Villa 1 - Wolves 1 Verdict thread

[Dinowolf]

He didn't but it feels a bit more annoying when you don't win.

Agreed

 

[sycophantia]

Hard to swallow we didn't win that game, played ok first half but were excellent 2nd, probably the most dominant half of football we've had for a long time. Ref was fine 1st half but rubbish 2nd, the pen on Bod and the trip on Costa were right in front of him and obvious, his decisions plus some poor finishing cost us. Costa motm by a mile, thought Saiss was poor first half but really dominated the midfield 2nd. At the start of the season Bod was quite Bullyesque, pulling the trigger as soon as he sights goal but lately seems to want a bit too much time, having said that he is a real attribute to the team. Probably Hauses best game for a while but I'm not sure moving Iorfa around is doing him any good.
Although I'm disapointed, got to say this team excites me more than any Wolves team since MM's glory days.
Villa very poor, thought they'd be more up for it with a new manager in but think they are where they deserve to be in the league.

 

[Langers]

My thoughts:

Really positive 2nd half performance. Villa were diabolical (I actually thought they resembled Wolves in 2012/13) but credit where its due, we never gave up, we were a constant threat and used pace and power in abundance. We just couldn't finish the bloody thing which was so frustrating!

I didn't think we were THAT bad in the first half and understood why Walter set us up the way he did. Maybe - like me - he wasn't banking on Villa being as toothless as my remaining grandparents.

That ref - not one, not two but three inexcusable decisions that would have drastically altered the game. And he had a perfect view of all 3 incidents. The Chester foul is beyond belief. The foul on Bod even worse. The handball in the first half as clear as day. Also, he twice decided to finally give us a free kick when we had an advantage and were breaking at speed and why he penalised Batth on the left touchline near the corner baffled me. An absolute joker who clearly doesn't understand the rules of the game. Disgraceful 'performance'.

Our players - I'd have to agree with the excellent Helder Costa for MOTM but I thought Saiss was also superb. Breaks up play well enough but he's also got a wonderful pass on him. The defence still worries me half to death but thankfully in the 2nd half Villa troubled them about as much as Calista Flockhart would trouble an all you can eat buffet but against a team with some actual attacking intent, its a serious weakness in the side.

We should be 2 points richer but I hope the lads take heart from such a positive performance that deserved a win.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

[FONT=&quot]Wolves played well as a team but I don't think I would swap any of their players for ours......ok maybe Hutton, who was very very lucky to not concede after a right howler .[/FONT]

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Kenny]

Football fans are ACE. Deluded football fans are even better.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

[FONT=&quot]Wolves at home and I'm relieved to get a point. Just wow.[/FONT]

lULZ

 

[jd1981]

The Chester decision is just mistifying his view is as clear as anything, there's no other logical explanation other than he bottled it.
I can see Grealish getting a ban if the referee leant include his stamp on the match report.
As for Villa they looked worse than ourselves under Saunders although I think they'll improve enough to stay up.

 

[Langers]

The Chester decision is just mistifying his view is as clear as anything, there's no other logical explanation other than he bottled it.
I can see Grealish getting a ban if the referee leant include his stamp on the match report.
As for Villa they looked worse than ourselves under Saunders although I think they'll improve enough to stay up.

Yeah I think Bruce is a decent appointment for them to steady the ship because they're a fucking mess at the moment.

This isn't a surprise but Villa Park is like a morgue. Awful lack of vocal support from their fans.

 

[Kenny]

I can see Grealish getting a ban if the referee leant include his stamp on the match report.
.

As the ref spoke with his assistant and the 4th Official and booked Coady and McCormack it is fair to say non of them saw the stamp. If they are asked by the FL/FA if they saw it and they say yes, then they all need sacking.

Oh and Lee Hendrie - Had to laugh when he said it was just a bit of handbags. Even the village idiot next to him look amazed at that (to even it up Hendrie did say we should have had 2 more pens and Chester should have walked)

 

[The Bear]

Hard to swallow we didn't win that game, played ok first half but were excellent 2nd, probably the most dominant half of football we've had for a long time. Ref was fine 1st half but rubbish 2nd, the pen on Bod and the trip on Costa were right in front of him and obvious, his decisions plus some poor finishing cost us. Costa motm by a mile, thought Saiss was poor first half but really dominated the midfield 2nd. At the start of the season Bod was quite Bullyesque, pulling the trigger as soon as he sights goal but lately seems to want a bit too much time, having said that he is a real attribute to the team. Probably Hauses best game for a while but I'm not sure moving Iorfa around is doing him any good.
Although I'm disapointed, got to say this team excites me more than any Wolves team since MM's glory days.
Villa very poor, thought they'd be more up for it with a new manager in but think they are where they deserve to be in the league.

Agree with all of that.

