Match thread PLAY OFF Semi Final 1st leg v WBA Saturday 11th May Villa Park

[Saunders82]

I thought I would start this off early so that hopefully we can get lots of comments, this game should not need any selling we all know what it means to BOTH teams, we are not the same team that the baggies made to look awful the last time they came to Villa Park. Since then we have been on a fantastic run and they have been hit and miss, they will be up for it I'm sure but I know we all have something to prove to them a good result will set up the return leg for a great game, I think we can win both games if we are on our game, I just don't want to see a Tom Daley AKA Gayle dive or the hand of Rod having any impact on the tie, I'm going for a 2-0 win for us, but if they really want to turn it on and take them apart I wont object, UTV

[Dazzle]

Stating the obvious but I expect WBA to come to Villa Park with a clean sheet at the forefront of their game plan. In Rodriguez & Gayle they have strikers that can nick a goal at any time, whether by fair or foul means. Set plays will be their biggest threat to us. It’s encouraging for us to see Derby comfortably beat them on Saturday, as we’ve witnessed we are a better team than Derby playing similar styles. It’s all about us and our performance, our 100% is better than WBAs 100%. We will create chances and so let’s hope the mini break for our most influential players has the same effect as it had for McGinn and Grealish that couple months ago.

[VillaBill]

We are a better team than the team that lost so miserably at home in February, they imo are a poorer team since Harvey Barnes went back to Leicester, I expect them to play three at the back , sit back & try to hit us on the break.
I think the creativity of Grealish & El Ghazi, the endeavour of McGinn and the speed of Tuanzebe & Mings as well as tap in Tammy should be enough to gain a positive result.
Deano is not one to sit back, after a nervy start I predict 3-1 Villa.
Don’t underestimate the atmosphere created at Villa too especially if we start quickly. UTV

[Saunders82]

Good points by Dazzle & VillaBill, what a great start lets keep em coming this is the start of some defining games of the season, UTV

[Army villain]

Good points by all, agree DS will hope to get them off straight into the attack mode, and we are a much better side then the last time we played.UTV.

[Dazzle]

I don’t think teams can sit back against us, we have the quality to break that down. I think we’re more vulnerable when we get pressed, remember Sheffield Utd and Leeds at Villa Park. The difference being that we now have all our players back, Grealish and Tuanzebe being integral to the way we like to play. I’m certain WBA will shoot on sight, and give it everything at set pieces. Midfield is the area we need to be careful not to get overrun if WBA load it in a 3-5-2. We mustn’t forget that they did do a job on us back in February.

[deadbuzz]

Had a bad feeling about this game from the get-go, Albion just seem to be a bogey team for us at the moment. What a let down, can't see us coming back, and of all the teams that could end our promotion chances.

[deadbuzz]

Still going to be tough would have preferred a bigger lead, but looking better than it was. Only half-time I guess.

[LVBrit]

No Gayle and no Kanu sweetens the deal a little though.

[VTID85]

What a turnaround, a fighting spirit 2nd half with a cracking goal from Hourihane and a penalty to ice the cake.

Gayle sent off - FUCK THAT LAD, CANNOT STAND THE PRICK - and advantage Villa going into the 2nd leg. I believe we've inflicted WBAs first loss from a winning position all season too? Serves the sugarbags right for parking the bus for nearly 60mins, the arrogant spunk trumpets.

[VTID85]

I mean is Gayle thick or what? I got the impression he probably forgot he had already been carded, either stupid or blasé but either way good riddance.

[LVBrit]

They can think themselves lucky they were not down to Nine men, Gibbs could have quite easily gone for the penalty as he had only been yellow carded two minutes before.

[VillaBill]

Albion had a game plan & it worked for the most part, what a five minutes of drama we witnessed.
Gayle produced one of the most unprofessional performances I’ve ever witnessed, what a plank, Robbie Savageesque
It’s not over but advantage villa , how many times have we fought back from going behind, great character

[FoxyAV]

When Gayle was yellow carded for time wasting I said I hope that comes back to bite you on the arse.

