Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: danlanza on March 02, 2014, 09:26:17 AM
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Available after the game, obviously.
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Terrible start, brilliant phase of 20 minutes and then comfortable. Nice to have an easy victory.
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Get the fuck in! Brilliant stuff Benteke.
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What a twenty minutes. They need to show that video over and over and just practice doing that. Out of character in the extreme, but most welcome.
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I can see a rare tuning in to MOTD coming up!
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I can watch MOTD again.
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What a delightfully boring second half.
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Lambert out.
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No complaints at all. Keep it up, Villa.
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Really happy with that, the only negative for me is that he didn't give Robinson his league debut, 4-1 and very comfortable should be about as good as time as you could imagine to give a kid 10-15 minutes.
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Weird game, really.
A purple patch encased in shite, really.
Great to see Benteke infused with confidence and the defence getting better after that first 15 minutes.
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Dreadful first 20 minutes, then a spark of genius that kicked off a wonderful passage of attacking play. Totally professional defensive performance in the second half; Norwich didn't get a sniff.
Exactly the result we needed with some tougher looking games coming up. A very very good day.
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Result is everything. Up to Lambert to get some consistent performances now - I cant see it myself but that's for another week.
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Won the game in a crazy 20 mins or so. The rest of the 70 was the normal standard of football, garbage.
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Would have been good to pile a few in 2nd half, however top result. 11th. Fulham and Cardiff look like dead men walking. 1 more win and we are home and dry.
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Comfortable win in the end. We should composure, a bit of movement and some nous and played some good football. We can do it if we put our minds to it. Lambert will hopefully stick with this side and not start chopping and changing too much. It was frustrating after so much positive play against Liverpool and WBA, that we then played so negatively in the next few games.
KEA looked good today. Didn't go hiding, didn't drift out the game, just kept imposing himself in the midfield and using the ball quickly and effectively. He's got to do this week in week out. Ditto Westy who is now finding some form.
Benteke was excellent today. Bacuna was also brilliant. Gabby looked up for it. Our front 3 caused them problems.
Play like this at home and we should beat anyone in the bottom 10. Games like Palace, West Ham etc at home are inexcusable.
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A much needed win, should give us the confidence to go again...
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More than a six pointer, considering Norwich's last four games.
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A stroll in the Villa Park. Ain't half nice being sat on a warm bus!
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That was all right, wasn't it? The table suddenly looks a lot healthier.
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Long overdue comfortable win to lift the spirits - I think 38 points will be enough so this gives us a bit of a cushion ahead of three tough games - well done to all - enjoy your evening :)
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Seeing as how Hoolahan should really be our player, I count this as a 5-0 win too.
Also second half, Norwich played with a sort of defeated cluelessness that just looked a lot like we've played for all too much of this season. Which was great to see. Second half wasn't pretty by any means but fuck it, it's nice to stroll home to an easy 4-1 victory at home. They never looked like hurting us.
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A rare chance to enjoy a result, no strings attached. Nice one Villa, you deserved the win.
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A deserved win. When did we last get one of those? What a difference it makes though.
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20-odd minutes in, and it's a contender for poorest performance of the season, some accolade. Then Benteke, with a combination of Withe's chest and Little's legs transformed us.
A perfect game to show exactly how we are as a team, capable of being desperately poor and really quite good. Still dunno where we go from here, but dome relief at least. Roll on Summer.
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Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof!
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Agreed, the first 15 mins or so were truly shocking. Abject.
Then Benteke changes it. Second half, just shut the game down (nice to see).
I think confidence is a gigantic factor in this team.
Hoolahan's non celebration was a touch odd. He'd also shown exactly why we wanted to buy him, too.
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Much needed win and most of the other results went perfectly for us. Dan also keeps his match thread gig for another week!
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Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof!
Clap along if you feel that might be the end for Hoots
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Maybe Danlanza should do the honours more often ?
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Maybe Danlanza should do the honours more often ?
The lanzarote lion was roaring :)
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Just proves that there are some really poor teams down at the bottom. The difference was that we had a player who is a different class to any thing else on the pitch who decided to show it today.
He was unplayable at times, it is fairly obvious that teams tactics against him is to rough him up, it didn't work today.
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20-odd minutes in, and it's a contender for poorest performance of the season, some accolade. Then Benteke, with a combination of Withe's chest and Little's legs transformed us.
A perfect game to show exactly how we are as a team, capable of being desperately poor and really quite good. Still dunno where we go from here, but dome relief at least. Roll on Summer.
Why do you speak so much sense. Desperate opening, but phuck me what a turnaround.
Not as if we played scintillating football during that purple patch either, but we attacked and attacked with conviction.
That needs to be repeated at least 3-4 games between now and the end of the season.
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Typical! I have been ill all morning, manage to get into Brum where I end up spewing out of my car and having to go to my parents to watch it on the sofa! I just managed to keep it in check until the first one went it, before running to the bathroom and missed the second!
I am this seasons Legion!
A great 20 minutes of pace, power, movement and dynamic forward passing. I was also impressed with the way we buttoned up the rest of the game and by and large just kept possession. Bar one moment, Norwich didn't threaten.
I feel absolutely awful, but that has really cheered me up. We are now effectively 4 points ahead of Norwich too.
Onwards and upwards.
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Had to give today a miss as my girlfriend's band was recording stuff for BBC introducing and I promised I'd be there. I was following the game up until the 3rd minute, had a nice surprise at half time!
Onwards and upwards, chuffed for Villa and I'm really chuffed for Lambert. He needed that so badly.
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Abject for the first 20 minutes then the Beast stole the show, his first goal was sublime.
Never rated Hoolihan before now I see why Lambert wanted him. Sign him please!
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Just a few observations:
-Confidence and belief seems to be the major missing jigsaw puzzle at Villa Park. Our slack passing in the first 20 minutes was down to that. A player the quality of Benteke can change the mood of the players very quickly, and in form can lift all of the players and get us playing to our strengths. Whoever it was who said 'we need leaders' is absolutely right.
- I can see why KEA gets a lot of criticism, his role is essentially a midefeld Stephen Ireland - nothing much physical, just keeping things ticking over, not being noticed much (except for misplaced passes).
- Vlaar and Delph were fucking massive, Gabby and Weimann not so. Bacuna, get in. The Beast, take a bow (then eat Olsson's head).
- Hoofball should never be used again with this squad, they are capable of so much better.
- Sacking Hughton after this would be harsh.
- Why can't we play like that every week?
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20 mins of the beast at his absolute best, we needed that and we got it. Happy man on a weekend for a change!
Up the mighty Villa!!!
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a very comfortable last 65 mins.
Totally pathetic first 25 mins.
Norwich are shite, well... you've got to be to lose 4-1 to Villa at VP.
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Confidence was definitely a huge, huge thing for us.
You could see. Until Benteke got his first, we were every bit as insipid as we'd been in most of our less inspiring matches this season, just awful. Then an absolutely top drawer goal, followed by another, and things change totally.
Massive, massive result for us today.
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Oh, forgot.
Lambert Out.
of his duffel coat
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Dragged myself to the pub with a heavy heart. Watched the game with a couple of Albion fans who are fairly reasonable. They were pissed off though which made it all a bit sweeter. We are a confidence team, you could see that after the first goal. The big worry for me is that the manager and his staff seem utterly incapable of instilling that sort of thing from the off.
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Oddly I thought our second half display was better than the first half. Very professional, gave them no chance to put pressure on us.
Having said that it was injury time before I was confident of taking a point
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Shows there a half decent team in there 3 more wins of we will be ok. Wish that villa team would turn up 1 game in 2 , we be a top 8 side then!
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My major worry is whether or not Lambert raised his motivational skills for this game in particular. If there's one game he's gonna want to win possibly more than any other this season, it could well be Norwich at home. It's made even more the case after the Hoolahan fiasco in the transfer window.
I really hope he can get us up for it for the remainder of the season, to perform more like this, especially in our home games against the bottom 11 sides.
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3 positives.
- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.
Still a few lingering clouds though.
- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation
Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...
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@Paulmcgrath5: tks so much villa i needed a win because we needed a win i lv your club il always lv your club your club is my club !
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Weird game, really.
A purple patch encased in shite, really.
Great to see Benteke infused with confidence and the defence getting better after that first 15 minutes.
Agreed. I was thinking yesterday how Benteke would reach to Lukaku coming off the bench to score the winner for Everton, what with the World Cup just around the corner. What a response! What power, skill, determination and joy to see the big man return to the goals. Chris Smith mentioned the other day on how our survival depends purely on Benteke returning to form and he has a point. Those are three very important points today and gives us not only a boost of much needed confidence but some breathing space, especially considering the tough month ahead.
It would have been nice to see us try and take the game to Norwich in the second half instead of chasing them around. At least we closed them down well and restricted them to only a couple of chances. I predicted a 4-1 win but at half time I was kicking myself I hadn't gone for 6-1, the Holte Enders certainly deserved a goal or two today after having suffered so much shit this season.
Overall it was job done and 3 points in the bag, right now that's all we can really expect, not that I believe this team are as bad as Lambert makes them. Bacuna's goal showed exactly what we've been missing out on this season. Superb team effort.
Edit: Hope you're feeling better, Ads.
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3 positives.
- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.
Still a few lingering clouds though.
- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation
Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...
I'm not really sure why this is relevant. We won and he played well - why highlight it as a negative?
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3 positives.
- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.
Still a few lingering clouds though.
- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation
Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...
Not that we should right off games like City and Chelsea, but I do think todays win should give us the impetus to really attack and try and dominate the teams in and around us, especially at Villa park. If we get at them we have more than enough attacking talent to win. We should have been beating sides like Palace, Sunderland, West Ham etc at home. Today we did what was and should be expected of us, to win at home to a side that we're better than. For me we've got enough ability to be up with the Toon and Southampton. I think we're a better side than most of the bottom 10 around us.
Likewise picking up away points against our rivals is also key. Keep up the performance levels of Liverpool, West Brom and today, and we'll finish comfortably. These performances shouldn't be the exception, they should be the rule for us. We were by no means brilliant either, but we did our job well and were effective in attack.
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Hooray! Goals and 3 points. At this stage of the season that's all I want - another three occasions and we should be fine...
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I still think KEA is short of being up to scratch but he looked like a footballer for a while today and must have covered every single inch of the pich in the first half.
Horrible the way we were just split open for their goal but fair play to the lads today they knew what was needed and did the business.
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
I don't see how KEA was picked instead of Albrighton. Surely if Albrighton was playing it would have been in Weimann's place or even Gabby's?
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
I don't see how KEA was picked instead of Albrighton. Surely if Albrighton was playing it would have been in Weimann's place or even Gabby's?
KEA isn't a winger, and he merited his place tonight.
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KEA played well today. Not sure if he has started for all of our wins this season but he isnt far off. His workrate does put pressure on the opposition.
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Amazingly poor first 15-20 minutes and we were all over the place and making Norwich look like title contenders. A couple of pieces of individual power and skill from Benteke changed the whole game, and we got a nicely worked and taken 3rd and a fortuitous 4th. It was game over after that.
2nd half was pretty turgid, i would have liked to see us go for some more goals and play some better football, but we kept things pretty tight and comfortably saw out the game.
A loss today would have had us in a perilous situation i think and would have had a big psychological effect on the players so today's game was a must win at all costs. Now sitting 11th with 7 points breathing space between us and 18th, 8 points if you count current goal difference.
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
I didn't see that, unless passing the ball backwards and sideways is a performance.
I thought the game showed his lack of pace, strength, tackling, heading shooting and crossing ability.
He did not create a chance, did not make a tackle.
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When you know the result the match thread is a great read to help pass the bus journey to town. It's pissing it down now and I don't care.
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Only four pages. Did we win or something?
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He did a very good job today. I think some people's minds are made up before the game begins - "I don't like this player, therefore everything he does is shite whether he has a good game or not."
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I was impressed with one or two today who normally come in for a lot of stick. Thought KEA had one of his best games for us, great work rate and kept the ball moving nicely. Also Baker impressed me, did the simple things well and no cock ups. First and third goals were very different but both excellent, more please!
Such a vital win, we have taken 6 points from Norwich who look toothless, and four points off Cardiff, Sunderland, Albion. Those 4 plus Fulham have got to be the bottom five?
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Lowest home crowd of the season saw it. 30,303.
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Lowest home crowd of the season saw it. 30,303.
Less than 30,000 in the ground. Of all the matches to swerve.
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KEA could find the cure for aids and he'd still get called useless on here.
I'm not a big fan of his honestly, but today he played very well. Not sure why he's still getting torn apart after a game we've won 4-1 and he played a big part in. I thought he was sharp to lose balls, get stuck in, was a lot sharper on the ball and kept himself involved in the game, rather than as his tendancy can sometimes be, go missing or hiding. I thought he read the game well too and rarely wasted the ball.
I've given him plenty of stick this season, but today, hold my hands up, he had a good game. Keep this up every week and I've no problems with him.
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3 positives.
- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.
Still a few lingering clouds though.
- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation
Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...
Not that we should right off games like City and Chelsea, but I do think todays win should give us the impetus to really attack and try and dominate the teams in and around us, especially at Villa park. If we get at them we have more than enough attacking talent to win. We should have been beating sides like Palace, Sunderland, West Ham etc at home. Today we did what was and should be expected of us, to win at home to a side that we're better than. For me we've got enough ability to be up with the Toon and Southampton. I think we're a better side than most of the bottom 10 around us.
Likewise picking up away points against our rivals is also key. Keep up the performance levels of Liverpool, West Brom and today, and we'll finish comfortably. These performances shouldn't be the exception, they should be the rule for us. We were by no means brilliant either, but we did our job well and were effective in attack.
