Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: Legion on September 26, 2010, 12:26:14 PM
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Available Sunday evening.
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Albrighton subbed when tired.
Ditto Petrov.
Ivanhoe scoring!
Changing times, good times.
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Good first half, shocking second, the O'Neill habits will die hard. However brilliant brilliant header by Emile. Petrov is gone, he has to be dropped.
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Good win, lets hope we keep winning...
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Loads for Houllier to do, but instilling a winning mentality is the first. We're making the right start.
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We'll take that ;)
Cuellar was motm outstanding.
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Petrov's engine is gone alright... Cueller and NRC were immense.
Heskey is a new man while Ashley, well, was the genius he always was.
Great win while Everton and Spurs stutter in the league.
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Halsey still an awful ref.
Heskey being played as a centre forward. Briliant header
We got away with that but who cares.
Signs of pass and move football.
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We reverted to form second half to a certain extent but what a pleasing win.
Heskey's header incredibly impressive.
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Work in progress.
Well done Emile, great header.
3 points - fack off Wolves.
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Who is this new signing that was out there today, big guy, scored a belter of header. Emile who? Fair play to him.
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Halsey still an awful ref.
Heskey being played as a centre forward. Briliant header
We got away with that but who cares.
Signs of pass and move football.
Yes, we should have been down to 10.
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Ohhhhh squeaky bum time in the 2nd half, thought Wolves came at us very hard. Good game from Cuellar on the whole, but Collins gives too many free kicks away. Nice team effort with their backs to the wall, everyone working hard. And 2 in 2 for the E-mule =O!! Albrigton had a superb 1st half, would have preferred to see Downing being taken off and Young or Gabby on the left... but thank the gods for 3 points we don't finish the week below the Baggies.
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Who was that exciting, goal hungry bloke in the Heskey shirt?
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great first half
MON type second half
cuellar MOM
Heskey Most improved player
NRC and Luke very good
Warnock and Petrov - poor
Subs being used
G-Hou has alot of hard work but he is the man to do it...
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both goals apart, thought we were average 1st and terrible 2nd half, thought we were lucky to get away with a win, but hey ho take that in a derby match and trying not to read too much into the performance
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Heskey, Carlos and Young. A were absolutely immense. Absolutely brilliant win at a place where not many will do so this season. Very good first half, woeful second. Who cares if it was slightly undeserved, two wins out of 2 for GH. :D
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Made substitutions based on the blindly obvious, Petrov being shite, Allbrighton struggling against that big guys physicality, good start from Houllier.
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Great win but a concerning second half performance, there seemed to be a lack of energy from a lot of the players and we led a very ordinary Tatters side dominate.
Fair play to Sidwell, I dont think he touched the ball but managed to cripple two of their players. I'm not a fan of his but Cuellar was fantastic as was Collins, I also thought Warnock did very well defensively after the incident that should have got him sent off.
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Great to snatch that win from the jaws of the Wolves.
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Superb winner from Emile just as we had started to fade. Great stuff.
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Two goals from two of MON's most unpopular signings.
Great win.
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We reverted to form second half to a certain extent but what a pleasing win.
Heskey's header incredibly impressive.
I'm not so sure.
We could have folded after their equalizer, but we made key changes at the right times and got a foothold back in the game. Most of the pressure we brought on ourselves was with the tendency to hack the ball out of our penalty area. But that's the trade off you get with Cuellar. Decent stopper but only one setting when it comes to distribution - hit it hard and hope for the best.
We didn't quite look like we had enough to win it, but I'd have been encouraged enough had it finished 1-1.
The win makes it all that much sweeter, obv.
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I heard the bench shouting Pass it , Pass it
so the management know the problem and that will come into the team.. Hold possession and pass the ball
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Good win Heskey goal machine creaked a little bit when they equalised Petrov problem Played good football all afternoon
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Considering some of the, frankly, disgraceful and appalling insults thrown at Heskey over the last six months on this site I'm delighted for him.
He's never going to be world class and I will never be his biggest fan, but he while he wears our colours he has my support. I'll save my vitriol and bile for more deserving cases, all of whom are not employed buy the club I support.
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Brad 8 - Solid
Young 5 - In and out, didn't really get forward
Carlos 7 - Did everything right
Jimbo 8 - MOTM did everything right, more prolifically, always up for headers and blocked everything, only wrong thing was letting Doyle goalside, captain material.
Warnock 5 - Got around and made a nuisance of himself, clumsy challenges though.
Downing 6 - Got about, in and out, well taken goal.
Petrov 3 - anonymous
NRC 7 - made himself available, tackled, got forward to support where possible
Albrighton 6 - tried to beat his man, good crosses but in and out.
Young 8 - great outlet, created the link up play as best he could, a few wasted chances.
Heskey 7 - lead the line as best he could, well taken header but could've done with more support.
Subs: Gabby 4 - Not his usual terrorising self. Sidwell 4 - Did more in his ten minutes than Petrov's whole match.
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Excellent away win! Not perfect. A lot of room to improve, but I think there's been a different since Gerard took over. Certainly we look more organised at the back. Plus Cueller was immense.
Work needs to be done in january to sort the balance of the squad out, particularly in the middle. Sidwell and Petrov should be shipped out, and a couple of solid CM brought in. We're very light.
Friedel- 7
Warnock- 6 Looks off still. Made the winner for Heskey though. He has no one over his shoulder though, which is a worry.
Collins- 7 Good, but too many silly freekicks given away.
Cueller- 10 Absolutely brilliant. A master class at the back. Offered the sort of solidity we lacked while the unfit Dunne plodded along previously this season.
Young- 7 Excellent first half. Ran out of steam and made a few silly tackles in the tail end of the match.
Downing- 6 Drifted out the game. Well taken goal, but when we're under the cosh, he's a liability. In attack, he did well, but we didn't have much attacking in the 2nd half.
Petrov- 5 anonymous. Looked tired to started, looked dead by 80 minutes.
NRC- 8 Was almost left to face the Wolves midfield single handedly whilst defending. Full of running, and actually used the ball well. Rarely wasted a pass. Could become a key player. Should be skipper for now.
Albrighton- 6 Plenty of effort and running. Defensively needs to learn the game a bit more, as he leaves Luke isolated. Cracking ball for the goal though, absolutely superb.
Ash Young- 7 Didn't come off for him today but was always an outlet and always a threat. Just the final delivery, be it shot, pass or cross wasn't quite on it. There's a lot of promise with him and Heskey though.
Heskey- 9 Wow...quite easily his best display in a Villa shirt. Ran his socks off, lasted the pace well, cracking hold up play, especially in the first half when he got plenty of ball, rarely wasted it, and got a thoroughly deserved goal. 2 in 2 under GH, and two impressive displays. Sign of things to come? Hope so!
Overall a classic snatch and grab. A draw would have been a reasonable and fair result, but we've got 3 points. Job done. Sort out our fitness and our lightweight midfield, and we've potential to look at the top 4. I think Spurs will slip with the CL to play this season.
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Showed great character to come back after their equaliser and being up against it for the whole second half. Fantastic goal by Heskey too. Well done lads.
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Do we need to look at who our captain is? Is Petrov just on the way out? I can't see him starting every game this season.
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stand out players
heskey
ashley
cuellar
collins
reo coker
albrighton excellent first half, went missing second half as central midfield went missing
petrov wasnt in the game. some decent passes but doesnt look fit.
downing same apart frm the goal. was better in the right when albrighton went off.
warnock looked a liability till he popped up at the end with the cross for heskey.
Luke Young was good in the first half but terrible in the second. exposed time after time by jarvis.
reckon houllier needs new fullbacks and a new central midfield.
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Our downfall was being so casual when in possession. The passing at times was appallingly sloppy. But a win is a win, and it's a marvellous result.
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Do we need to look at who our captain is? Is Petrov just on the way out? I can't see him starting every game this season.
Yes. For me Collins or Nigel should be captain. Both give it their all, plenty of desire and plenty of vocal. Petrov looked worn out from the start. The legs have gone I'm afraid, but we're so short on quality, solid options in the middle, I can only see him starting every game between now and jan. Sidwell is a constant worry. His energy did make some difference for us, but on the flipside he can't tackle for shit.
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That was one of them moments when you just waiting for either a kammy "unbelievable jeff" or a andy gray "tek a bow son". Emile "lional" Heskey. Amazing villa you are my love!!
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Carlos Cuellar's best game for the club. Collins was pretty solid next to him. The rest were disappointing. Cant understand people rating Reo Coker. I thought he ran around like a headless chicken and rarely won the ball. Petrov was absolutely useless and has to be dropped, just a total passenger and frightened to get close to anyone in case they ran past him. We must have one of the worst central midfield partnerships in the league. Very hard for the likes of Downing and Young in that kind of scenario. Neither were great but when they got the ball looked decent enough. Great winner from Heskey, he showed a good attitude but I was screaming for Gabby to go up top with the high line Wolves were playing. Luke Young was poor in the second half, Friedel shit for the goal, Warnock is a poor player frankly. Yikes its three points but we were awful really. Milner and even Gareth Barry very badly missed still. We wont be going anywhere with a midfield of Petrov and Reo Coker this season.
A word on Ashley Young, in his first couple of seasons at the club, he had a great attitude and his set pieces were superb. Fair enough the movement in the opponents box has really declined this season but still his deliveries are cack. What is with all this arm waving, diving bullshit though? He is a very talented player and he showed his class in glimpses today but he could be so much better. Hard to shine when you are relying on hoofs from Collins et al. (Not that I blame the defenders as Reo Coker and Petrov hid in midfield and they had no option). A firm word from the management is in order. He should be looking to hit the deck at every opportunity.
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Heskey was awesome all game, he defended, he attacked and his header was bloody superb.
Wolves had loads of possession and few chances, we did smash and grab but isn't that what you should be doing to win away in this division?
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Nice for us to snatch a late winner for a change.
Collins and Cuellar were fantastic, they looked so solid. Albrighton was good until Ward went off and Elokobi bullied him out of the game. NRC had a good game, his best for a while.
Heskey had possibly his best game in a Villa shirt and we scored two goals from good crosses.
Cuellar was my man of the match, amazing what can happen when you play players in the correct positions.
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Just on the train heqding back to brum!
Superb 3 points, we were on the back foot the 2nd half.
Petrov needs to be replaced.
Cuellar, simply his best game for us. No doubt.
Thanks to the wolves fans spitting on us. Hope you enjoy the highlights.
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Yes. For me Collins or Nigel should be captain. Both give it their all, plenty of desire and plenty of vocal. Petrov looked worn out from the start. The legs have gone I'm afraid, but we're so short on quality, solid options in the middle, I can only see him starting every game between now and jan. Sidwell is a constant worry. His energy did make some difference for us, but on the flipside he can't tackle for shit.
How about Cueller or is the language barrier a problem? I agree with your two suggestions being in contention but I think Cueller would have a shout. I think's a better defender than Collins and would really lead by example.
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Cuellar and Collins were both outstanding.
Ashley did very well, Albrighton did but faded, NRC had a good one and actually played some more than decent passes, and Heskey was really excellent.
A bit worrying that we can play so well in the first half, but so badly in the second, but looking at it objectively, it is going to take the new management team a fair while to stamp their shape and approach on the team - possibly a large chunk of the season, in fact.
It is heartening that we can show we can play some more than decent football in the meantime, and if we continue to pick up points - especially hard fought ones like today - in the meantime, then that's even better.
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Gerard, please make Heskey the captain and bench Petrov!
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Thanks to the wolves fans spitting on us. Hope you enjoy the highlights.
Didn't you take a mac? Lets hope it was only Spit, their voices seemed very high so it could have been worse.
