So after wasting a couple of hours looking for a Christmas tree (that we didn’t get!), here’s my thoughts;
I’m going to look past some major problems at first and say that this was a cracking win.
After going one down, I thought we did well to get back into that after having lots of possession, but not being able to do anything with it.
The team spirit seems really good and the manager seems to have an attitude where, “it’s not a problem, we can outscore them”.
Which is so refreshing. If we were playing that game under Bruce, I’ve no doubt we’d have crumpled under a constant barrage of attacks, while sitting back and trying to catch them.
It’s blatantly obvious to anyone that our attacking threat majorly outweighs our defence, which leaves us with the only option where we have to go for the jugular.
We’ve known it for ages and Dean Smith obviously agrees, given his subs.
So it amazes me that Bruce didn’t or just refused to see it.
I’m not happy to say it, as I liked Bruce, but frankly I’m glad he’s gone.
So while it was a cracking win, in analysing the game, you can’t really say it was a good one.
I know, I’m moaning, but we have to look at what went wrong too.
Nyland has to be replaced as soon as possible. I actually thought he was doing ok up until the first goal, where he just went missing. I’ve tried not to complain about him up till now, but he’s had plenty of time to settle, yet still looks a massive liabilty at what should be staightforward stuff.
What’s up with Chester? He too looked mostly ok, but his lapses in concentration are shocking and he gave the ball away far too easily at times.
We missed McGinn’s energy big time today and were humping long balls upfield, to little effect. It just shows how important he is to us, as without him, there’s no real outlet in the middle.
Grealish often came deep to try and take on that mantle, but I really don’t think that’s his game.
We look seriously dodgy at any set piece and that’s a worry.
But it’s nothing we didn’t already know.
What surprised me was that blues didn’t try more of the ball down the middle, that we know we’re also susceptible to.
Fair play to blues, they tried to play proper footy, I thought.
But enough of the criticism, as today was all about the result.
We got it, quite convincingly in the end, with some of the noses leaving with more than 10 minutes to go.
Which I thought was poor, given that they had put up a pretty decent show.
That win puts us up to 8th, where suddenly our next fixtures don’t look nearly as daunting as they did a few weeks back. Our confidence must be growing all the time.
Dean Smith won’t be happy with the performance and indeed he’s said as much.
But he knows where our weaknesses are by now and will surely be looking to improve us in the January window.
It bodes well when we have a manager that can genuinely see our strengths and weaknesses and won’t need to splash stupid amounts of money on risky ageing players.
And it also bodes well that we’re winning games without playing particularly well.
Because the missus wants to go and get a bloody Xmas tree!
You can lose the Bah Humbud Badger. We’ve just spanked the Scum!!!!! 😁😁😁😁😁
Badger, don’t moan, we’ve all just had an early Christmas present.
COYL
What? On the day of the Blues game?
I should tell her where to stick it – then you won’t need a fairy.
Life just gets better and better under Dean Smith.
Well done you Villa boys.
Post updated.
Does it sound a bit miserable?
Probably, but we need to be realistic, as I’m sure Smith is too.
Great win though, which keeps our lower breathren at bay, once again.
TBH Smith said pretty much the same thing, we played badly but as he said ‘we have goals in the team’.
If we can only couple that with a decent defence and, I agree, it has to start with the goalie. If Smith can solve some of our problems in January I honestly think we’ll be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.
Optimistic.
You’re right Badger, and so is Pat. We need to sort it. If we can sort the defensive side we will be unstoppable. January is when it will be dealt with as it doesn’t look like we have the personnel to do it now. In truth, all of the back 4 look shaky when defending at times. We need a dominant centre half and a left back as a minimum.
It was a derby, so maybe not the best time to judge our capabilities, but at least we won.
The first big question now answered. ‘After Derby could we do it again?’ Yes we could. Confidence has improved both on and off the pitch.
Credit to Dean Smith and his team for turning the same bunch of players players inherited from Bruce and showing positivity in his selections and substitutions. He puts players in their favoured positions and when he takes off a striker or midfielder he doesn’t replace them with a defensive minded player like Bruce used to. He has told Grealish to push further forward and look what happens, goals and assists. I’m sure Terry has already had a good input defensively although I agree that we need a back up CB and LB in January. Tuanzebe impresses me more and more, actually more reliable than Chester at the moment. Hopefully McGinn will be back to replace Whelan on Wednesday. Looking forward to tough fixtures coming up now rather than dreading them.
I’m sure McGinn will be back as soon as he’s fit Holte.
He’s the first name on the teamsheet for me, at the moment.
The performance is never a priority in any derby, never mind one of this magnitude. I’m glad to hear that the penny is dropping about Nyland. I’ve been saying it since August. We all said when Smith came in that we need to hang in until we can fix the defence in January. We also said the best form of defence was attack, as that’s where our strengths are. So it looks like, to date, everything is going to plan! We’re well in there and the attack is compensating for the defence. We still have lots of difficult games until the New Year, but we really shouldn’t be moaning at all!