When you've got a young squad, supertom, it is very hard to make performances like today the rule - we are a transfer window or two away from that, I reckon.
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
I didn't see that, unless passing the ball backwards and sideways is a performance.
I thought the game showed his lack of pace, strength, tackling, heading shooting and crossing ability.
He did not create a chance, did not make a tackle.
can't agree.KEA when he was on it was the best player on the pitch.
Won every tackle, drove forward, read situations and bailed out his mates.My MOM
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Greatly needed 3 points. I thought that the first 20 minutes we were just aimless without an idea how to get going. I have seen them play worse.
It took Benteke to turn it around. Without him we would go down. I feel that Gabby is going through one of those spells where he adds nothing to the team. As a forward, if you are not getting the ball, you close players down and then look for space when your team has it. Gabby is just not doing those things so it is left to Benteke to chase players down on his own and score the goals.
I am not sure a diamond formation works at home, particularly when the two in the middle of the diamond drift too wide. I would much prefer to use this away from home and use Albrighton more at home.
The defence still worries the life out of me but Bertrand has tightened the left side up a lot more. Would much prefer to see Clark in place of Baker as he has more idea what to do when he has the ball. I also think Vlaar looks more comfortable with Clark alongside him. The selection of Baker looks more to stop the other side scoring, rather than taking the game to the opposition.
Second half we just played out the game and were comfortable. Some have said we did not play well but if you have the game won, you do not over commit and end up letting them back into the game. If it had only been 2-1 or even 3-1, I would not have been pleased if they adopted the same approach.
All in all, other than Arsenal letting us down, it has been a good weekend. There are quite a few games coming up between the bottom teams and a few draws in those games would no go amiss. With the internationals this week, a week off next week should be quite good for us.
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3 positives.
- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.
Still a few lingering clouds though.
- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation
Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...
Not that we should right off games like City and Chelsea, but I do think todays win should give us the impetus to really attack and try and dominate the teams in and around us, especially at Villa park. If we get at them we have more than enough attacking talent to win. We should have been beating sides like Palace, Sunderland, West Ham etc at home. Today we did what was and should be expected of us, to win at home to a side that we're better than. For me we've got enough ability to be up with the Toon and Southampton. I think we're a better side than most of the bottom 10 around us.
Likewise picking up away points against our rivals is also key. Keep up the performance levels of Liverpool, West Brom and today, and we'll finish comfortably. These performances shouldn't be the exception, they should be the rule for us. We were by no means brilliant either, but we did our job well and were effective in attack.
When you've got a young squad, supertom, it is very hard to make performances like today the rule - we are a transfer window or two away from that, I reckon.
Even with our current group I think we've got the quality to be winning the majority of our home games against the bottom 10. I'm hoping that more of these "winnable" home matches do actually result in wins.
But yeah, this summer we could definitely do with a bit more quality. If we lose Benteke for example, we'll struggle. The bench today was largely poor.
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I was impressed with one or two today who normally come in for a lot of stick. Thought KEA had one of his best games for us, great work rate and kept the ball moving nicely. Also Baker impressed me, did the simple things well and no cock ups. First and third goals were very different but both excellent, more please!
Such a vital win, we have taken 6 points from Norwich who look toothless, and four points off Cardiff, Sunderland, Albion. Those 4 plus Fulham have got to be the bottom five?
We've done a double over someone, wayhay
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KEA could find the cure for aids and he'd still get called useless on here.
I'm not a big fan of his honestly, but today he played very well. Not sure why he's still getting torn apart after a game we've won 4-1 and he played a big part in. I thought he was sharp to lose balls, get stuck in, was a lot sharper on the ball and kept himself involved in the game, rather than as his tendancy can sometimes be, go missing or hiding. I thought he read the game well too and rarely wasted the ball.
I've given him plenty of stick this season, but today, hold my hands up, he had a good game. Keep this up every week and I've no problems with him.
Agreed, today he was very decent - he needs to be more consistent as do a few players but he fully deserves the plaudits he is getting tonight as does Baker - it was a dreadful start but we showed good spirit and should enjoy the feeling tonight.
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I think the result often colours peoples opinion about a performance.
KEA was average at best.
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Yeah Baker certainly deserves credit too.
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Very happy with that especially after an all too familiar opening 10 minutes.
Norwich is a really good match up for us so hope they stay up, they can never handle our front players at all.
Now can we build on this and get 4 points from the Chelsea and Stoke home games? Given the way the season has gone I won't be holding my breath but today was excellent so I'm happy for now.
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I think the result often colours peoples opinion about a performance.
KEA was average at best.
wow
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A decent 20 minute spell in the first half where we had lots of attacking intent, and a professional second half performance where we actually looked composed for a change.
KEA had one of his best games for us today, and just delighted with the three points.
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When you know the result the match thread is a great read to help pass the bus journey to town. It's pissing it down now and I don't care.
Ha! A 45 minute emotional roller coaster followed by 45 minutes on the carousel.
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I think the result often colours peoples opinion about a performance.
KEA was average at best.
Or, people's preconceptions about a player prejudice their view on what they're actually doing in a match.
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Fantastic, set me up for next week!
There's a Liverpool fan at work getting rather confident about winning the league this year, so it will be nice to have some goals to celebrate!
Can we keep Dan on the match threads for the desperate must win moments? ...can we call him, Desperate Dan?
Well done, sir!
Listened on the radio and covered miles of kitchen floor. Stuart Pearce commented that the midfield trio were extremely effective as a unit keeping the ball from leaking through to Norwich's defence on the wings; a key component of Villa's win and dominance after the initial 18 minutes.
If he's impressed, with his experience, I say well done, chaps.
It's a very well done all round, as well. He gave MOTM to Benteke, who sounded unbeatable.
I am so, so relieved. And happy.
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3 positives.
- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.
Still a few lingering clouds though.
- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation
Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...
Not that we should right off games like City and Chelsea, but I do think todays win should give us the impetus to really attack and try and dominate the teams in and around us, especially at Villa park. If we get at them we have more than enough attacking talent to win. We should have been beating sides like Palace, Sunderland, West Ham etc at home. Today we did what was and should be expected of us, to win at home to a side that we're better than. For me we've got enough ability to be up with the Toon and Southampton. I think we're a better side than most of the bottom 10 around us.
Likewise picking up away points against our rivals is also key. Keep up the performance levels of Liverpool, West Brom and today, and we'll finish comfortably. These performances shouldn't be the exception, they should be the rule for us. We were by no means brilliant either, but we did our job well and were effective in attack.
When you've got a young squad, supertom, it is very hard to make performances like today the rule - we are a transfer window or two away from that, I reckon.
Even with our current group I think we've got the quality to be winning the majority of our home games against the bottom 10. I'm hoping that more of these "winnable" home matches do actually result in wins.
But yeah, this summer we could definitely do with a bit more quality. If we lose Benteke for example, we'll struggle. The bench today was largely poor.
I agree we've got the quality but there's still that bit of greenness within the ranks that means we make many unforced errors that ultimately cost us points. For example, I think Delph is quality but his inexperience and rawness still lets him down on occasions. Hopefully time and patience will fix these things. This was always going to be a season of ups and downs and that is what we are getting, we are world beaters one week and wretched the next. Like I say, time and a transfer window or two will, hopefully, sort this out.
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
Albrighton gave the ball away a couple of times when he came on - he looked a little boy and gave Norwich their only real chance in the second half.
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Yeah Baker certainly deserves credit too.
He also deserves credit for his beard. Magnificent work, young Baker.
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Dear Paul,
That's what happens when you attack.
Regards,
David.
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Us in a nut shell today. Really poor early on summed up by their goal. Then 15 minutes of great football, Bacunas goal summing this up, the confidence flowing through the team after the second goal.
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Yeah Baker certainly deserves credit too.
He also deserves credit for his beard. Magnificent work, young Baker.
Could he be inspired by Mellberg, I wonder.
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I thought for 20 mins we were abysmal. For 25 we were very good, and then for 45 we just killed the game off.
I am actually as pleased with the final 45 as I am the middle 25.
I know it is easier to do when you are winning 4-1, but even so, it was nice to see.
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We kept the ball very well today, I thought Westwood was the pick of an excellent midfield. The fall backs were both very comfortable on the ball and pushed forward well.
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Very professional in the second half, which is how it should be. May not have been pretty but it's how it's done. That 25 minute spell also shows what a totally different side we are when we are confident.
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Particularly enjoyed Delia looking so glum, because I never have any joy with her recipes.
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Some people need to compartmentalise their criticism. KEA has deserved it during the season. Today he was very good indeed and the player we saw in that video when we bought him. He was everywhere today.
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Really welcome win, I have an aura of calm about me this evening!
Dreadful first 20 minutes and you could sense the fans turning on Lambert, but them stepped up Benteke who scored a belter. After that we looked a different team - full of confidence, attacking skilful football and we tore them to shreds. A professional second half and 3 points in the bag.
2 more wins will probably make us safe. Then we have a huge summer ahead of us in respects of where this club is heading.
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Probably the first comfortable victory I can remember this season, albeit after a shaky start. I really did fear the worst after their goal, but we are a confidence team. As soon as we clicked they just couldn't deal with it.
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I think the result often colours peoples opinion about a performance.
KEA was average at best.
Actually he had a really good game. Broke up their possession alot and won a number of 50/50s.
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I had just started walking along the back of the North to my seat when they scored, must admit it did cross my mind to turn round again! One thing I won't miss when we stop selling is never seeing kick off.
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Dear Paul,
That's what happens when you attack.
Regards,
David.
That's what happens when you keep the ball on the bloody floor more like.
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Thought you lot were very good after Benteke's brilliance. Looked quite a ropey half an hour or so where Norwich more or less controlled the game but Benteke produced something from nothing and you never looked back. Good news for us as it buggers Norwich up (who are absolutely awful). Should also see you safe from relegation - I can't see anybody dragging you into it as you have what most of the sides in that bottom half don't have - a natural goal-scorer.
Still, well done, good performance, good result.
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Some people need to compartmentalise their criticism. KEA has deserved it during the season. Today he was very good indeed and the player we saw in that video when we bought him. He was everywhere today.
He was excellent today. I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw him on the team sheet, but fair play to him. I thought he was our best midfielder, easily.
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Easy.
What were you lot all worrying about?
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
I didn't see that, unless passing the ball backwards and sideways is a performance.
I thought the game showed his lack of pace, strength, tackling, heading shooting and crossing ability.
He did not create a chance, did not make a tackle.
According to Opta he made six. More than any other player.
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A stroll in the Villa Park. Ain't half nice being sat on a warm bus!
Amen to this! Great to meet you earlier too!
So relieved we won, I really enjoyed that, 4 Villa goals right in front of me and a good professional second half. Great stuff Villa!
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I was wondering, about Hoolahan's very odd non celebration.
How would we feel if we were Norwich fans? I think I'd be a bit annoyed. I appreciate he could have been that way as a message to Hughton for not playing him, or as a reflection of the fact he's been out of the side a long while, but it's hard not to conclude that it was really to do with his move to us.
He's a quality player, though. He'd improve us considerably.
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Another key to winning tonight was getting to, and winning the second ball.
Lots of loose balls were picked up and used as part of our possession to attack.
It also helps immensely when players like Delph and KEA are alert and quick enough to grab the ball and get it forward quickly. Works quite well against the 'tiki-taka' teams.
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- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
And was one of our best performers.
I don't see how KEA was picked instead of Albrighton. Surely if Albrighton was playing it would have been in Weimann's place or even Gabby's?
KEA isn't a winger, and he merited his place tonight.
I might be overly harsh on KEA, but I dont really think he played all that great today. I was steaming quite a bit over his first 20 min. Then came the great turnaround and he may actually be good for the rest of 1st half. I have to watch the tape again. I DO think Westwood had better then usual game. Also when I say Albrighton over KEA , I really mean 4-4-2 over 4-3-3, the last couple of times that have meant KEA off or in the subs, and Albrighton on even if its not a direct switch.
I do think KEA is better defensively then Albrighton, so I could actually see the reasoning Lambert did for the Newcastle game (4-3-3, no possession, counter-attack and try to get point).
At home I hate when he does that, especially against weak teams.
As the critique against KEA, yes he do (usually) have a good workrate, he does put some pressure on their playmakers BUT when we win the ball he does some of the worst passing in the entire side and when he clears he often fails reaching our attackers or getting it over the sideline but rather gifts it right back. Thats at least one reason why we have the worst possession numbers in the league (narrowly beating West Ham and Palace). I saw it at least 4-5 times in this game and Norwich really wasnt good enough to force that many errors.
Maybe he had a better game today but its hard to give credit for good plays when you can still spot that same mistakes thats been there all season. Its just an opinion, but its MY opinion and I stand by it :)
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Thought you lot were very good after Benteke's brilliance. Looked quite a ropey half an hour or so where Norwich more or less controlled the game but Benteke produced something from nothing and you never looked back. Good news for us as it buggers Norwich up (who are absolutely awful). Should also see you safe from relegation - I can't see anybody dragging you into it as you have what most of the sides in that bottom half don't have - a natural goal-scorer.
Still, well done, good performance, good result.
Well said and best of luck to you .
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A stroll in the Villa Park. Ain't half nice being sat on a warm bus!
Amen to this! Great to meet you earlier too!
So relieved we won, I really enjoyed that, 4 Villa goals right in front of me and a good professional second half. Great stuff Villa!
Pleasure meeting you as well! And also Tuscon Villain.