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Yes. For me Collins or Nigel should be captain. Both give it their all, plenty of desire and plenty of vocal. Petrov looked worn out from the start. The legs have gone I'm afraid, but we're so short on quality, solid options in the middle, I can only see him starting every game between now and jan. Sidwell is a constant worry. His energy did make some difference for us, but on the flipside he can't tackle for shit.
How about Cueller or is the language barrier a problem? I agree with your two suggestions being in contention but I think Cueller would have a shout. I think's a better defender than Collins and would really lead by example.
Yeah, lingo is all I'd worry about in Carlo's case. Otherwise he'd be a worthy contender for sure. Nige has captained us before, and Collins has captained Wales I believe. Friedel is another shout, but I'm not a big fan of keepers as skippers.
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I think today showed a real sign of things to come.
First half we played reasonably well ... not the Villa that we'd all love to see but good enough to get a goal and keep the Dingles at bay.
The second half was fairly terrible. I've been sitting here for the 42 of the final 45 minutes shaking my head with disgust that we can't break them and get past their back line. Then we scored, and I must say that goal was absolutely outstanding. A perfect cross for Heskey to convert with his head. Not only that, it was done so well that I don't think we'll see a better placed header all season.
We then hung on those final 6 minutes and really made it known that we wanted to win, even though before that the 'spark' was just not there.
Friedel - 9 - Absolutely solid performance today. Performed a lot of outstanding saves.
Young - 7 - I'd like to see him make a bit more of a difference going forward. Didn't play poorly, but didn't play well enough to make a difference.
Cuellar - 8 - Clearly a better CB than a RB. Played fantastically. Won loads of balls and made some much needed important tackles.
Collins - 8 - Again, won the ball a lot. A solid defender who really cares about this team. By far one of MON's best signings.
Warnock - 5 - Far too angry today. Went in to far too many stupid tackles and, let's not fuck about, he's very lucky he got away with only one yellow card.
Albrighton - 7 - Still showing a LOT of promise for this team. Making many runs and getting past the full backs. Doing what he should. And let's not forget he set up Downing with that spectacular cross ... the kind of cross you'd expect to see from a seasoned professional.
NRC - 7- I like this guy and I'm happy to see him back in the first team. Makes runs to help in attacks, gets back and defends, and has enough pace within him to really make a defence scared.
Petrov - 4 - Disappointing today. Didn't see him make any difference and was not surprised to see him getting subbed off. I'm expecting him to get some really captaincy training.
Downing - 8 - Played really well. Converted that superb cross in to the net (with his right foot) and is really starting to show the potential that MON clearly saw in him when he signed him.
Young - 7 - Did play quite well but seemed to turn into one of them annoying "whiney-little-bitch" footballers. Still, I'm getting more and more impressed with him in that central attacking role.
Heskey - 9 - I'm really starting to like Ivanhoe. He's not the best striker in the world and he never will be, but he's starting to really show his colours without MON around. Not to mention he scored that fan-fucking-tastic header.
Subs. Gabby - 4 - Didn't see much from Gabby today ... I don't think he's suited for that winger role any more. Sidwell - 3 - Came on and made two tackles that saw him get booked and (very nearly) sent off. He was very disappointing today and really needs a beat down in the dressing room.
Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed. Any team that can still win when they're clearly not having a good game is the sign of a winning team. And, although some people won't agree, I think Randy Lerner made the right choice with GH.
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lol 27000 for their cup final and their deluded owners think they can expand their stadium to 50,000.
Awesome to win, I really can't stand the Dingles like I said previously... their pathetic little chants screaming 'Villa' high-pitched (why do the Dingles and small heathens do this - I don't get it?) just makes their inbred fans look even more stupid than they were before.
Heskey 10/10... 2 goals in 2 games, things are looking good for him. He's looking like he actually cares and gives a shit with the effort he's putting in now. Dowining did well again, likewise with Ash, Cuellar and young Marc.
P.S. Don't want to be a party pooper but Petrov needs to go. Another awful performance by him, it just feels like we're playing with 10 men when he's playing, he's not contributing to the team. Stephen Ireland with Coker plz.
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petrov wasnt in the game. some decent passes but doesnt look fit.
downing same apart frm the goal.
Downing also played a part in what was a very good move for the second goal.
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Loved the fact that the BBC live text on the game was littered throughout with Heskey jokes; stuff like 'every time he shoots he misse by emile', 'every time he shoots he skey's it', that sort od stuff. Then he comes up with a text book header like that. Had to laugh. Good on him. He never lets it get to him - a real professional.
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Great result, average performance. Really pleased for Heskey, decent guy and a very underated palyer, hindered by playing for the scum before us I feel. Nice to see us look to pass it (friedel barely kicked it out) and think better things to come as Houlier and his team settle into the club. I'm right behind them and feel this whole episode has been like a breath of fresh air now its done and dusted.
As for the issue of captain, I would personally give it to Young. Give him a new contract and build this team around him. His work rate is amazing and he is a brilliant talent. I think he will lead by example and show others how it should be done. If not him then I'd have Dunne as captain, again excellent player (just needs to get fit and match fit)
3 points is 3 points though, so im having a fee beers and enjoying the rest of my Sunday. Enjoy all..........
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Petrov was a bit too much of an MON man always. But he's just not able to expend the required energy anymore.
And supertom, I think my preference for captain would be on these lines:
1. Cueller
2. Collins
3. Friedal
4. NRC
5. Dunne.
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It's one of our many derby games this season. As such the resut is all that matters and we got it. Two cracking goals and I do like Heskey and Ash up front. Cueller and Collins are our best centreback pairing imo. Not many teams will win there this season. Loving the Houllier effect thus far, good subs at the right time and with the right people - how refreshing and professional. I've got a good feeling about this...
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Dunne is far from finished, lets not forget that he was voted in the PL team of the season last year. When he's fit he will be one of the first names on team sheet and rightly so.
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I'd like to say I loved Emile and Collins clearly looking fired up, that's a really good sign.
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I think that Ash is our most inspiring player and leads from the front, so I'd sign him up on 5 year deal and make him captain.
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Awesome to win, I really can't stand the Dingles like I said previously... their pathetic little chants screaming 'Villa' high-pitched (why do the Dingles and small heathens do this - I don't get it?) just makes their inbred fans look even more stupid than they were before.
Dates back to the time when the kids in the North Stand would squeal 'Veeeella!' in a really high pitched voice around the mid-late 80's.
It was embarrassing TBH, and we used to take a fair bit of abuse of a few clubs because of it, not just the local dregs.
Just shows that the Heathens and Tatters have got fcuk all else on us though if they still have to dredge up that.
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Happy with the points not the second half performance. We needed to retain possesion a lot better than we did and part of the reason we didn't do that was the Crab! If I hadn't seen him lead the team out I wouldn't of known he was playing.
Someone commented eariler that NRC was running around like a headless chicken that was due to the fact he was doing Petrov's job for him.
On the upside I think we will play a lot better than that this season and when we needed to make changes GH did so to good effect.
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Pleased with the result, if not the performance.
Promising signs in the first half but we couldn't string 2 passes together in the second.
Possibly Heskeys best game for us? Held it up well, especially 1st half, and the goal really was excellent.
As far as the new gaffer goes, the substitutions were spot on, although maybe a little late. Good to see Petrov has lost his 'untouchable' tag. Even though he was blowing out of his arse after an hour as usual, there's no way he would have been hauled off under MON.
Would rather Ashley have been moved out wide when Gabby came on though.
Fifth in the table too, can't be bad.........
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Sixth if Newcastle win.
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Sixth if Newcastle win.
Yep, sorry, you're correct. They're 1 up at half time unfortunately.
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From the BBC:
Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier on his side's late winner at Wolves: "It was a very good Liverpool goal. Stephen Warnock crossed and Emile Heskey scored it."
Are Liverpool going to be to Houllier what Leeds were to DOL? I don't care if we keep winning!
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Compare and contrast (http://www.wolveswebfansclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6228).
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I'm looking forward to the day he's interviewed and doesn't mention frigging Liverpool.
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I think he needs to drop the Liverpool references.
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From the BBC:
Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier on his side's late winner at Wolves: "It was a very good Liverpool goal. Stephen Warnock crossed and Emile Heskey scored it."
Are Liverpool going to be to Houllier what Leeds were to DOL? I don't care if we keep winning!
Thing is, comments such as this will be thrown back at him when we have a bad run. Best not to mention Liverpool at all really. Still, early days we'll let him off this one.
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We had Ireland, Bannan and Agbonlahor on the bench today. Those are players that could come on and make a difference.
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Great result - not many will win at wolves and we defended well, great to see luke nige and heskey playing in the team and delivering and things look so much better now o neill and his one way style has gone.
GED will improve us and I'm sure when he's assessed the squad he will bring in the right signings in jan or the summer- I see exciting times ahead for our club , so let's enjoy the journey and see where GED takes us.
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He'd be well advised to keep schtum if that's his immediate thoughts after a narrow derby win in his first game in charge.
Maybe he's a decent manager, but should let Gary Mac do the talking.
He does seem to have a tendency to say too much with a mic stuck in front of him. I hope that's where the comparison with Pigface begins and ends.
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Collins and Cuellar very solid, Young led from the front and always looked lively and creative. Heskey....what can you say, seems to enjoy playing right now,great goal. Backs and forwards were good today, Albrighton very good first half.
Midfield...this is where it gets tricky, Petrov, for a captain,simply not good enough,needs replacing or give Delph/Bannon a run
NRC, got his foot in here and there but always looks so sluggish and predictable, again, not good enough.
Downing, took goal well but that was it really...Sidwell, little time to impress ..and he didn't!
To win and play below average has to be a good sign...2 out of 2 for GH...COME ON !!!!!!!
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Compare and contrast (http://www.wolveswebfansclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6228).
Uforia?
Sounds like one of their Nigerian reserves.
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I prefer the Cuellar-Collins partnership to the Dunne-Collins partnership... I just think Collins and Cuellar work better together.
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I just worry that we are going to get swamped with both Downing and Albrighton playing. Although it might not be so bad if somebody replaced the invisible Petrov.
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Good first half but once Mcarthy changed their shape to tie up Ash more we struggled in the second. 10 minutes from the end I'd have settled for a point as we were under the cosh and could see them getting another, but that header from Heskey - he seemed to hang in the air for ages and I thought he'd got underneath it. Great to shut the yam yams up, especially as Warnock was lucky to still be on the pitch!
Just to put Houllier's 'Liverpool goal' comments in context - in the interview I heard on the way back it was the commentator who pointed out that Warnock and Heskey were with Houllier at Liverpool, and Houllier replied half jokingly that it was a Liverpool goal. He didn't volunteer the information.
As an aside - before the match just as I arrived Robert Plant got out of his car. He was happy to sign autographs and then strolled round the ground just like any other fan - seemed like a regular kind of guy. He didn't recognise me though.
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It was a battle but we overcome them cuellar and reo coker were great today warnock was treading a fine line though but i am pleased with the result.
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Just to put Houllier's 'Liverpool goal' comments in context - in the interview I heard on the way back it was the commentator who pointed out that Warnock and Heskey were with Houllier at Liverpool, and Houllier replied half jokingly that it was a Liverpool goal. He didn't volunteer the information.
I was just going to post that we didn't know the context and it sounded like a joke as both players played for Liverpool. The Media in Comments out of Context shocker happens again.
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Got no real hatred towards Wolves but having lived here 20 odd years its a game I just could'nt bare to lose as i'd never hear the end of it, that result will shut the locals up for 6 months, Cuellar absolutely immense, Reo-Coker fantastic, Albrighton in the first half was very good until that thing came on, can't wait to see Heskeys header later on, he seemed to hang in the air for ages
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Happy with the result, Not to blown away with the performance, We do not seem to pass the ball with ease but I'm hoping we'll get better.
