This is getting boring. Three matches, three wins, nine points. Eight wins in 11 now, as Villa handled Ipswich Town with relative ease to close out a very good week with a 2-0 win courtesy of an Albert Adomah brace. Please feel free to be positive. Or take a nap.
Here’s what I’ve got.
The Good
Pretty much everything, really, apart from Jedinak getting injured again. Villa played some neat stuff, no one looked tired, and Glenn Whelan had to have had his best game in a Villa shirt, including playing Albert Adomah in for his first of two on the day.
And Albert. What can you say? He’s been on fire, slotting home comfortably, doing all you could ask for. Lovely assist from Snodgrass on the second. Davis was a bit unlucky not to have found the net himself.
What I really liked was feeling no nerves whatsoever as this one wore on. 452 passes (130 more than Ipswich), 58% possession, two goals, a clean sheet, 16 shots, five on target (versus none for Ipswich) and apart from Waghorn’s corners, no threat at all from the visitors with Sam Johnstone only having to make a couple catches. Ipswich did go close once, but that was really it. And of course they had a goal disallowed for running into Johnstone, which is what made the chance, so it wasn’t a let-off.
Moreover, the side once again played a full 90 minutes, scoring in each half. Villa finished on the front foot and were comfortable throughout apart from a bit of a spell from Ipswich before Adomah fired us ahead. Was much more likely that we’d add a third than that Ipswich would pull one back.
The Bad
Jedinak getting hurt (looked to be his shoulder), and Davis coming off. From his body language couldn’t tell if it was a groin pull or just a blow to the groin. Hoping the latter. Don’t know what Elmo’s late introduction for Taylor was about…Didn’t see Taylor struggling, so I’m guessing Bruce just wanted to get Elmo a few minutes.
Just to fill up space, I might’ve liked to see O’Hare get a cameo like Grealish did, but when things are going well and you’re in control, it’s also okay to let the starters see out matches given there was no imminent threat. Perhaps that’s also the best time to bring on O’Hare.
Oh, and I will say that even though it was just a few meaningless minutes, Jack’s body language seems unchanged, and he is going to have to get more stuck in if he wants a starting spot.
The Ugly
Don’t have anything.
Final Verdict
We’ve had some good performances off and on, but this was particularly satisfying coming as it did against a team well up in the top half and on the heels of two much more hard-fought matches earlier in the week.
Bruce persisted with his favored side, and whilst one might’ve been crying out for rotation beforehand, it wasn’t needed at all. Perhaps the players have finally run themselves into the condition and mentality necessary to keep at it.
There were some sharp passages of play and Villa pushed it upfield quickly. These players are getting comfortable with one another, and while my thoughts on the midfield haven’t necessarily changed, today we did play a bit better in tight spaces and Whelan was definitely an asset rather than a liability. Snodgrass also did what I asked, and looked for the pass more quickly instead of trying to too much on his own. Thanks for reading, Snoddy.
Of course, one has to wonder how long we can rely on Adomah to do so much. I was hoping for a third just to see someone else find the net. But it’s working, Albert’s scoring, and Villa seem to have grown this week. Rather than hide from the challenge they seem to be stepping up to it, and I might even have seen some signs of actual confidence in the side today.
It’s a good Saturday, and I know I’ll spend the rest of the weekend quite happily looking back on the week that was.
Over to you.
The Author
John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.Comments 95
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JC
Good writeup & have to agree with most of it
JG
Have added this as JC put this one up before I posted it in reply.
Yeah I got the feeling about luck for today, although the players made their own luck fortunately, as I couldn’t see any continuity left or where we were going yesterday.
Well we haven’t a match for week?
So there should be even less excuse now he’s got a full week at BH with the players.
Maybe being in crisis is good for him as it gets him out of his habitual patterns a little.
IanG,
Cheers…Yeah, good to have a week now, though I think we play Leeds Friday night, so 24 hours less.
Mentione on last post…. Dont agree at all we need to change and freshen things up. Why?!
The players are fit and we are winning! Momentum is key and dont change a winning side. Old man whelean has just played 3 games in a week and was outstanding today!. He is our key no doubt imo.
Blues beating blades 🙂
Bruce cant do no right. Plays green instead of albert but bruce hates youth?