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Thought you lot were very good after Benteke's brilliance. Looked quite a ropey half an hour or so where Norwich more or less controlled the game but Benteke produced something from nothing and you never looked back. Good news for us as it buggers Norwich up (who are absolutely awful). Should also see you safe from relegation - I can't see anybody dragging you into it as you have what most of the sides in that bottom half don't have - a natural goal-scorer.
Still, well done, good performance, good result.
Cheers and good luck to you lot. I still rate Mel. I think he will come good for you!
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Apparently according to the BBC, that was only the second time in the Premier League era we've scored four first half goals. The other was the 7-1 vs Wimbledon. Incredible stat. Trying to think of another big wins.... Middlesbrough (h) 5-1 we were 3-0 at half time. Swindon (h) 5-0 was only 1-0 at half time. Wimbledon (h) 5-0 was 2-0. Blues 5-1 was 3-0? Incredible.
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Dan has the gig from now on. Well, until we lose and he gets the heave-ho. Anyway, all I have to say is:
(https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1901721_808486399178920_312995538_n.jpg)
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Thought you lot were very good after Benteke's brilliance. Looked quite a ropey half an hour or so where Norwich more or less controlled the game but Benteke produced something from nothing and you never looked back. Good news for us as it buggers Norwich up (who are absolutely awful). Should also see you safe from relegation - I can't see anybody dragging you into it as you have what most of the sides in that bottom half don't have - a natural goal-scorer.
Still, well done, good performance, good result.
Well said and best of luck to you .
Not
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I was wondering, about Hoolahan's very odd non celebration.
How would we feel if we were Norwich fans? I think I'd be a bit annoyed. I appreciate he could have been that way as a message to Hughton for not playing him, or as a reflection of the fact he's been out of the side a long while, but it's hard not to conclude that it was really to do with his move to us.
He's a quality player, though. He'd improve us considerably.
Hoolihan's a special player indeed, but would we want to deal with those bitter sods again?
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That 20 min spell has probably kept us up benteke was m.o.m which is fair enough but thought Westwood and Bacuna had really good games, onwards and upwards UTV
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why wait for MOTD?
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I was wondering, about Hoolahan's very odd non celebration.
How would we feel if we were Norwich fans? I think I'd be a bit annoyed. I appreciate he could have been that way as a message to Hughton for not playing him, or as a reflection of the fact he's been out of the side a long while, but it's hard not to conclude that it was really to do with his move to us.
He's a quality player, though. He'd improve us considerably.
I'd hope we were looking at him as a short term fix in January and that we would be signing better than hoolahan in the summer .
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why wait for MOTD?
Thank you.
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Thought you lot were very good after Benteke's brilliance. Looked quite a ropey half an hour or so where Norwich more or less controlled the game but Benteke produced something from nothing and you never looked back. Good news for us as it buggers Norwich up (who are absolutely awful). Should also see you safe from relegation - I can't see anybody dragging you into it as you have what most of the sides in that bottom half don't have - a natural goal-scorer.
Still, well done, good performance, good result.
Cheers and good luck to you lot. I still rate Mel. I think he will come good for you!
Thanks for posting, I hope you are right. About everything.
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Luckily not a factor in the game but how on earth did Tettey not get a straight red in the first half?
Opposition players hardly ever get sent off at Villa Park anymore and if they do it's usually in injury time for some reason.
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I was wondering, about Hoolahan's very odd non celebration.
How would we feel if we were Norwich fans? I think I'd be a bit annoyed. I appreciate he could have been that way as a message to Hughton for not playing him, or as a reflection of the fact he's been out of the side a long while, but it's hard not to conclude that it was really to do with his move to us.
He's a quality player, though. He'd improve us considerably.
I'd hope we were looking at him as a short term fix in January and that we would be signing better than hoolahan in the summer .
I hope we get him and a younger version of the same type of player. He's a very solid player and would add a lot depth.
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Benteke brilliance (https://vine.co/v/MKlYgOEib6h)
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Luckily not a factor in the game but how on earth did Tettey not get a straight red in the first half?
Opposition players hardly ever get sent off at Villa Park anymore and if they do it's usually in injury time for some reason.
i thought that, luckily it didn't quite connect, otherwise Baker would have been out for a while i reckon.
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Utter pants for the first 25 minutes - very nearly went 2 down - but then we were superb for the last 20 minutes of the first half. Unfortunately we seemed to revert to type in the second half but fortunately Norwich were even pantser than we'd been at the start of the game. Great goals from Benteke and Bacuna. Pretty poor turnout, weather awful, and took ages to get off the car park for some reason, but great to feel good after a convincing win for a change. Chant of the season - 'How shit must you be, we're winning at home'
Oh - and heard on the radio on the way back that Hoolahan didn't celebrate as he didn't want to offend Villa fans as he may be our player some day soon
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Bacuna beauty (https://vine.co/v/MABuOzL01Jh)
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Benteke brilliance (https://vine.co/v/MKlYgOEib6h)
First Villa player to score an overhead kick since Dion Dublin vs Southampton about 10 years ago?
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Cahill v SHA?
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Benteke brilliance (https://vine.co/v/MKlYgOEib6h)
First Villa player to score an overhead kick since Dion Dublin vs Southampton about 10 years ago?
I'm surprised that anyone can forget Cahill's.
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Benteke brilliance (https://vine.co/v/MKlYgOEib6h)
That is brilliant
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I thought for 20 mins we were abysmal. For 25 we were very good, and then for 45 we just killed the game off.
I am actually as pleased with the final 45 as I am the middle 25.
I know it is easier to do when you are winning 4-1, but even so, it was nice to see.
I thought the second half was just 'meh'. We allowed Norwich to dictate the game and just snuffed them out by closing them down well. We didn't actually bother doing anything ourselves, save the Gabby header where he really should have scored. After a great 20 minute spell in the first half it would have been great to build on it. It's not as though we don't need the practice.
Still, we got the three points and right now that's all that matters.
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Probably the first comfortable victory I can remember this season, albeit after a shaky start. I really did fear the worst after their goal, but we are a confidence team. As soon as we clicked they just couldn't deal with it.
Just back home after a few post match beers and would agree with that assessment. I thought Norwich were as defensively bad as any top flight team I've seen at Villa Park, but we were clinical enough to take advantage of that. It is frustrating that we can only seem to produce performances like that in patches.
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Before the game we were bemoaning the selection of Ahmadi for a home game quoting his effectiveness away from home but not at home.10 mins in I was on my feet slating him for losing out on a 50/50 challenge.At the announcement of Benteke as MOM near the end I turned to my son and we both agreed that Ahmadi was unlucky not to get it. I thought he had a great game.Credit where credit is due !
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Just back from a very wet villa park, got soaked on way back to car but hey who cares after a home win ! And 4-1 ! And a couple if really superb goals. We even danced in a few puddles on the way back ;D
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Cahill v SHA?
More side on than overhead. And a fucking great that was too.
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I thought it was quite strange Norwich seemed to actually shut up shop in the second half. Even weirder that Hoots just confirmed it in his post match interview.
I guess he was afraid of a cricket score but still if a Villa manager had done that I would be fuming.
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How much is Bacuna worth now?
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Bacuna beauty (https://vine.co/v/MABuOzL01Jh)
Like that one as well. It's all good!
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Luckily not a factor in the game but how on earth did Tettey not get a straight red in the first half?
Opposition players hardly ever get sent off at Villa Park anymore and if they do it's usually in injury time for some reason.
Would have to see it again, but it looked a bad one watching live. Again not a factor in the game, but I thought there was a pretty clear handball in the box towards the end of the game (think it was their RB) from a shot by Gabby.
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Thought Baker had another good game today. Looks far better with Vlaar alongside him.
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Luckily not a factor in the game but how on earth did Tettey not get a straight red in the first half?
Opposition players hardly ever get sent off at Villa Park anymore and if they do it's usually in injury time for some reason.
Would have to see it again, but it looked a bad one watching live. Again not a factor in the game, but I thought there was a pretty clear handball in the box towards the end of the game (think it was their RB) from a shot by Gabby.
Not a chance - if his hands had been any closer to his torso then they've have been growing directly out of his chest.
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Thought the Norwich fans were incredibly disrespectful to their own team today
"It's just like watching Brazil" and the Ole's
Funny but a tad harsh
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Cahill v SHA?
Forgot that one! The last ten years have flown by!
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Thought the Norwich fans were incredibly disrespectful to their own team today
"It's just like watching Brazil" and the Ole's
Funny but a tad harsh
Not really any worse than us singing "how shit must you be, we're winning at home" or the "let's pretend we scored a goal" at Anfield a few years ago. Gallows humour innit.
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How much is Bacuna worth now?
If we playing fantasy fotball with the Villa Squad I only pay more for Benteke, Guzan, Delph, Gabby and Vlaar...in that order. :)
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I know some people have an issue with the second half, but really all of the onus was on Norwich. I bet had they gone for it properly we'd have hit them on the break again and scored. We didn't need to up the tempo. 4-1 was already a great result
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Thought the Norwich fans were incredibly disrespectful to their own team today
"It's just like watching Brazil" and the Ole's
Funny but a tad harsh
Not really any worse than us singing "how shit must you be, we're winning at home" or the "let's pretend we scored a goal" at Anfield a few years ago. Gallows humour innit.
I think it's a growing trend, with supporters of the also-rans in the Premiership losing patience with the dubious footballing ability of millionaires trotting around pitches. If you don't laugh at some on the ineptitude on display then it would drive you insane.
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Luckily not a factor in the game but how on earth did Tettey not get a straight red in the first half?
Opposition players hardly ever get sent off at Villa Park anymore and if they do it's usually in injury time for some reason.
Would have to see it again, but it looked a bad one watching live. Again not a factor in the game, but I thought there was a pretty clear handball in the box towards the end of the game (think it was their RB) from a shot by Gabby.
Not a chance - if his hands had been any closer to his torso then they've have been growing directly out of his chest.
Ah right. I was sat in the North Stand so was pretty far away from it, but it looked a decent shout. Gabby seemed pretty adamant about it.
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Dave is correct. It would have been extremely harsh if it had been given.
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It hit his elbow, would've been a harsh one.
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Thought Baker had another good game today. Looks far better with Vlaar alongside him.
And a good, solid LB the other side of him as well.
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I know some people have an issue with the second half, but really all of the onus was on Norwich. I bet had they gone for it properly we'd have hit them on the break again and scored. We didn't need to up the tempo. 4-1 was already a great result
The game was won , all we had to do was see it out and we did that comfortably enough .
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I know some people have an issue with the second half, but really all of the onus was on Norwich. I bet had they gone for it properly we'd have hit them on the break again and scored. We didn't need to up the tempo. 4-1 was already a great result
The game was won , all we had to do was see it out and we did that comfortably enough .
4-1 up, horrible weather, slippery pitch. No need to risk injuries.
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Luckily not a factor in the game but how on earth did Tettey not get a straight red in the first half?
Opposition players hardly ever get sent off at Villa Park anymore and if they do it's usually in injury time for some reason.
i thought that, luckily it didn't quite connect, otherwise Baker would have been out for a while i reckon.
I'm guessing you never saw the stud marks on his stomach when he lifted his top to show the ref.
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Yes. A good job of shutting them out was done pretty well.
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Well, what the fuck happened there.
Up to Bentekes first goal, we were quite comfortably the worst team...ever!
After Bentekes first goal up until half-time, we were great. Movement, passing, closing down, challenging, shooting, crossing - it's amazing what confidence can do.
After half-time, I thought we started with the same tempo we finished the first half, Gabby should've scored, and then I think it soon became clear that Norwich had more or less settled for the defeat and we sort of didn't try anymore, making the second half a non-event (though Guzan did make a great save).
Did we learn anything about Villa? Don't think so. We still know at times in a game we can play very well, but in the same game we can be extremely poor. How is it a team can be so different in one game? It's bizarre.
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We scored every shot on target.
Second half was back to normal, I don't think we were that good at all
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Dear Paul,
That's what happens when you attack.
Regards,
David.
I think we can all endorse that.
It's a long time since we took the game to anyone from the start. This cautious attitude allows teams to settle & we invaribly give them a goal start too.
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I know some people have an issue with the second half, but really all of the onus was on Norwich. I bet had they gone for it properly we'd have hit them on the break again and scored. We didn't need to up the tempo. 4-1 was already a great result
The game was won , all we had to do was see it out and we did that comfortably enough .
4-1 up, horrible weather, slippery pitch. No need to risk injuries.
Yep. I was surprised Norwich looked so limp and this could very well see the end for Hughton. The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
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We scored every shot on target.
Second half was back to normal, I don't think we were that good at all
Enjoy the good times my friend , it here are plenty of lows so lets enjoy the highs.
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Where has Bentke been? Massive and Bacuna, my fave for the future
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I know some people have an issue with the second half, but really all of the onus was on Norwich. I bet had they gone for it properly we'd have hit them on the break again and scored. We didn't need to up the tempo. 4-1 was already a great result
The game was won , all we had to do was see it out and we did that comfortably enough .
4-1 up, horrible weather, slippery pitch. No need to risk injuries.
Yep. I was surprised Norwich looked so limp and this could very well see the end for Hughton. The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
I'd think they will stick with him for the stoke game next week but lose that and he may be a gonner.
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The finish from bacuna was coolness personified - I'm not sure right back is his best position , I like him on the right of midfield but he has scored some crucial goals this season and that's what we need - last season we relied too much on forwards to score nearly all our goals - bacuna is settling down nicely and will be an asset .
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A back five of Guzan, Bertrand, Vlaar, Okore, Bacuna is quite sexy for next season I reckon.
