Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: PeterWithesShin on February 11, 2014, 03:27:20 PM
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Tuesday 11th Feb. Available at FT, approx 9.30pm.
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Got away with it first half. Should have scored a hatful second.
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first half garbage, second half should of had 2 or 3 if it wasnt for the keeper.
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great save at the end for Cardiff.
I thought we did OK second half
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3 more years , you're having a laugh
3 more years , you're having a laugh
3 more years , you're having a laugh
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1st half shit. 2nd half good. Continues to baffle all fans.
Save of the season at the end. Bastard!
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two poor teams
should have won
and should be beating Cardiff
Gabby awful awful miss
one win in six - not good enough
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Played like a team that knew what they were doing second half. Which makes Saturday and the first half tonight even more annoying.
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I'm fucked if I know how we can play so badly,then so well.
Looked like relegation in the first half, safety in the second.
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2points dropped I'm afraid. That felt like a loss. Wasted chances, bad decisions and a wonder save but sadly again, just not good enough against a dreadful team.
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Absolutely terrible first half, and sure enough that's because we went long. Second half much better, because we actually passed the ball short a bit when will Lambert fucking learn. We have to pass it short to create chances, it is that simple. A draw was a fair result, and it shows how low we have sunk. We should be beating Cardiff.
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poor result. Cardiff proved themselves to be crap with the exception of their keeper and we didn't take advantage of our opportunities. Disappointing.
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Had more than enough chances to win that in the second half, and in the end they got a point by virtue of a fantastic save at the death.
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Great second half should have won that, Gabby wtf
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Didn't watch it. Point is better than nothing. Sounds like we were awful first half, much better 2nd but strikers didn't have shooting boots on. These are the games we need to be winning though. Lambert will again say unlucky but we need to start getting the results from our own performance as opposed to luck.
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Deserved to win second half. Benteke and Gabby need some sharpening up. Weimann did well on the left. Albrighton bright. Delph good. Vlaar quality.
A point is not a disaster. One point closer, keeps then in the shit.
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Poor second half but very good second. Could have had a hatful
Player ratings for the second half:
Guzan 6
Bacuna 8 - really good apart from the miss
Vlaar 7
Baker 6
Bertrand 6
Albrighton 7
Westwood 8
Delph 8
Bennett 4 (Weimann 6)
Gabby 4
Benteke 6
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Is 1 point from 6 against our relegation rivals good enough?
I don't want to start worrying, but I'm starting to worry.
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Yet again, I have no idea where we'll end up in the table. We could finish top half or relegated.
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I only saw from 60 minutes.
Abysmal really looking how unthreatening Cardiff were.
I think this must be the worst villa team since records began.
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One half of good football again.I just don't get it.
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Talk about the game having two equal proportions of time.
Cardiff dominated us so much in the first half it was embarrassing. As I said on the thread, Lambert must have got Di Caprio in to do the chest-thumping humming thing from Wolf of Wall Street as his half time team talk, because that was an unbelievable turnaround, and we should have won it.
Tactically, the key thing for me was that, while in the first half our wide players were very, very wide, in the second they cut in and joined up more, rather than leaving the two central midfielders isolated as in the first.
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Frustrating, if Gabby and Benteke had turned up we would have won.
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Not bad in the second half. This was an opportunity missed though. You look at this game as the most winnable of the next seven fixtures. Astonishing save at the end by Marshall.
As bad as we are, at least we're not as bad as Cardiff. Dreadful side.
Vlaar always makes a difference. We need to keep him fit. Albrighton needs to play every game. He's consistently been one of our liveliest players when he's been in the side. Even so, he's still average, but for us, that's good.
The midfield is still a major problem. We're struggling to find any real balance there.
We're crawling to safety.
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Poor result. Cardiff are rubbish and we didn't beat them. Bent would have liked all the service into the box.
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No good again i'm afraid.
You can look to the second half and say we can build from that but we never do.
Just what is going on with the players that they can go out first half and perform like that, it was abysmal.
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I agree. Albrighton tucked in and bacuna provided a lot of the width
It's not rocket science though is it? There's a reason hardly anybody plays 442 nowadays.
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I can only imagine the team talk at half time was along the lines of "Try that passing thing we did at Liverpool, it might just work"
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Should have won it. More than enough chances but wasteful in front of goal. Play like we did in the second half consistently until the end of the season and we will be more than OK.
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Superb second half. The midfield two were both excellent, with Vlaar in the side we look a completely different side and if we had the final ball/chose the right option, Benteke would have had 6 today.
We will be fine.
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Some of those saves you wouldn't see in a movie. In the end, unlucky and much more encouraging in the second half. But still too many dopey moments when a sharper skill set would easily have settled it. Cardiff are fucking shite, and we've matched them. Awesome.
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We should have won that second half. Gabby's miss was criminal. Weimann should have put that late chance in as well, good a save as it was.
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Did enough to piss it in 2nd half but you have to put the opposition into context. Gabby wtf?!
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Should have won the game second half. At least we didn't lose.
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
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That was a chastening experience. The skill level on display was pitifully low. Could have nicked it at the death but for a world class save but in the first half alone Cardiff hit the woodwork twice, had a pen shout turned down and had a goal knocked off for offside.
We improved in the second half but once again we only turned up for less than half a match so we can't have any complaints about not winning it.
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Seemed to me Villa were so dominant second half that they were actively trying to score a perfect looking goal instead of winning the sodding game.
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Should have won, why didn't Gabby hit it first time?
Cardiff were spent by half time, 2 points lost.
We really need Gabby / Benteke to hit a good run to pull us away. Cardiff won't stay up.
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I think this must be the worst villa team since records began.
Surely the team that got relegated from the second into third?
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
When he plays well the team plays well. In the first half he got no help from the team, in the second half they apparently tried a bit and, bo and lehold, Westwood gets better.
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
Agreed.
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I only saw from 60 minutes.
Abysmal really looking how unthreatening Cardiff were.
I think this must be the worst villa team since records began.
Complete nonsense.
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Oh and I've love Ben Turner as competition for Vlaar and Okore, he was exceptional and his positioning was brilliant.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
He did okay. Second half does not make up for being ineffective in the first.
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Ben Turner, "we have to beat teams like Villa".
Fuckin hell that's a Cardiff City player saying that.
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Gabby and Benteke were so poor. Arguably why we didn't win.
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That was a chastening experience. The skill level on display was pitifully low. Could have nicked it at the death but for a world class save but in the first half alone Cardiff hit the woodwork twice, had a pen shout turned down and had a goal knocked off for offside.
We improved in the second half but once again we only turned up for less than half a match so we can't have any complaints about not winning it.
Is this a joke? They had a goal ruled offside because he was offside by a country mile. One decent effort that hit the outside of the post, a ridiculous attempt that hit the bar after it took a huge deflection and went about 40 ft in the air and a half arsed penalty appeal. We should have had six in the second half. Talk about bloody doom and gloom!
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
I agree and hopefully Lambert knows where to start against Norwich.
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Ben Turner, "we have to beat teams like Villa".
Fuckin hell that's a Cardiff City player saying that.
He's a local lad isn't he? Sounds just like the kind of thing a nose would come out with.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Yeah but it's still a terrible return from the last two games and if you want to look at next 12 games if we keep that record up we'll have 6 more points. I don't think we will by the way, but statistics across the seasons aren't relevant to now.
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Oh and I've love Ben Turner as competition for Vlaar and Okore, he was exceptional and his positioning was brilliant.
Probably a game in a million?
If he were that good every week, they wouldn't be in the shit they are in.
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Much better second half, thanks for that. Especially Westwood improved, he seemed much more confident. Terrible miss by Gabby after a clever flick from Benteke. Weimann so unlucky, their keeper made a save of the season contender. The second half proved that Cardiff are not very good when you press and try to force errors from them. Tonights results (if WBA loose) give me a little more confidence concerning relegation. Hope Vlaar stays fit.
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
When he plays well the team plays well. In the first half he got no help from the team, in the second half they apparently tried a bit and, bo and lehold, Westwood gets better.
He did. But he's got to do it more. He has to start dictating games against better sides. Cardiff were awful, and missing Whitts a lot too. He keeps them ticking. Westwood can't just appear for the odd half here and there. He's got to do it every week, or he'll find himself playing Championship football. He goes hiding to much. Second half he was always there for the ball, always wanted it and always looking to be incisive with it. Keep it up and we'll look better as a side, and he'll get a bit more praise too.
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Ben Turner, "we have to beat teams like Villa".
Fuckin hell that's a Cardiff City player saying that.
He's a Nose!!
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Gabby and Benteke were so poor. Arguably why we didn't win.
I love Gabby but he was poor today and god knows how he didn't score. I thought Benteke did well second half, his movement was very good and if a simple pass had been played to him he could have had 3 or 4.
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Ben Turner, "we have to beat teams like Villa".
Fuckin hell that's a Cardiff City player saying that.
He's a local lad isn't he? Sounds just like the kind of thing a nose would come out with.
Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head there.
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Thing is, if a point against Cardiff and a five point gap on the Boggies, combined with a team trip somewhere sunny gets us three wins in the next twelve games, I can live with not putting the game to bed.
That's probably also because I won't have to worry about football this weekend.
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Another game of 2 halves but we should have won in the 2nd half - a draw is better for us than them though .
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
He did okay. Second half does not make up for being ineffective in the first.
He can't play in a 4-4-2.
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if we had a proper experienced centre mid we'd be a different side. we're too nervy - giving the ball away softly, not picking up loose balls and awful set pieces.
horrendous miss from gabby. Bennett utter shite. lots of crosses from marc A
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We drew. Against Cardiff. Who are almost certainties for relegation.
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Ben Turner, "we have to beat teams like Villa".
Fuckin hell that's a Cardiff City player saying that.
He's a local lad isn't he? Sounds just like the kind of thing a nose would come out with.
Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head there.
In fairness, he said 'no disrespect to Villa they're a good club but we need to win at home against teams around us'.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Yeah but it's still a terrible return from the last two games and if you want to look at next 12 games if we keep that record up we'll have 6 more points. I don't think we will by the way, but statistics across the seasons aren't relevant to now.
The same way Man City are on course for 6 from their next 12? What a ridiculous statement.
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We drew. Against Cardiff. Who are almost certainties for relegation.
Exactly and in combination with losing against West Ham, a point from those two games is a very poor return.
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The more I think back, the more I can't believe how shit Gabby was. Fucking awful.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Yeah but it's still a terrible return from the last two games and if you want to look at next 12 games if we keep that record up we'll have 6 more points. I don't think we will by the way, but statistics across the seasons aren't relevant to now.
The same way Man City are on course for 6 from their next 12? What a ridiculous statement.
It's no more ridiculous than saying a point from West Ham and Cardiff is ok because we're 11th across the season.
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We drew. Against Cardiff. Who are almost certainties for relegation.
Exactly and in combination with losing against West Ham, a point from those two games is a very poor return.
2 wins in our last 12 games (since the Southampton result) I believe. The odd point here and there may not be enough. A reasonable second half against an utterly dreadful Cardiff certainly isn't light at the end of the tunnel. Lambert still has to sort the mess out.
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We drew. Against Cardiff. Who are almost certainties for relegation.
Cardiff fans are probably thinking the same thing about us.
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Ben Turner is a good defender, as is Caulker, fairly sure Turner used to be a season ticket holder at the Bloooose.
Not a fan of Westwood, but he moved the ball quicker tonight, and looked a better player for it.Better quality in the final 1/3rd is a must.Gabby was poor imho tonight.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Yeah but it's still a terrible return from the last two games and if you want to look at next 12 games if we keep that record up we'll have 6 more points. I don't think we will by the way, but statistics across the seasons aren't relevant to now.