Then albert comes in for injured green does well and we say he should of been always playing!!!!!
Ive always wanted albert and kodjer in though.
I love them so much. Always confident, positive and great characters.
Still fuming kodjer out.
Davis needs to start scoring
Didn’t see or hear the game but glad for another three points in what surely should and was a bit of a formality for the team we have. Ipswich’s successes away have all been at lower half clubs so was expecting a tight game but they were never going to overwhelm our midfield and we just had to score. good old nearly sold Albert keeps plundering the goals, irreplaceable at the moment.
The tests are getting sterner by the game at the moment and I’m hoping for 1 point min at Leeds 3 would be a statement as they are turning it around after a blip.
well done Bruce and Villa beat some bigger sides and I might even call you steve 🙂
Andrew,
Think the thing with Adomah was more about bringing Elmo in to replace him on the right…just seemed unnecessary without giving Adomah a real chance.
Howdo…
Just noticed that OV placed his comment on the wrong thread, so I’m putting it here on his behalf… 😀
From other blogs:
“Good performance again today. And yet another shot to all the midweek team pickers who AGAIN, drop Hutton and Whelan, and yet AGAIN they were excellent overall! Within 2minutes of Elmo coming on he was getting yelled at by Snoddy for being out of position and then when an attack broke down Snoddy over took him chasing back after being on the pitch 80minutes longer hahaha”
“The more and more you watch whelan the more you appreciate what he does without him really getting recognition, allows hourihane to get forward, Hutton was again solid”
“The dirty work Whelan does will always go unnoticed by most”
“Game over. Won 2 – 0. Good game, some really solid performances and don’t feel it’s for me to single anyone out. Seems to be an air of invincibility about the place at the minute, certainly hope it carries on.
What did you fine folk think?”
So – my question is …….is AVL the only blog that continues to denigrate the team and its players? Except for one or two brave souls.
Have to say I am happy to be out of here but much love to you all and please continue to create the angst ………
oldvilla
JC- I think the way the pre-season went it was nailed on Adomah was being touted about for sale as Bruce brought in Elmo and Snodgrass, a left sided spot for Adomah was no eureka moment as we all know, even when he had that great cup game he was left out. His early pre-season injury may have saved our season, strange how these things pan out.
Thank you for that, OV.
hello OV No it isn’t the only blog, many fans are still not convinced and they discuss the possibilities but Denigrate? no
Thanks, JC, a well-written report.
I couldn’t watch the game, which I will do later. I’m glad the lads played well, won and kept a clean sheet. Thank the good Lord for Adomah. His second (saw highlights) was composed. I was hoping someone else would score so we don’t seem too reliant on Albert, but, hey, I’m not complaining.
Who is doing the denigrating here? It’s all love for Steve and the fine lads of AVFC at the moment.
Really good write up thanks John.
I especially agree with the bit about it feeling comfortable today, particularly at the end. Instead of the anxious hanging on that we normally see towards the end of the game we were totally in control and passing to the ole’s of the crowd.
Don’t we all love Albert now and isn’t he loving it! He’s even inherited the Christian Benteke chant, and totally deserves it. He played with a touch of arrogance today and my favourite bit was when he cheekily flicked the ball over an Ipswich player to escape from our defensive corner.
As you said John, the only time we looked at risk was from their corners. . . what a cracking corner taker he is.
Albert has to take man of the match but, surprisingly, Whelan was close behind. Great to see him show such control today.
Let’s face it, Adomah has been a revelation to every single one of us. I’m sure we’d have been disappointed if he’d left us at the start of the season but I don’t believe there would have been a great gnashing of teeth. Not one of us had anticipated the form he’s showing now and at the start of the season we all preferred to see Green starting ahead of him. How wrong we all were.
How must ‘Boro fans be feeling now about them having swapped him for Traore!
Great to see a few wins being strung together. It’s the best way to keep everyone happy.
Three cheers for Albert. I still think SB did nothing wrong playing Green though at that time. Definitely lucky to have held onto Superb Albert, though.
Nice to hear from you OV. Lots of love to you too. Hope ya well. You, too JL.
Kudos to Blues for managing a draw against Blades.
Two points gained, Iana…makes for a better result!
