Bloody typical isn’t it?
The missus and myself left the game early, because we were frankly near frozen after being away for a couple of weeks.
We were just walking past the Holte when we heard the roar and someone said Mings had scored.
We’d just got past the Aston Social where someone said Abraham scored.
And then the daughter called me to say Green had scored for 3-3.
Cue me kicking myself for doing something I’ve hardly ever done, in leaving early.
Not that I’m overly bothered.
Okay, we’ve shown massive resilience in coming back from 3-0 down, but make no mistake about it, this team is utter, utter rubbish and I found myself wondering how people bother paying good money in the cold to watch this stuff.
Well, maybe I might have been willing to watch a three goal comeback, but it really shouldn’t be like this.
For as much of the game that I saw, I commented that when Alan Hutton looks our biggest threat, you just know there’s something majorly wrong.
I’m sure I’ve said that previously, a few times.
We’d offered absolutely nothing and I bet their goalie’s hands were as cold as mine.
Kodjia was awful, as was our whole midfield.
Even McGinn couldn’t show his usual effort.
What worries me is that we show no desire whatsoever and were second best to the ball nearly all the time.
I’m sure Abraham must wonder what he’s doing at the Villa at times, as he had no service whatsoever and looked disinterested to me.
The referee was abysmal too.
He must have given Sheffield fifteen frees compared to our one or two, yet it was never that sort of a game.
No doubt the talk will be about how we pulled a draw from the jaws of defeat.
But what I saw just simply isn’t good enough and our defence still looks poor, as much as I thought Mings did okay.
The worrying part is, I don’t really see what Smith can do about it.
Promotion?
You’re having a laugh.
I can’t see me rushing to watch another game down the Villa.
At least not until I get used to the weather again.
Coming back from 3-0 down will be the headline, but it just isn’t good enough, simple.
It’s still only a draw, which means we lose even more ground.
😂 Please stay away from VP Badger! Just saying 🤔
Oh crap! We are on tv against Brentford. Don’t think my blood pressure will cope!
D’you know something?
I don’t remember the last time I saw us win live at home.
Fair play to the Sheffield fans, they shut all the home fans up while I was there.
Apparently that changed after we left.
Which just goes to show, give the fans something to sing about and they will.
Oh, I forgot.
Seems my source was indeed spot on with the team selection.
I won’t say how he knew, but I’ll see if I can get the gen earlier from him, from now on.
And just on another note the Ref was a total ba….d tonight
McGinn was targeted tonight they knew well he was the only player with any grit truth is we’re f….d without Grealish in the team no creativity without him and Kodjia shouldn’t be let near that side what a gobshite no interest in playing for the Side Hutton to old we sadly won’t make the plays offs with that side sorry for negativity
Badger, perhaps you can an announcement over the PA in the “Elvis has left the building” style – the players can take that as the cue to stage a revival.
I can only recall being present at one bigger Villa comeback. A Tony Hateley inspired 5-5 after being 5-1 down at White Hart Lane.
Indeed.
“Badger has left the building. You are now allowed to start playing”.
Gutted I missed the revival, but I’m seriously worried.
I think we’re nearer bottom third than top third, as we stand.
And truth be told, I don’t believe Smith has a total grip on the dressing room for one minute.
Maybe that’s a step too far, but there’s seriously something not right, imo.
The lack of effort, or more accurately, intent, amazed me.
We were crap, I’ll agree. However, the fact is that we score goals and i much prefer that to the goalless,negative efforts we’ve been so used to in previous seasons. And we were playing top opposition today who could go on for automatic promotion: So stay calm; we got a draw, unexpectedly, and we managed to entertain the fans. I watched from far away, courtesy of espn, and the final 10 minutes were well worth the wait.
Let’s face it: We don’t have the perfect 11 and there are players out there who are not at their best or just simply don’t fit. Kodja is mentally at the exit door imo. Hourihane is the biggest enigma as it’s often his spot ball that leads to us netting. However, as a cog in midfield he’s weak, offers little offensively and gives away stupid fouls, like he did today for their first goal. My opinion is that there must be another player with equal dead ball skills who we can use instead.
McGinn wins motm again, in my opinion. He would be more of a loss than JG if he went now, and he’s close to 10 yelllows and consequent suspensions. It’s his tenacity and ball capture skills that are most important to us now. We were flaccid today but without him we’d have been completely walked over. At 3 million he must be our best bargain in years.
So, what does the future offer?
I still believe that we are capable of scraping into the playoff zone, but winning it is a stretch and how we would fair after that? The squad still needs extreme surgery if it is going to meet the demands of Premiership.
I am personally not concerned if we fail to make it up this season but I do worry about losing our best players as a result. It’s really Smith’s challenge, to figure out how not to let this happen.
