Aston Villa v The Blues Post-Match Thread

[Hookeysmith]

And to be fair Gardener is a really decent bloke, as is Ridgewell
If Craig is a blue nose then he is hardly going to shout it from the rooftops when he played for us - ine wanker in history did that and look where he is now - a postie

He is always complimentory about the villa and his time here

[Hookeysmith]

Thought the match was poor obviously and since he has been here GH tactics have been negative - the do try and pass the ball better but i feel its like trying to win a horse race with a pony - to play the way he wants will mean players more suited to that style and we have a team created by MON for a complatetly different style

I cannot see us making huge inroads in January window so i do fear that this season will be as dull as ditchwater where not losing takes precedent over everything else

From the horses mouth Gabby is 4 weeks away

And i feel there are a few at the club who will be wanting away as GH and his team are not happy with a few of them

[paulcomben]

This assessment is very close to my own, encouragingly. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2010/10/houllier_lays_down_the_law.html

[nick harper]

Awful awful game. Credit Bham and McLeish, they came for a point and deserved it. With Larsson's deliveries they threatened too. Granted Heskey and Clark missed great chances and Young had a great effort but our attacks were isolated and there was never any sustained pressure. Main problem was our midfielders whose passing lacked any tempo and was so predictable. Sidwell and Reo Coker are just not comfortable in possession when the opposition presses them. Clark was a bit better but hid for a while too I thought. Difficult for our attackers today but Downing and Heskey were diabolically poor I felt.

I make that about spot on although I thought Downing, in the rare moments he got the ball in the final third, looked the player most likely to make something happen.

I thought Heskey did pretty well considering he would have needed binoculars to see a clare and blue shirt close to him for much of the game. His touch and movement is better than Carew in that lone role.

When that support did get closer to him we began to look a threat - see the lay off to Bannan for the only save of note either goalkeeper made.

[Chris Smith]

And to be fair Gardener is a really decent bloke, as is Ridgewell
If Craig is a blue nose then he is hardly going to shout it from the rooftops when he played for us - ine wanker in history did that and look where he is now - a postie

He is always complimentory about the villa and his time here

Pah, the squinty eyed cock did a little jig at the end as though they'd won the cup.

[pablopicasso_10]

just about sums them all up that they were so excited about being second best but managing to hold an injury / suspension hit villa to a goal less draw...

[Pete3206]

I remember us doing similar cartwheels after a 0-0 draw at the sty under DOL.

[Somniloquism]

Mate has just txt me asking if it was true that Reo broke Gardner's nose in the tunnel? Anyone heard anything?

Load of bollocks

So Hookey, any feedback on why the stewards threw the bloke out who headed the ball and fell over the hoarding? Were they told to clamp down on anything?

[fredm]

I'm pretty sure that Franksy is a dog-head.

He's Villa.

Well, if he is Villa, Dave, then he has a serious attitude problem towards GH. 

"Villa negative from the start, showed no initiative to try and win the game, only reacted when McLeish put Jerome on, Villa on way down, Blues now on a par with Villa"  were some of his quoptes as far as I can remember.  Was too busy trying to drive a straight line whilst shouting abuse at him.

[Clampy]

I'm pretty sure that Franksy is a dog-head.

He's Villa.

Can't stand Paul Franks. If he is Villa, why does he come out and be honest about it? Tom Ross is happy enough to let it be known who he supports.

[Merv]

just about sums them all up that they were so excited about being second best but managing to hold an injury / suspension hit villa to a goal less draw...

That's what always winds me up about Blues. They're not a League 2 side coming to Villa Park in a cup and battling to earn a surprise draw; they're a Premier League club with a squad as good as half the league, and they're in the same league position as us. They actually strengthened their squad over the summer too. We didn't. Even in the build-up to the game, their players were all talking about their main aim this season is to avoid relegation - what ambition, given where they finished last season.

But then, considering their history, I suppose the level of their aspirations is justified.

[pablopicasso_10]

all the talk about "closing the gap" cracks me up...

they might as well try to cross the grande canyon across a toothpick...

fuckwits...

[Ads]

I'm pretty sure that Franksy is a dog-head.

He's Villa.

Can't stand Paul Franks. If he is Villa, why does he come out and be honest about it? Tom Ross is happy enough to let it be known who he supports.

He is indeed a massive tosser, as are most of that station to be honest. Anybody who makes Tom Toss sound like a credible broadcaster is automatically a wanker an WM do that perfectly.

[Hookeysmith]

Mate has just txt me asking if it was true that Reo broke Gardner's nose in the tunnel? Anyone heard anything?

Load of bollocks

So Hookey, any feedback on why the stewards threw the bloke out who headed the ball and fell over the hoarding? Were they told to clamp down on anything?

If your question is as to why they threw him out - simple - he for whatever reason encroached the playing area and that is clearly a criminal offence. Now as it was in "good nature" i would imagine he was not arrested and fined the mandatory £1000 fine and get banned. But there can be no grey area here - if the next time it happened it would be a case of "Well you let that guy off and i was only messing about"  -might seem harsh but you really have to see it from our point of view sometimes

AS for the handling of it and if they went mob handed - that is for the internal inquest that i am sure will take place.

What i do know is that as a Steward you never go to tackle a situation on your own so it may have seem mob handed but if it was the call to make the ejection then could you imagine a single steward going in there  - could have been a lot worse, again it seeing the situation from both sides it was at the end of the day a volatile derby with a set of fans that only needed a spark (like pitch encroachment) and it could have got pretty out of order

Stewards (and trust me i know good and bad) are there primarily for safety and order and we are well drilled in this sort of thing. So what might have been seen as a bit of fun, if you watch the whole crowd dynamique it can easily spill over into something else

[MoetVillan]

Im amazed there is so much Sidwell negativity.  Im not his mum either.  He tackled better than Coker, and didnt lose his head throughout the game, yet Coker has been lauded and Sidwell caned.  Heskey played well with little real support, I thought Ash went missing too much early on, but came back into it later.  Clark looks promising wherever he plays at the moment.  I thought Collins defended well, but was poor at passing, and not man of the match for me, by some margin.  Downing improved through the game, and for me remains our most consistent player.  Warnock did what he needed, Luke Young was disappointing, constantly left space for attackers, but offered little going forward.  Bannan impressed me way more than the cup game, good cameo.  Carew.  He is out of it for me.  Just dissapointed we got dragged down to Brums way of playing, I think we have more to offer than this, and fair play to them for sticking to the game plan.  Coker needs to sort himself out, these games are bigger than his ego.  As for all the Ireland fans, I was very much one, but I want to see more appetite than I have seen from him yet.  He has a long way to go to nail on a start.  There is a bloody good player in there, I just want to see it