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The finish from bacuna was coolness personified - I'm not sure right back is his best position , I like him on the right of midfield but he has scored some crucial goals this season and that's what we need - last season we relied too much on forwards to score nearly all our goals - bacuna is settling down nicely and will be an asset .
At the time I thought maybe it was one pass too many and Weimann should of had the shot but glad he didn't.
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A back five of Guzan, Bertrand, Vlaar, Okore, Bacuna is quite sexy for next season I reckon.
How much do you think Chelsea would sell Bertrand for ? He has made a difference no doubt , I also think okore will be a huge player for us next season .
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The finish from bacuna was coolness personified - I'm not sure right back is his best position , I like him on the right of midfield but he has scored some crucial goals this season and that's what we need - last season we relied too much on forwards to score nearly all our goals - bacuna is settling down nicely and will be an asset .
I've not really got a problem with him where he is.
It's only the Fulham game where he's been a disaster defensively, and he comfortably had the beating of Redmond today. The Norwich forum I was browsing suggested that today was the worst he had played for them, which suggests that Bacuna shut him down nicely.
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A back five of Guzan, Bertrand, Vlaar, Okore, Bacuna is quite sexy for next season I reckon.
Doesn't Bertrand go back after this season?
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A back five of Guzan, Bertrand, Vlaar, Okore, Bacuna is quite sexy for next season I reckon.
Put Clark in there and we could play 352 quite effectively. Weimann reminds me of Tommy Johnson - not good enough to be a top-class striker but useful as a buzzing around attacking midfielder.
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A back five of Guzan, Bertrand, Vlaar, Okore, Bacuna is quite sexy for next season I reckon.
Doesn't Bertrand go back after this season?
Not if we take up the option to buy him.
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A back five of Guzan, Bertrand, Vlaar, Okore, Bacuna is quite sexy for next season I reckon.
How much do you think Chelsea would sell Bertrand for ? He has made a difference no doubt , I also think okore will be a huge player for us next season .
Yes with Bertrand at left back instead of Bennet or Luna certainly improves the defence.
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The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
Or as Mister E put it, "A purple patch encased in shite". Whichever way you look at it, we got the three points and that's really all that matters.
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So, are we probably safe?
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We're safer than we were a few hours ago.
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I've been critical of him before but I thought KEA was a major factor today, he was excellent.
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A back five of Guzan, Bertrand, Vlaar, Okore, Bacuna is quite sexy for next season I reckon.
How much do you think Chelsea would sell Bertrand for ? He has made a difference no doubt , I also think okore will be a huge player for us next season .
I've seen Bertrand play well for us, but I've also seen him not play well for us. He's better than what we've got, but he's not worth stupid amounts of money.
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Some thoughts:
Benteke - Nothing needs to be said, more or less back to his best.
Bacuna - Lovely finish. His defensive positioning has improved, and his strength and pace gets him out of trouble too. Control and distribution improved since the summer too.
KEA - Easily his best game for us. Popped up all over the place in the first half, hassled the opposition and broke up play. Hes also one of the few players on the side who looks for the first time/one touch pass, which helped some of our better moves in the second half. Probably MOTM for me.
Wes Hoolahan - He's ace, he'd improve us. Buy him and a younger version of him in the summer.
The Bloke Who Sat Behind Me - Wouldn't shut up talking into the air about how shit everyone and everything is. Silent after Benteke's 1st goal went in. Didn't celebrate our goals. Did find time to scream himself hoarse bitching at when Weimann missed a chance in the 2nd half though. I don't normally approve of 'better fan than you' comments, but fuck it, he's a shit fan and needs to fuck off.
Would've been nice to have kept up the pressure in the second half, but we killed the game dead, which was good enough.
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So, are we probably safe?
I think so, I reckon 2 more wins could be enough.
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Oddly I thought our second half display was better than the first half. Very professional, gave them no chance to put pressure on us.
Having said that it was injury time before I was confident of taking a point
This sums up my take on it as well except I was confident after 80 mins that they will not score 3.
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After 3 minutes + I thought we were well and truly fu**ed.
After our first goal we were a completely different team - the confidence on the pitch was tangible.
Good to see Benteke back instead of his shit twin brother.
Hoped for more goals 2nd half, but 4-1 is a darn fine win and 3 massive points.
Thought we contained things very well 2nd half without pushing for a goal which we didn't need to do - but at times we looked as if we had simply switched off...then we switched back on again.
And Norwich were really, really crap for a large portion of the game!
(Enjoyed our singing: "We're winning at home...how shit must you be, we're winning at home..." etc)
Would love us to stick it up Stoke, big time!
Thanks boys!
Happy, happy Villain today!
UTV
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Oddly I thought our second half display was better than the first half. Very professional, gave them no chance to put pressure on us.
Having said that it was injury time before I was confident of taking a point
This sums up my take on it as well except I was confident after 80 mins that they will not score 3.
Me too
In the second half, we showed some nous and maturity and effectively killed the game off.
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I said on another thread during last week's manic depression that we'd win today. I'm absolutely delighted.
I also had a little wager that Marc Albrighton's name would be sang at 23 minutes. I was wrong. It was seven minutes. Bless him, he's a trier but he's not the messiah. He's becoming a cult figure for those against the manager.
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So, are we probably safe?
10 games, might need 7-9 more points...
Good news is that we do play Stoke, Fulham, Southampton and Hull at VP among those 10 games.
Palace and Swansea might be some points away.
Love to steal anything at Tottenham too but realisticly as long as we not humiliated and still stay up I can repress a loss..
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I felt very despondent at about 15 gone and decided to take a passive role ilo shouting by sitting back in my seating and reminding myself that there is not much I can do its up to them on the pitch. I decided that Norwich were going to be up at HT so logged on Paddypower to place a £10 bet on them winning the first half hoping I would be wrong. No sooner I had pressed the confirm button a great equaliser. The rest is history.
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Oddly I thought our second half display was better than the first half. Very professional, gave them no chance to put pressure on us.
Having said that it was injury time before I was confident of taking a point
This sums up my take on it as well except I was confident after 80 mins that they will not score 3.
I was dealing with the second half in blocks of ten minutes. I was gutted when Gabby missed his header for 5-1 as I would have felt confident then of a point. As it was I relaxed at 90 mins.
I left at 90 as I had a lift to get. When I heard the cheer outside for full time I wasn't totally convinced that was not a cheer for 4-2 until I heard it confirmed on the radio.
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What a fickle game football is. We were being comprehensibly outplayed then Benteke scores a worldy out of the blue and Norwich implode. Three welcome points but I'm not getting carried away.
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I've been critical of him before but I thought KEA was a major factor today, he was excellent.
Paul I thought he was MotM. Really ran the midfield from about 20 mins onwards. Delph was a little short today ( however good cross for og) and KEA covered lot of ground and became our main ball winner.
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I was dealing with the second half in blocks of ten minutes. I was gutted when Gabby missed his header for 5-1 as I would have felt confident then of a point. As it was I relaxed at 90 mins.
I left at 90 as I had a lift to get. When I heard the cheer outside for full time I wasn't totally convinced that was not a cheer for 4-2 until I heard it confirmed on the radio.
God. You don't cheer till we are winning 5 - 0.
You are a hard audience.
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I would have liked to see the look on the face of their childish chairman when them goals were going in. It was probably his decision to play Hoolahan
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I've been critical of him before but I thought KEA was a major factor today, he was excellent.
Paul I thought he was MotM. Really ran the midfield from about 20 mins onwards. Delph was a little short today ( however good cross for og) and KEA covered lot of ground and became our main ball winner.
Yep I agree
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And, although it doesn't really matter after a result like that, I thought the ref was completely and utterly shit.
No doubt that their no 27 should have been sent off, and Snodgrass a very strong candidate too.
He let too much go, including the big shirt tug on Benteke in the box before we got the equaliser. Bassong pulling Gabby back at least twice and Bassong climbing all over Benteke for most of the game.
At least Gabby's 3 or 4 "fouls" had "I've just clattered into this bloke really obviously so he doesn't get away and so you don't miss it ref!" written all over them!
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I've been critical of him before but I thought KEA was a major factor today, he was excellent.
Paul I thought he was MotM. Really ran the midfield from about 20 mins onwards. Delph was a little short today ( however good cross for og) and KEA covered lot of ground and became our main ball winner.
Also Delph's block from Hoolahan's follow-up at 2-1 was absolutely crucial.
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I thought Hoolahan was our best player in the second half!! He sprayed 4/5 good opportunity balls forward and into the crowd when a decent ball could have set them up.
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I've been critical of him before but I thought KEA was a major factor today, he was excellent.
Paul I thought he was MotM. Really ran the midfield from about 20 mins onwards. Delph was a little short today ( however good cross for og) and KEA covered lot of ground and became our main ball winner.
Yep I agree
Very impressed with him today.
Every week please KEA and we'll all love you forever!
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Much needed win and most of the other results went perfectly for us. Dan also keeps his match thread gig for another week!
Cheers. We will go again.........
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Massive win and who could have predicted 4-1 after the way we started, several excellent performances especially Bacuna, Westwood and Benteke, we do usually find a win when things are getting serious, because wins for the Villa are as rare as rocking horse shit they are very special when they finally arrive, relaxing with a nice Zinfandel, feeling happy.
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Result well needed. Great play at times - 3rd was superb. We still gave the ball away a lot, against better teams than Norwich, we will be punished - got away with it today.
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Quite bizarre having a ST in the Lower North. We've only scored that end in two league games but it's totalled 7 goals.
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We were bloody woeful for the first twenty minutes. The goal obviously got us back in it and once the second one went in, you could see the confidence grow. Let's hope we can build on it now. As tough as the next game looks, Chelsea are beatable.
A quick word on KEA. He's not as piss poor as some people like to make out he is. He had a great game.
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And, although it doesn't really matter after a result like that, I thought the ref was completely and utterly shit.
No doubt that their no 27 should have been sent off, and Snodgrass a very strong candidate too.
He let too much go, including the big shirt tug on Benteke in the box before we got the equaliser. Bassong pulling Gabby back at least twice and Bassong climbing all over Benteke for most of the game.
At least Gabby's 3 or 4 "fouls" had "I've just clattered into this bloke really obviously so he doesn't get away and so you don't miss it ref!" written all over them!
Agreed. Bakers chest gouge not a red card apparently.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhwFpAMIgAIeinU.jpg)
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We won 4-1 and yet the tone of this thread is still to fucking moan, get a grip.
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Result well needed. Great play at times - 3rd was superb. We still gave the ball away a lot, against better teams than Norwich, we will be punished - got away with it today.
But really DB its not the good teams we have struggled against this season. It's donkey teams like Fulham, West Ham, Palace, Man U, Newcastle, Stoke etc that we have been miserable.
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We were bloody woeful for the first twenty minutes. The goal obviously got us back in it and once the second one went in, you could see the confidence grow. Let's hope we can build on it now. As tough as the next game looks, Chelsea are beatable.
A quick word on KEA. He's not as piss poor as some people like to make out he is. He had a great game.
This for me. Well said Clampy.
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It's good that a lot of the teams around or below us play each other in the weeks ahead - makes bad results, if they come, a little less destructive in terms of league position.
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How many times this season has the phrase - "can we build on it" ended with disappointment?
Bottom line is I don't trust this squad to perform.
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Bad start and I feared the worst. But when Benteke clicks he is unplayable and the rest of the team feed off that. I was quite satisfied by the way we controlled the second half. The onus was on Norwich to pull one back and go from there and with us not committing ourselves too much to attack and them still being shell shocked by the four goals it never looked like happening (Ok, maybe once when Guzan saved). Big three points and hopefully the start of an end of season run like last year.
I also think the bloke who got some stick on the pre match thread for saying we were due to give someone a hiding should take a bow. 8)
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I thought it was quite strange Norwich seemed to actually shut up shop in the second half. Even weirder that Hoots just confirmed it in his post match interview.
I guess he was afraid of a cricket score but still if a Villa manager had done that I would be fuming.
Quite a few were fuming that Lambert didn't do that at Chelsea last season. In fact quite a few are still using the score as a stick to beat him.
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Funny old game, but obviously glad for the three points which is the most important thing. The first 20 minutes were as bad as we've been all season, we give the ball away far too cheaply often in very dangerous situations and under little pressure, and there was some abysmally poor ball control at times even in the second half. Weimann's and Gabby's touch in particular is awful at times. Some individual brilliance, a top notch breakaway team goal and a reasonably competent second half performance made a nice change but the defence is still all over the place too frequently for my liking.
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I thought it was quite strange Norwich seemed to actually shut up shop in the second half. Even weirder that Hoots just confirmed it in his post match interview.
I guess he was afraid of a cricket score but still if a Villa manager had done that I would be fuming.
Quite a few were fuming that Lambert didn't do that at Chelsea last season. In fact quite a few are still using the score as a stick to beat him.
At least we could watch it in the dry and 20c.
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Quality of the moves and goals was fantastic (even the og!) and couldn't believe what I was seeing. My son has never seen me whoop about the villa so agree with Lovejoy that tonight is a time to smile and enjoy. Mind you, a few more second half wouldn't have gone amiss ;)
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By the way, not sure if it was picked up on the match thread or elsewhere, but Hoolahan not celebrating his goal was quite interesting.
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The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
Or as Mister E put it, "A purple patch encased in shite". Whichever way you look at it, we got the three points and that's really all that matters.
Or as Mister E put it, "I am reluctant to give credit where credit is due so I will say the Villa were shite, except for 20 minutes".
Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will. However, we deserved to win and it was generally a comfortable win. A welcome 3 points and eases the pressure considerably on the team, manager and the growing negativity of some of the supporters.
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Baker man of the match for me. That's 3 games running he's been superb. Future legend .
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The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
Or as Mister E put it, "A purple patch encased in shite". Whichever way you look at it, we got the three points and that's really all that matters.
I don't agree with Mister E's assessment in the slightest and agree with your second sentence entirely.
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We won 4-1 and yet the tone of this thread is still to fucking moan, get a grip.
Fair enough.
Oh, another bit of moaning. Who's this though?
How many times this season has the phrase - "can we build on it" ended with disappointment?
Bottom line is I don't trust this squad to perform.
;-)
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By the way, not sure if it was picked up on the match thread or elsewhere, but Hoolahan not celebrating his goal was quite interesting.
It was quite conspicuous. Does he still feel that much loyalty to PL? Or did he not want to alienate the fans of his next club?
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We won 4-1 and yet the tone of this thread is still to fucking moan, get a grip.
Fair enough.
Oh, another bit of moaning. Who's this though?
How many times this season has the phrase - "can we build on it" ended with disappointment?
Bottom line is I don't trust this squad to perform.
;-)
You scallywag PW...how could you do this on a day of celebrations ;)
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We won 4-1 and yet the tone of this thread is still to fucking moan, get a grip.
Fair enough.
Oh, another bit of moaning. Who's this though?
How many times this season has the phrase - "can we build on it" ended with disappointment?
Bottom line is I don't trust this squad to perform.
;-)
You scallywag PW...how could you do this on a day of celebrations ;)
Oh my god, the Russians have taken over ;D
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We won 4-1 and yet the tone of this thread is still to fucking moan, get a grip.
Fair enough.
Oh, another bit of moaning. Who's this though?
How many times this season has the phrase - "can we build on it" ended with disappointment?
Bottom line is I don't trust this squad to perform.
;-)
My log in had clearly been hacked. I stand by it though that moaning after a 4-1 win is a bit silly and I don't trust this squad to win the next game.
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A most satisfactory end to the weekend. I had already started lining up managers names in the hat to replace Lambert after we conceded but Benteke dug us out of trouble yet again. The 20 minute spell at the end of the first half was magnificent and it shows what this team can do when they get the ball down and pass it. In the second half we went back into contain mode and started hoofing the ball at every opportunity again. I don't think it was a bad decision to hold what we have but it wasn't half boring without the full-backs crossing the half way line.
The performance really begs the questions "Why can't you play with the ball on the floor every week" and "Why do we get 5 crap performances in a row before you decide to play to like that". However I can't complain when we do play like that, it is bloody awesome to watch. Great result. Now to watch it on MOTD again!
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Pardew
Curbishley
Clarke
Moyes
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Pardew
Curbishley
Clarke
Moyes
Non of them. Guardiola please.
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I was so anxious today I didn't even really enjoy the game. God knows it's long enough since I've seen us score four goals. But there it is. Didn't relax till the whistle went.
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A most satisfactory end to the weekend. I had already started lining up managers names in the hat to replace Lambert after we conceded but Benteke dug us out of trouble yet again. The 20 minute spell at the end of the first half was magnificent and it shows what this team can do when they get the ball down and pass it. In the second half we went back into contain mode and started hoofing the ball at every opportunity again. I don't think it was a bad decision to hold what we have but it wasn't half boring without the full-backs crossing the half way line.
The performance really begs the questions "Why can't you play with the ball on the floor every week" and "Why do we get 5 crap performances in a row before you decide to play to like that". However I can't complain when we do play like that, it is bloody awesome to watch. Great result. Now to watch it on MOTD again!
Just doing the same. Goodness me, Benteke's 1st goal was even better than it looked at the time and the 3rd goal was a great move.
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I was so anxious today I didn't even really enjoy the game. God knows it's long enough since I've seen us score four goals. But there it is. Didn't relax till the whistle went.
I know this sounds daft, but I actually find it worse when we've got ourselves into a decent position. Like I am just waiting for it all to turn to shit
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Luckily not a factor in the game but how on earth did Tettey not get a straight red in the first half?
Opposition players hardly ever get sent off at Villa Park anymore and if they do it's usually in injury time for some reason.
Would have to see it again, but it looked a bad one watching live. Again not a factor in the game, but I thought there was a pretty clear handball in the box towards the end of the game (think it was their RB) from a shot by Gabby.
Not a chance - if his hands had been any closer to his torso then they've have been growing directly out of his chest.
Just seen it again on MOTD Dave and as the old saying goes "I've seen them given"!!
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I was so anxious today I didn't even really enjoy the game. God knows it's long enough since I've seen us score four goals. But there it is. Didn't relax till the whistle went.
I know this sounds daft, but I actually find it worse when we've got ourselves into a decent position. Like I am just waiting for it all to turn to shit
Sounds like a very Brummie trait.
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That was one of the oddest Villa games I have ever seen. I thought we were totally incompetent in the extreme for the first twenty minutes then it all went like an LSD dream for twenty minutes and I thought the way we shut up shop in the second half was ultra professional. If only we could have done that in the Stoke game all those years ago. Good day for me personally with my son on one side of me and my grandson on the other. Don't get much better than that. That and the cherry on the cake was singing Pieman for Weimann when the subs were made and We're winning at home, we're winning at home.
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Third goal kind of reminded me of THAT goal against Manure in 95.
And did anyone see that knobber Norwich fan on MOTD? He walked past me on Witton Lane and really did look a bellend. I also saw a disturbing number of adults wearing half and half scarfs for today's game. It's times like that i'm glad i'm not allowed to carry a gun, who the fuck buys a half Villa half Norwich scarf?
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Third goal kind of reminded me of THAT goal against Manure in 95.
And did anyone see that knobber Norwich fan? He walked past me on Witton Lane and really did look a bellend. I also saw a disturbing number of adults wearing half and half scarfs for today's game. It's times like that i'm glad i'm not allowed to carry a gun, who the fuck buys a half Villa half Norwich scarf?
Wes Hoolahan?
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Benteke's first goal looked even better on the telly.
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70 mins was when I fully relaxed.
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That was one of the oddest Villa games I have ever seen. I thought we were totally incompetent in the extreme for the first twenty minutes then it all went like an LSD dream for twenty minutes and I thought the way we shut up shop in the second half was ultra professional.
I was quite amazed how Norwich fell to pieces. I thought we were bad at capitulation at times, but that was something else.
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Third goal kind of reminded me of THAT goal against Manure in 95.
And did anyone see that knobber Norwich fan? He walked past me on Witton Lane and really did look a bellend. I also saw a disturbing number of adults wearing half and half scarfs for today's game. It's times like that i'm glad i'm not allowed to carry a gun, who the fuck buys a half Villa half Norwich scarf?
Wes Hoolahan?
Arf!
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I've been critical of him before but I thought KEA was a major factor today, he was excellent.
Agree Paul. Seemed to grow with confidence after our equaliser and put in a very energetic display. He made some very good attacking runs in the second half and was constantly involved.
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Just doing the same. Goodness me, Benteke's 1st goal was even better than it looked at the time and the 3rd goal was a great move.
I never noticed what a great run and pass it was for the fourth goal. I've not been totally convinced by Bertrand offensively (he's great defensively) but that pass was a peach and the run and cross by Delph sublime. Sign him up.
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My confidence in the team is really low. I'm just waiting for one of them to concede a penalty or score an outrageous og. I go to games now like a beaten dog
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I was so anxious today I didn't even really enjoy the game. God knows it's long enough since I've seen us score four goals. But there it is. Didn't relax till the whistle went.
What have they done to us all over the last 3 or 4 years? At half time I was chuffed but not thinking "this is won" just in case I tempted fate, I relaxed with 10 minutes to go.
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That was a fantastic ball by Bertrand through to Delph to cross for the fourth goal.
EDIT
oops, as you said:
Just doing the same. Goodness me, Benteke's 1st goal was even better than it looked at the time and the 3rd goal was a great move.
I never noticed what a great run and pass it was for the fourth goal. I've not been totally convinced by Bertrand offensively (he's great defensively) but that pass was a peach and the run and cross by Delph sublime. Sign him up.
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Well done - good team effort with outstanding individual magic from Christian.
Special mention for Bacuna and KEA. Play to your potential gentlemen.
Amazing what happens when you move into a bit of space isn't it.
I'm going to miss Benteke :-(
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I'd also like to add that I really hope Norwich get relegated. I can't stand their "two or three years in the top flight, we're massive" attitude.
I generally find myself hating all newly promoted clubs fans, but with Norwich it has lasted a fair while longer than normal.
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Well done - good team effort with outstanding individual magic from Christian.
Special mention for Bacuna and KEA. Play to your potential gentlemen.
Amazing what happens when you move into a bit of space isn't it.
I'm going to miss Benteke :-(
Why? Where are you off to?
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Nah, we've been them 4 times out of the last 5 and the draw was with 10 men.
We need all the teams with crap records against us to stay up (Sunderland are another) as we don't have many of them left!
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I'd also like to add that I really hope Norwich get relegated. I can't stand their "two or three years in the top flight, we're massive" attitude.
I generally find myself hating all newly promoted clubs fans, but with Norwich it has lasted a fair while longer than normal.
I know it's a Sunday but every time they visit their support gets less and less, maybe the novelty is wearing off. About a hundred of them had all the lower allocation all to themselves.
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Just doing the same. Goodness me, Benteke's 1st goal was even better than it looked at the time and the 3rd goal was a great move.
I never noticed what a great run and pass it was for the fourth goal. I've not been totally convinced by Bertrand offensively (he's great defensively) but that pass was a peach and the run and cross by Delph sublime. Sign him up.
I was sat in the Lower North Stand and when they were celebrating the fourth goal, Delph was pointing the fans attention to Bertrand for his pass.
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That was one of the oddest Villa games I have ever seen. I thought we were totally incompetent in the extreme for the first twenty minutes then it all went like an LSD dream for twenty minutes and I thought the way we shut up shop in the second half was ultra professional.
I was quite amazed how Norwich fell to pieces. I thought we were bad at capitulation at times, but that was something else.
I agree, they reminded me very much of us at our worst. Just goes to show how similar a lot of the teams in this division are. Funnily enough, I had a wander over to the Norwich fans' forum (the Pink 'Un) for a curious little snoop, and it was exactly like reading one of our threads - identical arguments over the manager, identical arguments about inconsistency, identical use of phrases like "if you buy Championship players you'll get Championship football" and even the term "happy clappers" being liberally and furiously hurled at anyone attempting to see reason and/or stick up for the manager. Uncanny. If they'd had an off topic section featuring death and defecation I'd have thought I was on H&V.
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I'd also like to add that I really hope Norwich get relegated. I can't stand their "two or three years in the top flight, we're massive" attitude.
I generally find myself hating all newly promoted clubs fans, but with Norwich it has lasted a fair while longer than normal.
They have made absolutely no impression on the division. Really, none. Like a distant family member who comes round for Christmas and does nothing but sit in the corner wearing a paper hat
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That was one of the oddest Villa games I have ever seen. I thought we were totally incompetent in the extreme for the first twenty minutes then it all went like an LSD dream for twenty minutes and I thought the way we shut up shop in the second half was ultra professional.
I was quite amazed how Norwich fell to pieces. I thought we were bad at capitulation at times, but that was something else.
I agree, they reminded me very much of us at our worst. Just goes to show how similar a lot of the teams in this division are. Funnily enough, I had a wander over to the Norwich fans' forum (the Pink 'Un) for a curious little snoop, and it was exactly like reading one of our threads - identical arguments over the manager, identical arguments about inconsistency, identical use of phrases like "if you buy Championship players you'll get Championship football" and even the term "happy clappers" being liberally and furiously hurled at anyone attempting to see reason and/or stick up for the manager. Uncanny. If they'd had an off topic section featuring death and defecation I'd have thought I was on H&V.
I looked at that and thought exactly the same.
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If they'd had an off topic section featuring death and defecation I'd have thought I was on H&V.
That's what distinguishes us from the rest.
*proud glow*
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I'd also like to add that I really hope Norwich get relegated. I can't stand their "two or three years in the top flight, we're massive" attitude.
I generally find myself hating all newly promoted clubs fans, but with Norwich it has lasted a fair while longer than normal.
I know it's a Sunday but every time they visit their support gets less and less, maybe the novelty is wearing off. About a hundred of them had all the lower allocation all to themselves.
The shitty kick off time and it being on the telly couldn't have helped to be fair.
That's before considering the nightmare journey from and back to Norwich, which I believe entails having to travel by horse and cart for the final 30 miles.
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God I love The Villa.. Best part of the game The Rendition of "Lets all have a disco" on The Holte.
Also met Percy..top bloke.
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The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
Or as Mister E put it, "A purple patch encased in shite". Whichever way you look at it, we got the three points and that's really all that matters.
Or as Mister E put it, "I am reluctant to give credit where credit is due so I will say the Villa were shite, except for 20 minutes".
Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will. However, we deserved to win and it was generally a comfortable win. A welcome 3 points and eases the pressure considerably on the team, manager and the growing negativity of some of the supporters.
What the hell does "Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will"? They played well first 20 minutes, should have been 2 up but we then smashed them. Second half we managed to stop them but also managed to stop ourselves. You'd have hoped at 4-1 we'd have been prepared to take a few risks. We weren't. There's a huge difference between being "negative" and being constructively critical. When confidence is so lacking in this team, the freedom to go out and express themselves when 4-1 up was not asking a great deal. There were some solid performances today throughout the side, I'm more than sure we could have ripped Norwich a third hole during the second half. For some reason we chose not to.
