Wolves v Aston Villa.

Grealish makes his comeback tomorrow evening:

http://m.tamworthherald.co.uk/Aston-Villa-s-Jack-Grealish-set-feature-Tamworth/story-27501600-detail/story.html

2-2. Terrible defending

2-2. Bugger.

Was that on Baker?

Typical - last minute sucker punches.

Need to see these situations home....

Richards won a lot of headers in our box tonight, looks solid enough to me....first goal I'm looking at Sinclair, 2nd goal baker....if Cark was on the pitch, they don't score that 2nd goal!

Baker is get rid ASAP.

ViewFromT2 wrote:Richards won a lot of headers I our box tonight, looks solid enough to me....first goal I'm looking at Sinclair, 2nd goal baker....if Cark was on the pitch, they don't score that 2nd goal!

I thought he was woeful - although none of the defenders looked great. The headers he won lacked any conviction, he kept annoyingly waving his arms around as though he was conducting the defence. Id give him a try at FB - and bring in another CB. That defence tonight will get ripped apart in the prem, make no doubt about that.

Kozak looking like he could shine, Gueye impressive in midfield and gets around a lot; the comment about Clark wanting to kill Hitler is hilarious, particularly given I can see exactly what Joppe means. Robinson added a bit of energy but let's get honest - Kozak snuck a goal off the back of a poor shot from Robinson, not a pass.

Hutton has ideas above his station and if he becomes the regular RB I'm really concerned that we're fucked as every team with an ounce of sense will exploit the fuck out of him. Baker...., I hope after tonight Sherwood's mind is made up. No way is he a Premier League player, I question whether he is even a footballer.

Amavi looked really good, Bacuna was quite good. Sinclair not so much. I think Richards could be fine as CB if he isn't having to mop up for Hutton.

It's a friendly at the end of the day, as much as it's a good way to see which players do well and don't, the league kick off will be a different story.

Kozak is a player, gabby 4th/5th choice this season, robinsons shorts too short, ayew didn't have much time, so too early to judge.

Clark needs a touch refining to avoid multi suspensions, Richards not up to speed, bit sloppy but will improve with a better rb next to him. amavi best LB we had for years. hutton bench at best.

Geuye is the real deal, impeccable movement and passing, reads the game well, bacuna was ok but put at odds cos hutton was all over the place. westwood a poor version of geuye, will be sub this season.

good test tonite, we played ok ish. Just need that defence tightening up, get other newbies in and all will be good

UTV

Hutton cannot cross or defend. We really need to sort out RB.
First goal was Amavi leaving it to Sinclair to defend. Other than that, Amavi looked great. And he looks like a nice bloke too.
Kozak I don't think won any of the long balls aimed at him. Benteke in the air he ain't, and he doesn't make players hold off like Benteke did but his overall play was great, and he was making runs too.
Clark and Westwood steadied the ship and both did an excellent job.
Robinson excellent again, Sinclair kind of almost. Gabby not so involved, I'd rather see Robinson start over him.
Bunn looked very good and even his rushed clearances tended to go to Villa players. Guzan can't do that with goal kicks.
Bacuna putting in a case for wingback rather than winger or right of 4-3-3.
Gueye looked very good.
Richards kind of ok. I think I'd rather see Okore pair with Clark.

I think we are missing Grealish and Gil and I'd like to see them with Kozak and our two new strikers.

MOTM - quite a few contenders. Kozak probably for showing how much he wants to play and score. Amavi in second for making passes that look like he's misshit the ball.

Wolves had a couple of good attacking players didn't they?

Overall, how did we play? Did we retain the ball well? Play high tempo? Looked to assert ourselves over Wolves? Play with width (which TS eluded to last season we may do this). Although management will say fitness is key, pattern of play during friendly matches is also. Not having a commanding back line is a big big worry though....

It was a decent run out .... I'm off to bed to have a good think about it, and I'll probably have formed a totally wrong opinion about where we're at by tomorrow morning .... night all.

4BetLite wrote:westwood a poor version of geuye, will be sub this season.

Funny how we watched the same match (well, most of it, I had to reboot the feed five times, paused and hit play about the same number of times and had numerous pauses before it sorted itself out) and saw different things! Westwood for me has great distribution and picks out some great passes. He's also making some good passes into thin air for people to run into, I hadn't noticed so much of that before Sherwood (BS?).

I wonder if the whole team is going to be a lot more fluid on the pitch this season. Lots of young, energetic players coming in (apart from right back and the two centre backs) and moving into each other's positions.

I thought we did ok overall...played at a good tempo, pressing well all over the pitch.
Hutton needs replacing, would hope bacuna doesn't star in midfield...westwood did ok to be fair.
gabby is a carthorse and showed it again tonight...hopefully the injury will keep him out of the picture for a good while. Robinson looked very sharp...would rather he stayed and we sent gabby out on loan to be honest.