But Baggies and Cardiff are no closer, and given Fulham play Liverpool tomorrow there's a very good chance we'll be a point further ahead of them too.
I agree that the return from the last two games isn't good but we've shown at other times this season that as much as we're capable of crap results like Saturday's we're also capable of beating Man City and Arsenal. The most important thing about this stage of the season is our position in the league and tonight we've moved up a place.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Cone on mate. That's not a comfort to anybody, surely? West Ham are picking up points, when Fulham's new signings settle in they may improve and their result against Man United may be a shot in the arm. A few of the teams around us are starting to get results and we're not in any way looking convincing. I hope we'll be alright. We might just be. But it's a bleak outlook we're I'm looking from. Aston Villa should not be in this position in any season. But 4 in a row is taking the piss and if you keep pushing your luck, it will run out.
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We're a great side to watch going forward at times when we want to be. It's a shame that doesn't seem to be very often.
Disappointed with Gabby there, that flick from Benteke was outrageous. Another day and one of those would have gone in. We really couldn't have afforded to lose.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Yeah but it's still a terrible return from the last two games and if you want to look at next 12 games if we keep that record up we'll have 6 more points. I don't think we will by the way, but statistics across the seasons aren't relevant to now.
The same way Man City are on course for 6 from their next 12? What a ridiculous statement.
Lower that to 4 points bloody West brom have equalised.
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Didn't tell us a lot we didn't already know, we are better than some teams in the league but struggle to impose ourselves on the match. Some of our players are very good in small patches.
When we are struggling for form we have to take our chances and we didn't, 2 points dropped.
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Gabby was shite - Benteke looked like he couldn't be arsed . He jibbed every single challenge.
Their defenders wanted it more .
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Good to hear Lambert say he realises dominating the ball is important, yes it is.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Yeah but it's still a terrible return from the last two games and if you want to look at next 12 games if we keep that record up we'll have 6 more points. I don't think we will by the way, but statistics across the seasons aren't relevant to now.
The same way Man City are on course for 6 from their next 12? What a ridiculous statement.
Also my point is you can quote stats however you want, which is why I said 'I don't think we will by the way'. Regardless a point from West Ham and Cardiff is a rubbish return.
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The problem with Lambert isn't that we play brilliantly sometimes and are inconsistent after that, it's that we're mostly absolutely horrible and then get the odd half of promise here and there. And Lambert never, never, never learns his lessons - will we start by passing the ball next match? Like hell. We'll start hoofing it in a 4-4-2 more surely than you could say the sun will rise tomorrow. That's the problem.
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Agbonlahor could not be arsed tonight by the looks of it, and Benteke has had his cigar out all season.
What a shit game to watch.....
Against fucking Cardiff, I tell thee
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The front two were poor today. I couldn't help but wonder if Bent would have knocked a couple in tonight. Plenty of service.
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Cone on mate. That's not a comfort to anybody, surely? West Ham are picking up points, when Fulham's new signings settle in they may improve and their result against Man United may be a shot in the arm. A few of the teams around us are starting to get results and we're not in any way looking convincing. I hope we'll be alright. We might just be. But it's a bleak outlook we're I'm looking from. Aston Villa should not be in this position in any season. But 4 in a row is taking the piss and if you keep pushing your luck, it will run out.
But the thing is, the teams around us aren't picking up points. That's why we're still 11th. West Ham are irrelevant now - they're above us. The reality is, at least 7 of the 9 teams below us have got to either do better than they have so far this season or we've got to do worse than we have so far this season, which a lot of people would argue is impossible.
I'm not saying we're safe by any stretch but this rampant depression when we've picked up another point towards safety does no one any favours.
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Our fixtures through to end march are awful
We're gonna need to pick up some home points against Norwich and Stoke or I think we're gonna be in a spot of bother
Four points off the relegation zone now and in thirteenth
It's not really that much better than we were last season I imagine, at this stage?
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The lad with the huge shaped afro said it all after Gabby's miss. And we move on...
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I thought we would lose so I cant complain. Havent watched the game yet but it seems we kept possession well?
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The more I think back, the more I can't believe how shit Gabby was. Fucking awful.
The pass was setup perfectly for him to stroke it home with his right first time. A pub league player would be abused from a height for doing what Gabby contrived to do
Bacuna failing to find Benteke was absolutely criminal aswell. Bertrand put in another cracking cross at the end but no-one there to tap it in.
Paul Lambert just now "if you can pick up points away from home in this league its absolutely vital"
If we were picking points up at home maybe that might ring true
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I know he's Villa through and through and all that but Agbonlahor really is a very average footballer. Cardiff will go down, Villa won't and then next season we'll be hoping the 3 that come up are worse than us. Enjoyed watching Albrighton tonight, great to see his confidence returning.
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It wasn't that gabby couldn't be arsed - why do people always say that? He was just shit, very shit
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Our fixtures through to end march are awful
We're gonna need to pick up some home points against Norwich and Stoke or I think we're gonna be in a spot of bother
Four points off the relegation zone now and in thirteenth
It's not really that much better than we were last season I imagine, at this stage?
Four points better. Four. And all the talk over December about how much better we are this season.
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Cone on mate. That's not a comfort to anybody, surely? West Ham are picking up points, when Fulham's new signings settle in they may improve and their result against Man United may be a shot in the arm. A few of the teams around us are starting to get results and we're not in any way looking convincing. I hope we'll be alright. We might just be. But it's a bleak outlook we're I'm looking from. Aston Villa should not be in this position in any season. But 4 in a row is taking the piss and if you keep pushing your luck, it will run out.
Can't disagree with that.
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Edging closer to safety, point after miserable point isn't good enough for Aston Villa, we should aspire to more.
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Our fixtures through to end march are awful
We're gonna need to pick up some home points against Norwich and Stoke or I think we're gonna be in a spot of bother
Four points off the relegation zone now and in thirteenth
It's not really that much better than we were last season I imagine, at this stage?
4 points better off just fyi.
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For me the difference in Westward's performances are completely dependent on the movement around him.
2nd half he almost always had options and could switch the angle of attack, and not always with a 5 yard pass, there were some really good cross field balls to release Albrighton and Bacuna.
When Westward looks poor, we usually look poor, but I'm not convinced it's because he's hiding, more that he's the one left holding the baby when everyone else is hiding or playing statues.
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I can't help but feel that if the managers were swapped there would have been no doubt about the result. Just a hunch, but it looked to me like one of those games where their tactics were better than ours, our players were better than theirs, so the game ended equal.
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Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert: "I thought David Marshall pulled off two world-class saves in the second half - the one at the end and the one earlier to his left hand side.
"Second half, I thought we were excellent and on another night we would have come away as winners.
"If you pick up points away from home they'll take you a long way in this league, so I'm happy with a point."
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1 point from West Ham at home and Cardiff away is a terrible return.
And yet we're still 11th, 5 points clear of relegation, with only 12 to play.
Cone on mate. That's not a comfort to anybody, surely? West Ham are picking up points, when Fulham's new signings settle in they may improve and their result against Man United may be a shot in the arm. A few of the teams around us are starting to get results and we're not in any way looking convincing. I hope we'll be alright. We might just be. But it's a bleak outlook we're I'm looking from. Aston Villa should not be in this position in any season. But 4 in a row is taking the piss and if you keep pushing your luck, it will run out.
But the thing is, the teams around us aren't picking up points. That's why we're still 11th. West Ham are irrelevant now - they're above us. The reality is, at least 7 of the 9 teams below us have got to either do better than they have so far this season or we've got to do worse than we have so far this season, which a lot of people would argue is impossible.
I'm not saying we're safe by any stretch but this rampant depression when we've picked up another point towards safety does no one any favours.
It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
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I can't help but feel that if the managers were swapped there would have been no doubt about the result. Just a hunch, but it looked to me like one of those games where their tactics were better than ours, our players were better than theirs, so the game ended equal.
Their tactics were to rely on us to miss numerous chances?
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The (sad) truth is, if we weren't so utterly pathetic at home, our away form would see us in the top 8. Easily.
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When we stumble across the line in thirteenth or fourteenth in May about two points clear of the five or six clubs bunched below us, we really need to take a good, long, honest look at ourselves and ask if this cycle of shite is acceptable for a club like ours.
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'And if you don't pick up points at home you are fucked'
Did he say that as well?
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
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I can't help but feel that if the managers were swapped there would have been no doubt about the result. Just a hunch, but it looked to me like one of those games where their tactics were better than ours, our players were better than theirs, so the game ended equal.
Their tactics were to rely on us to miss numerous chances?
Oh no, their tactics were to control the midfield which they did first half, in spite of what we learned second half - that their players are rubbish.
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
I agree we need some decent players, but I don't believe that the players we have can't learn to pass the ball short which they did in the second half.
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
That's what I thought last year and look what he bought.
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I though Saturday was the worst I'd seen from our forwards as a unit,but tonight tops that.No problem with defence or mid, but oh my fucking god Benteke needs dropping.And Bennett going forward offers something.
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
That's what I thought last year and look what he bought.
I think most of them are capable, we've seen that from them a number of times. It's just consistency, and I wonder if confidence plays a big part?
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
That's what I thought last year and look what he bought.
Last Summer though we still had Bent, Ireland, Given, etc on the books. Hopefully this Summer we'll have none of those and as a result at least another £150k of wages per week to spend.
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When we stumble across the line in thirteenth or fourteenth in May about two points clear of the five or six clubs bunched below us, we really need to take a good, long, honest look at ourselves and ask if this cycle of shite is acceptable for a club like ours.
As ever Irish, I completely agree! And do you think anyone will actually do that or enact any of the serious changes that are needed? Not on your bloody life. We just lurch from one game to the next, seemingly not in control for one second of how we play at any given point in a game, forever destined to lurch between about 10th and 15th. If we're lucky. Our expectations have been dumbed down brilliantly by someone and I'm never quite sure how it happened...
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
I don't think Lambert tells them to play crap, but I do think that it is worth remembering that he's the only person in a position to influence the way they play.
Also, it's worth noting that he needed to buy some decent players last summer, too, and failed.
The second half was decent, if blunt.
The first 10 minutes of the first half were ok, but the following 35 minutes were utterly abysmal.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
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I don't think many will share my view but I think we are like a slow motion car crash. We don't win against the likes of West Ham and Cardiff and show no likelihood of changing this (PL can't or won't learn and the players seem to be losing heart and commitment).
Next we'll start playing decent sides and will lose badly .... Where's this pattern going to take us to? You fill in the blank.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
Yup
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
I'll run naked through Chichester if the latter happens. No bloody chance
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I do think Lambert essentially tells them to play crap, in that he thinks that passing along the ground and aimless punting are equal options, to be used in the appropriate situation, whereas one of them is 'football' (in the sense of kicking the ball with the foot), and the other one is 'fucking stupid'.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
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I do think Lambert essentially tells them to play crap, in that he thinks that passing along the ground and aimless punting are equal options, to be used in the appropriate situation, whereas one of them is 'football' (in the sense of kicking the ball with the foot), and the other one is 'fucking stupid'.
He's not very bright and has appalling communication skills I suspect. For which read 90% of current and ex footballers
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
Probably true Adam but that's not great is it. Not that you are saying it is of course. But this now seems the sum total of our focus every year, I must have read that post or similar a 1000 times on here over the last few seasons. Welcome to the world of Aston Villa, now and for bloody ever it seems
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
It's not just about relegation. I don't think we'll be relegated, but since when did we define ourselves on how awful other teams are? It's not acceptable for Aston Villa to say 'we're alright because a few other teams are worse'. It's pathetic, we should aspire to a bit more than that.
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
That's what I thought last year and look what he bought.
Last Summer though we still had Bent, Ireland, Given, etc on the books. Hopefully this Summer we'll have none of those and as a result at least another £150k of wages per week to spend.