Mark
Dont agree about having to beat a so calld big team
This league is nuts….any type of run against whoever is decent.
Literally anyone can get a result against anyone.
To over come new manager bounce from sunderland a nd todays tricky game without conceding shows me we have got our character back. All games we would of come unstuck in he past….especially without terry and kodjer.
Agree a point at leeds will be ok. But if cardiff loose tomoz and we win we xould be 2nd fri night!!
Lana
Tuned into the blades game and i was cheering on the blues! Haha again shows how this league is. Didnt think blades would slip up.
And agreed, Iana…wins are the thing. Angst derived from a slow start, and the simple fact that generally a high points tally is needed.
Best way to silence critics is to win. So kudos to Bruce and the players for doing just that.
Still so worried about goals. Just get to jan in playoffs and maybe near 2nd would be great.
The league is nuts, Andrew, agreed. And all sides do slip up. You want to take advantage, and it was important we did today. Main thing is that simple win/ppg ratio.
Well, second is clearly possible, so has to be the aim. Goals? Yeah, over the longer term, we can’t rely on just Adomah.
Robbo
I dont see that re adomah
For me he has been great from day 1. Was an assist machine for us.
Mark
For someone who doesnt rate bruce thats great confidence from you thinking today was a formality! I thought we would drop points today and i fear the loss of jt and kodjer massively.
It could be a very poor december for us i wouldnt be surprised if we dropped alot of points.
No way adomah can carry this on and i dont see many certain goals anywhere else!!
Make no mistake todays game eas tricky, ipswich score goals away from home and micks teams are hard working.
Great result
John
Yep simply have to grab those wins on a regular basis.
Re whelean
He will never get the plaudits, but he is a massive player for us imo.
Snodgrass is growing on me massively.
Has great quality for this level.
Makes things out of nothing.
His assist last tues and assist today are proper class
Andrew,
I really am yet to be convinced by Whelan (surprising no one). Today was a good day for him, to be sure, and I like everything about him except for the fact that he generally doesn’t have the legs. Reads the game well, knows where to be, works his socks off. But usually has at least one error that creates a chance, and often is unable to catch up to players or even really slow them down coming back at us.
So I don’t pick on him for any dislike. Just think a younger version would make us much tougher in the middle and free up Hourihane. He ends up doing the box-to-box stuff often as not, think we’d link up better if were freer a little further up the pitch.
But, like I say, you’re right, Whelan had a good outing today, and if he ends up getting the job done over the course of the season, then fair play.
And agreed, Mark.
Reflexive criticism and praise are both weaknesses. When players aren’t getting it done, it’s just dishonest not to say so, and no analysis is going to overlook a good or poor game…or a longer run of form, or even overall ability/suitability.
When players are doing well, then obviously they come in for praise. But like Kodjia, doesn’t mean there aren’t aspects of a well-performing players’ performance/style that can’t come in for criticism.
I’ll simply say it again…Analysis does not equal pro- or anti. When I offer it up, it’s one person’s view of a game/team/manager. Same for everyone else.
We all want Villa to win, we’ll all be happy if Bruce gets the job done. Having doubts about him or how the team are playing aalong the way…part of the game, part of being on the hot seat.
Let’s take Hutton, for example. Largely criticized and often deservedly so. He was a weak point for all the grit, industry, and will to win. Then he turned a corner. And he filled in extremely well on the left when Taylor was out.
As someone noted on the last thread, I think, Snodgrass seems to have been a big plus in this regard as he’s allowing Hutton to stay back more.
So, same player, both criticism and praise. Hope that’s fair enough. But I call ’em like I see ’em. All I can do.
not many teams have went up and changed entire team,we had 3 matches in a week against sides i would expect to be in bottom half come end of season even mad mick cant turn water into wine,yet bruce kept same side even subs ,how are our squad going to step in when he doesnt trust them even when we are 2 up at home
johnclark
terry missing is going to biggest problem johnson 3 matches without fault for 2 goals and got away with it today,same for hutton watching first half today he was going back to of old running with ball out of position,and ipswich started to target him for few mins and where getting success ,we scored and he steadyed up second half much better
Just looking at the teams that came down from the prem. The ones who we maybe thought that because they were in the prem with all the cash and we were in the champ last season it would be hard for usas they get the better players with the parachutemoney. Boro are 9th and hull and sunderland are in a relegation fight!!!
