If you’ve read my replies in previous posts recently, you might have seen that I was invited to attend this game with a Derby workmate.
I’d have had to sit in the Derby seats, but that would have been ok, as the last time I did the same, we beat Derby in their first home defeat at Pride park. Some of you might remember that Dwight Yorke got the 1-0 winner with a penalty, after he might possibly have been sent off.
I can’t say I remember the possible sending-off, but it’s wrankled with the Derby fan, even after all this time and it still makes me chuckle when he reminds me of it. Heh heh.
The invite still applied as of today and I quite fancied it, but have had to decline.
After having been beaten by the snow on Sunday, I also had to take yesterday off work for personal reasons.
Hence my stupidly old-fashioned work ethic tells me that I’ve taken too much time off work already this week, and I’d be taking the proverbial.
There’s also an ulterior motive to be honest, as I don’t see us getting anything at all from this game and the overdue return banter from the Derby fan would probably be more than I could bear straight after the finish.
So what do we know?
On Derby’s part, Gary Rowett has confirmed that Tom Lawrence is out after suffering ankle ligament damage, yet he might be back in a week’s time.
Eh? What does that mean in English then? A bit of a bruise?
Whatever, that’s it and apart from that, they have a full squad to choose from.
Lucky them, I say.
As for us, we all know the score and it seems we have half the squad out at the moment.
The good news is that Mile jedinak might be available and I’d expect him to start, if it’s at all possible.
Hogan’s probably available too.
Oh and Gabby is also close. Hmm.
I’d expect Hogan to start, purely just to take some of the pressure off Young Davis, even though I’m not convinced it’s a good idea. It makes sense that you want someone who can play off the big kid, but is anyone convinced that Hogan is the man to get us goals? I’m afraid I just don’t see it, especially against a very decent Derby side that are going to put us under serious pressure.
Given that I see us under that pressure, there’s a good chance that Steve Bruce will play ultra cautious in playing Jedinak alongside Whelan, which would probably mean we go one up top and try not to concede.
Two hopes, but there you go, in my opinion.
I’m afraid I can’t see anything beyond a defeat and I’m going for a 0-2.
Of course, I live in hope and I’d love to be proved totally wrong.
Even if it’s only so I don’t get bantered to death for the next couple of weeks.
UTV
we didnt deserve anything from the game, played ok but nothing special derby probably also played shit but they didnt need to reach any great lvl to beat us merry christmas
We have one footballer on that pitch, Snodgrass is slow to react, i don’t care what people say that exam will not get us up.
i don’t want us to go up anymore. sick off all the abuse thrown around. i am with the depressed now. i hope they sack bruce and we remain in the championship. until we play football like barca which could be my life time and my kids and their kids .
coincidently we had more ball today than normally and we really created zero. we passed little tiny neat balls instead of the long hopeful ones ppl complained about. but did this help answer not really we looked toothless and grealish is the only player today who looked like he was trying to create or make something happen.
if i was grealish i would push through a exit because he wouldnt reach his personal goals hanging around vp he would improve with better players around him
With you on that Nath, I’m now sick to the stomach watching Villa and seeing players acting like statues, Snodgrass was slow to the ball Jedi I’d shave that beard off because he cannot find a player through it, corner kicks cannot get past the first defender, Grealish was the only player that can play football and he has been dropped on the bench on most games with excuse he’s not fit, he stuck out a mile in dribbling skills that other don’t have.
snodgrass is a big disappointment he can reach much better personal standards than he is producing. slow your correct he is very slow and so predictable cutting inside all the time. our corner are rubbish and we can not defend a decent corner for our lives.
grealish was everywhere and you could see he was two maybe three steps ahead of any villa player. he drives at the defence and he passes with a plan in mind not pass to just get rid or pass on responsibility. he passes and moves to offer a option. just a crying shame no other villa player today was on his wave lengths
To be truthful I was streaming it, and a perfect one at that, after 25th minute i had to turn it off, why it was hurting me to see the game , Bruce was throughing his arm’s around shouting instructions and I was thinking ! Well you was the one that picked the team mate, is he the one to see it home? No he’s still in the days of defensive football, safety first his his thinking and not going forwards, 6 teams below us and one point difference, by we needed to fight because now we might as be at the bottom because its anyone’s play off now.
Dreadful tactics, worse performance. No strikers when we had Hogan (Bruces expensive signing) sitting on the bench? Completely clueless.
Grealish best player on the field, and hasnt been able to get a start? Only Chester and him come out with any credit. Whelan and Snodgrass were dreadful.