We don't have Ireland on the books at all, he's gone to Stoke. Bent is being paid by Fulham. Given is still here.
It's really not the greatest of barriers to ambition.
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When we stumble across the line in thirteenth or fourteenth in May about two points clear of the five or six clubs bunched below us, we really need to take a good, long, honest look at ourselves and ask if this cycle of shite is acceptable for a club like ours.
As ever Irish, I completely agree! And do you think anyone will actually do that or enact any of the serious changes that are needed? Not on your bloody life. We just lurch from one game to the next, seemingly not in control for one second of how we play at any given point in a game, forever destined to lurch between about 10th and 15th. If we're lucky. Our expectations have been dumbed down brilliantly by someone and I'm never quite sure how it happened...
Thanks richard, it's always reassuring to know one isn't just talking to one's self!I still think the Houllier season (and not blaming him entirely, it was a vicious cocktail) and how quickly we went from challengers to no-hopers really shook the club and sent it into a bit of a tailspin. Every since threat year the threat of relegation has haunted the club. I first smelt it the night Rapid Vienna beat us when Kevin Mac was in charge. I can't describe it any better than that.
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I can't help but feel that if the managers were swapped there would have been no doubt about the result. Just a hunch, but it looked to me like one of those games where their tactics were better than ours, our players were better than theirs, so the game ended equal.
Their tactics were to rely on us to miss numerous chances?
Oh no, their tactics were to control the midfield which they did first half, in spite of what we learned second half - that their players are rubbish.
Think the OGS myth is being deconstructed this season Monty. The Man Utd love-in has hidden the fact that his time at Cardiff has been terrible so far. To try and stave off relegation by bringing in young ex-Manchester United academy players is probably not the best way to go.
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A frustrating match and the reaction on here reflects that but trying to look at it objectively, it was a good performance. We started brightly but lost our way in the first half. Second half, we got the ball down and played, Delph and Westwood took complete control of the midfield and we put together some great approach play. It's just a shame we couldn't fine a finishing touch, partly because Cardiff's centre halves - particularly Turner defended the box so well and partly because our own forwards look utterly devoid of confidence. Marshall then pulls off the save of the season when we are first to a ball into the box.
Really frustrating not to win but most of the players had a good game. Baker was occasionally clumsy but generally solid. Vlaar has become one of the best centre halves in the league and as we all know is absolutely crucial. Bacuna had some poor moments interspersed with some great ones. Delph is truly a great footballer with exceptional touch and he was matched by Westwood in the second half. Albrighton looks positive and much more like the player who first burst on to the scene, although he was breathing through his arse towards the end. Benteke and Gabby won us so many games last season by being incredibly efficient in front of goal, how typical that both looked out of sorts in the penalty area on the same day, in a game that was there for the taking. Gabby is usually a good instinctive finisher so I am stunned he ballsed up that change by not taking it first time. Bizarre.
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I can't help but feel that if the managers were swapped there would have been no doubt about the result. Just a hunch, but it looked to me like one of those games where their tactics were better than ours, our players were better than theirs, so the game ended equal.
Their tactics were to rely on us to miss numerous chances?
Oh no, their tactics were to control the midfield which they did first half, in spite of what we learned second half - that their players are rubbish.
Think the OGS myth is being deconstructed this season Monty. The Man Utd love-in has hidden the fact that his time at Cardiff has been terrible so far. To try and stave off relegation by bringing in young ex-Manchester United academy players is probably not the best way to go.
His transfer dealings have been terrible to the point of corrupt, but his tactics tonight were pretty good.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
It's not just about relegation. I don't think we'll be relegated, but since when did we define ourselves on how awful other teams are? It's not acceptable for Aston Villa to say 'we're alright because a few other teams are worse'. It's pathetic, we should aspire to a bit more than that.
It's not even true.
West Ham were firmly in the bottom three. Sunderland are in 18th place tonight, have a game in hand on us, and are four points behind us.
I don't have any truck with the "we're doomed" faction, but you can say it's not about points all you like - it quite clearly is. When the gap between you and the relegation places is four points, you're talking about a gap which can be closed - mathematically - inside two rounds of fixtures.
We've won 2 of our last 11 games. If you think that run of form, combined with the table as it is at the moment, requires a significant turn of events for us to find us down there, in it, then you've got balls of steel.
Even if you insist that it'd require an amazing turn of events for us to find ourselves in the relegation places, what about the concept that we should have ambition beyond fighting relegation every year?
We spent all of last season doing that. Aren't we supposed to be improving?
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
My point is though, if a club can string a couple of wins together they can shoot up the league. It's happened with West Ham who are now above us. It could happen with other teams below us, that's why we're not comfortably mid-table.
We can't win games and it's a massive problem.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
They just played 2 poor sides. So did we.
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Should have won it easily, especially looking at Gabby's delayed effort and Bacuna going through plus their keeper having the game of his life... 2 points dropped but better than a loss.
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It's not so much rampant depression. It's that you come through games and you look at West Ham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Norwich and think well we should be getting at least 7 points there. Now in order to do that we need to win the next two games. Our performance against West Ham and our first half here are nowhere near acceptable. In the second half at least we appeared to realise we need to pass the ball, but how many times until Lambert actually learns that's the way for us to succeed?
I don't think it's Lambert telling them to play crap, I just think the players aren't very good. But we should have enough to stay up and then he needs to buy some decent players in the Summer.
That's what I thought last year and look what he bought.
I think most of them are capable, we've seen that from them a number of times. It's just consistency, and I wonder if confidence plays a big part?
So if it's not the players is it the manager?
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Oh and I've love Ben Turner as competition for Vlaar and Okore, he was exceptional and his positioning was brilliant.
Probably a game in a million?
If he were that good every week, they wouldn't be in the shit they are in.
As possibly mentioned already,but I'm half way through the replies.He's one of the sullen,stinking unwashed heathens.
I thought we deserved all 3 points tonight.For the first time ever I was subjected to BT's "analysis",but I thought they slightly shaded,as you'd expect being at home,the first half,with a very good Villa controlled second half.They hardly got out of their half for the final 45.
Vlaar was imperious throughout,Gabby doesn't appear totally sharp,but you know he'll win us a big game at some point before the end of the season.Whatever the coaching team/Lambert tweaked at half time certainly gave us the initiative and control of the second.
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4 points above the relegation zone. Just 4 points. How can we be possibly be comfortable in mid-table.
It's gonna be a nervy last 12 or so games.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
It's not just about relegation. I don't think we'll be relegated, but since when did we define ourselves on how awful other teams are? It's not acceptable for Aston Villa to say 'we're alright because a few other teams are worse'. It's pathetic, we should aspire to a bit more than that.
It's not even true.
West Ham were firmly in the bottom three. Sunderland are in 18th place tonight, have a game in hand on us, and are four points behind us.
I don't have any truck with the "we're doomed" faction, but you can say it's not about points all you like - it quite clearly is. When the gap between you and the relegation places is four points, you're talking about a gap which can be closed - mathematically - inside two rounds of fixtures.
We've won 2 of our last 11 games. If you think that run of form, combined with the table as it is at the moment, requires a significant turn of events for us to find us down there, in it, then you've got balls of steel.
Even if you insist that it'd require an amazing turn of events for us to find ourselves in the relegation places, what about the concept that we should have ambition beyond fighting relegation every year?
We spent all of last season doing that. Aren't we supposed to be improving?
Completely agree and what's even more ridiculous is that our board/manager thought it was ok not to address our central defensive and creative issue in January. We're 11th but it's completely irrelevant when you look at the points difference between 11th-18th. Do Villa look like winning two on the bounce?
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
My point is though, if a club can string a couple of wins together they can shoot up the league. It's happened with West Ham who are now above us. It could happen with other teams below us, that's why we're not comfortably mid-table.
We can't win games and it's a massive problem.
But one team doing it is one thing. Seven doing it is a another matter entirely.
We're not safe, of course we're not. I'm also not happy that our 'ambition' for this season is to stay up. But we have to be realistic about where we're coming from and the time it takes to get to where we want to be. You simply can't rebuild a side whilst reducing the wage bill and expect to go from relegation fodder to challenging for Europe in a season.
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Oh and another one, will someone please tell our players that when they get in the box, attack the f&%$ing ball. Don't wait for it to come to you, any half decent centre half will nick the ball off you.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
My point is though, if a club can string a couple of wins together they can shoot up the league. It's happened with West Ham who are now above us. It could happen with other teams below us, that's why we're not comfortably mid-table.
We can't win games and it's a massive problem.
But one team doing it is one thing. Seven doing it is a another matter entirely.
We're not safe, of course we're not. I'm also not happy that our 'ambition' for this season is to stay up. But we have to be realistic about where we're coming from and the time it takes to get to where we want to be. You simply can't rebuild a side whilst reducing the wage bill and expect to go from relegation fodder to challenging for Europe in a season.
There should be a big gap between ambitions of qualifying for Europe and staying up and at the minute we don't appear to have progressed much beyond trying to stay up.
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We needed the win tonight. I think that was our most winnable fixture left.
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Oh and another one, will someone please tell our players that when they get in the box, attack the f&%$ing ball. Don't wait for it to come to you, any half decent centre half will nick the ball off you.
Correct - as I said earlier , Benteke jibbed every single challenge. A heartless display and he should have been hauled off.
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Oh and another one, will someone please tell our players that when they get in the box, attack the f&%$ing ball. Don't wait for it to come to you, any half decent centre half will nick the ball off you.
Correct - as I said earlier , Benteke jibbed every single challenge. A heartless display and he should have been hauled off.
And when Lambert replaced him with Holt you'd have been fully approving.
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I'd have had him off for Wiemann earlier in the game .
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Oh and another one, will someone please tell our players that when they get in the box, attack the f&%$ing ball. Don't wait for it to come to you, any half decent centre half will nick the ball off you.
Correct - as I said earlier , Benteke jibbed every single challenge. A heartless display and he should have been hauled off.
I am sure that Lambert would have liked to replace him with Holt and thought he would do so on 85 mins.
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A frustrating match and the reaction on here reflects that but trying to look at it objectively, it was a good performance. We started brightly but lost our way in the first half. Second half, we got the ball down and played, Delph and Westwood took complete control of the midfield and we put together some great approach play. It's just a shame we couldn't fine a finishing touch, partly because Cardiff's centre halves - particularly Turner defended the box so well and partly because our own forwards look utterly devoid of confidence. Marshall then pulls off the save of the season when we are first to a ball into the box.
Really frustrating not to win but most of the players had a good game. Baker was occasionally clumsy but generally solid. Vlaar has become one of the best centre halves in the league and as we all know is absolutely crucial. Bacuna had some poor moments interspersed with some great ones. Delph is truly a great footballer with exceptional touch and he was matched by Westwood in the second half. Albrighton looks positive and much more like the player who first burst on to the scene, although he was breathing through his arse towards the end. Benteke and Gabby won us so many games last season by being incredibly efficient in front of goal, how typical that both looked out of sorts in the penalty area on the same day, in a game that was there for the taking. Gabby is usually a good instinctive finisher so I am stunned he ballsed up that change by not taking it first time. Bizarre.
Would agree with that. Frustration is the overriding emotion for me as well tonight. Plenty of chances to win that game, but it was telling that we didn't get a shot off on a number of occasions. Benteke still looks way off the pace, though his touch to Gabby was sublime.
There is a decent team there somewhere (3 or 4 good purchases would transform that team overnight) and it is annoying that we only see flashes of it from time to time. I'm really beginning to wonder if PL is the main problem and whether he is going into his shell regarding tactics and style of play. Albrighton did pretty well tonight, but his crossing at times was a little off. Why not try him on the left for a short time and let him cut in on his right foot? Why leave Joe Bennett on for so long when it was clear the lad was struggling a bit? As someone said earlier, that picture of Lambert and Culverhouse was pretty telling.
