Aston Villa v Sheffield Utd - Match Thread - Friday 8th Feb, 7.45pm | Page 21 | Vital Football

Aston Villa v Sheffield Utd - Match Thread - Friday 8th Feb, 7.45pm

Always enjoy reading through the thread on my return from the game but have to say again some of the posts during the game are, as JPA said.....just embarrassing. '

The comeback shows we have some character in the squad at least and I'm hoping it could be a turning point.

Saw some posts suggesting we shouldn't celebrate a draw.....well I jumped around like a lunatic with my son when we equalised. Depths of despair after 82 mins, sheer ecstasy 13 minutes later. Couldn't give a stuff if we were poor for the most part, been to enough games over the years when we've been much better and still lost. Grateful for the point, loved the euphoria which went with it and hope it provides a kick start for the remainder of the season.


Well said my friend, I guess A&E was packed with knee injuries due to the jerks, yes i agree we were poor for large portions of the match, it seemed that we couldn't string two passes together, their second "goal" if I can call it that obviously hit the lads, terrible officiating by our I assume Sheffield born ref, but it's never over till the fat lady sings and us more mature Villans remember a great man once asking "do you want to bet against us?" never write off the Villa

And yes, I lost my voice when that equaliser went in, it showed character, thankfully something some of the players and our manager have
 
Well said my friend, I guess A&E was packed with knee injuries due to the jerks, yes i agree we were poor for large portions of the match, it seemed that we couldn't string two passes together, their second "goal" if I can call it that obviously hit the lads, terrible officiating by our I assume Sheffield born ref, but it's never over till the fat lady sings and us more mature Villans remember a great man once asking "do you want to bet against us?" never write off the Villa

And yes, I lost my voice when that equaliser went in, it showed character, thankfully something some of the players and our manager have

This is what we strive for? Celebrating a draw as if we won, sorry Villans but check yourselves. embarrasing if you ask me, regardless of the bad ref calls we should be firing from the 1st whistle not wait until 80 mins into the game.
 
Any villa fan not screaming their voice away when Green nodded in that equaliser must be mad as far as I'm concerned.
I reckon literally hundreds if not thousands missed all three goals. And it shows you what shit statistics are. I can only echo what everyone else has been saying on here: we were simply dreadful for 80 minutes, Jedinak was awful, and the officials were c**ts.
 
Madness at the end when Green scored.

I did joke to Sir Dennis jnr when there was the mass exodus that they might miss us winning 4-3.!!!
 
Snippets:
“Sheffield United are better than us”. is this news? Not really.
“We don’t seem to have a playing style or rhythm these days”. Bit like under Bruce? Hmmm.
“Football is about entertainment, and wow we got that yesterday”. Andre Greeeeeeeeeeeeen!
 
This is what we strive for? Celebrating a draw as if we won, sorry Villans but check yourselves. embarrasing if you ask me, regardless of the bad ref calls we should be firing from the 1st whistle not wait until 80 mins into the game.
The point being made is about enjoying the comeback which none of us saw coming. Yes we were poor, yes we need to show the intent we showed in the last 15 mins etc etc...Can't see any reference to 'striving' for draws. But if you can't enjoy a remarkable comeback like that without having to spin it into a negative that's something I cannot get my head around. I was there, I felt the passion of supporters around me as the equaliser went in, nobody cared about the crap we'd seen beforehand. If that in your eyes is 'embarrassing' so be it.
 
We are what we are, a plucky mid table championship club. Nobody isn't saying it was a great come back, we should have had 2 pens in that period aswell, however , what went before was truly dreadful and alarming. Totally played off the park, no tactics, no shape, unfit players ?
 
Again we start like it`s a testimonial, and this trying to over pass when we do not have the players to do it annoys me.

Why can we not motivate these players? The Sheffield United / Any other team we play all show more effort and desire than we do.

Fantastic comeback, all very exciting but this just is not good enough.

My worry is that Smith is decent with great recruitment behind him, and we just do not have that infrastructure at the Villa so it`s all too much for him.

Jedinak ? Really ? Against a team with legs ?

We were supposed to now become a fit team under Smith, and i don`t see it.
 
