It’s the result that counts, of course and quite simply we got it.
But while I’m elated that we’ve reached the final, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m happy about the performance.
We started ok and then sat back deeper in the first half, which it seems many of us weren’t happy about.
The second half, we were also very cagey and I thought we were playing a risky game.
Johnstone had had a pretty good game and had hardly had to get his gloves warm, yet he somehow managed to handle outside his area and for me, should have been sent off.
This resulted in a free kick just outside the box, that Downing hit the bar with.
If that had gone in, lord knows what might have happened.
Don’t get me wrong. over the two legs, I think we were more the cleverer side.
And that’s down to experience.
Hutton was excellent again, as were Chester and Terry. How well do they combine?
But I’m listening to the after match chat and they’re saying Boro just didn’t do enough.
Given that they didn’t have a shot on target, I have to agree.
Boro just made too much running of the game for my liking, but I’d expect a different game against Fulham.
I didn’t mention Grealish yet, did I?
He’s really starting to look the part.
But what pleased me more than anything was that this team look like they’re fighting for each other.
And if that’s the case, we have every chance of anything.
Great result that didn’t live up to the crowd’s support, unfortunately.
Hey, we’re through and that’s all that matters.
Miserable git! 😁
Haha, that’s a fair enough comment.
But it’s the truth.
Do you think we played well?
Ok it was enough, but I just thought I was more worried than I should have been.
Boro really ain’t that good, imo.
Merson just made a good point.
Traore would be better in the Prem.
The Irish chap just said Fulham are a different bag of marlies.
I think he’s 100% correct and we’ll have to be way better than we were tonight.
You are partly correct but remember that their keeper made three or 4 great saves tonight. We could easily have won that by two or more goals. It was a performance built on experience. Yes we’d have loved us to be more expansive but then Boro may have had more opportunities to score. We didn’t need to win tonight, they did so the tactics were spot on even though it made for a nervy watch. Fulham are a better footballing side but so are Wolves and we know what we did to them in March. UTV
Yes, totally fair point too.
We did a job tonight and got it spot on. Agreed.
And er, there’s no arguing with that, I’m happy to say 🙂
I largely agree, but why Bruce doesn’t go for the jugular when it’s needed I don’t know. To me it’s as though he played for a 0-0, and bringing Whelan on with 10 mins to go seems to prove that he just wanted to protect a very slender lead form the 1st leg. Another thing is playing with 1 striker at home, it’s just unbelievable to me! Most of the time we had Grabban on his own in the box or nobody at all. I fear Fulham are really going to exploit Bruce’s tactics, and they really WILL go for the jugular!
We take each game on its merits. Last night as long as we did not loose we would go through. There was no need to play an expansive game. Why risk creating space for someone like Traore to run into? A job well done.
Let’s hope Fulham choke like they did against the blues, where if other results went their way they could have been promoted. But they lost!
Come on you Villa boys. I don’t care how we play as long as we win our match of the season.
That’s right Sid, 10 on target and Middlborogh 0 speaks for it self , I know its not pretty but that’s the game. Bruce got it right and Fulham another day 90 minutes away ain’t bad states.Is Nath still in bed? Nath I mean’t what I said like to hear your assesment of the game.
Badger, I thought our performance was competent, functional and a success. Few teams globally can consistently play stunning football and win a high percentage of their games. Grinding out results seems to be the order of the day. Wenger tried his flair based game and didn’t really succeed. Liverpool can play great stuff but are vulnerable. ManU zzzzzz. I’m easily pleased, it’s the thrill of the win isn’t. A bit like horse racing.
Certainly looking forward to the final though!
We played Middlesbrough 4times in the League (3 against Pulis) and they failed to score in any one of them so I think it’s fair to say Bruce had the measure of Pulis. Whilst I felt edgy watching the game, the reality is only the one mix up which led to Downing hitting the bar (and Johnstone being fortunate not to miss the final – but then doesn’t Mike Dean owe us at least one decision?) came anywhere near creating a real goal scoring opportunity.
We might criticise Bruce at times but it seems to me that ‘Boro fans have far more grounds to criticise Pulis who seemed incapable of changing their game plan when needed.
Any one’s game on 26th and I’m more than happy for Fulham to be over confident.
Same here. It’s a final. A 50/50 chance of going up. We can do Fulham, no problem, just get the lads fired up!!!!!!!!!!
People already saying Fulham will be promoted because Wembleys pitch will suit their passing game. They might be right but we have steam rolled Wolves who are a better passing team. Fact is our players and manager are more experienced for the big occasion. Players do freeze on the big day with 80,000 plus fans. We know Grealish can handle the pressure. Fulham failed against Blues like Sidforever mentioned when it came to the crunch. 26th May will be our day! UTV
why would bill want my opinions, come on no piss taking today its my favourite day hump day. i just read the reports from this site and boro’s very interesting. different views and opinions. from this site steve starrs, sidforever bumbum and hitch all said what i would agree with. how i saw the game was basically the same as leg 1 i would only be repeating myself and that annoys the site.
sad news about Jlloyd Samuel 🙁 i was still recovering at the loss of Dalian Atkinson couple years back. two claret and blue players that were so young.