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Benteke hardly looked bothered but he had a few touches in the game which were several rungs up the ladder higher than any of our other players could have dreamed of doing.
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We go from shit to pretty good within the blink of an eye.
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It's one thing wanting Gabby and Benteke hauled off - but for whom? We haven't got anyone better than those 2 so leave them on the pitch. We've got more chance of them creating something than the alternatives on the bench.
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You simply can't rebuild a side whilst reducing the wage bill and expect to go from relegation fodder to challenging for Europe in a season.
Lambert's had the best part of two seasons now and a decent, if not sufficient, amount of money to spend. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect us to be playing more good stuff than we do. And at the very least to be able to turn up and give it the beans for the the full 90 minutes. His inability to get even that out of a squad largely comprised of his own signings has been quite a shock to me.
I've also been shocked that for someone who was touted as being in the vanguard of bright new modern coaches, his tactical acumen has been so poor. As monty points out, the speed with which Lambert resorts to the direct approach when things aren't going well is very disappointing.
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West Ham were in the relegation zone just a week ago, now they're above us in the top half. Anyone who thinks we're comfortably mid-table are living in cloud cuckoo land. We need wins.
We're not comfortable but West Ham have had a fantastic run and we've fallen the grand total of 1 place in the league. People keep talking about how many points away from relegation we are but for us to end up in trouble would mean 7 out of 9 teams below us go on runs like West Ham's.
It's just not going to happen.
My point is though, if a club can string a couple of wins together they can shoot up the league. It's happened with West Ham who are now above us. It could happen with other teams below us, that's why we're not comfortably mid-table.
We can't win games and it's a massive problem.
But one team doing it is one thing. Seven doing it is a another matter entirely.
We're not safe, of course we're not. I'm also not happy that our 'ambition' for this season is to stay up. But we have to be realistic about where we're coming from and the time it takes to get to where we want to be. You simply can't rebuild a side whilst reducing the wage bill and expect to go from relegation fodder to challenging for Europe in a season.
Indeed.
But you can go from fighting relegation to not fighting relegation.
How many of us really think we're not going to find ourselves fighting relegation this season? Honestly?
I also think there's a widely held view - which is correct - that in terms of the quality of football, he hasn't only failed to move us on this season, we've gone backwards.
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Well we're 10th favorites to go down on Oddschecker at 12-1, we were 10's before the game. The bookies are always right aren't they? Please say yes!
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
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You simply can't rebuild a side whilst reducing the wage bill and expect to go from relegation fodder to challenging for Europe in a season.
Lambert's had the best part of two seasons now and a decent, if not sufficient, amount of money to spend. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect us to be playing more than good stuff than we do. And at the very least to be able to turn up and give it the beans for the the full 90 minutes. His inability to get even that out of a squad largely comprised of his own signings has been quite a shock to me.
I've also been shocked that for someone who was touted as being in the vanguard of bright new modern coaches, his tactical acumen has been so poor. As monty points out, the speed with which Lambert resorts to the direct approach when things aren't going well is very disappointing.
The fact that he doesn't trust the majority of those signings to be anywhere near the starting XI speaks volumes really.
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I hate the Internet.
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We will stay up. But we will still lose more than we win before the end of the season.
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I hate the Internet.
Turn it off, then. It's not going to go away.
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Not that the first half was boring, but I was reduced to wondering when was the last time that 70% of our starting outfield players had surnames beginning with the first two letters of the alphabet.
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We go from shit to pretty good within the blink of an eye.
We really do. I've seen some appalling Villa sides in my lifetime and some terrific ones, but I can't ever remember such a schizophrenic one. We can be brilliant, inspired, scintillating, kamikaze, ridiculous, insipid and pathetic, and quite often manage the whole lot in the same game. It's truly baffling. I genuinely wonder if Lambert is as baffled as me; surely it's beyond any human being to plan such erratic form.
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Missed the first half...surprised to read that Cardiff were dominant and we barely threatened as from the 50th minute onwards we completely dominated and should've won. Opportunity missed.
Cardiff are probably the worst team I've seen this season, certainly at VP they were. No chance they'll finish above us and think they're heading straight back down.
Marshall, top keeper. Fair play.
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Marshall, top keeper. Fair play.
Turner for them was excellent, too.
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.
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Yeah he was, a nose aswell who's also play for Coventry so no surprised he was extra motivated for this one.
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We go from shit to pretty good within the blink of an eye.
We really do. I've seen some appalling Villa sides in my lifetime and some terrific ones, but I can't ever remember such a schizophrenic one. We can be brilliant, inspired, scintillating, kamikaze, ridiculous, insipid and pathetic, and quite often manage the whole lot in the same game. It's truly baffling. I genuinely wonder if Lambert is as baffled as me; surely it's beyond any human being to plan such erratic form.
And this is what bloody well annoys me the most. I could handle being consistently shite - it's happened plenty of times before. But the glimpses that there's a team in there are what is driving me insane.
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.
You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.
Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.
I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.
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Marshall, top keeper. Fair play.
Turner for them was excellent, too.
Agree with both of you, when their keeper and centre half are their most important performers it tells you a lot about the game. Once we got the measure of Zaha I thought we dominated but a combination of our finishing and decision making plus the two mentioned above denied us the win our efforts deserved.
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two wins in 12 games is it ? that cant carry on , I know that .
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I still think Weimann should have buried that chance at the end. Good save though it was, it was at a good height for him. Weimann should have smashed it in low. Bad miss for me.
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.
You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.
Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.
I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.
West Ham have won 3 in a row. Plus a draw at Chavski. So 10 points out of 12. Without conceding a goal. How many of the clubs below us are going to manage that?
For a side that had won 2 out of 15 league games before Chavski, including 9 defeats, i'd say that was remarkable.
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I fancy us to get something at Newcastle as they're a bit depressed without Cabaye. Won't be more than a draw unless we show more composure infront of goal as can't see us keeping a clean sheet up there.
What I don't like is that increasingly Norwich at home is looking a must win to me...the words "must win" and "home game" don't generally go together as after that we have the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea all within three weeks so we certainly need a win from one of the next two at least to be comfortable.
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Marshall, top keeper. Fair play.
Turner for them was excellent, too.
Agree with both of you, when their keeper and centre half are their most important performers it tells you a lot about the game. Once we got the measure of Zaha I thought we dominated but a combination of our finishing and decision making plus the two mentioned above denied us the win our efforts deserved.
Well, we were much the better team in the second half, but Zaha went off on the hour, so it was helped mostly by him not being there. I thought Cardiff were much the better side the first half, bar the first ten minutes, but we had the chance to take the three points in the second half.
I don't think we deserved the win, really - we had the chance, but didn't take it. We also competed for at most 10 minutes of the first half.
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.
You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.
Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.
I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.
West Ham have won 3 in a row. Plus a draw at Chavski. So 10 points out of 12. Without conceding a goal. How many of the clubs below us are going to manage that?
I don't know, but they've got 13 matches to do it in, and it won't take a 10 points out of 12 run to drag us into it, either.
We need to start winning our own matches. We can't influence anyone else's, so picking up three points for us is crucial. We've won 2 of our last 11, and taken 8 from the last 33 points.
That has got to improve.
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They dominated the first half, we did the second, so the draw is a self-evidently fair result.
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You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
They've won their last 3 and kept clean sheets in their last 4. The only one of those 4 they didn't win was Chelsea away. Given how shit West Ham are I'd say that is remarkable. It certainly won't be repeated by 7 of the teams below us.
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.
You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.
Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.
I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.
Even if you think a number of sides are all going to have a form surge at the same time, mathematics and probability suggest it still won't be enough. So many of the games that the bottom half sides play are going to be against each other and those that aren't are against the sides who have been consistently better so far this season. Which makes the combination of results to make it happen, while not impossible, highly improbable. As an example a team like Cardiff would need to win home games against teams like Aston Villa.
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You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
They've won their last 3 and kept clean sheets in their last 4. The only one of those 4 they didn't win was Chelsea away. Given how shit West Ham are I'd say that is remarkable. It certainly won't be repeated by 7 of the teams below us.
For a side that had won 2 out of 15 league games before Chavski, including 9 defeats, i'd say that was remarkable. And the odds of 7 other clubs doing it are slim. 2 or 3 of them may not manage that between now and the end of the season, never mind consecutive games.
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.
You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.
Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.
I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.
Even if you think a number of sides are all going to have a form surge at the same time, mathematics and probability suggest it still won't be enough. So many of the games that the bottom half sides play are going to be against each other and those that aren't are against the sides who have been consistently better so far this season. Which makes the combination of results to make it happen, while not impossible, highly improbable. As an example a team like Cardiff would need to win home games against teams like Aston Villa.
i don't think a number of sides are going to have a form surge at the same time, I didn't say that.
I pointed out that the gap in points is so small, that it really isn't going to take very much for things to change considerably.
Even if you can get past the concern that we'd ideally not be having these concerns for another season in the first place, it's a bit worrying how piss poor our current form is, and how tight the gaps are.
Hositing the white flag and declaring us to be doomed is nuts, but so - in my opinion - is writing off the possibility of getting dragged into it at this point, especially when our form is so poor.
We need to win a few games.
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Cardiff are a dreadful team, not just generally but home and away v us they've been dreadful, there's no chance they'll finish above us imo. Fulham are too far behind imo so there's two teams and I'm sure one of the number below us won't catch us up, I'm thinking Norwich as long as they don't beat us as their last four league games are horrendous.
I think that's going to be the bottom three Norwich, Cardiff and Fulham.
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I reckon three more wins will be enough.
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I would agree as obviously we'll draw a game or two so that would be pretty much 40 points.
I reckon they'll come Norwich and Fulham (YES HOME WINS!!!! (Gets the party hat out) and fancy us to nick the game at Swansea on the break.
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Cardiff are a dreadful team, not just generally but home and away v us they've been dreadful, there's no chance they'll finish above us imo. Fulham are too far behind imo so there's two teams and I'm sure one of the number below us won't catch us up, I'm thinking Norwich as long as they don't beat us as their last four league games are horrendous.
I think that's going to be the bottom three Norwich, Cardiff and Fulham.
I agree. Norwich look woeful. 1 win in 11. Three months since they scored more than 1 goal in a league game.
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I would agree as obviously we'll draw a game or two so that would be pretty much 40 points.
I reckon they'll come Norwich and Fulham (YES HOME WINS!!!! (Gets the party hat out) and fancy us to nick the game at Swansea on the break.
I'd go along with that. Those are the games I'd fancy most. I don't see us winning more than another 4 this season, so we'll probably end up on something similar to last season points wise. That'll be more than enough to survive. For Lambert to keep his job? In Randy's book, yes.
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I'll also chuck the Bitters into the mix. 8 wins in their last 45 league games. Jammed a point tonight with their only shot on target.
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We were the better team over all and should have won that based on the second half performance. Its a bit worrying that our forwards have become goal shy.
We are in a relegation fight and we keep using up the so called winnable games.
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I'll also chuck the Bitters into the mix. 8 wins in their last 45 league games. Jammed a point tonight with their only shot on target.
For no reason other than to fuck us off, they'll pick up points when they have no right to.
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At least it was entertaining, unlike several matches at VP this season. Vlaar and Delph were very good. Some crunching tackles from the boy Baker to keep them honest.
The crowd reaction shot of the incredulous guy with the Litttle Richard hair when Gabby missed that sitter was solid gold, and I hope it appears on youtube.
"What the fuck was that?"
And Good Golly Miss Molly, he had a point.
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I hate the Internet.
Turn it off, then. It's not going to go away.
No shit Sherlock.