Wolves looked better than I expected. We got the ball forward pretty well, but so did they. A draw probably a fair score on the night.

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:westwood a poor version of geuye, will be sub this season.

Funny how we watched the same match (well, most of it, I had to reboot the feed five times, paused and hit play about the same number of times and had numerous pauses before it sorted itself out) and saw different things! Westwood for me has great distribution and picks out some great passes. He's also making some good passes into thin air for people to run into, I hadn't noticed so much of that before Sherwood (BS?).

I wonder if the whole team is going to be a lot more fluid on the pitch this season. Lots of young, energetic players coming in (apart from right back and the two centre backs) and moving into each other's positions.  

I thought westwood did ok but too similar to geuye for me and not as good, so I think he will be back up, especially if we get Jordan V. But its strength in depth and with quality like westwood on the bench and better 11 starting, its looking good.

The last couple pieces of TS jigsaw will define how well we do

smetro wrote:

ViewFromT2 wrote:Richards won a lot of headers I our box tonight, looks solid enough to me....first goal I'm looking at Sinclair, 2nd goal baker....if Cark was on the pitch, they don't score that 2nd goal!

I thought he was woeful - although none of the defenders looked great. The headers he won lacked any conviction, he kept annoyingly waving his arms around as though he was conducting the defence. Id give him a try at FB - and bring in another CB.  That defence tonight will get ripped apart in the prem, make no doubt about that.

Agreed. Both Hutton and Baker look lost. Richards need three centerbacks because of his positioning and surges, or ideally stick to right back. Richards-new top class Cb-clarke/okore-Amavi please

4BetLite wrote:

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:westwood a poor version of geuye, will be sub this season.

Funny how we watched the same match (well, most of it, I had to reboot the feed five times, paused and hit play about the same number of times and had numerous pauses before it sorted itself out) and saw different things! Westwood for me has great distribution and picks out some great passes. He's also making some good passes into thin air for people to run into, I hadn't noticed so much of that before Sherwood (BS?).

I wonder if the whole team is going to be a lot more fluid on the pitch this season. Lots of young, energetic players coming in (apart from right back and the two centre backs) and moving into each other's positions.  

I thought westwood did ok but too similar to geuye for me and not as good, so I think he will be back up, especially if we get Jordan V. But its strength in depth and with quality like westwood on the bench and better 11 starting, its looking good.

The last couple pieces of TS jigsaw will define how well we do

Bearing in mind Kozak cost £8million or so, Westwood, Bacuna, Sanchez and Okore are the only remaining 'cheap' buys made by Lambert who are likely to play this season. McLeish bought Hutton, Guzan was signed by MON (!), Gabby, Baker and Clark came up through the academy and so did Grealish and Robinson. Cissokho and Bennett probably won't play again (Bennett isn't even listed as a player on the AVFC site although he seems to have edited his own Wikipedia page "On 21 August 2014, Bennett joined Brighton & Hove Albion on a season-long loan. He returned to Villa as he has the potential to become the best LB in the world.").

Things are changing fast aren't they?

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:westwood a poor version of geuye, will be sub this season.

Funny how we watched the same match (well, most of it, I had to reboot the feed five times, paused and hit play about the same number of times and had numerous pauses before it sorted itself out) and saw different things! Westwood for me has great distribution and picks out some great passes. He's also making some good passes into thin air for people to run into, I hadn't noticed so much of that before Sherwood (BS?).

I wonder if the whole team is going to be a lot more fluid on the pitch this season. Lots of young, energetic players coming in (apart from right back and the two centre backs) and moving into each other's positions.  

I thought westwood did ok but too similar to geuye for me and not as good, so I think he will be back up, especially if we get Jordan V. But its strength in depth and with quality like westwood on the bench and better 11 starting, its looking good.

The last couple pieces of TS jigsaw will define how well we do

Bearing in mind Kozak cost £8million or so, Westwood, Bacuna, Sanchez and Okore are the only remaining 'cheap' buys made by Lambert who are likely to play this season. McLeish bought Hutton, Guzan was signed by MON (!), Gabby, Baker and Clark came up through the academy and so did Grealish and Robinson. Cissokho and Bennett probably won't play again (Bennett isn't even listed as a player on the AVFC site although he seems to have edited his own Wikipedia page "On 21 August 2014, Bennett joined Brighton & Hove Albion on a season-long loan. He returned to Villa as he has the potential to become the best LB in the world.").

Things are changing fast aren't they?

