First, I’d like to just register my protest against all the games being played at the same time on a Sunday. What do the powers that be have against a 3PM kickoff on a Saturday?
Anyway, we lost, but I’m totally convinced that we’d have won this if we had Grealish and McGinn playing.
I thought the game was very even and the big difference was that Norwich were a bit more clinical in their finishing.
That said, the game missed someone who could take it by the scruff of the neck and either of our mainstays could have achieved just that.
Never mind, the result means nothing and our opponents in the play-offs continue to not scare me in the slightest.
Albion lost to Derby and the truth is, if we play to our best, I don’t rate either of them as good as us.
The fact is we face Albion at home first and I’d take us to beat them over two legs, no problem, the usual derby game issues apart.
As for Leeds, they couldn’t even beat a relegated 10 man side in Ipswich.
Did they throw this game?
I haven’t a clue, but the result can’t have been positive, although I believe they’re our biggest obstacle to getting promoted.
So while I hand out plaudits to Alan Hutton and Birkir Bjarnason, who are probably now done at the Villa, so I have to say I don’t believe Norwich have a chance of staying up next season.
It’s not sour grapes at all and I think they totally deserve the Championship title.
But it shows the gulf to the Premier league and I just doubt Norwich will have the required resources.
Which is a sad state of affairs.
Bring the Albion on !
I retain 100% total confidence.
I’d add Minn to that assumption Badger , Hutton kept drifting up and we had an open defence again. Hes been a good player the time we’ve had him but he worries me going too far up. Them two goals was be cause we had gaps in our defence and Minn is our defence, good game even though we lost but it doesn’t mean anything the play off does, I have a good feeling that we will be hard to beat. A special mention about green I see him being an asset to us one to watch.
Mings?
Yes, good point and we probably wouldn’t have conceded if he was playing.
He’s a monster and was just being saved.
Well we came close to getting something out of the game. Norwich were desperate to get the title yet we had the whole spine of the team out – Mings, McGinn and Jack.
I don’t see this loss as denting our confidence in the slightest but I’m not so sure about the Baggies and Leeds. Fancy losing to the bottom team after they go down to ten men!
I find that I’m not overly worried about the Baggies, or Leeds or Derby come to that. We can beat them all.
It seems the media would prefer Leeds to get promoted.
God knows why, but it is what it is.
“We can beat them all”, indeed.
That’s the way we need to think.
I don’t think we missed Jack and McGinn as much as we missed Mings, Elmo and El Ghazi.
Norwich are really not that good and I’m sure we would beaten them comfortably with our best eleven! Norwich are, historically, a yo-yo club and I dont see that changing.
I thought Lansbury had a really good game, very good technically and a good passer….but he needs to stay fit!
Biggest plusses from from this game are no apparent injuries and fringe players got some minutes!
UTV
For the most part the team picks itself, but I think Smith has 3 choices to make for the play offs.
Firstly Adomah or Green? Adomah is better defensively, but Green is definitely more of an attacking threat, at least for the first 60 mins or so. I think for the home leg at least I would go with Green.
Secondly, Whelan or Hourihane? Despite Hourihane’s effectiveness on set plays, I think Whelan will win this one, just as extra protection for the back 4.
Lastly, Taylor or Hause? In all honesty, I think Hause is the better player at LB, but it would be harsh on Taylor to drop him now, and I don’t think he will.
Thoughts?
Players not playing today who will definitely play against Baggies are Elmo, Mings, Grealish, McGinn, El Ghazi and Abraham. Players definitely out will be Hutton, Hause, Lansbury and Kodja. It’s a toss up between Hourihane or Whelan and Adomah or Green. I would start with Whelan and Adomah personally when game is cagey at the start, these two have more experience to deal with the occasion. If we need impact players then Green and Kodja will be good options.
Best thing that I thought shone through was that we fielded an almost new team but still played to the “new Villa” style…..in fact at times some of the passing and movement was better than usual……could be down to how open the match was. .I would love Davis to get some match time in play offs as he gives me more confidence than Kodjia….apart from being able to actually score…lol
I’m quite disappointed we lost, to be honest, even with a weakened team.
