Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: Legion on November 08, 2013, 07:44:18 PM
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Available Saturday 9.11.13 @4.50pm.
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job done
lack of quality until Bacuna scores
Kozak scores is a bonus
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UTV! That is all.
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Well we won thank goodness, great free kick and great head. However a really really poor display up to the goal and worryingly Benteke is beginning to become noticeably frustrated.
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Until the free kick went in we did look pretty woeful. But a wins a win and a clean sheet is a clean sheet.
But we need everyone back after this international break quickly.
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Thank f**k for that.
Beautiful free kick.
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We are 10th, with Gabby ,Weinmann, Luna, Bennett , Okore and Delph missing. So its progress and a win
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still dont get KEA starting
and why he does not push Bacuna further forward with Lowton RB
Tonez still not sure
but we needed those points
clean sheet too but Cardiff are poor
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Extremely poor 1st half. Second 45 much better performance looked dangerous once we scored.
Much needed 3 points, clean sheet. Motm no7 Bacuna
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Dull until the goal, then there was only going to be one winner. Hopefully we can build on this and put all the negative crap behind us. Special credit to the crowd, good numbers and good support. And a clean sheet to boot.
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I'll take 2 - 0 wins every week.
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Bacuna looks the best of the new signings by a mile.
A much needed win and at home.
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Bacuna really does look a player.
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75 minutes of slowly increasing tedium. Then a moment of genius from Bacuna and we suddenly looked full of confidence and threat.
Precious win for us and Lambert. But... we just about had enough to see off a poor Cardiff side. The squad needs several quality players as soon as possible.
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Turgid.
I only saw the 2nd half though.
Thoughts:
Tonev looked decent - very pacey and direct.
Westwood had his best game in a while.
Bacuna was good, even before the goal. Great recovery and covering on a number of occasions.
Clark wasn't bad at left back but that was probably only as there wasn't anyone pacey trying to get in behind him for the most part.
If Kozak is the answer then I'm really not sure what the question is.
I really can't stand Trevor Francis. A whiny, whiny man and an clueless fool.
Great free kick from Bacuna. When was the last time we had a player who could score free kicks? And not take 50 of them and get one on target (Ashley Young), but someone who actually looks like they know what they're doing?
Lambert's substitution (bringing Lowton on and pushing Bacuna forward) worked well and led directly to the goal.
AND - what a pile-on. Scenes.
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Benteke is beginning to become noticeably frustrated.
You can't be surprised 2 simple passes to him and he probably would have scored twice.
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Bit of a struggle and we still have problems in midfield but that goal will do Kozak the world of good. Still a long way to go and we're happy for a week until the next game comes round.
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75 minutes of slowly increasing tedium. Then a moment of genius from Bacuna and we suddenly looked full of confidence and threat.
Precious win for us and Lambert. But... we just about had enough to see off a poor Cardiff side. The squad needs several quality players as soon as possible.
Or our good players returning from injury
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Thank the gods, I'll take that. It wasn't exactly pretty, although when we did get the ball down and pass it to each other we occasionally threatened to look like a football team. Credit to Lambert for the substitution, our midfield lacked the drive to threaten the back four, there was nobody to run at them and they could just sit in and watch us pass it in front of them. The first time Bacuna beat the midfield there was some pressure and it resulted in the freekick. 3 points and 2 weeks to put the injured back together. UTV
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Very important win. I think Lambert would have been under serious pressure if that ended 0-0 or 0-1.
Hopefully this win is a turning point. With the few games coming up you'd think we could get a few more points on the board to get to December in the shake-up for a top eight finish.
Bowery isn't anywhere near good enough. That bit of play at the end when he turned away from goal when Benteke was free? That should, in my view, prove that he is not good enough for this level.
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We needed that boys!!
Bacuna looks a really good player, has to play right mid with Lowton behind him. Gives us way better balance.
Scrappy game overall but happy with another clean sheet and the points UTV!!!
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At Villa Park in the league: 1st clean sheet since December 8 2012 - Stoke. 1st 2 goal lead since April 29 - Sunderland. Chelsea cheats penalty helps our league position. Palace v Everton to beat us to last spot on MOTD. Kozak scored. Turning points all around.
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Three points and a clean sheet. Fuck all else matters.
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That was our first clean sheet at home since last December?!
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75 minutes of slowly increasing tedium. Then a moment of genius from Bacuna and we suddenly looked full of confidence and threat.
Precious win for us and Lambert. But... we just about had enough to see off a poor Cardiff side. The squad needs several quality players as soon as possible.
Or our good players returning from injury
Both.
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75 minutes of slowly increasing tedium. Then a moment of genius from Bacuna and we suddenly looked full of confidence and threat.
Precious win for us and Lambert. But... we just about had enough to see off a poor Cardiff side. The squad needs several quality players as soon as possible.
Or our good players returning from injury
That won't alter the overall quality of our squad. We need more quality precisely because our back up players (and it must be said some of our first teamers) are so ordinary.
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It's noticeable how much having Bacuna in the midfield instead of KEA added to our play.
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Three points and a clean sheet. Fuck all else matters.
Sadly, I agree.
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Man of the match: the hapless Chilean berk who gave the free kick away. Ta very much like.
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Oh and it was fucking cold
Or I'm getting old.
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Well done Villa! I'm jubilated to say I was wrong in the pre-match predictions. Everything's grand when Villa win!
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We are five points better off than we were at the same time last year.
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Three points and a clean sheet. Fuck all else matters.
Ditto
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75 minutes of slowly increasing tedium. Then a moment of genius from Bacuna and we suddenly looked full of confidence and threat.
Precious win for us and Lambert. But... we just about had enough to see off a poor Cardiff side. The squad needs several quality players as soon as possible.
Or our good players returning from injury
That won't alter the overall quality of our squad. We need more quality precisely because our back up players (and it must be said some of our first teamers) are so ordinary.
Time will tell, we now have a squad, (for so long we had no alternatives), maybe our next buys will be upgrades in quality.
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We are five points better off than we were at the same time last year.
And if you wanted to be very negative or optimistic, whichever way you want to look at it, I think the quality of some of the teams around us is much inferior to last season
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We are five points better off than we were at the same time last year.
And if you wanted to be very negative or optimistic, whichever way you want to look at it, I think the quality of some of the teams around us is much inferior to last season
you can come back in out the garden now, Richard, just make sure you back out there in a fortnight!
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Sounds pretty much like the performance I expected, though I predicted 1-0 not 2-0.
When we get people back fit, I think Delph alongside Westwood, bacuna right, looks decent. Not entirely sure how the rest should line up but think it should probably be Andi behind benteke and gabby left.
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Three points and a clean sheet. Fuck all else matters.
Sadly, I agree.
I'm not sure it is all that matters, obviously the result is vital but we have to learn from our mistakes and start playing a lot better.
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And the biggest police presence I've seen in a long time. Needed as well as just before kick off a sizeable Villa mob suddenly appeared by witton lane and needed a lot of police around them. Been a while since I've seen a mob of Villa like that at a home game.
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I knew I'd find a few 'we won but we're still shit' comments on here, it's all sadly predictable. People moan about a lack of clean sheets but we're seeing them now, they switch to moaning about about us not scoring then we get 2 in 8 minutes and it switches to we wouldn't beat a good side, forgetting that our last win was agianst the most expensive side in history. Why can you not be happy about a win and clean sheet at home in a game where we should've been expecting a win and a clean sheet.
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Great result. I have now seen enough of Tonev. The lad is useless. The chance at the end of the first half when he could of played Benteke in for a 1 on 1 and decided to shoot from 25 yards says enough for me.
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Great result. I have now seen enough of Tonev. The lad is useless. The chance at the end of the first half when he could of played Benteke in for a 1 on 1 and decided to shoot from 25 yards says enough for me.
He's a very naive lad who's a bit too eager to please. I'm hoping there's a good footballer in there somewhere, but it's too early to tell for sure.
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Could'nt see it happening, but our best player scored the 1st, and we looked better after that.Bacuna made a difference to our midfield, Sylla improved, Tonev is hot and cold, but i think he will come good.
Vlaar very good again, but Cardiff were very unambitious,That'll do anyway, with a good midfielder purchased in Jan, a comfortable mid table position, maybe with 2 good signings, slightly higher.
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Great result. I have now seen enough of Tonev. The lad is useless. The chance at the end of the first half when he could of played Benteke in for a 1 on 1 and decided to shoot from 25 yards says enough for me.
Totally agree, he needs telling, every time he gets the ball centrally the only thing on his mind is shooting, wouldn't be so bad if he actually got them on target and worked the goalie but more often than not they go 30 ft wide or high.
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Great result, not great performance, plenty of positives, players to come back, bend it like bacuna, watching Match of the Day tonight
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A Villa home win not something we can say often, hard work and endevour more so than massive skill infusion, but that will do for me Villa
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Very important win - played much better and more balanced after the change - cannot see why lambert didnt start with Lowton at right back and bacuna more advanced - Kozak has 3 fine headers on goal and looked useful when given the right service.
Kea was again well off he pace and disappointing - defensively a few scares but pretty solid and a clean sheet again which is good to see .
Overall the result is what matters going onto a 16 day break and its nice to be in the top half again - enjoy your weekend all!
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Thank goodness for that. I was fearing the fallout had we not won this one.
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Take the win, needed the 3 points. But overall a very poor performance.
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Good turn out too just under 36k well done lads!!
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Bacuna's a quality player. It's a useful weapon for situations like that to have someone who can score freekicks. We could really do with at least another one of him because he's the better defensive right full back and the best right midfield option.
The confidence didn't half lift after that free kick. We could have ended up winning 3-0 or 4-0 after such a poor game before that. Obviously the amount of time since last scoring had been a weight on their shoulders. Hopefully that's just what we needed. Albion will be tough and then we've got to beat Sunderland.
It's starting to look like we should play 4-3-3 in away games and 4-4-2 games at home. I agree with the earlier comment about a midfield of Gabby-Delph-Westwood-Bacuna too (depending on the opposition of course - we will still need to play 3 in the middle against the better teams and probably need Bacuna at right back when the opposition have a tricky left midfielder to deal with).
We could have done with a bit of a better summer transfer wise. Bacuna and Okore - top buys but the others are one's that we've just got to hope come good with time or if not, move them on.
We've been a real mess for some time. Too many poor, ageing players on big contracts. We've not had a strong squad in years and it's a big rebuild job. One summer was never going to be enough. It will probably be another 3 or 4 years before we become a really good side again.
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Good result much needed.well done lads bring on the baggies
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Right, first of all lets give some credit to Ron Vlaar who has been turning in consistently good performances for some time now. Libor Kozak in the second half worked hard and was unlucky not to score twice so credit marks to him. The last 15mins were encouraging the 75mins previous were not.
A 2-0 home win is just what Lambert needs. Perhaps we can move on now and pick up a few more points before Xmas.
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I'm pretty worried about Benteke's frustrations at the moment, he's visibly annoyed a lot of the time.
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Vlaar was great again, he's been really good this year.
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Frustrating for a lot of the time but we never looked like losing. The injury really took Benteke out of his stride and he doesn't look as instinctive since he's returned. It will come back because he's that good. Another clean sheet which is what we all wanted to see more of.
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I think Kozak will be a very good player when we are on top of teams and pressing them back into their box. He is excellent attacking the ball in the box and put in 3 very good headers, one of which he scored from. I just don't see him being of much use on the counter attack until he gets used to playing with his back to goal.
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Striker's tend to be frustrated when they're not scoring. I know his team-mates aren't particularly helping him at the moment but it might have been different had he scored the penalty against Everton.
Vlaar has been good. He's obviously adapted to the Premier League now. I also thought Clark played very well even though he was playing out of position. I wasn't too impressed with Baker. Obviously he's not comfortable with the ball at his feet but he's also very reactionary, he doesn't tend to see the danger before in advance the way the better defenders do.
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Striker's tend to be frustrated when they're not scoring. I know his team-mates aren't particularly helping him at the moment but it might have been different had he scored the penalty against Everton.
Vlaar has been good. He's obviously adapted to the Premier League now. I also thought Clark played very well even though he was playing out of position. I wasn't too impressed with Baker. Obviously he's not comfortable with the ball at his feet but he's also very reactionary, he doesn't tend to see the danger before in advance the way the better defenders do.
I agree with that.
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It was definitely 3-5-2 in the second half with Tonev as a wingback - fairly insane, but straight 4-4-2 it weren't as Sylla, Westwood and KEA (later Bacuna) clearly crammed the centre. We lacked creativity but we never stopped going and Bacuna is starting to look a real player. An up and down game for Tonev, but he basically set up the second goal and really kept going. KEA was not very good really, Westwood showed a few glimpses of form and Sylla puffed worthily. Vlaar was excellent, and they didn't really have a single proper chance.
Some despair on here, which was understandable given we had scored in 7 hours, but I don't think it's fair to lose faith completely in Lambert because of a dip in form brought on, at least in part, by bad luck with injuries. Put Delph back in that team and we'd have had no trouble today.
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Striker's tend to be frustrated when they're not scoring. I know his team-mates aren't particularly helping him at the moment but it might have been different had he scored the penalty against Everton.
Vlaar has been good. He's obviously adapted to the Premier League now. I also thought Clark played very well even though he was playing out of position. I wasn't too impressed with Baker. Obviously he's not comfortable with the ball at his feet but he's also very reactionary, he doesn't tend to see the danger before in advance the way the better defenders do.
To be honest 2 clean sheets without luna suggests maybe it might be worth staying the same back 4 at the Albion - i like luna but he has been destroyed a couple of times this season by Ben Arfa and townsend.
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It was definitely 3-5-2 in the second half with Tonev as a wingback - fairly insane, but straight 4-4-2 it weren't as Sylla, Westwood and KEA (later Bacuna) clearly crammed the centre. We lacked creativity but we never stopped going and Bacuna is starting to look a real player.
Just had a look on opta and it looked like 4 at the back still. Tonev left but nobody really on the right until Lowton came on.
If we can get Delph, Luna, gabby and perhaps Weimann back for the baggies I reckon we can beat them
Performances have at times been disappointing, but given our fixture list to now and our injuries if definitely have taken 10th at this point. A rest to get some players back and then some very winnable games up to Xmas.
Remember we really haven't had any of the weakest teams in the league so far: palace, Fulham, Sunderland, or even the likes of Stoke or Swansea who look very beatable. Ok we've had Norwich, but they're actually very good at home. And we beat them.
Results wise I'm pretty happy. And the benefit of keeping clean sheets is that you can nick a game like we did today and could have at west ham.
No shouting from the rooftops but good result today
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I enjoyed watching the first Bend It Like Bacuna a few weeks ago, but Bend It Like Bacuna II is even better. Looking forward to the third one.
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I enjoyed watching the first Bend It Like Bacuna a few weeks ago, but Bend It Like Bacuna II is even better. Looking forward to the third one.
Yes its excellent to have someone who can score goals like that from free kicks - a potent threat.
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It was definitely 3-5-2 in the second half with Tonev as a wingback - fairly insane, but straight 4-4-2 it weren't as Sylla, Westwood and KEA (later Bacuna) clearly crammed the centre. We lacked creativity but we never stopped going and Bacuna is starting to look a real player.
Just had a look on opta and it looked like 4 at the back still. Tonev left but nobody really on the right until Lowton came on.
I think that is down more to the fact that they targeted our left hand side because Tonev was there. All things being equal it would have been a back three with wingbacks.
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Take the win, needed the 3 points. But overall a very poor performance.
Absolutely. Thank goodness Cardiff, like West Ham, never played with a striker. Saying that, I won't take anything away from Vlaar who is slowly starting to convince me he's a more than decent centre half. Bacuna also deserves credit, he's full of confidence and seems to grow with every game. I couldn't believe he was going to try and shoot from the freekick, I thought he was too far out. Amazing shot.
Lambert's tactics, or lack of, are still a massive concern. I've no idea what he's trying to do. As I mentioned on the Match Thread, we look disjointed and rushed which is not good enough, especially at home against a newly promoted, average team even with Gabby and Delph missing. Hopefully both will be back for the Baggies game we'll be a lot stronger and today's win will give the lads some much needed confidence.
Today was a massive three points and much deserved for our long suffering fans at Villa Park. Once again they were superb and more than played their part.
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I enjoyed watching the first Bend It Like Bacuna a few weeks ago, but Bend It Like Bacuna II is even better. Looking forward to the third one.
Yes its excellent to have someone who can score goals like that from free kicks - a potent threat.
I think we should sack the idea of him playing at right back now. He looks our most dangerous player going forward besides Benteke.
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If Kozak is the answer then I'm really not sure what the question is.
Sorry my old mucka but that is utter cobblers.
Kozak definitely shows promise, he's aware of what's going on around him and looks to bring people into play.
He could have had more goals today and for a first start alongside Benteke I thought he did well.
More games together and I think we'll have a decent partnership there.
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Great result. I have now seen enough of Tonev. The lad is useless. The chance at the end of the first half when he could of played Benteke in for a 1 on 1 and decided to shoot from 25 yards says enough for me.
I like the look of him.
Direct, pacy and we need midfielders who actually want to shoot. When (not if) he scores, I'm pretty certain it will be spectacular.
He's raw, and wasn't outstanding today. But there's enough to work with there longterm.
Things are slowly coming together now, is that 4 clean sheets in the last 6 games? And we're adding goals. We might not have been on top form today up until the goal, but the Beeb had us down for 17 shots, with 6 on target. We start getting those kind of numbers on a regular basis, and we'll win far more than we lose at home. Even if we don't always look like Brazil 1970 in the process.
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At least our home form is looking better - I had us to beat Cardiff and Draw with everton, newcastle and spurs , with defeat to city which iwould have left us on 6 points so at this stage we are where i thought we might be , just the results have been different - to be going into the break in 10th place having played most of the top 7 already is very respectable - now we need to build on that in the next few matches which are very much winnable.
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Important and most welcome result that jump starts the season again.
Smart substitution from Lambert too.
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Welcome win despite it being quite awful before we scored. As soon as Bacuna scored his screamer we looked a different team and we looked full of confidence and endeavour.
More of this please, Villa!
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Very comfortable on reflection and the win was routine.
We saw three different formations today and credit to Lambert for making the tactical switch to get the excellent Bacuna higher up the pitch. It was a truly effortless bit of quality and the difference it made to us psychologically was huge.
The play suddenly had a lot more emphasis and tempo, helped in part with Bacuna and Tonev really stretchimg them and the second goal seemed to always be coming. The first goal also seemed to help us remember that we were playing a very limited outfit who had come for a draw.
I thought we actually started quite brightly creating some efforts on goal, while Tonev stuck two excellent balls in that nobody attacked. Kozak was unlucky not to score after the break too.
It was quite tense, the booing a disgrace and the game became what Cardiff had hoped; a real scrappy affair.
Three well deserved points today without a proper left back, our best midfielder and Gabby.
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The booing at half time was not a disgrace, you may disagree with it as it can be counterproductive, as I do, but its an entirely understandable reaction to 4 and a half games without a goal and continual poor home performances.
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If Kozak is the answer then I'm really not sure what the question is.
Sorry my old mucka but that is utter cobblers.
Kozak definitely shows promise, he's aware of what's going on around him and looks to bring people into play.
He could have had more goals today and for a first start alongside Benteke I thought he did well.
More games together and I think we'll have a decent partnership there.
I agree entirely. This is their first start together and they'll need time to establish an understanding. Understand space and where each likes to receive the ball or channels they want to run into. It will also take a little time for other players to adapt to them. I like Kozak. I think we need to provide him with a quite specific supply route but that's for Lambert to figure out. No worries about Benteke. He'll bag one and then others will follow.
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Very comfortable on reflection and the win was routine.
We saw three different formations today and credit to Lambert for making the tactical switch to get the excellent Bacuna higher up the pitch. It was a truly effortless bit of quality and the difference it made to us psychologically was huge.
The play suddenly had a lot more emphasis and tempo, helped in part with Bacuna and Tonev really stretchimg them and the second goal seemed to always be coming. The first goal also seemed to help us remember that we were playing a very limited outfit who had come for a draw.
I thought we actually started quite brightly creating some efforts on goal, while Tonev stuck two excellent balls in that nobody attacked. Kozak was unlucky not to score after the break too.
It was quite tense, the booing a disgrace and the game became what Cardiff had hoped; a real scrappy affair.
Three well deserved points today without a proper left back, our best midfielder and Gabby.
Not sure moving bacuna up was a masterstroke - most people felt Lowton should have started and bacuna play more advanced from the start leaving out the ineffective kea - however i guess lambert got there in the end .
Was good to see Kozak getting decent service and he produced 3 quality headers on goal , wasnt a pretty game but the result is ultimately what counts -onwards and upwards.
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The booing at half time was not a disgrace, you may disagree with it as it can be counterproductive, as I do, but its an entirely understandable reaction to 4 and a half games without a goal and continual poor home performances.
And, Tonev had just kicked high and wide with Benteke free.
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Good and much needed win, but it was a patchy performance. Started and ended the game well, but it was poor at times. Bacuna played well and should be pushed further forward as Lowton did pretty well when he came on. Westwood looked back on form and despite a few loose passes, Sylla was decent. On the downside, El Ahmadi was ineffective and Tonev just doesn't look ready for top flight football. Kozak got a goal, but looks laboured at times. Still early days for him though.
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Paul Lambert on Bluebirds victory.
Paul Lambert hailed Villa as "worthy winners" over Cardiff.
Lambert was thrilled with the second half performance of his claret and blue troops as they piled on the pressure to earn the victory.
Villa boss Lambert was especially pleased with goalscorers Leandro Bacuna and Libor Kozak.
He said: "I thought we were excellent.
"We have a lot of injuries at the moment. We had nearly half a team out. You know things are really bare when you're putting two young kids on your bench.
"But I thought we were worthy winners.
"I thought Leo's free-kick against Man City was world-class. But I thought that one surpassed it.
"It was a terrific free-kick. But Leo can do that. I have seen him do that in training. It was fantastic technique.
"When I watch him at Bodymoor, every time he hits one you think he's going to hit the target. That one today was excellent.
"It started by the post. It gets up and down quickly. There wasn't much room to aim at. The technique was excellent.
"Libor has done great for us. It's his first time in Britain. He's come from a league that isn't as quick. He's adapted to it.
"That's him scoring two important goals for us. I am delighted with his contribution so far.
"But overall in the second half we were dominant, put on the pressure and picked up the tempo. The lads galvanised it.
"I saw us create chances against Everton and West Ham. I knew we'd create. It was about persevering and believing in what we were doing. Thankfully we got a couple of goals."
Lambert admits he's thrilled there is an international break now before the West Brom match, with the boss hopeful of seeing several injured players return.
He added: "Thankfully we have got through this game with a win.
"If we can get three or four of the lads back for the West Brom game then good. We hope to get a few back."
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A win and a clean sheet with half a team of first choice first team players missing is something to be positive about. Enjoy it.
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I thought some of Kozak's movement across the line was pretty good to be honest. He put his goal away well. Yes he got in Benteke's way a few times but he'll do.
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I've always said that I disagreed with Lambert's choice of signing when it comes to Kozak rather than the player himself. Today we were clearly one-dimensional again, but I do like him for how hard he runs and for his surprising neck strength as well - he did so well to get as much behind that header as he did. I think we'd be doing better had we pooled our money and signed a Kiyotake or a Rakitic, but Kozak himself is doing well.
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2 goals, 3 points and a clean sheet and job done against a pretty unambitious Cardiff side. Thought we started quite brightly but went a bit flat and started making sloppy mistakes, but I really can't understand how people think that booing the team off at half-time will inspire them to do better in the second half. We started to look much more adventurous when Lowton came on for the ineffective KEA and pushed Bacuna up to the middle. In the pre-match thread I mentioned the odious Medel and I was pleased that he gave away the free kick which resulted in Bacuna's superb goal. With Gabby, Delph and Weimann out (as well as Luna, Bennett, Okore, Gardner and N'Zogbia!) we lacked pace and looked very ordinary for much of the game but in the end a win at home was all that mattered.
And everything was put in perspective at half time when they interviewed Royal Marine Mark Williams who'd received the military cross for rescuing his mate under fire in Afghanistan. A war hero and massive Villa fan!
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Bacuna should be RB, not sure Lowton is good enough defensively, look when he blasted the ball against Vlaar.You could however reverse the roles.
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And everything was put in perspective at half time when they interviewed Royal Marine Mark Williams who'd received the military cross for rescuing his mate under fire in Afghanistan. A war hero and massive Villa fan!
Yes
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Looked a bit tasty next to the Cardiff fans....tbf they were very loud until they went behind
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(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/10761499275_ce40c29e2b_o.gif)
Not a bad effort that.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5494/10761497935_e76d79e0ac_o.gif)
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I've always said that I disagreed with Lambert's choice of signing when it comes to Kozak rather than the player himself. Today we were clearly one-dimensional again, but I do like him for how hard he runs and for his surprising neck strength as well - he did so well to get as much behind that header as he did. I think we'd be doing better had we pooled our money and signed a Kiyotake or a Rakitic, but Kozak himself is doing well.
My guess is Lambert has his target for that role and couldn't get him. He must have felt we could manage until the opportunity presented itself for the AM player of choice. I don't relate the signing of Kozak to that decision. He wanted the player and got him and I don't think it was one or the other. A little bit like the story about Lukaku where Lambert said he'd still have gone foe Benteke had he got Lukaku. We'll be fine for a bit as these players get some chemistry, but I'm sure it isn't lost on the manager we need something extra or different in midfield to drive us forward.
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Great result. I have now seen enough of Tonev. The lad is useless. The chance at the end of the first half when he could of played Benteke in for a 1 on 1 and decided to shoot from 25 yards says enough for me.
I like the look of him.
Direct, pacy and we need midfielders who actually want to shoot. When (not if) he scores, I'm pretty certain it will be spectacular.
He's raw, and wasn't outstanding today. But there's enough to work with there longterm.
It isn't as if he's 18 though, he is 23/24, only a year or two from his prime. You'd think after about 6 years if senior football he'd have developed better instincts.
Hitzlsperger scored great long range goals, and I'd guess he hit the target more too. That didn't make him a good player, he was distinctly average.
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Solid game. Midfield worries continue. Bacuna was everywhere doing everything. MOM performance.
Kozak & Benteke starting to tick together. Tonev beat his man every time and did a low quality cross everytime as well. Bit worried how Sylla is chasing the game ineffectively so much.
Baker with the traditional head injury scare :)
Loved some of our pressing in the first half.
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A win.
A clean sheet.
A much needed 3 points.
(Boggies "robbed" at the death)
Might have a pint.
;-)
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I've always said that I disagreed with Lambert's choice of signing when it comes to Kozak rather than the player himself. Today we were clearly one-dimensional again, but I do like him for how hard he runs and for his surprising neck strength as well - he did so well to get as much behind that header as he did. I think we'd be doing better had we pooled our money and signed a Kiyotake or a Rakitic, but Kozak himself is doing well.
My guess is Lambert has his target for that role and couldn't get him. He must have felt we could manage until the opportunity presented itself for the AM player of choice. I don't relate the signing of Kozak to that decision. He wanted the player and got him and I don't think it was one or the other. A little bit like the story about Lukaku where Lambert said he'd still have gone foe Benteke had he got Lukaku. We'll be fine for a bit as these players get some chemistry, but I'm sure it isn't lost on the manager we need something extra or different in midfield to drive us forward.
It's only related in the sense that he probably could have paid the asking price for the hypothetical midfielder had he not signed Kozak, so at that point it becomes a Kozak-or-midfielder decision. I understand his wanting to consolidate the squad for the tactics we have before expanding the style of play too much - it's just not what I'd have done, and I think it's left us as bereft of creativity as we have been for years now. However, I do like Kozak, and I'm sure Lambert will sign that creative midfielder when he next can.
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A clean sheet, 2 goals and 3 points against the Sold Out Crew. Great free-kick from Bacuna. Kozak was in the right place at the right time.
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Plus a BIG thank you to all those who donated. Very much appreciated.
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That's if money was the reason why we didn't sign the player. Could have been something else.
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Plus a BIG thank you to all those who donated. Very much appreciated.
Especially to any that gave gold!
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That's if money was the reason why we didn't sign the player. Could have been something else.
That's also a possibility. Let's say it's Kiyotake, for instance - he said he didn't want to come to England, so maybe he wants to give it another year in Germany before moving.
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Today showed a couple of things.
If you are going to be one-dimensional at home, 2 big fellas together is more effective than one feeding on scraps.
AND.... If you stick 2 big men up top, get 2 players out wide that can get the ball in FFS. Until Lowton came on, we just did not do enough of that at all.
Vlaar was exceptional in fairness too him, I thought he was excellent.
Clark did well at left back.
Tonev is very frustrating but is better wide than central.
Bacuna is a super player, because his first touch gets him onto the front foot almost every time. This gives him a yard to attack forward not be defensive. He is a good right back, but now he is settled is our best form of attack too. Him, Westwood, Delph and Sylla are the 4 that need to fit into 3 to play really in that middle area. Sylla makes Westwood a better footballer.
Westwood had his best game of the season IMO, but having 2 strikers that were moving for him helped no end. Weimann has been poor all season IMO, and today with a bit of movement up front Westwood suddenly had passes he could make.
Another clean sheet. 11 games, 14 points, and a -1 goal difference, lets be honest, is a pretty decent opening to the season to go into the international friendlies, and certainly something I would have taken, especially considering Benteke has been out, lost Okore, Gabby has been out a few times, Weimann and Lowton have lost form etc etc. I think Lambert will want us to play better, but will be delighted that he got 27 more games to get 26 more points for saftety.
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(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5494/10761497935_e76d79e0ac_o.gif)
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I'm pretty worried about Benteke's frustrations at the moment, he's visibly annoyed a lot of the time.
There is no reason for him to be frustrated. He is not a goal poacher but a contributor and a playmaker. That part of his game has been missing since his return from injury. Needs to concentrate and improve his own effectiveness.
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Today showed a couple of things.
If you are going to be one-dimensional at home, 2 big fellas together is more effective than one feeding on scraps.
AND.... If you stick 2 big men up top, get 2 players out wide that can get the ball in FFS. Until Lowton came on, we just did not do enough of that at all.
Vlaar was exceptional in fairness too him, I thought he was excellent.
Clark did well at left back.
Tonev is very frustrating but is better wide than central.
Bacuna is a super player, because his first touch gets him onto the front foot almost every time. This gives him a yard to attack forward not be defensive. He is a good right back, but now he is settled is our best form of attack too. Him, Westwood, Delph and Sylla are the 4 that need to fit into 3 to play really in that middle area. Sylla makes Westwood a better footballer.
Westwood had his best game of the season IMO, but having 2 strikers that were moving for him helped no end. Weimann has been poor all season IMO, and today with a bit of movement up front Westwood suddenly had passes he could make.
Another clean sheet. 11 games, 14 points, and a -1 goal difference, lets be honest, is a pretty decent opening to the season to go into the international friendlies, and certainly something I would have taken, especially considering Benteke has been out, lost Okore, Gabby has been out a few times, Weimann and Lowton have lost form etc etc. I think Lambert will want us to play better, but will be delighted that he got 27 more games to get 26 more points for saftety.
Agree with most of that apart from the last bit, I don't think the target is 40 points and safety - I would hope we can look towards 50 points and midtable .
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At some stage we'd have to get used to Benteke not being there, he seems intent to give us a taster now. Gone in January?
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We've had the hardest fixture list in the league up till this point. To come away from today's game with 14 points from 11 matches is pretty remarkable. We can look forward to 6 "easy" games against Baggies, Sunderland, Fulham, Stoke, Palace and Swansea and then two games against moderately harder opposition but certainly beatable; United and Southampton.
I think we're well on course for a top half finish. We'll take 10+ points from the first six mentioned alone and I'd fancy us getting a result against United or Southampton for sure.
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At some stage we'd have to get used to Benteke not being there, he seems intent to give us a taster now. Gone in January?
No chance of him going before the World Cup - his price could go through the roof in brazil 2014.
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Not a chance he will be sold in January.
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Very comfortable on reflection and the win was routine.
We saw three different formations today and credit to Lambert for making the tactical switch to get the excellent Bacuna higher up the pitch. It was a truly effortless bit of quality and the difference it made to us psychologically was huge.
The play suddenly had a lot more emphasis and tempo, helped in part with Bacuna and Tonev really stretchimg them and the second goal seemed to always be coming. The first goal also seemed to help us remember that we were playing a very limited outfit who had come for a draw.
I thought we actually started quite brightly creating some efforts on goal, while Tonev stuck two excellent balls in that nobody attacked. Kozak was unlucky not to score after the break too.
It was quite tense, the booing a disgrace and the game became what Cardiff had hoped; a real scrappy affair.
Three well deserved points today without a proper left back, our best midfielder and Gabby.
Just returned home - and this, Ads, is a good summary of what I saw today, and I particualrly liked the greater pressing up the field (KEA did this well).
Kazak showed far more than previously - his link-up play and general awareness were excellent: instead of lumping it to him, we used his strengths and it worked.
Westie played really well in that deeper role.
Bacuna - a Midfielder - is a rising star (as I said after the Liverpool game ...).
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At some stage we'd have to get used to Benteke not being there, he seems intent to give us a taster now. Gone in January?
I see no evidence of this at all. He bust a gut, got angry when he didnt score or get chances, was annoyed when he was marked. Played superbly off the ball and showed his quality with several layoffs.
I see a player committed to Villa and I am happy with that.