Perhaps I should have said that I hate what the Internet does to some people.
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Another of the so called easy winnable games gone ,it's getting scary
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We go from shit to pretty good within the blink of an eye.
We really do. I've seen some appalling Villa sides in my lifetime and some terrific ones, but I can't ever remember such a schizophrenic one. We can be brilliant, inspired, scintillating, kamikaze, ridiculous, insipid and pathetic, and quite often manage the whole lot in the same game. It's truly baffling. I genuinely wonder if Lambert is as baffled as me; surely it's beyond any human being to plan such erratic form.
And this is what bloody well annoys me the most. I could handle being consistently shite - it's happened plenty of times before. But the glimpses that there's a team in there are what is driving me insane.
It is infuriating. The best I can moot as an explanation is that it's the result of relative inexperience. Not one of these players has any experience of being part of a settled and steady Premier League squad. From the start of last season it's been a case of having to get up to speed and learn on the job, and consequently it's always, always been a struggle. Such was the size of the rebuilding job there has never really been a spell in Lambert's tenure that we've not been in a battle. We've rarely put together a long unbeaten run - let alone a run of wins - and I think we're seeing is what happens when a bunch of inexperienced players are constantly playing on the edge of their nerves. When it clicks and we get it down and play, you can see the belief surge through the team; conversely, when things don't come off the whole team panics and quickly starts playing like a Carlton Palmer tribute XI.
A heap more composure would make a huge difference, but that takes confidence - something that has been fragile for a long time now. I wonder how much Lambert can really do about that; he can hardly talk them up any more in public, so at some point the players have to take some responsibility, relax, and play the game that they are capable of. As I said, I wonder if he's as exasperated as me.
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Another of the so called easy winnable games gone ,it's getting scary
I don't think many people on the pre-match thread saw this as an easy winnable game. A fair few insisted we'd lose.
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Well we're 10th favorites to go down on Oddschecker at 12-1, we were 10's before the game. The bookies are always right aren't they? Please say yes!
They are right. The average armchair bookie's pundit hasn't a clue how bad we are. They saw us v Arse, Cit-eh, Chelski and 'The Mighty Reds YNWA'.
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Well we're 10th favorites to go down on Oddschecker at 12-1, we were 10's before the game. The bookies are always right aren't they? Please say yes!
They are right. The average armchair bookie's pundit hasn't a clue how bad we are. They saw us v Arse, Cit-eh, Chelski and 'The Mighty Reds YNWA'.
So none of them saw any of our other games?
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Well we're 10th favorites to go down on Oddschecker at 12-1, we were 10's before the game. The bookies are always right aren't they? Please say yes!
They are right. The average armchair bookie's pundit hasn't a clue how bad we are. They saw us v Arse, Cit-eh, Chelski and 'The Mighty Reds YNWA'.
And why should they know? After all, it's only their job.
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Cardiff are a dreadful team, not just generally but home and away v us they've been dreadful, there's no chance they'll finish above us imo. Fulham are too far behind imo so there's two teams and I'm sure one of the number below us won't catch us up, I'm thinking Norwich as long as they don't beat us as their last four league games are horrendous.
I think that's going to be the bottom three Norwich, Cardiff and Fulham.
I agree. Norwich look woeful. 1 win in 11. Three months since they scored more than 1 goal in a league game.
They'll sack thingy and get Malky Mackay and escape by one point
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Perhaps I should have said that I hate what the Internet does to some people.
Come on man, stop beating around the bush - say what's on your mind.
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Plus points:
-Vast improvement on Saturday.
-incisive passing that opened up the opposition more than once.
So rare to see that from a Villa team.
Minus points:
-Cardiff were on a bad run, clearly poor and I reckon the vast majority of sides in the top flight would have cashed in on their shiteness in the second half.
They will most likely go down, have been hammered by some fairly average sides recently and we still couldn't beat them.
I don't wish to take away from our second half performance at all, but I still can't quite make out whether we were quite good in that period or whether Cardiff were truly dreadful. We have rarely had that amount of chances and possession against any side in the league all season, so I'd have to sway for the latter.
One thing I will say is that if we repeat that second half showing in more performances (particularly at home) between now and May, Lambert should have no concerns about holding on to his job.
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We need three more wins, maybe four out of the remaining 12 games.
Easy, right?
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We need three more wins, maybe four out of the remaining 12 games.
Easy, right?
3 wins 3 draws should be enough. If we can't get at least that we don't deserve to stay up.
I bet we will play worse than we did tonight and win at least once more this season.
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Another of the so called easy winnable games gone ,it's getting scary
An easy winnable game which the majority of our supporters thought we wouldn't win.
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shit as this might be to admit but we need to win the 11 team Barclays PL Division 2. Currently lying in second place to a resurgent West Ham. Bottom 3 teams go down.
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Cardiff are a dreadful team, not just generally but home and away v us they've been dreadful, there's no chance they'll finish above us imo. Fulham are too far behind imo so there's two teams and I'm sure one of the number below us won't catch us up, I'm thinking Norwich as long as they don't beat us as their last four league games are horrendous.
I think that's going to be the bottom three Norwich, Cardiff and Fulham.
I agree. Norwich look woeful. 1 win in 11. Three months since they scored more than 1 goal in a league game.
They looked boss against Citeh at the weekend. And by all accounts, had by far the better chances at West Ham tonight before losing to a set-piece and a breakaway. Annoying that West Ham's three 2-0 wins in a row have come from parts of the game where they built up momentum and scored two quick goals.
A couple of observations on players tonight - can anyone confirm how many times Joe Bennett touched the ball? I know we used the right flank a lot more but even when it was on the left, you could tell he hadn't played in a long time as there were a couple of times where he mis-read Gabby's intentions.
Wonderful to see Albrighton so involved and looking to do something positive every time he got the ball. I do think that alternating wings during games like Young used to do for us might make him even more dangerous as defenders know he'll always look to deliver with his right foot when he's trying his tricks. He's the only player that gets me excited at the moment.
Benteke's lay-offs were woeful for most of the game and then suddenly he delivered a peach of a back-flick to Gabby. The common criticism of him invariably messing-up when having to think about what to do probably valid as he should have just walloped it first time.
I don't think Weimann could have done much more with his chance at the death. The ball came very quickly at him, through a defender and connecting with the outside of his boot as best as possible was the right thing to do. Just a shame it didn't spin a little away from Marshall. It was great reflexes but it was also quite central and I'd have expected most decent goalies to save it.
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All those ads on tele inviting us to "Visit Wales"... and when I do I find adverts everywhere telling me to "Visit Malaysia"!
Horrible ground, much preferred Ninian Park.
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Do people agree Westwood was very good second half. He never gets the credit when he plays well
He was poor first half but that's because the team was set up to be as unhelpful to him ad Delph as possible
When he plays well the team plays well. In the first half he got no help from the team, in the second half they apparently tried a bit and, bo and lehold, Westwood gets better.
Or to put it differently, when the team dominate possession and push high as we did in the second-half he looks decent. When the team are not doing this, which is nearly always, he contributes ziltch.
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I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?
We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.
You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".
This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.
Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.
I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.
West Ham have won 3 in a row. Plus a draw at Chavski. So 10 points out of 12. Without conceding a goal. How many of the clubs below us are going to manage that?
For a side that had won 2 out of 15 league games before Chavski, including 9 defeats, i'd say that was remarkable.
Yes, but all seven don't need to get that many points to go ahead of us. Five of them are two points or less behind us, three of them with games in hand. I think we'll be alright but I think it'll be nip and tuck and it takes the fun out of supporting the team when the only pleasure is avoiding a footballing cataclysm.
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Another of the so called easy winnable games gone ,it's getting scary
An easy winnable game which the majority of our supporters thought we wouldn't win.
Exactly right, Dave. Playing the bottom team is as near to an easy winnable match as you can get. However, our supporters, knowing their team, rightly didn't think we'd win it. And I speak as an idiot who thought we would.
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A poor return over the 2 games - we have a few tough games ahead and are 4 points off the relegation zone with 5 teams below us having a game in hand - don't be fooled by 11th place - we are right in this battle to avoid relegation.
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Another of the so called easy winnable games gone ,it's getting scary
An easy winnable game which the majority of our supporters thought we wouldn't win.
Exactly right, Dave. Playing the bottom team is as near to an easy winnable match as you can get. However, our supporters, knowing their team, rightly didn't think we'd win it. And I speak as an idiot who thought we would.
I understand the point you're making but Cardiff aren't the bottom team.
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A poor return over the 2 games - we have a few tough games ahead and are 4 points off the relegation zone with 5 teams below us having a game in hand - don't be fooled by 11th place - we are right in this battle to avoid relegation.
You have brought something new to the debate here. I never thought about this and now I am scared.
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I still think Weimann should have buried that chance at the end. Good save though it was, it was at a good height for him. Weimann should have smashed it in low. Bad miss for me.
100% agree. He shouldn't have given him a chance to save it. Why was he flicking it with the outside of the boot? On reflection a worse miss than Gabby's. Both are still haunting me this morning!
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A poor return over the 2 games - we have a few tough games ahead and are 4 points off the relegation zone with 5 teams below us having a game in hand - don't be fooled by 11th place - we are right in this battle to avoid relegation.
You have brought something new to the debate here. I never thought about this and now I am scared.
Sunderland are at Citeh, Palace are at Everton, Fulham have got Liverpool, Stoke and Swansea play each other so both can't overtake us. We will be 13th at the worst tonight.
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Can't expect to win any game if you only turn up for half of it. A point is great away from home if you are winning a fair proportion of your home games. Crap result considering where Cardiff are and we're right in the shit. We don't look like the same team that went on that great run last season either. Here's hoping something clicks soon.
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I still think Weimann should have buried that chance at the end. Good save though it was, it was at a good height for him. Weimann should have smashed it in low. Bad miss for me.
100% agree. He shouldn't have given him a chance to save it. Why was he flicking it with the outside of the boot? On reflection a worse miss than Gabby's. Both are still haunting me this morning!
Gabby's was ten times worse, his prevarication to put it on his weaker foot took some doing
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As much as I want to like him, I think we would have beaten Cardiff last night if Albrighton hadn't been playing.
I know he is full of industry and motivation but I think the majority of the time he scuffs or balloons his shots and also bodges his crosses.
Perhaps some will say he's getting up to speed but I just don't think he is very good.
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I thought we were very good second half but as has already been mentioned, away draws are great IF backed up by home wins. I think the three games we want to go our way tonight will do so but forget our position in the table, as it stands with the points the bottom eleven teams have every one of those teams is in a relegation battle at the moment.
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Missed the first 15minutes last night the traffic was a nightmare in Cardiff. Thought we were terrible from then until half time. Second half was much improved bit disappointed in how many good chances we didn't score from,but at least we didn't loose. Be nice to beat newcastle and Norwich and that would see us safe I think,can't see it happening though. When did we last win 2 league games on the spin? Reading and qpr??
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As much as I want to like him, I think we would have beaten Cardiff last night if Albrighton hadn't been playing.
I know he is full of industry and motivation but I think the majority of the time he scuffs or balloons his shots and also bodges his crosses.
Perhaps some will say he's getting up to speed but I just don't think he is very good.
If that's the case then it's confirmation I know absolutely nothing about football. I suspected that was the case anyway but I thought he had a great game last night. You'll be telling me Agbonlahor should be going to Brazil next.
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I still think Weimann should have buried that chance at the end. Good save though it was, it was at a good height for him. Weimann should have smashed it in low. Bad miss for me.
100% agree. He shouldn't have given him a chance to save it. Why was he flicking it with the outside of the boot? On reflection a worse miss than Gabby's. Both are still haunting me this morning!