Obviously the three points are all that mattered but the second half for me was a missed opportunity to show what we can do. On the other hand, maybe the containment game was preparation for the Chelsea match.
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The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
Or as Mister E put it, "A purple patch encased in shite". Whichever way you look at it, we got the three points and that's really all that matters.
Or as Mister E put it, "I am reluctant to give credit where credit is due so I will say the Villa were shite, except for 20 minutes".
Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will. However, we deserved to win and it was generally a comfortable win. A welcome 3 points and eases the pressure considerably on the team, manager and the growing negativity of some of the supporters.
What the hell does "Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will"? They played well first 20 minutes, should have been 2 up but we then smashed them. Second half we managed to stop them but also managed to stop ourselves. You'd have hoped at 4-1 we'd have been prepared to take a few risks. We weren't. There's a huge difference between being "negative" and being constructively critical. When confidence is so lacking in this team, the freedom to go out and express themselves when 4-1 up was not asking a great deal. There were some solid performances today throughout the side, I'm more than sure we could have ripped Norwich a third hole during the second half. For some reason we chose not to.
Obviously the three points are all that mattered but the second half for me was a missed opportunity to show what we can do. On the other hand, maybe the containment game was preparation for the Chelsea match.
Or maybe there was no point in risking players getting injured given the conditions.
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There were a few blokes a couple of rows behind me who spent most of the second half signing old Villa songs. Been a while since I heard Spinksy rolls the ball to Platty down VP. Even longer since I heard some of the player songs they sang.
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The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
Or as Mister E put it, "A purple patch encased in shite". Whichever way you look at it, we got the three points and that's really all that matters.
Or as Mister E put it, "I am reluctant to give credit where credit is due so I will say the Villa were shite, except for 20 minutes".
Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will. However, we deserved to win and it was generally a comfortable win. A welcome 3 points and eases the pressure considerably on the team, manager and the growing negativity of some of the supporters.
What the hell does "Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will"? They played well first 20 minutes, should have been 2 up but we then smashed them. Second half we managed to stop them but also managed to stop ourselves. You'd have hoped at 4-1 we'd have been prepared to take a few risks. We weren't. There's a huge difference between being "negative" and being constructively critical. When confidence is so lacking in this team, the freedom to go out and express themselves when 4-1 up was not asking a great deal. There were some solid performances today throughout the side, I'm more than sure we could have ripped Norwich a third hole during the second half. For some reason we chose not to.
Obviously the three points are all that mattered but the second half for me was a missed opportunity to show what we can do. On the other hand, maybe the containment game was preparation for the Chelsea match.
Or maybe there was no point in risking players getting injured given the conditions.
For 45 minutes? Sorry Dave but that's the poorest excuse I think of for a team sitting back and not trying to do anything.
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What is the point taking risks at 4-1 at half time?
Yeah, we could have pushed the boat out and chased a sixth goal or something, but I was much more impressed with our brain - for a change - in effectively killing the game off.
Loads of good sides do that. How many times, for example, have you seen us play Man United at home, they'll score 3 by half time, it'll be game over, and they'll just spend the second half letting us have the ball a bit but they've effectively ended the game.
I take way more heart from us being clinical today than I would have from another goal or two.
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The first 20 aside the other 70 was as good and comfortable as we're likely to see this season.
Or as Mister E put it, "A purple patch encased in shite". Whichever way you look at it, we got the three points and that's really all that matters.
Or as Mister E put it, "I am reluctant to give credit where credit is due so I will say the Villa were shite, except for 20 minutes".
Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will. However, we deserved to win and it was generally a comfortable win. A welcome 3 points and eases the pressure considerably on the team, manager and the growing negativity of some of the supporters.
What the hell does "Norwich are not a strong side and if you let them play, they will"? They played well first 20 minutes, should have been 2 up but we then smashed them. Second half we managed to stop them but also managed to stop ourselves. You'd have hoped at 4-1 we'd have been prepared to take a few risks. We weren't. There's a huge difference between being "negative" and being constructively critical. When confidence is so lacking in this team, the freedom to go out and express themselves when 4-1 up was not asking a great deal. There were some solid performances today throughout the side, I'm more than sure we could have ripped Norwich a third hole during the second half. For some reason we chose not to.
Obviously the three points are all that mattered but the second half for me was a missed opportunity to show what we can do. On the other hand, maybe the containment game was preparation for the Chelsea match.
Or maybe there was no point in risking players getting injured given the conditions.
For 45 minutes? Sorry Dave but that's the poorest excuse I think of for a team sitting back and not trying to do anything.
Tonight I've also seen some of the poorest excuses to avoid praising the team I've ever read. We won 4-1. Be happy.
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The 2nd half was a dull affair, but what did we need to do? The most important thing was the 3 points. Good professional performance 2nd half.
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My only criticism of the second half is i'd have liked to see Robinson have 10 mins or so.
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What us the matter with people? I'd take a dull second half and a comfortable win every game. Would people prefer an 'exciting' defeat? Behave yourselves.
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I'd have thought that we, as Villa fans, would be the least likely fans to be unhappy with a 4-1 lead at half time followed by 45 minutes of utter routine in seeing the match out.
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My only criticism of the second half is i'd have liked to see Robinson have 10 mins or so.
Who?
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Very happy with the result. I was fearing the worst today and though it was Lamberts D-Day. Responded well to a very early set back at home, Again and Benteke inspired the team. I think they feel if the beast is on form then we can beat anyone. Second half, no thrills, no heart palpatations, just how I like it for once. Shut up shop and take the 3pts and the goal difference and move on without any drama.
Very happy with today. The faults are what they are but aslong as we are in the Premiership we have a chance of improving on them.
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My only criticism of the second half is i'd have liked to see Robinson have 10 mins or so.
Who?
Callum Robinson was on the bench, with a 4-1 lead i'd like to have seen him get 10 mins as it's a good time to give him a game. Unless you're Marlon Harewood!
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There were a few blokes a couple of rows behind me who spent most of the second half signing old Villa songs. Been a while since I heard Spinksy rolls the ball to Platty down VP. Even longer since I heard some of the player songs they sang.
Hope they continue, anything but that Paul McGrath song.
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What is the point taking risks at 4-1 at half time?
Yeah, we could have pushed the boat out and chased a sixth goal or something, but I was much more impressed with our brain - for a change - in effectively killing the game off.
Loads of good sides do that. How many times, for example, have you seen us play Man United at home, they'll score 3 by half time, it'll be game over, and they'll just spend the second half letting us have the ball a bit but they've effectively ended the game.
I take way more heart from us being clinical today than I would have from another goal or two.
Paulie, it was bloody Norwich with a crap defence, not Man Utd of old. If we close down the way we did today against Chelsea next week, you'll have a point.
And Dave, I've given the team plenty of praise today and I'm more than happy with the three points, thank you very much.
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What is the point taking risks at 4-1 at half time?
Yeah, we could have pushed the boat out and chased a sixth goal or something, but I was much more impressed with our brain - for a change - in effectively killing the game off.
Loads of good sides do that. How many times, for example, have you seen us play Man United at home, they'll score 3 by half time, it'll be game over, and they'll just spend the second half letting us have the ball a bit but they've effectively ended the game.
I take way more heart from us being clinical today than I would have from another goal or two.
Paulie, it was bloody Norwich with a crap defence, not Man Utd of old. If we close down the way we did today against Chelsea next week, you'll have a point.
And Dave, I've given the team plenty of praise today and I'm more than happy with the three points, thank you very much.
I genuinely don't see what you're unhappy about.
I was comparing us to Man United, not Norwich, in terms of how they'd kill games off. Sometimes it makes sense to do just what you need to do, and no more - that's the point I was getting at.
Lest we forget, btw, it's only Norwich, but it's the same Norwich who made us look like absolute school boys for the first 15-20 minutes.
Also, how many times this season have we moaned at Lambert for not seeing the obvious move and killing off games when we're in a good position?
I genuinely can not see (beyond the first 20 mins) anything to be unhappy about today.
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My only criticism of the second half is i'd have liked to see Robinson have 10 mins or so.
I thought that as well. He looked quite lively in the last live game they showed on AVTV.
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Well-deserved three points.
Play like that for every home game, please. Not just when Norwich is in town.
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Some people need to compartmentalise their criticism. KEA has deserved it during the season. Today he was very good indeed and the player we saw in that video when we bought him. He was everywhere today.
He was excellent today. I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw him on the team sheet, but fair play to him. I thought he was our best midfielder, easily.
Yes, he was good for 'an appalling footballer'.
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I can just imagine what would have happened if we'd gone out looking for more goals and got caught on the break within five minutes.
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Villa would never throw away a 4-1 lead. Well okay Spurs happened but that way away, we'd never do it at home. Wait a minute........
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Anyone any more info on the lambert altercation with fan(s) behind dugout ?
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My only criticism of the second half is i'd have liked to see Robinson have 10 mins or so.
Who?
Callum Robinson was on the bench, with a 4-1 lead i'd like to have seen him get 10 mins as it's a good time to give him a game. Unless you're Marlon Harewood!
We could have played the second half with Ann Robinson in goal and still won.
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I can just imagine what would have happened if we'd gone out looking for more goals and got caught on the break within five minutes.
On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
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Tonight I've also seen some of the poorest excuses to avoid praising the team I've ever read. We won 4-1. Be happy.
I was expecting levico toncome on and say something nice but perhaps he is still down at VP waiting for Lambert's autograph!
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
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Frankly a second half of comfortable formality and barely breaking sweat (except for Holty who, bless him, looked like he'd played the full 90 at full pelt by the time the final whistle went) is something I'd like to see more of. Norwich were fecked all second half and barely threatened. We still had a few half decent breakaways but again, we saw the game out without having to expell a great deal of energy in the second half.
Job done. 4-1.
More of that please.
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
You'll see the very same thing on here once Chelsea and City beat us. "Apart from a flukey 20 minutes against Norwich..."
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Having just read todays ' Match Tread ' , more specifically the first 10 pages , I could,nt agree with you more , there are examples there aplenty to support your arguement .........Godzvilla! .
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
Having just read todays ' Match Tread ' , more specifically the first 10 pages , I could,nt agree with you more , there are examples there aplenty to support your arguement Louzie0.........Godzvilla! .
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
You'll see the very same thing on here once Chelsea and City beat us. "Apart from a flukey 20 minutes against Norwich..."
villa won 4-1 today, fact.
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
You'll see the very same thing on here once Chelsea and City beat us. "Apart from a flukey 20 minutes against Norwich..."
How true, Louzie0.
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
Why do I suddenly feel like Eccles?
With the exception of Guzan we started with every player looking like they were going to have a mare. Benteke really turned it all around. It's amazing what how a goal out of the blue can turn one team into a confident set of strollers whilst reducing the other to a quivering wreck.
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I didn't see that, unless passing the ball backwards and sideways is a performance.
I thought the game showed his lack of pace, strength, tackling, heading shooting and crossing ability.
He did not create a chance, did not make a tackle.
It will flabbergast you to learn that he made the most tackles in the game with six then. He has also made more successful tackles than any other Villa player this season.
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Tonight I've also seen some of the poorest excuses to avoid praising the team I've ever read. We won 4-1. Be happy.
I was expecting levico toncome on and say something nice but perhaps he is still down at VP waiting for Lambert's autograph!
More like bentekes autograph - he was the one who turned the game on its head after a dreadful start - confidence grew from there .
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Anyone any more info on the lambert altercation with fan(s) behind dugout ?
What's gone on? I missed that.
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Villa 8/1 to be winning at half time after the Norwich goal.
Ker fuckin ching.
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Anyone any more info on the lambert altercation with fan(s) behind dugout ?
What's gone on? I missed that.
They mentioned it on the radio commentary just after one of the goals. Someone got lifted.
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Some negativity around at the moment. But surely, this result must lift some of it. I'll take 4 Villa goals in either half, if it means we pick up all 3 points.
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I can just imagine what would have happened if we'd gone out looking for more goals and got caught on the break within five minutes.
This is it. The thinking needed to be keep it tight for 15 minutes up to the hour mark, so we don't concede and see a momentum shift with some nerves kicking in.
It turned out that we should have probably scored in that time with Gabby's header, but we had effectively squeezed the life out of the game by then and Norwich looked forlorn. They had a 10 minute spell where they kept the ball but couldn't break us down as we would snuff them out any time they approached the final third.
We would have all like more goals, but at 4-1, having put another big dent into Norwich's goal difference and thereby making it an effective 4 point gap, why bother risking what you have achieved?
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20 minutes of pace, pressure, goals, width, desire, variety and putting the game well out of reach while putting space between us and the bottom teams.... I was expecting a dirty 2-1 victory, so this was brilliant. They scored one, should have scored at least one other, and was touch and go to be left with elevn players. I didnt get their substitutions, taking off their best two players. Their fans were great, never stopped singing, cheered every pass when they were 4-1 down, and sang about loving Grant Holt. Great entertainment
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Well said about the Norwich fans. Those that made the journey were fantastic. Personally I will settle for dull second halves in every home game of the season left if we are comfortably leading at half time. Have we got so used to going wild at the final whistle of nerve wracking single goal wins that we can't enjoy a 4-1 that turns into a stroll?
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
With the early booing, and the lack of a 'rocking' Villa Park atmosphere to go with a 4-1 win, I had a strong sense that we had a significant contingent who had turned up for 'Lambert Out Day' and were disappointed.
Still - that will go one way or the other. If we can put more football together they will be turned around, and if we don't, 'Lambert Out Day' will arrive at some point.
