Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[not3bad]

Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.

His presence had an influence though.

[Lambert and Payne]

Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.

In all fairness he was playing as a winger, he hasnt got the football brain to play there. Had he been up front it may have been a different story. I still dont think he looks 100%

[Dave Cooper please]

Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.

His presence had an influence though.

Albrighton was visibly tiring and this allowed Wolves to practically ignore him as an attacking force, Hotlips saw this and replaced him with a player whose reputation alone meant that Wolves had to put one and sometimes two players over to mark him. It was a good substitution that restored balance to the midfield and allowed us space to start creating chances again.

[Concrete John]

Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.

In all fairness he was playing as a winger, he hasnt got the football brain to play there. Had he been up front it may have been a different story. I still dont think he looks 100%

I made a similar point earlier.  I thought it would have bee better to shift Ash wide and play Gabby in his normal position.  But then we went on to win anyway, so what do I know! 

[Monty]

I was more coming from the viewpoint of it not looking overly dirty.  As in not two footed, studs not showing, etc.

Well, it wasn't malicious, but then again these leg-breakers never are, are they? We often here more sympathy for the tackler than for the injured after these incidents.

The problem isn't malice, but recklessness and sometimes downright brute stupidity. Because the game is so quick now, it's harder to tackle with the same sort of ferocity that was once rarely a problem. The Premier League has now 13 (at least) double leg-breaks as the result of an impact in the challenge, 10 more than the next in Europe, France, who have 3. The problem is never malice, and is always stupidity.

It certainly is not a coincidence that Arsenal suffer the most, partially because they have these tricky players who invite the challenge which, when it comes, is always more reckless in England than in their native countries (in the case of Ramsey, a native, it wasn't even a trick that did Shawcross). It's also because teams get into a certain mindset against Arsenal to 'get in their faces' - as if hard pressing and reckless challenging are the same thing. With some of the challenges Wolves have got away with, I went into yesterday's game worried for Albrighton and  Young, two players who invite the challenge in an Arsenal-esque way, and it is surely an unacceptable situation that you go into games with legitimate concerns for some of your players just because they're the more talented ones.

[olaftab]

67 mins: Agbonlahor comes on for Albrighton.
86 mins: Steve Sidwell comes on for Stiliyan Petrov.
...would never have happened under MON.

It's the start   ...to tell him that he is not effective. Remember  these days at 86 mins there is still 10 to go and a tiring Petrov made the error in injury time agiant  Stoke that lead to their winner.

[Chris Smith]

Gabby was pretty gash when he came on.

His presence had an influence though.

Albrighton was visibly tiring and this allowed Wolves to practically ignore him as an attacking force, Hotlips saw this and replaced him with a player whose reputation alone meant that Wolves had to put one and sometimes two players over to mark him. It was a good substitution that restored balance to the midfield and allowed us space to start creating chances again.

Agreed, it was a good substitution from Margaret and Gabby had the discipline to hold his position to occupy the full back.

[London Villan]

Then again Sidwell gave a away a free-kick in an almost identical position...

Still good to see subs being used. Pity he couldn't have done the same at Stoke.

[Olneythelonely]

67 mins: Agbonlahor comes on for Albrighton.
86 mins: Steve Sidwell comes on for Stiliyan Petrov.
...would never have happened under MON.

It's the start   ...to tell him that he is not effective. Remember  these days at 86 mins there is still 10 to go and a tiring Petrov made the error in injury time agiant  Stoke that lead to their winner.

Though there's not much you can do when a player just throws himself to the floor following no contact whatsoever.

[MoetVillan]

Petrov was a passenger for 86 minutes.  I hope Liverpool still want him at Christmas.  He is our weak link.  Sidwell did a dirty tackle granted, but he achieved more in that tackle than Petrov had done all game.  Well done Heskey, thanks for repaying the faith.

[barrysleftfoot]

  Just a couple of points.Gabby did make the difference, he held the ball up , something Albrighton was failing to do.He might not have been spectacular, but he made a big difference.

  LYoung had a bad game because he kept giving the ball away.He panics and just boots the ball anywhere, one pass to Petrov with about 5 mins to go was absolutrely suicidal, and this is from a 31 yr old international.

 1min before their goal, he had an easy pass down the line to Albrighton, he kicked the ball straight out, from their throw in they played it back to their keeper and the ball ended up with Jarvis?, who scored luckily.

 Everybody notice how much Friedel was throwing the ball out, and doing short kick outs?Thats better.

  Overall, i think a positive  start to Hou's reign, with the suggestion of better things to come.

[olaftab]

I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.

Friedels 3 saves?

What?  Other than making a routine  save from Jones I don't remember anything else.

[Damo70]

Friedel pulled off a couple of good saves and Heskey had a good game. Albrighton looks dangerous but we will need to give him a break soon. I think a message has been sent out that anyone can be subbed at any time and I also think we will see tactical changes game by game and during games. We got three points away to a side that we got two from six from last season.

[usav]

Albrighton was visibly tiring and this allowed Wolves to practically ignore him as an attacking force,

The fact they had a prop-forward marking him didn't help either.

[Somniloquism]

I really don't get the negative comments on here about the performance. Wolves at home is a tough place. We were by far the better team in the first half. Yes they came at us in the second but other than the freak goal can some one point to any chances they created, any close calls we had? None is the answer.

Friedels 3 saves?

What?  Other than making a routine  save from Jones I don't remember anything else.

Totally missed the reactions save from Edwards half volley in the first half and the less then spectacular but equally important block from Doyle seconds later?