Aston Villa v WBA Post-Match Thread

[villasjf]

Gold stars: Heskey, Cuellar, Lichaj, Hogg, Albrighton.
Silver: Downing, Young
Tries hard award: Warnock.
How about must try harder for Warnock?

[luke25]

It must be hard to take for them, the majority seemed to have convinced themselves they only needed to turn up to win, aaagh well, two cracking balls in from Marc for the goals, still not sure who scored the second? Warnock was skinned time and time again in the 1st half by Tchoyi but to his credit came out 2nd half and had him in his pocket, credit to Cuellar, Lichaj and Hogg too

[villasjf]

Dunne needs to get used to that bench under his ponderous arse

But will the bench carry his weight, I bet it groaned today

[joecrow]

after monday was just glad to see some fight. gotta keep it going though

[Walmley_Villa]

Has BCV appeared yet?

[Ian.]

A big welcome back to Heskey and Carlos. I said the other night we have missed Heskey, I know he is not the most popular but before he got injured he was a key player for us.
Good to see Carlos playing and also to see a player like Dunne dropped.
The players need to know if they aint good enough, out of shape or out of form they will get dropped. The problem we have had is we are so thin on the ground its been impossible to drop anyone!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Hogg seems to be improving as a player. He's getting involved more.

I like the way the young players always seem to try and pass the ball, even when in defensive situations. OK, sometimes they're going to mess (and they'll be slaughtered by fans when they do), but if we want to change the way we play, we're going to have to accept a few mistakes along the way. It's obvious that's how they play in the reserves and youth sides, so it's nice they're trying to bring that into the first team.

I was thinking exactly the same. A few people mentioned during the week how Houllier needs time to bring in his own players to play the his style. He's landed on his feet with our kids who have been brought up to play football the right way. They really have done us proud and on todays performance, I may have to eat humble pie regarding Lichaj, who I've never been that impressed with. Today I thought he put in a solid first team debut.

Agree about Hogg too. The lad suffered a serious injury a while back that may slowed down his development but looks like he has what it takes to claim a place in the squad. It was great to have Barry Bannan back, even if he did drift out the game in the second half. As for Albrighton, I've always been a fan and although there's plenty of room for improvement, he looks like being a great player even if he's not quite ready to play the full 90 minutes. As a striker, Houllier is doing the right thing with the Fonz, giving him a few minutes here and there, building up his confidence which I thought was shot after the summer away with England U19's.

[django]

Heskey, Downing, Albrighton and Cuellar were good.

I thought the game passed our central midfield pairing by for long spells but despite that i was impressed by Hogg today. Encouraging.

We were at our most productive when breaking quickly down the wings, same as it ever was really.

[nick harper]

I thought it was close to an O'Neill performance today. We got the ball forward quickly, played off Heskey, who had a fine game, got it wide and into the box quickly.

It suited the shape of the team he played. Maybe Houllier's gone back to basics a little and recognised that although he wants to play a better passing game, it shouldn't be to the exclusion of what has made this squad relatively successful in the last two or three years.

[carlos the third]

Good performance, a long awaited win. Not sure why Warnock is getting so much criticism and Lichaj so much praise, thought they were pretty similar in terms of performance(both getting skinned at times but doing some good stuff as well). Not criticising Lichaj because I know it was his first game and he was decent but Warnock doesn't deserve some of the criticism imo.
Anyway, special mention to Carlos, Collins, Hogg, Downing and Albrighton. Onwards and upwards and hopefully 3 more points at Wigan

[CJ]

Just got back and mightily pleased to get 3 points - anything less today and I think we'd have been in the brown stuff for sure. Albion played well in the first half and if the shot that hit the bar had gone in I think we may have struggled to get a result. But then we get the first goal and started to play some good football, especially in the second half. Always needed a second goal though.  And why do we always panic now - when what should be game over with 10 minutes left turns into a nail biter.

Some real positives. Dunne can be dropped.  And hopefully now Carlos will keep his place - he showed he is the better player at the Moulinex, and he's shown it again today. Very impressed with Lichaj - another good player in the making from our academy.  Albrighton ditto - excellent performance.  Bannan and Hogg good but I think we still need more steel than that in midfield - maybe Delph with NRC or Stan will look more like it, but again hats off to the academy. As for the senior players - Downing and Heskey were tremendous, and Ash had some outstanding patches in the second half, Warnock OK,and Collins all the better for having Carlos next to him.

Not a world beating performance, but 3 points were essential. 

[Dan England]

Delighted with the result. Would echo the previous post's of Downing, Heskey, Lichaj, Cuellar and Albrighton all put in great shifts. The old man made a great point, how much of the defence's insecurities are due to Friedal's recent uncertainties?

[hawkeye]

Your old man makes a good point about Friedal Dan

[KevinGage]

Word is they're looking to move Friedel (and Warnock) on in Jan.

Both have played like condemned men in recent weeks, though apart from one lunge in the first half Warnock was far better today.

A shame for Brad, he's been largely solid for us during his time here.

[TimTheVillain]

Well done lads, 3 points - West Brom thought they just had to turn up so did their wanky fans.

Downing and Young were on song, boy do we need Gabby back..........