Personally, I am still very much in the wanting this to work camp, rather than having to start again. Simply because this working will be a lot quicker now than having to ask someone else to start making some sense of it.
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Yeah fair play to the Norwich fans who turned up but after frequenting their main forum over the last year or so, I haven't got a great deal of sympathy. They despise us and they still haven't got over Lambert leaving them for a new challenge.
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More importantly, we've got some really tough games coming up and we're at our best when we play with a high tempo, if we can have 45 minutes in 1st gear then it's a sensible and professional thing to do. I said right at the start of this thread the only thing that I'm disappointed with is, like PWS, I think he should've given Robinson a run out.
Bacuna's goal - lovely move and a couple of great passes but the best bit, for me, was his first touch, watching it live I knew he was going to score after that touch, he just opened it up perfectly.
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I dont get the need for change now. Take a look at the clubs who have changed managers, and how well are they truly doing? Lambert has the team to do better than we are currently, our 15 mins yesterday and first half at Anfield is testament. This is pretty much a team he brought together alongside our own youth players. Im not saying its perfect, far from it, West Ham and Palace have been real low points. Lambert out will solve nothing at all, apart from probably losing Benteke in the summer
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I can just imagine what would have happened if we'd gone out looking for more goals and got caught on the break within five minutes.
On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
Exactly Around 1965/66 we lost to Spurs at home 4-1. I throughly enjoyed that match. I thought we were very good that day deserved to win in my opinion. Might have been a Cup match. We dont win that many so be grateful for small mercies!
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It was a great win and much needed and after the results we've had, we deserve to enjoy it. We do need to try and carry it on though. Winning a game then losing three after that is the reason why we're down the wrong end of the table.
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A fan did go and have a go a Lambert after Lambert turned around and told a section of support behind the dug out to "fcuk off" after the third goal. The bloke did get escorted out, but was back in his seat about five minutes later, so he clearly wasn't chucked out.
The first 15 minutes were as bad as anything we've seen this season and I can't imagine too many fans were impressed.
A win is a win though, it's just amazing how fragile our confidence is.
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A win - the Big Eared Boys from the farm put to the sword.
3 points and dumps them in shit.
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We scored every shot on target.
Second half was back to normal, I don't think we were that good at all
In the second half we were as good as we needed to be.
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Like a boxer being knocked down with a sucker punch it took us twenty minutes to clear our heads and start fighting back.
From then until half time we were great and finished it off with a clinical, controlled second half where we hardly gave them a sniff.
I have been thinking for a few weeks that if Benteke found some form and confidence things would start looking very different. If he can play like that until the end of the season a nice comfortable mid table finish will be ours.
That doesn't sound too thrilling but after the mess of recent seasons it will do and it puts us in a decent position to exploit the improved financial position. Of course there are loads of 'ifs' in that but we won 4-1 and the sun is shining so time for a spot of positive thinking.
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So, are we probably safe?
10 games, might need 7-9 more points...
Good news is that we do play Stoke, Fulham, Southampton and Hull at VP among those 10 games.
Palace and Swansea might be some points away.
Love to steal anything at Tottenham too but realisticly as long as we not humiliated and still stay up I can repress a loss..
Norwich beat Spurs last week so it isn't out of the question...
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Benteke was really on his game yesterday. When he's like that we look half decent as a team, when he isn't, well, you know exactly what we look like. I didn't see the need for bringing him off and replacing him with Holt though. We haven't got a game for 2 weeks so no need for saving energy of players.
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first 20 mins as said was poor, but when Vlaar picks out Beneteke for the equaliser we kept on top until the end of the first half, kept them at bay in the second and comfortably saw out the half.
and a special mention for Delph's block at the foot of the post from Hoolahan's header at 2-1.....vital moment in the game in my opinion.
well done Villa.
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Benteke was really on his game yesterday. When he's like that we look half decent as a team, when he isn't, well, you know exactly what we look like. I didn't see the need for bringing him off and replacing him with Holt though. We haven't got a game for 2 weeks so no need for saving energy of players.
Bit of showmanship. He gets an ovation that way, which he deserved and possibly needed.
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Benteke was really on his game yesterday. When he's like that we look half decent as a team, when he isn't, well, you know exactly what we look like. I didn't see the need for bringing him off and replacing him with Holt though. We haven't got a game for 2 weeks so no need for saving energy of players.
Bit of showmanship. He gets an ovation that way, which he deserved and possibly needed.
And the Norwich fans get the chance to applaud Grant Holt and piss off their owners.
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A fan did go and have a go a Lambert after Lambert turned around and told a section of support behind the dug out to "fcuk off" after the third goal. The bloke did get escorted out, but was back in his seat about five minutes later, so he clearly wasn't chucked out.
The first 15 minutes were as bad as anything we've seen this season and I can't imagine too many fans were impressed.
A win is a win though, it's just amazing how fragile our confidence is.
Lambert told a section of our fans to fuck off after the third goal ? Charming .
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A fan did go and have a go a Lambert after Lambert turned around and told a section of support behind the dug out to "fcuk off" after the third goal. The bloke did get escorted out, but was back in his seat about five minutes later, so he clearly wasn't chucked out.
The first 15 minutes were as bad as anything we've seen this season and I can't imagine too many fans were impressed.
A win is a win though, it's just amazing how fragile our confidence is.
Lambert told a section of our fans to fuck off after the third goal ? Charming .
Must be learning from Culverhouse.
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Benteke was really on his game yesterday. When he's like that we look half decent as a team, when he isn't, well, you know exactly what we look like. I didn't see the need for bringing him off and replacing him with Holt though. We haven't got a game for 2 weeks so no need for saving energy of players.
Once he had put the first one away, it was as if the clock had been turned back to the end of last season. He was wanting the ball, moving around to receive it and pull their defenders out of position, holding it up, laying it off, in fact showing what a top class player is in there. And the ball was sticking to him not bouncing off 3 yards as it has been doing over recent months. Let's hope this is the turning point and he can keep it up for the rest of the season.
Also agree about Robinson, 3 goals up with five minutes to go what is there to lose by giving the lad his debut in front of a happy Holte End?
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More importantly, we've got some really tough games coming up and we're at our best when we play with a high tempo, if we can have 45 minutes in 1st gear then it's a sensible and professional thing to do. I said right at the start of this thread the only thing that I'm disappointed with is, like PWS, I think he should've given Robinson a run out.
Bacuna's goal - lovely move and a couple of great passes but the best bit, for me, was his first touch, watching it live I knew he was going to score after that touch, he just opened it up perfectly.
The little pass by Gabby to Weimann between their two players was fantastic.
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That performance yesterday just makes it all the more gutting that Chelsea's win at Fulham has ruled out our late punt at the title!
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We scored every shot on target.
Second half was back to normal, I don't think we were that good at all
In the second half we were as good as we needed to be.
I missed this, we didn't score every shot on target, we scored 4 and had 4 shots on target but as 1 was an own goal and Gabby had a header straight at Ruddy the numbers are a bit misleading.
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It was a horrible start and they were clearly rattled, but Benteke's performance and outrageous goal dragged us kicking and screaming back into the game. After that it went mad, perhaps our best twenty minute spell under Lambert, we were utterly dominant. The second half bitted up a little, and there's not much helping that because Norwich got very scrappy as well. Overall, though, I hope this is a turning point, and I'm much more optimistic than after the Liverpool game - I just hope it's not another false dawn.
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@MatKendrick: War chest: Nathan Baker posts a selfie of his Tettey-inflicted wounds #avfc #ouch http://t.co/Fr3m4s1ZRY
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That has gotta hurt!
(http://i2.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article6765444.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/nathan-baker-chest-injury-6765444.jpg)
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@MatKendrick: War chest: Nathan Baker posts a selfie of his Tettey-inflicted wounds #avfc #ouch http://t.co/Fr3m4s1ZRY
I missread the Tettey bit and thought he had spilt tea on himself!
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I hope my missus doesn't see that picture. I will have to keep my vest on forever
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What was that second half? Where was the fight from the Norwich team? We were so comfortable. The game was over at HT.
Benteke's first goal was truly incredible. I notice, though, that Agbonlahor chested it exactly like Benteke a few minutes earlier but didn't have the intelligence to try a shot. That's the difference.
Would've liked to see Robinson come on for a bit. Grant Holt can't control a ball, truly embarrassing.
If Lambert told the fans to fuck off, someone needs to have a word. The fans will always have a go but he needs to ignore it and get on with his job.
Good win but we need to build on this now. Stoke at home seems like a good opportunity.
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Delighted with the result, however I felt that it papered over the cracks. There was a great twenty minutes, but either side there were seventy of "FFS Villa" and "meh!"
The first goal came out of nothing because until that point I felt we hadn't threatened at all.
Ultimately, this Villa team is not worthy of the name. While that is in part Lambert's fault, you have to look at the cloth he has been given to cut. In this age of insane TV money and fans being told that their admission money is less-and-less an influence on club income (all clubs in the PL, that is), the desire to cut costs seems maddening. And for this reason the buck stops squarely with the "custodian" for me.
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A win - the Big Eared Boys from the farm put to the sword.
Ironically by the man with the tiniest ears in the World.
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Having just read todays ' Match Tread ' , more specifically the first 10 pages , I could,nt agree with you more , there are examples there aplenty to support your arguement Louzie0.........Godzvilla! .
What on earth do you expect to find on the match thread in the early stages of a game in which we had looked utterly insipid, disorganised, more clueless than ever, and had conceded on three minutes?
You can not draw any real conclusions from a match thread, it is entirely unfair. The reason it is full of people queueing up to jump off a bridge is because at that stage we looked absolutely awful. I understand that.
It is those struggling to be happy the day after a good result in a crucial match that I don't get.
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Benteke was really on his game yesterday. When he's like that we look half decent as a team, when he isn't, well, you know exactly what we look like. I didn't see the need for bringing him off and replacing him with Holt though. We haven't got a game for 2 weeks so no need for saving energy of players.
Bit of showmanship. He gets an ovation that way, which he deserved and possibly needed.
And the Norwich fans get the chance to applaud Grant Holt and piss off their owners.
Shame Hughton didn't sub Hoolahan as we could have applauded him for his second half performance.
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Benteke was really on his game yesterday. When he's like that we look half decent as a team, when he isn't, well, you know exactly what we look like. I didn't see the need for bringing him off and replacing him with Holt though. We haven't got a game for 2 weeks so no need for saving energy of players.
Bit of showmanship. He gets an ovation that way, which he deserved and possibly needed.
And the Norwich fans get the chance to applaud Grant Holt and piss off their owners.
Shame Hughton didn't sub Hoolahan as we could have applauded him for his second half performance.
Someone on twitter this morning pointed out how respectful it was of Hoolahan not to cheer any of our four goals.
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Having just read todays ' Match Tread ' , more specifically the first 10 pages , I could,nt agree with you more , there are examples there aplenty to support your arguement Louzie0.........Godzvilla! .
What on earth do you expect to find on the match thread in the early stages of a game in which we had looked utterly insipid, disorganised, more clueless than ever, and had conceded on three minutes?
You can not draw any real conclusions from a match thread, it is entirely unfair. The reason it is full of people queueing up to jump off a bridge is because at that stage we looked absolutely awful. I understand that.
It is those struggling to be happy the day after a good result in a crucial match that I don't get.
Bang on.
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senstational 15 minutes
CB goal woke us and we then killed off the game quick
the rest was like the normal Villa but cant really judge second half as the game was won but would have liked to see a few more goals .
The table looks so much better and we needed that so much with the games coming up , Lambert does know how to beat Norwich , shame every team is not Norwich.
Now lets see how the play as I thought the Man City win would lift our season . I feel we will be ok now. Lambert I dont know.
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I missed the entire first half and first 15 minutes of the second half because I was assembling a bed.
Perhaps I should do that more often.
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I was bored of the second half but in a lovely happy relaxed way than the times Im bored watching us and I need a gun.
Mind the JD was helping.
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I was bored of the second half but in a lovely happy relaxed way than the times Im bored watching us and I need a gun.
Mind the JD was helping.
I was in such a relaxed mood in the 2nd half that on 84 mins I hoovered the living room much to the shock of mrs east .
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I was wondering what Lambert was going to see in the interview on MOTD , as he had been saying on TV 'we were excellent 'against Newcastle and ' we were excellent against ' against Cardiff , I thought I bet hes gonna orgasm live on tv and then he said ' We were excellent ' ;)
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I was bored of the second half but in a lovely happy relaxed way than the times Im bored watching us and I need a gun.
Mind the JD was helping.
I was in such a relaxed mood in the 2nd half that on 84 mins I hoovered the living room much to the shock of mrs east .
all your KFC on the floor
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I do think Benteke will keep us in the league again now
He was colossal yesterday
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4-1 up at half time. I was having bad flashbacks to a game in the '90s v Leicester when we were 4-1 up at half time and dew 4 - 4. Thankfully history never repeated itself!
A few observations:
Between them scoring and Benteke's wonder strike there were some very angry anti-Lambert epithets being thrown around up in P8. Not heard anything like these before (except by a bloke I have nicknamed "Gollum" who likes to shout GIT STUCK IIIIIINNNNN at inopportune moments)
I gave MOTM to KEA - I thought he was excellent. Some fierce tackling and intelligent interceptions. I also recall one Styllian Petrov taking almost a whole season to come up to speed in the Premier League and most people writing him off as crap in his first season. Hopefully KEA is similar. The other two midfielders played well too.
I thought the back 4 were also excellent. Particularly Baker.
It was good to see the beast back. Weimann working hard but Gabby went and hid between the centre halves. He hasn't done that for a while.