We did play well though, it was a mistake from Whelan and it was the correct decision to sub him, he was slowing us down (not because he caused the goal!). Elmo put in some superb crosses, El Ghazi had a real go, Taylor got stuck in, the only two I thought who had a quiet match were McGinn (on his yellow card tightrope) and Adomah (we needed that extra spark Green brought).

We weren't quick enough on the counter or even just going forward (something Houihane changed) and we seemed to not be fighting for the ball. It's funny though, with Bruce we'd come out after half time and concede, when we've had a damp first half we just know Smith's going to get them all fired up, make some small changes and get things moving.

As the Sky commentators pointed out, Grealish was coming too deep to get the ball and removing one of our main threats, we were missing the link to bring the ball forward (in fact it looked like all our attacks were coming down the wings) and virtually nothing came down the middle.

I reckon we'll see Whelan and Adomah start on Tuesday simply because we'll be more on the defensive as they're forced to attack to try to overturn our lead. I can see Hourihane and Davis coming on again as subs though.

[VTID85]

Whelan, mistake aside, has reasonably proven he is a good starting option and helps to solidify the game in the first half. When he tires or we need more press, he gets the hook and it seems to work ok. He's no worldy, but Smith et al seem to have got more out of him than Bruce did.

[VillaBill]

The starting XI is what I would of chosen but in hindsight, Hourihane & Green should of started, our big players didn’t turn up for 70min, possibly the least effective I’ve seen McGinn, a lot of that had to be Albion strangling the space.
Eventually they will have to come at us Tuesday and hopefully as we saw for the last 15mins yesterday, the gaps we can exploit will appear.
After 70mins I’d of settled for 1-1, so to have our noses in front coupled with their selection problems, it’s ours to lose.
5mins of utter carnage in The Holte yesterday, great noise, that’s what we pay our money for, those moments.

[Saunders82]

The starting XI is what I would of chosen but in hindsight, Hourihane & Green should of started, our big players didn’t turn up for 70min, possibly the least effective I’ve seen McGinn, a lot of that had to be Albion strangling the space.
Eventually they will have to come at us Tuesday and hopefully as we saw for the last 15mins yesterday, the gaps we can exploit will appear.
After 70mins I’d of settled for 1-1, so to have our noses in front coupled with their selection problems, it’s ours to lose.
5mins of utter carnage in The Holte yesterday, great noise, that’s what we pay our money for, those moments.

Totally agree space around their 18 yard box was at a premium, as someone has said Jack was dropping back deep to get on the ball and everywhere he went Johanson was all over him, he had to drop back as there were 8 baggies players in the areas he likes to get into, mind you he used the fact of close marking to take 2 or 3 players out of the middle to allow Hourihane space for his goal, it will be a far different game at their place, UTV

[FoxyAV]

We weren't hitting them hard enough on the counter. I think McGinn is wary of his yellow situation. Presumably if we get to the final he'll not have to worry about it and can go balls out? Would any ban if he picked up another yellow carry over to next season?

[deadbuzz]

Yellow cards reset after the league campaign ends, so McGinn could have picked up a yellow card on Sunday and it wouldn't put him in any danger of missing the second-leg or the final should we get there, through suspension, the only way that could happen is if he gets a red card.

I think he just had a quiet game by his standards.

[Dazzle]

WBA clearly committed men to closely stick to both McGinn and Grealish. The 2nd leg will be slightly different because at some point WBA will have to commit those players to trying to score a goal. That’ll free up McGinn or Grealish, or both, to work their magic. We, simply, have to stop the silly mistakes of the 1st half on Saturday and not give them a free goal. I think WBA will play similar again, they’ll have to look to hit Rodriguez and hope he does something whilst keeping a lot of bodies in front of their goal. You can guarantee they’ll be going down all over the place trying to get a Villa player sent off or win a cheap penalty. They cannot outplay us, they won’t win trying to do that, so it’ll be similar to Saturday. Especially with Gayle & Robson-Kanu unavailable. Batten down for a dirty game!