Even Norwich who came down with us are struggling.
The champ really is a unforgiven graveyard!!
My surprises this season are reading, fulham and sheff wed afterbeing so strong last season.
James
Terry a huge blow but defensively we should be ok, especialy how bruce has us set up. We shouldnt conceded many….goals is my concern.
I predict a fair few draws for december
Andrew i think your mystic mog pronouncement about mainly drawing in Dec is a bit OTT, as we are still in November.
But I can see your point of feeling an uncertainty vibe when you see what injuries we have & still get wins, & at some point we will lose or draw one or two.
But I think the squad is a lot stronger than it was last season, & we are seeing ‘where there is a will there is a way’, which indicates that the team is capable of bouncing back.
I just hope for no more injuries until Jan, & then a couple of high class young loans.
As for OT’s need for the security of no analysis, I think JC has it spot on
Another well deserved win. A bit more comfortable than the ‘squeaky bum’ win for England v Tonga in the Rugby League WC semi. Bet you and Trinity both watched that Iana!
On the subject of rotation, I have to agree that it is worthwhile keeping a winning team – that is probably why Whelan and Snodgrass are starting to show their potential. Let’s not forget Villa won the league with only 14 players in 80/81
Leeds match is on Sky Ports Football and Main Event on Friday night – 0500 recording for me; my days of getting up at 0245 are gone.
How are you, Clive? Yeah, that Tonga vs England match was a classic. You’re right, we both watched it from the same place. I was hoping if both Trinity and I go together to the final, we’ll get a two for one deal. It’ll be a sellout, now.
I’m a bit nervous about the game being on TV. Leeds will be difficult. I think they sold Chris Wood, that might help Villa’s cause. At least, Villa has every reason to be confident.
Glad we got another 3 points. Leeds will be the real test though, which we normally bottle under Bruce. Wolves was the last one we crumbled at
Davis really does need to start hitting the back of the net. We can’t just rely on Adomah. I’d like adomah to play up top with Davis and put JAck out wide. I don’t see the fuss in Onomah.
Can’t wait until Friday. should be a good game and good atmosphere. Just we turn up and play some football
Fabulous result yesterday. Didn’t see 9 points coming from the last 3 games so I’m delighted. We were solid against Ipswich and here’s hoping we are starting to make our move. That said, it may have been a different game had the Ipswich disallowed goal stood. Think we got away with that one.
It’s a concern that we are overly reliant on Adomah at the moment for goals. If they should dry up where are the goals going to come from? Much healthier if other players are regularly chipping in with some. Wonder what Boro fans are thinking right now about the Adomah/Traore swap.
The real positive for me is that we are getting results despite some significant injuries to important players. Other teams are not so well situated in this respect. Take Sheff U who had Coutts taken off on a stretcher against Burton. Their next 2 home games produced a loss and a draw against Small Heath.
I would still like to see SB pick a more attacking bench. He predominantly picks defensive players. Whilst I realise that his attacking options are currently limited, he could still find space for 1 or 2 more attacking midfielders in case we need to chase games.
The magic number is now -3. If we get it down to 0 or into a + number then automatic promotion is on the cards.
Just lookng at our december run in.
Only got 2 home games out of our next 6 which dont help, and some tricky games. Hmmmmm
Snodgrass assist for our second was amazing! Proper class!
Only play once a week for next 3 games then its a mad 4 games in 12 days with 2 away games on he trot at a bad time.
Not confidnt at all.
Get to jan in playoffs ill be happy.
Andrew,
The games do come fast and furious…and like Plug, I wonder who else will step up and score.
At the moment, with three games in three weeks before it all gets ridiculous, this is where a manager will make his money. Bruce needs to be thinking about how he can get other players involved in the meantime to help keep all of them fresh, reduce the risk of further injuries, and perhaps find some other scorers.
Everyone else will face the same congestion, so it’s also the case that we’ll be looking for SheffU and Cardiff to drop points during the period. Wolves, too, of course…but I’m just considering them out of reach at the moment.
I should also say, this makes the next three games big opportunities to gather points.