Collins & Cuellar superb, impressed with NRC & Young again, This isnt a critisism of Albrighton but sometimes he needs to be more aware, I've mentioned it before, he seems to get ball and if he gets a glimpse of goal he'll shoot or he'll get the ball and he'll try and take everyone on, (not just today) somethimes I think he needs to look up like he did against Rapid Vienna
Warnock was lucky to stay on pitch and petrov was tired again, but overall i'll take it.
Some positives to take, Love the amount of late goals we score in local derbies
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Always nice to beat a Mick McCarthy team. Loved how utterly stumped and clueless he looked after Heskey had struck...
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I was lucky enough to be at the match today (prawn sandwich invite). Posted earler straight after in short from my phone.
Both of our goals were proper football goals. We beat them by playing better quality football all through the match. Don't worry about Wolves so called come back in the second half. They got lucky with their goal. If I could fault our defence I would say Collins should have headed that cross into row Z.
Don't know too much about the Warnock tackle debate. I didn't think at the time it required any harsher penalty.
Two players stood out for me for giving us attacking vibrancy. Heskey and Ash Young.
Two players who could have let us down today. Luke Young and Petrov. We need to "manage" Petrov till Delph is ready and than I hope he is on way to France or Belgium.
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I thought Luke Young had a good game and it was Warnock who was off the boil somewhat?
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A hard place to go, and we came away with a win. So much for the crisis. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of improving, but it's a work in progress. Heskey's header is as good as you'll see this season. Perfect in every way.
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I thought Luke Young had a good game and it was Warnock who was off the boil somewhat?
They had too much play on their left where Luke 's positioning was at fault in the second half. He wasted possession too often when we needed to keep the ball. Maybe becuase this part of the pitch was right front of me and I saw too much! First half he was too far for me to see <contact lens renewal due)
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I thought Luke Young had a good game and it was Warnock who was off the boil somewhat?
They had too much play on their left where Luke 's positioning was at fault in the second half. He wasted possession too often when we needed to keep the ball. Maybe becuase this part of the pitch was right front of me and I saw too much! First half he was too far for me to see <contact lens renewal due)
I would expect part of that was their best winger was that side and also Albrighton started to tire. Luke was being over run again.
You said you missed the Warnock incident but an already booked Warnock mis-controling and then bringing down the player bursting through was lucky to stay on. I would have expected him to be off if it was against us.
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I heard the Liverpool comments.
For me it was more "Thanks for the players Liverpool (if not directly) pity you're struggling this season etc etc".
Maybe that's just what I want it to mean.
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Something of a lucky win but we deserve a bit of luck after Stoke
However, we need to watch these 'boxer on the ropes' post half-time cameos or sooner or later someone is going to thump us again, as Newcastle did. Albrighton and Petrov suddenly went missing and we just can't get hold of the ball. I am slightly fearing Spurs away next week as they could carve us up in similar circumstances...
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Got no real hatred towards Wolves but having lived here 20 odd years its a game I just could'nt bare to lose as i'd never hear the end of it, that result will shut the locals up for 6 months, Cuellar absolutely immense, Reo-Coker fantastic, Albrighton in the first half was very good until that thing came on, can't wait to see Heskeys header later on, he seemed to hang in the air for ages
Cuellar was good but I do wish he would stop knocking it into touch at every opportunity. Reo-Coker fantastic? Mmmm....
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Very similar to the Stoke game in that we went from being in control to struggling against a direct approach. Difference was that we defended far better and obviously managed to score again. The belance of the side still isn't quite right but it's going to take a few weeks for the manager to get it sorted.
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Something of a lucky win but we deserve a bit of luck after Stoke
However, we need to watch these 'boxer on the ropes' post half-time cameos or sooner or later someone is going to thump us again, as Newcastle did. Albrighton and Petrov suddenly went missing and we just can't get hold of the ball. I am slightly fearing Spurs away next week as they could carve us up in similar circumstances...
Recently Spurs have been dodgy after midweek games. Lets hope we can take advantage of this.
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
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Just back. A good result. I always knew Heskey was good.............................
Overall a good team performance with Allbrighton strong. After the decent result when Petrov was dropped against Balckburn mid week I was surprised to se him back again, what I was not surprised at was his ability to make zero contribution to the game, the stats have told us that for a long time.
Two games, two wins though can't be bad and it was good to see NRC and Sidwell briefly appear. 5th place too.
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That'll be European Cup winner Pat Heard.
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I don't think I have ever read such a negative post match thread after a win. Well done Villa, you have made me proud today.
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That would be ex-player Pat Heard. And you were listening to BRMB as opposed to WM who probably had ex postman Daz Hale in the pundits seat.
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That would be ex-player Pat Heard. And you were listening to BRMB as opposed to WM who probably had ex postman Daz Hale in the pundits seat.
Ah you're right BRMB, Robbie Dennison (ex-Wolves winger) was also commentating.
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That'll be European Cup winner Pat Heard.
Couldn't give a monkey's, his commentating was arse.
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Thanks to the wolves fans spitting on us. Hope you enjoy the highlights.
Didn't you take a mac? Lets hope it was only Spit, their voices seemed very high so it could have been worse.
Get to hospital quickly, they're not known for being healthy, Wolves fans.
Nasty bastards.
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It was actually really nice and refreshing to see our subs used the way they should be. It's been too long since we've changed formation and had an impact striker come off the bench. In the last regime it would've been stick on Salifou at right back...
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Compare and contrast (http://www.wolveswebfansclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6228).
"uforia". Classy people.
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Positives:We won, looking foward to work tomorrow.
Houllier, think we would have lost today if KMac was still in charge, a proper manager makes all the differnce.
Downing, continually tried to play football, and pass to a Villa player.Might be a bit of a tart, but generally was the most composed Villa player today
Collins and Cuellar
Ashley.......best footballer on the pitch by an absolute mile.
Good substitutions, Gabby in partic had a positive effect.
Better football, tried to play football , good to see.
Heskey, deserved his goal, and his movement and workrate are essential to our system.
Negatives:LYoung and Petrov...both awful in possession, and Petrov in partic was so slow today.
Another stupid Warnock booking, putting him under pressure for the rest of the game.
Albrighton , young lad, plenty of potential, needs a rest.Not really a negative but Gabby made a big difference when he came on.
Confidence.3rd timr this year , away from home we have played a poor footballing team, and we give the ball away far too cheapley, and put us under pressure.Need to believe in ourselves a bit more.
Can't be disappointed with the result though.They are no better than last year, i think we will be.
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Three people on that thread.
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Got no real hatred towards Wolves but having lived here 20 odd years its a game I just could'nt bare to lose as i'd never hear the end of it, that result will shut the locals up for 6 months, Cuellar absolutely immense, Reo-Coker fantastic, Albrighton in the first half was very good until that thing came on, can't wait to see Heskeys header later on, he seemed to hang in the air for ages
Cuellar was good but I do wish he would stop knocking it into touch at every opportunity. Reo-Coker fantastic? Mmmm....
i was in the first row and the view wasn't the best Nige had a very good game from were i was and used the ball very well
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I thought the game was dire, but a welcome 3 points. I hope Heskey keeps it up.
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Goals here (http://videos.sportyall.com/musicvideo.php?vid=5629cfede).
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Got no real hatred towards Wolves but having lived here 20 odd years its a game I just could'nt bare to lose as i'd never hear the end of it, that result will shut the locals up for 6 months, Cuellar absolutely immense, Reo-Coker fantastic, Albrighton in the first half was very good until that thing came on, can't wait to see Heskeys header later on, he seemed to hang in the air for ages
Cuellar was good but I do wish he would stop knocking it into touch at every opportunity. Reo-Coker fantastic? Mmmm....
i was in the first row and the view wasn't the best Nige had a very good game from were i was and used the ball very well
Like most of our midfield Reo Coker had a very good first half and a decidedly iffy second.
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We were fucking rubbish for most of the second half! Made Wolves look almost decent.
But, work in progress and all that, got the win, Heskey looking like a striker again, fifth place - looking okay isn't it?
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I don't think I have ever read such a negative post match thread after a win.
Oh I've read far worse than this!
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Surprised at some people knocking luke , I thought he played ok and the defence fought hard against a wolves team who will not lose many at home.
Petrov is probably past his best but I'd prefer him to sidwell, at least until delph is fit , I was delighted with reo coker and downing looks a lot better this season.
Heskey again looked a different player and fully deserves to be up front with ash, with gabby and Ireland on the bench we have impact players there who can change a game if needed and I am very happy with the way it's looking for the future.
Luke , nige and heskey are like 3 new players and I'm sure GED will be looking at maybe a midfielder in the window but with Ireland, delph And Gary Gardner to come there will be options there, also bannan may get some game time , it really does look so much brighter now o neill has gone .
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As good as Cuellar was he did bring a lot of pressure on the defence with some needless hoofing and heading out. I thought Collins was the pick of the bunch with Ashley having a good game too.
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Ged has shown more tactical nous in five days than O'Neill did in four years.
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Reading some of the posts on here today you'd think it was fashionable being negative. It was a local derby against a rival that didn't give an inch. It was never going to be pretty yet we came through it. Can we not just be happy for a bit and look forward to happier times?
And as for the upcoming Spurs game, I guarantee you Houllier will set us up in a manner that will give us the best chance to get a result. I'm looking foward to it immensely.
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I think today showed a real sign of things to come.
First half we played reasonably well ... not the Villa that we'd all love to see but good enough to get a goal and keep the Dingles at bay.
The second half was fairly terrible. I've been sitting here for the 42 of the final 45 minutes shaking my head with disgust that we can't break them and get past their back line. Then we scored, and I must say that goal was absolutely outstanding. A perfect cross for Heskey to convert with his head. Not only that, it was done so well that I don't think we'll see a better placed header all season.
We then hung on those final 6 minutes and really made it known that we wanted to win, even though before that the 'spark' was just not there.
Friedel - 9 - Absolutely solid performance today. Performed a lot of outstanding saves.
Young - 7 - I'd like to see him make a bit more of a difference going forward. Didn't play poorly, but didn't play well enough to make a difference.
Cuellar - 8 - Clearly a better CB than a RB. Played fantastically. Won loads of balls and made some much needed important tackles.
Collins - 8 - Again, won the ball a lot. A solid defender who really cares about this team. By far one of MON's best signings.
Warnock - 5 - Far too angry today. Went in to far too many stupid tackles and, let's not fuck about, he's very lucky he got away with only one yellow card.
Albrighton - 7 - Still showing a LOT of promise for this team. Making many runs and getting past the full backs. Doing what he should. And let's not forget he set up Downing with that spectacular cross ... the kind of cross you'd expect to see from a seasoned professional.
NRC - 7- I like this guy and I'm happy to see him back in the first team. Makes runs to help in attacks, gets back and defends, and has enough pace within him to really make a defence scared.
Petrov - 4 - Disappointing today. Didn't see him make any difference and was not surprised to see him getting subbed off. I'm expecting him to get some really captaincy training.
Downing - 8 - Played really well. Converted that superb cross in to the net (with his right foot) and is really starting to show the potential that MON clearly saw in him when he signed him.
Young - 7 - Did play quite well but seemed to turn into one of them annoying "whiney-little-bitch" footballers. Still, I'm getting more and more impressed with him in that central attacking role.
Heskey - 9 - I'm really starting to like Ivanhoe. He's not the best striker in the world and he never will be, but he's starting to really show his colours without MON around. Not to mention he scored that fan-fucking-tastic header.
