Match Thread: Villa V Swansea, Saturday, 20th Oct, 3.00 PM | Page 13 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Villa V Swansea, Saturday, 20th Oct, 3.00 PM

JuanPabloAngel said:
Player ratings...

Nyland - 8 - top class saves, kept us in the game and brought home the points. Unfortunately, his kicking is worse than Guzan's (if that's even possible) although it did improve as the game wore on.

Hutton - 7 - typical 'Hutton' performance - committed. Would like to see him on the overlap a bit more, although his crossing is generally shite, it would give defenders something to think about.

Tuanzebe - 7 - looked assured, dealt with what was thrown at him very well.

Chester - 8 - back to his best imho. Won everything, tidied up when needed and marshalled the back four well.

Taylor - 7 - his best game for quite some time. Some dodgy distribution at times, but an all action, committed display and got forward well when he could.

Bjarnason - 7.5 - worked hard, all over the pitch, did the simple things. Unfortunately, he turns like an oil tanker and sometimes hampered our momentum.

McGinn - 9 - MOTM. Outstanding (apart from his 'conversion' in the second half which nearly landed in the upper Holte - no mean feat). A terrier in midfield, hassling, biting at the ankles, winning balls and setting up attacks. Very impressive.

Adomah - 7 - another who put in his best shift for a while. Worked tirelessly, helped out Taylor and gave Swansea some problems in forward areas.

Grealish - 7 - another decent shift. A few things didn't work for him and he is still picking up the ball too deep imho. And I wish he would have the confidence and conviction to shoot when he has the chance.

Elmohamady - 7 - an 'Elmo' performance, similar to Hutton. Did his best, nothing special, nothing bad. Great cross for the goal.

Abraham - 8 - great performance. Scored the winner, worked hard in his solo role, and won far more aerial battles (and laid off well) than could possibly have been expected.

Subs:

Kodjia - 7 - a handful when he had the ball, as per. Worked hard, few histrionics. Solid.

Bolasie - 6 - I was desperate to see him in action, but he hit the wrong notes. Didn't seem to know what he wanted to do when he did get the ball.

Hourihane - 6 - not really on long enough to rate. Didn't do anything of note, didn't do anything horrendous either.

Head Coach:

Smith - 8 - a win. A win is a win. Set up well, considering how underwhelmed I was - initially - with the team selection. But all credit. Made (correct) subs when needed, and wasn't over-awed by the occasion and the size of the crowd.
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Yep, just about spot on with those ratings JPA! :tophat:
 
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I wonder if Mr Smith will be able to find out where Grealish's best position for the club is, quickly.
I truly don't think Grealish is an attacking midfielder, No 10. He might be able to develop into one in the future but, at present, it's not a position he brings a consistant end product to.
 
El Ghazi's been best, throughout his career so far, playing on the right, while Bolasie appears to be more comfortable on the left.
I do find it odd that managers will play wingers on their 'wrong side' to get them to cut in, rather than on their natural side, where they are more apt to do what a winger should be doing, hitting the bye-line and crossing the ball.
 
It is strange that Bruce brought in 2 wingers and both he and Smith still started with Albert and Elmo out wide.
Elmo is never a winger in a million years and Albert has been out of sorts for ages now but they are still impressing in training more than Bolasse and El whatsit, obviously
 
I know he's a bit vertically challenged but after that display yesterday I'm wondering if we should play McGinn in the holding midfield role in front of the back four in a:-
4
1
3
2
Formation. Not only tenacious in the tackle but good distribution and always looking to get the ball forward. Might stop Grealish dropping so deep to collect the ball
 
JuanPabloAngel said:
Player ratings...

Nyland - 8 - top class saves, kept us in the game and brought home the points. Unfortunately, his kicking is worse than Guzan's (if that's even possible) although it did improve as the game wore on.

Sorry but never an 8 for me. I’d say 6 at most.

Made a couple at good saves and obviously a clean sheet. His kicking is atrocious and he never comes off his line. He even made a save with the ball going 2 foot wide. Let’s hope the new keeper coach can help him.
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A Villa win on a Saturday afternoon, at a proper 3 pm kickoff time always sets up my weekend with a spring in my step and even more so when I think of the mega-rich new owners (Dr Tone will be gone soon) a new CEO who is reassuring, slick and Profesional and a new football management team to hopefully lead the club forward.

Sure I'm realistic enough to realise it could all end in tears but please allow me to enjoy this strange feeling of happiness being a Villa fan...I'd almost forgotten what it feels like:grinning:
 
Great start. First half shows a little of what we’re capable of.

The whole group needs to get much fitter to play with that intensity for 95 mins though.

I suspect Deano will continue to pick the players who work the hardest at the system and get their fitness levels up, which is a good marker to set out from the start - work bloody hard or you’re just not going to get near the pitch.
 
This was a great start considering how little time Dean has had with the squad and Im sure he'll have learnt a lot about what issues he needs to address. I thought we came out strongly in the second half and should have capitalised but then we went into passing to the opposition mode.
Despite Elmo crossing forr the goal I thought he and Albert didn't do enough with the ball and wasn't surprised when they were subbed. I also want to see more urgency in the body language of some of the players along the lines of McGinn and Bjarnson. There was one throw in Elmo took when we were pressing in the first half and he strolled to pick it up as if it were a training session. For me there was a connection between the lack of passion in the crowd and the lack of energy shown by some on the pitch.
I'm confident though that we have the right man to sort things out. UTV.
 
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