Fast is an understatement foxy, much needed though! exiting times my friend........... I'm liking the adebayor signing, on his day he can be some player and will give opposition something to think about, just hope TS can get him going, who else would u bring in?

Having just read some of these posts after getting back from the match I think I've watched a different game to some. Westwood was very good tonight Bunn looked decent and will challenge Guzan. Kozak looked very lively and showed more to his game than just a penalty box player. All the new signings looked to be good additions and are settling in nicely. We controlled most of the game and at times knocked the ball around well and retained possession. It seems we are coming along nicely but we will need to keep upping it in the coming weeks.

Just got in.

Amavi class. Richards looked good. Gueye quality. Kojak still finding the net.

Sinclair poor. Gabby awful. Baker woeful.

Everyone not mentioned was fair-to-middling

Villa_Dan wrote:Just got in.

Amavi class. Richards looked good. Gueye quality. Kojak still finding the net.

Sinclair poor. Gabby awful. Baker woeful.

Everyone not mentioned was fair-to-middling

I agree, I didn't want this to happen because I think he should not be overplayed but for me Grealish and Gill walk into that team tonight. I really like Sinclair but I think Man City have ruined him, he just looks he is trying so hard to impress but in the final third just constantly fails to deliver anything, he'll mazey dribble and run at players but can't produce, Bench for me with Gabby.

4BetLite wrote:

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:westwood a poor version of geuye, will be sub this season.

Funny how we watched the same match (well, most of it, I had to reboot the feed five times, paused and hit play about the same number of times and had numerous pauses before it sorted itself out) and saw different things! Westwood for me has great distribution and picks out some great passes. He's also making some good passes into thin air for people to run into, I hadn't noticed so much of that before Sherwood (BS?).

I wonder if the whole team is going to be a lot more fluid on the pitch this season. Lots of young, energetic players coming in (apart from right back and the two centre backs) and moving into each other's positions.  

I thought westwood did ok but too similar to geuye for me and not as good, so I think he will be back up, especially if we get Jordan V. But its strength in depth and with quality like westwood on the bench and better 11 starting, its looking good.

The last couple pieces of TS jigsaw will define how well we do

Bearing in mind Kozak cost £8million or so, Westwood, Bacuna, Sanchez and Okore are the only remaining 'cheap' buys made by Lambert who are likely to play this season. McLeish bought Hutton, Guzan was signed by MON (!), Gabby, Baker and Clark came up through the academy and so did Grealish and Robinson. Cissokho and Bennett probably won't play again (Bennett isn't even listed as a player on the AVFC site although he seems to have edited his own Wikipedia page "On 21 August 2014, Bennett joined Brighton & Hove Albion on a season-long loan. He returned to Villa as he has the potential to become the best LB in the world.").

Things are changing fast aren't they?

Fast is an understatement foxy, much needed though! exiting times my friend........... I'm liking the adebayor signing, on his day he can be some player and will give opposition something to think about, just hope TS can get him going, who else would u bring in?

I haven't a clue who to bring in. I have a sort of tunnel vision when I watch Villa, I tend not to notice who we're playing against, I just look at our players! I try though to see the positives in the players we already have. Well, with the exception of N'Zogbia, who I've always thought is a waste of space. Now we've seen Amavi play, Hutton just looks slow and cumbersome, he's the only one I'm worried about now. With Delph, Benteke, Gabby and Grealish so strong down the left last season and Amavi, Gueye, Grealish, Robinson and Gabby there this time round we need to try to work out how to have two functional flanks, and while Gil is going to work a treat, Bacuna and Hutton are together either ok as defender or ok on the wing. We need someone like Amavi and someone like Gueye on the right, behind Gil in a 4-3-3. Bacuna for me is a wing back, with Clark, Okore and Richards as the back three. I did think Richardson would work well as the left sided wing back but Amavi is putting in a very strong case for himself. Hutton for me just doesn't defend or go forward well enough. I trust Sherwood to work this all out! I like the idea of Berbatov and Adebayor on short contracts. Sherwood seems to be able to motivate players and we already have Kozak making a very good case for himself. Who would you bring in?

avfc85 wrote:

Villa_Dan wrote:Just got in.

Amavi class. Richards looked good. Gueye quality. Kojak still finding the net.

Sinclair poor. Gabby awful. Baker woeful.

Everyone not mentioned was fair-to-middling

I agree, I didn't want this to happen because I think he should not be overplayed but for me Grealish and Gill walk into that team tonight. I really like Sinclair but I think Man City have ruined him, he just looks he is trying so hard to impress but in the final third just constantly fails to deliver anything, he'll mazey dribble and run at players but can't produce, Bench for me with Gabby.

Agreed. Think we'll see him as an impact sub more often than not, he's lacking end product badly.