Nath, I don’t piss take, never have never will, if I have something to say I say it.
Right now I’ve said it I would like to know what’s your thoughts, I’ve said before I read into all you say you know your football and you follow teams. Yes sad sad news that, I drive my grandkids daily and to be honest being once a professional driver on all types of vehicles i shudder to see crazy driving.
just reading from last night on the sites i like to view. one fan says havent seen any blues noses on here tonight. another guys says well you need to stop using big words it confuses them lmao
We did enough. If we do enough in the final we get promoted. Like others I think we will need a better performance to do that but we shall see.
On a slightly different note, I’m not really a fan of the play offs. Yes they can be exciting, and yes without them we wouldn’t have a second chance at promotion.
Thing is, if you prove to be the three best teams in the division across 46 games, that should be enough. Say the team that finished third was 20 points ahead of 4th, but lost the final to a combination of injuries and a bad refereeing decision. It just seems wrong to me.
They may as well make the top 4 teams in the Premiership play off to decide the champions. Then again, that may be the only way to stop Man City.
i would agree with that and thats how it used to be last time we were in this league. but we all knew the format its now only the top two. i love the playoffs now i am a convert. its so exciting except our last two games with boro.
it will be a great day for our fans at wembley. winning playoffs is achievement worthy of promotion
Maybe I expressed that wrong. I love watching the play offs. I’m just thinking about if Villa had finished 3rd by a big margin I would be pretty pissed off if we then got beat in the play offs.
It will be a fantastic day for the fans and i really hope we can put in a performance worthy of the occasion.
i agree with everything you say, i thought like that until very recently. but they are very exciting and its our first and last time we do this. it also keeps the season alive longer. in old days lots of games had nothing riding on them. teams in the middle of table would not bother to play.
the most important fact was boro was too scared to play villa in a open encounter. they were too conservative for too long even at home they just didn’t roll the dice. what if they had i believe villa would have beaten them same but it would have been a more entertaining game.
villa tactics was spot on, i read many many fans wanting us to push up which was not the right call. we had a free kick late first half 2ndleg, it was cleared and that was only time boro had almost got in. pulis gambled on his star winger being able to get behind villa defence, over the two games he never managed it enough.
i was very surprised pulis didnt go for it and i was only once worried, that was at the very end with the handball incident. but as for us going for it, why would we. we won the match and had more chances the way the games developed. it would have been crazy to go looking for more goals or to entertain. fullbacks stayed home and did their jobs we countered them every time we could. worthy winners bring on fulham
which i have already said before. i think fulham will be far easier because they can only play one way. which they do in a way thats very effective and with lots of panache. but their game suits villa. as long as we turn up with no fear. we are just a good in our own way.
Nath, I wasn’t particularly wanting us to go gung-ho.
Bruce said himself trying to hold doesn’t work.
Yes we had a few goes at them, but the way we sat deep worried me and it nearly bit us on the arse.
I just felt that if we’d played a bit more adventurously, we’d have relieved a lot of unnecessary pressure.
I’m not knocking it though.
We’re through, simple.
you wasn’t alone with the stting deep everybody mentioned it really on the villa side. boro fans called it good defending. if they had sent more men forwards then you would have seen more villa counters. their fans are fuming at their surrender
against fulham it will be a totally different game. they sat deep against boro for reasons mentioned. had boro scored then villa would have had to step it up and reasons we never risked more is we never needed too.
was a nervous encounter but was a false panic as i was only really worried once the handball. looking forwards to fulham
off to bed before i smash my tech
big sam big bad sam sacked at everton and moyes sacked or what ever at hammers. wasn’t he at villa park yesterday night. i thought he was checking in on snoddy and utd goalie
Nath – sacking of Allardyce and Moyes says everything about what’s wrong with the Prem. They were appointed to ‘save’ their respective clubs and delivered only to be rewarded with the sack because the fans / Board didn’t like the playing style – where have we heard that before!
I’ve no doubt both managers have been amply compensated but the devil in me hopes both clubs get relegated next season having played the sort of football the fans want – or am I being too perverse?
major cpu trouble (pulling my hair out ) kodi has been blocked grrrrr plus lappy decided to update windows10 and mess up my work fuming i hate tech and it hates me back
6 mill big sam is getting i think it said. too many managers get the sack for me. boro fans are really upset with pulis and they want him gone too. trouble is they had like 3 managers this year or was it two. they need to pick one and stick too many changes does not work unless your watford
Nath I agree about the chopping and changing Of managers. We as fans want the best, but how realistic are Everton and WHU fans if they think by changing the manager twice a season will get them into the top 4. They have no chance and as the rest only make up the numbers for the desire to get to 40 points asap then they need to get real.
