Aston Villa v Chelsea Post-Match Thread

[FatSam]

Decent performance, but can't help feeling Chelsea were there for the taking yesterday - a few players out, and they never really dominated during the game.

We looked toothless upfront, Carew was pretty wasteful with possession, as was Ireland. In Ireland's case this is highlighted by not being integrated with the way the team play yet (possibly a good thing).  Ireland looks to play the ball first time and it isn't quite working at the moment - some pace in front of him would help. When the defence are in possession he quite often is asking for the ball to feet with his back to goal, but our defenders don't have the confidence to play the ball through the gap to him. So instead they play a ball over the top for Carew/ Young/ Downing to chase, or someone like Beye advances with it a bit without threatening the opposition too much. Beye doesn't inspire me with confidence at all, especially with the ball at his feet. I don't think he is much better than Cuellar in this respect.

I don't think one player stood out in a reasonably solid but unspectacular team performance. Downing would probably have been my MOM, but Petrov broke play up well, and got some important tackles in when needed. He was tidy in possession also, apart from that misplaced back pass. Corner kicks were a bit disappointing, especially Downing's - far too often cut out by the first man.

[eastie]

Agree with Paul , nige on this form deserves a new contract as does luke young, flog sidwell,Carew and davies and bring in a quality attacking midfielder and top class finisher and we will have a very good squad to move forward.

[olaftab]

Decent performance, but can't help feeling Chelsea were there for the taking yesterday - a few players out, and they never really dominated during the game.

We had as many  first choice out as them. (Gabby, Heskey, Albrighton, Luke Young and Richard Dunne early on )

They never really dominated the game because we didn't let them.  There was a dangerous 10 min spell early in the second half  when they came at us and if that had  been allowed to go on they  would have scored but the team stood up.

[Shrek]

Totally agree

[Brend'Watkins]

Had Gabby or Heskey been playing I think we'd have won that game.  Still, a solid performance by pretty much all the players on show apart from Carew.  We are already seeing GH's influence in our style of play and with his squad rotation, it's a good start from our new manager.

[pablopicasso_10]

we were the better side in the first half, they were the better in the second...

both sides passed the ball about well, and neither resulted to hoofing it, which was a huge positive for us...

clark performed very well in for the injured dunne... its interesting that he came on in front of cuellar (this after davies being allowed out on loan), so shows that houllier must have faith in him.. that faith was repaid with a clean sheet... and not many sides have managed that against chelsea recently...

i like the look of that young chelsea lad, mchearan (?)... he showed glimpses of real ability, and despite a few mistakes, i think he looks a real player with huge potential... kakuta on the other hand, looked well out of his depth...

overall, a fair and decent result for both sides...

[Walmley_Villa]

Fair result. I like the way we no longer hoof it up from the back but just pass it back to Brad or across the back 4. Simple but we retain possession and don't give it away as cheaply as under MoN. I do like what I've sen so far and we definitely missed Emile and Gabby up front. Having said that we still got the result.
Much better performances by Petrov, Warnock and Downing.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Did anyone hear Wingnut on MOTD?

He said
'Villa were good for the first and last 10 minutes, but dross in-between'

Shearer was nice about us though, said
'They'll be up therethis season'
and
'Not many teams will get a clean sheet gainst Chelsea, like Villa did.'

[pablopicasso_10]

i cant stand captain scarlett... he really did not want to give us any credit whatsoever...

[pestria]

A few observations arising from yesterday's game (and I suppose from the season so far) ...

There were far more positives than negatives.  Plenty of defensive cover.  Good midfield performances from all concerned. 

Ireland looks like a pig in a poke - of course it could all end well as we probably haven't seen the best of him - but when it was clear to all concerned we needed to buy either a solid central midfielder or a goal scorer the board decided on a poor man's Merson.   I'd have thought it a golden rule that boards should not spend significant chunks of money on players without the manger's approval or more specifically when there is no manager to give the approval.  I'll wager he won't be here this time next season.

There are real conundrums for GH to resolve;  Petrov looks better with NRC  riding shotgun but that makes us minus 10+ goals compared with last season.  Heskey is rejuvinated but Carew seemingly finished - again making us 10 goals down.   Albrighton has broken through but pushing Ashely into the middle has produced mixed results. 

[Karl Bridges]

Ireland looks like a pig in a poke - of course it could all end well as we probably haven't seen the best of him - but when it was clear to all concerned we needed to buy either a solid central midfielder or a goal scorer the board decided on a poor man's Merson.   I'd have thought it a golden rule that boards should not spend significant chunks of money on players without the manger's approval or more specifically when there is no manager to give the approval.  I'll wager he won't be here this time next season.

IMO that statement will come back and bite you.

[Monty]

One thing really struck me yesterday: Petrov seemed a completely different player physically. In the 74th minute he was still snapping into tackles and closing down. Didn't show the qualities with the ball that he did in his Player of the Season year, though the lay-off to Ireland for the left-footed shot was excellent. First half, Downing was terrific, really excellent, but all the players weren't quite as dynamic second half. I think that was because of the introduction of Zhirkov for Kakuta, who for all his talent showed tactical naivety and left gaps in midfield. Zhirkov was much more disciplined, and there were long spells where we didn't see the ball.

There has been criticism of our use of the ball on here, but I disagree: firstly because I thought we did use it pretty well at times, certainly better than we did under MON, and secondly because we were playing Chelsea, surely without a shadow of a doubt the best team in the country. Against less good teams I think we would have won.

[PeterWithe]

Did anyone hear Wingnut on MOTD?

He said
'Villa were good for the first and last 10 minutes, but dross in-between'

I could be wrong but I thought he said 'the game' rather than singling us out.

[PaulWinch again]

You're right Peter he did refer to the game.

[eamonn]

[We had as many  first choice out as them. (Gabby, Heskey, Albrighton, Luke Young and Richard Dunne early on )

They never really dominated the game because we didn't let them.  There was a dangerous 10 min spell early in the second half  when they came at us and if that had  been allowed to go on they  would have scored but the team stood up.

In fairness you can only play one of Gabby/Heskey in our current formation and Ireland is a more senior/better player than Albrighton so though we were missing all the players you mention I think it was Young and one of Heskey/Gabby which might have improved things.

Anyway, at least it shows we have a bit of strength in depth, when not injured of course.