The truth is Bruce is a very average manager. As much as I want to come up this year, the thought of him managing us in the Premier League is a scary thought.
Indeed, even the championship has passed him by now. He’s just too old school and hasn’t moved with the times.
The board took a short term decision in getting Bruce in and its backfiring badly. And once the parachute money runs out next year, we could be in serious trouble if we don’t go back up, which barring an immediate managerial change we won’t.
Bruce has to go now before he does any more damage. He is clueless
Soon a s we gave them their goal they just sat back so anything Grealish did wasnt going to hurt them anymore….and with that any spark in the final 3rd.
maybe we should go down another level to reach our standards its just like we are papering over the cracks
Bruce out,
Lost first game in 6, lost 3 games in 19, Whelan fucked up otherwise it’s a draw today. Snodgrass and Hourihane should’ve scored second half.
Poor line up agreed but we have all the top 8 to play at home yet so I still expect us to go up in second. First game we’ve lost since losing JT.
But Bruce could’ve played Gabby as a target man and didn’t. Onomah is not deserving of his place. Grealish doesn’t actually have any end product. Jedinak is not a CB. Why not play him and Glenn on the centre to stiffen things up. Crosses into the box were awful today but pointless anyway with no target man.
Derby are not great and on another day it’s a draw.
We will finish 2nd.
Delusional…. the teams above rarely lose games or go three without a win like us. How exactly are we going to finish above them or close the rapidly growing gap.
Every time we come up against decent opposition we get destroyed, it happened against Wolves, and Cardiff and again Derby today. How on earth does that bode any confidence even for the play offs should we scrape the 6th place Bruce has been dreaming of.
You cannot get automatic promotion being negative and cautious and that is Bruce all over. A dinosaur with no place in the modern game. Put even a half decent manager in his place and we’d be challenging for the title with our resources.
Didn’t get destroyed today should have been a draw- I was at the game, were you?
Yeah right. 2nd? You are having a laugh. A couple of threads ago you said we were catching Cardiff and had the best form in the league (wrong on both counts). Our form across the last 5 games is the worst in the top 9. Only Preston and Middlesborough in the Top 10 have scored fewer goals this season.
Hats off to you for going to the game though.
Cardiff have lost 3 games in 22. We’ve lost 5. Do you honestly think we’re making up the 10 points in 24? That’s 3 losses and 2 draws while us winning every game for the rest of the season. It’s all easy claiming we’ll finish 2nd, but you need to actually look into it. And that doesn’t look likely at that they’ll start losing a few.
We have United, Brentford, Boro and Bristol next. How many points do you honestly think we’ll take away from that?
We’re also 2 points above 9th place. We could be out of the top 6 by next weekend.
Onomah must have a play if fit clause in his contract. He shouldn’t even be on the bench
Back it in Owen, your delusional mate, that team is crap to say the lease, Bruce has had his time in the game its out for me.
just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse mccormack is out injured with a bad injury. wasn’t thinking he would return but i hoped they might have sold him for a bag of crisp or cuppa
hope its not really bad for him
My message is a short one. We stank today (again). Our football is turgid and clueless, a truly joyless experience to watch and even worse to pay for. Seeing us makes the eyes bleed.
F*** off Bruce, as of yesterday.
We weren’t awful today – Whelan fucked up- we had two cleared off the line- second came in injury time when we were chasing the game.
You have to be joking Owen, did you see the game, ? Come on falla, enough is enough they was dire,
Badger, your upset like all of use give us your views, I’m giving in with Bruce , his selection of teams on matches, leaving crucial players out , why does he do it. ? I’m at a loss.
OWEN…”Didn’t get destroyed today should have been a draw- I was at the game, were you?”……
Sorry cant make the games……But even when we were playing best (before the goal) they were ripping us apart…and after it was so such an uphill struggle….their 2nd came about because we let their bloke just run with it – no one tried or even ran at him before he laid on the goal.
Until we get someone in charge that sets up hard work as the 1st priority we will never do any good.We have tried all sorts since MON except someone that gets the tempo hard work and organisation…I know everyone is looking for that but we have the money for god sake….not that that would get the right manager but it lets them know they could be backed after the initial turnaround.
We were poor first 5 minutes then settled down. Had Whelan not fucked up Derby would not have scored. We had loads of possession but no end product. We were pressing for an equaliser and Snodgrass and Hourihane should have scored. Hogans header also close. The second goal came when we were chasing the game. Watch the game back and see that Derby did very little after the first 5 minutes. Second half was all Villa.