Subs. Gabby - 4 - Didn't see much from Gabby today ... I don't think he's suited for that winger role any more. Sidwell - 3 - Came on and made two tackles that saw him get booked and (very nearly) sent off. He was very disappointing today and really needs a beat down in the dressing room.
Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed. Any team that can still win when they're clearly not having a good game is the sign of a winning team. And, although some people won't agree, I think Randy Lerner made the right choice with GH.
Really don't think Sidwell deserves to be slated. He came on with 10 to go and provided some fresh legs. He broke up play which meant Wolves momentum was hindered. I don't mind slating a player but not for the sake of it since Heskey has proved there's a way back.
As for Petrov, he needed replacing during the summer as things really caught him up last season. It's hardly surprising to see him struggling. It's also no shock that our midfield is so weak given we've sold two top quality players from that area of the pitch. I also think our squad don't look fit, could the summer's events have an effect of this?
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Just saw the goals on the net, that header is simply superb, it looked like it trickled in the corner from my view at the game, did'nt realise just how much power he got into it
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Great result.
I really enjoyed an entertaining first half; a proper local derby with both teams going for it. Wonderful move for the first goal.
Second half we really lacked ideas and Wolves took advantage and the equaliser came as no surprise.
The turning point of the game was bringing Gabby on, not that he did anything too special, he did well but it was just the fact that he was on the pitch forcing Wolves to change their play. It relieved a bit of pressure for us and allowed us to finally to start playing again.
I was preparing myself for a point when up rose Heskey. What an amazing goal. Anything can happen in a derby but I wasn't expecting that. Superb header, deserving of being a match winner.
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As good as Cuellar was he did bring a lot of pressure on the defence with some needless hoofing and heading out. I thought Collins was the pick of the bunch with Ashley having a good game too.
Don't care where it goes, as long as it's cleared. For me Cuellar was pretty much magnetized to any ball coming into the box. But certainly, that looks a good partnership, and thankfully so with Dunney desperately in need of shifting poundage.
Cueller and Collins will take some displacing on current form.
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Petrov was poor today and really needs replacing.
NRC and Cuellar were very good.
Warnock IMO seems to be getting worse and worse. Worrying.
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Ged has shown more tactical nous in five days than O'Neill did in four years.
Yep, he actually replaces tired players.
Shock.
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Thought we played worse than Stoke away yet won, guess that's football for you!
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I was really impressed by Cuellar. Standing in row B today close to the box, I could actually hear the thump of the ball when he headed it
To my surprise, NRC was excellent (although he remains the last person you want to see through on goal), as were both Youngs, Collins and Emile. Petrov needs to be replaced by Ireland when the latter's fully fit.
Gabby disappointed in the time he was on. To me the guy just can't read the game. He looks like he's worried about sprinting in case his legs go again. Given that his pace is all he has to offer, there's no point playing him until he's 100% fit.
Warnock could easily have been sent off. Maybe our rousing round of applause for Halsey during his warm up helped keep Steve on the pitch
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That'll be European Cup winner Pat Heard.
Couldn't give a monkey's, his commentating was arse.
And to think, we all used to slate Doug for his supposed attitude to our past.
As for the gamer, I saw none of it so can't comment much, but cracking win and good to see Heskey finally getting some credit. And even nicer to remind any doghead you see that it's now more than 30 years since they last beat us.
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Wolves pulled some right twats out of the bag at half time for Matt Murrays send off.
All of them linked with us at some point.
Lescott
Keane
Naylor
Edwards (former player)
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G Dog it wouild appear has that thing great managers have in spades... Lady luck on their side.
First half we should have got a couple. Second we defended well, only conceded to a fluke goal really and Heskey has shown what an arm round the shoulder and a bit of confidence from the manager and his assistant, who is a big believer in him too can do for a player. I do wonder why Martin could not get the same level of performance from him though, as it was thought they also had a very good relationship.
Team wise, I do hope that thwacking the ball square out for a throw is not a long term tactic, as it invites a lot of pressure. Collins was immense again short of a couple of missed headers. Warnock has to stop lunging in. Ashley was brilliant I thought much of the game, and Reo Coker showed again why he is a must to start.
Petrov is a real weak link now, and needs replacing as I think he is a major reason we fade so badly in games at the moment.
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Was I hearing things or did Alan Smith say "faggots and pays" on the Sky commentary?
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I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Molinuex. There's nothing like a late winner instigated melee in the away end is there? Especially during derby games.
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Highlights here
http://videos.sportyall.com/musicvideo.php?vid=5629cfede
Thats 3 times Downing has been right on the spot at the back post.
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I am amazed to read some comments that we saw today the signs of good passing football. Today was just like the old Wimbledon days - I am glad the camera was fixed high enough above the stadium or otherwise it'd have made parabolic moves up and down for 90 minutes in order to catch the ball in focus. I thought I read in the beginning of the week that the new management puts keeping possession and down on the ground passing football as their number one priority - instead we opted for 100% bypassing the midfield by long kicks towards Heskey. Fortunately the latter was in top form and won most of them.
I love the win, I loved the fact that the manager reacted to tiring players, but we were very lucky today. Long may it continue though if we keep winning!
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Well spotted!
Goals here (http://videos.sportyall.com/musicvideo.php?vid=5629cfede).
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Heskey's header was fucking superb, love the arrogance of his and ashleys celebration. Have it!!
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Heskey's header was fucking superb, love the arrogance of his and ashleys celebration. Have it!!
Similar to this:
Still bored with it?
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I expect the arrogance from Young, not from Heskey, he's a soft touch. ;)
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Heskey's header was fucking superb, love the arrogance of his and ashleys celebration. Have it!!
Similar to this:
Still bored with it?
Maybe it's because I was there today, was you there then out of interest?
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Maybe playing Heskey as a centre forward and not behind Gabby has something to do with his performance. Also was Petrov told to sit and NRC to go and win the ball and press or has Petrovs legs really gone?
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Was I hearing things or did Alan Smith say "faggots and pays" on the Sky commentary?
Not your imagination, he did.
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I am amazed to read some comments that we saw today the signs of good passing football.
Certainly did for the second goal. Flowing move from defense to attack.
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That's two matches in a row I have praised Emile...............the performance
today will have silenced a few more critics (not just Villa supporters either)
Can't remember too many headed goals that have bettered that one, there
was little pace on the cross but he really thumped it past the keeper despite
being under pressure from the centre back-
To be honest as the match neared the end I thought Wolves would take the
points, there was some resilience throughout the team today, especially
Collins & Cueller -
Watch Collins' celebration when the winner goes in - here's to more of the same
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Maybe playing Heskey as a centre forward and not behind Gabby has something to do with his performance. Also was Petrov told to sit and NRC to go and win the ball and press or has Petrovs legs really gone?
I think Petrovs legs are long gone. He needs replacing.
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I don't think I have ever read such a negative post match thread after a win.
Oh I've read far worse than this!
Yes, in relative terms this is what they call a `wankfest'
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Houllier has made the rest of the world realise that playing Heskey 20 yards closer to the goal actually makes him dangerous.
Emile for England.
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Apart from a 15-20 minute spell in the first half, that was an absolutely dire performance...but an absolutely fantastic result!!!
Considering it was a local derby and GH first league game then I'll look at the positives. Despite being under a lot of pressure the defence looked relatively solid, and the equaliser was a soft goal to concede. We made the Dingles look like Arsenal at times and may have been punished by a better team, but they showed great resolve and character.
GH is obviously still assessing all the squad but has already shown hes more tactically astute than MON. If he can make us a hard team to beat again, then hopefully improved performances and good results will come naturally as the team grows in confidence.
We mugged the Dingles today...and it feels brilliant!!! :)
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I am amazed to read some comments that we saw today the signs of good passing football. Today was just like the old Wimbledon days - I am glad the camera was fixed high enough above the stadium or otherwise it'd have made parabolic moves up and down for 90 minutes in order to catch the ball in focus. I thought I read in the beginning of the week that the new management puts keeping possession and down on the ground passing football as their number one priority - instead we opted for 100% bypassing the midfield by long kicks towards Heskey. Fortunately the latter was in top form and won most of them.
I love the win, I loved the fact that the manager reacted to tiring players, but we were very lucky today. Long may it continue though if we keep winning!
I thought first half there definitely was more of an attempt to keep possession and use it intelligently. Even from the much maligned NRC.
Second half we reverted more to the aimless hack away when under pressure, but baby steps.
There was more good than bad today, an indication of a different mindset from the management in making changes when the opposition stepped it up, rather than just sitting back doing nowt and hoping we'd weather the storm somehow.
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I've decided that, of the handful of nicknames knocking about for our new manager, 'G-Dog' is quite comfortably, the least fitting.
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I've decided that, of the handful of nicknames knocking about for our new manager, 'G-Dog' is quite comfortably, the least fitting.
I won't be able to get that out of my head now. Cheers
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I've decided that, of the handful of nicknames knocking about for our new manager, 'G-Dog' is quite comfortably, the least fitting.
Well as a Gerard myself GED is my least favourite.
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Sky were absolutely desperate for a Wolves winner too, must have mentioned the Stoke game a dozen times. Have that y'bastards.
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Gezza Houzza
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Gerard Houllier scans perfectly if done in a phlegmed up mock Scouse accent, no need to abbreviate.
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I've decided that, of the handful of nicknames knocking about for our new manager, 'G-Dog' is quite comfortably, the least fitting.
Well as a Gerard myself GED is my least favourite.
Yes, Ged makes him sound like a bumpkin with a bit of straw sticking out the side of his mouth.
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I really don't give a flying fuck about the performance.Not many teams will come away with what we did tonight Bloody fantastic!!
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Wolves in fairness to them are always very tough to beat at Molinpoo. They were very resolute last season, and that's what kept them up comfortably in the end. It was always gonna be a tough game, and was proven so.
By no means a classic performance, but 3 points is 3 points, and in truth, their goal was lucky, and aside, they didn't test Big Brad nearly enough.
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Just reading on that Wolves thread - "How many fouls is Albrighton going to be allowed to get away with?"
About as many as Foley whenever he had two arms around Albrighton at any set-piece picked at random.
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Didn't watch the game but I'm guessing we played better at Stoke and lost? 5 live said we were much the better side, but they seem to be in a minority of one!
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I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.
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I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.
Friedels 3 saves?
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Didn't watch the game but I'm guessing we played better at Stoke and lost? 5 live said we were much the better side, but they seem to be in a minority of one!
My Wolves suporting mate told me the best side won.
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I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.
Not that it matters but the first half was fairly even, very good game. Second half, they were on top for the first 25 minutes, Brad made a couple of great saves, as did their keeper from a delightful shot from Ashley that was heading into the top corner. The remaining 20 minutes saw us come back into it a bit. It was a tough derby game that had 1-1 written all over it but was decided by that extra bit of class.
I agree, no need for any negative comments because Wolves were no pushover and probably deserved a point but we have all three, so tough shit Dingles.
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Ashley Young should be our captain. He was immense today and whatever else you say about him, he cares and he is also quite intelligent for a footballer. I just love his attitude and he clearly loves the club.
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Can't we just celebrate three hard-won points when most of us would have settled for one?
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I am amazed to read some comments that we saw today the signs of good passing football.
Certainly did for the second goal. Flowing move from defense to attack.
I would include both goals into that category, but my point was not about certain situations but the general approach of the game and the way we were taking the ball out of defence, or what we did when we were winning the ball - in most cases we kicked it straight back towards their penalty area. I stand corrected as thinking back about the game it was more a case of us reacting to Wolves style of play rather than our own choice, but still I found it odd that the majority of our passing looked long distanced to me, even during the first half when we were better. A lot of 50/50 passes rather than accurate, to the feet of your teammate deliveries.
