Aston Villa vs Bolton Wanderers Friday Night 2nd Nov | Page 18 | Vital Football

Aston Villa vs Bolton Wanderers Friday Night 2nd Nov

Villan57 said:
Best Laugh I had last night was Hourihane being outmuscled to a high ball by that dwarf Bolton had.
He'll never make a defensive mid has long as he has a hole up his arse!
I can imagine the abuse Whelan would have got for a hapless performance like that.

There again he is better than Jack Grealish according to some on here :rotfl:

Oh yes Jack got an "assist" , I think that meant he took a free kick
Click to expand...

The Bolton dwarf:rofl:
 
That was a very nice way to start the weekend thank you very much.

It is hard to say how good it was because Bolton are appalling, and first half especially, after controlling the entire half, we couldn't have complained if we were 3-1 down - so we need to get far better and much more ruthless.

There were good performances all round mostly, Chester and Grealish obviously get all the plaudits, but I thought Tuanzebe was excellent - in fact motm for me, I thought 2nd half, Kodjia was excellent, 1st half, Adomah was, McGinn was just McGinn and I have to say, that is the best I have seen Taylor play for a very long time.

Tammy's overall contribution was very good (the first goal was magnificent) but he really needs more composure in front of goal - I would swap him and Kodjia over myself) Bolasie was funny - it was like Lionel Messi playing against a pub team, and I thought Hourihane did that"unseen / unselfish" role excellently.

All in all - 10 players played very well, it isn't hard to work out the one who didn't - he is bloody woeful and I am sure at the age of 47, I could do just as good a job - we need to sign Tom Heaton on loan Jan. 1st.

Next week will tell us more, but it was nice seeing Dean Smith's interview this morning and him saying he was showing Grealish videos at half time about where he should be on the pitch and why he is of no use coming back where he is not needed, and therefore we have no outlet up field - seems like the coaching is finally there, it is now down to Jack to listen - he clearly didn'tfirst half (after 5 mins) but did 2nd half.

Shoots of recovery ? - hopefully. We could do with a few results going our way today. First hurdle to get over, is get within 6 ponts of top 6, then get top 6 by Xmas, then within 3 ponts of top 2 by end of Feb - then it will be game on.

Have to sort out the away form though - I suppose a draw would be suitable for next week - but god, a win would be nice.

Motm - very close call for about 5 of them - but I go Tuanzebe
 
Apparently Bolton fans were charged £38 last night. My club charging that much to visitors in the championship doesn’t sit right with me, especially a televised game on a Friday night.

Other than that a good, solid performance last night, ‘routine’ would be the perfect way to describe it and I never felt any real danger we’d lose it. Tuanzebe is the CB I never knew we had as Bruce persisted with the immobile Jedinak, he and Chester are forming quite the partnership. I’m glad we’re finally playing a LB (Taylor) at LB and a RB (Hutton) at RB, it just works. Bolasie looked a real live wire when he came on, Admoah isn’t bad but Bolasie looks 10x the player and as soon as he’s fully fit he needs to be a certain starter, caused a few problems in that cameo and generally looked exciting.
 
VillaTomB38 said:
Apparently Bolton fans were charged £38 last night. My club charging that much to visitors in the championship doesn’t sit right with me, especially a televised game on a Friday night.
Click to expand...

To be honest they are getting a bargain . Remember they are getting the priviledge to be at THE finest stadium in world football.
They are lucky it's only 38 quid.
 
Re: Hourihane and our overall midfield make up I think what we need is a steady hand in there. As much as its nice and easy and convenient to blame the backline for our defensive issues these problems start much higher up the field.

Yesterday I watched Bolton walk through our midfield and I know it wouldnt happen with Thor sitting in there but realistically Thor isnt a natural holding player either.

I actually like Hourihane but I see him as one of two things he's either your No. 10 who you keep a mile from the backline and literally give him a free pass to only look to score goals or he's a lad you bring off the bench when you're in trouble.
 
CDX_EIRE said:
Re: Hourihane and our overall midfield make up I think what we need is a steady hand in there. As much as its nice and easy and convenient to blame the backline for our defensive issues these problems start much higher up the field.

Yesterday I watched Bolton walk through our midfield and I know it wouldnt happen with Thor sitting in there but realistically Thor isnt a natural holding player either.

I actually like Hourihane but I see him as one of two things he's either your No. 10 who you keep a mile from the backline and literally give him a free pass to only look to score goals or he's a lad you bring off the bench when you're in trouble.
Click to expand...

