Match Thread: Villa V Swansea, Saturday, 20th Oct, 3.00 PM
- Thread starter Thomas Holte
- Start date
holtelower
Vital Football Hero
Quite happy with what I saw. In truth, there was very little difference between a Steve Bruce performance and yesterday, but there were subtle differences that made all the difference over all.
Plus points, clean sheet, central midfield, Abraham and workrate
Minus points - Bolasie and Grealish
Goalie - can't knock him yesterday, some very good saves, although still scares the life of me, and we should be talking to Heatons agent 9am tomorrow
Defence - that was the James Chester of last year. Not caught out of position, right place, right time, calm, composed, fed through to the others - is it a co-incidence Terry is back ?
Midfield - Well I know we are a club 13th in the Championship, but that was almost the perfect performance from John McGinn yesterday. He has been man of the match in virtually all his games this year, but yesterday, he was head and shoulders above anything else on the pitch. Shame about the booking, but at least it is the one position we do have cover for. Bjarnsson also had his best game for us by a mile. We finally have a partnership in there.
Attack - If Abraham hadn't have missed that chance, he would have been up there with McGinn. His workrate was exceptional, so was his hold up play, so was his link up play (especially with Kodjia) and he scored. He will miss chances, if he didn't, he wouldn't be playing for us would he, but he is our route out of this league. Also notable mentions to Adomah, Elmo and Kodjia - the first two absolutely worked their socks off, covered every blade of grass, and were the two players who "stopped" Swansea. When Kodjia came on , he offered something different and the link up play between him and Tammy was brilliant - once these players are up to speed on tactics, those two will be unstoppable.
Grealish and Bolasie - first yannik, who was bloody awful, didn't look like he was bothered and looked slower than a snooker player, but I suppose he did only get back from Africa on Thursday so wouldn't even have met Smith until Friday.
Grealish - sorry, people think I go over the top - but he is playing absolutely crap. He offered nothing , and was put to shame by Hourihane. The only difference between last week and this week - Bruce either couldn't see it, or was too scared to change it - Smith isn't and won't be. He has the next three games for me to impose hudl do - if not, no excuse - he should be out.
All in all, a jolly good afternoon, made better by the other scores.
Motm - McGinn - 9
Plus points, clean sheet, central midfield, Abraham and workrate
Minus points - Bolasie and Grealish
Goalie - can't knock him yesterday, some very good saves, although still scares the life of me, and we should be talking to Heatons agent 9am tomorrow
Defence - that was the James Chester of last year. Not caught out of position, right place, right time, calm, composed, fed through to the others - is it a co-incidence Terry is back ?
Midfield - Well I know we are a club 13th in the Championship, but that was almost the perfect performance from John McGinn yesterday. He has been man of the match in virtually all his games this year, but yesterday, he was head and shoulders above anything else on the pitch. Shame about the booking, but at least it is the one position we do have cover for. Bjarnsson also had his best game for us by a mile. We finally have a partnership in there.
Attack - If Abraham hadn't have missed that chance, he would have been up there with McGinn. His workrate was exceptional, so was his hold up play, so was his link up play (especially with Kodjia) and he scored. He will miss chances, if he didn't, he wouldn't be playing for us would he, but he is our route out of this league. Also notable mentions to Adomah, Elmo and Kodjia - the first two absolutely worked their socks off, covered every blade of grass, and were the two players who "stopped" Swansea. When Kodjia came on , he offered something different and the link up play between him and Tammy was brilliant - once these players are up to speed on tactics, those two will be unstoppable.
Grealish and Bolasie - first yannik, who was bloody awful, didn't look like he was bothered and looked slower than a snooker player, but I suppose he did only get back from Africa on Thursday so wouldn't even have met Smith until Friday.
Grealish - sorry, people think I go over the top - but he is playing absolutely crap. He offered nothing , and was put to shame by Hourihane. The only difference between last week and this week - Bruce either couldn't see it, or was too scared to change it - Smith isn't and won't be. He has the next three games for me to impose hudl do - if not, no excuse - he should be out.