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Sky were absolutely desperate for a Wolves winner too, must have mentioned the Stoke game a dozen times. Have that y'bastards.
Is that Dudley born Rob Hawthorne ?
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Ashley as our captain is beginning to grow on me....he has been immense this season so far and always gives the effort to match his undoubted ability.
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Ashley Young should be our captain. He was immense today and whatever else you say about him, he cares and he is also quite intelligent for a footballer. I just love his attitude and he clearly loves the club.
I agree.
He's not without his flaws, but I really, really like him a lot. His attitude is also absolutely spot on.
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Ashley Young should be our captain. He was immense today and whatever else you say about him, he cares and he is also quite intelligent for a footballer. I just love his attitude and he clearly loves the club.
I agree he'd be a decent captain. Might help persuade him to sign a new contract as well. Would be a bit mean on Petrov to strip him of the captaincy though, even if he isn't very vocal and looks as though his best days are behind him. Perhaps he wouldn't mind.
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One thing I did notice (watching on TV) on several occasions, and that was some players (especially Heskey and Young but not limited to them) having a right go at some of our other players. It seemed to me at the time that Houllier had very specific instructions as to how he wanted this game played (Friedel throwing the ball out rather than hoofing up-field seems to back this up a little) and when those instructions weren't followed, bollockings were given out.
Very early days yet but I suspect we'll be playing the ball on the deck and offering some very attractive football. At the moment though, we still have the habit of running away from the ball meaning that a Hail-Mary pass has to come off. Contrast to Wolves knocking the ball 10 yards here, 15 there.
It'll all come good though. Of this I'm sure.
Friedel - Not sure what to make of the goal. I suppose he has to cover the player most likely to nod it in but it didn't half make him (and Collins) look like monkeys. That aside, a top drawer performance. Some excellent saves.
Cueller - MotM. Simply brilliant. When wolves put a ball through or floated into one the box, when I saw Carlos there, I settle back into my seat.
Collins - A bit rash in parts. Rushing into challenges in places he shouldn't be. Almost like he's rusty. Still, very happy his overall perfomance.
L.Young - Can't understand some of the comments on here. He was fantastic. Especially in the first half. Too exposed by a tiring Albrighton in the second though. And Gabby was never going to do anything to change that.
Warnock. Some fantastic tackles but when the ball comes down his side at the moment, I'm back on the edge of my seat as I just never know what's going to happen next! There's an absolutely fantastic left back in there somewhere.
Albrighton - an excellent first half. Tired in the second. I thought he was going to dance around that big fella that came on given he was the size of a gorilla but he just got bullied out of the game. The gorilla got forward a lot too once Albrighton tired which caused Young a fair bit of grief.
NRC - fantastic. Milner-esque energy and some very good passing (!!!). No complaints about Nigel's performance at all.
Petrov - I'm a fan. Have been for a long while. But it's now time to move on. He may as well have had ginger hair today he was that invisible. Made NRC have to work twice as hard.
Downing - Not a fan. But I have to say that he's starting to look very good, isn't he? Not much to complain about with his efforts and a well taken goal! I'm happy to eat my words.
Ashley - getting back to his best. One shitty shitty overhit freekick aside, it was a very good show.
Heskey - Is it that MoN simply didn't know how to set the team up around him? How can someone go from being so utterly poor (verging on incompetent) to being one of the first names on the team sheet? The only thing I can put it down to is MoN simply not being able to use him. Maybe, just maybe, all those other managers weren't wrong after all!
Gabby - I hope Sid and Macca can get the most out of him because he looks lost at the moment. Ashley had the ball close to the edge of their box late in the 2nd half with acres of space to run into just beyond him. It should have been very easy to spot and I thought it was going to be the killer ball we'd been looking for all night. Gabby ran straight toward goal and into two defenders. W.T.F?
Sidwell - Took one of their lads out...let's hope it's nothing too serious. And, er, that's about it really. He must have put himself about a bit though as it seemed to stem the tide for a while.
Houllier - seems to see the game as we see it. How refreshing! Somehow I can't see any dire performances followed by an interview claiming we were "T'rific". I think once we get some depth back into our squad, we'll see our options and our formation/tactics being used very cleverly.
Fans - our lot (from my spot on the couch) seemed very vocal and gave the lads good backing. Well done.
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Anyone else notice Gabby not celebrating when Heskey scored? Usually he goes mad. Just sort of did a small clap to himself and didn't run over to celebrate with the fans. Doesn't like Emile or in a mood because he was only on the bench?
Also, where was Carew? Not even on the bench.
Great win
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Ashley Young should be our captain. He was immense today and whatever else you say about him, he cares and he is also quite intelligent for a footballer. I just love his attitude and he clearly loves the club.
I agree.
He's not without his flaws, but I really, really like him a lot. His attitude is also absolutely spot on.
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Ginola looks like a tanned Ronnie Moore.
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Ashley Young should be our captain. He was immense today and whatever else you say about him, he cares and he is also quite intelligent for a footballer. I just love his attitude and he clearly loves the club.
I agree.
He's not without his flaws, but I really, really like him a lot. His attitude is also absolutely spot on.
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Absolutely when Heskey scored he showed pure emotion.He works like a trojan love him
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Ginola just said he hopes we finish in top 4, good lad.
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Snatching a late winner in a derby match is one of the best ways to win. My new boss is a Wolves fan, so tomorrow should be fun.
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Ashley Young should be our captain. He was immense today and whatever else you say about him, he cares and he is also quite intelligent for a footballer. I just love his attitude and he clearly loves the club.
Absolutely bang on Ash is up for it every game---has great attitude and as kippaxvilla says its obvious from his reactions and attitude that he loves AVFC----he is usually always the first to congratulate a goalscorer--reaction to Emile,s winner today says it all----Nice one Ash,
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This is what a doghead mate said on facebook, I hope a few more clubs say the same thing this season, instead of us!
I'll be gracious in defeat - that fuckin' Heskey!!!
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Does anyone remember the Dingles singing ''you'll never play for England'' to Ash? Do they not realise he has played for England several times lol... dumb dogheads.
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Does anyone remember the Dingles singing ''you'll never play for England'' to Ash? Do they not realise he has played for England several times lol... dumb dogheads.
Nearly as good as the Blackburn fans then. After Heskey was brought on on Weds, they started singing Heskey's shit My Lord. And we all know what happened next.
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All our problems stem form midfield. Petrov at the start of the second half was Knackered and for me was left on far too long, NRC was reasonable for three quarters but the last twenty minutes he just couldn't run.
Young is a good right back but if those in front of you stop running you are in trouble. Valuable three points and the manager will have learned more about his players.
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Petrov was a bit too much of an MON man always. But he's just not able to expend the required energy anymore.
And supertom, I think my preference for captain would be on these lines:
1. Cueller
2. Collins
3. Friedal
4. NRC
5. Dunne.
Good list. I'd put Collins ahead of Cuellar though.
The end of last season i would have had Dunne at the top of this list. However, after coming back in the pathetic shape he has done, my opinion of him has been badly affected. It would be interesting to know just what he was doing all summer.(guinness would be my first guess).
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Surreal moment of the day. driving down the A15 to Reims when I came upon the Wolves v villa Match commentary on Talk sport which lasted all the way to Reims Centre Ville. But encountered a problem as when we drove into the Town Heskey scored the winner and I forgot to drive on the right hence Heskeys goal being celebrated by angry tooting french motorists.
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Ginola looks like a tanned Ronnie Moore.
Best thing posted in this thread. Just ace.
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That'll be European Cup winner Pat Heard.
Couldn't give a monkey's, his commentating was arse.
And to think, we all used to slate Doug for his supposed attitude to our past.
What on earth are you on about, I was refering to his commentary skills, which are poor.
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Heskey's header was fucking superb, love the arrogance of his and ashleys celebration. Have it!!
Just watching the highlights again and didn't realise that Ash was goading the Dingle fans after Heskey's goal - he'd been getting stick from them all afternoon and that's the best way to shut them up. Also Heskey had obviously taken offence at the Dingles as he's normally very restrained after scoring.
I thought that Heskey was much more animated than I've ever seen him in a Villa shirt - even the Sky commentators said that they had never seen him lose it with a ref the way he did yesterday. Somebody else on the thread said that they had noticed players having a go at each other yesterday when they did something which appeared to be contrary to the coach's instructions and Heskey seemed to be one of them. He obviously likes the way Houllier plays and it would be great to see him become an on pitch leader in the transformation of our style of play. Interesting times indeed.
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My main worry is our possession. It's shocking. That was our undoing against stoke last week
And nearly our undoing yesterday. When playing against teams that like to launch long balls in via free kicks or throws why do we seem to keep giving the ball away so cheaply and in dangerous positions? We kept kicking it away needlessly instead if keeping the ball, passing it around and shutting the opposition out.
I'm not Petrovs biggest fan at all but thought he had a good game. Subed when tired which was great to see. Only trouble is who came on for him, and that's a problem, our bench isn't the greatest at the mo. There was no point in bringing Ireland on, which really just left Sidwell. Sidwell could of been sent off! Shocking tackle in a stupid area which again allowed wolves to launch the ball in and cause us problems.
Chuffed with the result. But there is a lot of work for houllier to get rid of some O'Neil bad habits!
And Ash was just immense!! Had a great game. Looked very lively, found space all the time. Didn't always make the right decission with the final ball but overall an encouraging performance sign him into a 10 year deal quick!!!
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My main worry is our possession. It's shocking. That was our undoing against stoke last week
According to Sid, the new regime are working more on ball possession.
I suppose it will take time to undo the sub standard coaching that went with the previous manager.
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That's good to hear. It was really frustrating me yesterday. Our passing and moving in the beginning was wonderful to see. By the end it was kick the ball into touch or boot it away and await the next onslaught and we are just better than that.
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That'll be European Cup winner Pat Heard.
Couldn't give a monkey's, his commentating was arse.
And to think, we all used to slate Doug for his supposed attitude to our past.
What on earth are you on about, I was refering to his commentary skills, which are poor.
I'm on about the fact you called him cretinous Pat somebody, or do you not think that is disrespectful to a member of our European Cup winning squad?
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Our possession was as good in the first half as it was bad in the second half. Although that improved.
It's going to take a while to fully upgrade to passing and possession 2.0 but the first half (and 2nd half vs Blackburn) showed early signs of the new philosphy and that's encouraging.
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Our possession was as good in the first half as it was bad in the second half. Although that improved.
It's going to take a while to fully upgrade to passing and possession 2.0 but the first half (and 2nd half vs Blackburn) showed early signs of the new philosphy and that's encouraging.
I've got visions of Sidwell bring strapped down on table, new software being installed but being rejected. Can not compute. No amount of control, alt, delete will allow a reboot, steam coming out his ears and his already strange looking face starting to melt away.
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I'm not so sure that the talk of improved tactical awareness is anything more than wishful thinking. They changed to 4-5-1 in the scond half and we struggled to cope, their full back pushed Albrighton back who all but disappeared. Scoring from a break away winner after resolute defensive work is a trademark of our last couple of seasons away performances.
That said, I wouldn't expect any great improvement after such a short time in charge. It's going to be a case of evolution rather than revolution as I think Houllier has aknowledged himself.
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Our possession was as good in the first half as it was bad in the second half. Although that improved.
It's going to take a while to fully upgrade to passing and possession 2.0 but the first half (and 2nd half vs Blackburn) showed early signs of the new philosphy and that's encouraging.