I thought the Norwich crowd were good too. OK we shut them up in the first half but they recovered well in the second half and at times the gallows humour of some of their chants was more entertaining than the football. Far better than the baggies who we never heard a peep out of after they gave it large.
I wasn't too impressed with Holt's love-in with the Norwich fans though. He was inept when he came on, responded to their "give us a wave" bollocks and went over to them. OK Mr. Holt they may love you but you are a professional and playing against them.
Left Villa park with a big grin on my face and it felt good.
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I don't understand this "either side of 20 minutes argument".
No side plays for a full 90 minutes and for good reason; what happened in the second half was dictated by us having already won the game.
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Over the moon with this result I thought for 20 minutes we were unplayable what a goal from Benteke let's keep this form up.
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I don't understand this "either side of 20 minutes argument".
No side plays for a full 90 minutes and for good reason; what happened in the second half was dictated by us having already won the game.
If we play well for the majority of the game and lose the doom mongers all come on here saying "games last for 90 minutes." Some people just always want something to moan about. If you are a Villa fan and you have not got an extra spring in your step today, why do you bother?
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A blessed relief
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I don't understand this "either side of 20 minutes argument".
No side plays for a full 90 minutes and for good reason; what happened in the second half was dictated by us having already won the game.
If we play well for the majority of the game and lose the doom mongers all come on here saying "games last for 90 minutes." Some people just always want something to moan about. If you are a Villa fan and you have not got an extra spring in your step today, why do you bother?
Exactly, if you are going to moan about a 4-1 win why bother. Obviously a couple of critical observations would be acceptable but how often do you see a top team perform poorly and win the game with a great five minute spell and a couple of quality goals. Yesterday we had a great twenty minute spell and scored four goals then strolled the second half like a top team would.
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I don't understand this "either side of 20 minutes argument".
No side plays for a full 90 minutes and for good reason; what happened in the second half was dictated by us having already won the game.
If we play well for the majority of the game and lose the doom mongers all come on here saying "games last for 90 minutes." Some people just always want something to moan about. If you are a Villa fan and you have not got an extra spring in your step today, why do you bother?
Exactly, if you are going to moan about a 4-1 win why bother. Obviously a couple of critical observations would be acceptable but how often do you see a top team perform poorly and win the game with a great five minute spell and a couple of quality goals. Yesterday we had a great twenty minute spell and scored four goals then strolled the second half like a top team would.
Were you describing Man City in the cup final there, that's certainly what I saw, 2 moments of pure quality in an average performance but as soon as they took the lead they killed the game.
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Looking at our fixture we probably need to win 2/3 games out of:-
Fulham (H)
Stoke (H)
Southampton (H)
Swansea (A)
Palace (A)
Hull (H)
Difficult to see many points from Man City, Manure, Spurzz or Chelski.
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Looking at our fixture we probably need to win 2/3 games out of:-
Fulham (H)
Stoke (H)
Southampton (H)
Swansea (A)
Palace (A)
Hull (H)
Difficult to see many points from Man City, Manure, Spurzz or Chelski.
These things hardly ever work out that way, though. I couldn't see us getting anything out of Man City at home but we (remarkably) did. I couldn't see us getting anything from that match at half time, FWIW, the first half was so one sided.
Flip side, I couldn't imagine us getting nothing at home to Crystal Palace, either.
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Looking at our fixture we probably need to win 2/3 games out of:-
Fulham (H)
Stoke (H)
Southampton (H)
Swansea (A)
Palace (A)
Hull (H)
Difficult to see many points from Man City, Manure, Spurzz or Chelski.
These things hardly ever work out that way, though. I couldn't see us getting anything out of Man City at home but we (remarkably) did. I couldn't see us getting anything from that match at half time, FWIW, the first half was so one sided.
Flip side, I couldn't imagine us getting nothing at home to Crystal Palace, either.
38 points should be enough with our gd and if we can't get 7 points at least from the last 10 then we will deserve to drop.
I would hope we can put a run together on the back of yesterday's win and pick up a lot more points to be safe with a few games to play .
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Looking at our fixture we probably need to win 2/3 games out of:-
Fulham (H)
Stoke (H)
Southampton (H)
Swansea (A)
Palace (A)
Hull (H)
Difficult to see many points from Man City, Manure, Spurzz or Chelski.
These things hardly ever work out that way, though. I couldn't see us getting anything out of Man City at home but we (remarkably) did. I couldn't see us getting anything from that match at half time, FWIW, the first half was so one sided.
Flip side, I couldn't imagine us getting nothing at home to Crystal Palace, either.
We will beat Chelsea and Manure. You heard it here first.
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I'd only really write off points against Man City. We've generally done pretty well against Chelsea and Tottenham and Man U aren't playing well enough to be games we should expect nothing from. That said you'd expect 3-4 wins from the others really. I think 43-45 points from here, which is less than I was hoping for but should see us safely in midtable with 3-4 games to go.
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Having just read todays ' Match Tread ' , more specifically the first 10 pages , I could,nt agree with you more , there are examples there aplenty to support your arguement Louzie0.........Godzvilla! .
What on earth do you expect to find on the match thread in the early stages of a game in which we had looked utterly insipid, disorganised, more clueless than ever, and had conceded on three minutes?
You can not draw any real conclusions from a match thread, it is entirely unfair. The reason it is full of people queueing up to jump off a bridge is because at that stage we looked absolutely awful. I understand that.
It is those struggling to be happy the day after a good result in a crucial match that I don't get.
I have read the pages up to 15mins or so and the reaction there is no different from how it was in the ground and completely understandable. We must not surgically examine all words written in a match thread in a particular phase of the match and judge supporters.
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I'd only really write off points against Man City. We've generally done pretty well against Chelsea and Tottenham and Man U aren't playing well enough to be games we should expect nothing from. That said you'd expect 3-4 wins from the others really. I think 43-45 points from here, which is less than I was hoping for but should see us safely in midtable with 3-4 games to go.
Yes, I was hoping for 50 this season but I think thats beyond us now - 45 should see us around 12th / 13th.
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Spurs game could be anybodies. They may well have missed out on Misnomer League football and have zip all to play for. A bit like the Arsenal game under Houllier.
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Looking at Norwich's fixtures they could do with picking up their points from their next 6 games, as their last 4 fixtures are:-
Liverpool H
Chelsea A
Man Utd A
Arsenal H
Yes, you can get points from them, but you wouldn't want to have to get 3+ points from those 4 games.
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Looking at Norwich's fixtures they could do with picking up their points from their next 6 games, as their last 4 fixtures are:-
Liverpool H
Chelsea A
Man Utd A
Arsenal H
Yes, you can get points from them, but you wouldn't want to have to get 3+ points from those 4 games.
Their home form will decide their fate against teams around them - can't see them getting even two points from their last 4.
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Spurs game could be anybodies. They may well have missed out on Misnomer League football and have zip all to play for. A bit like the Arsenal game under Houllier.
I don't think so. I think it will be either ours or theirs. (Sorry)
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I'd like to take this chance to say that I thought El Ahmadi was superb yesterday, I've been his biggest critic but he was excellent throughout, and carrying this on (it's quite cathartic) I thought Baker looked much better too, and I thought he was good last week too.
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Agree with that, LeeB, both KEA and Baker (again) had good games. In fact there wasn't a poor performance from anybody. I've seen a few have a go at Gabby's display but for me he was the driving force for us in the first half, even when we were behind. It's just a shame he didn't score with his header in the second half, it was the type he normally buries.
He's probably saving his goal for the winner against Chelsea.
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I'd like to take this chance to say that I thought El Ahmadi was superb yesterday, I've been his biggest critic but he was excellent throughout, and carrying this on (it's quite cathartic) I thought Baker looked much better too, and I thought he was good last week too.
I said yesterday morning (I think) that one thing he does is close player's down and he did that really well yesterday. No, he's not always played well and he's not always going to, but other than Delph, he's been no worse than any of the other midfielders this season.
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This is not really about the game but I don't want to start a new thread on a boring topic. When I went to buy a ticket at the ticket office for my grandson I was asked to pay £2 surcharge for using my debit card. I agreed reluctantly and the ticket sell proceeded to tap all the details of my card on a screen. She repeated the process twice and she told me that my card had been declined twice. I found this hard to believe because there were more than adequate funds to cover the transaction and I use the card very regularly. I was obligewd to go down to the cash machine at Tesco and use the same card to withdraw cash to pay for the ticket. This incident raised firstly the inconvenience of having to go to a cash machine and possibly miss some of the game, secondly why Villa can't be like every other business (including my own) and use card terminals and how secure is it to hand over a debit card and let them take all the details from it and put them into a computer? I am not impugning anybody at Villa but it is a system which could easily be abused in the wrong hands. I wonder if anybody else getting tickets for the Norwich game had similar problems. I also thought KEA had his best game for us yesterday.
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On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
neither do I.
Unfortunately Villa attracts some absolute planks to supporter websites.
You'll see the very same thing on here once Chelsea and City beat us. "Apart from a flukey 20 minutes against Norwich..."
I'm certainly not bemoaning a 4-1 win. Neither do I think the 20 minute spell was flukey.
Regarding the second half, I'm not sure how much of the 'shut out' was down to Norwich's ineptitude and how much was due our professionalism. Seemed like more evidence to support the view that we blow alarmingly hot and cold often within the same match.
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I thought it was a game of 2 quarters. The second half both teams settled for the end result.
First 20 minutes was all that was bad - and I was thinking this diamond in midfield will never work, then once we equalized the rest of the half the same diamond seemed to be working brilliantly.
Once Benteke decided to play after his goal, everything worked. If he can play anywhere near that in the remaining games we can stop worrying. It was at times like watching Peter Withe the way he brought others into play. Let's hope he keeps it up. I'm sure he wants to go to Brazil so that should be enough motivation.
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This is not really about the game but I don't want to start a new thread on a boring topic. When I went to buy a ticket at the ticket office for my grandson I was asked to pay £2 surcharge for using my debit card. I agreed reluctantly and the ticket sell proceeded to tap all the details of my card on a screen. She repeated the process twice and she told me that my card had been declined twice. I found this hard to believe because there were more than adequate funds to cover the transaction and I use the card very regularly. I was obligewd to go down to the cash machine at Tesco and use the same card to withdraw cash to pay for the ticket. This incident raised firstly the inconvenience of having to go to a cash machine and possibly miss some of the game, secondly why Villa can't be like every other business (including my own) and use card terminals and how secure is it to hand over a debit card and let them take all the details from it and put them into a computer? I am not impugning anybody at Villa but it is a system which could easily be abused in the wrong hands. I wonder if anybody else getting tickets for the Norwich game had similar problems. I also thought KEA had his best game for us yesterday.
It was nice meeting you Brian, it was me you were telling about it on Witton Lane.
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Hi Peter. I was well charged up and I am sorry I blathered at you but I was bricking it that the two goes they had had with my card had screwed it up. I needed fuel to get home and all that boring stuff. I will be more civilized next time and speak coherently. Great to have a face to put to the wise words I read from you.
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Hi Peter. I was well charged up and I am sorry I blathered at you but I was bricking it that the two goes they had had with my card had screwed it up. I needed fuel to get home and all that boring stuff. I will be more civilized next time and speak coherently. Great to have a face to put to the wise words I read from you.
It's ok Brian, I could tell you weren't happy. Wise words? I think you are mistaking me for another poster!
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Was there really much difference between that performance and when we beat Burnley 5-2 under O'Neill when going for foruth? Huff and puff at home as per against crap teams, blitz them with a quickfire counter-attacking salvo before sitting out the game comfortably safe in the knowledge that nothing further is required.
We are a classic reactive team. Wait til we go behind before we start playing, pretty limited at imposing ourselves in terms of possession and pressing and at our best when we career forward from defending our penalty area with loads of space to run into.
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That has gotta hurt!
(http://i2.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article6765444.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/nathan-baker-chest-injury-6765444.jpg)
Danlanza will not like that.
Way too much hair.
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I can just imagine what would have happened if we'd gone out looking for more goals and got caught on the break within five minutes.
On twitter I have seen some Villa fans who are openly disappointed we won. The usual accompanying phrases "papers over cracks", "doesnt solve the real problem".
Honestly I dont understand the point of being a fan if you cant enjoy a nice 4-1 home win.
Exactly Around 1965/66 we lost to Spurs at home 4-1. I throughly enjoyed that match. I thought we were very good that day deserved to win in my opinion. Might have been a Cup match. We dont win that many so be grateful for small mercies!
That game was 68/69 season Ron manager and I was there as well, we did play well, for some reason I remember Charlie Aitken going on a long mazy run from our box all the way into the Spurs box, good old Charlie.
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Having just read todays ' Match Tread ' , more specifically the first 10 pages , I could,nt agree with you more , there are examples there aplenty to support your arguement Louzie0.........Godzvilla! .
What on earth do you expect to find on the match thread in the early stages of a game in which we had looked utterly insipid, disorganised, more clueless than ever, and had conceded on three minutes?
You can not draw any real conclusions from a match thread, it is entirely unfair. The reason it is full of people queueing up to jump off a bridge is because at that stage we looked absolutely awful. I understand that.
It is those struggling to be happy the day after a good result in a crucial match that I don't get.
I have read the pages up to 15mins or so and the reaction there is no different from how it was in the ground and completely understandable. We must not surgically examine all words written in a match thread in a particular phase of the match and judge supporters.
I said that there were some absolute planks attracted to this website. I did not refer specifically to any thread, match or otherwise.
I stand by that assertion.
Having said that, the planks may well figure there as well as anywhere else.
They are out there.