I’m sure most of you know by now, but just to clarify, these international breaks totally frustrate me.
Especially when the only benefit goes to the FA, in helping to pay for a massively expensive (and not very good) Wembley stadium.
And even more so when they’re only friendlies.
I totally fail to see the point of playing countries that have failed to qualify for the WC. What do we gain, apart from pure practice?
If it’s going to be worthwhile, at least play other countries that have qualified, but in another group, in my opinion.
No manager likes it, along with pretty much all the fans and all it does is destroy any momentum or interest that the domestic season has achieved.
I do love venting a “bitch of the day” and that was it. It’s done.
So now, having practically slept through the last week and a half, footy-wise, I’m trying to wind myself back up again for Saturday’s late kick-off.
And it’s difficult, to be honest.
No disrespect to Hull, but this fixture doesn’t exactly light my fire.
Still, I’ve just taken a look at the fixtures and we have what I think are a few very tough games coming up.
You might want to take a look at that link, as I think it looks a bit scary, particularly if we lose to Hull, where it suggests we might have lost our momentum.
Which makes this a big game. We need to get back in the groove quickly, it’s as simple as that.
And yes, we’d have to go some to totally blow the play-offs now; but we need to keep getting wins, because you can be sure other teams will.
We all know there’s a team that can have a good late run-in and surprise people.
We should at least try and make that be us, even if it’s too late to get second place.
I’ll try and add any squad news as the game gets closer, but just as most of you get a holiday as of Friday morning, so I have to go full steam at work.
Hey ho. Hopefully I’ll get to see the game.
fulhams great run hasn’t caught cardiff or wolves. they will miss out on top two. villa didnt deserve to win last night and the two before it. i can’t understand the philosophy of blaming manager, but if it makes you feel better thats good.
i said it before and was greeted with sarcasm. but players are not robots they only have the game plan. its up to them if they carry it out. they also have to be flexible as all game plans are countered. players need to work things out yesterday and they failed miserably.
we are all villa fans and i love listening to ex players talk about the games, that i watched, for instance ian taylor was talking about playing in a three midfield. he was asked what instructions the manager gave him . it was simple pick up x and get forward. but he explained if one of his co mid fielders was struggling they often swapped their man. they often added as they see fit to tactics. he was chatting to a expert on the poor performances early this season.
we are always blaming the manager its very short sighted, the tactics worked first half, we were too shit to score the goals, second half hull worked out how to combat us. the subs ppl are moaning about didnt change the game but it was already going tits up.
if we do miss out on promotion i wont lose sleep, the club will have to revisit the drawing board. i look at the players in the squad and this squad should be top two. so if we end up in a playoffs i fear nobody. as long as we pull our fingers out and play some football,we should over come anybody in this division, we ripped bristrol city to pieces when they were beating premiership teams. we beat wolves pretty easily. i have seen wolves many times this season and two games they were really out player was at villa and fulham, so on our day we can beat anybody
sorry for my rant i am fooked long night last night,
Bruce definitely has to take responsibility for his substitutions. Pointless sticking 3 strikers on and not being able to get the ball into them. Dropping Grealish back into a deep midfield position was tactically naive and not the first time he has made that mistake. Having said that the players need to shoulder most of the blame. Grealish was excellent against Wolves but last three games just like his teammates, they have failed to show up which is inexcusable. Bruce doesn’t tell them to not bother winning the 50-50 battles, that’s a failing of the players over last 3 games. They all need to buck their ideas up. They showed against Wolves that on their day they can beat anyone in this division but have dropped their standards since that game.
hate to say but thou we had three strikers on field they were not playing as three strikers. grabbon filled in for adomah
Yes, but don’t you think that’s wrong? Grabban not a left wing player, its like asking a goalkeeper to go centre forward, they all have a roll to play, you don’t cut corners, I tell you what he thought, one goal will win this put a extra striker on, it didn’t work, he’s guessing Nath.
You’re right Bill, I don’t like players out of position. Adomah wasn’t having a great game but even so he can turn a game in an instant. You also can’t blame fatigue because most were well rested. In the second half we lost the midfield battle in particular. Jedinak is basically an old fashioned sweeper but Lansbury and Grealish offered little in the second half so I would have swapped either of them for Hourihane. We need to win the battles on the pitch for our quality to show and I think Bruce will need to give them all a good rollicking.
