Cardiff 1 – 0 Villa; A demoralising loss

Well, I listened to that and it sounded awful in the first half.
As I suggested in the preview, a lot revolved around how our midfield performed.
And when I saw that Mile Jedinak wasn’t going to start, I immediately worried that they wouldn’t be man enough.
I’m sure I wasn’t alone and surely now Steve Bruce knows that if we’re going to miss out on promotion, it’s going to be because of the midfield.

I know I might be being impatient, but I really expected players in already and am wondering why we haven’t done any business in this area yet?
I mean, surely we can negotiate before the window opens, like it seems we have done with Gestede and Johnstone?
Whatever, we need them in as soon as possible so they can integrate, before our promotion chances go totally down the pan.
And they’re already fading.

So what went wrong?
Well, Cardiff played just as we expected and roughed it up.
The treatment Jack Grealish got was an absolute disgrace, so bad that he was constantly being fouled off the ball.
There’s absolutely no room for that in the game and to my mind Warnock ought to be charged with bringing the game into disrepute.
The amazing thing is the officials either didn’t see it or simply weren’t interested.

Regardless, in the end it boiled down to the fact that Gardner and Westwood weren’t strong enough and Cardiff should have been 4-0 up at half time.
That’s disgraceful.

The pair were duly hauled off at half time to be replaced by Tshibola and Gabby.
You know you’re in trouble when you have to call on Gabby, but things actually improved in the second half.
McCormack hadn’t had a sniff in the first half as we couldn’t link to him.
For me, this problem isn’t going to change until we get at least another two midfielders in.
I know I keep going on about it, but we all know it and I refuse to believe Bruce doesn’t know it.
Tshibola didn’t sound brilliant but at least I heard his name mentioned a few times in the commentary.
How long can Bruce keep starting worse players over him?

The second half was much improved and we created several chances, but it just wasn’t enough.

There’s no other way in looking at this game as three points dropped.
Cardiff have been on a really poor run and we really should have been able to beat them.
I don’t think it quite means the end of our promotion hopes just yet, as there’s still a fair way to go.
But we need to improve, as our performances have been poor of late, even if we’ve scraped wins at times.
And that isn’t going to happen until we get some better players in.

165 Comments

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  1. Bill Pearson
    Bill Pearson January 6, 2017 at 12:29 pm . Reply

    Well Hitch, its smacks that way, I agree don’t go there with players getting greedy, he’s not shown his worth yet but someone pulling strings.

  2. steve
    steve January 6, 2017 at 1:16 pm . Reply

    good midfielders
    Daniel Johnson of PNE
    might cost us more than the £50k we sold him for.
    another Lambert cockup.

    Does anybody know what has happened to Jordon Lydon he seemed promising

    1. Hitchens 60
      Hitchens 60 January 6, 2017 at 1:17 pm . Reply

      Was on loan but has been recalled because of injury – I think.

  3. pat57
    pat57 January 6, 2017 at 2:23 pm . Reply

    On another matter just noticed the Hull presser.

    I’ve said previously that they’re doing a Villa this season and they seem to be following the script to the letter. They’re now in January, bottom of the league with no money to spend and the club up for sale. So what do they do? They’ve appointed a young, inexperienced European manager in the hope that he’ll do something magical.

    Sounds familiar somehow :-/

  4. GIDDYVILLAN
    GIDDYVILLAN January 6, 2017 at 2:46 pm . Reply

    The poor sod is also guaranteed to fail remi #2

  5. pat57
    pat57 January 6, 2017 at 3:08 pm . Reply

    According to the Sun the new owners of Forest might block Lansbury’s move to the Villa even though he’s agreed personal terms.

    Why is nothing ever simple?

    1. GIDDYVILLAN
      GIDDYVILLAN January 6, 2017 at 3:15 pm . Reply

      I don’t believe a thing that paper prints possibly lansbury has agreed personal terms hope that parts correct

  6. pat57
    pat57 January 6, 2017 at 3:12 pm . Reply

    Back to H-M, Dr. Tony has tweeted in support of Jose –

    http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-owner-tony-xia-12416118

    ‘I very much agree with what Mourinho said that parents&agents are someones always ruin youngest’s career, one way the other’

    Hope Rushian is listening.

    1. Dave67
      Dave67 January 6, 2017 at 4:41 pm . Reply

      There is no loyalty in football any more its just greed, Rushian is a young player he needs to learn his trade first before he or his agent starts dictating to the club.

      1. GIDDYVILLAN
        GIDDYVILLAN January 6, 2017 at 5:01 pm . Reply

        They could pay me the minimum wage I’d snap there hands off to wear the claret and blue & play on the hallowed turf of villa Park but that’s me

  7. GIDDYVILLAN
    GIDDYVILLAN January 6, 2017 at 4:01 pm . Reply

    Sky update on lansbury he won’t be selected for tomorrow’s game as his head won’t be in the right place the manager says there has been Contact by another club he might be going but that’s someone else’s decision or words to that effect

    1. Hitchens 60
      Hitchens 60 January 6, 2017 at 4:17 pm . Reply

      May not be Villa (although hope it is) and the owners won’t be able to effectively block it if Lansbury wants to go as he is out of contract in the summer so can talk to clubs now.

    2. Dave67
      Dave67 January 6, 2017 at 4:42 pm . Reply

      Fingers anew toes crossed that he comes to Villa.

  8. Hitchens 60
    Hitchens 60 January 6, 2017 at 5:08 pm . Reply

    According to Sky, Hull have turned down a £3m bid from West Ham for Snodgrass – at that price we should pitch in an offer.

    1. pat57
      pat57 January 6, 2017 at 6:31 pm . Reply

      Definitely I’d love to see Snodgrass at VP. Every game I’ve seen him in he’s always trying to make something happen. Here’s hoping.

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