Just looking at where we are:
19 played, 35 points = 1.8/game
Over the last three seasons, 89 points is basically the mark that gets you second. That means we’re 54 points away. (This generally equates to 26 or 27 wins, and 5, 9 or 11 losses.)
27 games remaining, 54 points = 2.0/game
Wolves so far = 14-2-3
Cardiff = 12-4-3
SheffU = 12-1-6
Villa = 10-5-4
So we’ve not done badly on the loss front, obviously more draws. Basically we need to win 16 or 17 of the remaining 27. Of those, beating Cardiff, SheffU, Bristol and Derby (as it all stands right now) will have the biggest impact.
And we’ve got Derby on 12/16, SheffU on 12/23, and Bristol on 1/1.
JG,
Terry missing…So far we’ve done alright. Over time? Dunno. Me, I’d prefer Jedinak partnering Chester since Jedi is more mobile than Samba, though smaller.
No update as yet on the shoulder, so fingers crossed.
andrew
your post at 1pm
why would we be happy to in play offs come january,every other team have injuries suspension ,not many had our size of squad to start from
watching huddersfield v city quite a few players still from last season for wagner ,they are knocking it about nicely nice to watch and they all do the dirty work to
wagner is type of coach we need
Well, a great day out at Villa Park yesterday, seeing a confident Villa team, with Whelan MOM, and Adomah running him close with two great goals again. Great to hear Villa fans in good voice, and singing about Adomah scoring more goals than Small Heath.
Good refereeing, spotting the push on Johnstone to disallow the Ipswich goal, most times may have not been noticed.
Have to hand it to Bruce for sticking with his winning side, apart from Jedinak, who unfortunately now has a problem shoulder, hopefully he will be okay for Friday, if only for the bench. Perhaps, if it had not been for Jedinak’s injury, maybe Bruce may have used O’Hare and Grealish for the last ten minutes.
A good result against Leeds, will make a huge difference to the start of the December run in. I do hope Steve gets it right. I am not so worried about goal scorers as some here, as to date, Davis in attack, Snodgrass, Onomah and Hourihane have chipped in with goals from the midfield, and Samba and Chester from defence, but surely Hutton must be close to one now…..!!!
It is great to see the teams of Pep and David Wagner, put on great displays of football, and may be one day Villa will be ready for them, but at the moment, Bruce is doing a job, and at last getting us back to somewhere close to where we want to be. It has taken time, but I am now beginning to trust in him to achieve a team capable of winning promotion.
James
Simply goals
I don’t think we have enough goals in us. adomah aint going to carry on and just relying on a rookie 19yeard old is to big a ask.
Chuck in 4 away games out the next 6 I fear December.
Paul
Yes….actually starting to trust villa again….after years of knowing we will do something shambolic in a game!
Its a strange feeling!
I’m starting to trust the Villa team now, every game would typically be a banana skin and a chance for me to lay out all my woes for everyone to see but I’m getting the JL approach to this season now, it’s has been about patience, we are now seeing a team that understands each other and plays well defensively, plays well without the ball and is only light upfront due to injuries but still scoring.
I’m going to relax about Bruce and relax about any idea I had about Villa missing an opportunity to create the Villa way from the first team down as opposed to what we have which is underage up.
I’m not enjoying it from the perspective of wanting automatic promotion and knowing we like every other team trying to get promoted want the same thing but I’m strangely confident about this Villa team which is at odds on how I’ve felt for such a long time.
If we beat a few of the teams around us I will begin to think we are in with a shout not before though, been there.
As this team is more or less an injury created One the return of our injured or on loan strikers is of little consequence as they had little effect before. The adversity does seem to have galvanised them .We appear to have a very shallow margin for error for such a big squad. As always our chance creation is of concern as Adomahs uncanny knack at converting every chance he gets can’t last I fear, at the moment he’s playing like he’s invincible though and it’s great to see. How long until he’s targeted?
Lyden has an ankle injury too now, unbelivable luck for the lad
Robbo- green was never played in preference to adomah, adomah was surplus with the RW options brought in and Thor was supposed to be the other LW option, Adomah the inverted winger was a last ditch ploy that paid off as he couldn’t take the the RW slot off of Snodgrass as he’d moaned like hell at West Ham about being played out left.
