Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[ozzjim]

You can stick me in the happy with the way we played camp apart from 2-3 players. Warnock, we have all said for weeks is a liability, but you can't take him out the side.


Dunne, looks slow, ponderous and shaky.

Friedel, kamikaze stuff in nets today and no clue what for.

Ireland... hmmmm..... has he broken sweat yet.

But, Bannan looked excellent again, Pires can clearly pick a pass or two, Young tried and tried (I agree re the faces to Bannan) Herd looked better than Hogg for his 10 minutes and Clark on the large did well. Luke Young looked to be trying to make something happen, Gabby has another 75 minutes in the bank and the Fonz looked very dangerous movement wise.

Alll in all, give it till Jan, see what GH brings in as re-enforcements and re group.

[taylorsworkrate]

Someone mentioned it on the match thread, but it was very weird that Downing played on the right today after playing brilliantly on the left against Manure.

Every time Young and Downing got the ball they had to cut inside which killed the momentum of attacks and allowed Blackburn to get back in numbers.

[Clark W Griswold]

Toothless up front, porous in defense, but plenty of quality attacking midfielders (With the exception of Ireland). We need Viera and Shearer clones in that team, and need to work on the defending in training. There is plenty of talent there and a good team waiting to break out.

[Shrek]

The most worrying thing is, these performances were happening when everyone was fit, it's nothing new.

We seem to have lost our shape and composure away from home this season.

[taylorsworkrate]

Dunne really did have a decent game today.  I was a big critic of the way he came back from preseason with his big gut and double Ds but I think people are now looking for mistakes that he isn't making.  It was a tough game for him todayy but he gave a decent performance - nothing colossal but decent all the same.  Collins was sorely missed.

The thing is that with the young players around him, Dunne needs to be colossal in games like this.

[darren woolley]

I am very disappointed i thought we would get something from this game, i think we need at least three players in january and what is going on with Ireland?.

[Lambert and Payne]

Friedel 3 - really really poor. Was it windy in Ewood today a load of his kicks went nowhere.
L Young 7 - did pretty well. At least he attacked unlike our other full back.
Warnock 3- actually started alright, always down injured and went to pieces after incident with Diouf. Hardly pushed forward in second half either.
Clark 5 - got too tight to Roberts on occasions. Still think midfield is his best position
Dunne 7 - probably our best player today
Downing 5 - started on fire but was poor in second half. No real guile to him today. I really hate when he plays on the right.
Hogg 4 - did his best but not up to it at this level. Can't remember him playing a positive pass
Bannan 5 - tried too much in first half, better in second
Young 7 - great effort with header. Took too much out of the ball at times but the movement up front was non existent
Gabby 2 - just shades the worst player in the park award for me

I think the ratings are a little harsh - especially with Gabby, he never had a chance. Bannan made every effort and looked comfy on the ball. Downing was lively and made the effort. Clark is without a doubt a defender and i dont think he did anything wrong other than the booking

[villa for life]

funny how attitudes change.
When we got Ireland, people, most on here were saying how not only had we got a wad load of cash but also a better player than Milner....err....

Also, when we were looking for a manger, almost everyone on here said how shite Allardyce was/is - well he's got a team of less talented individuals higher than us...so that must say something.


Keep repeating the mantra "it's a season of transition" and it becomes easier to gloss over things...

[luke25]

The late goals were conceeding at the end of the halves are really fucking pissing me off now, its so unprofessional, from a young age your taught if you can't win the game then make sure you don't lose it, its just so simple and these brain dead fucking idiots continuously make pathetic late mistakes to give away goals, they need to sort their heads out because its just not good enough

[hawkeye]

its going to be a long hard winter, we could easily slip into a relegation battle, its the form of some of our senior players that is the most worrying, and the efect this will have on the morale of the younsters, Gabby is not fit, Downing wasted on the Right, Ireland a luxury we cant afford, Friedel looked shaky, Hogg not ready and A Youngs decision making awful.

[Rigadon]

We kicked long ball after long ball with no success.

I have no idea how you could possibly think that.

There was only one side hitting long balls today - Blackburn, and they were usually directly at Friedel with someone assaulting him in the meantime.

If Villa ever resorted to the gash "football" Allardyce has his teams "play", I think I'd stop bothering with the sport. I see he's also picked up Pulis's trick and started trying to turn Pederson into a Delap, with all that fucking towelling the ball every throw in.

Agree with most of what you've said.  I pity the Blackburn fans having to watch that 'football'.  They are the worst team in the premier league.  Bar none.

We were again lacking when it counts, in front of goal and defending.  The midfield looks half as competent without young Albrighton. 

We've gone from being able to win ugly to being likely to lose pretty. 

Houllier needs a centre forward who at least who can be in the right place at the right time, a left back who isn't prone to making a mistake every single time he plays and goalkeeper (harsh on Brad but he can't go on for ever) in January or we could end up looking over our shoulder.   

[dave.woodhall]

First, you can't 'expect' to get anything from anywhere in the Premier League, least of all a place like Blackburn.

Second, I know it's said after every match but you have to take into account the number of injuries we have. To ctriticise because only five of them would have been playing today is ridiculous - take five first teamers out of any side and they'd struggle. This is the one time more than any other in the past decade where we need to get behind the team and stop finding every tiny fault.

Third, and most double-standardly, fuck off Ireland. If he was ever going to do anything for us, today would have been the day. Many things can be excused but not being disinterested in a game where your talent is desperately needed.

[Lambert and Payne]

funny how attitudes change.
When we got Ireland, people, most on here were saying how not only had we got a wad load of cash but also a better player than Milner....err....

Also, when we were looking for a manger, almost everyone on here said how shite Allardyce was/is - well he's got a team of less talented individuals higher than us...so that must say something.


Keep repeating the mantra "it's a season of transition" and it becomes easier to gloss over things...

I think there was alot more expected of Ireland than what he's shown and his performance today was an utter disgrace. Allardyce's football's fucking boring and as of yet he's won nothing has he? And i disagree with season of transition, we should still have been pushing on..

[Dan England]

I thought there was a pretty wide range of performances today.

Unacceptably poor: Ireland, Warnock
Poor but with a plausible excuse: Gabby, Friedel
Did well, considering lack of experience: Hogg, Bannan, Herd, Clark
Did OK: Ashley, Dunne
Did well: Pires
Did very well: Downing, Luke Young

Nail on head for me.

[Matt Collins]

I thought save called for an amnesty on the most gratuitous moaning. Fairly predictable game and outcome I thought. Downing was excellent 1st half but faded. I thought bannan was really good. Ireland some nice touches but overall hopeless. Gabby pretty crap and that meant we lacked punch. I thought Clark was disappointing. Warnock was fine apart from that stupid mistake. There'll be more games like that this season. There don't look to be enough goals in that team