I've got visions of Sidwell bring strapped down on table, new software being installed but being rejected. Can not compute. No amount of control, alt, delete will allow a reboot, steam coming out his ears and his already strange looking face starting to melt away.
I think we tried to upgrade his firmware shortly after we signed him.
Unfortunately, we did so without having plugged him into the mains, and halfway through his battery died, thus leaving us with a non functioning brick.
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My main worry is our possession. It's shocking. That was our undoing against stoke last week
According to Sid, the new regime are working more on ball possession.
I suppose it will take time to undo the sub standard coaching that went with the previous manager.
Yep. Hopefully they'll have a bonfire at Bodymoor with all the Charles Hughes coaching manuals, and throw on Robertson's stockpile of Lambert & Butler as well.
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I don't think we played brilliantly, but we were good enough to deal with a Wolves side who were up for it and let the fact we have better players win us the game. If I'm honest they deserved something from it, but couldn't care less that they didn't get it!
I was impressed with Houllier's use of subs, with one exception. When he brought Gabby on they were chasing the winner, so his pace on the break would have been excellent, yet he played him in midfield rather than up top where we could exploit this more? Why not switch Ash wide and go 4-4-2? Can't really criticise it as we won, but it did seem strange to me.
I think what we've seen so far from Houllier's Villa has been promising. It's a work in progress, but to be 5th when that is the case shows we've got some good players down there and this may not be the transitional/mid table season some are predicting.
Tougher tests to come, so it will be interesting to see where we are after the Spurs and Chelsea games.
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Our possession was as good in the first half as it was bad in the second half. Although that improved.
It's going to take a while to fully upgrade to passing and possession 2.0 but the first half (and 2nd half vs Blackburn) showed early signs of the new philosphy and that's encouraging.
I've got visions of Sidwell bring strapped down on table, new software being installed but being rejected. Can not compute. No amount of control, alt, delete will allow a reboot, steam coming out his ears and his already strange looking face starting to melt away.
`Have you tried turning him off and turning him on again?'
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Our possession was as good in the first half as it was bad in the second half. Although that improved.
It's going to take a while to fully upgrade to passing and possession 2.0 but the first half (and 2nd half vs Blackburn) showed early signs of the new philosphy and that's encouraging.
I've got visions of Sidwell bring strapped down on table, new software being installed but being rejected. Can not compute. No amount of control, alt, delete will allow a reboot, steam coming out his ears and his already strange looking face starting to melt away.
I think we tried to upgrade his firmware shortly after we signed him.
Unfortunately, we did so without having plugged him into the mains, and halfway through his battery died, thus leaving us with a non functioning brick.
If he ever scores a goal and does the robot dance I think I'm going to piss myself LOL!!
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Excellent result, good use of substitutes by GH, well taken goal by Heskey. Cuellar immense.
We're 5th!
Shame I had to listen to some of the commentary on WM by Tom 'It's a ding dong derby, i've spunked in my pants' Ross.
His cretinous co-commentator, Pat somebody, was highly irritating too.
That'll be European Cup winner Pat Heard.
Couldn't give a monkey's, his commentating was arse.
And to think, we all used to slate Doug for his supposed attitude to our past.
What on earth are you on about, I was refering to his commentary skills, which are poor.
I'm on about the fact you called him cretinous Pat somebody, or do you not think that is disrespectful to a member of our European Cup winning squad?
No I don't think it's disrepectful, his commentary was so bad that it made him sound like a cretin.
It matters not one jot that he was a member of the 82 squad.
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My main worry is our possession. It's shocking. That was our undoing against stoke last week
According to Sid, the new regime are working more on ball possession.
I suppose it will take time to undo the sub standard coaching that went with the previous manager.
Yep. Hopefully they'll have a bonfire at Bodymoor with all the Charles Hughes coaching manuals, and throw on Robertson's stockpile of Lambert & Butler as well.
Surely the players will miss Robertson's cries of 'Get it in the mixer!'
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we were marginally the better side in the first half, and wolves were comfortably the better side in the second half...
one of the things that changed the game was elokobi coming on and his pace and strength helping to push marc albrighton back.. first half he was getting much forward joy and was an outlet for us alongside young, second half, he was dealt with comfortably by elokobi and we then sat deeper and deeper and wolves kept coming at us... saw an interview with elokobi recently, and he came across as a genuinely nice fella... been through some tough times, so its great to see him play with a smile on his face...
not to mention the lack of mobility and fitness of one of our central midfielders... captain my arse...
their goal was a poor one to concede, but was coming at that stage... jarvis had played well all game, as he always does when i see him, and it was a very dangerous cross that could have gone in off any of the players in the box, so i understand why friedel left it, to an extent...
think warnock was lucky to stay on the pitch for the second foul that was worthy of a yellow, however, from how i understand it, wolves and their fans have been defending those sorts of challenges from their own players, so they cant have it both ways...
it was nice to see petrov taken off... for too long he has dissappeared after 60+ minutes, yet still played and then the opposition have waltzed straight through the middle... his lack of pace, mobility and fitness have cost us, and looked like they might yesterday too, but fair play to houllier, he saw this and changed things around, and the change, for the second time in a week, worked again as sidwell, as shit as he is, does put pressure on the midfield, even if it is simply with poor tackling and being blinded by his ginga-ness... i look forward to seeing who houllier brings in to replace petrov, as i think that with the way he plays, he wont last long under houllier... and then in the future we have the potential of both fabian delph and gary gardner to look forward to... and as he proved at liverpool, if they are good enough, then they will play...
heskey played well.. again, for the second time in a week... however, one swallow does not maketh a summer, and he has a LOT of work to do before he convinces me he is anything other than the shit we have seen for god knows how long... feels like an eternity... fair play to him though, he has played well over the last two matches...
overall, i think the scoreline flattered us and wolves could feel hard done by, but if one team takes their chances, and the other doesnt, then thats the game of football... we have been on the other end of that many times, so il take it when its positive for us... for the start of the season we have had, after o'neill cowardly ran away, and the mess we were in, playing poorly for most of the season, to be sat in 5th spot, 2 points off 2nd place is absolutely fantastic... some tough games coming up though, so big tests in the near future...
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I might get Heskey on my new Villa shirt.
Oh yeah, they're not out yet.
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He'll be crap again by the time they come out.
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No I don't think it's disrepectful, his commentary was so bad that it made him sound like a cretin.
It matters not one jot that he was a member of the 82 squad.
And Pat Heard saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
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I think what we've seen so far from Houllier's Villa has been promising. It's a work in progress, but to be 5th when that is the case shows we've got some good players down there and this may not be the transitional/mid table season some are predicting.
I think we need to not get too carried away.
There are clearly some deficiencies in the squad, and we're going to find it hard when we pick up more injuries. It is going to take a fair while for GH to get us playing the way he wants, so this season will be very much transitional, I think.
Good start, though.
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The cries of "pass" from the Villa bench will obviously confuse the players for the next few games then they should get used to it!
Good to get the winning habit and beat a local rival as well.
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The cries of "pass" from the Villa bench will obviously confuse the players for the next few games then they should get used to it!
Good to get the winning habit and beat a local rival as well.
LOL! Yeah I heard that too! The mikes kept picking it up. Was that Mcallister?
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I think what we've seen so far from Houllier's Villa has been promising. It's a work in progress, but to be 5th when that is the case shows we've got some good players down there and this may not be the transitional/mid table season some are predicting.
I think we need to not get too carried away.
There are clearly some deficiencies in the squad, and we're going to find it hard when we pick up more injuries. It is going to take a fair while for GH to get us playing the way he wants, so this season will be very much transitional, I think.
Good start, though.
Yes, I've pretty much accepted that is what this season will be. Anything notable we get from it will be a major bonus. But if we address our issues, change the way we play to a more attractive and possession based style, get some decent players in the January window (which I think we're sure to do) and bring some of the youngsters further along I can quite easily accept that.
Its a time of change but in its own way that can be exciting.
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The cries of "pass" from the Villa bench will obviously confuse the players for the next few games then they should get used to it!
Good to get the winning habit and beat a local rival as well.
LOL! Yeah I heard that too! The mikes kept picking it up. Was that Mcallister?
It's quite ironic really isn't it? And yes it was McAllister.
It will take time but we could've benefited from being more precise and comfortable with the possession; hopefully this will begin to take shape over the next few weeks or so.
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2 games in and 2 wins in, so far so good. Was pleased by the way they handled the push from Wolves when they scored a deserved equaliser, and how quickly Houllier spotted the tiredness of some, Albrighton, especially and changed it quickly, with experience.
I thought before he made his moves that we were in the same situation as under Mon, 60 m ins gone midfield starting to fail, Albrighton done, Coker failing, Petrov, none existent, hoofs out from defence to no one, Friedel keeping us in it, and who could he put on. Nice move to put Gabby so we didn't lose front line mobility, then Sidwell. Well he's better than nothing and that's what he replaced. All of a sudden, Coker stepped up a gear, our defence had fewer crosses to deal with and Young, who has been outstanding for the last few games took the game by the scruff of the neck and that amazing new forward we have jumped and scored a superb goal from a quick cross.
Its too early to say too much has changed, but there seemed a higher degree of confidence, especially from both Youngs, Coker, and especially Heskey. How long has it been since he played a full game and more importantly against tough tacklers, didn't fall down every 3 minutes.
Thought the Cuellar Collins partnership far better but then with a decent fullback at either end and holding midfield players maybe its easier. Collins went a game without an obvious error too. I hoped and sort of expected to see better from Coker and Luke Y, but must admit I've been amazed at Ashley Y's and especially Heskeys form since Houllier signed. What was mon doing to upset such players I wonder.
The tactic are changing, no one is sacrosanct, even Petrov was subbed.
Keep this up and avoid major injuries Houllier might buy enough time until he can get replacement midfield players, or even Ireland and Delph fit.
Chelsea will be a huge test.
Can't wait.
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I think what we've seen so far from Houllier's Villa has been promising. It's a work in progress, but to be 5th when that is the case shows we've got some good players down there and this may not be the transitional/mid table season some are predicting.
I think we need to not get too carried away.
There are clearly some deficiencies in the squad, and we're going to find it hard when we pick up more injuries. It is going to take a fair while for GH to get us playing the way he wants, so this season will be very much transitional, I think.
Good start, though.
I wouldn't say I'm getting carried away, but where you say there are deficiencies, which I agree there are, we also have to remember there are some very good players at the club. And when I see your point about injuries, lets not forget we have Gabby and Ireland not at 100% and Dunne and Delph out, so we are coping with that well so far.
In truth though, we haven't really played anyone yet. Our first 6 games have been against sides that will finish mid table at best, except Everton who always seem to start poorly and still out played us. Which is why I said it will be interesting to see where we are after the next two games.
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Not getting carried away, but I thought NRC was our MOTM yesterday. Every time there was a gap left by another player, it was NRC there to snuff out the danger. He also passed well and even provided some good attacking moments. Long may it continue.
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Not getting carried away, but I thought NRC was our MOTM yesterday. Every time there was a gap left by another player, it was NRC there to snuff out the danger. He also passed well and even provided some good attacking moments. Long may it continue.
Much more effective as a Captain than Petrov too
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Not getting carried away, but I thought NRC was our MOTM yesterday. Every time there was a gap left by another player, it was NRC there to snuff out the danger. He also passed well and even provided some good attacking moments. Long may it continue.
Much more effective as a Captain than Petrov too
I'm not so sure. I think that the Blackburn game showed that, even when he's not playing well, we miss Petrov's organisation and positioning when he's not around. I actually think that a big part of Nige's resurgence has been because of Petrov's influence alongside him, and that a shouter doesn't necessarily make the best captain.