Btw, even if we beat Forest, which is a big ask, we won’t move up a position, so now’s the time to be patient. If we can keep winning, we might be pleasantly surprised by the league position come the New Year!
UTV
If we beat them by two goals we will go above them. As you say, a big ask. It’s at home though, and we are doing well at home. I am actually starting to expect us to win, rather than be surprised if we do.
Just hope Grabban doesn’t do what most would expect him to do! Especially with our defence!
Our daughter is out staying with us at the moment so we enjoyed the win together even though we could only follow it on text. Seen the highlights and it looked like a game of two dodgy defences and with our ‘new Deano attack’ I believe in those circumstances we will always score more goals – and so the good fairy willed it.
As pointed out Smith’s challenge in January is to strengthen the defence but I suspect with limited resources – something he’s very comfortable with. For me I’d recall Steer and Mitch Clarke and make a new LB my first priority.
Bit worried about the growing injury list though.
Oh – and perhaps we should recall Gary Gardiner just to upset Small Heath LOL.
Nah! Need to find another Gardiner to send them. Craig was useless!
And gobby as hell with it. I wonder if he’s given up on going back to VP after all his mouthing off during the match on Sunday?
Wouldn’t want him back now, we could do a lot better.
I was refering to Gary not Craig who, by all accounts, has been influential for them in midfield. It was supposed to be a tongue in cheek comment!
And Gary wasn’t playing Sunday under the terms of the loan deal!
It can only get better lads, can you imagine that game under Bruce, it would have been lost before they played. I see the difference and yes we do need to strengthen in our defence but give credit where its wanted, Villa didn’t buckle when we went 1 down, to me it showed the team are together, that wouldn’t have been with Bruce believe me. We are not far away from being a side to be reckoned with, Wednesday night we will see. Well done the lads.
I might be the only one but i actually think Nyland is improving and doesnt need replacing. He was fouled for their first goal Che Adams pulls his shirt. The more pressing matter was the biggest man on the field was apparently being marked at first by Whelan!? And for that goal didnt have anyone marking him just left free. Nyland couldnt do anything about their 2nd either. His distribution wasnt bad either. He came and collected a couple of times to ease pressure. I think there is a good keeper there just needs that confidence and his defence didnt exactly help in that department!
Adam, I’ve just seen a replay of their first goal and you’re right, he was pulled over.
It looked at the time that he just went missing.
Which puts a different complexion on things.
He still doesn’t convince me just yet, but I did think he’d done ok apart from their first.
Fair play and my apologies for slating him.
I really do hope he comes good.
Also Whelan was ‘blocked off’ when he tried to get out to cover the scorers run. That also looked a foul to me.
i agree with adam nyland is improving. he just needs time as does the whole defence. the goal from the corner was good work from the attacking team. they fouled nyland and kodjia and both was missed by referee, they had done this routine two or three times before the goal and the guy who scored was always the target. but this is a new defence and need time. smith has got them more settled and they are improving every game.
i just wanted to say what a game. this game would have been lost under bruce, but under smith we have proved we can play and with this result against birmingham.it showed us we can roll up our selves and fight too. brum are a good streetwise team and they were solid and very strong up front. playing two up.
only thing i was worried about was we kept switching off, when we thought we done enough. whoops also what a goal from hutton. loved the driving run. which we need to do more off. grealish should take note of huttons run and himself do more of this especially towards the end of games. we need to move the ball quicker i thought. but smith knows all this and i find refreshing he tells the reporters this and doesn’t dish up excesses.
another massive game wednesday which we can win and yet more ground recovered from a doggy start to season.
I think the consensus is that we’d definitely have struggled to win this under Bruce, Nath.
As for Hutton, I’m going to blow my own trumpet here and say I’ve always supported him, even when he was getting dog’s abuse. Well, 99% of the time anyway; I might have slagged him once or twice 🙂
Ok, he isn’t the best, skill-wise, but he’s been 100% consistent in his effort and that drive forward was just a typical example.
You need one of those in the team, imo.
I’d bet he’s great in training, as an example to the younger players and that’s why he’s stayed so long.
Out of contract at the end of the season, I think. I’ll be sad to see him go.
i wasn’t having dig against bruce. i was just stating the game against blues was a hard one. they definitely did have the correct game plan to fook us over. they showed this from the first whistle to their goal and to the one they missed from a killer cross and hit the post from 5 yards. villa players responded to this by quickening up their own tempo. but under bruce they struggled against teams that had played just as blues did. it was more of a statement as the derby win. just because we wasn’t as good as we played at derby and we still managed to turn around the game. i was impressed anyways.
yeah hutton has always been loved lol not. but i can say i loved him hes my type. i love players that drive past players. they create mayhem and that creates more spaces for other players and openings.
He’s a fighter Badger that what I like about him, ok not the best back in the world but likes to go forwards when he can. That goal was pure determination from him and its won him admiration from fans.