 

[jd1981]

Yeah I think Bruce is a decent appointment for them to steady the ship because they're a $#@!ing mess at the moment.

This isn't a surprise but Villa Park is like a morgue. Awful lack of vocal support from their fans.

Yep some Villa fans still think they can still go up which I think is absurd, thing is it's not just the players from the last campaign who look shot to pieces, Jedinak, Mcormack, Elphic and Chester look mediocre for players you'd expect to be more than good enough at this level.

 

[Kenny]

Jedinak, Mcormack, Elphic and Chester look mediocre for players you'd expect to be more than good enough at this level.

McCormack is fine, his record over the last few seasons speaks volumes but if you are going to leave him stranded up front then he will struggle. He was losing his rag in the 2nd half as not one Villa player put pressure on us, which left him trying to stop our back 4 or Saiss having a passing practice session.

On the passing...is it just me or has Batth's ability with the ball improved this season. Previously 90% of his balls out of defence were just punts, now he seems more confident to look for a pass. Don't always come off but a lot better than previously seen.

 

[Haggstone]

Similar to Norwich game. First half we were shite. Second half....much better. Villa were bloody awful throughout. If Walter wants to make a go of this he needs to figure out why we don't show up till half time.

 

[Johnny75]

I thought we passed the ball very well. Hit short passes with pace on angles from all over the pitch as well as hitting good longer balls to put Villa under pressure. Saiss has great ability on the ball and even Prince hit some spectacular passes too.

Much better than watching hoofball. I hope this is the start of a good footballing side. Just need that style and purpose in the 2nd half to translate to a whole game. Not playing Prince wide left would be a start though, that was a mistake.

 

[Langers]

We were nowhere near as bad as the Norwich game. I don't think we were shite in the first half, just average.

 

[Haggstone]

Really? Bear in mind how bad villa are at the moment and where Norwich are in the league.....

 

[Kenny]

I thought we passed the ball very well. Hit short passes with pace on angles from all over the pitch as well as hitting good longer balls to put Villa under pressure. Saiss has great ability on the ball and even Prince hit some spectacular passes too.

Much better than watching hoofball. I hope this is the start of a good footballing side. Just need that style and purpose in the 2nd half to translate to a whole game. Not playing Prince wide left would be a start though, that was a mistake.

Agree playing Prince on the left was a mistake but I get why he did it just that Villa didn't do what he expected. Bruce set them up to do it but they couldn't be arsed.

 

[Jamwolf]

Agree playing Prince on the left was a mistake but I get why he did it just that Villa didn't do what he expected. Bruce set them up to do it but they couldn't be arsed.

The whole team played well. Hats off to Edwards, I thought he was outstanding in the second half.

Pity that Coady has no idea in the final quarter of the pitch - but a true grafter worth his place.

As for team selection, we still need our flair players. Two of Cav, Tex and Dicko need to start each week.

 

[Boozad]

An absolute 1-1 massacre! I can't believe we didn't come away with three points there, that second half performance was the best I've seen us play in a while. Costa was magic, everything he touched worked in the second half and he was a class apart, totally unplayable. The whole team played well really but I was very impressed with Batth, Hause and Saiss who nullified Villa and gave us a solid base to keep building attacks from.

It's impossible not to talk about that ref's 'performance' as well, it may seem like sour grapes seeing as we dropped two points but even if we'd won his ineptitude would have still been sticking out like a sore thumb.
The handball for the first penalty we didn't get awarded may not have been intentional watching the replays but those have been given in the past, probably more often than not. I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt over that at first but now I'm not so sure.
The second penalty call was a stone-waller, Richards goes through the back of Bod and it's blatant, not giving that one was inexcusable. Same as Chester's foul on Costa, that was a cast iron second yellow card.
We can't really blame the ref for losing us two points as we should have been more clinical and sorted it ourselves but he did have a massive hand in keeping the scoreline down. Complete and utter fucking moron who shouldn't be anywhere near a football pitch.

Villa were utterly wank, if anybody involved with the club think they can gatecrash the promotion race they're deluded. No fight, no quality, no ideas. Bruce may be able to turn things round but when you're 9 points off the playoffs after twelve games, 1 point out of the bottom three with only one win in twelve it stands to reason you're not going be troubling the top six.

We just need to find some more consistency and start punishing teams when we're in the ascendancy. Fitness shouldn't be an issue any more and as long as we can start utilising Tex, Cav, Dicko and Costa properly then I think we'll be fine. On the evidence of today I'd expect play-offs but we all know things don't always work out like that.

 

[TornadoTed]

Nothing to add really. We were good 1st half, excellent 2nd half and were only a bit of luck and a decent referee away from winning by a clear margin.

I think the key to success or failure this season is getting Dicko back fully fit, starting and scoring because Bod and Costa are both superb in different ways but don't look like either are going to be prolific.