Praise the Lord - its Derby away - match thread.

[smetro]

A team in top form - and the other just getting over the flu !  - might be a bit early for us, worry about GK and defence for this one.......having got his feet under the table will DS spring  a selection surprise ? - O'Hare in midfield ? - or does keep a steady ship and go with the team that beat bolton...

Im going to be a party pooper and suggest a 3-0 home win !

[Saunders82]

I hope we carry on the recent good work and I'm sticking my neck out and say we will pinch it and make a statement pre the Blues game, Nyland to have turned the corner and be brilliant ( or is that way too hopeful) UTV

[deadbuzzardalive]

My mind's eye cannot foresee us getting anything from this one, no matter how hard I try to visualize it, it just feels like one of those games we're going to lose, I wouldn't be surprised if it's an heavy defeat. And it's just our rotten luck that most of all the other promotion contenders are playing at home too.

But if we're serious about challenging for promotion, at some point we're going to have to start winning fixtures like this one, if we can start tomorrow, then it will be a massive boost for us and our confidence, and will also be nice to go into the international break on the back of a win for once.

Don't expect any of the youngsters to be involved, as they all played for u23s last night against Derby u23s, the one exception being Bree, whether he's been called up to the senior squad, or he's injured, I don't know.

[VTID85]

3-2 or 2-3, can't decide which way it will go. Will be enjoying time with the Ram-supporting in-laws tomorrow.

[big ming]

Smithball!!
Ditto in the other match thread!

[Saunders82]

I hope we carry on the recent good work and I'm sticking my neck out and say we will pinch it and make a statement pre the Blues game, Nyland to have turned the corner and be brilliant ( or is that way too hopeful) UTV

Boy did we pinch it AND the goalie was solid, my crystal ball was spot on

[deadbuzzardalive]

Didn't see the game. or even the see score until full time, was pleasantly surprised, and by all accounts we should have scored more. Sounds like Nyland had a good game too, two clean sheets in a row for him now. Hopefully this is a turning point, should give us a lot of confidence going forward.

[DelboyVilla]

Yes apparently Nyland's best game for us! Another clean sheet and genius substitutions by Deano! Should have scored a bag full and again Kodija missed a few sitters as did Tammy but he made up for it by sticking one in the onion bag! Elmo and Bolasie were great when they came on? I wonder how long before Jimmy is dropped in favor of Yannick?

Fitness improving as we are now keeping going to the end!

Shame we have a 2 week break as the momentum of this win would have been great to carry forward to the game with our inbred neighbours?
However it does give Deano another 2 weeks with half the squad?

[Army villain]

I was surprised with how good we are, I had us down for a draw, we played them off the park. Fitness is better, plus the tactics, and it's all down to a good coaching, lots of missed chances, but it's a great result and agree it's a pity with this two week break. But dean has more time to work with the team UTV.

[achilles]

This was my first away game of the season and I will post my thoughts later but this vlog sums up the atmosphere brilliantly:

[DelboyVilla]

Amazing to think that 6 games ago we were watching a side that had no confidence, no system, no style of play and was so scared of losing that they kept on losing!
Dean hasn't once mentioned the fact that this side had it's spine ripped out the end of last season, that this is a club that was going bust and he has no money to spend?
Refreshing isn't it!

[achilles]

Well, what an utterly brilliant day. What a game to choose for you first away game of the season.
Derby, the team in form against Villa playing catch-up, and we absolutely slaughtered them, away from home as well.

The first 20 minutes or so was a very cagey affair but then it opened up and Derby had a couple of really good chance with just long hopeful balls down the middle which again we failed to deal with properly. Nyland came to our rescue with one absolutely blinding save and a couple of decent stops. We also had some good chances especially when it opened up for Grealish and he put his shot wide when it seemed easier to score. On chances in the first half it could easily have been 2 – 2 or 2 – 3, it was amazing that it was still goalless.

The second half was the best I have seen us play since the Wolves game last season, Derby never got a sniff at our goal, we were all over them. Even the Derby forums accept that Villa could have scored 6 or 7 in the second half and it wouldn’t have flattered us.

Everybody played their part in the win but special mentions go to McGinn who once again showed what an absolute steal he was by being brilliant yet again, Nyland who proved that perhaps he might actually turn out to be a very good keeper after all, Axel who looks absolute class on the ball and creates time for himself and never seems to panic, still finding his feet with the physical aspect of the championship, Hutton who had to switch to left back at half time with Taylor’s injury and just gets on with the job with no fuss but utter and total commitment, Hourihane who couldn’t get his passing range in the first half but got better in the second half and his dead ball contribution is awesome, Bolasie when he came on is getting better and better and an utter beast in this division.

The atmosphere was unbelievable with the singing and the utter bedlam when we scored, it was just great.

Don’t want to be too negative on such a great day, but the strikers need to start scoring more with the chances that we are creating especially Kodjia who looks a shadow of the player he was a couple of seasons ago for us.

Onto the next game against the slum dwellers! UTV

[Dions_Bald_Head]

Surprised to not hear green shoots of recovery for Kodjia under Deano - if he's getting our midfield firing it must be a strikers dream. Maybe he needs to feel he's the star man to get going.

[FoxyAV]

Watching the highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1n24LemUGE

Two things strike me - the players' reaction to Nyeland's save in the first half and how they celebrated each goal. Things have definitely changed for the better.

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