Aston Villa v Sheffield Utd - Match Thread - Friday 8th Feb, 7.45pm | Page 22 | Vital Football

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

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.

True, efforts were made and I’m sure hard work put in but nevertheless we just had to strengthen midfield and not doing so is failure.
 
I'm not even bothered about the last 8 minutes.

We're fucking shit. Smith isn't improving this group at all, it's as if they've stopped listening.

Pinned in our own half against Sheff United. Embarrasing.
 
Like I said last night smith has no chance with that midfield & unfortunately with injuries etc he has no choice. He gets hammered weekly for picking Whelan so tries Jedinak & he puts in a performance like that.
Does anyone really think he would be picking Hourihane if he had other options? We have missed jack massively & unfortunately with Lansbury constantly injured he’s our only option as he doesn’t seem to rate Barney.
Smith needs to create his own team & the players he’s signed or brought back have improved us so I’m hopeful he’ll get it right.
 
Left on 80 mins, as a STHolder unbroken 46 years I thought I had seen it all! Count on one hand the times I didn’t stay till final whistle but that performance where we were out muscled & out run from the start was too much, the final straw was Hourihane misplaced pass across field which split Hutton & Elghazi. Just could not take anymore, glad we fought back
but wish we could come out firing on all cylinders. The midfield obviously needs an injection of new legs it was a shame Caroll got injured Thursday
let’s hope the manager can sort things out he will have the bonus of Jack
returning soon, hopefully I can stay till final whistle in future
 
Give Smith this time next year at the earliest. Mass exodus in the summer, get some of his own faces in and let us see. Until then we support him and the team unreservedly. I would hate playing at Villa Park knowing that the moment it starts goes slightly wrong the boo boys come out in force and I am diehard Villa fan. Yes we might lose Jack we might lose this we might lose that but ultimately we have to put our trust in Smith or there is no point. We have to get off the manager merry-go-round and this will be our one chance to do so. Up the Villa
 
What a bizarre game that was from the dire to the ridiculous in 10 minutes! Back to my player ratings, I'm basing these mainly on the first 82 minutes

Kalinic 6: Could have done better with the second goal, I'm guessing he's used to being given more protection by the refs abroad.

Hutton 5: Tried to drive us forwards but where was he when Smart scored their 3rd?

Elphick 6: Thought he was ok not a problem

Mings 7: Looked the part and got us back in the game too, with what we all thought was a consolation goal. MOTM ?

Taylor 5: Not as bad as he has been but that's not hard.

Jedinak 3: Never got near them all night, I think I prefer him at Centre back!

Hourihane 3: Two fantastic passes to the ball boy on the wing which had to be seen to be believed, No doubt stats will prove he's our best player.

SJM 6: Finally dragged down to nearly as bad as the rest, but still tried.

El Ghazi 3: He wears gloves! Need I say more.


Tammy: 6 Second to everything except his goal which he put away with ease.

Koj 3: and people moan about Albert! Shocking but not alone.

Sub:

Green 6: What a good header that was !! I'll ignore the rest.

Whelan 7: Changed the game Bossed the midfield, along with Mings I'd say he was MOTM

Coach

Smith 5: Deano I'm trying my hardest to like you but you're making it very difficult! keep picking the same team and expecting a different result is not a good idea
 
Well I did predict a draw, but not like that!

And to keep banging on about not enough effort and work rate on and off the ball, Wilders Sheff team proved exactly what you can do with this as a minimum.

Most of that team are still not exerting themselves to the standard required to win matches.

The danger is that the ones that do might very well not be at Villa after the summer. It’s imperative that Deano gets rid of those that don’t buy into this, and gets the others to shape up.
 
I was working pretty much right up until 7:30 and just walked in the living room as the team walked out and my heart sank when I saw Jedinak coming out of the tunnel. I knew then that it would be a struggle and so it turned out. We played with 4 outright passengers in Jedi, Hourihane, El Ghazi and Kodija. Taylor looked better then in previous weeks (not difficult I know) and Hutton again tried really hard. I was impressed with Mings and he and Elphick looked a good pairing and perhaps this is why Taylor and Hutton looked better. The problem though is that having a midfield of one and a lone striker it is always going to reflect on the defence at some point. Where was Carroll? Not even on the bench? Injured already. I know that Barny is not exactly the best, but is better then Jedi - in fact Micah Richards could have played better then Jedi!! Whelan did turn things around but he cannot do it for 90 minutes any more and I am sure that Dean Smith knows that.
Someone else said that the 11 that ended the match must start against Brentford and that is an absolute - Jedi, el Ghazi and Kodija should not even be on the bench. The Bees will do what all other teams do against us and that is high energy chasing down for the first 15 - 20 minutes and we have to stand toe-to-toe with them and weather that onslaught. Sheff Utd. looked quite ordinary once they had run themselves out towards the end of the first half, but we cannot afford to give teams a goal or two start.
I do feel that this could be a turning point of the season and shows what can be achieved with some running and effort - that is all that SU had after all - and with Jack and Axel due back soon, we could mount a Fulham style charge on the top of the table.
Always the optimist!!
VTID
UTV
HEITS
 
Exertion alone won’t win matches. Pace and power helps too as does touch and control. We were short in many, many areas. How did we get back into it? Sheff U thought it was won, they changed 2 men, we changed 2, they dropped the intensity, we upped the intensity.
Start that match again with the same teams, we lose 9 out of 10.
 
I must be the only one that thinks this but I thought El Ghazi had a good game. He tracked back & defended more than I’ve seen in a while & always wanted the ball not hide like most in midfield.
He’s always moving when he doesn’t have the ball not stood still like Hourihane & Jedinak. There was far worse on the pitch than him last night.
 
I must be the only one that thinks this but I thought El Ghazi had a good game. He tracked back & defended more than I’ve seen in a while & always wanted the ball not hide like most in midfield.
He’s always moving when he doesn’t have the ball not stood still like Hourihane & Jedinak. There was far worse on the pitch than him last night.

I agree
 
Did anyone notice the table below the posts on here last night had Sheffield United and 57 points until about 230 this morning
 
I must be the only one that thinks this but I thought El Ghazi had a good game. He tracked back & defended more than I’ve seen in a while & always wanted the ball not hide like most in midfield.
He’s always moving when he doesn’t have the ball not stood still like Hourihane & Jedinak. There was far worse on the pitch than him last night.

He's got skills that's for sure, I just wish he'd ditch those feckin gloves! Only outfield player wearing them last night. A bit like Jack's shin pads they give out the wrong message
 
Not a great fan of Whelan, but what i have noticed about him is he always seems better coming off the bench rather than starting, maybe thats the best option for him.
 
If you could design and build from scratch a perfect player for this league I think it would be Mings . Big, strong, physical, I hope we get to sign him .

Physically you’ve seen the reason why we broke our transfer record to sign him.

As a central defender you’re seeing the hard work from Eddie Howe to mould him into a centre back from a left back.

What we need to see now is staying fit and playing regular football.

If he plays the full game next time it’ll be the first three game run he’s had since January 2017.

If he gets to four games we’re in uncharted territory.