Correct Holte66, I for the life of God don’t know what was in his mind, they get mega bucks to know yet he does crazy things. I think he’s pissed Badger off or he’s on holidays in Mexico. It’s time the club woke up and think hard for the remaining games. He should know who to play and for the club not sit back and take the money, we need 110% players on that pitch.
grabbon can play wide, i am not saying bruce made the correct calls, but i can see why he made the calls he did. putting grabbon in a wide area he could make it three attackers when the ball came in from the opposite side. he also replaced a poor adomah who was fading and he did miss to sitters.
when your team try to use the game plan they trained too and they fail to score. then last 20 minutes you will see most managers will try something drastic. he thought dropping grealish further back to cover jedi. this wasn’t as strange just means greaish had more of a responsibility. somebody had to be subbed jedi was the obvious player. as he was holding midfielder couldnt have one player in the centre as they would be over run. so grealish fitted in a normal midfield role.
i think the players last night and the two games before, have thrown in some well below performances. they are on the field of play, they have to be responsible to carrying out the tactics and winning their individual battles. to make this simple. players need to win their battle with opposite number, if each players loses their individual battle against opposition man. no tactic will win the game.
When I think back to Sir Rons famous phrase of everyone giving 110% and how we managed to win the league with only 14 players, the biggest thing we had was a team full of desire to out battle every team put in front of them. I don’t think Sir Ron had the most talented team but each player knew their role, and most of them were leaders. If we could bottle what they had into our current squad we would walk this league. Cardiff resemble Sir Ron’s team the most with their work ethnic every game. Some would say Warnock is a better motivator but players should take it on themselves to out battle the opposition. After all they are paid thousands of pounds a week to do so. It’s the least the fans expect. Reading on Tuesday with a new manager and a battling win behind them means it will not be a walkover, and we will have to fight for the win.
We are bang average. Last night could hardly be a surprise to anyone. Anyone on here regularly knows my thoughts so I won’t bore you with repeating myself.
DS – nor sure what your reference point for ‘bang average’ is in the Championship. The two form teams are Fulham and Milwall, one us two points ahead, the other nine points behind so, other than Wolves and Cardiff that would make pretty much every team. In the Championship ‘bang average’ – or am I missing something?
We have played three sides at the lower end of the league and scored once. That’s what I mean. Right now we look a very ordinary side. It could hardly have come at a worse time.
Fair comment. Up to those games, I’m pretty sure we’ve ruthlessly disposed of the lower placed clubs so this run of poor form couldn’t have arrived at a worse time.
we are in a better position now than we were last season and start of this. we are 7 games from end of season. we have probably achieved minimum requirement by reaching playoffs.
i don’t see a problem if we can rediscover the belief and form. the players have the ability its just for some unknown reason, they are not as affective as they were beating wolves with a real tempo, they also had good movement and good pressing.
but since wolves the team has played so slow, with hardly any movement and so deep and stretched at times. its not by any coincidence bolton and hull both had little ambitions to win the game and we were clueless to break them down. were against wolves we did manage to open them up and they are best side by miles in the division.
players need to question themselves. how is it, they can be beaten by rangers days after a great victory. it can only be taking their eyes off the game. rangers was the game that knocked the stuffing out of us. bolton and hull i think out worked us and defended well. we have been playing probably only 50% flat out and we are not as good wolves, who can play teams in this league at only half throttle and still win easily
keep the faith, 7 games to rediscover the form. we do have big players that will play better in the big stage thats the playoffs. form isn’t like switching the light on and off. they took their eye off boil for the moment. its gonna take a good goal or or a fluky win to stop the rot.
we have generally followed defeat with wins this season. except for now. which is a real shame. we need to stop the rot and get back to winning games and that brings confidence, scoring goals has also been a problem. hull and bolton games we have missed easy chances, maybe start with scoring a goal again and we will be back
I’m keeping an open mind Nath, we can come out with many excuses but the problem still down to coaching advise and manager, if players are told to play certain ways and it don’t suite the opposition play then he’s got it wrong.why was we playing a uncertain right back, why did we play Hutton left back why did he have Grealish lying deep, that game was not thought out by Bruce or his advisers. and Nath it makes fans ask questions of him. Yes it still down to players, but if its not working heads go down, in minds players are saying to themselves its not my fault..Fans are blaming players now like Snodgrass, Grealish, Adomah, we know they can play, but if its not right in minds its falling apart. You seen what went wrong , we got pressured again, some can take it and some cannot.. Bruce got it wrong again in my eyes.
