Aston Villa v Fulham Post-Match Thread

[olaftab]

I never saw us winning today from early on. We are  good at moving it around at halfway line but unable to make  chances and be effective where it matters in or around  the box.
We are disjointed in there. Heskey needs to play to help Bent.

In midfield  very impressed with Makoun but Petrov.... it's time to move him on. Need Delph back in there.

In defence someone other than Collins also needs to do some proper defending.
Their first goal resulted from indecisive play on the LH side first by Clark and than Dunne. I don't blame Friedel for not holding on however he must take the blame for their second. He is a good shot stopper but has always been rubbish at dealing with crosses. We must make a replacement signing soon. Westwood is out of contract in the summer. We can pre-contract him now.

And Houlier needs to make better use of subs. No point in bringing Heskey on with 4 minutes to go

[Ads]

Its evident on today's performance that the midfield isn't right. Makoun can do what Petrov does, only better. I expect that Bradley is coming into the middle to provide a bit more drive and balance, but it was bloody annoying today nonetheless.

It was all a bit "I've seen this all before" against one of the poorer sides at Villa Park.  Friedel dropping two ricks against a side that don't turn the screw and rarely put you under pressure. By the same token, there was only Downing with any drive coming from the midfield today. Young was nowhere to be seen and Gabby hasn't got the ability to work the flank.

I'd very much like if Andy Johnson could go play on the motorway too.

[levico]

I was going to say that the MOTM award to Makoun was bizarre but who else would you give it to? Hardly anyone stood out except in a negative way e.g. Petrov who was truly awful today.

Makoun was like Essien in the first half and Boteng in the second.

[The Situation]

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier: "We just have to blame ourselves for not keeping that result [from 1-0 and 2-1 up] but there were more positives from the game for us. I can take pride from the football and effort we put in at times."

True.

But we're still in a precarious position at the moment and winning first and foremost is the most important thing. Style of play will contribute to winning and how we win, but we've got to find the best way to play in which we're able to win and finish off teams like Flaming Fulham.

Ashley Young has got to get back on the wing. That's where he plays best, gets the best out of him and we're more creative which would hopefully contribute to scoring more goals.

[avfc_1874]

I never saw us winning today from early on. We are  good at moving it around at halfway line but unable to make  chances and be effective where it matters in or around  the box.
We are disjointed in there. Heskey needs to play to help Bent.

In midfield  very impressed with Makoun but Petrov.... it's time to move him on. Need Delph back in there.

In defence someone other than Collins also needs to do some proper defending.
Their first goal resulted from indecisive play on the LH side first by Clark and than Dunne. I don't blame Friedel for not holding on however he must take the blame for their second. He is a good shot stopper but has always been rubbish at dealing with crosses. We must make a replacement signing soon. Westwood is out of contract in the summer. We can pre-contract him now.

And Houlier needs to make better use of subs. No point in bringing Heskey on with 4 minutes to go

Would have to agree with that. Thought the game was crying out for Heskey halfway through the 2nd half.

Where was Bannan today as well?  Is he injured?

[N'ZMAV]

Ashley Young needs to get out on the wing. Playing in that hole isn't working.

[ozzjim]

I am a big defender of GH, and a big fan, but I think Ashley Young presents us with a huge issue, partly because for 80 minutes of every game he is fucking atrocious, and for 10 minutes good, spread across the 90 in little bursts.

But the 2 that stood out in their crappiness today were Dunne and Petrov for me, the latter being a fucking disgrace to the shirt. Sorry but he was just so, so bad.


We need to stick Young wide and play a genuine 3 man central midfield, or play 4-4-2 with Young and Downing out wide and Bent with Heskey up top. Gabby then simply has to wait for his chance in the side, as does the fall guy of Downing and Albrighton. The former did well today and deserves to play.

Friedel showed again why we need to be replacing him come the summer.

Clark and Dunne kept piddling about with it.

If we want to play the 4-3-3, then the 3 needs to be 3 genuine midfield players to allow the other 3 to be genuine forwards, so Makoun, Bradley and Reo Coker/ Delph/ Bannan for me. Then upset Young and drop him for a game.

[Blackcountry Villa]

Ashley Young needs to get out on the wing. Playing in that hole isn't working.

What difference will that make? He couldn't cross the road. I actually really dislike him, he's a jumped up little tosser, typical modern day footballer who thinks he's god's gift when the truth is he's actually pretty shit.

[sfx412]

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier: "We just have to blame ourselves for not keeping that result [from 1-0 and 2-1 up] but there were more positives from the game for us. I can take pride from the football and effort we put in at times."

Bullshit of the lowest quality. Awful tactics, all that effort wasted, Young, Bent and Gabby might as well have been playing on the parks pitch at Aston for all the use his tactics were to them.

We were lucky to get a point, not facing reality is a sure way of not avoiding relegation.

As good as our last few performances were this was a monumental tactical mistake.
Oh and if anyone thinks we can have a midfield with Makoun on his own, or with some unknown US starlet in there is nuts, I'm no Petrov fan, far from it but today he held what was left of our midfield together covering for Makoun time and time again.
As Johno said last night we have to stop making silly mistakes when not under pressure. Was he talking about Makoun. We desperately need someone to hold on to the ball or more than Downing as an outlet. why Young was so far up when the ball never reached him, same for Gabby and Bent, I'll never undersatnd. Its a game of 11 players not 8 plus 3 passengers

[citizenDJ]

The problem with Young back out on the wing is that he wasn't really playing very well out there either! Still better out there than in the middle though.

[Ads]

Malcolm, you're on crack. Petrov was garbage today. He couldn't hold his own cock, let alone our midfield together.

[citizenDJ]

I have to agree that that was one of the poorer Petrov performances today. As I posted before, I'm pretty sure we'll see Bradley in there alongside Makoun sooner rather than later.

To my mind, though, I still think NRC is the better choice to support more 'lightweight' midfielders as an 'anchorman'.

[Apyadg]

Ash needs to be dropped for a few games to let him know he's not Lionel Messi, with consideration being given to trying to move him on in the summer. He's been poor, at best, for a long time.

[Edvard Remberg]

Makoun was good first half - but at the end faded. Great vision
Downings best game for a while, really creating space.

Petrov crap - Brad fault for 2 goals

[Monty]

As good as our last few performances were this was a monumental tactical mistake.
Oh and if anyone thinks we can have a midfield with Makoun on his own, or with some unknown US starlet in there is nuts, I'm no Petrov fan, far from it but today he held what was left of our midfield together covering for Makoun time and time again.
As Johno said last night we have to stop making silly mistakes when not under pressure. Was he talking about Makoun. We desperately need someone to hold on to the ball or more than Downing as an outlet. why Young was so far up when the ball never reached him, same for Gabby and Bent, I'll never undersatnd. Its a game of 11 players not 8 plus 3 passengers

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.