All in all, a jolly good afternoon, made better by the other scores.
Motm - McGinn - 9
Silhillvilla
Vital Football Legend
Agree re Grealish he's been poor all season. Looking at the fixtures we need to win at Norwich and qpr ideally to keep in touch with Boro and also so small Heath don't go above us
sirdennis
Alert Team
Disagree re Grealish. He looked much better yesterday if only for the fact that there was some movement off the ball which finally gave him some options. Granted he didn't always take the right option , but once he gets used to the novel concept of this movement malarkey than we will see him at his best.
He should have also scored a couple as well.
He should have also scored a couple as well.
Silhillvilla
Vital Football Legend
Doesn't that final sentence say it all Den.
I'm not saying I don't expect him to improve , he will, just he's been poor so far , most of them have hence we are already playing catch up and have lost any wriggle room
I'm not saying I don't expect him to improve , he will, just he's been poor so far , most of them have hence we are already playing catch up and have lost any wriggle room
crimsondonkey
Vital 1st Team Regular
I suspect Grealish is going to have to adapt his game and take far fewer touches otherwise he’ll slow the whole attack down to far slower than Deano is planning.
He’s also going to need to produce. More assists and more goals, otherwise what’s the point? He can go in January if he can’t step up and we can use the proceeds to improve our ffp balance and invest in someone who can.
He’s also going to need to produce. More assists and more goals, otherwise what’s the point? He can go in January if he can’t step up and we can use the proceeds to improve our ffp balance and invest in someone who can.
Wicked Messenger
Vital 1st Team Regular
For me, Grealish showed hunger and was involved in most of the good stuff going on. His finishing is disappointing but I feel we'll see him improve massively given the right direction and the more attacking options available to him.
crimsondonkey
Vital 1st Team Regular
Maybe, I hope so, but we’ll get to see won’t we as Deano has said in his interview he wants to see more quality off the ball.
McParlandTheGreat
Vital Champions League
Grealish has had to develop in a poorly set up team. There are loads of areas where he needs to improve, but the potential is there. I'm sure he'll get the right sort of no nonsense coaching from Dean.
Taking him off was the right move, a sign that he's not going to get special treatment. In fact, a sign that nobody is going to get special treatment.
Wondering if Dean will change the team a bit for Tuesday, if only because some players looked knackered at the end of this one.
Taking him off was the right move, a sign that he's not going to get special treatment. In fact, a sign that nobody is going to get special treatment.
Wondering if Dean will change the team a bit for Tuesday, if only because some players looked knackered at the end of this one.
Silhillvilla
Vital Football Legend
He will have to rotate this week for sure, our players aren't fit enough for 3 games in 6 days. This is another area that needs addressing.
As for jack he needs to add to his game pace and being able to play a Killer ball with one touch .
As for jack he needs to add to his game pace and being able to play a Killer ball with one touch .
northamptonvillan
Vital 1st Team Regular
A crowd often reflects what they're seeing and this was a controlled, organised, performance rather than the intense, passionate full houses of last season. Someone posted the phrase nervously optimistic. That was certainly the vibe in the upper Trinity where I was sitting.
Agree with the comments about players performances and the overall approach. Higher up the pitch, sensible pressing, a more thoughtful approach in the final third with more bodies supporting. All good. A little bit more composure in front of goal would have made for a more comfortable last 15 mins.
Pleased for Taylor and Nyland in particular as putting together a series of steady, mistake free performances is the first step towards challenging at the top end.
Overall, a pleasing start for Dean and his coaching team.
northamptonvillan
Vital 1st Team Regular
Grealish has the skill set to be successful. He needs to be coached into doing things quickly and making the ball do the work instead of coming too deep, holding the ball too long and overplaying. He is not the root of all that's been wrong about the team, as some would have it.
