Match Thread: Norwich v Villa

[VillaBill]

I’m always confident of beating Norwich at Villa Park, not so at Carrie Road, Norwich have started well but I don’t think we’ll get beat, I’m going for a Desmond.
As we were Saturday but with Connor coming in for the suspended McGinn

[achilles]

As Dean Smith likes to rotate his squad I think we will see some changes.
We have to be wary of Klose the centre half of Norwich at set plays as he scored twice on Saturday against Forest.
Therefore I think he may go for something like this, with Jedinak recalled purely for his height and defensive capabilities and perhaps Bree getting an outing, also Hogan may get an opportunity:

...................Nyland

Bree.....Tuanzabee.....Chester....Taylor

..........Jedinak.......Bjarnason

Elmo............Grealish...........Adomah

.................Abraham/Hogan

[achilles]

Posted here as it is related to tonight's match:

[deadbuzzardalive]

The Canaries are in scintillating form, just our luck that we play them away whilst all our promotion rivals are at home. But if we have a good game then we're capable of getting a win.

Hourihane will probably come in for McGinn, but beyond that I haven't got a clue what's going to happen, but there could be a few changes given we're in the midst of playing three games in six days, can't see Abraham getting dropped though.

[FoxyAV]

El Ghazi maybe, but then both Elmo and Albert get back to defend. I haven't a clue.

[VTID85]

Is it on the idiot-lantern tonight?

[FoxyAV]

Is it on the idiot-lantern tonight?

I think so, yes.

Whelan and Hourihane in for McGinn and Bjarnasson, apart from that unchanged.

[achilles]

Interesting, no Bolasie in squad and Whelan in:

[Saunders82]

This is a toughie, but a result would be a good pointer on how we are going IMO, in the last few years we have been a little poor in this fixture, prior to this we were not so bad, lets hope we have turned the corner, I'm not going to tempt fate tho by a score prediction.

[VillaBill]

So far so good, don’t wanna tempt fate, but Norwich have offered very little. UTV

[Saunders82]

Not a bad effort so far, playing off the front foot and hunting the ball down, some sloppiness creaps in from time to time but u aint going to loose bad habits that easily. Now hopefully Smith will have them ready for the early push from Norwich, stand up to it and who knows.

[big ming]

Half time. Generally better but Jack getting caught on the ball far too much. Hutton a couple of suicide/hospital passes and clearly didn't have the legs in a foot race going forward. Bit of a Curate's egg so far.... good in parts.

[big ming]

Nyland!!!!! Very poor.

[FoxyAV]

I suspect Deano is going to be tearing strips off one or two players who had the ball nicked waiting for it to arrive.

[big ming]

Starting to look like a Bruce performance.
We have managed to play Jordan Rhodes into form (a player who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo normally).
Losing the second half again. I don't think we are fit enough and desperately need a fitness coach to build up some stamina.

[Fpuppys]

Nyland and Ghazi

[VTID85]

The players are clearly being coached differently as you can see them almost "in between" styles of play. I don't get Nyland at all but maybe he can be turned into a sows purse.

Above all though, Norwich and their fans have yet again proven themselves to be thick as pig shit animals.

[Saunders82]

Jordan Rhodes given too much room both times, poor defending from us really, El Gazi didnt do much but put in a nice cross which Hogan didnt even attempt, Tammy would have had it in the net before they could blink, and now we face QPR off the back of a good win on Friday. On the whole not that bad a performance just our old bad habits creaping in.

[VTID85]

The bad habits were forced into the players over the course of 2 years, a couple of weeks aren't going to rid the demons.

The alarming thing for me was the amount of ball-watching and hesitation in possession like they'd got all the time in the world. Norwich saw this and exploited it.

I had a dire feeling for their first goal as soon as Tammy went off before the corner was taken. Defending a set-piece following a substitution is rarely good which is why most managers won't do it except in unfortunate injury-related circumstances such as Tammy's.

