Villa 3-0 West Ham: Post Match Thread

[Dave Cooper please]

Wonderful, just fucking wonderful.
With about 20 minutes to go I looked at the big screen which had the match stats on it, we had had 25 shots on goal at that point, fair to say that we had at least another five after that (at least). 30 attempts on goal is an attempt every three minutes (eat yer heart out Villadawg!), and that is entertainment in spades.

Clark - composed, pacey, willing to throw his body in the way of anything. That's a future £25m footballer we have there, what a prospect.
Albrighton - He'll come up against much better full backs, but I bet he won't care. Marvellous.
Milner - Thoroughly and utterly professional. I was amongst his critics over the Citeh stuff, but he put in a display that shows that above all, he is a footballer. I don't begrudge him his big money move now to be honest.

I had one of the best days today I have ever had, Villa won superbly, Tamworth won and are top of the league, the company in The Bartons was top notch, I got soaked but enjoyed my first time selling fanzines.

[Tony]

We've got our club back. We're no longer Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa.

Dad said something similar - how nice it was to see a calm manager on the touchline, instead of a frenetic nutjob.

When O'Leary sat there calm, he got criticised. Some of the O'Neill bashing on here is ludicrous, do people really think that in five days we've completely changed our style of play?

Good performance today, Albrighton was awesome, he terrorised them.

With the lack of attractive available managers out there, I'd give Kevin Macdonald time to prove whether he's up to it, he certainly coaches teams with a winning mentality.

All round enjoyable day, even the crazy thunderstorm was entertaining.

[pauliewalnuts]

Some of the O'Neill bashing on here is ludicrous, do people really think that in five days we've completely changed our style of play?

That's exactly what I think.

Today was totally different, we held the ball, passed it superbly, and moved off the ball.

We looked to build things other than whacking the ball into the box hopefully, played with cohesion and shape, and played the opposition off the park.

It was entirely different to our home performances of the last two years (at least).

What was it at the end, 28 shots on goal?

I doubt we managed that many in our last five home games under MON.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could not have noticed the difference between the way we played today and the way we used to play at home under O'Neill, it was that different.

[Tony]

I find it hard to believe that anyone could not have noticed the difference between the way we played today and the way we used to play at home under O'Neill, it was that different.

It was one game, we had some good home performances under O'Neill, we had more superb away performances admittedly, but we've had great home games too, 5-1 v Blues, Sheff Utd and even the 2-2 v The Arsenal when we absolutely battered them.

[ozzjim]

I would love to see the stats of the number of passes we made today compared to against Blackburn on the final day.

[PaulWinch again]

Some of the O'Neill bashing on here is ludicrous, do people really think that in five days we've completely changed our style of play?

Completely agree, it was completely different. It showed all of our players can play the passing and building game.



That's exactly what I think.

Today was totally different, we held the ball, passed it superbly, and moved off the ball.

We looked to build things other than whacking the ball into the box hopefully, played with cohesion and shape, and played the opposition off the park.

It was entirely different to our home performances of the last two years (at least).

What was it at the end, 28 shots on goal?

I doubt we managed that many in our last five home games under MON.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could not have noticed the difference between the way we played today and the way we used to play at home under O'Neill, it was that different.

[PaulWinch again]

Some of the O'Neill bashing on here is ludicrous, do people really think that in five days we've completely changed our style of play?

That's exactly what I think.

Today was totally different, we held the ball, passed it superbly, and moved off the ball.

We looked to build things other than whacking the ball into the box hopefully, played with cohesion and shape, and played the opposition off the park.

It was entirely different to our home performances of the last two years (at least).

What was it at the end, 28 shots on goal?

I doubt we managed that many in our last five home games under MON.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could not have noticed the difference between the way we played today and the way we used to play at home under O'Neill, it was that different.

Completely agree, it was completely different. It showed all of our players can play the passing and building game.

[JUAN PABLO]

What a breath of fresh air, thats how I want to see AVFC play..

The curse of o'neill is lifted....

Yes , people have said Wham were poor but they were poor last year and we still couldnt score...

what would have happened under him  - 

Luke Young not at RB
Heskey  on the pitch
albrighton not playing-  why he didnt get more games last season ??
Milner probably not playing
Carew and Petrov not lasting 90 mins
Petrov scoring
youngsters not coming on
Young and Downing looking good players

and Villa playing some fantastic football and really looking the part ......

Its ashame Milner is leaving that side but get us a goal scorer and we will be ha great team...

well done KM

even Harewood scores when he aint playing for the media god ... we wont get a better manager than MON people tell me,  fook off , we are AVFC....... 

[villainjock]

see you later jimmy, you were just another number today.you played good. There were no indiviiduals that really stood out today, they all stood out as a team.if you want to be an individual then ta'ra. were going on an adventure now, the mighty AV.

[pauliewalnuts]

I find it hard to believe that anyone could not have noticed the difference between the way we played today and the way we used to play at home under O'Neill, it was that different.

It was one game, we had some good home performances under O'Neill, we had more superb away performances admittedly, but we've had great home games too, 5-1 v Blues, Sheff Utd and even the 2-2 v The Arsenal when we absolutely battered them.

We've had good performances at home under MON, of course, but I haven't seen one when we passed the ball like that for a very long time

Sheffield United is a good example, but that was 3 years ago.

[Greg N'Ash]

The change was pretty staggering IMO.

Players with smiles on their faces - i seriously hadn't missed that until i saw it. Smiling. At each other. Weird.

The first XI not carved in stone for every game, barring injuries.

A right-back playing.

Passing. To each other.

Nah, no change at all.

[Somniloquism]

The change was pretty staggering IMO.

Players with smiles on their faces - i seriously hadn't missed that until i saw it. Smiling. At each other. Weird.

The first XI not carved in stone for every game, barring injuries.

A right-back playing.

Passing. To each other.

Nah, no change at all.

Until we see the team in the next game you can't say that has changed, especially as the playing team was pretty much the same as the last few friendlies barring injuries.

[PaulWinch again]

I think one of the big things is the smiles on the players faces. They played with real joy today and that is a massive change.

[Greg N'Ash]

oh

The change was pretty staggering IMO.

Players with smiles on their faces - i seriously hadn't missed that until i saw it. Smiling. At each other. Weird.

The first XI not carved in stone for every game, barring injuries.

A right-back playing.

Passing. To each other.

Nah, no change at all.

Until we see the team in the next game you can't say that has changed, especially as the playing team was pretty much the same as the last few friendlies barring injuries.

well i think luke young will start next game, but i take your point. You get the feeling team selection is now based on performance and not whether you've upset the manager or your agent has

[Somniloquism]

Watching the match for the third time now on a recorded MOTD. What do you reckon Petrov was saying to Milner when they were celebrating after the goal? Anyone notice Martins son was wearing some retro gear with the old round badge and not something with daddies design on? And finally, who was the girl with a Villa flag draped around her sitting next to Randy? His daughter, his sons GF or the reason he is getting a divorce?

And finally, I still do not know what Carew was doing with the header. He didn't even attempt to divert the header but just caught it flush on the front of the head.