Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Arsenal are a very good team. For the last however many seasons, they're always the best team to come to Villa Park. How they don't win anything is beyond me.

However, first half was shocking, then with a change in formation and a bit of desire, we came back into it and gave ourselves a creditable performance in the second half. I don't usually stay to clap us off having lost by two goals, but I thought our second half performance was worth it.

When are we going to get 90 minutes where we play as well as we can?!?!?!? Surely it must be coming soon.

By the time we get players back from injury and are able to drop Downing, A.Young will have left so Downing will have to play. He is such a wimp. How he made it as a footballer with such limpness is beyond me.

I'd love to see a midfield of Albrighton, A.Young, Delph and Bannan, but don't think A.Young will be around for this to happen.

Gutted for Clark. Two goals at home and on the losing team.

[SoccerHQ]

Have to say I'm in full agreement with the last summary.

Arsenal were blooming good and how we were technically still in the game until the last 30 seconds bemused me quite a lot in the second half as Arsenal should've been five up in the first.

I agree Downing was poor today, the amount of 50/50s he bottled when an Arsenal player was moving towards him ran into double figures.

He's been very good this season but on the left, on the right it dosen't work as well so it's difficult to me to see how you accomodate all our creative players without moving one out of position and seeing their performance level dip.

Oh and we missed Gabby big time yet again. The Arsenal centre halfs couldn't believe their luck they coul;d get their cigar out and mark Carew rather than him.

[Oscar Arce]

And Pires......an experiment that failed badly

He's only been here two weeks give the man a chance

I was talking about today's performance, which was an experiment to play him behind Carew.
I feel Pires may be useful coming ff the bench

[Tony]

First half was embarrassing, that was a disgrace of a performance, we looked like a poor championship side scared to death of playing against a top quality side. Second Half was much improved but why we were so abysmal in the first half is a mystery. Arsenal are of course a top quality side but we didn't half help them out in that first half by not closing them down and then we did have the ball, wasting possession all the time.

Second Half and the changes worked, Arsenal for a while looked wobbly in defence, Clark's first goal was a beauty.

I thought Bannan and Clark did fine today, Downing unfortunately had one of those days where he looks scared of tackling and working, he had such a great game against Man United a fortnight ago and has been one of our better players all season but today he had a shocker.

[TheSandman]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

[Legion]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

Who and why?

[ROBBO]

With no new players in the summer we were looking at a midtable finish no-one could have predicted
that we would be decimated with injuries. Things look desperate now but once we start getting bodies back we will be ok. Positives: before the start of the season who would have thought Albrighton would become such an important player for us and Clark  showing great promise if MON was still with us they would still be bit players. Not convinced wee Barry is physically strong enough, good with the ball at his feet but cannot tacklle, in imperitive for a midfielder. Delph, NRC, Petrov, Albrighton,Heskey and Carlos all to come back.

[SoccerHQ]

Sky Sports reporting that Collins picked up a calf injury and could miss the game Wednesday...

He was struggling massively at that point, I would've got him off at that point especailly as Arsenal actually ceased to be an attacking threat at that point and were throwing on midfielders to protect the 4-2.

[Tony]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

Downing was rubbish today, he was superb a fortnight ago against Man United and has had a decent season, today however, he was awful.

[TheSandman]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

Who and why?

Dunne and Warnock for me who have been putting in a string of abysmal performances. Beyond that you could probably look to Collins and Luke Young for some individual errors. Carew for his general lack of either general 'being arsedness'. Then you have a few more players who are debatable such as Ireland (who's not had a decent chance yet) and Ashley Young (who has been making poor decisions sometimes on the pitch).

 Downing has arguably been our player of the season and whilst he has put in a few bad/anonymous performances they have just about been outnumbered by the good.

[Toronto Villa]

remember when you were at school and at break you picked sides (or got picked on a side) that you knew full well was bollocks compared to the other lot. They had most of the good players and you looked over knowing what was about to happen. Then every once in a while, in the 15 minutes that you had, you'd beat them and it was the best feeling in the world. They'd be arguing and you'd be praying for the bell. The rest of the time, you'd take a kicking, and even if you had some good players it was never as many as that lot, and your good players wouldn't be good enough to bridge the gap in quality.

Well right now, Villa are like that. The others teams have better players overall and while we might raise our game for a short period of time, the chances are over 90 not 15 minutes we're going to get beaten. Add to that, our paper thin squad is depleted further by new injuries to Albrighton and Gabby and we are looking over enviously at the other lot, especially if the other lot are Arsenal.

The point I'm making is that if we're going to slag our lot, then do it with that in mind. We can't just go and bring in new players, and many of the ones we have need to elevate themselves from youth and reserve football level to arguably the most difficult and competitive professional league in the world. It's a massive, massive jump in standard. Yes, we have experienced players amongst them, but when you consider that Dunne, Pires and Friedel are are three of them with a combined age of 107 or so, then you know that however hard they work or try, it's going to be difficult.

Our lot will improve. The young kids are being given the "Thrown in at the Deep End" version of PL life, and some of them won't survive. Those who do will come out of it mush stronger, and GH and team/Randy/Faulkner all see how desperately we need January to arrive to get a few faces in. GH's Villa won't take shape until next season. Until then, we have to be patient as fans and supportive. It's going to be a rough ride for a bit, but getting on the back of this team only hurts us given the amount of impressionable kids that are now playing. We have every chance on Wednesday of raising our game in the cup, so that's where it starts again. Let's get behind them.

[The Situation]

Sky Sports reporting that Collins picked up a calf injury and could miss the game Wednesday...

He was struggling massively at that point, I would've got him off at that point especailly as Arsenal actually ceased to be an attacking threat at that point and were throwing on midfielders to protect the 4-2.

I hope not because I don't want to sacrifice having to play Clark in defence alongside Dunne against the scum when we could do with Clark in midfield. Will Cuellar be fit for Wednesday or is that too much to ask? Maybe Dunne with Beye - I don't know.

[TheSandman]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

Downing was rubbish today, he was superb a fortnight ago against Man United and has had a decent season, today however, he was awful.

I agree that he deserves criticism for his performance today but some of the criticism on this thread is back to the Downing being rubbish/wimpy stuff from last season. My point is based more around the season as a whole than this individual match. Even today though I'd point the fingers more readily at some in defence and other players like Carew.

[myf]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

Who and why?

Dunne - headless chicken and terrible decision maker
Warnock - reckless, slow
A Young - terrible passing/crossing
Carew - too cold
Ireland - black belt who's too scared too put a foot in in case it recks his January move
Pires - can barely run

[SoccerHQ]

I actually thought Warnock was o.k today in so much as he was only one of the back 4 not to drop a claner with one of the goals.

I didn't think Dunney was too bad either but he got found out a bit for the third goal.