Match Thread: Sheffield Wednesday v The Walking Wounded

[achilles]

Well if you thought our injury list was bad it has just got worse with the new injuries to Grabban, Davis and Axel!

However to look on the positive side it does represent an opportunity for our U23's as Bruce has to at least include a couple into the squad (i.e. bench probably).
Could this be an opportunity for one of them to state his case in spite of Bruce's reluctance to play any U23 players, a bit like Davis did?

Well the defence is the easy bit as it picks itself, the rest is extremely difficult as I would have liked Bjarnason to play DM instead of Jedinak who had a poor game last Tuesday but I just don't think Bruce will go for that as he adopts his normal negative attitude, so this is what I think he will select which I can't see scoring for love or money:

...............................Johnstone..................................

.......Elmo.............Chester.........Terry...........Hutton.......

................................Jedinak....................................

...Snodgrass.........Hourihane.......Bjarnason.....Onomah.......

.................................Hogan......................................

I will settle for a point now with that team as it will take something special to score and this is against a very poor Sheffield Wednesday who we should be looking at beating if we have any aspirations of going up.

[De Kuip]

Nah we have to beat these and we should have too much for them even though we've got a worse casualty list than the first day of the Somme.
I agree that Mr "If I was a set of jump leads I'd be the black one" will line up similar to your suggestion.
Personally I'd like to see Onomah dropped, Bjarnnason moved to the left (sorry Thor I know you hate it) ohare in behind Hogan and RHM ready to come on at ht if it's not working.

[Saunders82]

What a great lead title for this post, it sums things up exactly, this is going to be a tough one but I still think we will win it, when everything looks black our lot seem to pull one out of the hat, we could have the possibility of some of our under 23s getting a chance something that there has been lots of clamour for PLUS we owe them one for the result at VP earlier in the season. I hope it is a comfortable win but I would settle for a scrappy 1 nil, keep the faith its never a bad as it seems. UTV.

[Wookster]

Supposedly the opposition are as bad as us with 16 players out injured

[De Kuip]

Supposedly the opposition are as bad as us with 16 players out injured

From Owlstalk forum, posted yesterday:

"Joao - sounds like he's injured in some way (missed that bit)

Thorniley - looks better than first suspected. One or two weeks out then back with the first team


Tom Lees - New problems from the U23's games he has played. Players are suffering after returning because they're not fully match fit and so Jos will bring players back slowly with U23 appearances etc.

Hutch - back training with first team but not expected to feature yet

Van Aken - back training with the first team but not expected to feature yet

Bannan - came back to train with first team then suffered setback. Hopefully back in training next week with first team

Jordan Rhodes - back training with the first team two days ago after sickness


12 or 13 players available from first team and 3 or 4 from the U23's

We must have patience towards the injury and players who train with first team won't go straight back into the first team for the reasons above."

Dunno about Sheff Wed v the Walking Wounded, sounds more like the Limpers v the Lepers!

[deadbuzzardalive]

I'm not in the most confident moods going into this game, not particularly because of the injuries, when you look at it we could probably still put out a first eleven, that most other teams in this division would love to have. My worry is that we've had our good run, and as seems to happen to us under Bruce a good run is followed by a bad run, and Wednesday can be a difficult team to beat on their day, and will no doubt be up for it tomorrow.

I'd play the usual back four with Elmohamady back at right-back, then have a central three of Bjarnason, Hourihane and Onomah, with Snodgrass and Grabben (if fit) on the wings with Hogan up front, if Grabban is injured I'd play Onomah out wide, and O'Hare behind Hogan.

We desperately need a win to get us going again, if we lose tomorrow and Cardiff beat Bristol City, then I think we're done for as far as second is concerned, as I can't see us winning three more matches than them from now until the end of the season, and the games are starting to run out now, if we stay within touching distance of them going into April we should have a chance, as that's a tough month for them fixture wise.

[AstonThriller]

I'm not in the most confident moods going into this game, not particularly because of the injuries, when you look at it we could probably still put out a first eleven, that most other teams in this division would love to have. My worry is that we've had our good run, and as seems to happen to us under Bruce a good run is followed by a bad run, and Wednesday can be a difficult team to beat on their day, and will no doubt be up for it tomorrow.

I'd play the usual back four with Elmohamady back at right-back, then have a central three of Bjarnason, Hourihane and Onomah, with Snodgrass and Grabben (if fit) on the wings with Hogan up front, if Grabban is injured I'd play Onomah out wide, and O'Hare behind Hogan.

We desperately need a win to get us going again, if we lose tomorrow and Cardiff beat Bristol City, then I think we're done for as far as second is concerned, as I can't see us winning three more matches than them from now until the end of the season, and the games are starting to run out now, if we stay within touching distance of them going into April we should have a chance, as that's a tough month for them fixture wise.

LOL where is your bottle? Even if we go seven points behind Cardiff there will still be twelve games to go and they have to come to VP whilst also playing several teams in the top ten. We were nine points behind them not long ago and then went above them. Too many of our fans are just reactionary and don't allow the process to unfold. I keep telling you IT'S A MARATHON, not a sprint.

As for today's game. Well their injury list looks terrible tbh so we've got to believe that we've got a big opportunity here. A win would be absolutely massive and really pile on the pressure to Cardiff.

COME ON VILLA!!

[Villa_Dan]

Why do you feel the need to mock people you disagree with? You could disagree with him without the "Where's your bottle lol" line. It's unnecessary and only serves to wind people up.