Remember when Hutton was considered part of the bomb squad! Looking back now, he is the only one who showed willingness and desire to try and turn things round. It’s unfortunate that we are still lumbered with Richards who is the total opposite. Hopefully we can offload him in January which leaves us with McCormack! Another player with the wrong attitude (thanks Di Matteo 😞) Tomorrow will be tough against Forest especially with Grabban up front. You have to expect him to score. A win though will push us within touching distance of top six. If and it’s a big if, we can do well over next five games then we should be looking at automatic places given a transfer window five weeks away.
Hutton still is the last remaining member of my bomb squad. Nevertheless I was delighted for him scoring that goal in that game. The last Villa full back I saw making that run and scoring was John Gidman. The differences between them are: John was a better defender when in position at fullback, John also had a good midfielder covering his full back role when Giddy was on one of his forays, Hutton hasn’t had one – so far.
OLL – so if Hutton had left in the summer but Richards was still at Villa you would have ended your self imposed exile on the arbitrary basis that Richards was never in Lamberts bomb squad?
I know who has contributed far more for far less.
No, my bomb squad included all the players who contributed to our relegation. I excluded only Grealish who missed much of that season and was still a callow youth.
So Richards is definitely in the bomb squad but because he is effectively sidelined from all competitive matches, I would pay to watch Villa again one the team is rid of them.
Ah – that’s different to your earlier post where you said that Hutton ‘is the last remains member of your bomb squad’.
I’m not trying to be argumentative here, I just feel that Hutton (for all his failings) has earned forgiveness and could, without any ‘loss of face’ could be removed from your bomb squad – although your self imposed exile would continue.
Personally, Richards is the player with whom I have the most issues!
Great win for the boys and if we can be around the play offs come January I think we will be in with a shout.Smith has done wonders for confidence.
We did look a little fragile at the back, but at least we have everyone playing in the right position now! I’m not a big fan of Taylor, but he is a left back and will do a solid, and Hutton is so much more effective playing on his natural side. I agree about the keeper though, and if rumours are true about Heaton, that would be perfect! Be interesting to see who Smith brings in now he is at a club with some spending power.
We have so many good attacking players its almost embarassing. Bruce just had no idea how to use them. Adomah out means Bolasie comes in, not a bad swap!
Big game tomorrow. Hopefully McGinn is fit because we definitely missed him last game.
Good news Lads,
If the chance to go four unbeaten was not enough for Aston Villa manager Dean Smith to relish, he will be encouraged by the news that midfielder John McGinn looks like being available for selection for tonight’s clash with Nottingham Forest.
McGinn had missed the weekend’s Second City derby win over Birmingham City, with a calf injury he had picked up on international duty
Only problem is Adomah not available.
Shame about Adomah but we’ve got Bolasie who’s looking really good. Basically only Jack, McGinn and probably Chester are irreplaceable.
Feeling good about this one. We’ve scored seven goals in our last two games so I’m hoping that we’ll score a few more tonight.
Prediction 3-1 to Villa
Agreed Pat but am really annoyed that Adomah was injured by a tackle that merited a red card. The ref was poor and failed to stamp his authority on the game early which resulted in a number of the Small Heath ’players’ resorting to thuggery throughout the game.
According to stats Grealish became the first EFL player to be fouled more than 10 times in a single game!
Hitch, spot on there. Keiftenbelt should have been yellow carded in the second minute for a really bad one on Jack. Reckon they were trying it on to see what the ref would do. They knew they’d get away with murder when he didn’t even get a talking to. Really rubbish refereeing.
Hope we get someone better tonight.
refereeing has been really poor in the championship since we played in it, you really have to chop somebody in two to receive red. teams have all adopted the same tactics on grealish especially. they hit him hard early on and judge how the ref will play the game. if he comes down hard on rough tackles, then they take it in turns to smash grealish up. but if they are lenient like in derby they constantly upend him without consequences
tonight we can close the gap to the pace setters. forest are a much better team than birmingham. but they won’t be as good as brum were from dead balls. i expect us to continue our march up the league. 2 1 win in a close game.
just seen the line up. jake dolyes hayes is included on the bench. this lad could really make it under smith. in the hourihane role which whelen played in derby. smith likes a american quarter back player who can spray the ball around from a deeper position. this player links up the team departments. been reported we are interested in bannan who himself is really good in this position. but i really reckon hayes could be as good, if given a chance.
Sorry chaps, just got in and not had time to write anything.
I reckon this is Vindaloo; we’ll score one more …………
Nyland, Hutton, Chester, Tuanzebe, Taylor, McGinn, Hourihane, Kodjia, Grealish, Bolasie, Abraham Subs: Bunn, Elmohamady, Whelan, Hogan, El Ghazi, O’Hare, Doyle-Hayes.
Tough game tonight. If true to form, Krankor (sic) will set up to play deep and try and nick a goal – but we under estimate their ability at our peril.
Good test of our improvements as a team (squad).
So having to follow BBC text but at least mid afternoon and daughter still here so the rum bottle’s getting a serious going over LOL