I’m with Mark on the current situation and not yet ready to move into Darren’s mode of relaxation. It will take some more results to convince me. With 4 away games in Dec it is the perfect month for SB to get me on side. If we get 13 points from it………then P2 will be looking possible.
Also agree with Mark about Adomah. The same can be said of Hutton at LB. His link up with Adomah was good and came about due to Taylor’s sending off. I’d have left Hutton at LB and Taylor would need to wait for his opportunity.
Close connections at Leeds have Friday’s game against Villa as a must win. It’s a great time to roll them over then eh?
Plug- the whole season is littered with divine intervention, grealish’s Injury meant we got Onamah, Taylor’s sending off has turned Hutton into a different player, striker crisis brought Davis, greens injury adomahs goals.
I was surprised Samba was dropped as he has stepped up, I assume Bruce wants to give jedinak game time but doesn’t want to shift wheelan. The midfields we are about to face will be a different challenge, One I hope we are equal to.
If you look at wolves you see they have a wide spread of goal scorers and assists amongst the squad with two forwards on 9 and 11 goals lucky buggers whereas we are limited to 2-3 players providing and scoring, which is fairly similar to all the other top 10 clubs, I think 2nd is as possible as 8th unless we spread the load a bit.
its often the case re divine intervention.
especially with kids coming through.
Kane, rashford and most youth only get a chance when there is injury….they just have to take it and make them un droppable like davis is doing.
yeah I saw that about lyden….they guys a bit injury prone.
U23 won again….o hare goal and assist.
cant wait until we see more of him…..has omah and grealsih in his way though!
Andrew- Don’t worry Lyden plays in Wheelans spot
could be a crucial night Friday
Cardiff are playing too home to Norwich.
to be honest it may be a bit too early focusing on other teams yet.
Just look after ourselves.
plenty of twists and turns yet.
Andrew- 7 of the present top ten to play in the next ten games mostly away plus Brentford away? Its going to be a bumpy ride, Derby wolves and Cardiff have easy runs for the next ten Sheff utd and Bristols much tougher so we will be doing well to keep in touch
how long are green ,hogan out for
I think hogan will be Jan Green no idea but can’t be too far off
It is true that Villa can only focus on themselves…all the control we have.
But, if we’re worried about the upcoming stretch of games, where goals are coming from, etc., then it certainly would be nice for everyone around us to lose or draw a few.
Keeping pace can be tough, mentally, when you’re winning and not gaining ground. Hope the other sides feel the pressure moreso than us.
Mark/Andrew
“Plug- the whole season is littered with divine intervention,…”
Yes, yes. You can see it, too. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Trinity – not as mysterious as Bruce 🙂
linked to Clarke the sheff striker
that would be good….plus weaken them!
terry could be back soonish……he could be key.
Gawd help us!
I’m not talking about the villa, I’m taking about us lot
Andrew
Do we really want a journeyman who has hit a purple patch for once?
Apart from that it’d soon end if he came here.
Mark
Wasn’t the Almighty’s name Bruce in the movie?
IanG – I believe he did at least for a short time mate.
Seems to be a fair bit of virtue signalling going on at the moment among fans as they stick it to those not on the Bruce bandwagon.Been a weird season indeed a weird two seasons, never known a manager to divide opinion so much and with such animosity, shame.
Mark
Exactly that
Never known a manager to divide such opinion.
Twitter world is split and gets nasty between own fans which is awful.
end of the day we are on the same side….want villa to do well.
Im meh about Bruce to be honest. But I am satisfied of where we are now. Just going on my feelings. I know for years I hated most of our players. I used to sit at vp and see them not bother or play for the shit. I lost interest and wouldn’t even watch the goals (if any) or actual games on tv. But now im slowly getting my interest and pride back and enjoy watching some of our players and have favourites again!
Ian g
yeah I don’t want Clarke….crepe!
doubt its true.
Andrew- glad your enjoying it again mate nothing worse than feeling disinterested in your own team.
Interesting fact that may be a bit of a worry, we have only played 4 of the present top 8 and taken 2 points from those games the other 3 we haven’t played yet, we have also only beaten Fulham from last seasons top 6, reading and sheff wed we lost to. I really hope that the run we are on is more than just playing the easier teams or ones more suited to our style at least.