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I would like to see Gabby and Bacuna off Benteke against the Stripey Filth. We need all our best attacking players going forwards. Lowton is good enough, we all know this, time he remembers this too.
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Great result. I have now seen enough of Tonev. The lad is useless. The chance at the end of the first half when he could of played Benteke in for a 1 on 1 and decided to shoot from 25 yards says enough for me.
I like the look of him.
Direct, pacy and we need midfielders who actually want to shoot. When (not if) he scores, I'm pretty certain it will be spectacular.
He's raw, and wasn't outstanding today. But there's enough to work with there longterm.
It isn't as if he's 18 though, he is 23/24, only a year or two from his prime. You'd think after about 6 years if senior football he'd have developed better instincts.
Hitzlsperger scored great long range goals, and I'd guess he hit the target more too. That didn't make him a good player, he was distinctly average.
Is that the hits that won a number of caps for Germany
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Oh - and another half-time highlight - the guy in the Lower Holte who proposed to his girlfriend to the predictable choruses of 'you don't know what you're doing'...She accepted
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Tonev is far from useless. He played well again, put in some dangerous cross that we failed to attack, tracked back and worked hard, stretched Cardiff wide and looks more than useful.
He did try and murder the ball with his shot. He is symptomatic of Bacuna against Liverpool in that he is trying too hard at times with certain elements of his game.
As for the booing; it is a disgrace, achieves nothing and best left for the opposition to boo our players.
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I agree that it was terrible to boo our players today. Considering their youth and inexperience they'll respond to encouragement from the crowd, and worrying about the reaction to any mistakes will make things worse. Also, these are not the days of Dullins, Ireland and Warnock - these players really are on our side, and it's our job to be on theirs.
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That's if money was the reason why we didn't sign the player. Could have been something else.
That's also a possibility. Let's say it's Kiyotake, for instance - he said he didn't want to come to England, so maybe he wants to give it another year in Germany before moving.
There was the story about Kozak that Lambert had inquired about him several months before he could actually get him. The club waited, acted with class and signed him in the end. Could be the same about other players.
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That's if money was the reason why we didn't sign the player. Could have been something else.
That's also a possibility. Let's say it's Kiyotake, for instance - he said he didn't want to come to England, so maybe he wants to give it another year in Germany before moving.
There was the story about Kozak that Lambert had inquired about him several months before he could actually get him. The club waited, acted with class and signed him in the end. Could be the same about other players.
It sounds about right for our way of doing business.
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That's if money was the reason why we didn't sign the player. Could have been something else.
That's also a possibility. Let's say it's Kiyotake, for instance - he said he didn't want to come to England, so maybe he wants to give it another year in Germany before moving.
There was the story about Kozak that Lambert had inquired about him several months before he could actually get him. The club waited, acted with class and signed him in the end. Could be the same about other players.
I would hope that lambert has a creative midfielder lined up - quite possibly this may be the case and for whatever reason the deal could not be done last summer .
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By the way, who was taking our corners from the left? Was it Tonev? They were better than our usual ones.
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Tonev is far from useless. He played well again, put in some dangerous cross that we failed to attack, tracked back and worked hard, stretched Cardiff wide and looks more than useful.
He did try and murder the ball with his shot. He is symptomatic of Bacuna against Liverpool in that he is trying too hard at times with certain elements of his game.
As for the booing; it is a disgrace, achieves nothing and best left for the opposition to boo our players.
Agreed, although the phrase "that we failed to attack" could be more accurately replaced by "but there was no fucker in the box".
The booing was a bit strange in that we did start quite brightly, but I think a lot of fans got the hump from the impression that we were set up to counter attack at home against inferior opposition. On one level this is absurd, since our formation loudly announced "we will let you have the midfield and the wings; have at it if you dare". On the other hand, looking down on the pitch from the upper Witton Lane on the half way line, one could not help but notice that, for much of the game, we had 8 players behind the ball when they attacked, and when we attacked, we still had 8 players behind the ball.
Agree with the general sentiment that Vlaar and Bacuna looked good, and Tonev and Kozak promising.
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Bloody hell Cardiff were crap.
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Really think going forward to our best midfield is Sylla holding with Delph and Bacuna the two In front of him. Gabby and
One other either side of Benteke
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Sometimes (and not for the first time) formations just happen. I thought Westwood Silla and El H were just too much of the same in a narrow midfield. If you want to play narrow you need a playmaker. In the first half all our shots at goal were +20 yards which is fine if you have Frank Lampard.
After the hour Lowton was brought on freeing Bacuna. All of a sudden we had balance. Two central midfielders and two midfilders who can go wide. It's easier to shoot and score from 15 yards when the ball wider angles.
Give width a chance!
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I know that he made some mistakes but Tonev also put in some cracking crosses in the first half that neither Benteke or Kozak attacked.
I'm close enough to hear what Lambert is saying and he also admired Tonev's crossing.
I'm becoming concerned that the opposition tacticians have worked Benteke out. He doesn't seem to dominate in the air like last season and whenever he has the ball he's swarmed around.
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Really think going forward to our best midfield is Sylla holding with Delph and Bacuna the two In front of him. Gabby and
One other either side of Benteke
Gabby needs to up his game considerably to stay in the team in my view - he has been poor for much of this season .
I agree bacuna should step up to midfield and sylla and Delph should start .
The good thing is we do now have options whereas last season the bench was poor .
Bowery in my opinion offers little and iwould have liked to see Johnson or Robinson get the last few minutes today.
I would be happy to start at the Albion with tonev and bacuna .
Guzan
Lowton. Vlaar. Clark. Baker/luna
Westwood. Sylla
Bacuna. Delph. Tonev
Benteke
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
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Just home. Sorry about the little boo at the half time whistle. It just came out before I could stop it.
It is the second week in November and we finally get some width in our play. Tonev was abreath of fresh air and a welcome relief from simply lumping it down the middle of the park.
My family and I all felt that Bacuna was the best of our buys when we saw him in the pre season in Germany and so he is proving.
I hope that Benteke is not developing Baros Syndrome, looking after himself ahead of a world cup.
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Would you care to down four or five before ou next game please?
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Really think going forward to our best midfield is Sylla holding with Delph and Bacuna the two In front of him. Gabby and
One other either side of Benteke
Quite possibly although I thought Westwood played well today.
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
It would be greatly appreciated if could begin to drink frequently before all games from this point on. Please also establish a correlation between units of alcohol consumed and goals scored. It will help down the road in two legged cup games.
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I know that he made some mistakes but Tonev also put in some cracking crosses in the first half that neither Benteke or Kozak attacked.
I'm close enough to hear what Lambert is saying and he also admired Tonev's crossing.
I'm becoming concerned that the opposition tacticians have worked Benteke out. He doesn't seem to dominate in the air like last season and whenever he has the ball he's swarmed around.
Benteke doesn't offload quickly enough, given that he is getting more attention from the oppo. And the other team members need to give him more support.
I liked the way that Kozak played the ball for other team-members well tofay.
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
I saw my old school friend Stephen Dolan whilst selling Heroes and Villains before the match and we shook hands and had a quick chat. Every time this happens, we win. I hope he seeks me out more often and you neck a few more lagers!
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Would you care to down four or five before ou next game please?
I'd spend the entire game on the loo. Just the one will have to do.
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Would you care to down four or five before ou next game please?
I'd spend the entire game on the loo. Just the one will have to do.
Yeah, but imagine the enormous satisfaction as we stick twelve up the likes of Arsenal.
Today? Well the first half was a non-event. We were frustrating for most of the game, but got the two goals.
On the positive side, Cardiff NEVER looked like extending our awful run of games at home without a clean sheet.
On a side note, I cannot remember a home game that wasn't a local derby that had so many and such a high profile police presence.
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Category C+, I think. There were quite a few moronic members of the Villa idiots surrounded by police outside the away end just before kick-off. The Cardiff fans I encountered outside the ground before the match were all pleasant and friendly.
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My little 8 year old cousin was at his first game today. He had his face painted claret & blue and had a great time in the kids zone Pre-game. Hopefully it'll be the first of many trips to VP for him.
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Its a good job football is played on grass and not paper.
I honestly thought that Bellamy and Odenwingie would pose us more problems than they did.
Not entirely sure if big bad Brad had a meaningful save to make today.
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Category C+, I think. There were quite a few moronic members of the Villa idiots surrounded by police outside the away end just before kick-off. The Cardiff fans I encountered outside the ground before the match were all pleasant and friendly.
Even if I couldn't get them to part with £2
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Would you care to down four or five before ou next game please?
I'd spend the entire game on the loo. Just the one will have to do.
Yeah, but imagine the enormous satisfaction as we stick twelve up the likes of Arsenal.
Today? Well the first half was a non-event. We were frustrating for most of the game, but got the two goals.
On the positive side, Cardiff NEVER looked like extending our awful run of games at home without a clean sheet.
On a side note, I cannot remember a home game that wasn't a local derby that had so many and such a high profile police presence.
It seems the police had what I believe is referred to as intel. They certainly sent the coaches the pretty way back to the motorway.
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Really please with that, scores on the doors
Guzan - 7 - would have been 7.5 but he nearly let Odiouswingie in in the 1st half
Bacuna - 8.5 - MOtM - superb all afternoon
Vlaar - 7.5 - very good really settled into this and showing his maturity
Baker - 6 - mistakes, ball watching and not good with the ball at his feet
Clark - 7 - did well at left back though distribution ropey at times
El Ahamdi - 3 - Ineffective, not strong enough and out of his depth, today marked his card for me that we need to get rid, no surprise we looked better when he went off
Westwood - 7.5 - much much better, looking for the ball, better pressing and even had a shot and a couple of charges into the box.
Sylla - 7 - solid and unspectacular but put a shift in and helped with the much better overall pressing of opposition players
Tonev - 6.5 - pleasantly surprised with his contribution, pacey, direct but as usual atrocious shooting but good crossing
Kozak - 7.5 - constantly moving, sometimes looks a lump but always a threat and a nuisance, took his goal well
benteke - 7 - still getting back into it but it will come, some of his touches and movement today were exceptional. I'm going to savour him this season
Lowton - 6 - very good when he came on and assist for Kozak
Bowery - not on long enough to mark
Lambert - 7 - quite why he persists with KEA I don't know but his substitution helped change the game, it was bit turgid at times but we kept going and we seem a much better team when we press the opposition, this was a much better effort in that department today. He's got a few injured but he eventually got his resources ticking today.
Fans - 6.5 - not exactly loud but supported the team well for the last 20 minutes.
The opposition - desperately poor in the final third, did they actually have shot or Guzan have to make a save?
Overall, clean sheet, 3 points, goal drought over, onwards and upwards.
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Would you care to down four or five before ou next game please?
I'd spend the entire game on the loo. Just the one will have to do.
Yeah, but imagine the enormous satisfaction as we stick twelve up the likes of Arsenal.
Today? Well the first half was a non-event. We were frustrating for most of the game, but got the two goals.
On the positive side, Cardiff NEVER looked like extending our awful run of games at home without a clean sheet.
On a side note, I cannot remember a home game that wasn't a local derby that had so many and such a high profile police presence.
It seems the police had what I believe is referred to as intel. They certainly sent the coaches the pretty way back to the motorway.
And on the way in as well. I passed a number of their coaches pulled over on the Walsall Road waiting for a police escort to the ground. Can't recall seeing that before.
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I know that he made some mistakes but Tonev also put in some cracking crosses in the first half that neither Benteke or Kozak attacked.
I'm close enough to hear what Lambert is saying and he also admired Tonev's crossing.
I'm becoming concerned that the opposition tacticians have worked Benteke out. He doesn't seem to dominate in the air like last season and whenever he has the ball he's swarmed around.
Not in itself a bad thing. As was the case repeatedly today, he had three or four closing him down, we just need to learn to exploit the spaces this creates around him.
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I know that he made some mistakes but Tonev also put in some cracking crosses in the first half that neither Benteke or Kozak attacked.
His defending in the second half worried me a little though. He got caught twice trying to dribble out by our own box, but thankfully Cardiff didn't punish us.
That said, he shows glimpses of true quality, but his attempted back heel in the first half was a bit comical!
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Good win mildly spoilt by the Cardiff dickhead who jumped the barrier up in P8 and promptly got his head seriously punched. I dont want to see that shit when at a match and my old man is way too fragile to suffer opposition morons. Normally the old bill reinforce the stewards up in P8 when the opposition fans start getting lairy but there was no sign of them today which was surprising seeing as most of West Midlands finest were at the game today. Be interesting to see why there were not up helping the stewards police the fans today.
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Just the fact he beat his man a few times pleased me! His decision making and crossing needs to improve.
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Would you care to down four or five before ou next game please?
I'd spend the entire game on the loo. Just the one will have to do.
Yeah, but imagine the enormous satisfaction as we stick twelve up the likes of Arsenal.
Today? Well the first half was a non-event. We were frustrating for most of the game, but got the two goals.
On the positive side, Cardiff NEVER looked like extending our awful run of games at home without a clean sheet.
On a side note, I cannot remember a home game that wasn't a local derby that had so many and such a high profile police presence.
It seems the police had what I believe is referred to as intel. They certainly sent the coaches the pretty way back to the motorway.
And on the way in as well. I passed a number of their coaches pulled over on the Walsall Road waiting for a police escort to the ground. Can't recall seeing that before.
I passed that too, strange. Must have been expecting a problem or two, all seemed quiet at the match thankfully.
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Just the fact he beat his man a few times pleased me! His decision making and crossing needs to improve.
Yes it was encouraging to see him get in the crosses but too many were into the keepers hands - certainly potential there though and he offers something we lack.
He was very positive at times and nice to see.
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Good win mildly spoilt by the Cardiff dickhead who jumped the barrier up in P8 and promptly got his head seriously punched. I dont want to see that shit when at a match and my old man is way too fragile to suffer opposition morons. Normally the old bill reinforce the stewards up in P8 when the opposition fans start getting lairy but there was no sign of them today which was surprising seeing as most of West Midlands finest were at the game today. Be interesting to see why there were not up helping the stewards police the fans today.
As we were going out after the game we saw some Cardiff fans larging it to our fans in the upper section of P8. May be it was because of that incident. We've never seen any trouble there before.
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Tonev is no wideman imo, he has pace and is direct but his crossing is awful. I prefer him more centrally.
Just played to see to get the win. I said on here pre match I'd have no complaints with an ugly 1 nil win and we got an ugly 2 nil win as it was a terrible match until Bacuna scored another excellent free kick.
How nice to play a terrible visiting team at home for once, Cardiff were garbage but will still stay up pretty comfortably I'd say looking at their other results so far this season.
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Just the fact he beat his man a few times pleased me! His decision making and crossing needs to improve.
Yes it was encouraging to see him get in the crosses but too many were into the keepers hands - certainly potential there though and he offers something we lack.
He was very positive at times and nice to see.
You can see signs he has ability. Steep learning curve for him but like Bacuna, I think he will be very useful. I am still frustrated with El ahmadi, his tackling is so weak, rarely comes away with the ball when he should. I was expecting more from him by now. Scrappy old game today but the win was so important. Again we didn't dominate possession but on reflection cardiff never looked like scoring from open play so that's a positive.
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Just home from game, as an ex centre half, that was my sort of game, delighted. Clean sheet and a 2-0 win.
Was in P8, Cardiff fans were so sad and angry. Not nice to see a couple of them take a few slaps but there you go, act like twits away from home you will get a slap .
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Kea is an odd one- started last season well and then faded badly and again started this season well and has faded badly - I thought he was totally ineffective today and we looked far better balanced when he departed.
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Did anyone else see that middle aged Cardiff fan who spent the entire game staring at P8. He certainly can't have seen much of the football. He was either a veteran hooligan or escaped from Rampton.
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In short, KEA is awful, Lowton needs to be right back and Baccuna wide right. That is all.
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In short, KEA is awful, Lowton needs to be right back and Baccuna wide right. That is all.
Yes , yes and yes!
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And the biggest police presence I've seen in a long time. Needed as well as just before kick off a sizeable Villa mob suddenly appeared by witton lane and needed a lot of police around them. Been a while since I've seen a mob of Villa like that at a home game.
That was payback to Cardiff for it 'all going on top' at Ninian back in 1934.
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I cannot understand why he persists with the mediocrity that is KEA.
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No he isn't, yes and yes. His name is Bacuna, by the way.
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No he isn't, yes and yes. His name is Bacuna, by the way.
Ive changed my description from garbage to mediocrity in light of your comment to the earlier poster.
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What was KEA role today? winger or central midfield?
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Tonev is no wideman imo, he has pace and is direct but his crossing is awful. I prefer him more centrally.
Just played to see to get the win. I said on here pre match I'd have no complaints with an ugly 1 nil win and we got an ugly 2 nil win as it was a terrible match until Bacuna scored another excellent free kick.
How nice to play a terrible visiting team at home for once, Cardiff were garbage but will still stay up pretty comfortably I'd say looking at their other results so far this season.
Personally I disagree, I'd much rather have him out wide beating men and stretching teams. Undoubtedly his crossing was shit but that should improve. Depends whether you think his shooting is worse, or his crossing. If he's central he may shoot, and that's worse for me.
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What was KEA role today? winger or central midfield?
Winger ?
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Tonev is no wideman imo, he has pace and is direct but his crossing is awful. I prefer him more centrally.
Just played to see to get the win. I said on here pre match I'd have no complaints with an ugly 1 nil win and we got an ugly 2 nil win as it was a terrible match until Bacuna scored another excellent free kick.
How nice to play a terrible visiting team at home for once, Cardiff were garbage but will still stay up pretty comfortably I'd say looking at their other results so far this season.
Personally I disagree, I'd much rather have him out wide beating men and stretching teams. Undoubtedly his crossing was shit but that should improve. Depends whether you think his shooting is worse, or his crossing. If he's central he may shoot, and that's worse for me.
Still not quite sure which is his strongest foot. He certainly whipped a few pacey crosses in with his left foot during the first half but they were pretty much all straight into the keeper's arms.
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The poor performances of KEA and Tonev were compensated by the energy of Bacuna and Sila.
Replace with Delph and Gabby hopefully.
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I saw Gabby outside the Trinity today and he had an ankle brace on. Doesn't bode too well for the Albion game. Hope it isn't as bad as it looks.
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Tonev is far from useless. He played well again, put in some dangerous cross that we failed to attack, tracked back and worked hard, stretched Cardiff wide and looks more than useful.
This. Can't remember the last time I saw a wide player at VP beat a full back and put a cross into the six yard box. It's not just that it stretches the opposition and puts them on the back foot: it's the kind of thing we pay to watch.
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I would like to know what words of sympathy Kozak offered to Marshall just after Bacuna free kick ?
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Woke up many thousands of miles from home to the good news.( Was too tired and jetlagged to stay up till midnight local time).
A clean sheet, 2 goals and 3 points.
Well done Villa.
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todays goals
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todays goals
Nice one. Geat free kick and good finish from the big lad.
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I only watched the first half before having to leave for Lahndan. It was friggin woeful. Very poor. It looked like the only way either side was going to win it was from a moment of quality or a scrappy goal. Looks like we did just that.
Have to say I really like Bacuna. He's got some quality about him and he's all action, very adaptable, and becoming a reliable player.
Benteke still seems off the pace to me.
Still a win is a win. We've still obviously got major issues, but this helps us going into the next game, which will be tough.
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A big problem Tonev has, and a lot of our players in attacking positions to be honest, is he doesn't get his head up enough. He was hitting a few crosses into the box at times without really looking where our attackers were. The keeper mopped them up in the first half.
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Tonev is showing signs of adjusting to the pace of the game physically now, he just needs to work on his composure. It's understandable that he is still rushing himself a bit because he would have so much extra time and space after beating a player in Poland. The good thing is he is still beating players and he should be able to compensate.
I think it bodes well that he is trying to make quick decisions rather than slow down and get tackled because defenders recover much quicker than he is used to.
KEA is more a symptom of our midfield dysfunction rather than the cause. I think he was recruited to be a leader and mature head in the centre of the park but he just doesn't have the strength of personality. Delph is the only mid we have with leadership qualities, so with him out we are a bit too passionless through the centre.
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Having just seen us on MOTD, I add my admiration for Bacuna's goal to the tons of praise he has had, today.
I realise the editing is a factor but I thought the lads looked as if they were bashing Cardiff all over the park, this afternoon.
Looking good for a top ten finish.
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MOTD made the game look much better than it was. The first half seemed to last about 35 years, and the atmosphere wasn't great. It may be a disloyal thing to say, but the crowd seemed very anxious. I know I was. Even at 2-0 up and in the final seconds of injury time, I just wanted it to be all over.
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I was getting that impression from the match thread, but, that's how I usually feel when I watch the Villa anyway.
Even at 2 - 0 up, I expect disaster to strike, especially during the last 10 minutes. It feels as if I have personally carried them through to the final whistle.
A bit like when you are convinced you have lifted / landed the plane you're on, or is that just me?
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I would like to know what words of sympathy Kozak offered to Marshall just after Bacuna free kick ?
pick.that.out
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Probably asked him if intended to keep wasting time.
Didn't see any aggro that others have mentioned. I read on a Cardiff forum that "one positive today is that there were no arrests" which I suppose is a positive, even if it is an odd one to take!
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I would like to know what words of sympathy Kozak offered to Marshall just after Bacuna free kick ?
"When I snap my fingers, you will awaken and become a goalkeeper again".
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
It would be greatly appreciated if could begin to drink frequently before all games from this point on. Please also establish a correlation between units of alcohol consumed and goals scored. It will help down the road in two legged cup games.
Actually i believe i'm the curse of our poor home form.
Liverpool - Went - Lost
Rotherham United - DIDN'T GO - Won
Newcastle United - Went - Lost
Spurs cup - Went - Lost
Man City - DIDN'T GO - Won
Spurs - Had a ticket but my daughter was ill so mate had it - Lost
Everton - Went - Lost
Cardiff - DIDN'T GO - Won
Sunderland - Going - Hmmm
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Great result. I have now seen enough of Tonev. The lad is useless. The chance at the end of the first half when he could of played Benteke in for a 1 on 1 and decided to shoot from 25 yards says enough for me.
I like the look of him.
Direct, pacy and we need midfielders who actually want to shoot. When (not if) he scores, I'm pretty certain it will be spectacular.
He's raw, and wasn't outstanding today. But there's enough to work with there longterm.