He has been trying to do it all in a team that has lacked coaching and direction. He has to show that he has the brains and football intelligence to adapt his undoubted skills set. The remainder of the season will be critical for the rest of his career IMO.
tarzansbrother
Vital Football Hero
Both Taylor and Nyland were not mistake free.
Villan57
Alert Team
Yes like the ball he played to Elmo for the winner you mean
Dumble
Vital Squad Member
These were my thoughts on the game.
I was surprised by how quickly Deano seemed to affect our style of the play after such a short time with the players, certainly in the first half, though of course you could tell players were still adjusting to this. Annoyingly the players still seem to struggle to keep up intensity and accuracy of pass in the 2nd half. Rode our luck with a spell of constantly giving the ball away. Midfield 3 seems like it will work well in time - bjarnson mginn and grealish quite a dynamic three though if grealish doesn’t start playing better (seemed to be sauntering around a bit, but perhaps I’m beings tad hash, as other posters have suggested he gets the shit kicked out of him every game and is certainly targeted by opposition managers ) he may lose his place to hourihane, who we know gets goals. I am normally his biggest fan so I hope that Smith will Be able to get the best out of him given time. For me there wasn’t enough intensity from him Yesterday.
Tammy Abraham, though he should have scored more was arguably the most effective player on Pitch.
Think main issue to sort out, in that system, is the wide strikers. I initially couldn’t understand Elmo being one of them, but when bolassie came on for him i understood it more, bolassie wasn’t pressing onto their full back with as much intensity (but perhaps he not match sharp). Will be interesting to see if the likes of bolassie and el ghazie can push for starting places.
We were Good for the win overall I think and you could see that we were much better organised while off the ball. Much better at the back with people in natural positions shock horror!
Mcguinn was excellent so much energy but held on to the ball a bit too much at times. We will certainly miss him on Tuesday though!
It will be interesting to see how Smith’s tactics differ over the next few games against different opposition and how much he will rotate the squad. For me, we don’t need both whelan and jedinak on the bench but I suppose jedinak is cover atcentre half? (Nooooo!) What about bree or is he a full back I forget?! Also will Lansbury come into the fold.
Excited to see what’s happens next.
I was surprised by how quickly Deano seemed to affect our style of the play after such a short time with the players, certainly in the first half, though of course you could tell players were still adjusting to this. Annoyingly the players still seem to struggle to keep up intensity and accuracy of pass in the 2nd half. Rode our luck with a spell of constantly giving the ball away. Midfield 3 seems like it will work well in time - bjarnson mginn and grealish quite a dynamic three though if grealish doesn’t start playing better (seemed to be sauntering around a bit, but perhaps I’m beings tad hash, as other posters have suggested he gets the shit kicked out of him every game and is certainly targeted by opposition managers ) he may lose his place to hourihane, who we know gets goals. I am normally his biggest fan so I hope that Smith will Be able to get the best out of him given time. For me there wasn’t enough intensity from him Yesterday.
Tammy Abraham, though he should have scored more was arguably the most effective player on Pitch.
Think main issue to sort out, in that system, is the wide strikers. I initially couldn’t understand Elmo being one of them, but when bolassie came on for him i understood it more, bolassie wasn’t pressing onto their full back with as much intensity (but perhaps he not match sharp). Will be interesting to see if the likes of bolassie and el ghazie can push for starting places.
We were Good for the win overall I think and you could see that we were much better organised while off the ball. Much better at the back with people in natural positions shock horror!
Mcguinn was excellent so much energy but held on to the ball a bit too much at times. We will certainly miss him on Tuesday though!
It will be interesting to see how Smith’s tactics differ over the next few games against different opposition and how much he will rotate the squad. For me, we don’t need both whelan and jedinak on the bench but I suppose jedinak is cover atcentre half? (Nooooo!) What about bree or is he a full back I forget?! Also will Lansbury come into the fold.
Excited to see what’s happens next.
Last edited:
