Aston Villa v Fulham Post-Match Thread

[Ads]

Well, stat fans, JIIM was once again our highest passer - 73 passes, 61 of which were completed.

Sounds about right, he plays in a position where he will see
 most of the ball but I bet the majority of 12 not completed were in the last 15 minutes. I like him but he visibly wilted towards the end.

I can not comment too much on the game, I only saw the very brief highlights on MOTD, but hopefully from what I hear is again played very well and if he did falter towards the end hopefully the more games he gets under his belt for sooner he will adjust to the speed of our game.

He started giving the ball away in the last 20 minutes as he got increasingly tired. It is difficult for foreign players to get to grips with the pace of the game initially, but I like what I see.

As I said yesterday, we need more dynamism in the middle of the park, which I'm sure we hope Bradley can provide. My above comments aside, he looks like something a metronome work ethic wise, so perhaps he’ll adapt quicker than most.

I’d be minded to see a more traditional 433 against Blackpool, with Makoun and Bradley supporting Bannan.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Downing was much improved after a poor recent spell but his delivery is still his weakness.

Can't agree with that, The goal came from a Downing delivery, We also scored wednesday night from one of his deliveries

Given that almost everything goes down the right now, he only manages about one decent delivery a game.

[Ads]

Some people just don't like Downing. He's been consistently our most dangerous player, yet he took a shot yesterday and took the most vile abuse for it from the idiots in the Holte.

The left side is unbalanced and its clear Gabby is playing there to cover for Clarkes lack of pace. Its a pity Luke is out.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Downing was much improved after a poor recent spell but his delivery is still his weakness.

Can't agree with that, The goal came from a Downing delivery, We also scored wednesday night from one of his deliveries

Given that almost everything goes down the right now, he only manages about one decent delivery a game.

If we score from that delivery then it can only be a good thing Mark, He put a few good ones in as well and Bent was unlucky not to have scored from his shot

[MattW]

Guzan's been great for hull in the last few game's excluding the penalty he gave away in the last game

Have you been watching his games or have you heard reviews second hand? If the former, how is he looking coming out for high balls and crosses?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Downing was much improved after a poor recent spell but his delivery is still his weakness.

Can't agree with that, The goal came from a Downing delivery, We also scored wednesday night from one of his deliveries

Given that almost everything goes down the right now, he only manages about one decent delivery a game.

If we score from that delivery then it can only be a good thing Mark, He put a few good ones in as well and Bent was unlucky not to have scored from his shot

We do normally score from the decent one. When you consider how much of the ball he has and how few crosses he manages, it's not his delivery that's his weakness, it's his lack of delivery. I can't fault his effort, just the lack of anything productive for all the effort.

[sfx412]

Downing was much improved after a poor recent spell but his delivery is still his weakness.

Can't agree with that, The goal came from a Downing delivery, We also scored wednesday night from one of his deliveries

Well if Downing's deliveries are poor I wonder what the others deliveries would be described as.

[MattW]

Agreed to some extent, though I think Ash's inability to play the role is more problematic than GH's tactics, which were also dictated by his strange non-selection of Delph and especially Bannan. Pires was just filling space on the bench today.

Again, agreed to some extent on the midfield, though I thought Makoun was excellent first half and Petrov was not great overall. His good covering work, furthermore, was less covering for Makoun than simply covering space, I thought. Also Bradley's less an unknown starlet than a fully established international.

Completely agreed about Ash, though. He keeps on making selfish "put me through" runs instead of going to the ball and actually giving us the option of passing through the middle. I think he's stuck in the winger mentality, whereby the ball gets to him and he instantly tries the final ball, which is what you do on the wing because the ball will normally get to you in the last phase of the attack. In the centre, you need more patience and intelligence, which Ash doesn't have. Besides which, he actually overhits every single throughball he tries even when it's the right option.

Good analysis of Young. So what would you do with him? Play him as a winger? Sell him? One would presume 'educate him' is an option already being attempted.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Downing was much improved after a poor recent spell but his delivery is still his weakness.

Can't agree with that, The goal came from a Downing delivery, We also scored wednesday night from one of his deliveries

Well if Downing's deliveries are poor I wonder what the others deliveries would be described as.

Non-existent. That's our problem.

[Monty]

Agreed to some extent, though I think Ash's inability to play the role is more problematic than GH's tactics, which were also dictated by his strange non-selection of Delph and especially Bannan. Pires was just filling space on the bench today.

Again, agreed to some extent on the midfield, though I thought Makoun was excellent first half and Petrov was not great overall. His good covering work, furthermore, was less covering for Makoun than simply covering space, I thought. Also Bradley's less an unknown starlet than a fully established international.

Completely agreed about Ash, though. He keeps on making selfish "put me through" runs instead of going to the ball and actually giving us the option of passing through the middle. I think he's stuck in the winger mentality, whereby the ball gets to him and he instantly tries the final ball, which is what you do on the wing because the ball will normally get to you in the last phase of the attack. In the centre, you need more patience and intelligence, which Ash doesn't have. Besides which, he actually overhits every single throughball he tries even when it's the right option.

Good analysis of Young. So what would you do with him? Play him as a winger? Sell him? One would presume 'educate him' is an option already being attempted.

Play him as a winger before he goes in the summer. Like it or not, I think he's gone in the next window, and will be played as a winger at his new club that's for sure. For now, he has to be on the wing, and for me Bannan has to play, he's the only one on the books with what Bentman called "Sidness". He's more the solution to our creative problems than Ash, both in the short and long term.

[Bad English]

I would like Ashley gone mainly because he wears a snood. Gross misconduct on a football pitch.

[barrysleftfoot]

  Makoun did tire the last 15 mins, and Petrov should have been taken off after 6 mins.Sidwell and Murphy ran the show 2nd half.Sidwell looked the player i thought we had signed, much better player in a 4-4-2 than Petrov.

  But Makoun will get fitter and sharper and Petrov will be replaced sooner rather than later.

  But yday again highlighted my concearns about Gabby and AYoung.Not involved enough, not creative enough, and not enough threat.

  I can see Ash going in the summer, and this time next year, Gabby as no more than a sub.

[Ads]

Sidwell ran the show? I noticed him once or twice when he smashed the ball miles wide.

[nadz3488]

The performance was alright but our final third was poor. Again. We were sort of like Barca - without the end product. Winky thing

[damon loves JT]

Sidwell ran the show? I noticed him once or twice when he smashed the ball miles wide.

Yes, it was a very poor show.