[FoxyAV]

Norwich very played well while we still looked disjointed, they seem to have a good head coach and if that's the kind of style we'll see when Deano's had some time to get everything sorted and settled then I'm looking forward to it. Tuanzebe was my MOTM. We missed McGinn and while Whelan had a very good go at it I wonder if we need to start relying on Bjarnasson in that position. You know, legs and all that.

We changed massively after Albert and Tammy went off. El Ghazi and Bolasie really do need to step up and start working for us. I assume the latter was being rested (or being worked on!) while the former looked pretty rubbish last night. Sure, Tammy would have buried that cross into the net but he's about six or seven inches taller than Hogan!

All I'm left wondering is if we can bring back Green and De Laet early?

[DelboyVilla]

Didn't watch the game as I thought we may lose it considering Norwich's form and glad I didn't. Smith has had these guys for less than a week and we all knew there were problems in the dressing room? It seems that Bolaise needs more fitness and El Ghazi needs a kick up the arse? Also Hogan needs to start to walk the walk when he gets the chance!

[FoxyAV]

Didn't watch the game as I thought we may lose it considering Norwich's form and glad I didn't. Smith has had these guys for less than a week and we all knew there were problems in the dressing room? It seems that Bolaise needs more fitness and El Ghazi needs a kick up the arse? Also Hogan needs to start to walk the walk when he gets the chance!

Hogan didn't have any service and when El Ghazi did finally get a ball in it was over his head. I've seen people blame him for not trying hard enough but he was sandwiched tightly between two taller defenders. We looked out of sorts and Norwich looked really good. They worked their arses off while our lot just looked unfit. Some of them gave it a really good go though but ultimately we just weren't ready. If Smith gets our lot closing down and attacking the way Norwich did I think we'll have a great season. Had Bruce been in charge yesterday we'd have lost by a lot more than 2-1. And ultimately their second goal was very good. Had Tammy not headbutted someone's foot and Albert not taken a knock we'd have come away with at least one point.

For me the biggest worries are El Ghazi, Bolasie and Nyeland. That's, what, three out of the five new arrivals (McGinn I think had a head start on all of them anyway). Tuanzebe looks a beast and gets better and better with every match.

[VillaBill]

I agree about Tusnzebe although I disagree with moving Chester to the left, our best defender looks uncomfortable there, the keeper must be a vampire with his fear of crosses, his attempt at getting the ball for the equaliser was pathetic.
I’m sorry but I haven’t seen Hogan do anything since his arrival, I hoping Deano can get him firing perhaps?
Our squad is unbalanced and needs some tweaks & I may get shot down for this, I know jack is one of better players but he just slows the tempo down too much for my liking , would McGinn playing further forward be worth a try?

[FoxyAV]

I know jack is one of better players but he just slows the tempo down too much for my liking , would McGinn playing further forward be worth a try?

I've wondered about that, but he does get involved in almost everything, I think he put the ball through to Elmo for the cross to Tammy's header in the last match, put the ball through to El Ghazi for his one good ball towards Hogan, won probably every free kick in a dangerous area, draws in players and away from teammates and so on. He's involved in bringing the ball forward as well as setting up attacks. If he scored or made assists it would be better but I bet he has the best stats in assisting whoever makes goal assists.

We missed Bjarnason and McGinn but at least both will be rested for Friday. Quite what we'll do without Albert is another thing though, can Deano get any message through to El Ghazi (and Bolasie) in time? Will they get back to help in defence? It does currently feel like we wasted a lot of money on them and two goalies while letting Steer, De Laet, Green and Elphick out on loan. I reckon the first three should be starting for us, with Elphick in reserve (oh, I don't know, in case Chester gets a one-match ban?).

[VTID85]

Hang on.... Bolasie didn't even play last night. He's played 131 minutes so far and scored two goals for us. I'm confused.

[Sponsored content]