I think if we do get promotion then 2 years in the EPL will have given us a Villa fans an insight into the the fact that too many changes are in fact counter productive as we all know at Villa over the last decade or so.
Since SB has come in along with the Chairman we have a least got some stability at last, but moving forward and what SB has done has been remarkable given the time he has had. Yes tactics have been questionable at times and some performances have been poor, but at least behind the scenes we have a group of players that are for once worthy of the shirt.
Yes we have spent a lot of money and wasted a fair few million on crap signings but what club has not?
As Villa fans it is the first time in the last 10 years you can say we have our Villa back and a lot of that is down to SB.
What ever happens next week then SB should be giveN more time. As the instability that others are showing will be their demise for sure.
In Bruce I trust UTV
Think William will be there? Or we he still be hungover from Harry’s wedding?????
He’ll be there Bum bum, he might even take little George , Nath, I’ve ticked the like button because the very same thoughts as me, and I’m not taking the proverbial. He shot himself in the foot a wiser man played him at his own game.
More chance of the Pope being in Kiev.
1981 Prince Charles married, Liverpool won European Cup and the Pope died.
2005 Prince William married, Liverpool won Champions League and the Pope died.
2018 Prince Harry marries, Liverpool in Champions League final.
So now you know why the Pope wears Real Madrid’s colours and all his potential successors wear Liverpool’s.
To me this is good news,
Alan Hutton’s dominant displays in the play-off semi-final win over Middlesbrough have earned him rave reviews – with owner Tony Xia the latest to laud his progress.
The full-back stopped dangerman Adama Traore to help keep the slate clean for 180 minutes as Villa progressed to the final at Wembley.
Boss Steve Bruce said his performance was worthy of a new contract and admits: ‘If I get my way, he will get one’.
Quite right too although OLL might have to revisit his self imposed bomb squad ban!
I will stick with the bomb squad ban, though I am on record in this column in saying Hutton’s performance this year is far better than any previous season. Probably because he is less often caught out of position up-field when the ball is played to the opposing winger – and that because now we have a right winger of our own, so Hutton does not have to attempt that role.
Indeed you are OLL – I had thought you were weakening in your resolve given Hutton’s commitment. Good point re Hutton concentrating more on defensive duties – wonder why previous managers couldn’t see this?
To me Hitch he’s always been a player I’d put in my side, Elmo and Taylor, Bree haven’t the same inspiration as Hutton. Anyone see our owner jumping for joy at the game? it’s on YouTube made me smile.
I’m with you Bill – it’s unfair to link Hutton with the bomb squad. Whatever his perceived shortcomings are (by some) the guy always gives absolutely everything in a Villa shirt and has always conducted himself in the most professional of ways off the pitch.
His marking of Traore was exemplary and even though he picked up an early yellow card second leg he didn’t let it affect his performance.
Do you have a link to the utube vid?
Hitch I’ve tried digging it out but failed, try typing Dr Xia video cam.
No joy Bill but I’ve now watched lots of other Villa videos on utube LOL
Dr Tony Xia cam: Watch Owner’s reaction on final whistle
Seen in now, thanks Bill – posted on Facebook but a Villa loving friend – he certainly ‘gives it a go’!
Good Hitch to see the owner so enthusiastic . Hitch I’ve still not sorted this blog out , I suddenly lost the blog likes, then my replies went missing ,all of this is due to e/mail change.
i love that hutton might get his reward with manager and hopefully the owner. but dare i say he had no love on this site, except myself who appreciated his endeavourer his fight for his fellow team mate, when they had all given in and started taking the piss out of the fans completely. he stood alone to fight for the fans and club
hutton playing left back might of helped his game in the attacking sense. he has always had the driving runs, he has always had the hit and many misses crosses, but his switch to left back has made him more aware of seeing a final product to his game. instead of lumping the ball towards the box. he now looks to find adomah or grealish than trust his left foot. whether this is by accident or not its made him improved his game.
Nath you’re not the only one who has supported Hutton. I’ve said myself many a time if the team showed half as much fight, commitment and determination as Hutton we’d never of been relegated. Don’t write stuff that ain’t true fella it get’s you nowhere.
i didn’t say i was alone, i said he didn’t have much love. for years he has been ridiculed on all sites. very few appreciated him. doesn’t matter really. i just wanted to be clear, some fans have changed their opinions thats all and its allowed.
if it wasn’t true i would say it. i know how many times i defended him. for various reasons like its inability to cross a ball. didn’t he also acquire a nickname mutton, saying hes always been loved would be more of a lie
“i love that hutton might get his reward with manager and hopefully the owner. but dare i say he had no love on this site, except myself”
Guess I must of read it wrong. My bad, apologies.
I’d like to have given you a like, but behold B6 no like button.
I won’t forget Bill. You owe me a like 😉
No big criticism of Nath but that’s how I read his post and I’ve certainly been a supporter of Hutton even during the dark days of relegation. There were posters on here criticising Hutton, yet also bemoaning the lack of effort and respect for the shirt of others, Hypocritical if you ask me!