Bill, agree. If we’d had taken one of the first half chances against Hull it would have been a different game. Hull closed down Snodgrass quickly second half – often with three players whereas he was given space first half. The manager should pick up on these points and change things to respond. Instead he reduces mid field with Lansbury dropping deep and throws two attackers on – why?
And whilst I’m having a moan why did we need two full backs on the subs bench and why put Kodjia on when he needs match practice. Fine, if we’re winning 2-0 put him in for 20 minutes but we were playing with effectively 10 men for the last 30 minutes of the game.
So in the last three games Bruce has, in my humble opinion, made a lot of mistakes. Needs to get his mojo back and quick.
playing hutton left back doesn’t weaken us and is neither here or there, the left back taylor is slightly out of form and recovering from injury and fully fit taylor might not be much of improvement on hutton.
grealish had 3/4 of a game to have a affect on hull in attacking sense. he did very little in the time. as a manager he tried to change the pattern of the game. second half, we were poor. had he not changed anything. chances were we still would have not won. turned out to be same as with changes. not always easy to change the dynamics of a game. once the game starts second half hull wrestled the control. it was up to the players on the field to deal with it.
its no different to other clubs, players are not robots the manager doesn’t program them completely, with a list of objectives as long as your arm. the manager doesn’t exactly come up with the plan to break down the opposition alone, he has scouts watching teams in advance, they will draw up strengths and weaknesses of opposition. between the coaches and manager,they will discuss the way they like to go about winning. players are also going to be involved in this process. manager is the guy fans or press shoot, but its not him alone like we all think it is.
once the game starts 1st half and 2nd half. the players are responsible to make slight changes, say one team is affecting things like doubling up on a fullback. the leaders on the field will sort this out. thats why players like jedi and terry have been so affective at villa. otherwise the team will be waiting for the manager / coaches to get word on field. which is vitally impossible during the game.
what if bruce had taken off jedi and replaced with hourihane and replaced grabban with kodjia and we still drew nil nil. the same fans moaning would be still moaning ,saying bruce not risking anything. should throw another striker or two on lol swings and raoundabouts. tomorrow they might win and fans will be off to the other extreme, we are world beaters again.
In the first half against Hull we were creating chances admittedly not great but weren’t clinical. Second half they out fought us which is what happened against QPR and Bolton. Players need to turn up for 90 minutes of every game, and not just when they feel like it. Do you blame players or Bruce and his coaching staff for that? Bruce got it wrong with his substitutions which didn’t help. We need Elmo and Snodgrass down right side as they have a good understanding. Hutton at left back might be out of position but he is still better than Taylor and Bree there and was probably best player against Hull. A lot of people have said drop Hourihane and got their wish Saturday but he offers a goal threat. I would still like to see Bjarnasson as a holding midfielder unless we play a physical team then I would play Jedinak. Grealish has been poor last few games but he has ability to attract 2-3 players to him which in theory creates space for others. Maybe play Hogan instead of Grabban on Tuesday. Whatever Bruce decides we need to be on front foot for all the game, especially at Villa Park.
Holte, couldn’t put it better, Hutton Nath, can play left,right, or even forward, what I’m trying to say he bangs him in left back when he’s a right back, had he played him in the propper position Snodgrass wasn’t the only one to watch, Hutton is not afraid of tackles like some.i still say Bruce got it wrong again hes no tactician far from it.
i don’t see why playing hutton left back cause us to draw nil nil. or playing hutton left stopped snodgrass and elmo combos, the utd kid played right back.
also ppl moan if manager puts hutton left back thou hes a right back but they moan when manager drops a winger from playing holding midfielder..
i can only say its moaning for the sake of it. what would inpress me is before the game ppl actually moaned then about the team and give reason. put your opinions on the line. just like a manager does each time he hads in the team sheet to the referee
bjarnasson isnt a holding midfielder. whilst he had a good game their or two he makes mistakes in every game he has played their, its because its not his natural game. he doesn;t think like a defender. so i wouldn’t have him playing the holding role. i also wouldnt have jedi. because he hasn’t the legs to cover the fullbacks or centre backs, football is a game of opinions. right or wrong we all have them
i said i wouldnt have kodjia in the team but everybody else wanted him and watching his game he is miles away from playing championship,he shouldnt be rushed back. because he will over stretch himself wanting to prove ppl wrong like me all the doubters
Thank youve answer my question, in other words Bruce was wrong. Hutton is played in that position because the others are crap, what I’m saying he robbed a position right back to play left back, had Hutton played behind Snodgrass Hull would have had to pull players to mark both, Adomha had a nightmarish of a game and the reality of it was Hutton was basically defending instead of a wingback play like he does. No matter what you say Nath Bruce was again wrong.