Personally, I think Hourihane is about as far removed from a number 10 role as a midfielder can be. The attributes he has are not those of a number 10. I wrote about this in the QPR thread. Jack is suitable as a number 10. Quick, skillful, tricky, great touch and balance, has a trick up his sleeve. Those are the things a number 10 should have ? Does Hourihane have those?. Not In my opinion .
 
Melon Donkey said:
Personally, I think Hourihane is about as far removed from a number 10 role as a midfielder can be. The attributes he has are not those of a number 10. I wrote about this in the QPR thread. Jack is suitable as a number 10. Quick, skillful, tricky, great touch and balance, has a trick up his sleeve. Those are the things a number 10 should have ? Does Hourihane have those?. Not In my opinion .
Click to expand...

I think you're spot on there Melon , I look at him like this is he as good as Mcginn or Grealish , no is he better than BB No . He wouldn't make the bench if I was picking the side as Jake Doyle Hayes would be ahead of him
 
Melon Donkey said:
Personally, I think Hourihane is about as far removed from a number 10 role as a midfielder can be. The attributes he has are not those of a number 10. I wrote about this in the QPR thread. Jack is suitable as a number 10. Quick, skillful, tricky, great touch and balance, has a trick up his sleeve. Those are the things a number 10 should have ? Does Hourihane have those?. Not In my opinion .
Click to expand...

I hate when this happens, I am not advocating playing the man in the starting 11 or ahead of Grealish I am just saying he has two uses and both are essentially as a pure goal threat. I don't think a lad who has scored 10+ goals for us (and many many of those were important) should be as easily abused and discarded as some suggest. This isnt a black and white issue its a grey area. The man has a place in the squad we're not that blessed with talent.

To answer you're No. 10 point I'd agree those are the things a modern No. 10 has but the No. 10 role in todays game has many different forms. The classic No. 10 wasnt fast two of the best Zidane and Riquelme were slow as wet weeks but by god did they have touch, vision and a pass.

Hourihane has one of those things on your list 'a trick up his sleeve' and that is being in the right place at the right time. I know you didnt intend it that way but its the truth. To play at 10 you need to be doing something, you need to pull something out of nowhere when the team needs and Hourihane has done that.

To clarify and reiterate this I am not advocating starting him at all but if he did have to start it is the only place I'd play him. Pure liability anywhere else.
 
Melon Donkey said:
To be honest they are getting a bargain . Remember they are getting the priviledge to be at THE finest stadium in world football.
They are lucky it's only 38 quid.
Click to expand...

I’m glad I can see the sarcasm in this. We all moan when other teams charge a ransom when we want to go away from home, Derby next weekend is an example... £36! Said to my mate I’ll pass thank you, it wasn’t that much last season when I went there. Look how many Bolton brought last night, if that had been £10 lower (As it should be at the very least) they would’ve brought a fair few more no doubt which in turn generates a better atmosphere and more money spent inside the ground.
 
VillaTomB38 said:
Look how many Bolton brought last night, if that had been £10 lower (As it should be at the very least) they would’ve brought a fair few more no doubt which in turn generates a better atmosphere and more money spent inside the ground.
Click to expand...

If you're not selling out your stadium your prices are wrong IMO (obviously there is a balancing of books issue but ours is obviously wrong if we can't get at least 38k week in week out).
 
Fair few ST holders near me were missing last night, so it's nothing to do with pricing.
Let's be honest some "fans" still wouldn't go id it was free if the lazy bastards can sit at home and gawp at Sky
 
Villan57 said:
Fair few ST holders near me were missing last night, so it's nothing to do with pricing.
Let's be honest some "fans" still wouldn't go id it was free if the lazy bastards can sit at home and gawp at Sky
Click to expand...
No it’s because of the shit kick off times. Some people have work or other commitments. I was lucky to get to villa 5 minutes before kick off yesterday and that was the earliest I could get there finishing work at 5:30 and going directly to the train station from work, and then I didn’t get home until after midnight so no wonder people don’t bother
 
david-avfc said:
No it’s because of the shit kick off times. Some people have work or other commitments. I was lucky to get to villa 5 minutes before kick off yesterday and that was the earliest I could get there finishing work at 5:30 and going directly to the train station from work, and then I didn’t get home until after midnight so no wonder people don’t bother
Click to expand...

Yes David but you got there , unlike some who couldn't be bothered
 
Bikini Inspector said:
I thought it was good last night. When it all clicks I think we will score a lot of goals under Smith. Already the football is a lot more watchable.
Click to expand...

Still have those lulls where we revert back to 10 behind the ball and defending the 18 yard line but we are getting there
 
You must log in or register to reply here.