Aston Villa v Everton Post-Match Thread

[jembob]

The first half was a very nervous display from our lot. I think we only had one shot on goal and it resulted in a goal scored by our forward-thinking, positive, two-footed right back. MONs decision to play Cuellar at right back for so much of last season seems more absurd when you see the extra attacking threat a proper RB can give us. Far too wasteful with the ball in the first half and I really can't understand why we persisted with the long balls to Carew when Fellaini had already sussed out how to deal with it.

Much better in the second half and we kept more possession. It could have ended 3-3 again and would have been a fantastic advert for the PL. At one point I remember thinking that the game had just gone insane but thoroughly enjoyable. I think that this season Albrighton will develop into the new James Milner - he's got the same levels of persistence and work rate but I think he's more skillful.

[Witton Warrior]

It was like watching us 2 seasons ago?

[pauliewalnuts]

We need to get back to keeping the ball, the way we did against West Ham. Gave it away far too cheaply at times today, and really struggled to get it back of them again.

If we appoint a (decent) manager in the next two weeks, then we will have effectively ridden out this period of turmoil - at least in terms of points gained. Fourth in the league, six points from nine is not bad at all.

The shame is that the transfer window will be shut, and I worry about where the goals will come from, but in terms of the points we've taken, we've done as much as we could realistically hope to have done to get through this period and buy ourselves some time.

Forget the fact that we were backs to the wall, sod the fact that we were under great pressure for long spells, and who cares if really we could quite easily have lost today .... having lost 6-0 to a promoted side and gone out of Europe in depressing circumstances this week, the most important thing today by an absolute country mile was the result, anything else doesn't matter. Had we lost today, we'd have had two weeks to stew on a humiliation followed by two defeats, which would have carried the sourness into next month.

We didn't lose, though, and right now bollocks to it, I don't really care about anything else.

[TimTheVillain]

On a negative note, Carew is having a crap start to the season - he was shyte again today.

That said , he is loved at VP and still got a good reception when he was taken off ..... I think he'd have to score 6 own goals intentionally to get booed !

[Tony]

On a negative note, Carew is having a crap start to the season - he was shyte again today.

That said , he is loved at VP and still got a good reception when he was taken off ..... I think he'd have to score 6 own goals intentionally to get booed !

I thought after the break he did ok, he had a couple of runs where he desperately needed support but we were sitting way too deep for anyone to give him much of a hand, but he had a shot on target that went to Ashley Young where the defended took the sting out of the shot.

[Ads]

His finishing has been poor, but I thought his leading of the line was good considering how little of the ball he was able to get.

[lukey27]

Thought it was a really gutsy performance from us, we were second best for much of it yet we still won. We looked like a side who were unfamiliar with the formation we were playing but that will take time I'm sure. Collins was my man of the match, thought he was exceptional. Despite the managerial uncertainty there's loads to work with in that squad and if we get the appointment right, 8th is the minimum we should expect.

[Mellin]

Felt very proud watching us today. I'll leave it at that.

[villajk]

All the neutrals we spoke to  last night said what a cracking second half it was to watch.

I thought Carew played pretty well, especially second half.

[BannedUserIAT]

I can't add much really. But it would have been SO nice if Freidel had simply rolled the ball out to a Villa player and we tried to keep the ball in the last ten mins instead of hoofing straight back to them.

If we'd have been able to string 5 passes together in the 2nd half, we'd have walked it.

[Matt Collins]

Only saw the highlights, and followed via bbc text. But my thoughts were:

- Ashley Young seemed to be involved in everything good we did, with some incisive passing. I took a lot of encouragement from this.
- Downing wasn't involved in any of them.
- Pienaar, Baines and Arteta's link-up play looked really very good, and in addition to showing what good players they are, also showed the importance of incisive passing on the training pitch, and of getting your technical players to play close to one another.
- There must be a way of getting Ireland and Young to get close enough to one another in a similar respect, but the team that was due to start looked a bit lightweight to me.

[Big Dick Edwards]

We were under the cosh a lot today. Everton are a good, strong side but we showed great character to keep them out. There's an undeniable spirit in the team highlighted by the bodies that were thrown into tackles and to block shots and crosses, particularly Collins and Albrighton.

Carew started the second half like he'd been told to give it everything he'd got for 20 minutes and then he'd be replaced by Gabby. He was a real threat for that period, running at Everton's defence.

I suspect it's going to be a roller coaster season. We're going to be far more entertained at home than we were under MON but may not have the same resilience away from home. Given the crisis MON thrust upon us, I'll take a few more home wins in exchange for a few more away defeats.

[UK Redsox]

We were under the cosh a lot today. Everton are a good, strong side but we showed great character to keep them out. There's an undeniable spirit in the team highlighted by the bodies that were thrown into tackles and to block shots and crosses, particularly Collins and Albrighton.

I still think that Marc's got the potential to be a good Right Back

[peter w]

A few things stood out. First was that during the barrage of crosses and cotners from everton in the second half i never thought they would score for some reason. it was a mixture of seeing the steely resolve from Brad and to a lesser extent the defence.but also the ball seemed to bounce for us a lot. Flicked headers going wide, shots hitting players and falling to us every time. That kept going throughout. A couple of great saves from Brad also.

The other thing was a tad disappointing in the relief. At the end it was like watching a Bolton, or Wolves having held out to a 1-0 win over a top 8 team. The whooping, hoopnig an' a-hollering. fair enough after the week they - we - have had, but all the same.

[Ad@m]

The reality is that Everton probably have one of the best midfields in the league (with the exception of Rodwell every single Everton midfielder on the pitch would get into our team) and they went 5 across the middle.  We were always going to struggle to keep the ball against that and it showed in the possession stats.

That makes it all the more impressive we kept a clean sheet.  We saw almost none of the defensive shambles which conceded 9 goals in the last 2 games and that is down to the players picked.

In terms of individual performances I thought L.Young was MOM.  Brilliant running and superb finish for a right back on his "wrong foot" - there are plenty of players in the team who are more attacking-minded who would've fluffed that chance on 9 out of 10 occasions.  As someone else has said, it's just so disappointing to think what we've missed with Young through MON's stubbornness.

Ash was also excellent - makes a change to see him being so direct when he gets the ball which was maybe due to him playing a lot further up the field than normal.

Although Carew has his haters on here I thought that 2nd half he made a few good, almost inspired, runs which resulted in decent efforts.  One was which was parried by Howard and would've been 2-0 if he hadn't pulled off a world-class save from Ash's second effort.

I also thought NRC did well and Ireland shouldn't automatically get his place back on that showing.

Maybe we give Downing's place to him instead...