I’m not saying we were good but to say Derby destroyed us and are better than us is not fair in my opinion.
Bruce’s team selection was strange I grant you. Jedinak is not a defender, Onomah is not a target man.
villa lost the game yesterday because they made mistakes. its not because derby outplayed villa. in fact it was a even game nothing special. derby didnt reach any high standards, as we never. this is more disappointment if we cant contain derby playing like that. we would struggle when they did acrually play decent. its true derby had chances, but its my memory these chances were mostly down to individual errors. them errors are down to players not managers. but their is something wrong, when a team can make so many per games. defending a standard corner is a major concern lately. we are struggling with the basics at minute with confidence and that is the management department. we don’t press any more as one. we don’t have a decent shape without the ball any more. finally we look clueless with the ball. we are too slow without grealish yesterday it would have been far bigger scoreline.
any team with grealish would be a better team. yet we look toothless the lad is steps ahead of any other villa player. he was trying so hard to ignite the other players around him. derby saw him as our only threat, they doubled and tripled up on him,even fouled him constantly. grealish has to play for villa and if bruce can not sort out the confidence and organisation of the squad, something which he is supposedly strong at, then another manager has to been appointed and fast. another transfer window is here. is it over reacting, i don’t know. but i av lost confidence in the players and manager. this form could get worse at this rate. i think it needs a fresh man to try new ideas and breed confidence back into this squad fast. tim sherwood is my stop gap manager give him a contract to the end of current season. if the board cant attract the right manager fast, which will be impossible at this stage unless the new guy is without job now. what will tim bring well he will know all about grealish and build a team around him. he will attack every game. he will breed confidence into the squad wiping clean the slates.
bruce has to realise that things are now broken. something has to change for the results and confidence to change. once it goes this far its gone too far for him to make amends. could be players like most fans have lost confidence in him. the team yesterday certainly played like that. promotion is not lost yet, but more results or performances like that would totally write us off by mid January.
i reckon the owners will be fast in making their minds up. yesterday will not have shown them, he is now the right man. it was total ciaos at certain times.
It was chaos at times at the back right at the start and at the end. But Jedinak and Chester didn’t have much to do all game but even so Jedinak didn’t look great. He’s a class midfielder. Him and Whelan in midfield would free up Grealish to just attack behind the striker. Grealish linked the play well and despite not being his biggest fan he made his case to play regularly. We could have snatched a draw yesterday. I actually thought even Hogan looked lively yesterday.
Bruce won’t get the sack this season unless we drop out of top 6, which I can’t see. Top 8 pulling away from rest of league now. Boro are way off now. Preston won’t be consistent enough so we’ll definitely make the playoffs. A good run of 7 or 8 wins like the back end of last season could still happen and we can surge into second.
We have not reached half way yet. And for all those who are obsessed with us bearing the teams around us we still have the following teams to play at home ( we’ve played all the top teams away):
Wolves
Cardiff
Bristol C
Derby
Sheff U
Leeds
Preston
It’s all still to play for with more than half the season left. Much later in the day last season we looked like we might get relegated, then stormed to within touching distance of the playoffs then tailed off into mid table. So many twists and turns and that will be the same this season but we are playing catch up from a much better position this time around. We are 5th in the league.
i am not having a go at you owen i respect your stance and admire it. i think jedi played ok. he wasnt the reason for the defeat. i agree with your match assessments mostly.
the only part i differ is the way bruce set up to attack derby. i just didnt see his big plan to open up derby. every game you need to stop the opposition and hurt them with the ball. he has managed to do this mostly this season. without pulling up trees. but last few games. organisation and errors are beginning to dominate ourr games.
is could be bruce plans are not clear to his troops. i certainly didn’t understand his game plan to beat derby. i have seen many games and yesterday confused me before during and after. onomah was never going to work out up top. even as the game played it was plain to see him lost. he didnt run the channels or hold up the ball. he was a fish out of water. but bruce didnt do a thing to amends this.
we tried to play the ball through midfield,instead of the long ball. but apart from grealish who did try to beat derby defenders. by passing and moving or actually running past defenders. no other villa player did themselves any favours yesterday. sorry chester did well holding a very disorganised back line.
i never call for the manager to do one. but players control the managers futures and they were clueless yesterday. was the team tactics lost on them or can they not follow them. can we afford to wait for terry to return. the leadership on field and that leaving the dressing room are talking to different languages.
he needs to go back to basics again. we are not hard to beat and we cant keep the ball and progress up field without players looking shaky and hesitant. they are playing football enjoy it while it lasts. the team are petrified and it shows to the opposition
.
