Re: Villa match day thread.

[Sandie]

The 0 strikers thing is going to be yet another dent in Hogan's confidence though in the case of Gabby is just about understandable. Have to be honest and say I didn't see a kick of yesterday's game but I'm not surprised we once again struggled against one of the league's best sides.

[villabromsgrove]

We had a party that took me away from Villa related matters .... thankfully!

Bruce keeps saying after each match that "he maybe picked the wrong team", and blames mistakes "all over the pitch" which reflect the lack of technical coaching, and yet he's still in a job. Other managers talk us up, Bruce pulls us down.

[villabromsgrove]

We're having another party today! Is it just me or is Villa in danger of becoming a bit of a nuisance? It pops up regularly and instead of being the number one focus that it was a few years ago, it's now something that I fit in between other far more satisfying events.

Sheffield United at Villa Park .... If I was manager we'd play with a high pressing midfield linking with a number 10 playing off a striker. The ball would be on the floor and forward zipped passes would be the order of the day with bodies getting in to the box in support of attacking ball. Three points, job's a goodun!

Instead I'm prepared for eleven strangers doing their own thing (again) with no planned and intelligent movement. Grrr!!!!!!

What do you think guys?

[Sandie]

I suppose we could call Grealish a number 10.

[villabromsgrove]

If Grealish is allowed to play in the hole behind big Davis, he could spin off with his low centre of balance and cause Sheff U's CB's all sorts of problems. We have a new head of coaching, will he push our midfield forward into danger areas? We can win, but we need shots on target to do that, and we've been hopeless at this recently.

[Sandie]

For me nothing less than three points is acceptable today. We've not won in three and there are some hard chargers around the play off places.

[Sandie]

Adomah puts us ahead early on from the spot.

[villabromsgrove]

Good start, but then our usual frailties caught up with us. Nothing seems to change which is depressing.

[Sandie]

I now have zero faith of us getting automatic promotion. We might get into the play offs but to get through those you kind of have to be able to beat teams from the upper reaches of the table something we have failed to do so far under this manager.

We're caught in a trap right now. Results are not bad enough for our board to act and remove the manager but equally we are not performing well enough to get out of this division. Add to that the pressure of dwindling parachute payments and FFP pressures and we're not in a good place.

[villabromsgrove]

Forget the Villa today and have a happy Christmas day.

[Sandie]

The one day not even they can spoil!

Merry Christmas one and all.

Back to whinging on Boxing Day, though.

[villabromsgrove]

Brentford .... Away .... Live on SKY at 7.30pm.

There's three compelling reasons in my opening line for Villa failing to win yet again.

Except we have to win. Three points could be worth multi million pounds at the end of the season.

Who Dares Wins!

Does Bruce know this? Is he brave enough to preach this to our players?

One point is useless to our hopes of getting promoted, so why bother to keep it tight at the expense of isolating our striker/s?

Brentford will outwork us, they will outthink us and they will outplay us if Dean Smith has anything to do with it.

Why oh why can we not expect the same from Steve Bruce?

Maybe today will be the day.

I will hope like mad against all evidence and reason!

[Sandie]

We need to start playing well and start playing well soon.

[villabromsgrove]

I will be out tonight at another "family knees up", so I will miss the match. Never mind, I can watch the high lights (if there are any! ).

[Sandie]

Hogan, Hutton and Elphick in for Davis, Elmo and Hourihane as Jedinak moves forward to midfield.

A twosome of Jedinak and Whelan is somewhat lacking in midfield dynamism.

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