It isn't as if he's 18 though, he is 23/24, only a year or two from his prime. You'd think after about 6 years if senior football he'd have developed better instincts.
Hitzlsperger scored great long range goals, and I'd guess he hit the target more too. That didn't make him a good player, he was distinctly average.
Is that the hits that won a number of caps for Germany
The very same. He managed a fair few caps when they went through their restructuring process, allowing for a few years of poor performance and average players to bring through a better quality of youth.
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A 2-0 win is more than welcome but the performance was poor again. After the first goal we looked comfortable but the worrying thing was the Cardiff probably shaded it before then and they are cack. Thought we were indebted to some of the worst goalkeeping seen at Villa Park in some years. Maybe he thought the first was going wide but he didnt move at all. The second reminded me of the first goal Shay Given let in against Croatia at the Euros. A slow motion dive when the ball was gone past him. Bizarre but we will take it.
Credit to Lambert for the substitution. Ive been very critical of his substitutions or lack of them but bringing in Lowton improved matters.
I thought Bacuna was very good at right back, he is a much better defender than Lowton really. Even when he made mistakes in the first half he has the pace and strength to get back easily. He has been a real find and the key reason behind our improvement at the back this season. Clark too had a good game on the other side, can be good on the ball when he wants to be. Ridiculous tackle at the end from him though. Thought Cardiff erred badly by not moving Bellamy to their right side as Clark wasnt tested at all. Vlaar was very solid at centre half again. Westwood was a bit better, Sylla improved last 15 mins. Tonev has a bit of talent about him but was guilty of trying too hard if anything today again. taking the wrong option a lot but never hid anyway.
Thought Benteke and Kozak were both poor to be honest. Benteke needs a goal badly, being very selfish at the moment and really gave it to a few of his teammates today. Kozak scored and forced a decent save but we need more movement from the forwards. They had little service in truth but needed to hold it up better at times.
Cardiff were tidy in possession but had no ambition in their play nor threat up front. We were there for the taking but they seemed content with playing for a point. Was disappointed with Whittingham on his return, poor set pieces and didnt impose himself on the game. Their manager spent the whole game roaring at his players and constant hand gestures. Reminded me of Phil Brown a bit as it seemed more for the benefit of the camera than his players.
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I would like to know what words of sympathy Kozak offered to Marshall just after Bacuna free kick ?
"When I snap my fingers, you will awaken and become a goalkeeper again".
Excellent.
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On benteke, I don't think he's played that we'll for a while. But in part that's because we became so reliant on him that teams could crowd around him.
I'm sceptical about whether kozak and benteke together is really the answer. But it should create a bit more space for him.
Would like to see sylla / Westwood / Delph again when we play a midfield three - not sure we've seen that at all this season? Although I wonder if bacuna could replicate Sylla's work and have more attacking threat.
At home, I'd like to see width more often with bacuna and Lowton on the right. And Luna and Tonev / gabby on the left.
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Okore, Nzogbia (remember him?), Delph, Gabby, Weimann, Bennett, Gardner all to come back. Benteke misfiring a bit since his injury. New combinations of new signings. Two average performances resulting in two clean sheets and 4 points. I'd take that for the moment after some decent performances where we got nothing (Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton). They've shown they can play (first 20 minutes against Everton was class) and this season they've shown they can dig in and get a result (the last two games). Time for a smidgeon of optimisim, surely.
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Although I was quite concerned by the poor 1st half after a bright opening 15mins , on reflection things are looking fairly as I had hoped at this stage in the season .
We are in 10th place having played most of the top 8 , and okore and bacuna both look decent signings , while tonev, Kozak and luna have all shown promising signs as they settle in - not seen enough of helenius yet to form an opinion .
Going onto the 2 week break in a comfortable position with players to return from injury and show those baggies who and what we are !
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@91_yacou: Thank you for everyone for believing in me.
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Benteke has been well below par all season, even before his injury. He was still scoring goals early on of course, which helps mask the problems, but for me he's lost a yard or two of pace over the summer, and perhaps a tad more since the injury. He's also yet to really produce a moment of pure Benteke game winning brilliance. He's had some well taken goals this season, but nothing like Liverpool away, or WBA last season where he just pulls a brilliant moment out the bag.
In games so tight, where we're struggling to create enough of note (which is pretty much every game for us) we need a bit of magic. Bacuna can't hit a wonder freekick every game.
Hopefully this two week break is exactly what Benteke needs. Obviously a settled side behind him would also help, so we'll see. The WBA game is ideal for him to really do the business.
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There are some pretty poor teams in the division this year and up until the goal we looked like one of them, after it we were never in danger so we have defensive progress.
Everyone around me was talking about a lack of energy in midfield and I'm glad PL finally saw it and pushed Bacuna up to solve that problem. A worrying lack of quality around though.
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Agree above that Benteke looks a yard short, last year he'd have been first to that spilled KAH shot.
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Okore, Nzogbia (remember him?), Delph, Gabby, Weimann, Bennett, Gardner all to come back. Benteke misfiring a bit since his injury. New combinations of new signings. Two average performances resulting in two clean sheets and 4 points. I'd take that for the moment after some decent performances where we got nothing (Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton). They've shown they can play (first 20 minutes against Everton was class) and this season they've shown they can dig in and get a result (the last two games). Time for a smidgeon of optimisim, surely.
Spot on.
The ability to grind out results in adversity is a great quality to have. We've been extremely unfortunate with injuries this season, couple that with a real difficult set of fixtures I think we should all be more than satisfied with our current position.
I am also a little surprised with the criticism El Ahmadi is getting. I thought he did a decent job of harrying their midfield and cutting off the angles so that they had to keep playing sideways or back, it's not pretty and will never win you man of the match but it takes energy and concentration and allows others more freedom.
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A 2-0 win is more than welcome but the performance was poor again. After the first goal we looked comfortable but the worrying thing was the Cardiff probably shaded it before then and they are cack.
Well, you saw a different game to me then. We were comfortably in control of the game throughout; the challenge for us was geting people into good goalscoring positions - even if in the first half we had three-four clear-cut chances to score which were either snuffed out by defenders or fluffed by us (3 wasted crosses by Tonev as an example).
Second half we again took the game to a limited Cardiff side.
don't get me wrong: it wasn't a great game but we dispatched a opposition that deserved to be beaten; something we should have done more of this season.
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Thought we were always the team that looked likely to score. Guzan didn't have to make a serious save. Their keeper was kept busier. Felt that most of the game we pressed well when they had the ball. Once we took the lead and the game opened up there was only ever going to be one winner. If we had scored after 25 and 55 minutes everyone would have been lauding it as a very comfortable home win.
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Agreed Mister E.
Cardiff offered nowt going forward and played the percentages with set pieces which were all poor. They apparently had two shots on goal, but other than Bellamy's pass back of a free kick, I cannot recall the other?
They were tidy on the ball only in so far as they moved the ball well.from midfield, into the full back, into the centre half and back to Marshall. I thought they looked a poor side and if we had managed to beat Everton then there would have been not half as many nerves about.
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Guzan.
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Yeah him. Bloody auto correct. We didn't have a Swansea player in goal for us.
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I thought Bellamy looked like a has been yesterday.
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I thought Cardiff kept the ball better than us, at least in the first half. They had more possession through the game. Of course they did very little with that, but the fact we still look so ropey in the middle of the park is a worry. We've got to get better movement, and get players looking up a bit more. Too many passes are rushed or end up astray. Even 3 yard passes were missing their mark yesterday which isn't even good enough at pub level, let alone Prem. Keep the ball better and games like this will be less of a struggle. Cardiff haven't been known for being a passing side so far this season, they've ground results out and got joy from set piece, so honestly, we should be looking at 55% possession or more in games like this. It's not everything I know, and we did win the game, but it just makes it a bit easier of you keep the ball better. Simples.
That said, I think once Lambert gets players back from injury and can settle on a more solid line up, that should improve. Having Lowton back in and pushing Bacuna up will make a difference. I'd keep Tonev in the side (he'll get better as he grows in confidence and composure), bring Gabby back and play them either side of Benteke. I don't really like the two up system unless one drops off. It was good to see Kojak getting a goal. He's struggled lately, and it wasn't the flashiest or most well taken but it went in.
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I thought Bellamy looked like a has been yesterday.
Honestly, I thought he had more pace than that, but his pace has all but gone. I did worry with Bacuna bombing forward whether Bellend might exploit gaps in behind, but he didn't. Bacuna had him in his pocket the whole game.
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Good result. You could say we made hard work of it but they made it difficult playing 5 across the middle and only Odemwingie up front. I kept saying throughout the game that we just needed a goal to open them up and it happened. I thought the midfield three should have done better in closing their midfield down instead of backing off them though. As for pluses, Tonev's starting to look as if he might be a good player, it's another clean sheet and Kozak looked much better with someone alongside him.
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Tonev is far from useless. He played well again, put in some dangerous cross that we failed to attack, tracked back and worked hard, stretched Cardiff wide and looks more than useful.
This. Can't remember the last time I saw a wide player at VP beat a full back and put a cross into the six yard box. It's not just that it stretches the opposition and puts them on the back foot: it's the kind of thing we pay to watch.
He seemed a bit lost for most of the first half. Was more disciplined in the 2nd staying further out on the left and stretched them more. I think that there is a lot more to come from this kid once he settles better.
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On reflection that was a really comfortable win. I fear for Cardiff.
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On reflection that wasn't too bad really.
If we had scored in the first 15 minutes it could have been a cricket score looking back.
We let Cardiff look far better than they are for parts of that match but that had something to do with us trying to play wider and not keeping it tight?
Once Tonev can put in a better cross he will be dangerous, I enjoyed his runs down the left as he tried to take on defenders. I am not going to be negative about widening the play after all the moaning about not doing it!
Bacuna up into midfield maybe for more threat? With Delph running forwards and Sylla/Westwood holding could be interesting but then I am pretty poor on formations.
Can we get a better song for Bacuna - he may like a bhuna for all I know but it sounds saft!
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Lowton is back so push Bacuna up to ARM.
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When Bacuna got the ball in midfield, he really drove at Cardiff and looked exciting to watch. I would play him wide against the Bitters.
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Bacuna has shown he can deliver quality from wide, so I'd like to see him in a more attacking position. I like him, seems like another bargain. Lowton's a good footballer too, so he should aid in our ball retention when he comes back in the side.
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We could have been 2 up after 15mins, then Cardiff got back into it and played better football than us without really threatening.
We came out to do some business 2nd half but I thought we were going to end up being frustrated by a weaker team over the 90 mins.
Bacuna's free kick was the bit of class we needed and we were always going to win it after that. The 2nd goal made the score more realistic and we defended well to make their corners a minimal threat in the last 5 mins.
I'm a happier Villain than I was this time yesterday.
UTV!
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Bacuna has shown he can deliver quality from wide, so I'd like to see him in a more attacking position. I like him, seems like another bargain. Lowton's a good footballer too, so he should aid in our ball retention when he comes back in the side.
Many felt this should have been the case at the start with Lowton back and bacuna more advanced - the width from bacuna and tonev could be very useful against the Albion - I would have Delph and sylla in the middle with Westwood in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Delph being the more advanced central midfielder.
I don't think gabby will make the Albion game .