I like everyone’s confidence for the playoffs. However, over-confidence leads to complacency, which leads to… I hope and trust that Smith, his team, and his squad will take Albion as seriously as is humanly possible. They want promotion too, and we have no divine right.
Badger, I recall earlier in the season, when we were in a little purple patch, you writing off Norwich. Yet a few hours ago, they lifted the League title at Villa Park. Not so much irony, but a reminder and a warning that you cannot underestimate any team in this league, especially one with Albion’s goal potential and in such a high stakes situation.
Yes, of course, we can beat them over two legs, but we will need every player at his individual best and the team to be tactically spot on.
Roll on Saturday…
UTV
Knockout games are always a lottery, and weve been a bit flakey in big games in the recent past. But there are some determined characters in this squad now, epitomised by Mings and McGinn and even Grealish. We know we CAN win if we ”turn up’ for big matches. I think these guys make sure that we do, so I’m optimistic. Still a lottery though!
i was disappointed we lost i always am. but norwich are a good team thats why they won the league. i don’t buy what the commentary said. when he said norwich are on their holidays as villa looked to be on top. villa pressed them and hurried them after a shaky start. we ruffled them up and played some decent stuff. without our so called influential players we cant cope without not playing. just before we scored, we played some decent control patient stuff. norwich i think just had the edge overall, becuase the game mattered more to them than it did for us.
looking forwards to playoffs, trust me baggies will be a tough game and so will the final. leeds i see everybody writing off. but they are a good team like norwich. but they lack a finisher. havent seen the stats to back this up, but i reckon they created the most this season in the league. if they had better strikers they would be in the autos for sure. that said i hate them and hope we beat them in the final to shut them up for good.
p/s i see a few our fans saying green was pants, but i thought he was good, one of his better games, that said he just lacked a end product more times than he produced something. but he gave us good width and crossed in some decent balls. i would play him in the playoffs with el ghazi
So would I Nath , I thought Green had a good game, yes we had a sucker punch in the last part but understandably we was light in our main player’s, The Albion will be a tough that’s for sure.
also bill thats how norwich play and leeds do the same thing. thou both can dictate play and send plenty men forwards. they are both lethal breaking on teams. also our fullbacks play very high under smith. this is not player position errors. we essentially play 3 at the back when we have the ball. two central defenders and hold midfielder, norwich did break loads on us mostly in the opening 7 mins and we got to terms with them after that. we strangled them stopping the breaks high up the field. i think their second goal came out of our tiredness taking of lansbury who worked his ass off was a factor. norwich don’t score late goals by flukes they suck teams into these mistakes.
i thought it was a good game and we showed we are not just a one man team. smith has got this squad all playing his system and hes showing whoever steps in, know their roles inside and out. unlike in the past, were when we make team changes, they all look like they are strangers that never played together.
wba will be our toughest game, yes they are weaker now than under last manager. but this is a derby and premiership football up for grabs which is enough fillet to spur the shittest club on to greatness. we will beat baggies in both games i think. but both games will be tough.
Does anyone believe the Mirror report that Grealish has a £60m buy out clause in his contract? If we don’t get promoted then he will be gone and it won’t be anywhere near £60m. After all, his recent comments more than suggest he will leave in the summer if we are still in the championship. I do worry that Smith will have the same issue that Bruce had last summer when the likes of Snodgrass, Terry, Johnstone and Grabban departed. This summer it will probably be worse with Tuanzebe, Mings, Grealish and Abraham highly likely to be gone plus the possibility of Hause, Green and El Ghazi who have contracts ending in the summer. Add to that Hutton, Whelan, Jedinak and Elphick who are on big wages and possibly Adomah, Kodja, Bjarnasson and Elmohamady who aren’t out of contract till 2020 but have been linked with moves this season.