The doc speaks
https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2017/11/28/the-big-interview-dr-tony-xia
2 loans is the plan then.
hurrumpph
IanG
“Gawd help us!”
He’s listening, brother. Keep up the good work. Who loves ya, baby.
IANG
2 loans is plenty for bruce .it only confuses him when too many bingo balls to pick from,
ings from pool would really interest me,
loans can be tricky, if its a decent player then they want assurances that they will play, that can be a bit of a bugger in a changing room. Quite likely why Adomah was surplus when Snodgrass was pursued that and 3 right backs
JG,
I am sure you are right, Bruce does not need a lot of choice, it confuses him, as it does many managers. The smaller the squad, the easier it is to manage and build a bond with, which is exactly what Bruce has done recently, and it is working.
I hope that Bruce is able to continue without too many changes, and that the injuries do not hamper us too much. A couple of first class loans would make all the difference to us, as it has to other sides that have been promoted.
JG,
I am sure you are right, Bruce does not need a lot of choice, it confuses him, as it does many managers. The smaller the squad, the easier it is to manage and build a bond with, which is exactly what Bruce has done recently, and it is working.
I hope that Bruce is able to continue without too many changes, and that the injuries do not hamper us too much. A couple of first class loans would make all the difference to us, as it has to other sides that have been promoted.
Looking forward to an entertaining Friday night now, and a real test against Leeds.
Still cannot sort out this Avatar……very annoying, after getting one to work after many months, and then losing it again…
or even Gravatar….!!!
Ipswich 1 up at derby. Decent for us. Derby are flying. Could go level on points with us with they win.
Jimmy MacEwan
Jimmy passed away yesterday after 2 or 3 weeks in hospital.
A much under-rated player i.m.o. and one that I enjoyed watching.
He once had his front teeth knocked out in a brawl at Hillsborough. But he was the least violent of players, though tough as they come.
Sad news JL,
but he must have been a good age, as you and I would have been youngsters in the days when Villa’s forward line would have been MacEwan, Thomson Hitchens Wylie MacParland. Certainly those were the days…many happy memories. Then later with Harry Burrows, Jimmy Mcmorran, Alan O’neill and of course Derek “the Doug” Dougan. Also the days of Alan Baker, Mercer’s Minors, Lew Chatterley, Mike Tindall, Phil Woosnam and Barry Stobart from Woves.
Have so many fond memories of being a young in on the Holte End, when it was only the strategic positioning of the crush bars that prevented you from being crushed to death every time Villa attacked the Holte End…!!!!
Hello JL Always sad to hear of a player passing R.I.P Jimmy
Yes, sad to hear of Jimmy MacEwan, great little player.
It was a different world then, & players born before the war were a different breed.
RIP
Paul,
Yes, Jimmy was 88 and allegedly the oldest surviving Villa oldie. he came to Villa when he was 29 but lasted another 6 years.
I was with you on those crush bars – don’t you remember! 😀
Yes JL,
I thought Jimmy must be well into his 80’s , as are Peter Mac and Bobby Thomson.
I have several memories, often with youngsters in front of me, and you just had to lock your arms and push back to protect them from being squashed.
The atmosphere may not be as great, but certainly a lot safer now…!! You needed to be fit to cope with standing on the Holte to survive..!!
Interesting when you look at all the controversy about heading the ball, etc, and here are old Villans that played with the old leather case ball, and have lived well into their 80’s without any sign of dementia, or any other effect, and still all enjoy a drink..!!
PP- They grew up without the rubbish about saturated fat and cholesterol, dripping on toast, butter and chips cooked in lard, plenty of stuff to fix the damage instead of margarine and vegetable oil, makes cell walls weak.
Spot on MK.
Exactly my thoughts too…
I am not amazing, but still feel pretty good for my age, and still capable of a days work…!
Me too.
I think lots of processed foods and things like Coke are the real killers. Chips cooked in beef dripping didn’t seem to harm my family. Either did porridge with brown sugar and butter in it.
We all used to work harder (physically) and move about more, too. But processed foods and fast foods are killing people, seems to me.
Anyway, thanks as always for your patience, and new post up for Leeds.
COYVB