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I presume he initially went with the three centre midfielders to stop their 5 man midfield outnumbering us and possibly catching us on the break. I thought it was the right thing to do but yeah I think Bacuna's much better further forward.
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I presume he initially went with the three centre midfielders to stop their 5 man midfield outnumbering us and possibly catching us on the break. I thought it was the right thing to do but yeah I think Bacuna's much better further forward.
Maybe clamps but I'd rather take the game to the opposition at home rather than worry too much about them - I find kea and Westwood together at home to be a bit too negative - prefer one or the other.
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Tonev has got something but his decision-making lets him down. He worked hard yesterday and is always looking to do something positive. I'd like to see him given a run in the team and see if that settles him down so that he becomes more aware of team mates in better positions.
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In short, KEA is awful, Lowton needs to be right back and Baccuna wide right. That is all.
Yes , yes and yes!
I will take awful and a 2-0 win every week ;) ;) easily pleased me.
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Leandro Bacuna my/our midfield man of the future! What a goal!!
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With our home form being so terrible the performance was irrelevant we just had to get the job done and thankfully after a struggle we picked up the 3 points, it was also a good day because my son saw his first home league win in 26 months, he was so happy last night, UTV :)
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Both West Ham and Cardiff were woefully short up front. We should have a real test against the Baggies who have started to play well.
I think Gabby might start on the left with Tonev coming on later. Benteke would be advised to drag Jonas Ollson out of position as much as possible thus giving Kozak space in the middle. Or vice versa. Hopefully Delph will be recovered from his illness as we will need a big big performance from him in this one.
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Not a great game or performance by any means, but I think we deserved the win. Cardiff are a poor side in all honesty and are the kind of team we should beat at a canter, especially at home.
Pleased for Bacuna, great goal and was already leading contender for MOTM before that.
Still can't say I'm overimpressed with Kojak, or the three in central midfield, but what the hell, we won, and that's what it's all about I suppose.
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Both West Ham and Cardiff were woefully short up front. We should have a real test against the Baggies who have started to play well.
I think Gabby might start on the left with Tonev coming on later. Benteke would be advised to drag Jonas Ollson out of position as much as possible thus giving Kozak space in the middle. Or vice versa. Hopefully Delph will be recovered from his illness as we will need a big big performance from him in this one.
West Brom are like us though, and goodness how many other teams in the league, in that they can look really good one week and next to useless in the following game. The league has never been more open in terms of inconsistency I think with even the usual 'Sky 4' suffering more than their fair share of defeats and draws this season. The bindippers, Southampton and Everton aren't all that but the very mediocre standard of our league makes them look like world beaters
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We have more quality than last season. How many games did Bannan or Lichaj play last season, or even Herd? We have made some serious upgrades.
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With our home form being so terrible the performance was irrelevant we just had to get the job done and thankfully after a struggle we picked up the 3 points, it was also a good day because my son saw his first home league win in 26 months, he was so happy last night, UTV :)
Yep, it was never going to be pretty. We need to string a few wins together that's for sure. Win a couple of home games on the bounce and then we might start looking a bit more stylish in the following one.
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We have more quality than last season. How many games did Bannan or Lichaj play last season, or even Herd? We have made some serious upgrades.
Yes we now have options in formation and personnel , and a much better bench to influence things - still work in progress but with the fixtures coming up we could build a solid position in the table and confidence will improve further - top 10 is still certainly achievable.
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On reflection that was a really comfortable win. I fear for Cardiff.
Bringing on the likes of Nicky Maynard and Fraser Campbell kind of says it all alright. I think they are pretty similar to Hull. Decent enough at the back and solid in midfield but seriously lacking quality in the final third. Wouldn't be surprised if the three promoted teams went back down again
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Also, not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I thought Clark had a good game at left back. Never really tested defensively but joined the attack and put a couple of decent crosses in, exactly what we should be trying to do with the two big lads up there.
In fact, I'd still like to see him given a chance in front of the back four, I reckon hes cultured enough to do anything that Westwood or KEA can do, while adding a bit of height to the midfield and being better in the tackle to boot.
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Not a great game or performance by any means, but I think we deserved the win. Cardiff are a poor side in all honesty and are the kind of team we should beat at a canter, especially at home.
Pleased for Bacuna, great goal and was already leading contender for MOTM before that.
Still can't say I'm overimpressed with Kojak, or the three in central midfield, but what the hell, we won, and that's what it's all about I suppose.
And Kozak scored. But obviously not good enough for some people. FFS, give the bloke a chance.
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On reflection that was a really comfortable win. I fear for Cardiff.
Bringing on the likes of Nicky Maynard and Fraser Campbell kind of says it all alright. I think they are pretty similar to Hull. Decent enough at the back and solid in midfield but seriously lacking quality in the final third. Wouldn't be surprised if the three promoted teams went back down again
Throw Fulham, Sunderland and Norwich into the mix and those will be the 6 battling to survive in my view, west ham and newcastle won't be far ahead either.
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On reflection that was a really comfortable win. I fear for Cardiff.
Bringing on the likes of Nicky Maynard and Fraser Campbell kind of says it all alright. I think they are pretty similar to Hull. Decent enough at the back and solid in midfield but seriously lacking quality in the final third. Wouldn't be surprised if the three promoted teams went back down again
Throw Fulham, Sunderland and Norwich into the mix and those will be the 6 battling to survive in my view, west ham and newcastle won't be far ahead either.
West Ham are in trouble. The Inn Place, West Ham bar over here was very sulky yesterday evening. Shame, innit. ;)
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I get the feeling big sam will be despatched as soon as they have a really bad run - served his purpose getting them up .
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Not great but a wins an win especially with the injuries we have.
Bacuna was excellent for me and despite Kovacs goal I'm not convinced.
Kovac looks too slow and seems to get in Benteke's way rather than compliment him.
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Enjoyable first 10 minutes, very good last 15 minutes.
Best not start on the rest. Just happy to have 3 points.
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
If it was the lager on sale inside the ground then you truly have sacrificed for the good of your team. I salute you sir!
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
If it was the lager on sale inside the ground then you truly have sacrificed for the good of your team. I salute you sir!
She is a lady :)
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
If it was the lager on sale inside the ground then you truly have sacrificed for the good of your team. I salute you sir!
She is a lady :)
A very brave one at that. Apologies ma'am.
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I think, despite Kovac's goal, the jury is still out on him. Can we have a forward line with both Kuzik and Benteke, is the question? Perhaps Kayak will keep us afloat when the big Belgian finally departs, or maybe Kitkat will make the beast even hungrier for goals? Who knows, but one thing's for sure, during his time at Villa Kozak will become a name that means a great many things to many people.
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Also, not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I thought Clark had a good game at left back. Never really tested defensively but joined the attack and put a couple of decent crosses in, exactly what we should be trying to do with the two big lads up there.
In fact, I'd still like to see him given a chance in front of the back four, I reckon hes cultured enough to do anything that Westwood or KEA can do, while adding a bit of height to the midfield and being better in the tackle to boot.
Clake is a centre-half and should never be considered as anything else. In that position he can be bullied.
Granted, he's able to fill in when needed but he has neither the touch or control to play in midfield nor the pace or attacking ability to play at left back. We've seen time & again how 'good' his distribution is. He did OK yesterday against a poor team with no attacking intent but in truth I'd say he's our 4th choice centre-half.
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
If it was the lager on sale inside the ground then you truly have sacrificed for the good of your team. I salute you sir!
She is a lady :)
She certainly is and a lovely one at that, you couldn't meet to wish a nicer one
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Also, not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I thought Clark had a good game at left back. Never really tested defensively but joined the attack and put a couple of decent crosses in, exactly what we should be trying to do with the two big lads up there.
In fact, I'd still like to see him given a chance in front of the back four, I reckon hes cultured enough to do anything that Westwood or KEA can do, while adding a bit of height to the midfield and being better in the tackle to boot.
Clake is a centre-half and should never be considered as anything else. In that position he can be bullied.
Granted, he's able to fill in when needed but he has neither the touch or control to play in midfield nor the pace or attacking ability to play at left back. We've seen time & again how 'good' his distribution is. He did OK yesterday against a poor team with no attacking intent but in truth I'd say he's our 4th choice centre-half.
Disagree with your last point, he's a better option that Baker, who endears himself with his whole hearted attitude but lacks any sort of quality with the ball. In essence he can't pass 5 yards with any reliability, he is slow to react and is positionally suspect, which is why he so often has to resort to last ditch tackles.
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Baker is good in the games against the physical direct teams Chris. Yesterday and last week suited him down to the ground.
I have no issues with him playing as he gives us an extra option to defend set pieces and Cardiff have been good at them all season.
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
If it was the lager on sale inside the ground then you truly have sacrificed for the good of your team. I salute you sir!
She is a lady :)
She's got style, she's got grace, She's a winner.
She's a Lady. Whoa whoa whoa, She's a Lady.
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I thought Bellamy looked like a has been yesterday.
I told him so, I hope he heard me.
He used to be a dangerous, aggressive arsehole with frightening pace. Now he's just an arsehole
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I thought Bellamy looked like a has been yesterday.
I told him so, I hope he heard me.
He used to be a dangerous, aggressive arsehole with frightening pace. Now he's just an arsehole
For some reason I read that as 'all he has now is an aggressive arsehole'.
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I thought Bellamy looked like a has been yesterday.
I told him so, I hope he heard me.
He used to be a dangerous, aggressive arsehole with frightening pace. Now he's just an arsehole
For some reason I read that as 'all he has now is an aggressive arsehole'.
All players need an agent nowadays.
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I think, despite Kovac's goal, the jury is still out on him. Can we have a forward line with both Kuzik and Benteke, is the question? Perhaps Kayak will keep us afloat when the big Belgian finally departs, or maybe Kitkat will make the beast even hungrier for goals? Who knows, but one thing's for sure, during his time at Villa Kozak will become a name that means a great many things to many people.
inspired!
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Cardiff will stay up. Really they were missing a central striker, that Danish bloke they signed for 7m has rarely played.
They were limited yesterday but score from set pieces and are very tough to beat at home. They remind me of when Stoke first came up.
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I think, despite Kovac's goal, the jury is still out on him. Can we have a forward line with both Kuzik and Benteke, is the question? Perhaps Kayak will keep us afloat when the big Belgian finally departs, or maybe Kitkat will make the beast even hungrier for goals? Who knows, but one thing's for sure, during his time at Villa Kozak will become a name that means a great many things to many people.
inspired!
Yes.
Nice work, James.
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I thought
Kojak Kovacs Kozic Kosic Kosaz Kozak worked very hard yesterday.
I haven't seen enough to convince me he's a good buy who will fit in with the way we play yet, but am prepared to give him time. Putting yourself about and working hard like he did yesterday is a good first step to winning people over. As is scoring, obvs.
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1-0 RVP. Come on Arsenal
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Wrong thread alert!
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Wrong thread alert!
Too many wines in VMF :(
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You can never have too much wine.
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You can never have too much wine.
Very true
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I thought Kojak Kovacs Kozic Kosic Kosaz Kozak worked very hard yesterday.
I haven't seen enough to convince me he's a good buy who will fit in with the way we play yet, but am prepared to give him time. Putting yourself about and working hard like he did yesterday is a good first step to winning people over. As is scoring, obvs.
You forgot Kodak....
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Just left my lad in hospital waiting to have his appendix removed - he was admitted earlier after my wife added up all the symptoms.
