as it progressed and post game reaction from Villa

[terryr]

During the Game

"Huge match.  Come on Villa!"

"Difficult to expect a win without Adomah and Grealish."

" Disagree, we have the personnel to beat Fulham without those two. Sadly Bruce has picked the wrong line up IMO"

" Starting very well.."

"  Not a great start"

" We're going to need to defend very well and see if we can fluke something at the other end I think."

" It's all Fulham"

" We look a little disjointed which is to be expected with the changes. Jedi is not as dominating because Fulham like to play in little triangles on the floor."

" Sessesgnon hasn't even tried to take on Tuanzebe yet. You can tell he's scared of him."

" Sooo close. Unlucky Thor"

" We have improved since the first 5-10 mins"

" Good stuff so far.
Completely nullified their attacking. Just need to take our chances when we have a spell."

" Bruce did well adjusting the lineup for our injuries and their strengths.  I think we are doing quite well.  "

"Handbags on the sidelines lol"

" Referee calls very little, but not really favoring either side so fair enough. (So far).  I would say that it looks that both sides would like him to call s bit more tightly"

" I have a feeling this game is going to throw up more selection headaches - in a good way."

" We're going to win this"

" Terry just headbutted one one of them lol"

" They've done nothing with the ball. It's fine playing pretty patterns around the back and in midfield but when they get close to our goal they give up possession."

"  I'm tellin you boys, the ref is gonna decide this one.   JT needs to work him.  It's one of his real strengths is working the ref.  As I'm typing JT walks 40 yards to talk to the ref at a dead ball.  "

" I'll take 0-0 if offered now"

" Weathered anything they could throw at us very well there, they don't seem to have much in our final third.
We have a few moments of excellent passing, but have also lacked the cutting edge.
Defensively look solid, Tuanzebe looks a good player, Jose was right, you can just tell!
Hutton playing very well so far (!) "

"We have done well.

Fulham cannot break us down and despite having the majority of the possession they have not converted this to chances.

We look more threatening and less likely to concede.

I said a few days ago that Tuanzebe would play a key role in keeping Sessegnon out of the game, he has done that brilliantly.

Bjarnsson and Jedinak are breaking up play very well and look very physical in the middle of the park.

Thor had a wonderful chance.

Overall we look the better side. "

"they wont get past us and when we score, they will leave them selves open and we will 2-0"

" Oh bother."

" poo"

" I think it'll be very difficult for us to come back from that goal - we're missing two of the fab four and it's not working without them going forwards."

" No-one tracking the runner into the box.  Way, way too easy."

" Nice play by Fulham.
Game over now. Think we will really struggle for goals with this team. First goal was crucial."

"We are lacking a match winner, yet alone an equalizer, deffo time for Grabban. "

" Onomah did well there. Johansen with a dirty challenge "

" We have to throw everything at this now.. even if it costs us 2-0 or 3-0..
Fight like Lions!!!"

" Fulham are a decent team. ,"

" They play good football, but it also appears they've got 5 or 6 Olympic sprinters in their team too.  That was always going to be an issue for us."

" 2-0. Goal from half-way line, Johnstone missing."

" Oh FFS game over"

" Reality check.
Play someone decent and we get turned over."

" Fulham are still a real threat for 2nd place - we must put this behind us and kick on from here - still all to play for ."

POST GAME

"First half we looked solid and uninspiring, which if we could have kept it up might have been good enough to nick it, or at least a point.
Second half we paid the price for not being very good at keeping the ball, they are a good footballing side and we just gave it back and invited them on to us. Could have been more than 2 when we wobbled. Luckily there are only them and Wolves at that kind of level in this league really. Fulham have started slower than us, so if we can get back into the groove by beating Preston at home we can get back on track quickly. If we do go up though, a good premier league team would rip us a new one if we play like that."

" I feel poo. "

" Winning every week was boring anyway. "

" Disappointing but we move on. Fulham are a good side and missing 2 key players didn't help things. Lets get back to winning ways on Tuesday night. "

" The issue again was square peg round holes, you could see from the line up we wouldn't win, I don't want to jump back on the Bruce hate train, but the issue is he has no Plan B ever, maybe because we don't have the depth, but i felt like one or two of O'Hare, RHM and Green would be obvious starters in this match if fit. Instead we have again played it safe and tried to expect cloggers to play as wingers/attackers."

" Not too disappointed with this one, but would be telling to see our reactions for the next game.
Pulis and Boro can both fuc k off"

" 21 points from the last 8 games!
Looking for positives."

" Some very strange people on this board...
A game I think which had been coming.  The good thing is that we get to correct it against Preston on Tuesday and we must be up for it.
We did..okay, for 45 minutes and had a couple of half chances.  That Barney shot on his weak foot probably being the pick.  Their goals for me were both gifts and not something I expect to become the norm.  We're usually much better than that defensively.  That said, I don't think Terry and Chester had much to do!
Snoddy looked better on the right.
Hogan I think is looking a bit of a shell again.  Apart from shooting and chasing down, I think he needs to get involved a bit more when we have it around their box.  Show for a give and go, don't just stand in the box looking for a picture perfect ball.
Shows how much we need grealish and adomah!
Conor had another quiet game.  I've noticed he doesn't run with the ball much.  Maybe that's something he could improve on.
Axellooked good bar 1 or 2 moments.
Bruce got it as righr as he could given the circumstances."
"Beaten by a far better team !
I think Bruce had pretty much given up on the game before it started and put out a team that night have held on to a 0-0 but was never going to score at any point.
I've always stood up for Hogan but I'm getting a bit bored of him now. Yes he could be good if we played to his strengths but we never have and never will under Bruce so why keep playing him. Prefer to revert back to Davis as a hold up player to bring others into the game.
Hourihane was cack but then he always is !
Need to get it back on Tuesday."

"  I agree about the first 45 and snodgrass. Their goals were gifts and they could have had 2 or 3 more in the spell when we were all over the place at the back though.
Hogan had zero service today, Hourihane suffered from the change in shape and all the creative burden in the center being on his shoulders. Not sure Bruce did get it right really, the balance we have had between attack and defence was tipped much more to the defensive side with the starting 11,  the shape suffered as a result and so did our play. "

"Back to reality.
We have been on a great run but the worrying thing is, when we come up against the teams also challenging we get turned over."

" Bruce got it all wrong today. Yes, it was always going to be tough without Adomah and Grealish, but we made it even harder for ourselves by replacing them with a RB and a midfielder whos best performances for us have come as a DM. Tuanzebe wasn't a big issue though as Elmo had a decent game and is a decent enough winger, it was more bringing in Bjarnasson, we had no drive in CM, Lansbury would've been a better option IMO or even throwing in O'Hare.
Hogan upfront in the team we played today was never going to work, he doesn't get involved in the game enough when we try to soak up pressure, Grabban or Davis would've been a better fit today.
Would love to know what has happened to Green, last I saw he was regularly playing for the U23s but he seems to have just disappeared again, did he get another injury?
Onomah looks less interested with each game and has been getting shitter and shitter, I think it's time to stop letting him get in the way of developing our own players and leave him out of the team, maybe it will give him a kick up the arse to start putting some decent performances in too."

[mojo]

Thanks for this, makes a great read.

" They play good football, but it also appears they've got 5 or 6 Olympic sprinters in their team too."

[JoelH5]

Think they were watching a different game. Not once over the 90 did they look anywhere near 'the better team.' They were completely out played

[Tabby]

Think they were watching a different game. Not once over the 90 did they look anywhere near 'the better team.' They were completely out played

First half was pretty even I thought. We didn't really create any chances of note. They fell apart after the goal though.

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

A good performance and a great win, but still annoyed at the lack of finishing with two or three of the other clear chances which came our way.

Ayite's choice of ball when he was three on two was criminal even if he did later score.

[Carborundum]

Some knowledgeable comments there.  Tuanzebe was very good indeed - best player on the pitch in the first half.  Bananas we could do that to their midfield without Bruce bringing Henri Lansbury on.  Hogan not my type of striker.

[bobbo]

Terry thank you again

[Woolly Mammoth]

Absolutely thank you Terry, interesting and absorbing reading to read how the other supporters view it.

[Forever Fulham]

If nothing else that string of comments throughout the game from AV fans shows how quickly beliefs can turn 180 degrees.  Certitude can come back to bite you in the you know what.