[FoxyAV]

I'm now wondering if we'd be better with Green on the right. He's faster and more unpredictable, plus he gets back to defend like Adomah does. Or do we stick to the starting line-up from Saturday, with Whelan doing the defensive stuff, and bring on Green or Hourihane later on if all's going well?

One thing we've seen from Smith is he doesn't like to park the bus, he goes for it, and that's going to give West Brom something to think about.

I just hope some of the training today involves one or more of our attacking players tearing off down the pitch the moment Steer gets hold of the ball - that could give them a proper headache! Sure, he doesn't appear to be that precise (although I remember seeing him a few years ago and thinking how much more accurate he was than Guzan, although saying that Guzan was terrible) but we're probably going to be doing more in the counter attack than we were on Saturday.

[Dazzle]

I'm now wondering if we'd be better with Green on the right. He's faster and more unpredictable, plus he gets back to defend like Adomah does. Or do we stick to the starting line-up from Saturday, with Whelan doing the defensive stuff, and bring on Green or Hourihane later on if all's going well?

One thing we've seen from Smith is he doesn't like to park the bus, he goes for it, and that's going to give West Brom something to think about.

I just hope some of the training today involves one or more of our attacking players tearing off down the pitch the moment Steer gets hold of the ball - that could give them a proper headache! Sure, he doesn't appear to be that precise (although I remember seeing him a few years ago and thinking how much more accurate he was than Guzan, although saying that Guzan was terrible) but we're probably going to be doing more in the counter attack than we were on Saturday.

I’m not sure why you think we’ll be doing more on the counter attack? We don’t play that way, we generally get the lions share of possession. Seeing how WBA approached the game on Saturday I cannot see that they have the midfield or front men to boss us with possession. I honestly think their only hope is to play the same again and hope that we make mistakes in the atmosphere of their own ground. We’ve shown good batting qualities at Elland Road and the pig sty this season, not forgetting away at Rotherham either. It’ll be interesting to see what WBA do without Gayle or Robson-Kanu to call on? I assume that they’ll go with Rodriguez as the lone front man, not sure they have any other striker to throw into the mix? We’d have to have quite an off day to (a) concede a couple of goals (b) not score any goals.
Honestly, I think WBA have to try and be as tight at the back again. They’ll know the danger that lays in wait if they take men away from Grealish & McGinn. They basically played 5 at the back with a defensive midfield 4 on Saturday. We should be confident.

[jeffvilla]

Fully expect a dirty game on Tuesday. Time wasting from 20 minutes into the game on Saturday, They have to go for it and that will give us opportunity's. I fully believe that we can win on Tuesday I booked my hotel room for Wembley 4 weeks ago, that how confident I am. UTV

[deadbuzz]

Only Norwich scored more goals than them in the league, they're capable of doing damage even withought Gayle. If they score first the momentum swings in their favour, especially with the home crowd behind them, so I expect that they'll be going for it trying to get an early goal.

For our part I see there's a lot of debate as to whether we start with Hourihane or Whelan. Hourihane has nine goals and twelve assists this season, not sure we can really afford to leave someone who offers that much of a threat out of the side, outside of McGinn and Abraham no one else has been involved in as many goals as him, in fact our four most productive players in terms of goals and assists are Abraham, McGinn, Hourihane, and Kodjia, yet we're likely to leave two of those, the latter two out of the team.

[Saunders82]

We weren't hitting them hard enough on the counter. I think McGinn is wary of his yellow situation. Presumably if we get to the final he'll not have to worry about it and can go balls out? Would any ban if he picked up another yellow carry over to next season?

As deadbuzzard says cards were reset at the end of the season, IMO Grealish and McGinn had no room to move around the box with a nine man defence, it should be different on Tuesday. UTV

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