Aston Villa v The Throstles Match Thread

[Bad English]

Jesus, not a corner on the last second before HT.

[Bad English]

Phew!

[tim]

9 corners - they will get something eventually...

[PaulWinch again]

HT now come on Villa. Carlos and Lichaj very good. Midfield needs to do more. Well done Stew and Marc.

[Nev]

It really helps when you have 11 on the pitch, we can't carry wasters like Ireland.

Impressed with Carlos and Lihaj.

So far so good.

[RogerS]

Righto...HT.  Time for brekkers.

More of the same in the second half, please, Villa.

[hawkeye]

we do not get tight in the midfield, this is why we are allways under threat at the back and give corners away

[Bad English]

Is it a bit thin on the Lower Holte this afternoon, or do folks bugger off well before HT to beat the crowds at the Pie Stall...?

Got to work their way past Dunney!

Chuckle....

Cackle!

[hawkeye]

veetle disabled any other links

[Monty]

So the players hate the ball, Ash is far too forward all the time leaving the midfield exposed, Collins and Warnock especially keep on diving in. Plus points, Downing is good as usual and Heskey is causing them physical problems, but for goodness' sake why are we hoofing it? We're a goal up, at bloody home, and we either can't or don't want to keep the ball properly. Bloody hell.

[supertom]

Well...

Not great. But, good team spirit. Players are covering for teammates, and especially with youngsters, that's gonna be needed because of mistakes.

Downing and Albrighton have been good.

Heskus is leading the line well. Boy have we missed him.

We're looking fairly solid on the right of defence thanks to Cueller (thank fuck he's back, solid and no messing about) and Lichaj. Lichaj is quite aggressive, he'll always go for a tackle of push tight, so he's gonna get caught out a few times, but the key is, he's winning most of his battles and he's got Cueller or Hogg covering him. Carlos reads the game very well, whereas in previous games, Luke Young, who's been getting mullered, has not been covered by Collins.

Negatives- Barry Bannan is offering no help to Hogg and we're getting overrun in CM. That's not Barry's fault, it's a tactical mis-fire. If Nigel is fit enough for one half, get him in alongside Hogg. We've enough attacking flair with the wide men and Ash to make things happen. Barry has been invisible mostly.

Ash Young has been non-existent. I'd get him off and put on a 2nd striker. Probably the Fonz, although they're back line looks like it could be bullied. Maybe Carew will have some joy playing with Heskey, as it means he'll not have to work hard.

Warnock and Collins looks decidedly shaky, Warnock especially. He's a liability. I'm pretty sure he doesn't like Houlllier. Thing is, we know he's capable enough on his day, because first half of last season he was excellent. He's not a great player by any stretch, but he's certainly not this bad.

[Olneythelonely]

So the players hate the ball, Ash is far too forward all the time leaving the midfield exposed, Collins and Warnock especially keep on diving in. Plus points, Downing is good as usual and Heskey is causing them physical problems, but for goodness' sake why are we hoofing it? We're a goal up, at bloody home, and we either can't or don't want to keep the ball properly. Bloody hell.

Because trying to play a keep-ball type of game has seen us lose more or less every game.

[BannedUserIAT]

Can't say I'm unhappy about that.
The lads aren't hiding, they're backing each other up, covering for each other....so much better than the shit thrown up against Liverpool.

Warnock, though...90% misplaced hoof, I'd say. And Tchoyi is growing in confidence against him. I'm pretty sure Di Metteo will be giving them instructions to go at him in the 2nd half.

[Monty]

I strongly disagree, OTL. The reasons we lose those games are more to do with the continual defensive errors by the back four, not the keep the ball game. We're ahead, but rather by luck than by judgement, and if we keep giving West Brom the ball we will be punished sooner or later.

[RogerS]

Well...

Not great. But, good team spirit. Players are covering for teammates, and especially with youngsters, that's gonna be needed because of mistakes.

Downing and Albrighton have been good.

Heskus is leading the line well. Boy have we missed him.

We're looking fairly solid on the right of defence thanks to Cueller (thank fuck he's back, solid and no messing about) and Lichaj. Lichaj is quite aggressive, he'll always go for a tackle of push tight, so he's gonna get caught out a few times, but the key is, he's winning most of his battles and he's got Cueller or Hogg covering him. Carlos reads the game very well, whereas in previous games, Luke Young, who's been getting mullered, has not been covered by Collins.

Negatives- Barry Bannan is offering no help to Hogg and we're getting overrun in CM. That's not Barry's fault, it's a tactical mis-fire. If Nigel is fit enough for one half, get him in alongside Hogg. We've enough attacking flair with the wide men and Ash to make things happen. Barry has been invisible mostly.

Ash Young has been non-existent. I'd get him off and put on a 2nd striker. Probably the Fonz, although they're back line looks like it could be bullied. Maybe Carew will have some joy playing with Heskey, as it means he'll not have to work hard.

Warnock and Collins looks decidedly shaky, Warnock especially. He's a liability. I'm pretty sure he doesn't like Houlllier. Thing is, we know he's capable enough on his day, because first half of last season he was excellent. He's not a great player by any stretch, but he's certainly not this bad.

What Supertom said.