Sunderland v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Brigada1874]

NRC was a positive!

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

It comes to something that when there are 10 minutes left Houllier shoves Collins up front rather than bring on Carew...his days are numbered!

Nigel Reo-Coker stood out as our best performer.

Ash, Downing and Ireland I thought were dreadful, as soon as Ash came inside he was better (marginally).
Heskey turned back from Lionel Heskey to Emule Heskey.

[Toronto Villa]

There were plenty of positives to take away from this game. Remember we are watching a team that is changing it's philosophy in mid-season. That naturally means there are going to be some bumps and growing pains. They are being asked to play a different style, and different players are getting opportunties. It will take them some time as a collective to develop the proper chemistry to play the way Houllier and his staff wants. It will also take a window or two to get in new players that already understand that system or style of play.

For me, as much as I hate to see us lose, it is interesting to see who thrives and who doesn't. We all probably thought NRC and Luke Young were gone in the summer, but both have a new lease on life. Likewise, is there a future for Carew? We haven't seen much of Gabby, so it will be intriguing to see how he is accomodated when he comes back. Clearly we need at least 3 or 4 technically solid players to come in and push us on and I trust Houllier to pull the strings to get that done. We won't see the true Houllier Villa until next season at the earliest, but that doesn't mean this season is a write off. We are in both domestic cup competitions, and I still believe that if we are 8th or 9th come January, if we can add a player or two, we'll have a strong finish and will have enough to grab one of the Europa spots for next season.

[Dave]

And what the hell was Dunne doing again - gone from our most reliable centre half to our worst option - must be dropped.

Most reliable? He's always been prone to fuck ups. Why do you think Man City got rid of him?!?!?!?!

Because he doesn't sell enough shirts in Asia. That's what his former Chief Executive gave as the reasion for getting rid of him. He'd still walk into the current Man City defence. He was superb last season, this season less so.

[
As an aside, why didn't Halsey book Downing if he saw that as a dive?  I haven't seen properly enough to know either way, but Halsey HAS to book Downing for cheating or give a penalty.

No he doesn't, he can just say that the attacker went down under a fair challenge.

Or lost his footing on a wet pitch - which is what it looked like to me.

[pelty]

That is 2 points out of 12 for Houllier. Very worrying and  SHA up next and  above us in the League.

so you're already judging the man after 4 league games, 3 of which have been away from home, and the home game against the current champions?

That seems reasonable, no?

[Matt Collins]

Ash hsa to play in the number 10 role at the moment. He went from anonymous to completely cutting into them time and time again.

I don't agree we can't play Cuellar and Collins. They played very well at Wolves. And I don't see why we're playing Downing on the right so much. We looked very dangerous with MA and SD on their natural sides and then switched it.

If we can't play Ireland in central midfield, then we really need a new midfielder as we're very ordinary in there. Delph will be a welcome return.

[PaulTheVillan]

I thought Warnock, Dunne, Petrov & Young were rubbish.

Cuellar and Collins will hopefully start v Birmingham.

I really hope GH is looking at a Petrov replacement in January.

[Bosco81]

I thought Warnock, Dunne, Petrov & Young were rubbish.

Cuellar and Collins will hopefully start v Birmingham.

I really hope GH is looking at a Petrov replacement in January.

will replacing Petrov solve all our problems then

[Chris Smith]

I hope this will see the end of people calling for Ashley to be moved back wide, he showed yet again that he's far more dangerous playing behind the striker and we're a far better team for it.

[PaulTheVillan]

I thought Warnock, Dunne, Petrov & Young were rubbish.

Cuellar and Collins will hopefully start v Birmingham.

I really hope GH is looking at a Petrov replacement in January.

will replacing Petrov solve all our problems then

No, don't be silly.

[darren woolley]

 I thought Downing had a good game he his starting to play really well this season NRC was good again shame he did'nt get that penalty given.  I agree with you toronto villa that were three or four player's away from being able to push on.

[Bosco81]

With Stan out for 3 weeks we will get to see what life without him is like, a midfield 2 of NRC and Sidwell does seem a bit ordinary but we will see.

If Ash is going to make that free role position his own he needs to be scoring a good 10 goals a season from open play, he obviously has a great understanding with Gabby and we might only see the best of him when he is back.

[jembob]

I've only seen the MOTD highlights but it's obvious already that our passing and movement has come on enormously. If we can start scoring goals this may well turn out to be a very good season for us. A fit and confident Delph would fit right into this team and in my view will really shine playing next to NRC, and if we bring in a few skillful foreign (they don't have to be foreign but it will probably happen) players in January then I would expect us to finish the season very strongly for a change.

[Olneythelonely]

I hope this will see the end of people calling for Ashley to be moved back wide, he showed yet again that he's far more dangerous playing behind the striker and we're a far better team for it.

I agree, but his lack of effort when asked to play there in the last two games has been disappointing.

[PeterWithe]

Blimey. I thought we played very well and were extremley unlucky to not come away with a win.