Positives – apart from the Lazarus effect – err…………
Unfortunately, that comeback papers over the cracks for another few days but there were a couple of positives – Mings looked a decent defender who can actually pass the ball. When Chester is fit he should move to left back where he originally played for Ipswich – downside is, it leaves us with two right footed centre backs. The other is that perhaps Whelan will be given more credit for the role he performs in the team. I have posted before that imho he’s the best DM we have (fwiw).
And Hutton once again stood out – he just never gives less than his all.
Last word – Kodjia should never start again.
don’t know where to start in summing up that game. first off sheff utd were the better TEAM and deserved to win. they had more control, they worked harder. created good positions and chances. they had the best player on the pitch in the referee. compared to us we just a bunch of individuals.
no way should that second goal av stood. first off the guy who eventually scored, was offside when the original shot came in. he was active cause he was virtually in front of goalie blocking his view. second or third phrase ltr he then kicks the ball out of the goalies grasp.
third goal was a calamity of bad team errors. first off kodjia doesn’t offer no protection playing on the wing, means taylor is left putting pressure on the ball, as well as being alert to danger in behind him. hang on where is the support. jedi’s man runs in behind taylor. jedi just points to mings the danger and he continues to trot back. mings doesn’t come across until its too late.
so why were we so bad?? i reckon its just down to basics. sheff utd like in the first game back at theirs. they just wanted it more, they inter change positions dragging villa players out of their positions. they put loads of pressure on the villa players without the ball, making it hard for us to start anything. we ended up rushing our possession, playing panic football. in rugby its called the hot potato, get rid of it
for all that shit, 82 minutes of shit. sheff utd either lost focus or energy, they worked hard in building a lead, suddenly started to make errors and they also allowed villa more time, than they had in the entire match. villa showed great fight and belief to comeback. lets face it. we were dead and buried and should never have come back from 3 nil. but we did hopefully that fight we showed, can put us in with a chance of playoffs.
BTW some great posts last week on smith. i agree with most he should be given time to build a team. i am confident the club can find smiths type players we will have lots of budgets to fill, when we lose our current crop of high earners. how long does it take to build a team?? he will have just summer and then he has no excuses. i am confident he will get it right next year. but i still believe in this season. grealish is the glue that makes a team knitted together, he links up play and when your struggling, he takes the pressure off his teammates. which allows them to play better. i heard hes back very soon and we are still not far away from 6th
Find nothing wrong with that assumption Nath, I pretty well agree what went on, we do need a player that can glue us together, that team I’m my mind didn’t have a footballing brain, someone said the game changed when Whelan and Green entered the game, I thought Kodjia was a complete waist of space and Hourihan needs to lean how to create attacking chances. On that showing we can forget play off we are still missing a captain in the game to get things moving.
thank you 🙂 bill
whelen certainly help because jedi was really poor. i agree kodjia is a liability if he plays on wing. he isn’t a team player, doesn’t effect the game enough to be a top gun solo player. for me he plays up front or not at all. jedi should go out to stud. we need two new full backs. who are better going forwards. in smiths system his full backs are more like wing backs so they needs to affect the game in the attacking sense.
watch wolves i dare anybody. i liked how their wing backs worked last year. but this year they have been just as affective. you can heap praise on Neves for spraying the ball around, but both wing backs give him great targets with intelligent runs and staying out wide means, if the opposition press you in field that wide ball is always a outlet.
i think smith will be after a similar thing with our full or wing backs. just hutton and taylor can not play this way. intelligence and ability lacking on the offence side. still chin up we soldier on at least till grealish is back.
next preseason is massive,regardless what happens this. that might be the problem some players know they are leaving so might not be giving their absolute best
‘Chin up we soldier on’ – love it Nath and describes Villa to a T last night.
Take your point about Kodjia but have never really been convinced and, if one believes what was written in January, he doesn’t want to be at Villa – and it shows.
Jedinak shouldn’t have played – any pass more that 3feet in length went to a Sheffield player. I know many don’t rate Whelan but if you take time to watch him he does a very effective job as a DM – he reads the game well and he can and does make good forward passes – rarely wastes a ball. In my humble opinion, he should be starting in that position every game.
Taylor looked lost but, I have some sympathy, Kodjia did absolutely nothing in the way of tracking back – would rather see Adomah playing on the left – he always puts in a shift. I saw Hourihane sarcastically clapping Kodjia at one point – not good but understandable. Smith has to address that – leave Kodjia out of the team.
So Carroll is out for about 10 days! Another injury prone player to join Lansbury. Signing Mings was a risk but probably necessary with our defensive situation. Signing another injury prone player who wasn’t really needed was a big error and a waste of wages. Grealish will be back soon so he will be even more surplus to requirements. Looking back on Sharps 2nd goal it should have been disallowed on 3 fronts. 1st for offside, 2nd for kicking out of keepers hands and 3rd for dangerous play with studs facing ‘over’ keepers head! Referee and officials in championship are a joke. I might be paranoid but a lot of them seem to have it in for the Villa.
