Aston Villa v WBA Post-Match Thread

[barrysleftfoot]

  I think to be fair to Warnock, the guy he was marking, is their best player, and you did'nt see him 2nd half, so Warnock deserves some credit for that.

 MOM for me was Heskey, he was key to our performance/result yday.Worked hard, won nearly every flick on, held the ball up, and at one time an emergency RB in the 1st half.Cuellar come a very close 2nd.......our best defender, and playing in his best position.

  Licjah........yed, i would perserve with him, strong , quick, likes a tackle, good passer.Over enthusiastic sometimes but worth a run, far better than LYoung anyway.

  Hogg, and Bannan.........thought Baz struggled yday, did'nt get enough of the ball, but when he does get it looks real quality.Not sure a 4 man midfield suits him.Hogg, for me looks a very decent player, not sure he is going to be a 1st teamer, but for me, i would rather keep Hogg and see how hedevelops, than give NRC a wage rise.

  Albrighton, and Downing.....Marc is becoming our most important player, can develop to be a really good player, needs to get his head up sometimes, but his crossing is top, top quality, and we always look like creating something when he gets on the ball.Downing, still our player of the season, lovely pass, getting goals, probably our most creative player, i think we have to accept he will never be a strong tackler.

  AYoung, worked really hard yday, as he aleays does, held the ball up, tries to play that link role.....indespensable?....not sure he is that effective tbh in this role.

  What happened to Ireland yday?


  Olbiyon........a bit like us, pretty, but did'nt really look like scoring.

[Sarunyu]

My MOM is Downing due to the 1st goal and the deliver quality.

Look good to see the hard work rate of our players.
Warnock - Some problem with their Winger but it is OK
Cuellar and Collin - Many Nice Block
Albrighton - Nice Cross and Pace
Young - Nice Pace (Anyway I still thinking that he will be better in the wing position)
Heskey - Give us a muscle up front. Good to see him back.

Still wait for the arrival of Central midfield and Striker.
 
Villa Forever

[Bad English]

Tunnel Entrance by Bad English, on Flickr

Three points. Of course we had to concede one late on again. Did you see the sign above our tunnel Houllier?

It's changed since we changed crest.

Sorry, it was niggling me.

I know, sorry. I like to call it a 'badge'. And I haven't been back on the tour since we changed 'badges', so I haven't got another photo. Houllier can still genuflect while pretending it's Anfield though.

[Villa'Zawg]

Collins and Warnock were poor,

Warnock did well enough, some of his clearances were superb and his distribution from defence better than all but Lichja. He was up against their most in form player and only when Downing covered back properly and Hogg started to get some grip in midfield their threat through Tchoyi ceased.
Our midfield was the weak spot their majority over all possession stats proved
Why continually making Warnock an escape goat rocks your boat I've no idea.
When we learn to take control of the midfield something we rarely did even under Mon, all the defenders will get better.
To do that of course we need real midfield players, not inexperienced kids or overpriced, overpaid dilettantes and cry babies

I thought the problem down that side was Warnock, he still  hasn't found his form yet. He got better as the game went on, when he seemed to take on board the rollickings that both Collins and Downing were rightly dishing out.

We still seemed panic stricken at times when balls were launched into our box but it was a good performance and the right result. A great deal of relief being expresed in the bars afterwards.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

  I think to be fair to Warnock, the guy he was marking, is their best player, and you did'nt see him 2nd half, so Warnock deserves some credit for that.

 MOM for me was Heskey, he was key to our performance/result yday.Worked hard, won nearly every flick on, held the ball up, and at one time an emergency RB in the 1st half.Cuellar come a very close 2nd.......our best defender, and playing in his best position.

  Licjah........yed, i would perserve with him, strong , quick, likes a tackle, good passer.Over enthusiastic sometimes but worth a run, far better than LYoung anyway.

  Hogg, and Bannan.........thought Baz struggled yday, did'nt get enough of the ball, but when he does get it looks real quality.Not sure a 4 man midfield suits him.Hogg, for me looks a very decent player, not sure he is going to be a 1st teamer, but for me, i would rather keep Hogg and see how hedevelops, than give NRC a wage rise.

Totally agree. Hogg is already as good nrc and will get better. So why give him 50k a week for 3 years when we already have a player who is already in the same mould ??

  Albrighton, and Downing.....Marc is becoming our most important player, can develop to be a really good player, needs to get his head up sometimes, but his crossing is top, top quality, and we always look like creating something when he gets on the ball.Downing, still our player of the season, lovely pass, getting goals, probably our most creative player, i think we have to accept he will never be a strong tackler.

  AYoung, worked really hard yday, as he aleays does, held the ball up, tries to play that link role.....indespensable?....not sure he is that effective tbh in this role.

  What happened to Ireland yday?


  Olbiyon........a bit like us, pretty, but did'nt really look like scoring.

[pedro25]

Warnock and Collins much better.

[fredm]

Whilst I agree Ashley Young did some good things, is he really the answer to the second striker/No.10 position?

Imo the person who plays there should be scoring on a fairly consistent basis.  How many attempts on goal did Ashley have yesterday?

His natural instinct when he receives the ball is to try and beat a defender (or two) and run with the ball, he rarely moves the ball immediately on to some one else whilst moving into space for the return ball.

If we are going to play the present system then I do not think he is the person to play there.  If the rumours about Robbie Keane are correct, then surely he will play in this position, leaving Ashley to fight out the wide positions with Downing and Albrighton.

[avfc_1874]

Hogg reminded me of Dennis Wise yesterday.

[peter w]

You think he's a wanker?

[damon loves JT]

Got drunk and smashed up a taxi?

[JJ-AV]

Hogg reminded me of Dennis Wise yesterday.

I said exactly the same to my mate.

And he replied with something similar to this:

You think he's a wanker?

[hawkeye]

My MOM is Downing due to the 1st goal and the deliver quality.

Look good to see the hard work rate of our players.
Warnock - Some problem with their Winger but it is OK
Cuellar and Collin - Many Nice Block
Albrighton - Nice Cross and Pace
Young - Nice Pace (Anyway I still thinking that he will be better in the wing position)
Heskey - Give us a muscle up front. Good to see him back.

Still wait for the arrival of Central midfield and Striker.
 
Villa Forever

Top Post Mate Funeral the Throstles

[littlevillain]

after all the doom and gloom,  if we win next week we could go 8th I believe.

[peter w]

and if we lose we'll be possibly 1 point from the bottom 3. Half glass type thing.

[SoccerHQ]

Much better. A game we had to win for numerous reasons and did...just about.

Baggies were better first 20 minutes but once we scored they really didn't offer that much until that late show so it was as comfortablish as you usually get in a derby.

Great to see Carlos back and playing well, I wasn't happy with Houllier on monday so time to givve him credit by dropping Dunney which the previous manager wouldn't have done imo. He also made some good subs at key times.

Young was better yesterday in the second half but still not convinced with him directly through the middle.

Going back to him being captain, interesting move. Don't think it will convince him to sign a new deal anytime soon but watching him and he does appear to relish being the proper "leader" out there so hopeully we'll see some more decisive performances for however long he remains here.