Aston Villa v Bolton Wanderers Post-Match Thread

[olaftab]

Totally inept display. In the second half I looked at the pitch saw ash young Albrighton and downing all on the pitch with feeble mr Ireland and just could not fathom why NRC  was sitting on the bench

[luke25]

That was hard to watch, midfield was sliced open at every opportunity by pissing Bolton, it was scary at times, thought that was Gabbys worst game in a Villa shirt, Knight absolutely owned him all game, the only plus point from a forgettably drab match was Youngs fantastic free kick

[j66acd]

The reason why gabby didn't have a good game was because the balls up to him were food and drink to zat knight and if he did manage to win a header there was nobody running onto the flick on. He was also pushed and pulled all over the place and how we didnt get more free kicks i'll never know, actually i do its because the ref was shit again!Ireland didn't get on the ball enough in the first half, but looked decent in the second and I agree that he should be pushed further forward to thread balls through to gabby.

[jembob]

Looked great in the first 20 minutes but Bolton spotted the obvious and adapted. They know that if you close down a team with little movement then they revert to the long ball. It's so fecking simple, particularly when you know you can win everything in the air.

Pretty clueless all around. God,I hope Houllier takes our team back to basics and remind them how to play the bleeding game.

[ktvillan]

Didn't think either were though Paul. And how many times Knight was allowed to wrestle Gabby without any comeback was a disgrace.

Blooming Charlie Ozz, have you seen the second incident yet (Dunne on Elmander) on the telly?  About as blatant a penalty as you could wish to see I'm afraid, we got of of gaol with that one.

Completely wrong.  Straight after the incident they show a close up of the ref who indicated shirt pulling or someone being pulled back.  They then showed a replay and Elmander clearly pulls Dunne back by the arm as Dunne is winning the ball, forcing Dunne to go to ground - Elmander then falls over Dunne after barely touching dunne's feet.  Even if Elmander hadnt pulled Dunne back i wouldn;t seeit as a penalty.  That daft challenge by Warnock on Lee was another story though....

KMac once again looked totally out of his depth and tactically off course.  At least he wont be in charge any more and there is enough talent in that team for a good manager to make something out of it.

Our much lauded CBs have been beaten in the air consistently in at least 3 of the last 4 games ( I didnt see the Everton game).   Bolton could have had 4 and we were only saved by some good last ditch defending by Luke and Brad.

Some nice football at times, until we resorted to hoofing it, but we had the cutting edge of a spoon.

[kippaxvilla2]

Stringing Petrov and bursting forward in the same sentence takes some doing.  It is official, he is undroppable.  If Houllier doesn't make that his first major decision I will be amazed.

I've said it before, and I think I will be saying it again, this is going to be a long, hard season.

[Somniloquism]

Stringing Petrov and bursting forward in the same sentence takes some doing.  It is official, he is undroppable.  If Houllier doesn't make that his first major decision I will be amazed.

I've said it before, and I think I will be saying it again, this is going to be a long, hard season.

And I asked earlier to someone else. Who should play in his place? Sidwell? Osbourne?

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Ireland has to be played in an advanced position. Petrov needs to be dropped, he is  just a passenger now.

Who would you put in for him though? Delph is injured. Reo? but then we lose the passing aspect and Petrov does more then most give him credit for. Just that without adequate help he gets overrun/ knackered out. First choice should be Reo / Petrov in partnership unless you want to play Osbourne or Salifou in there.

Petrov does nothing. Watch the game, then you will see he does nothing. Except go towards a player to tackle them, then decide against it and let them go past him. Oh, he can also pass the ball backwards. He's quite good at that.

Funny, my stream kept on packing in but I at least saw a good deep cross that led to a knockdown that Gabby mis-controlled and some good play with him involved that lead to the Luke Young chance. Its amazing how my stream either only worked when Petrov was doing something good or you only concentrate on the bad stuff and forget the positives.

Go and watch the game. Fuck the stream on your little screen.

[ronshirt]

Stringing Petrov and bursting forward in the same sentence takes some doing.  It is official, he is undroppable.  If Houllier doesn't make that his first major decision I will be amazed.

I've said it before, and I think I will be saying it again, this is going to be a long, hard season.

And I asked earlier to someone else. Who should play in his place? Sidwell? Osbourne?

Not anti-Petrov by any means but a poster has mentioned putting Collins in front on the back four and there must be someone in the reserves. There's no pressure on us this season - we're not going for fourth place so let's throw caution to the winds and experiment.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Stringing Petrov and bursting forward in the same sentence takes some doing.  It is official, he is undroppable.  If Houllier doesn't make that his first major decision I will be amazed.

I've said it before, and I think I will be saying it again, this is going to be a long, hard season.

And I asked earlier to someone else. Who should play in his place? Sidwell? Osbourne?

Midfield of A.Young Downing NRC Albrighton

Easy. Petrov can fuck off.

[TheSandman]

Stringing Petrov and bursting forward in the same sentence takes some doing.  It is official, he is undroppable.  If Houllier doesn't make that his first major decision I will be amazed.

I've said it before, and I think I will be saying it again, this is going to be a long, hard season.

And I asked earlier to someone else. Who should play in his place? Sidwell? Osbourne?

Midfield of A.Young Downing NRC Albrighton

Easy. Petrov can fuck off.

I hope you want to see us lose games 6-0 more often then. That's even weaker than today's shambolic midfield and that really is saying something.

And pray tell who is the second striker or are you playing a back five to counteract the piss weak midfield?

[TimTheVillain]

Dreadful display.

Downing the shining light in the first half, Young tried, Gabby - not at the races, Petrov poor, Albrighton gave us what he can give us but no-one in the middle so why bther with him ?

All in all, the end of the KevMac era is over.'

Thank you Kev, welcome Gezza.

[Somniloquism]

Stringing Petrov and bursting forward in the same sentence takes some doing.  It is official, he is undroppable.  If Houllier doesn't make that his first major decision I will be amazed.

I've said it before, and I think I will be saying it again, this is going to be a long, hard season.

And I asked earlier to someone else. Who should play in his place? Sidwell? Osbourne?

Midfield of A.Young Downing NRC Albrighton

Easy. Petrov can fuck off.

And congratulations, we have now been overrun and lost our passing as well.

[Fin Feds Dad]

The most galling thing ,once again, was the body language of the players after Bolton equalised.

Not one of them looked like they give a toss - they just trudged back to the centre. Petrov is no captain - he might be a thoroughly nice guy - but definitely not captain material. Now MON has gone I expect to see this rectified. #

NRC should not have been dropped, Warnock was woeful (again) , Dunne played like he had a hang over (par for the course) and Downing was inneffectual.

Great free kick by Ash - but when was the last time he took a bloke on and went past him (as Albrighton does for fun?)

Its going to be a long, hard, dismal season.   
 

[Nastylee]

Petrov seems incapable of making forward passes, abosulutely no penetration from the centre of the park. Needs addressing as the sale of two international midfielders has left us well short.