Sharps first goal was fair enough – Tammy was just a little too deep in the goal mouth to clear it – but great example of playing for team.
His second was an awful catalogue of errors by the referee and his assistant. Sharp should have been flagged offside when he tried to flick the first cross into the net – clearly active and off side and then to put the ballin the net with his studs out of the goal keepers hands …… you can actually see Kalinic trying to move his head out of the way of the studs.
The result of not winning last night ….or over ladt few weeks….is playing out at the moment…blues hammering qpr and forest winning…hull and others can go above us as well….
Birmingham are going to receive a points deduction down exceeding ffp. that fooks up their playoffs chances. i have to say thou, they are individually much poorer than us. but hats off to them, they get much more out of their players than we are currently doing. albeit with more simplified tactics.
Yes the players have all bought into the managers system and give 100%….will be 200% when they play us…
that makes the difference doesn’t it, players giving their whole 100%.
not sure our players are not giving their best. i think our tactics are more taxing under smith and our players not comfy with them. brum and sheff utd players individually lesser quality but collectively in a team are more than a match.
qpr are coming back 2 4 now
3-4 Now Nath
i am crossing everything for 4 4
Why is it Gary Monk can get a squad of players, that on paper you would think is no where near as good as ours, out performing Villa. My opinion is that Monk has more grafters than we have with a couple of good players who perform as a team. We have too many lightweights who are too many occasions are outfought and lacking passion. Smith needs to address this because we can’t keep starting or finishing games as we have done this season. A few more like Elphick, McGinn and Abraham are required. Hutton has these qualities but his days at Villa are coming to an end. Too many players have joined Villa on big salaries and probably ‘switch off’ their hunger to succeed. It annoys me that too many sign for an easy ride and just go through the motions. If we are to get out of this league we need to add some grit to the club. This summer is going to be massive and will either take us onward and upward or leave us to stagnate or worse.
QPR now have 3. Can they do a Villa? We can only hope.
I agree with you Holte in that this league won’t let any player get away with giving less than 100%. I’m hoping that Friday’s comeback will give us some confidence and kick start the rest of the season but I’m all too aware of our frailties. Unfortunately we may have to wait until the summer before we can do anything about them.
My sentiments Holte66 I’ve said this Villa being a last ditch for retirement players, no wanting because its just a game. We don’t want players for running down in their last days in football.
missed pen qpr noooooooo idiots
Shit.
we are still in with a chance of top 6th this season. we just need to get some form some, self belief and if jack grealish is back asp we will get all that,
i hate these friday games, totally ruins the weekend for me. that james collins at luton was a villa youngster he has 19 goals in league 1 thats pretty good going
And we have a sh*t record playing Friday night games
6 points and they have a game in hand to get to 6th place, I don’t see it happening. They have to lose games and we have to win, sorry tall order with that side we have. In my mind we’ve missed the boat ,maybe next season different story.
6 points is nothing with the amount of points still left on offer. being 3 nil down with just 8 minutes remaining is ridiculously impossible, adding to that being outplayed and out fought over the first 82 minutes. clearly nothing is over until its mathematically over.
we are entitled to disagree, i know we cant continue to play like this, we have too many good players to continue and return of grealish will bring a massive lift.. iam not about to bet my house on this outcome
I love your optimsm; I really do Nath and whilst I accept the mathematical possibility of getting into the playoffs, I think the stark reality is that we haven’t demonstrated an ability to put 5 or 6 wins together which is what’s needed.
Add to that, that we need more than one team to start losing then I think it’s a game too far.
With all the players out of contract and loans at the end of this season, then objectively. I think we need another season to get our house in order and to give Smith a chance to build a team in his fashion
UTV
the pieces are all there this season. smith is manager he needs to work out the problems. its not like we are lacking in any department. our defense is on paper just as strong as other championship teams and thats our achilles heel.
whether smith has his own players in house or not, we still have a squad of over paid well capable championship players who have all played higher leagues. its down to smith to give the players the correct tactic to win the game.
we all like to win 6 nil and playing fantastic, but that can wait until next season. smith has to ditch his plan to play attractive football and just attempt to progress step by step. start by winning games then introduce his philosophy gradually
look at the resources of us and sheff utd. goalie is a massive important position. we have a international we paid how many millions for and sheff utd had a newby in his first season at 1st team level. leeds are playing kids because they are scrapping the barrel with their resources. and norwich sold their best player last season. smith needs to work out the best players he has this season and give them a system to play they want to play and can achieve.
championship teams will all come into form and drop out, bristrol city have been dog shit most of season and six wins on the bounce and they are right up there. it was hull a few weeks ago. we have pele coming back soon he can win all his own