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I'm not seeing this great positioning much, Monty. To me he either backs off too much towards his own box or is outmanoeuvred too far from it.
In fact, that's the exact same problem we had with Barry towards the end of his Villa career.
And yesterday, far from feeling the benefit of Petrov's presence, NRC had to do twice as much to cover his lack thereof. I don't mean or want to hammer Stan but it is a concern of mine.
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I'll agree that his positioning wasn't so great yesterday, but it was still OK, better than Barry's in the period you mention. Anyway, yesterday seemed to me the exception rather than the norm even for this season. There is no doubt that his use of the ball is not as good as it was. which is a shame as it was such a pleasure to watch him when he was on-song. I'm confident he'll recapture his form though, with modern physical training footballers of all positions play for longer, and his position is hardly one where speed is the most important quality.
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He'll be crap again by the time they come out.
Well, the patch they intalled on him is working like the clappers so far, even if Sidwell did reject his.
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On his performance yesterday, I'd like to try and get Reo tied down to a new contract.
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I've decided that, of the handful of nicknames knocking about for our new manager, 'G-Dog' is quite comfortably, the least fitting.
I will get you all calling him Hotlips before the season is out.
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Crap performance that. One of the most negative 2nd halves i've seen, camp in our own area and smash it, when it was plainly obvious Wolves were going to equalise. Our posession of the ball is diabolical aswell, we struggle to string 3 passes together to relieve a bit of pressure.
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Crap performance that. One of the most negative 2nd halves i've seen, camp in our own area and smash it, when it was plainly obvious Wolves were going to equalise. Our posession of the ball is diabolical aswell, we struggle to string 3 passes together to relieve a bit of pressure.
Comedy genius.
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Crap performance that. One of the most negative 2nd halves i've seen, camp in our own area and smash it, when it was plainly obvious Wolves were going to equalise. Our posession of the ball is diabolical aswell, we struggle to string 3 passes together to relieve a bit of pressure.
Did your stream die ? You do know we won don't you?
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It seems he didn't see the first half either.
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Crap performance that. One of the most negative 2nd halves i've seen, camp in our own area and smash it, when it was plainly obvious Wolves were going to equalise. Our posession of the ball is diabolical aswell, we struggle to string 3 passes together to relieve a bit of pressure.
Did your stream die ? You do know we won don't you?
I'm not sayng it wasn't a good result, but that 2nd half performance was diabolical and incredibly negative. Camping in our own half and hanging on against Wolves? Fair enough if it was Man Utd away.
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Crap performance that. One of the most negative 2nd halves i've seen, camp in our own area and smash it, when it was plainly obvious Wolves were going to equalise. Our posession of the ball is diabolical aswell, we struggle to string 3 passes together to relieve a bit of pressure.
Did your stream die ? You do know we won don't you?
I'm not sayng it wasn't a good result, but that 2nd half performance was diabolical and incredibly negative. Camping in our own half and hanging on against Wolves? Fair enough if it was Man Utd away.
That's right, because if it's anyone except Man Utd or Chelsea all we should have to do is turn up to win.
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Crap performance that. One of the most negative 2nd halves i've seen, camp in our own area and smash it, when it was plainly obvious Wolves were going to equalise. Our posession of the ball is diabolical aswell, we struggle to string 3 passes together to relieve a bit of pressure.
Did your stream die ? You do know we won don't you?
I'm not sayng it wasn't a good result, but that 2nd half performance was diabolical and incredibly negative. Camping in our own half and hanging on against Wolves? Fair enough if it was Man Utd away.
Not many teams will got much from Wolves this season.Yes we were up against it in the second half but it was nice to see us not capitulate as usual and go on to win the game.Yes there's things to be done but that can't happen overnight but were going in the right direction with the right man in charge :)
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Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. Wolves had a right go 2nd half and pinned us back - it's the way football matches go sometimes!
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
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Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. Wolves had a right go 2nd half and pinned us back - it's the way football matches go sometimes!
We let them, straight from kick off we retreated to the edge of our box and said 'break us down', when it was plainly obvious they would score. We looked alright going forward first half yet second half we didn't string three passes together until our goal.
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Two games, two wins. Heskey and Young on fire, 5th place,things are looking up.
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
Agree.
It was going very much like last seasons game, till Heskey's piledriving header.
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Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. Wolves had a right go 2nd half and pinned us back - it's the way football matches go sometimes!
We let them, straight from kick off we retreated to the edge of our box and said 'break us down', when it was plainly obvious they would score. We looked alright going forward first half yet second half we didn't string three passes together until our goal.
Going away to any PL side will mean them having a period of superiority. It even happens to the likes of Man U and Chelsea at 'lesser' sides sometimes. Wolves were ALWAYS going to have a period of being on top and if you can't accept that then you should stop watching football because that's simply the way it is!
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
That's a snappy line but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. We've had a great away record over the past couple of seasons, full of games where we've won when we've spend large parts of it defending. I know that it's hard for the revisionists to take but it was a very MON like performance.
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
That's a snappy line but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. We've had a great away record over the past couple of seasons, full of games where we've won when we've spend large parts of it defending. I know that it's hard for the revisionists to take but it was a very MON like performance.
I don't think it's revisionism to point out that we drew the corresponding game against Wolves last season, after taking the lead. The fact that we DID draw the game under O'Neill last season means it does stand up to scrutiny.
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
That's a snappy line but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. We've had a great away record over the past couple of seasons, full of games where we've won when we've spend large parts of it defending. I know that it's hard for the revisionists to take but it was a very MON like performance.
I don't think it's revisionism to point out that we drew the corresponding game against Wolves last season, after taking the lead. The fact that we DID draw the game under O'Neill last season means it does stand up to scrutiny.
Ah I see, so we're only talking about games againts the Wolves, not trying to make any sort of wider point. With you now. Although as MacDonald didn't play any games against them I'm not sure why his name was mentioned.
Even MON's biggest critics would have to conceded that our away record, in terms of results, was extremely good.
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To be fair, I think Chris has a point. I could think of similar trips to Blose and Olybiun over the last few seasons where we've done pretty much what we did to the Dogheads yesterday.
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Even MON's biggest critics would have to conceded that our away record, in terms of results, was extremely good.
True.
Pity that a lot of the home performances were toilet though.
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Great result. Those who are saying we did not pass the ball are, I think, dismissing the first half. Thought we were the better side then and deserved to be in the lead. Second half they changed their system and got at us, as any team playing at home and being behind would do. Agree that when we did get the ball we should have made better use of it, but it will take time for these players to get over old habits. I also feel that they are not 100% as fit as they should be and when tiredness starts to creep in then the natural inclination is to give it a welly rather than try and find a pass.
Whilst the use of substitutes was good I think he left Petrov on a bit too long, as most people now say after 60 mins his legs seem to go.
Gerard said after the Blackburn game that he had yesterday, a reserve match and an arranged match this week when he would take a look at every player and see them in a match situation. Then he would have a clearer idea of what exactly he has got. Also we have the Spurs match then a break when he can put those not absent on international duty through some decent sessions. It may be that the team/tactics for Chelsea might be different to what we have seen so far.
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It's not hard to come to the conclusion that it was an MON-like performance when you consider it's still his side and the new guys have only had a week to try and bring in their own ideas. True comparisons can only be drawn once the Houllier effect starts to take hold and he's bought one or two of his own players in.
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
That's a snappy line but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
Go ahead, scrutinise my wild speculation, see how far it gets you
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
That's a snappy line but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
Go ahead, scrutinise my wild speculation, see how far it gets you
OK, when are you next on the box?
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Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. Wolves had a right go 2nd half and pinned us back - it's the way football matches go sometimes!
We let them, straight from kick off we retreated to the edge of our box and said 'break us down', when it was plainly obvious they would score. We looked alright going forward first half yet second half we didn't string three passes together until our goal.
So how come this obvious goal, that was so obvious in coming, was a complete fluke and they never really troubled us then?
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It's true, our away results under MON were largely very good, and we particularly had a knack of going to local "rivals", looking like a draw was a fair result, but then taking all three points at the death. Which was nice.
Someone of this parish made the point to me last night, though, that yesterday was not dissimilar to x hundred games against Man United at our place in the past, where we would put in much huff and puff, have long, decent spells, but ultimately not threaten much, then get hit on the break and punished.
I'm aware it is too fanciful to say "it was just like that", but there were definitely similarities between that and what we did to Wolves.
We played some very good stuff in the first half yesterday, just as we have in other games this season. There are definite signs of a change in style, but it isn't going to happen overnight. It's just good to see that it is starting to happen
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
That's a snappy line but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. We've had a great away record over the past couple of seasons, full of games where we've won when we've spend large parts of it defending. I know that it's hard for the revisionists to take but it was a very MON like performance.
Except for the substitutions, the change in tactics, Heskey playing well and scoring.
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It's a cliche but there are literally no easy games in the Premier League. Especially away. Wolves have strengthened their squad and it came as no surprise to me that we came under severe pressure during the game. The fact that we withstood it like men impressed me the most.
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Saw Emiles header 9 or 10 times now, don't want to go over the top but im struggling to think of a better header that has ever been scored, the leap, the way he hung in the air, the power he got and the placement was simply amazing, adding to that the move which lead to it wasn't bad either
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I've always said that Heskey would come good given time and 2 years later I've been proved 100% correct.
Golden boot odds?
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Bloody good header from Ivanhoe. We hung on for an important 3 points when you see the games coming up.
We weren't great in the second half but I'll take it.
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Can't believe that Wolves lad has a broken leg as a result of the Sidwell challenge.
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Was a fantastic header from Heskey and justified a victory. Was great to see Mr H bring off Petrov who had become "untouchable" under MON. We are now seeing substitutions used made which can make the changes which are so obviously needed. Gotta get Gabby fit and back in the mix. We are gonna need him ...........
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67 mins: Agbonlahor comes on for Albrighton.
86 mins: Steve Sidwell comes on for Stiliyan Petrov.
...would never have happened under MON.
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Can't believe that Wolves lad has a broken leg as a result of the Sidwell challenge.
Didn't know he'd broken his leg, sad to hear that.
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For the second game running Gerard/GH/Hou's changes won us the game. As soon a Gabby came on it stopped Wolves playing and having as much of the ball. He also had enough faith to leave Warnock on (who Lichaj was ready to come on for) and Downing, who had a quiet second half.
A draw away from home in a local derby isn't a bad result, let alone a last minute win.
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I like to moan as much as the next fan but FFS - apart from the thrashing of the dog shit when is there evr a free flowing game of football in a derby? They are always tense affairs and yesterday was no different. The game went from us in control to lots of pressure from the home side (but be honest for all thri huff and puff Brad made one rreally good double save and that was it)
As others have said as much as i liked Petrov over recent years i think the realisation is that he is no longer golden bollocks and will play 90 mins irrespective of form.
Get a fit Ireland / Delph in there with Reo's graft and hassling and we will look really good.
I agree i cannot think of a better headed goal for years by anyone
I think we will see a change in personnel for Spurs and i feel we can do them as well
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For the second game running Gerard/GH/Hou's changes won us the game. As soon a Gabby came on it stopped Wolves playing and having as much of the ball. He also had enough faith to leave Warnock on (who Lichaj was ready to come on for) and Downing, who had a quiet second half.
A draw away from home in a local derby isn't a bad result, let alone a last minute win.
I was pleased to see GH was preparing Lichaj for Warnock, but then concerned when the change didnt happen. On another day we could have been down to 10 men. He needs to have a word with Warnock as hes picking up too many yellow cards already.
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Sidwell managed to put their player out for 6 months with a broken leg.