Kalinic made two mistakes for the second Sheff Utd goal.
1). He pushed the shot from outside the area instead of catching it. The shot itself wasn't travelling particulary fast and he saw it from the second it left the players foot. The push was weak, if a keeper decides not to catch the ball, he must punch it as hard as he can, preferably high and far, or out of play for a throw-in or corner.
2). When the header from his weak push out was looped over his head, he went to ground. If he had of stayed on his feet and caught the ball, his body would have been between the scorer and the ball.
As to the awarding of that second goal, the ref was in a terrible position, at least 20 yards away with bodies between him and the ball. Although I don't think there was anything wrong with that goal. If Kalinic had of had control of the ball it couldn't of been kicked out of his hands. There was no dangerous play by Sharp, although his studs were up, his kick/push was nowhere near another player.
I do have a bone to pick with the manager, it has been several weeks now that he has played the same midfield, it is obvious to virtually everyone in the ground that there are certain players that are not suited to playing in a championship midfield, simply because they are not prepared to work as hard at both defending and attacking. These players are passengers and while it is possible to carry one passenger, if he contributes massively to the attack, it does however put the team at a distinctly too big a disadvantage to carry more than one of these players.
 
I really don't know what to say about last night.

First off, due to a smash at Spaghetti junction right in front of us, they shut the motorway, meaning I did not get into Villa Park until the 37th minute - however, as the motorway was shut, Sky Go came in handy so I could at least watch it in the queue. McGinn at fault for goal, totally left his man, but why McGinn was marking Billy Sharpe to begin with is a mystery.

And from minute 38 to minute 82 I was wishing I had just stayed in the car, turned round and came back home.

When Green blazed a cross so hard I think it reached Bramhall Lane, a mass exodus took place around me, and I couldn't blame them

And then, the funniest comedy since Fawlty Towers took place. I didn't even celebrate the first goal, a) coz I thought the ref had disallowed it, and b) who cared, it didn't mean anything.

And then the tap in, and you start thinking, but as a Villa fan, all you can think is "it's typical Villa to dash all your dreams, then give you a sniff that all is going to be OK, only to crush the hope again - this has got 4-2 written all over it.

And then pandemonium

It was only a draw at home, a shite draw at that, and is 100% not good enough, but there is nothing funnier than that happening. Its happened against us enough times, Leicester, Blues, Spurs off the top of my head - bloody hell, I left Villa Park as if we had won the cup.

Cold light of day, we were crap, we had no workrate, we had no passion - it isn't good enough.

Mings looks a bloody beast, McGinn worked his socks off, Elphick was steady, and I will let Tammy off coz he is allowed the odd crap game - but the rest - it is just not good enough and Smith needs to start ringing the changes - and I don't mean, drop Hutton for Elmo, drop Kodjia for Adomah.

These players have proven they either are not good enough, or they just don't care enough.

I have no idea whether the likes of Andre Green, Kenan Davis (and unfortunately no longer here - Mitch Clark, Callum O'Hare, James Bree) and co are good enough. What I do know is they deserve their chance to stake a claim - the likes of Hutton, Taylor, Jedi, Adomah and all the rest of them are NOT going to be here in August so lets see which kids are good enough and get them up to speed, and find out the ones who aren't so we can find replacements.

Green may not be the answer - but Green cares - and at the moment, I will take that.

I keep saying I will support Smith if I can see him building but he is reverting to every other manager - scared of losing, and therefore play 30 odd year olds who can hopefully use their experience - but they are not working !.

Saying that, the one oldie I will give a mention to was Whelan, who changed the game with determination - so fair play

Motm Mings

McGinn, Elphick, Kalinic and Tammy - passable

The rest of the starting 11 - disgusted with the lot of ya

Management team - not good enough by a long chalk

Subs - showed that lot up, maybe not with quality - but with hunger
 
Still slightly dazed from that last 15 minutes this morning. The more I see their second the more annoyed about it I get and the more I think about them bringing off Billy Sharp so he could get a round of applause the more I chuckle to myself.