Spoken well Nath, other managers have no fear of Villa, we are like a book and easy to read, 2 players only that can actually play the game of football, the rest are fearful of playing and cannot control a game. Owen if we don’t stop getting points over the next 2-3 games you can kiss promotion goodby and that’s a fact,
I’ve lost my respect of Bruce simply because he is tactically inept and cannot out think other players and managers, I’ll wager he won’t last much longer at Villa park.
you have hit the nail there bill. villa are easy to read. easy to prepare for. looking at the games we struggled against these teams have set up to stifle villa.
as a manager bruce has to be ahead of the opponents plans. which means he has to stop the opposition stopping villa. teams are pressing villa stopping villa reaching crossing areas these things should be expected. but in last three games these things havent been addressed. now more mistakes have surfaced to add to our problems. its not going to be easy now for bruce to turn this around. he was losing the fans with his less productive style. he cant afford to lose points like this 2 from last 9 and hogan and gabby won’t be fit for weeks. who is he going to play up top next game. ???? its like bruce has just one plan and that is all he has. if this is wrong he has to produce a performance in next game or its going to turn nasty
I accept all your points guys and they have merit I grant you. The tactics were poor yesterday and if we don’t beat Sheff U then Bruce rightly needs to be under pressure. I agree that if we don’t get some points from the next 2 we are going to struggle for top 2 but I think our home form is good and yesterday was our first away defeat for months. Sheff U and Bristol next 2 at home win them and get points against Brentford and Boro and we are back in it. We have always bounced back well after defeats tbf to Brucey. We have had terrible luck with injuries but that doesn’t wash anymore as we had players on the bench who could play up front at Derby. Bruce needs to take the flack and come back fighting which tbf he has done most of this season. Also I don’t think anyone’s having a go- I love everyone’s different opinions- I’m a history teacher- I wish I could get my kids as animated as you guys! 😀
Here’s Rowetts opinIon – shows we were in the game, “In the second half we allowed Villa just a little bit too much control at times but for as much of the play they had, I don’t think Scott Carson has had a meaningful save to make.
“It’s another game where we can say we know we can play better but we’ve kept a clean sheet, defended brilliantly and it’s another excellent result.”
“Shows we were in the game”
“I don’t think Scott Carson has had a meaningful save to make”
That’s not the definition of being in the game.
We know we weren’t at our best and we defended brilliantly, allowed Villa some control – not saying we played well but far from destroyed
bruce has many issues to address. but he has to address the basics. keeping the game plan simple. i would have played adomah up top yesterday and played onomah in the left midfield. this simple change would have stopped adomah chasing the full back and he would have more energy running in behind. giving grealish a target to hit.
snodgrass has to stop drifting inside without no end product. he comes inside and the full back goes past him . this leaves us very vulnerable down that flank, if snodgrass loses the ball and that is happening more, than what should happen. snodgrass cuts inside he should be shooting at goal. or passing a unbelievable through ball.
wide boys yesterday should have had attacking licences to attack and not be chasing back.staying wide gives our midfielder targets to hit. as we had no forward the wide boys should have been really important yesterday. but snodgrass was very poor. he just did the same thing over and over. which was cutting into midfield. vacating the wings.
another noticeable thing to address is work efficacy. we have to press together or not at all. when they get the ball they need to work opposition. which they did yesterday at times. but their has to be a end product. we go from A to B to C and instead off shooting at D they pass back to A. its like that board game snakes and ladders. we gain lots of ground and concede the ground with a 40 yards back pass
What I witnessed was Snodgrass waiting for the ball, Jedi was either heading balls to no one or passing balls to the opposition, it just was an embarrassing game to watch, I’ll tell the truth ,I switch it off didn’t want to see anymore and that’s not me, I think Badger feels the same angered at that performance, Bruce doesnt help with his excuses, i would like to see him blowing his top at the guilty players, then I would think he’s at least interested, he rather play things down and hope it goes away. I’m at a loss with football from us its getting to me, I’d do better up my allotment at least the end products are good.
Fair point Bruce makes excuses – he got his in before the game saying he had to rip up his plans- what replace Hutton with Elmo and Jedinak came in for samba? Like for like and he had strikers to play which he didn’t. But this season when Villa have been under pressure they’ve come back well. After Shedf W defeat we got 3 wins and 2 draws – went on a decent run after wolves defeat and turned it around after 1 point from first 3 games. I’m convinced our home form will see us beat the sides around us at VP. In my opinion I think we will go up.