Gabby's was ten times worse, his prevarication to put it on his weaker foot took some doing
Yes it was shocking too. That is the one that led me to scream "you f***ing idiot" at the screen so perhaps I'm being harsh on Andi.
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As much as I want to like him, I think we would have beaten Cardiff last night if Albrighton hadn't been playing.
I know he is full of industry and motivation but I think the majority of the time he scuffs or balloons his shots and also bodges his crosses.
Perhaps some will say he's getting up to speed but I just don't think he is very good.
If that's the case then it's confirmation I know absolutely nothing about football. I suspected that was the case anyway but I thought he had a great game last night. You'll be telling me Agbonlahor should be going to Brazil next.
I thought overall he was OK but there was a spell in the second half when every cross he played was the wrong one and it looked like it was getting to him.
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I don't wish to take away from our second half performance at all, but I still can't quite make out whether we were quite good in that period or whether Cardiff were truly dreadful. We have rarely had that amount of chances and possession against any side in the league all season, so I'd have to sway for the latter.
I'd say it was a combination of the two. Once Cardiff lost Zaha they never really looked threatening again and without a massive performance from Turner and their keeper we might just have stolen it. Gabby and Weimann really should have taken their chances, I just hope it doesn't come back to haunt us.
One thing I will say is that if we repeat that second half showing in more performances (particularly at home) between now and May, Lambert should have no concerns about holding on to his job.
Whilst there's no doubt we greatly improved in the 2nd half it was the only thing we could do, being so poor in the first. It wasn't a fantastic second half performance though, we seemed to be uncomfortable playing the ball around at times, like it was something foreign to us and I think the major factor was confidence. Lambert has wasted the best part of this season by failing to get the team passing and moving, doing the basics right and it was all there to see despite the amount of the ball we had. There's only so many times we can "go again" and for me the most worrying aspect of last night was a team playing with such little confidence.
We desperately need a win, preferably at Villa Park, not only for the suffering fans nor the fact we now need to seriously look over our shoulder but more for the players who seem for the first time this season to have nothing mentally left to give.
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A point is all I thought we would get and its another limp towards safety, with Man City and Chelsea to follow I feel we really need 4 points from Newcastle and Norwich but will probably end up with 1 or 2 which will make it extremely tense on here, I think we will just about survive, not much fun is it?
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I thought we were very good second half but as has already been mentioned, away draws are great IF backed up by home wins. I think the three games we want to go our way tonight will do so but forget our position in the table, as it stands with the points the bottom eleven teams have every one of those teams is in a relegation battle at the moment.
Our table position is almost irrelevant, it's the points that matter and we haven't got enough.
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I thought we were very good second half but as has already been mentioned, away draws are great IF backed up by home wins. I think the three games we want to go our way tonight will do so but forget our position in the table, as it stands with the points the bottom eleven teams have every one of those teams is in a relegation battle at the moment.
Our table position is almost irrelevant, it's the points that matter and we haven't got enough.
Exactly , we are in poor form and many of those below us are in better form - 2 wins in our last 12 games many of which have been against sides below us in the table - we now have a tough run of games on the horizon and whereas last season things clicked and we found a good system that suited is this time around we have several players well below their best form - I'm not saying we will go down but I'm not saying we are safe either - it will be a nervous few weeks ahead.
We missed great chances last night but rode our luck in the first half - Weimann should have side footed the last minute shot on the floor and the keeper would have stood no chance rather than flick it upwards - gabby was very poor throughout .
We cannot persist in playing well for half a game - we need to be bang at it for 90 minutes.
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Good lord I am tired. Dropping somebody off in Halesowen last night, after it taking an age to get out of Cardiff, only for J2-1 of the M5 being shut and J10-11 of the M6 being shut with "long delays" between J8-10. Ergh.
I thought we battered them second half and missed chances that were actually more difficult to spurn rather than put away. The first half was full of fundamental errors, but we took complete control in the second half. One goal would have done it, but crikey, it should have been 2 or 3.
We won't play a poorer side all season.
Cardiff are doomed.
The new ground is much better than their old one, although it looked exactly like Readings.
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I thought we played better in the second half than Cardiff did in the first half,
Not that it matters
I just don't understand the massive difference of performance levels and style of play sometimes even in the same game
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What i don't understand is why Gabby a natural right footed player with an open goal at his mercy decides to try and drag the ball onto his left weaker foot and Weimann who simply has to prod the ball down and it's a goal hits it with the outside of his foot trying to send the goalkeeper the wrong way, brilliant save but he should never have got near it.
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I thought we were very good second half but as has already been mentioned, away draws are great IF backed up by home wins. I think the three games we want to go our way tonight will do so but forget our position in the table, as it stands with the points the bottom eleven teams have every one of those teams is in a relegation battle at the moment.
Our table position is almost irrelevant, it's the points that matter and we haven't got enough.
We have more points than 9 other teams currently, hence our league position. I thought that was how it worked?
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What i don't understand is why Gabby a natural right footed player with an open goal at his mercy decides to try and drag the ball onto his left weaker foot and Weimann who simply has to prod the ball down and it's a goal hits it with the outside of his foot trying to send the goalkeeper the wrong way, brilliant save but he should never have got near it.
In fairness to Weimann he wouldn't have seen or expected it as their right back missed it at the last minute.
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What i don't understand is why Gabby a natural right footed player with an open goal at his mercy decides to try and drag the ball onto his left weaker foot and Weimann who simply has to prod the ball down and it's a goal hits it with the outside of his foot trying to send the goalkeeper the wrong way, brilliant save but he should never have got near it.
My thought exactly, Robbo. No idea what Gabby was thinking but Weimann obviously tried to be too fancy rather than opt for the tap in, sending the ball at an ideal height for Marshall.
What I also don't understand is what the hell is the purpose of having Benteke if we don't play to his strengths. Far too often he's dropping deep or going wide when he should be getting himself in the box. The service to him is pathetic and I don't recall him managing a shot on target last night. What a waste of talent.
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What i don't understand is why Gabby a natural right footed player with an open goal at his mercy decides to try and drag the ball onto his left weaker foot and Weimann who simply has to prod the ball down and it's a goal hits it with the outside of his foot trying to send the goalkeeper the wrong way, brilliant save but he should never have got near it.
In fairness to Weimann he wouldn't have seen or expected it as their right back missed it at the last minute.
He moved into position for the cross - side foot it on and the keeper has no chance .
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Havent seen either of our chances. Anybody offer help?
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Havent seen either of our chances. Anybody offer help?
Gabby had the goal at his mercy following a lovely flick from the Beast. It seemed a certain goal. He dallied so long trying to get it on his left foot or chip the keeper or I don't know what the hell he was trying and their defender tackled him. In injury time the ball came to Weimann in the six yard box. Their keeper pulls off a blinding save and we're ruing our luck. Then when you see the replay you realise he should have just hit the ball hard in a straight line along the ground and he would have scored but instead he trys to flick it with the outside of his boot the opposite direction. Or did you mean videos?
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As much as I want to like him, I think we would have beaten Cardiff last night if Albrighton hadn't been playing.
I know he is full of industry and motivation but I think the majority of the time he scuffs or balloons his shots and also bodges his crosses.
Perhaps some will say he's getting up to speed but I just don't think he is very good.
If that's the case then it's confirmation I know absolutely nothing about football. I suspected that was the case anyway but I thought he had a great game last night. You'll be telling me Agbonlahor should be going to Brazil next.
Perhaps not very good was too strong. Hey if Rickie Lambert can go to Brazil, why not Gabby!
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As much as I want to like him, I think we would have beaten Cardiff last night if Albrighton hadn't been playing.
I know he is full of industry and motivation but I think the majority of the time he scuffs or balloons his shots and also bodges his crosses.
Perhaps some will say he's getting up to speed but I just don't think he is very good.
If that's the case then it's confirmation I know absolutely nothing about football. I suspected that was the case anyway but I thought he had a great game last night. You'll be telling me Agbonlahor should be going to Brazil next.
Perhaps not very good was too strong. Hey if Rickie Lambert can go to Brazil, why not Gabby!
When it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net, I'd prefer the Bristol Rovers legend that is Rickie Lambert.
However, as an impact sub, I'd take Gabby.
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Havent seen either of our chances. Anybody offer help?
Gabby had the goal at his mercy following a lovely flick from the Beast. It seemed a certain goal. He dallied so long trying to get it on his left foot or chip the keeper or I don't know what the hell he was trying and their defender tackled him. In injury time the ball came to Weimann in the six yard box. Their keeper pulls off a blinding save and we're ruing our luck. Then when you see the replay you realise he should have just hit the ball hard in a straight line along the ground and he would have scored but instead he trys to flick it with the outside of his boot the opposite direction. Or did you mean videos?
Thanks for that description Meanwood. Hopefully a video will turn up in time.
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At least it was entertaining, unlike several matches at VP this season. Vlaar and Delph were very good. Some crunching tackles from the boy Baker to keep them honest.
The crowd reaction shot of the incredulous guy with the Litttle Richard hair when Gabby missed that sitter was solid gold, and I hope it appears on youtube.
"What the fuck was that?"
And Good Golly Miss Molly, he had a point.
(http://ballsdot.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/kidreaction.gif)
(http://ballsdot.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/kidreaction.gif)
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My pal is a big cheese at BT Sport. That was only their second Villa match, after the 1-0 win at Norwich. He's just texted me saying "Another scintillating display from the Villa. We really must cover them more often. Ha!" I replied that we deserve pity for enduring that in most matches.
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I've seen the highlights and read this thread, but could someone who watched the full game tell me something about the tactics/formations please?
4-4-2 with Bennett in left midfield? How did he get on? Did we play wider than we normally do? Was there a change in formation after half time, or did we just play better because of the ol' hairdryer treatment?
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Havent seen either of our chances. Anybody offer help?
Gabby had the goal at his mercy following a lovely flick from the Beast. It seemed a certain goal. He dallied so long trying to get it on his left foot or chip the keeper or I don't know what the hell he was trying and their defender tackled him. In injury time the ball came to Weimann in the six yard box. Their keeper pulls off a blinding save and we're ruing our luck. Then when you see the replay you realise he should have just hit the ball hard in a straight line along the ground and he would have scored but instead he trys to flick it with the outside of his boot the opposite direction. Or did you mean videos?
Thanks for that description Meanwood. Hopefully a video will turn up in time.
Go to 101greatgoals, they are normally there.
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I've seen the highlights and read this thread, but could someone who watched the full game tell me something about the tactics/formations please?
4-4-2 with Bennett in left midfield? How did he get on? Did we play wider than we normally do? Was there a change in formation after half time, or did we just play better because of the ol' hairdryer treatment?
Correct on the formation & position. Bennett hardly seemed to be involved, although he and Bertrand were clearly told to stop Noone. My sense when watching it was that Cardiff became cautious & stopped doing what they had been doing in the first half, as much as Villa improved slightly on the basics, like passing to a team mate. Mutch and Zaha both being subbed was very helpful, too, as they ran the game in the first half. Albrighton added width and crossing, but Benteke did not make enough effort to get to several decent balls. We ended up basically 424, with the ball, when Weimann replaced Bennett.
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A point is all I thought we would get and its another limp towards safety, with Man City and Chelsea to follow I feel we really need 4 points from Newcastle and Norwich but will probably end up with 1 or 2 which will make it extremely tense on here, I think we will just about survive, not much fun is it?
Not been much fun being a villa fan in a long while. March, April and May last year were probably the most fun we had in about three years.
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A point is all I thought we would get and its another limp towards safety, with Man City and Chelsea to follow I feel we really need 4 points from Newcastle and Norwich but will probably end up with 1 or 2 which will make it extremely tense on here, I think we will just about survive, not much fun is it?
Not been much fun being a villa fan in a long while. March, April and May last year were probably the most fun we had in about three years.
I think the very opposite might be true this year.
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Still predicting our imminent relegation Levico? You might be right one of these years.
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A point is all I thought we would get and its another limp towards safety, with Man City and Chelsea to follow I feel we really need 4 points from Newcastle and Norwich but will probably end up with 1 or 2 which will make it extremely tense on here, I think we will just about survive, not much fun is it?
Not been much fun being a villa fan in a long while. March, April and May last year were probably the most fun we had in about three years.
I dunno, June was pretty good!!
Seriosuly, wins for Everton, Citeh, Spurs, 'The Mighty Reds YNWA' and a draw at Sturke please tonight. Arse and ManU can do what they want!
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Another of the so called easy winnable games gone ,it's getting scary
An easy winnable game which the majority of our supporters thought we wouldn't win.
Exactly right, Dave. Playing the bottom team is as near to an easy winnable match as you can get. However, our supporters, knowing their team, rightly didn't think we'd win it. And I speak as an idiot who thought we would.
I understand the point you're making but Cardiff aren't the bottom team.
They will be
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Still predicting our imminent relegation Levico? You might be right one of these years.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
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Havent seen either of our chances. Anybody offer help?
Gabby had the goal at his mercy following a lovely flick from the Beast. It seemed a certain goal. He dallied so long trying to get it on his left foot or chip the keeper or I don't know what the hell he was trying and their defender tackled him. In injury time the ball came to Weimann in the six yard box. Their keeper pulls off a blinding save and we're ruing our luck. Then when you see the replay you realise he should have just hit the ball hard in a straight line along the ground and he would have scored but instead he trys to flick it with the outside of his boot the opposite direction. Or did you mean videos?
and If Bacuna gives the ball to Benteke there is a also a goal instead he shoots and goes wide . I thought that was a good chance.
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We should have mullered them. We had the chances. Not half chances, but gilt edged, on a plate, insert cliché here chances.
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We should have mullered them. We had the chances. Not half chances, but gilt edged, on a plate, insert cliché here chances.
Before the end of the season there's going to be a day when all of those go in for us, a la Sunderland at home last season.
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watching the replay, I actually thought the defender had that pass covered. I think Bacuna was entitled to try a shot from there, and that it still had he possibility of Benteke getting on the end of it at the far post or from a rebound. Therefore the better option.
A few moments later, I thought Benteke took a touch and tried to find Gabs in similar circumstances - he too should have just hit it.
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Havent seen either of our chances. Anybody offer help?
Gabby had the goal at his mercy following a lovely flick from the Beast. It seemed a certain goal. He dallied so long trying to get it on his left foot or chip the keeper or I don't know what the hell he was trying and their defender tackled him. In injury time the ball came to Weimann in the six yard box. Their keeper pulls off a blinding save and we're ruing our luck. Then when you see the replay you realise he should have just hit the ball hard in a straight line along the ground and he would have scored but instead he trys to flick it with the outside of his boot the opposite direction. Or did you mean videos?
and If Bacuna gives the ball to Benteke there is a also a goal instead he shoots and goes wide . I thought that was a good chance.
Regarding that one, JP, If Bacuna pulls it back it Joe Bennett has a tap in as he'd made a good run and was free in the box.
There were a lot of 'ifs' last night.
Their centre half was excellent though. He didn't deserve to be on a losing team and the result was fair.
Gutted we couldn't have snatched it though
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I don't really mind players having a shot... it's something we don't do often enough!
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It felt like we were doing everything possible not to score last night.
The Agbonlahor chance annoyed me the most. That flick from Benteke is why clubs will pay big money for him. He's an intelligent player. Agbonlahor, sadly for us, isn't. Just hit it first time FFS.
Two points dropped. Can't wait for this season to be over again.
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I had no idea this was on the tele until the Cardiff fan on my team at work mentioned it.
He said you could tell the difference in quality with how much more fluid we were in attack and in our movement compared to their two banks of four.
Somebody praising our movement? Crikey.
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Save from Weimann (https://vine.co/v/MWQ9dUJL0hm)
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Save from Weimann (https://vine.co/v/MWQ9dUJL0hm)
FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Is what I shouted at the game on seeing this and its what I have been very tempted to shout in the office, having watched it, like the Zapruder film, again and again.
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Save from Weimann (https://vine.co/v/MWQ9dUJL0hm)
FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Is what I shouted at the game on seeing this and its what I have been very tempted to shout in the office, having watched it, like the Zapruder film, again and again.
Looking at it again he did the right thing. The keeper was moving to the near post and would probably have been able to get something on a direct shot. The way he (the keeper) twisted back made it a great save.
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I had no idea this was on the tele until the Cardiff fan on my team at work mentioned it.
He said you could tell the difference in quality with how much more fluid we were in attack and in our movement compared to their two banks of four.
Somebody praising our movement? Crikey.
When they were on top in the first half it was more of a direct physical approach. They got joy from Zaha v Bacuna and we struggled to handle Kenwyn Jones. When we got on top in the 2nd half, it was a bit more measured.
On balance I think we were the better side and may have deserved the 3 points, but it's our own fault we didn't get them through missing chances.
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Save from Weimann (https://vine.co/v/MWQ9dUJL0hm)
FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Is what I shouted at the game on seeing this and its what I have been very tempted to shout in the office, having watched it, like the Zapruder film, again and again.
Looking at it again he did the right thing. The keeper was moving to the near post and would probably have been able to get something on a direct shot. The way he (the keeper) twisted back made it a great save.
You can't really blame our player when the keeper pulls off a save like that.
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Marlon Harewood would have known how to tuck that chance away, with a nice curled number.
I honestly thought it was in. I keep watching the gif. hoping the bastard wont get near it.
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My pal is a big cheese at BT Sport. That was only their second Villa match, after the 1-0 win at Norwich. He's just texted me saying "Another scintillating display from the Villa. We really must cover them more often. Ha!" I replied that we deserve pity for enduring that in most matches.
I thought it was a pretty decent game for a 0-0.
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My pal is a big cheese at BT Sport. That was only their second Villa match, after the 1-0 win at Norwich. He's just texted me saying "Another scintillating display from the Villa. We really must cover them more often. Ha!" I replied that we deserve pity for enduring that in most matches.
I thought it was a pretty decent game for a 0-0.
So did I
I've seen us in much more boring games than that this season.
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My pal is a big cheese at BT Sport. That was only their second Villa match, after the 1-0 win at Norwich. He's just texted me saying "Another scintillating display from the Villa. We really must cover them more often. Ha!" I replied that we deserve pity for enduring that in most matches.
I thought it was a pretty decent game for a 0-0.
So did I
I've seen us in much more boring games than that this season.
Hey, if some Top Four loving gimp at one of the TV paymasters doesn't think we're good fare, then that can only be a good thing.
I am sorry that the wankers at BT found it so boring and that they didn't enjoy our trip to Norwich either. Maybe next time they can fuck off and not bother sticking a game on at Carrow Road at half fucking twelve, as that would be just super.
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Did anyone else see some idiot throw a mannequin head towards the pitch ?
It hit the back of the advertising boards with a hell of a thud.
Hopefully they'll have it on CCTV and can take some action.
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It was also disappointing to hear racist abuse being shouted at Benteke by a Villa fan
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First half, nearly all Cardiff, second half we battered them and Gabby missed a great chance.
Marshall made 2 amazing saves and Ben Turner played like Beckenbauer.
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I don't actually think that Marshall save was that amazing.
He made it look so, though, with that back flip thing.
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It was also disappointing to hear racist abuse being shouted at Benteke by a Villa fan
Really?
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I don't actually think that Marshall save was that amazing.
He made it look so, though, with that back flip thing.
The "back flip thing" was the only way he could've reacted and got to it in time. It was a fantastic save.
The bastard.
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Did anyone else see some idiot throw a mannequin head towards the pitch ?
It hit the back of the advertising boards with a hell of a thud.
Hopefully they'll have it on CCTV and can take some action.
Fuck a duck:
The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/5439604/Aston-Villa-fan-throws-mask-on-pitch-v-Cardiff.html)
The Villan of the piece
By GRAEME BRYCE
Published: 2 hrs ago
ASTON VILLA fans were blamed for showing the ugly side of football at Cardiff last night — after one of them chucked a grotesque mask onto the pitch.
The macabre incident during Villa’s ghoul-ess draw with the Bluebirds spooked a nearby snapper who was nearly hit by the plastic projectile.
To read more of this article sign up for Sun+ today.
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if that save had been made in a world cup/champs league semi or final it would still be talked about for years and years like the Gordon Banks one,
it was that good
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I thought we were very good second half but as has already been mentioned, away draws are great IF backed up by home wins. I think the three games we want to go our way tonight will do so but forget our position in the table, as it stands with the points the bottom eleven teams have every one of those teams is in a relegation battle at the moment.
Our table position is almost irrelevant, it's the points that matter and we haven't got enough.
However teams get relegated based on position in the table but I could be wrong.
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It was also disappointing to hear racist abuse being shouted at Benteke by a Villa fan
Really?
Yep
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I thought we were very good second half but as has already been mentioned, away draws are great IF backed up by home wins. I think the three games we want to go our way tonight will do so but forget our position in the table, as it stands with the points the bottom eleven teams have every one of those teams is in a relegation battle at the moment.
Our table position is almost irrelevant, it's the points that matter and we haven't got enough.
However teams get relegated based on position in the table but I could be wrong.
Not in February they don't affers , the table that really matters is the one after 38 games - any from the bottom 11 could drop down - it will be very tight .
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Did anyone else see some idiot throw a mannequin head towards the pitch ?
It hit the back of the advertising boards with a hell of a thud.
Hopefully they'll have it on CCTV and can take some action.
Fuck a duck:
The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/5439604/Aston-Villa-fan-throws-mask-on-pitch-v-Cardiff.html)
The Villan of the piece
By GRAEME BRYCE
Published: 2 hrs ago
ASTON VILLA fans were blamed for showing the ugly side of football at Cardiff last night — after one of them chucked a grotesque mask onto the pitch.
The macabre incident during Villa’s ghoul-ess draw with the Bluebirds spooked a nearby snapper who was nearly hit by the plastic projectile.
To read more of this article sign up for Sun+ today.
It was definitely a mannequin's head, not a "grotesque mask".
A bloke walked up the steps between 121 and 122 with the head held aloft in full view of the stewards.
A few minutes later it was thrown towards the pitch.
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I don't actually think that Marshall save was that amazing.
He made it look so, though, with that back flip thing.
The "back flip thing" was the only way he could've reacted and got to it in time. It was a fantastic save.
The bastard.
My sentiments entirely..
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Did anyone else see some idiot throw a mannequin head towards the pitch ?
It hit the back of the advertising boards with a hell of a thud.
Hopefully they'll have it on CCTV and can take some action.
Fuck a duck:
The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/5439604/Aston-Villa-fan-throws-mask-on-pitch-v-Cardiff.html)
The Villan of the piece
By GRAEME BRYCE
Published: 2 hrs ago
ASTON VILLA fans were blamed for showing the ugly side of football at Cardiff last night — after one of them chucked a grotesque mask onto the pitch.
The macabre incident during Villa’s ghoul-ess draw with the Bluebirds spooked a nearby snapper who was nearly hit by the plastic projectile.
To read more of this article sign up for Sun+ today.
It was definitely a mannequin's head, not a "grotesque mask".
A bloke walked up the steps between 121 and 122 with the head held aloft in full view of the stewards.
A few minutes later it was thrown towards the pitch.
How bizarre!
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Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
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First half, terrible. Second half mostly excellent going forward. Albrighton, what a plus he could be if he keeps this up. Still mystified how both teams didnt score, seen far worse games than that.