your entitled to your views and it could be backed up by millions doesn’t make it right thou. i don’t understand what your point is. reason we lost to qpr and bolton and drew against hull had nothing to do with playing palyers out of positions.
but collectively we have dropped off the pace. i believe the players believe they done their jobs by beating wolves and once you have that thought process. you lose the edge what was the main reason we beat wolves, the eye of the tiger its called in boxing. games in championship are close affairs and if your not 100% you will struggle unless your wolves
Apart from Derby, who rode their luck at Preston, no-one’s really made a showing today. Norwich got hammered by QPR and I’m hoping that they play like that against us next Saturday.
Wins against Reading on Tuesday and Norwich and the play-offs will look nailed on. I still think this division will spring a few surprises and it’s still possible that Cardiff could blow up letting either Villa or Fulham into the second spot.
Anyway I would have settled for a play-off spot at the beginning of the season so I can’t be disappointed. Not really looking forward to the fact that I’ll just be a bag of nerves throughout every play-off game but that’s better than not being in it.
Derby boss Gary Rowett:
“I couldn’t give a monkey’s if it didn’t look attractive. We tried to look attractive (against Sunderland) and ended up losing to the bottom team in the league.
“Hopefully this will give the players that little bit of breathing space to go and play with a bit more confidence.
“I just think psychologically today it was a huge result. For us, it didn’t matter how we got it or how ugly the performance was.”
this quote from derby boss is spot on. shows how hard it is this league. derby were going great not long back. but have struggled of late. when you hit the wall as they had. its all about getting back on track. nothing else matters. for him promotion doesn’t matter, its all about winning today. then he might look at the bigger picture which will be playoffs. unfortunately our little blip will see us now focus on playoffs. we need to look at the next game and just win no matter how or ugly as we can.
Personally i wouldnt have played a defensive mid the last 3 games. Id rather have gone for an extra playmaker like O’hare. Means the opposition have a bit more space against us but opens up the space for us to exploit which were good at. Breaking teams down is not something were good at and that has showed the last 3. Our defenders are good i dont think they need a DM to be honest. Good results today. 2 wins and were pretty much guaranteed play offs.
Watching Sheff v Cardiff……only know Bennett and Hoilett in Cardiff side…..I keep seeing that all our so called star / better class players are miles better than 99% of players in all the other sides but it means nothing if you cant pass/run and put in a shift…..also are not scared to look up and be positive…….
We have seen the majority of teams play all around us for long periods this and last season…..apart from the few obvious games where we actually played and put in a shift …..and nothing has changed overall in all this time.
If by some miracle we got promotion it will be a slaughter next season…….
One nil Sheffield after 27 mins.
I’m watching as well Sheffield just scored,
gordon bennet is a class player, lol in my short memory i forgot the slaughtering he took on this website alone. i thought he was not bad player, just didnt suit us fans and experts. seems to do a fine job for cardiff. puts loads of decent crosses in
Also different playing in the Championship to the Prem but fwiw I thought he was a better player than credited.
i was just pointing out. we always covet players until they wear the villa colors and then we rip them to pieces. he was ridiculed which doesn’t help players confidence, he maybe wasn’t a premiership player but he is a half decent tidy defender. lowton is another player we had and never appreciated, but i see many villa fans noticing his performances for burnley
Have to agree with you Nath – not sure what we expect from Villa players but it seems Villa fans are too quick to criticise.
is this a great match …or what….
we should swap grealish for that gunndison great through ball then
1-1 …in time added on…….bugger…
bloody hell cardiff score lol
top goal 6 one twos back flip and top corner ripping a hole in the net. if only we could score like that. i blaming sheff utd manager they should have score many more than one goal
14 unbeaten for Cardiff in the league. But it’s alright, only 9 points ahead of us, we still have a chance… Each having 9 games left.