For me, if there's no Grabban or Snodgrass, I'd be tempted to try:

              Johnstone
Elmo Chester Terry Hutton
                  Whelan
       Hourihane     Lansbury
                    O'Hare
              Hogan    Audrey

Lacks width but with Wednesday also missing key players due to injuries I'd just plough through them

[deadbuzzardalive]

I'm not in the most confident moods going into this game, not particularly because of the injuries, when you look at it we could probably still put out a first eleven, that most other teams in this division would love to have. My worry is that we've had our good run, and as seems to happen to us under Bruce a good run is followed by a bad run, and Wednesday can be a difficult team to beat on their day, and will no doubt be up for it tomorrow.

I'd play the usual back four with Elmohamady back at right-back, then have a central three of Bjarnason, Hourihane and Onomah, with Snodgrass and Grabben (if fit) on the wings with Hogan up front, if Grabban is injured I'd play Onomah out wide, and O'Hare behind Hogan.

We desperately need a win to get us going again, if we lose tomorrow and Cardiff beat Bristol City, then I think we're done for as far as second is concerned, as I can't see us winning three more matches than them from now until the end of the season, and the games are starting to run out now, if we stay within touching distance of them going into April we should have a chance, as that's a tough month for them fixture wise.

LOL where is your bottle? Even if we go seven points behind Cardiff there will still be twelve games to go and they have to come to VP whilst also playing several teams in the top ten. We were nine points behind them not long ago and then went above them. Too many of our fans are just reactionary and don't allow the process to unfold. I keep telling you IT'S A MARATHON, not a sprint.

As for today's game. Well their injury list looks terrible tbh so we've got to believe that we've got a big opportunity here. A win would be absolutely massive and really pile on the pressure to Cardiff.

COME ON VILLA!!

We can't keep leaving it and saying next week, eventually we'll run out of games, we really need to go on another winning run, and the sooner the better, save for a blip over Christmas Cardiff have been right up there all season, and so will be hard to catch, I think we need to stay within a couple of points of them going into April then we'll have a chance.

[De Kuip]

Yeah have to agree.
I'm trying super hard to get this forum back to one that's inclusive, encourages new posters and hopefully the return of some who have lessened their input due to been beaten to death with the inflexible opinion of some posters (I'm not saying that's you AT, I'd like to think we've got rid of those now).
So I know I'm probably being over heavy on the modding and will be for a while, but even reasonably mild ribbing like "Where's your bottle" is directed at the poster not the post.
So if we can all be kind to each other and if we disagree offer a critique of the post, not the person, I reckon this place will be far less snippy than it has been over the last few weeks.
Hope peeps understand I'm only trying to get TBAR back to the thing I always thought made it special and that is the inclusive nature and openness to alternative opinions that attracted me here in the first place. I think we're almost back to that good place, so let's keep the friendliness paramount- we're all Villa fans after all - the chosen ones.
Sermon over

[deadbuzzardalive]

After all the O'Hare talk, he doesn't even make the bench...



Good to see Hepburn-Murphy there though, think Grabban will be on the left, with Onomah playing just behind Hogan.

[Villa_Dan]

2 upfront. I'm happy with that.

I feel Thor has been unfortunate to be dropped. Share O'Hare hasn't been given a look in but not sure where he'd fit other than on the bench anyway

[Villa_Dan]

Fucks sake

[deadbuzzardalive]

Game over, looks like that seven match winning run was a false dawn, there was a few warning signs within it to be honest, should have lost to Sheffield United, and could have easily come away with only a point at Burton.

[Villa_Dan]

Game over, looks like that seven match winning run was a false dawn, there was a few warning signs within it to be honest, should have lost to Sheffield United, and could have easily come away with only a point at Burton.

Jumped the gun a bit there bud!

Grabban! 2 in 2

[deadbuzzardalive]

That's what I was hoping was going to happen. Well done Grabban, need a few more now.

[De Kuip]

Got to be happy with 2 up front that is positive. Surprised to see Whelan in as I thought he'd keep Thor.
Hopefully grabban and Hogan will make up for the simply puzzling omission of O'Hare from the squad.
Not happy we've conceded but very happy to have equalized and grabban is looking a great addition just as when needed someone.
Come on you lions!

[deadbuzzardalive]

Sounds like Wednesday are all over us, and we're being overrun in midfield, might be an idea to Bjarnason on to add some energy in there.

[Villa_Dan]

Awful time to concede.

Idiots.

[deadbuzzardalive]

I imagine that really is it now, shocking team selection from Bruce in choosing Whelan over Bjarnason.

[VTID85]

Hilarious, when yesterday the AVFC Official Facebook page shared a brag about conceding fewer goals than any other team in the Championship during the final 15mins before the half and full time whistles.

[deadbuzzardalive]

The way we're going we'll be lucky to reach the play-offs. To think we were second barely a week ago, this time tomorrow, we'll most likely be seven points off second place, with Cardiff having games coming up against Burton, small heath and Barnsley, so will probably pull further away.

It's going to be a very interesting summer.

[De Kuip]

Only positive thing so far today is the noses losing 2-0 at home to the mighty Barnsley.
Hahahahahahahahaha

[De Kuip]

Davis on for onomah.
More worrying is Hutton off due to an injury and Taylor on.

[VTID85]

Haha, Whelan!

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