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My pal is a big cheese at BT Sport. That was only their second Villa match, after the 1-0 win at Norwich. He's just texted me saying "Another scintillating display from the Villa. We really must cover them more often. Ha!" I replied that we deserve pity for enduring that in most matches.
I thought it was a pretty decent game for a 0-0.
So did I
I've seen us in much more boring games than that this season.
Hey, if some Top Four loving gimp at one of the TV paymasters doesn't think we're good fare, then that can only be a good thing.
I am sorry that the wankers at BT found it so boring and that they didn't enjoy our trip to Norwich either. Maybe next time they can fuck off and not bother sticking a game on at Carrow Road at half fucking twelve, as that would be just super.
He is a Luton Town fan.
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Good for him. Pass on my regards for ruining the Norwich away day.
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Havent seen either of our chances. Anybody offer help?
Gabby had the goal at his mercy following a lovely flick from the Beast. It seemed a certain goal. He dallied so long trying to get it on his left foot or chip the keeper or I don't know what the hell he was trying and their defender tackled him. In injury time the ball came to Weimann in the six yard box. Their keeper pulls off a blinding save and we're ruing our luck. Then when you see the replay you realise he should have just hit the ball hard in a straight line along the ground and he would have scored but instead he trys to flick it with the outside of his boot the opposite direction. Or did you mean videos?
and If Bacuna gives the ball to Benteke there is a also a goal instead he shoots and goes wide . I thought that was a good chance.
Regarding that one, JP, If Bacuna pulls it back it Joe Bennett has a tap in as he'd made a good run and was free in the box.
There were a lot of 'ifs' last night.
Their centre half was excellent though. He didn't deserve to be on a losing team and the result was fair.
Gutted we couldn't have snatched it though
yes their CB was very good . He will be off when they get relegated and Noone was good first half , hes only baggies level thou.
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I have a feeling that I heard previously that Ben Turner was a Bluenose? He's definitely from Brum. Played well against us last night anyway.
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I have a feeling that I heard previously that Ben Turner was a Bluenose? He's definitely from Brum. Played well against us last night anyway.
He is.
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Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
The two blokes behind me were North American (could have been Canadian but I'm not sure)
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Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
The two blokes behind me were North American (could have been Canadian but I'm not sure)
Was one called Randy?
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I had no idea this was on the tele until the Cardiff fan on my team at work mentioned it.
He said you could tell the difference in quality with how much more fluid we were in attack and in our movement compared to their two banks of four.
Somebody praising our movement? Crikey.
When they were on top in the first half it was more of a direct physical approach. They got joy from Zaha v Bacuna and we struggled to handle Kenwyn Jones. When we got on top in the 2nd half, it was a bit more measured.
On balance I think we were the better side and may have deserved the 3 points, but it's our own fault we didn't get them through missing chances.
Save from Weimann (https://vine.co/v/MWQ9dUJL0hm)
FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Is what I shouted at the game on seeing this and its what I have been very tempted to shout in the office, having watched it, like the Zapruder film, again and again.
Looking at it again he did the right thing. The keeper was moving to the near post and would probably have been able to get something on a direct shot. The way he (the keeper) twisted back made it a great save.
You can't really blame our player when the keeper pulls off a save like that.
I think Weimann should ideally have used his left foot as he would have had more control. By using his right foot he had less control and the ball was at the perfect height for the keeper to make the save. The keeper did well in not committing too early but the shot was actually close to him and he makes the save look better than it is by doing his acrobatics after he has flicked the ball over the bar.
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On seeing that I think Weimann reacts quite smartly as it looked like the defender would get something on it.
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My pal is a big cheese at BT Sport. That was only their second Villa match, after the 1-0 win at Norwich. He's just texted me saying "Another scintillating display from the Villa. We really must cover them more often. Ha!" I replied that we deserve pity for enduring that in most matches.
Any 'big cheese' at BT Sport is in no position to criticise whatsoever. Michael Owen.
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Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
The two blokes behind me were North American (could have been Canadian but I'm not sure)
There are two or three Lions Club Chairmen here from over the pond. They were at the West Ham game at were there last night with the Kidderminster Lions.
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I have a feeling that I heard previously that Ben Turner was a Bluenose? He's definitely from Brum. Played well against us last night anyway.
He is.
The question is then, is he that good all the time, or does he just try harder against us?
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I have a feeling that I heard previously that Ben Turner was a Bluenose? He's definitely from Brum. Played well against us last night anyway.
He is.
The question is then, is he that good all the time, or does he just try harder against us?
I think we all know the answer to that one.
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One point from two games from teams that we should be expecting to beat is bad I feel disappointed again second half was better than the first we really need to start winning games.
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Did anyone else see some idiot throw a mannequin head towards the pitch ?
It hit the back of the advertising boards with a hell of a thud.
Hopefully they'll have it on CCTV and can take some action.
Fuck a duck:
The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/5439604/Aston-Villa-fan-throws-mask-on-pitch-v-Cardiff.html)
The Villan of the piece
By GRAEME BRYCE
Published: 2 hrs ago
ASTON VILLA fans were blamed for showing the ugly side of football at Cardiff last night — after one of them chucked a grotesque mask onto the pitch.
The macabre incident during Villa’s ghoul-ess draw with the Bluebirds spooked a nearby snapper who was nearly hit by the plastic projectile.
To read more of this article sign up for Sun+ today.
It was definitely a mannequin's head, not a "grotesque mask".
A bloke walked up the steps between 121 and 122 with the head held aloft in full view of the stewards.
A few minutes later it was thrown towards the pitch.
Grotesque mask. (http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/west-midlands-police-probe-aston-6698585)
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I said to my brother I think someone's just thrown a skull. He ignored me as usual and I promptly forgot all about it till reading this thread.
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Save from Weimann (https://vine.co/v/MWQ9dUJL0hm)
FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Is what I shouted at the game on seeing this and its what I have been very tempted to shout in the office, having watched it, like the Zapruder film, again and again.
Looking at it again he did the right thing. The keeper was moving to the near post and would probably have been able to get something on a direct shot. The way he (the keeper) twisted back made it a great save.
Agreed.
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Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
The two blokes behind me were North American (could have been Canadian but I'm not sure)
The best way to tell involves the word 'about', which Yanks pronounce like the English though with a softer 't'. Canadians pronounce it 'aboot' like the Scots. So, next time, ask them to repeat a sentence such as "Why did Gabby fuck aboot instead if just scoring?"
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Sunderland could have a fixture backlog which will be useful - they have a cup final coming and tonight's game has been cancelled by Manchester police on safety grounds .
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I saw Bladen with the Welsh Hedlu escorting a group of "risk" Villa fans before the game and then pushing some more up against a fence and taking a video of them saying their names into a camera.
"It's Mr Bladen to you!"- he had a bit of a strop on.
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Sunderland could have a fixture backlog which will be useful - they have a cup final coming and tonight's game has been cancelled by Manchester police on safety grounds .
I saw Bladen with the Welsh Hedlu escorting a group of "risk" Villa fans before the game and then pushing some more up against a fence and taking a video of them saying their names into a camera.
"It's Mr Bladen to you!"- he had a bit of a strop on.
Who is Mr Bladen? Is he a rogue vigilante?
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PC Bladen to you.
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I would think that the weather did not help the general mood of the fans.
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Yes, they'd have had to put their shirts back on.
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I thought Bladen was a Toon fan. They are always singing about him.
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I would think that the weather did not help the general mood of the fans.
Just seen your boy braving the wind and rain in blackpool - doubt his mood will be good either tonight.
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The slow mo replay on the save makes is look less good than it was. It was in. And then it somehow wasn't
Weimann should have drilled it into the far corner with his left and given him no chance though.
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Damon's good isn't he? Poor bugger now has to find a road that is open in order to return to the ample bosom of his family.
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First half we were very poor and unlucky not to go in behind. Better from us second half and although we should have won, I came away disappointed. We're making hard work of getting to 40 points and it's very frustrating.
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Bladen is the main Villa spotter. If you're ever at an away game, you will clock him with his yellow and blue high viz on.
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Bladen is the main Villa spotter. If you're ever at an away game, you will clock him with his yellow and blue high viz on.
He's a decent chap as well. Stopped for a chat with him a few times.
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We had a mob out for the home game as well. I wonder what the obsession with Cardiff is. I know they used to have a rep but still.
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I have a feeling that I heard previously that Ben Turner was a Bluenose? He's definitely from Brum. Played well against us last night anyway.
He is.
The question is then, is he that good all the time, or does he just try harder against us?
I think we all know the answer to that one.
He played well in the League Cup Final against Liverpool and scored. He is a bluenose and his brother works for Birmingham City Council.
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We had a mob out for the home game as well. I wonder what the obsession with Cardiff is. I know they used to have a rep but still.
England v Wales thing
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Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
The two blokes behind me were North American (could have been Canadian but I'm not sure)
The best way to tell involves the word 'about', which Yanks pronounce like the English though with a softer 't'. Canadians pronounce it 'aboot' like the Scots. So, next time, ask them to repeat a sentence such as "Why did Gabby fuck aboot instead if just scoring?"
Three who were there were the Lions Club Chairman of Seattle, Chicago and Detroit. They were with the Kiddy Lions and were also at the West Ham game.
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Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
The two blokes behind me were North American (could have been Canadian but I'm not sure)
The best way to tell involves the word 'about', which Yanks pronounce like the English though with a softer 't'. Canadians pronounce it 'aboot' like the Scots. So, next time, ask them to repeat a sentence such as "Why did Gabby fuck aboot instead if just scoring?"
Three who were there were the Lions Club Chairman of Seattle, Chicago and Detroit. They were with the Kiddy Lions and were also at the West Ham game.
Tsk Dcf. More or less what I said several posts ago.
Quite a lot of Welsh Villa there last night. There is something quite melodic to a Welshman shouting "fucking hell Gabby!"
The two blokes behind me were North American (could have been Canadian but I'm not sure)
There are two or three Lions Club Chairmen here from over the pond. They were at the West Ham game at were there last night with the Kidderminster Lions.
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My pal is a big cheese at BT Sport. That was only their second Villa match, after the 1-0 win at Norwich. He's just texted me saying "Another scintillating display from the Villa. We really must cover them more often. Ha!" I replied that we deserve pity for enduring that in most matches.
Any 'big cheese' at BT Sport is in no position to criticise whatsoever. Michael Owen.
And can you also remind him that quick replays and from many different angles is a prerequisite fr good live coverage. Hire someone from Sky as they are clueless on editing etc.
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That's still not a mask, that's an ugly mannequin's head
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That's still not a mask, that's an ugly mannequin's head
How did whoever get it into the ground? The security was pretty tight when we got there.
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It wasn't amazing when I arrived. They said "have you got any cans or bottles?". I said no and they let me in without a search.
I felt quite insulted. I'm obviously too old to be considered a threat.
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Saw highlights for the first time on MOTD. What the fuck was Gabby playing at the plank.
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He didn't have on of his best nights did he? But he's bailed us out on so many occasions with massive goals. He'll get back to it again.
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Well known Welsh druid witch Catatonic Cerys prolly put a hex on him.
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Damon's good isn't he? Poor bugger now has to find a road that is open in order to return to the ample bosom of his family.
Very professional during that report from Blackpool sea front. I did not notice any stress on his face due to Villa's lack of possession this season!
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It wasn't amazing when I arrived. They said "have you got any cans or bottles?". I said no and they let me in without a search.
I felt quite insulted. I'm obviously too old to be considered a threat.
Poor you. They probably got fed up with bag and body searching after coach one.
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I got the same question CB! Very trusting bunch.
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I said to my brother I think someone's just thrown a skull. He ignored me as usual and I promptly forgot all about it till reading this thread.
I have no memory of you saying that, so I must have been ignoring you as usual.