Villarocker Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, TrentVilla said: A great run of results but I remain unconvinced we’ve really improved, fixtures have been kind and tougher games are ahead. We shall soon see. This is exactly where I'm at. We have convincingly beaten 2 of the worst teams, struggled but beaten Forest and then struggled but beaten Bolton - both at home where we're supposed to be better. The next 4 or 5 fixtures will truly show us where we are as a team and, how Bruce is doing as the manager! Edited September 30, 2017 by villarocker 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post villianusa Posted September 30, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted September 30, 2017 16 minutes ago, AshVilla said: If we play against Wolves like we did today were going to get hammered. Wolves won't play like Bolton They won't kick our forwards every time they get the ball, try to stifle play at every opportunity. You play the team in front of you, sometimes you can beat teams prettily, other times you have to scrap for an ugly win. That's what we did today, and I'm happy with a win, and another clean sheet. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 49 minutes ago, carewjust4u said: I strongly disagree with this, there has been clear improvement. Many of the goals we've scored this month have been direct killer passes behind the defence, which have been missing for a long long time. Today we could of daily had another couple of goals, opened up a very defensive Bolton a number of times (including kodjas miss, the one off the line and Hogans miss). Amy other season we would not have created anything. I understand the sceptism towards the recent results, but you can't deny there have been improvement in our attacking creativity and directivness. Today I saw little creativity or directness, against a dreadful team who haven't won for ages, and this week even before playing us had set a new club record for games without scoring. The points are welcome, the performance utterly unconvincing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_82 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 53 minutes ago, villarocker said: This is exactly where I'm at. We have convincingly beaten 2 of the worst teams, struggled but beaten Forest and then struggled but beaten Bolton - both at home where we're supposed to be better. The next 4 or 5 fixtures will truly show us where we are as a team and, how Bruce is doing as the manager! Totally Agree - Next 6 will tell us a lot more about where we are especially with a couple of local derbies in the mix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 46 minutes ago, villianusa said: Wolves won't play like Bolton They won't kick our forwards every time they get the ball, try to stifle play at every opportunity. You play the team in front of you, sometimes you can beat teams prettily, other times you have to scrap for an ugly win. That's what we did today, and I'm happy with a win, and another clean sheet. None of Derby, Hull, Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Brentford or Bristol have have had to scrap Bolton for a "ugly win". And none of those teams have the sort of squad we do. Today was poor, and yet again at home we played with a DM and took of 2 strikers to shut up shop against a team destined for league 1. Another 3 points against a team in the bottom half is great, but this isn't sustainable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 9 minutes ago, av1 said: None of Derby, Hull, Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Brentford or Bristol have have had to scrap Bolton for a "ugly win". And none of those teams have the sort of squad we do. Today was poor, and yet again at home we played with a DM and took of 2 strikers to shut up shop against a team destined for league 1. Another 3 points against a team in the bottom half is great, but this isn't sustainable. It doesn't have to be....we won't face teams like this every week.....phil parkinson did a job on us aided and abetted by a shocking referree. it should be in our plans to be able to deal better than this with teams like this.....but its part our programme to be better......its called development. Win, 3 points.....great job, but need to be more convincing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 3 minutes ago, TRO said: It doesn't have to be....we won't face teams like this every week..... Agreed. We will face better ones. Kidda scary given the trouble we had with Bolton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeAVFC Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Extremely unconvincing but a win is a win. But tougher tests are to come, starting with Wolves after the break. That'll be the proof in the pudding when we come up against promotion contenders whether Bruce is the right man or not. Good to go into the break unbeaten with 4 successive wins though it can only breed confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Of course, I have been a critic of Bruce, but he cannot really be blamed for us not scoring more today. First thing we need to remember is that teams have always bullied us and we have always given in and lost the game (Cardiff still did this season and were pricks last season too), others have also tried and used it as a tactic to beat 'soft Aston Villa'. Today we showed fight and real grit to win. This is good. We cannot win 4-0 every week. Moving in the right direction and we have won games in different ways too, luck, fighting back from a team equalising, an easy win with fancy football, and grit against a dirty team. Let's hope we keep winning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stevo985 Posted September 30, 2017 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted September 30, 2017 People criticising him for "shutting up shop" are being a bit over the top. We didn't really shut up shop until he brought Samba on, which was with about 5 minutes to go. And as it happened Samba won some good headers and made a win saving block, so that seems like the right thing to do. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Yep, he made the right decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Sambas big head got us 3 points so you have to credit Bruce for that change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 Thought it was fairly straight forward victory. Bolton were restricted to shots from miles out as they couldn't get close to our goal until right at the end. We were poor going forward, looked abit tired from midweek. If we are going to play poor it's better to do that against Bolton than wolves. I am feeling confident we can get something from wolves. Wolves will know it won't be a walk in park like they may have thought a month ago. if we play well we will beat them. Happy with Bruce September month sensational. But as highlighted now the toughies begin. A point at wolves would not be a bad result at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 (edited) Be interesting to see how he sets up against Wolves. It will most likely be defensively solid and look to hit them on the break.It's probably the most sensible approach to be honest but if we play that way and lose the backlash with be fierce! Edited September 30, 2017 by Vive_La_Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted September 30, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted September 30, 2017 Their manager was talking about a game plan he had for us. Doesnt take a genius to figure out what that was. Since we came away with all the points you can say it didnt work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 32 minutes ago, av1 said: Agreed. We will face better ones. Kidda scary given the trouble we had with Bolton. But better teams give you more space....it wasn't good from us, but they were just spoilers.....in situations like that ,you need a good ref.....sadly we never had one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 2 minutes ago, TRO said: But better teams give you more space....it wasn't good from us, but they were just spoilers.....in situations like that ,you need a good ref.....sadly we never had one. Fair point mate. I just still have massive doubts about Bruce. We all want the same though so it goes without saying that i hope I'm proved wong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted September 30, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted September 30, 2017 2 hours ago, av1 said: When i saw Hogan and Onamah on the sidelines i turned to my son and said 'he will take off both strikers' I called that as well. No idea why he suddenly thinks Onamah is a secondary striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAV1 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 16 minutes ago, TRO said: But better teams give you more space....it wasn't good from us, but they were just spoilers.....in situations like that ,you need a good ref.....sadly we never had one. So good sides give you more space and are easier to beat? So why are they good sides? We're not Arsenal passing teams off the park. Good sides may give you more space, but rarely in dangerous areas, that's why they are good sides. I think most people would prefer to play Bolton every week rather than Wolves. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carewjust4u Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 1 hour ago, peterms said: Today I saw little creativity or directness, against a dreadful team who haven't won for ages, and this week even before playing us had set a new club record for games without scoring. The points are welcome, the performance utterly unconvincing. I think you need to take a moment and analyse the game properly. Bolton' s game plan was to deny us any space or openings, and we created a few key chancee, enough to win the game. If you thought we'd start carving open a team with 11 men behind the ball in afraid you're expectations need a reality check, not that long ago we couldn't create anything against teams like that. That is progress. Bigger will try push higher up and we will exploit the spaces left, that I am confident of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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