Phil Silvers Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Will be interesting to see Reddin and Afoka, both have shown glimpses to suggest they might have something about them, just need them to a bit more consistent at this level when they get their chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 (edited) Losing 2-1 at half-time, unfortunately despite taking the lead early on it hasn't been a very good performance, constantly losing and giving the ball away, Southampton pressing very well but also a lot of unforced errors from our players, they're dominating us in the middle of the pitch despite playing a two man midfield. I'd say Smith, O'Reilly, and Afoka have been our standout players. Finished 2-2, second half continued in pretty much the same fashion as the first half, Southampton probably should have been out of sight, but we did well defensively to stay in the game, got the equalizer, and for the last twenty minutes or so were the better team and could have stole the points, should have done so in injury time with Reddin missing a very good chance, probably got Feeney and Sinisalo to thank that we were even in with a chance of getting the equalizer, both kept us in the game at times, a shame we couldn't win it in the end, but based on the whole match a draw not a bad. Also I thought Bridge did well when he came on. Edited March 11, 2022 by useless 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Better after the break, nice to see Mungo Bridge back in action here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich192 Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Not everything came off for him today, but O’Reilly has real talent. Some of his dribbling and passing were excellent. Real prospect. We looked better with Barber in midfield I thought. Probably deserved a draw in the end, based on the chances we created second half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 I haven't seen anything about Ajani Burchall's progress. I'd have thought if he played first team for Bournemouth at 16 that he would be close to under 23 standard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Appiah's a funny one isn't he. He looks like he's got the physique of a CB but he kind of causes carnage at RB by just being willing to plow forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 11, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 11, 2022 It was colder than it looks. I thought we were lucky to be in the game after an hour and then somehow unlucky not to have snatched it at the end. Southampton dominated midfield by pushing their full backs forward from a 4-2-3-1 - it meant that when they had the ball (which was often) they were in a 2-2-5-1 and we simply couldn't deal with that many players in our half. Their midfielders would receive the ball three yards off our centre backs and ours would have to dribble through three men just to get near the half way line. It meant the game was largely played in our half for the first seventy minutes. I thought Sinisalo was good, he made some good saves and kept us in it - Feeney had a bit of a nightmare in the first half, he seemed to struggle to control the ball and got beaten for pace playing a high line a couple of times - he recovered some of his poise in the second half. Kerr looked decent although both were constantly bothered by having strikers running in behind them and the excellent Southampton 11 - Olaigbe - running at them. They didn't look sure whether to stick or twist on a difficult day, they learned as they went and were better as the game went on. Barber was another who struggled in the first half - former Albion man Thierry Small is big, strong and very quick at left back and made life very difficult for him, he kept at it though and will have learned a lot. I liked the look of Munroe on the other side, he plugged away all game too and put in a great ball for Reddin's goal. I liked what Taylor-Hart brought to the team, he worked really hard in trying to get a foot in and get us moving forward and I think Tommi O'Reilly benefited from that work in the last twenty minutes as Southampton tired. Thorndike struggled to get anything going - he's a passing footballer and I don't think we ever really got our passing game started - we lost the ball innumerable times in the first half particularly, with just about everyone being guilty at some point - the control was sometimes lacking and there didn't seem to be options for the man on the ball - you have to give Southampton a lot of credit for that, they got loads of men in our half and pressed us really, really high - and they were brave enough to keep doing that even after we scored an early goal on the break. Brad Young grafted all game and deserved his goal for the effort he put in, but he might ponder a couple of missed headers, Reddin took his goal well and looked lively, he's pacy and seems to read the game well, he might think that he could have won it at the end and I like the look of Afoka, he occasionally looks like a big puppy in that I don't think he's quite grown into his frame yet but he's decent on the ball, and can take a man on, if his size ends up translating itself to power to go with his other gifts, he could be a really good prospect. But still - the opening hour was all them, they swarmed us, made us play in our half and scored a couple of very good goals (their second by Payne was a really special hit) - the way we tried to overcome that tactically was strange, but I think clever - rather than trying to think of ways to get our fullbacks into midfield - we brought two more centrebacks on and told our midfielders to defend less. Delaney forcing our midfield players further up the field. I also thought that Appiah looked excellent when he came on - he presented a better physical match for Thierry Small in defence and then played some really good stuff when he went forward - for a hulk sized human he went on two or three really deft dribbles and looked like he might create something from crosses. Bridge's bit of composure allowed Afoka to concentrate on moving forward and we looked better with the subs on. In the last ten minutes we might have scored a couple more goals, O'Reilly and Young through sheer belligerence had worn the Southampton defence out and with Reddin and Afoka providing the threat and Appiah the support, we overwhelmed them in the last five minutes. A draw was just about fair I think and we didn't deserve to win the game over ninety minutes - four goals, including some good ones, a camp little barrel chested referee who was excellent for this level, the shock of finding that a selfish Audi driver had blocked off the car park and ignored three calls on the tannoy, a whole host of very good youth players in the stands and some pretty decent ones on the pitch - it's a damned good way to spend a Friday afternoon. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 11, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 11, 2022 As an aside, we seem to have a lot of centre backs right now - Feeney and Kerr are the starters, but we could have fielded Swinkels and Bogarde on another day, or Appiah and Bridge, or maybe even Revan - we've got a plethora of options there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 (edited) 5 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: As an aside, we seem to have a lot of centre backs right now - Feeney and Kerr are the starters, but we could have fielded Swinkels and Bogarde on another day, or Appiah and Bridge, or maybe even Revan - we've got a plethora of options there. Edited March 11, 2022 by HanoiVillan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 On 11/03/2022 at 16:28, sharkyvilla said: I haven't seen anything about Ajani Burchall's progress. I'd have thought if he played first team for Bournemouth at 16 that he would be close to under 23 standard? also what happened to Sturridge and Shakpoke? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2022 Good Lord! A Vassilev! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2022 Wolves have won their last four, this will be tough. I'm struggling to figure out the formation fir us - five at the back maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2022 Ouch 1-0 down from a set piece in the opening minute. Great free kick to be fair to the lad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2022 2-0 - this one isn't going well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 4 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: 2-0 - this one isn't going well. Are you watching this somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2022 2 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: Are you watching this somewhere? Nope, just the updates on Wolves Twitter - they aren't broadcasting it because the first team are playing tonight. They are filming it though and the goals are up on there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2022 3-0. Hard to tell when all you see is the goals, but it doesn't look like we've defended all that well for the last two goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2022 Finished 3-0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted March 21, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted March 21, 2022 Excuse my tardiness. All stats updated (2 Villa games). I just spent a week off work intoxicated & backing horses. I should be back now, and mostly fully-functional. That team v Wolves was an interesting one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts