Aston Villa v Burnley Post-Match Thread

[KevinGage]

It's probably good that GH has now seen just about everyone in the squad perform in competitive action.

You can see them in training and it can give you some idea, but there really is no substitute for games with something riding on them.

A few of the players in and around the squad have taken the opportunity and made themselves very hard to drop. Others probably can't really complain if they don't feature from this point onwards.

Only problem is Petrov is out for a while so Sidwell -who should be in the latter category- will probably feature quite a bit over the next few months by default as much as anything else.

[spangley1812]

Those slating Sidwell, he is a combative midfielder.  Not Michel Platini.  He aint great, he aint shit.  And you generally get what you "see on the tin" (sorry I'm tired).  Let's stop waiting for him to be the next Frank Lampard eh?

 

I agree yes he did some poor things but he also did some good things like tracking back, covering, tackling and at least he was in the box to miss the chances and dont forget he hasnt played a full game for ages

[pauliewalnuts]

Those slating Sidwell, he is a combative midfielder.  Not Michel Platini.  He aint great, he aint shit.  And you generally get what you "see on the tin" (sorry I'm tired).  Let's stop waiting for him to be the next Frank Lampard eh?

 

I'm not waiting for him to become the next Frank Lampard.

I am waiting for him to contribute something to the side, though. I agree he's not great. I disagree on him being not shit. I think he's a very, very poor footballer indeed.

[Legion]

4-6-0 was interesting to say the least. Lots of pretty football but no end product.

Ireland was anonymous, Sidwell was useless.

Friedel was great in goal.

Cuellar was deserved MoM.

Heskey performed well as did Downing (quality falling-over moment).

[Matt Collins]

I agree on the Sidwell comments. I'd expect a premier league footballer costing £5.5m to be able to do things like pass the ball to someone on his own team or generally do anything to affect the game.

Sidwell and NRC as our only central midfield options is a concern.

[Rigadon]

Those slating Sidwell, he is a combative midfielder.  Not Michel Platini.  He aint great, he aint shit.  And you generally get what you "see on the tin" (sorry I'm tired).  Let's stop waiting for him to be the next Frank Lampard eh?

 

I'm not waiting for him to become the next Frank Lampard.

I am waiting for him to contribute something to the side, though. I agree he's not great. I disagree on him being not shit. I think he's a very, very poor footballer indeed.

Fair enough pauliewalnuts.  I think he's limited but gets treated more harshly because people had high hopes for him but it's only my opinion.  He found his level at Reading but it took a move to Chelsea and Villa to work it out.  Somebody said on another thread about Coker being a better athlete than footballer and I think the same applies to Mr Sidwell.

[Mazrim]

Sidwell was worse than useless. I wish he'd just leave and we're really short of central midfielders. He could step up and make the position his own but he's not really interested. I dont know whats happened to him since joining us but he's terrible.

Anyway, that was stodgy fare. A bit sloppy but, hey ho. We're through.

Friedel - 8. Very good.
Beye - 5. A liability at left back. A decent right back. I'd have swapped him and...
Lichaj - 6. A steady performance.
Clark - 8. Class. MotM.
Cuellar - 8. Solid and composed.
Bannan - 5. Will have better games.
Reo Coker - 7. Thank fuck for General Nige.
Sidwell - 0. Completely and utterly inept. I am a better player than he is.
Albrighton - 5. See Bannan.
Young - 7. Typical Ash.
Ireland - 6. Early days yet. It will come. Needs more time with the players to click properly.

Heskey - 7. Exactly what we needed. He really is motivated at the moment and its good to see.
Downing - 8. Injected nous and a bit of class (apart from falling on his arse) and that goal was a cracker.

[spangley1812]

Young needs to keep his mouth shut, can't believe game after game he keeps getting booked for gobbing off, he has to be close to a ban now also it was poor when he headed for the corner trying to time waste when there was 11 minutes left

[rutski]

Sidwell was worse than useless. I wish he'd just leave and we're really short of central midfielders. He could step up and make the position his own but he's not really interested. I dont know whats happened to him since joining us but he's terrible.

Anyway, that was stodgy fare. A bit sloppy but, hey ho. We're through.

Friedel - 8. Very good.
Beye - 5. A liability at left back. A decent right back. I'd have swapped him and...
Lichaj - 6. A steady performance.
Clark - 8. Class. MotM.
Cuellar - 8. Solid and composed.
Bannan - 5. Will have better games.
Reo Coker - 7. Thank fuck for General Nige.
Sidwell - 0. Completely and utterly inept. I am a better player than he is.
Albrighton - 5. See Bannan.
Young - 7. Typical Ash.
Ireland - 6. Early days yet. It will come. Needs more time with the players to click properly.

Heskey - 7. Exactly what we needed. He really is motivated at the moment and its good to see.
Downing - 8. Injected nous and a bit of class (apart from falling on his arse) and that goal was a cracker.

i am amazed at your ratings for sidwell and ireland. At least sidders gave a bit of effort, the fastest ireland ran was when he was substituted and ran off for an early bath! He looks totally uninterested. I want him to do well also, but his effort is sadly lacking! Looks like another curcic at the moment!

[brontebilly]

I guess we got to know more about the young players tonight - Lichaj, Bannan, Albrighton, Clark. It seems like they all struggled a bit.

However the decision to start without a striker is ridiculous. A championship side coming to Villa Park should at least expect to see a striker up against them. Playing Beye at left back was ridiculous too. Fair enough giving Lichaj a chance but against poor sides at home we need to have players comfortable on the ball at full back. It should have been Beye and Clark. Reo Coker and Sidwell are destructive athletic players, I wouldnt be so down on them for missing sitters. They will go in eventually. Downing continues a very good goal scoring season, he only got one I think the year Boro went down and probably 3 last season. He is on a good streak already. Heskey scoring will boost his confidence after the howler at Sunderland. GH must have zero confidence in Delfouneso. If he cant trust him tonight then he never will. When Carew is back fit then he should send Delfouneso out on loan. Maybe he needs to learn what playing at adult level is all about. Ireland continues an awful run of form and another late goal conceded.

Anyway we are through. Birmingham will have had a day extra to recover too. We havent much options given Albrighton's suspension, injuries, Ireland's ineptitude and Bannan failing to make an impression tonight. Think we will have to give Ireland another chance though - this time on the right of midfield.

Friedel
Beye, Collins, Dunne, Warnock
-----, Reo Coker, Sidwell----------
Ireland------Young---------Downing
--------------Ivanhoe----------------

With Bannan and Delfouneso as the only options from defence up. Bare bones this is it.

[pauliewalnuts]

Ireland, I thought looked quite dangerous for spells.

[villajk]

Been back half an hour.  Needed a drink before I could do anything.

Like most have said, we made extremely hard work of that. 

What was the point with playing with no striker?

Didn't think much of the officials, having said that there have been some pretty poor officials this season and not just for the Villa.

Thought it was a very good crowd.

[Legion]

Ireland, I thought looked quite dangerous for spells.

Yes, it was quite a scary place to be a few years ago what with... oh, hang on...

[PeterWithesShin]

Ultimately, all that matters is we won, but by God it was awful to watch at times. Not surprising when you start without a striker on the pitch at home to a mediocre Championship side.
Ireland was wank, Sidwell for all his faults at least got stuck in. Ashley moaned at everyone and everything it seemed, especially those who dared not play the ball he wanted, despite him constantly giving it away himself.
Heskey impressed yet again, as did Downing, although how he managed to bury his goal so well and yet miss a much better chance is quite bizarre. Friedel was perhaps the difference between being out the cup and being in the QF.
The referee was perhaps the only person on the pitch worse than Ireland.
Thank feck it didn't go to penalties!

I did however get to say hello to Legion before the game, so overall, a decent night.

[Dave Cooper please]

Got there five minutes late after flogging a few fanzines, glanced up at the big screen, and wondered if they had made some sort of mistake. No strikers? At home against a Championship side that had been stuffed at the weekend?
I reckon that might be the smallest average starting line-up ever.

The game itself was absolute bollocks, barely a moment of quality throughout the match, it got better from the 80th minute and through extra-time, but overall it was awful, not going to worry too much though, we can win this thing.

Sidwell was fucking rubbish. NRC wasn't much better. Beye played like he was smoking something exotic, Bannan was fairly poor but gains a bonus for clearing one off the line.

Positives? Friedel was immense, one double save in the second half was top notch, Clark continues to impress, Cuellar did himself no harm given Dunne's pie issues, Downing was excellent (I have to hold my hand up to writing him off after last season), and Heskey did the business again, he's one we all wrote off!

My son sold more fanzines than me.