fun Factory]

What a day. It was actually a decent game for once. Dodgy start but the come before half time was superb. Hutton goal was just epic. Buzzing.

[robby b]

9 hours ago, Stockport_Villain said:

Very entertaining. Defensively from corners and messing about when there’s no option to pass we brought their goals on ourselves, so much to improve on in that aspect. Going forward, brilliant. Adomah was immense and well miss him over the next few weeks. But my word, Alan Hutton. Take a bow son. That’s two goals this year where he waltzed in to the opposition penalty area and I absolutely  love it.

Exactly, his goal against Hull wasn't quite from our own half but it was maraudingly brilliant too, almost as brilliant. I love how he's become so good at surging runs from the midfield or defence, hoorah! : D 

[Ouchmefoot]

 

[privateer]

10 hours ago, Brumstopdogs said:

LOL

 

 

Perspective, inbreds, perspective.

[Skills]

winning ugly was almost the only way we would win under the previous regime, and although i wouldnt call this as an ugly win as we did boss the majority of the game, but winning ugly has so much more meaning to us now!

Chester had a game to forget hopefully it was down to him not being 100% ready due to injury and i thought Whelan was vacating the middle too much.  Not sure why he was "marking" the big fella who scored from their corner, we need to get better organised at defending set pieces

Kodija was my motm, was the only one showing any threat in the first half hour and grew in confidence after the goal.  Have this inkling that he's really going to kick on now

Hope Adomah's injury isnt too bad but we do have a ready made replacement ready to be unleashed!

[Ghost]

First game I've been able to watch in the Dean Smith era, and what a pleasure it was to see us playing it out from the back and actually try to pass the ball around, albeit a bit sloppily in that first half.

We were living dangerously then and if that second goal for Blues had gone in, it might well have been a different outcome (but how many times have we said that about our own opportunities in the past?)

Suffice to say we took our chances when they mattered and what a goal by the Scottish Cafu! When he picked up the ball and charged forward, and the Blues players just parted like the Red Sea, you just knew it was going to be something special. I actually laughed out loud when that went in and woke up the wife.

As a foreign fan, I don't have the same feelings around this game as those of you who have grown up with this rivalry. But I'm glad we still hold the bragging rights.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Ghost

[villan-scott]

24 minutes ago, Ghost said:

First game I've been able to watch in the Dean Smith era, and what a pleasure it was to see us playing it out from the back and actually try to pass the ball around, albeit a bit sloppily in that first half.

We were living dangerously then and if that second goal for Blues had gone in, it might well have been a different outcome (but how many times have we said that about our own opportunities in the past?)

Suffice to say we took our chances when they mattered and what a goal by the Scottish Cafu! When he picked up the ball and charged forward, and the Blues players just parted like the Red Sea, you just knew it was going to be something special. I actually laughed out loud when that went in and woke up the wife.

As a foreign fan, I don't have the same feelings around this game as those of you who have grown up with this rivalry. But I'm glad we still hold the bragging rights.

If you enjoyed that then you’re in for a treat, that was one of our poorer performances under his tenure. We are transformed already in such a small amount of time. So impressive. 

[mikeyjavfc]

A sloppy game to be honest, but it’s massively encouraging to score 4 in a sub-par performance and derby game. 

When the quick passing is working it is a joy to watch the ball zipping around the field with the opposition chasing shadows. When it’s not working we looked ponderous and turned the ball over far to much in our own half. The 2nd sha goal was an utter gift and hope DS stamps out that kind of sloppy play. 

Overall a professional derby day win. Adomah MOTM for me - that’s the first performance in a long time where he looked back to his best and leaving his man for dust. 

[Pongotastic]

This to me is the key difference between Steve Bruce and Dean Smith. DS realised that we do not have the players at our disposal right now to set up defensively so we have to head forward to attack. One goal leads, he realises, aren't enough so we have to push forward and extend the lead.

Bruce on the other hand would have set us up defensively not to lose and we would have been absolutely steam rolled by Adams and Jutkiewicz

[Raver50032]

I could watch that Hutton run and goal many, many times and just be so absolutely thrilled for him, and the Holte End each time. So nice to see some good goals flying in at the Holte End again (nod to McGinn against Wednesday).

Nervy opening that Dean Smith will no doubt look to work on before we play Forest. Once we got into our stride, we did look comfortable.

MOTM - Adomah (two assists), a purple patch for him.

Smith - good

Ref - average. He really should have brandished the yellow card in the first minute after that on Grealish.

 

Finally - lol... just lolololololol at Craig 'wordyMcwordyremovedface' Gardner.

TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

<spinning around in my office chair at work this morning with a nice big grin on my face, and a lovely pink glow to my cheeks>

Edited November 26, 2018 by Raver50032

[Stevo985]

1 minute ago, Pongotastic said:

This to me is the key difference between Steve Bruce and Dean Smith. DS realised that we do not have the players at our disposal right now to set up defensively so we have to head forward to attack. One goal leads, he realises, aren't enough so we have to push forward and extend the lead.

Bruce on the other hand would have set us up defensively not to lose and we would have been absolutely steam rolled by Adams and Jutkiewicz

That's absolutely the difference.

Bruce was ok last season because we had a very good defence. So building from the back worked most of the time. No it wasn't perfect and at times it wasn't pretty, but it was pretty effective.

This season we didn't have that good defence (Bruce's fault by the way) yet he didn't change his approach. He still tried to be defensive and it was never going to work with our personnel.

 

You're right, Smith realises that our squad is top heavy and to make that work you have to play to those strengths.
It'll be interesting in January if we do reinforce at the back, which you'd assume we will, if Smith changes his approach at all to be any more cautious, or just keep things as they are and rely on the better players at the back to plug the holes.

[SuperTed]

I’m just going to pop this here. Happy Monday you beautiful lot! 

[Pongotastic]

21 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

That's absolutely the difference.

Bruce was ok last season because we had a very good defence. So building from the back worked most of the time. No it wasn't perfect and at times it wasn't pretty, but it was pretty effective.

This season we didn't have that good defence (Bruce's fault by the way) yet he didn't change his approach. He still tried to be defensive and it was never going to work with our personnel.

 

You're right, Smith realises that our squad is top heavy and to make that work you have to play to those strengths.
It'll be interesting in January if we do reinforce at the back, which you'd assume we will, if Smith changes his approach at all to be any more cautious, or just keep things as they are and rely on the better players at the back to plug the holes.

Hopefully the latter. A stronger back line will give the attacking players more licence to express themselves. This is the first time I can remember where all of our midfielders/attackers have a goal in them. Going forward we are a massive threat to any defence. Just those jitters at the back. 

Chester was clearly not fit and I'm sure if there was strength in depth he wouldn't have played. 

[Taxahunter]

What an amazing atmosphere and incredible experience. I was a bit moody when we went down 1-0, but It was f*****g fantastic to be at Villa Park on this day. Loved every second. The team, the manager, the fans all get 10 out of 10