Newton Heath LYR v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Richard C]

Am I the only one who thought Downing did well tonight?

Nope, Charlie Nicholas said he was Villa's best player.

[littlevillain]

I got stick last week for saying Downing was the new scapegoat. However same again this week.... "Disgrace to the shirt", "Doesn't give a fuck".
Laughable when you think he could very well be our most consistent player this season.

[olaftab]

It's no disgrace to lose at OT. Just silly mistakes can cost you so much. We'll play worse and win. Great by Bent tonight - he will score the goals we need for safety (yes, we're not out the wood yet with such a tight league). Bent is a snip compared to Torres and Carroll!
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it is always a disgrace for the Villa to lose a match anywhere.

[pauliewalnuts]

Would anyone have preferred us to play as we would have done against Man Utd under O'Neill?

No.
Once Hotlips gets all the players he wants and gels them into the team he wants we will get results in games like these while playing good football.

I agree, despite the fact we won at Old Trafford last season, it was only transitory, it wasn't as part of something building up to a better long term goal (and the fact we won seems to overshadow our other abysmal results against them under Martin).

I can not believe anyone could watch the way we played tonight and not see very, very firm evidence of the way GH wants us to play finally setting in.

We passed the ball and moved off it far better than we have done for a while. If that is building up to taking us to a better place, then I am willing to put up with results like tonight and the road bumps along the way.

[hawkeye]

i guess the fact that he does get singled out by so many people is a clue. I dont get why so many rush to his defence.

[Phil from the upper holte]

What did petrov do?

[Somniloquism]

Bent is actually shit, but he will score goals and always draw 2 defenders, so is worth it.

'Bent is actually shit' What a stupid dumb comment!!

I would compare Bent to an English Torres. Will not do much for the team but will score a goal from one chance in the match. Luckily he has cost us less then half the Spanish version.

[TonyD]

Positives:  We played like a team and kept going to the end.  Bent will always do the business when given the chance.   All good for the future.
Concerns:  GH picked the wrong team.   Big concern.

[The Situation]

Why isn't Cuellar playing in the middle of defence? We always concede loads of goals when Cuellar's not playing in the middle of defence.

Going by teh stats we looked like we played well though, Bent scores again which is really good... got to beat those Cottagers on Saturday.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

"All he did was set up the goal"

That sounds a bit "what have the Romans done for us?" to me.

You'd be right if the game only lasted 1 minute.

Big Brad and Makoun stood out with solid performances. JIIM was a class apart tonight. Looked very comfortable with the ball, keeping it moving.

The rest: Eunuchs. Terrified of Man Utd. The amount of space we gave them was shocking. I'm just glad it was only 3 goals we suffered. Thank god they never stepped it up a gear or two.

[atomicjam]

Downing 3

Ridiculous. If you gave Bent a 6 for presumably scoring, then Downing's assist for it should have him on a similar score.

Downing was a disgrace to the shirt tonight. I lost count of the amount of tackles he jumped out of, how many balls he conveniently let over his head so there was a 2 v 1 against an inexperienced full back each time. Everything about him tonight was half hearted and cowardly. Almost every pass was the conservative one too - the player who took on Wes Brown repeatedly at Villa Park has been replaced with a man with the spine of a jellyfish. The assist can only make up for so much.

Bent was dangerous enough in the second half I felt including getting in the position for his goal. You just know Heskey or Gabby would have been 10 yards behind the play.

You must have watched a different game to me. In the first half hour Downing was one of our most positive players, and one bit of defending in the first half was top class. If Downing was a disgrace I dread to think what you made of the half a dozen other of his team mates who did less tonight. Unless you just do not like Downing. Of course.

[Ger Regan]

i guess the fact that he does get singled out by so many people is a clue. I dont get why so many rush to his defence.

Because we don't agree with you perhaps? 80% odd wanted Houllier sacked at the start of January. Now it's at around 6%.

[Salsa Party Animal]

I would pick this team for next game.

                Friedel
   Walker Cuellar Collins Clark
   Bradley Makoun Reo Coker
Albrighton                       Downing
                   Bent

[pauliewalnuts]

Collins is great at throwing himself in front of shots and always gives 100 percent, but he worries me far more than a centre half should do.

[avfc_1874]

I thought we played ok tonight. Think the difference was in the final 3rd though. Walker still concerns me defensively, but I was really impressed by Makoun again.