Promotion or massive rebuild it is then with thankfully less worries at board level. Smith will already be planning for scenario A or B and at least whatever happens we will see entertaining football which we all agree has been a breath of fresh air after suffering the McLeish and Lambert years and Bruce time to a lesser effect. It’s going to be an interesting summer regardless of which league we find ourselves in.
smith will have both scenarios already worked out, he will be hoping to have the difficult one of preparing for the premiership. but if he has to remain in championship he will replace the players, he will have already mapped out his cheaper players to meet the financial restraints, which we have to face.
also players want to play for managers like smith he gives them a platform to play good football. he improves players. i have no doubts he will imporve us further in the summer when he will get a pre season which makes a big difference,
You make a good point a Holte. It seems to me that if we don’t get promoted, we are likely to be facing a couple of years rebuilding the team to a point where we can challenge again.
Patience will be needed.
But until that becomes reality, let’s enjoy the excitement of still being involved.
UTV
I’m looking forward to it Hitch although I will miss 2nd leg 😞
There are a lot of Baggies supporters where I work, so come Wednesday 15th May I hope they have nothing to smile about. Add to that my missus is a Tesco FC fan I am really outnumbered.
Squeaky bum time ahead! UTV
Interestingly, it seems that the general ‘pundit euphoria’ fancying Villa is waning following our defeat to Norwich – after all we haven’t beaten any of the top four – yet!
Actually, I would prefer us to be the underdogs in the playoffs.
No predictions from me, just hoping for the best.
Congratulations to Liverpool. Outstanding performance and well deserved.
Lesson to be learned from Barcelona that resting players doesn’t guarantee a good performance. We need to be right at it on Saturday from the first whistle.
Well my second team went down tonight. A very strange game. I can only hope that I’m keeping all my luck for Saturday.
I’m not predicting the score but any sort of win will do for me.
COYL
Reported that Villa are going to take up the option to buy Hause. Good move?
Yoann Barbet has left Brentford and is available on a free transfer. He can play LB or CB so seems like an obvious link with Dean Smith his former manager. A few clubs already showing an interest apparently.
It looks like Bolton’s chairman is going to have to place the club into administration after Bassini the crook, couldn’t prove he had the means to buy the club and the sale fell through.
Sad days for them 🙁
Spurs through to the CL final too after winning 3-3 , on away goals.
That should be a good game, if you’re interested.
Bolton, a founder member of the League and a once great club, have fallen off a cliff. I do feel sorry for them especially as there was a time not too long ago when we might have been headed in that very same direction ourselves.
Hope they can rise from the ashes.
Pat like Hitch , I remember them like the big six of today, Bolton was a big club years ago, it’s a shame that the FA couldn’t help in some way as if truth be known they and the rules might have been why Bolton is in this mess. Chelsea, Arsenal, Man utd, Liverpool and city, have been bending the rule for years in some way. Chelsea have been caught buying players now on a two season ban.
Bill, I agree that there has likely been rule bending by the wealthy clubs but tbf to the FA they have lent Bolton money on two recent occasions to enable them to pay players wages. The real problem appears to be their owner Ken Anderson and I suspect parallels could be drawn with Dr T. – we escaped a bullet, sadly Bolton have not been so lucky although Bassini buying them was more likely to compound the problems rather than solve them.
No sympathy for Chelsea – caught with their trousers down! They have 45 players out on loan – I suggest they get a few back (apart from Abraham that is 🙂 )and stop buying up all the young players which is what they have been done for
Well said Pat – I remember watching Nat Lofthouse score the winning goals in the FA Cup final in 1958 against Man Untd after the Munich disaster. A little remembered fact is that Stan Crowther played in the Villa winning team in 57 and then played for Utd in the 58 final after the FA gave Utd a special dispensation to sign new players.
*and play them even though ‘cup tied’
“Championship side Aston Villa want to sign German 17-year-old Erkan Eyibil. The teenager currently plays for Mainz 05”
https://turkish-football.com/aston-villa-west-brom-join-race-for-new-mesut-ozil-erkan-eyibil-premier-league-super-lig-sides-newcastle-west-brom-interested/
Never heard of him but any thoughts?