He was poorly last night and got steadily worse throughout today - so what's all this got to do with this thread ?
He was at yesterday's game as usual - and said today that his stomach had hurt throughout the second half and got more painful as the game went on . I asked why he didn't say anything as we would have come away from the match.
His reply - 'we were winning and we don't win many at home - so I didn't want for us to leave '.
I don't know if I am more annoyed or proud - at the minute I'm mostly worried .
UTV
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Just left my lad in hospital waiting to have his appendix removed - he was admitted earlier after my wife added up all the symptoms.
He was poorly last night and got steadily worse throughout today - what's all this got to do with this thread ?
He was at yesterday's game as usual - and said that his stomach hurt throughout the second half and got more painful as the game went on . I asked why he didn't say anything as we would have come away from the match.
His reply - 'we were winning and we don't win many at home - so I didn't want for us to leave '.
I don't know if I am more annoyed or proud - at the minute I'm mostly worried .
UTV
Best wishes to fin fed - hope he's better soon !
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Get well soon, little Villa fan. Your commitment is admirable, your health is far more important.
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We won because I had a pint of lager before the game. I don't normally drink at home games but before the Man City game I had a lager to ease the pain. Decided it was my duty to do so again. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to keep this ritual up until we fail to win again at home. Needs must and all that.
If it was the lager on sale inside the ground then you truly have sacrificed for the good of your team. I salute you sir!
She is a lady :)
A very brave one at that. Apologies ma'am.
The lager was imbibed in the Lions Club.
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Hope your lad makes a quick recovery, FFD.
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Just left my lad in hospital waiting to have his appendix removed - he was admitted earlier after my wife added up all the symptoms.
He was poorly last night and got steadily worse throughout today - what's all this got to do with this thread ?
He was at yesterday's game as usual - and said that his stomach hurt throughout the second half and got more painful as the game went on . I asked why he didn't say anything as we would have come away from the match.
His reply - 'we were winning and we don't win many at home - so I didn't want for us to leave '.
I don't know if I am more annoyed or proud - at the minute I'm mostly worried .
UTV
I'd be proud, that's exactly what I'd have done when I was a kid. Very inspiring story, send him my best wishes!
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Just left my lad in hospital waiting to have his appendix removed - he was admitted earlier after my wife added up all the symptoms.
He was poorly last night and got steadily worse throughout today - so what's all this got to do with this thread ?
He was at yesterday's game as usual - and said today that his stomach had hurt throughout the second half and got more painful as the game went on . I asked why he didn't say anything as we would have come away from the match.
His reply - 'we were winning and we don't win many at home - so I didn't want for us to leave '.
I don't know if I am more annoyed or proud - at the minute I'm mostly worried .
UTV
Sorry to hear that, Martyn. Hope that the op goes well; thoughts and prayers with you all.
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You can never have too much wine.
Agree with that
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I thought Kojak Kovacs Kozic Kosic Kosaz Kozak worked very hard yesterday.
I haven't seen enough to convince me he's a good buy who will fit in with the way we play yet, but am prepared to give him time. Putting yourself about and working hard like he did yesterday is a good first step to winning people over. As is scoring, obvs.
and Kazak
You forgot Kodak....
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You can never have too much wine.
Agree with that
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I love Loudon Wainwright.
Heart on sleeve kinda guy and almost always a touch sad.
Likes a glass or two.
Is he a Villa fan?
;-)
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I know that he made some mistakes but Tonev also put in some cracking crosses in the first half that neither Benteke or Kozak attacked.
His defending in the second half worried me a little though. He got caught twice trying to dribble out by our own box, but thankfully Cardiff didn't punish us.
That said, he shows glimpses of true quality, but his attempted back heel in the first half was a bit comical!
My mate Rob named that move "The Tonev". One of the Cardiff players did the same thing later on
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back on thread - thought Kozak worked his nuts off and deserved his goal in front of the Holte.
(just off to top up the Cab Sauv)
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I know that he made some mistakes but Tonev also put in some cracking crosses in the first half that neither Benteke or Kozak attacked.
His defending in the second half worried me a little though. He got caught twice trying to dribble out by our own box, but thankfully Cardiff didn't punish us.
That said, he shows glimpses of true quality, but his attempted back heel in the first half was a bit comical!
My mate Rob named that move "The Tonev". One of the Cardiff players did the same thing later on
Odemwinge
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I just noticed. Look at the stewards letting themselves go when this goes in.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/10761499275_ce40c29e2b_o.gif)
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I am still perplexed as to why Kozak walks towards their keeper scratching his head? Unless it was to say " Yes I was also expecting a floated ball to the far post"!
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I just noticed. Look at the stewards letting themselves go when this goes in.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/10761499275_ce40c29e2b_o.gif)
Good spot Paulie.
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I just noticed. Look at the stewards letting themselves go when this goes in.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/10761499275_ce40c29e2b_o.gif)
Good spot Paulie.
It's called "Doing the Hi-Vi"
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I wonder why they have changed the camera angle to be a lot lower?
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Tonev. Great pace, final ball all too often into the keepers hands or into row g.
Sylla, superb first half, ok second
KEA. Trying to be positive for him as he does get some work done, but tackling too often powderpuff. Game changed when he came off
Bacuna. Played within his limits for the first half, then turned the game after he moved up, took a great run through their midfield and a blinding free kick. But did he ever get a bollocking from Paul just after the restart. Did anyone see this? lamberts water bottle ended up in row four.
Westwood, starting to look like the player I loved from last season
Kozak. Bit too much like Savo Milosovic for me, but goal counted. When he was trying, he looked pretty good, but the fact that Bentek would always have three-four players around him, including Caulker (their best player) meant he should have been exploiting space better.
Vlaar + Clark + Baker + Guzan = serious step up from last year. Still one to many "loose" moments, but this part of play is improving.
Benteke just needs more game time, always getting in the right places
Bowery. Would have loved that shot to go in!
Lowton. great to see him back
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Missed the game, looked everywhere but can't find our formation, was it 4312, 442 or 352? Cheers
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I think, despite Kovac's goal, the jury is still out on him. Can we have a forward line with both Kuzik and Benteke, is the question? Perhaps Kayak will keep us afloat when the big Belgian finally departs, or maybe Kitkat will make the beast even hungrier for goals? Who knows, but one thing's for sure, during his time at Villa Kozak will become a name that means a great many things to many people.
I think Roofrack is doing just fine.
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I wonder why they have changed the camera angle to be a lot lower?
A desperate attempt to get gregnash to visit the ground.
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I could have crushed a grape when Tonev all he had to do was slide Benteke in but chose to shoot and hit the north stand boxes.
Infuriating player.
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Missed the game, looked everywhere but can't find our formation, was it 4312, 442 or 352? Cheers
All of the above is probably the best answer I can give, it changed around a few times during the game but tonev was always wide left, sometimes with clark behind him sometimes with clark more tucked in. On the right Bacuna was often further forward than a traditional fullback but other times Sylla drifted quite wide. I think we were 442 at the end but even then Bacuna was tucked in NRC style on the right when we didn't have possession.
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@JamesNursey: In Mirror today, #AVFC deadball specialist Leandro Bacuna admits he fancies taking pens as well.
Leandro Bacuna may soon be knocking on neighbour Christian Benteke’s front door asking for his job as Aston Villa's penalty taker.
Bacuna lives next to striker Benteke in a Birmingham apartment block.
The pair are big pals - and Bacuna has now started to emulate Benteke’s scoring heroics.
His perfect free-kick broke the deadlock in the 2-0 win over Cardiff and was his second crucial set-piece of the season.
He also curled in a brilliant free-kick against Man City in September in the Villans' other home win.
And now the versatile defender-cum-midfielder, admits he fancies taking penalties too.
Bacuna, 22, played up-front as a kid and had a 100 per cent record from the spot for old club Groningen.
Benteke, on the other hand, missed a costly penalty in the home loss to Everton a fortnight ago.
Overall, the Belgium international striker’s goals have dried up since his fourth of the season went in on September 14.
Bacuna said: “The gaffer makes the decisions and Christian’s been taking the penalties. I won’t go there and start a fight!
“Christian lives next door to me. We hook up a lot and he’s a good guy. Sometimes we chill out together, we watch a lot of football on TV.
“I was taking penalties in Holland but I only just came to Aston Villa, Benteke takes the penalties here. I’m not going to be like saying: ‘I’m taking the penalties’.
“But I didn’t miss any in Holland and if I was asked I would take them here. If you take a penalty well then the ball is faster than the keeper.”
Bacuna’s 76th-minute strike after Gary Medel had brought him down finally broke Cardiff’s dogged resistance.
With keeper David Marshall again in top form, Cardiff were hard to break down with five across the middle and 10 men behind the ball.
It frustrated the hosts who had gone seven-and-a-half hours without finding the net.
But Cardiff had to open up after conceding and Libor Kozak headed in a second goal late on.
Victory leaves Villa level on points behind Midland rivals West Brom, who they visit next.
And boss Paul Lambert is delighted with Bacuna, a bargain £1million summer signing from Groningen - the Dutch club that developed Arjen Robben and first brought Luis Suarez to Europe.
The Scot said: “We got him for a really low figure and I’m pretty sure he’s not worth that anymore so his value - like a lot of them - has probably gone up.
“The way he is playing his confidence has gone up and he’s enjoying it. His free-kicks have certainly helped us. They came at critical times in games.”
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I wonder why they have changed the camera angle to be a lot lower?
It's at the front of the Witton Lane Upper Tier. They made a new permanent camera location for 3-D cameras (maybe the 3D effect works better lower down), but now seem to be using the position for the standard cameras too. Probably because it pisses me off royally whenever cameras are not there (the camera position is where my season ticket used to be)
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I hate the new camera angle. I just thought it was there for Spurs as it was on Sky seeing as it was back to normal for the Everton game.
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Missed the game, looked everywhere but can't find our formation, was it 4312, 442 or 352? Cheers
All of the above is probably the best answer I can give, it changed around a few times during the game but tonev was always wide left, sometimes with clark behind him sometimes with clark more tucked in. On the right Bacuna was often further forward than a traditional fullback but other times Sylla drifted quite wide. I think we were 442 at the end but even then Bacuna was tucked in NRC style on the right when we didn't have possession.
Thanks, so Clark was left back/left centre back with Baker in the middle, that's odd Lambo has had Baker left of Clark up till now this season, he does love a tinker doesn't he.
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Missed the game, looked everywhere but can't find our formation, was it 4312, 442 or 352? Cheers
All of those!
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Watched the extended highlights on Eurosport in East Asia but AVFC stream. Not sure criticism of Tonev is justified. Defensive lapse or two aside. Support play for him wasn't always timely.
As for The Big K worked his nuts off and deserved the goal. Benteke is about half a foot off the pace but will come good, hopefully in time to put the Baggies to the sword.
Glass half full at the moment.
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A mention for the new serving lady on the Lower Holte concourse who confused me by smiling at people as she served them. Makes a change.
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I'll take the three points and another clean sheet Bacuna my MOTM.
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More of this villa please.
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I'll take the three points and another clean sheet Bacuna my MOTM.
Indeed.
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just as we shout "Shoot!" whenever Lowton and Bacuna are on the ball in the opposition half, can we try shouting "Pass!" when Alex finds himself in a similar position?