I was hugely impressed by them. Wilder has done a brilliant job I think. He's not spent huge money but he's built a team where every player is willing to work like a dog and knows what his job is. We looked flaccid and slow by comparison. Every time someone gets the ball it's like they're waiting for Jack to pop up and take it off them so they don't have to do anything themselves, and when they've made a 5 yard sideways or backwards pass they just stand still a basically say "your turn". Is the concept of passing to a team mate then moving into space so hard to grasp?

Its seems our only plan is to get the ball wide and whip in crosses. Not the worst plan but it seems that without Grealish supporting the winger and occupying the defenders mind we're content to shove the ball along to whichever wide player and let them try to beat 2 or 3 men at once.

The squads still a Bruce squad built to try and keep it tight and nick one with a moment of magic from someone or a set play. Obviously the problem is the the great promotion specialist fucked the defence up and its left us with a team not used to doing anything other than getting the ball to one of our "star" attacker's who might provide that magic moment. I hoped that the January window would see is bring in more players but that was probably unrealistic. Look at the last time we signed a load in January. Lumbered with the likes of Hogan and lansbury on huge contracts. Smith will have the summer to get in more of his players and hopefully work with a few of our own youngsters. He needs the time.
 
Kalinic made two mistakes for the second Sheff Utd goal.
1)
I do have a bone to pick with the manager, it has been several weeks now that he has played the same midfield, it is obvious to virtually everyone in the ground that there are certain players that are not suited to playing in a championship midfield, simply because they are not prepared to work as hard at both defending and attacking. These players are passengers and while it is possible to carry one passenger, if he contributes massively to the attack, it does however put the team at a distinctly too big a disadvantage to carry more than one of these players.



FFS Go on then, name the midfield that we have available that are going to turn us into world beaters?
 
We all struggle to name a midfield better than the one that plays, same problem for the manager.
 
Never in a million years do you play Jedinak and Hourihane defensive midfield against anyone decent, Bjarnason and McGinn surely as they can run.

Although i don`t think anyone could predict exactly how bad Jedinak was yesterday, looked like he`d been in the pub for 4 hours.
 
Never in a million years do you play Jedinak and Hourihane defensive midfield against anyone decent, Bjarnason and McGinn surely as they can run.

Although i don`t think anyone could predict exactly how bad Jedinak was yesterday, looked like he`d been in the pub for 4 hours.
Yeah, seem to remember on Bjarnason's last outing it was followed by cries of, "he should never play again"?
 
The January window failed to give Dean any more options in midfield than the pitiful selection he has at his disposal. He and his team can be blamed for that, not good enough. Once you have a Hourihane/ Jedinak midfield, in an attacking sense you concede that whole territory to the opposition.
The first touches in the first few minutes by El Ghazi, Kodjia (twice) and yes, even Tammy, were appalling. The rest of the team could be forgiven for thinking.... oh shit it’s coming straight back at us again.
The ending though was euphoric. Where else can you go for entertainment at any age and end up jumping for joy with strangers? What a high from the depths of despair!
 
The January window failed to give Dean any more options in midfield than the pitiful selection he has at his disposal. He and his team can be blamed for that, not good enough. Once you have a Hourihane/ Jedinak midfield, in an attacking sense you concede that whole territory to the opposition.
The first touches in the first few minutes by El Ghazi, Kodjia (twice) and yes, even Tammy, were appalling. The rest of the team could be forgiven for thinking.... oh shit it’s coming straight back at us again.
The ending though was euphoric. Where else can you go for entertainment at any age and end up jumping for joy with strangers? What a high from the depths of despair!
WM, none of us know the truth about who we did and didn't try to sign. The only one that looks a cert is Fer and goodness knows what went wrong there. As plenty have previously said, January is a carp window. I feel sure that efforts were made to bolster midfield but for one reason or another deals never materialised.
 
I never even unfolded my arms when Mings scored , never got out of my seat, when Andre went up for that header I was feet from the exit and the pitch, I was almost on the pitch when it hit the net, hugging some random stranger!

Fickle and Proud

We never ever leave before full time but my mate and his lad wanted to go on 80 minutes but I resisted because I was driving. The rest they say is history, Yes I am concerned with the way we played before the comeback but Fuck it, I’m so glad I was at the final whistle
 
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