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Sidwell managed to put their player out for 6 months with a broken leg.
That's awful.I thought it looked bad when the lad couldn't put any weight through it
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Sidwell managed to put their player out for 6 months with a broken leg.
That's awful.I thought it looked bad when the lad couldn't put any weight through it
They just had it on Midlands Today and replayed the incident and it still didn't look bad. There was no foot the wrong way or any of the other signs of a bad break. Even the physio thought he would be able to stand again as if he thought it was broken he would have stretchered him off instead. I'm surprised they think it will be 6 months.
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Sounds like a pretty bad stress fracture.
And all the pre match talk was about the Dogheads being ruthless bully boys.
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Sidwell will feel dreadful about this I'm sure
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Sidwell will feel dreadful about this I'm sure
He will, but in fairness he did very little wrong and it seems to just be 'one of those things'!
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Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.
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Sidwell will feel dreadful about this I'm sure
He will, but in fairness he did very little wrong and it seems to just be 'one of those things'!
Well from our point of view I thought it was a very stupid place to tackle as riskily as that.
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Sidwell will feel dreadful about this I'm sure
He will, but in fairness he did very little wrong and it seems to just be 'one of those things'!
Little wrong except scythe the kid down from behind you mean!
Nah, it was just a badly timed tackle, no malice in it, the Wolves player must have landed badly.
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Sidwell will feel dreadful about this I'm sure
He will, but in fairness he did very little wrong and it seems to just be 'one of those things'!
Well from our point of view I thought it was a very stupid place to tackle as riskily as that.
I was more coming from the viewpoint of it not looking overly dirty. As in not two footed, studs not showing, etc.
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Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.
His presence had an influence though.
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Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.
In all fairness he was playing as a winger, he hasnt got the football brain to play there. Had he been up front it may have been a different story. I still dont think he looks 100%
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Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.
His presence had an influence though.
Albrighton was visibly tiring and this allowed Wolves to practically ignore him as an attacking force, Hotlips saw this and replaced him with a player whose reputation alone meant that Wolves had to put one and sometimes two players over to mark him. It was a good substitution that restored balance to the midfield and allowed us space to start creating chances again.
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Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.
In all fairness he was playing as a winger, he hasnt got the football brain to play there. Had he been up front it may have been a different story. I still dont think he looks 100%
I made a similar point earlier. I thought it would have bee better to shift Ash wide and play Gabby in his normal position. But then we went on to win anyway, so what do I know!
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I was more coming from the viewpoint of it not looking overly dirty. As in not two footed, studs not showing, etc.
Well, it wasn't malicious, but then again these leg-breakers never are, are they? We often here more sympathy for the tackler than for the injured after these incidents.
The problem isn't malice, but recklessness and sometimes downright brute stupidity. Because the game is so quick now, it's harder to tackle with the same sort of ferocity that was once rarely a problem. The Premier League has now 13 (at least) double leg-breaks as the result of an impact in the challenge, 10 more than the next in Europe, France, who have 3. The problem is never malice, and is always stupidity.
It certainly is not a coincidence that Arsenal suffer the most, partially because they have these tricky players who invite the challenge which, when it comes, is always more reckless in England than in their native countries (in the case of Ramsey, a native, it wasn't even a trick that did Shawcross). It's also because teams get into a certain mindset against Arsenal to 'get in their faces' - as if hard pressing and reckless challenging are the same thing. With some of the challenges Wolves have got away with, I went into yesterday's game worried for Albrighton and Young, two players who invite the challenge in an Arsenal-esque way, and it is surely an unacceptable situation that you go into games with legitimate concerns for some of your players just because they're the more talented ones.
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67 mins: Agbonlahor comes on for Albrighton.
86 mins: Steve Sidwell comes on for Stiliyan Petrov.
...would never have happened under MON.
It's the start ...to tell him that he is not effective. Remember these days at 86 mins there is still 10 to go and a tiring Petrov made the error in injury time agiant Stoke that lead to their winner.
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Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.
His presence had an influence though.
Albrighton was visibly tiring and this allowed Wolves to practically ignore him as an attacking force, Hotlips saw this and replaced him with a player whose reputation alone meant that Wolves had to put one and sometimes two players over to mark him. It was a good substitution that restored balance to the midfield and allowed us space to start creating chances again.
Agreed, it was a good substitution from Margaret and Gabby had the discipline to hold his position to occupy the full back.
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Then again Sidwell gave a away a free-kick in an almost identical position...
Still good to see subs being used. Pity he couldn't have done the same at Stoke.
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67 mins: Agbonlahor comes on for Albrighton.
86 mins: Steve Sidwell comes on for Stiliyan Petrov.
...would never have happened under MON.
It's the start ...to tell him that he is not effective. Remember these days at 86 mins there is still 10 to go and a tiring Petrov made the error in injury time agiant Stoke that lead to their winner.
Though there's not much you can do when a player just throws himself to the floor following no contact whatsoever.
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Petrov was a passenger for 86 minutes. I hope Liverpool still want him at Christmas. He is our weak link. Sidwell did a dirty tackle granted, but he achieved more in that tackle than Petrov had done all game. Well done Heskey, thanks for repaying the faith.
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Just a couple of points.Gabby did make the difference, he held the ball up , something Albrighton was failing to do.He might not have been spectacular, but he made a big difference.
LYoung had a bad game because he kept giving the ball away.He panics and just boots the ball anywhere, one pass to Petrov with about 5 mins to go was absolutrely suicidal, and this is from a 31 yr old international.
1min before their goal, he had an easy pass down the line to Albrighton, he kicked the ball straight out, from their throw in they played it back to their keeper and the ball ended up with Jarvis?, who scored luckily.
Everybody notice how much Friedel was throwing the ball out, and doing short kick outs?Thats better.
Overall, i think a positive start to Hou's reign, with the suggestion of better things to come.
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I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.
Friedels 3 saves?
What? Other than making a routine save from Jones I don't remember anything else.
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Friedel pulled off a couple of good saves and Heskey had a good game. Albrighton looks dangerous but we will need to give him a break soon. I think a message has been sent out that anyone can be subbed at any time and I also think we will see tactical changes game by game and during games. We got three points away to a side that we got two from six from last season.
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Albrighton was visibly tiring and this allowed Wolves to practically ignore him as an attacking force,
The fact they had a prop-forward marking him didn't help either.
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I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.
Friedels 3 saves?
What? Other than making a routine save from Jones I don't remember anything else.
Totally missed the reactions save from Edwards half volley in the first half and the less then spectacular but equally important block from Doyle seconds later?
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Under MON we'd have drawn that game; under KMac we'd have lost it.
That's a snappy line but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. We've had a great away record over the past couple of seasons, full of games where we've won when we've spend large parts of it defending. I know that it's hard for the revisionists to take but it was a very MON like performance.
I don't think it's revisionism to point out that we drew the corresponding game against Wolves last season, after taking the lead. The fact that we DID draw the game under O'Neill last season means it does stand up to scrutiny.
Ah I see, so we're only talking about games againts the Wolves, not trying to make any sort of wider point. With you now. Although as MacDonald didn't play any games against them I'm not sure why his name was mentioned.
Even MON's biggest critics would have to conceded that our away record, in terms of results, was extremely good.
Whilst our results on the road were excellent, games often followed a similar pattern.
Us either starting brightly or having a good spell either late in the first half/ early second half and then defending in numbers when the opposition upped the ante, all hands to the pump hacking the ball away. Like some lower division side in the FA Cup. Rarely any changes or substitutions to stem the tide and give the opposition something to think about.
Yesterday when Wolves were getting a foothold in the game, GH brought on Gabby for Albrighton. The knock on effect being that their fullback and wide midfielder had to be wary of leaving too much space in behind.
When Petrov had ran his race, GH was not shy in bringing him off.
None of these changes were tactical masterstokes that suddenly had us playing like Real Madrid. But they did have the desired effect in gradually pulling us back into the game. Rather than doing nowt and hoping for the best.
I do wonder if we'll be seeing similar bravery when GH signs his own players though. To a certain extent it is easy for a new manager to come in and pick a side on form/ merit only. He has no loyalty to this new bunch of players, he didn't sign them. So they have to justify their inclusion.
MON picked some innovative formations when he started, lets not forget. And wasn't afraid to drop or sub players either. That reticence only came about in the latter part of his reign.
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Gabby would have started yesterday if MON was in charge. Petrov would not have been brought off.
What effect that had is open to debate.
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Saw Emiles header 9 or 10 times now, don't want to go over the top but im struggling to think of a better header that has ever been scored, the leap, the way he hung in the air, the power he got and the placement was simply amazing, adding to that the move which lead to it wasn't bad either
You forgot to mention the timing. Most players would have been knackered in the last few minutes of a game.
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The placement does it for me.
Even with the leap, power and timing he only had a very narrow gap to aim for. He could have got all the rest right and still Hahnemann might have got to it. But he put it in the only spot the keeper couldn't get to.
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Not sure if this is covered by now but I want to pick up on McCarthy's ( is he one of a few people who's name only says right by saying the first name also?) views on Warnock and his possible second yellow.
For an ex-centre-half, and one that has berated the decline of the physical side of the game - and by the that I don't mean the clattering fouls - and that referee's are too quick to caution players for simply committing a foul, his words are strange.
Yes, it was a clumsy challenge and if it had have happened on the egde of the box and stopped the player getting into the box he probably would have seen a yellow as it could be seen as stopping a potential goal scoring chance opening up. As it was it was a lunge for the ball, and whether he got a slight touch on it is irrelevant to the bigger picture. Which is that Warnock simply committed a foul. Not a bad one, not a goal scoring opportunity being denied, not a desperate lunge, just a foul.
In today's football it could be argued that Warnock was lucky, and I know that as a student of the game (go on then...) I would feel the same if it had have happened to a Wolves player against us. It was not a bookable offence. To prove my credentials I also think the Liverpool goal was a goal. I'll expand on that elsewhere.
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I think McCarthy is trying to cover his own inadequacies peter.
I thought Wolves were very poor yday, playing 3 midfielders who could'nt pass, and failing to get the ball to their 3 best players, and no plan B.Poor team led by poor management.For me they are not as good a team as last year.
Hou's subs however made a difference...........looking good atm.
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I was crying out for G-Hou to take Warnock off as I thought he was going to get sent off, but G-Hou left him on and his cross was the assist for the goal.. G-Hou , a masterstroke leaving him on.. ;-))
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I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.
Friedels 3 saves?
What? Other than making a routine save from Jones I don't remember anything else.
Totally missed the reactions save from Edwards half volley in the first half and the less then spectacular but equally important block from Doyle seconds later?
and you missed the bit where I said 2nd half!
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I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.
Friedels 3 saves?
What? Other than making a routine save from Jones I don't remember anything else.
Totally missed the reactions save from Edwards half volley in the first half and the less then spectacular but equally important block from Doyle seconds later?
and you missed the bit where I said 2nd half!
I missed the reference that you were just talking about the second half for chances yes. Wolves main issue in the second half was decisions. There was one pretty dangerous move when one of their players (initially tracked by Gabby or AYoung) who just ambled into the box whilst the play was on the wing. The cross came in to the player and luckily Doyle tried to control it first. If he had let it run the unmarked player would have received the ball in front of a virtually empty goal.
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I missed the reference that you were just talking about the second half for chances yes. Wolves main issue in the second half was decisions. There was one pretty dangerous move when one of their players (initially tracked by Gabby or AYoung) who just ambled into the box whilst the play was on the wing. The cross came in to the player and luckily Doyle tried to control it first. If he had let it run the unmarked player would have received the ball in front of a virtually empty goal.
and that is why Doyle is still playimg for Wolves and not moved on.