Aston Villa v Fulham Post-Match Thread

[swiss1968]

Very frustrating today,Fulham played well to be honest but  i still don't get gabby on the left side and young in the middle ,we hardly got any crosses over or service to bent who looked very isolated indeed,gabby just doesn't look interested playing there to me,Petrov and Downing had decent 1st half's but tend to fade 2nd half.Feel sorry for Reo hasn't done a alot wrong.UTV

[WikiVilla]

Makoun's passing and awareness in the first half especially was top quality.

wouldn't disagree, but it is mostly square balls

[Bottom Right 89]

Forgot to mention, Doug was in the row front of me in the Lower Holte today. 

Even our lifelong president had to make sacrifices for us to land Darren Bent - wonder if he has to pay 5 quid to park his bentley now as well? Used to be a time when Doug would have been eaten alive like Piranha in a feeding frenzy for sitting in the Holte end! Remember those shareholders forums? Good on the old fella.

[Pete3206]

Not the best day, but we're improving. I'm convinced that we'll finish comfortably in mid table.

[Phil from the upper holte]

i havent rated Friedel for a very long time, but with what we have as backup, we have to go with him


30 million spent on that team last month?

im fitter than Makoun and i smoke 20 a day


very very annoyed tonight

Makoun was excellent.

My thoughts exactly his vision is excellent he rarely wastes a pass and he constantly finds space

[Toronto Villa]

They're all still trying to figure things out, and with that will come some good performances, some bad ones, but a lot of in the middle ones like today. We should have won this today, but Fulham kept at us to their credit. They didn't have many clear cut chances, but made us pay for two very costly errors. I thought Andy Johnson was very good and led the line impressively giving their midfield players like Sidwell chances to push on and take shots.

Yes, it's disappointing, but this is still very much a work in progress. We'll pick up enough points to finish comfortably in mid table and as we have seen anything can happen with teams in that middle bunch. We're as capable of going on a good run as anyone and this stint of games still gives us the opportunity to do that.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Agbonlahor, Friedel & Petrov were terrible today, Ash wasn't much better, My mate said to me "has he broke sweat today?"

We have to give Fulham credit but after twice going ahead we should have been able to hang on.

Thought makoun & Downing played very well

[Dazvillain]

Makoun was class especially in first half. I kept a close eye on him and commented many times that majority of touches were one touch and probably over the whole game 95% of passes of his were a direct one to one of ours. Didnt run with it at all but moved it around very well. Can see him the holding middle player next to Bradley driving forward from middle...Petrov on bench

[paulcomben]

Football is a simple game. I was distracted by the inspired signing of Bent (and Walker - what a goal, then his colleagues let him down), but Houllier will never last as Villa manager. As mentioned above, simple tactics elude him e.g. play Young on the right & Downing on the left and Gabby in the middle. What is the purpose of Gary McAllister & Sid, who must surely see what we all see?

[Villa'Zawg]

I think those people looking at relegation need to lay off the crack - we're only 8 points off 6th.

The criticism of Brad Friedel is ridiculous - how many times has this guy saved a point or protected a lead? He makes a mistake, sell him!

I know its difficult given the white knuckle ride that is supporting the Villa sometimes but people need to have more faith we've got favourable fixtures and some decent players - I remember the Billy McNeill days, a draw against Fulham would have been treated like a cup final victory that season we're not that bad!

If you remember the Billy McNeill days, you might recall that we took more points from our first 21 games under him than we have in the 21 games since Houllier took over

I'd like to believe that getting out of the shit is going to be a stroll in the park but it isn't.

We've got only 2 fixtures left that could be described as more "favourable" than Fulham at home, against Wigan (17th) and Wolves (20th). Who also happen to be the only 2 teams we've managed to beat away from home this season.

Mc'Neill even managed to get 3 wins against the top 10 teams that season but I don't recall treating them like cup final victories. We've managed 1 win from 15 games against the top 10 so far.

[mr woo]

Regarding Friedal -

Would like to see that second goal again on MOTD tonight.

 Thats if I can stay awake long enough, we're bound to be on last after they finish whacking off over Wolves beating Man U, Toons comeback of the century, lowly Blackpools 8 goal thriller, even lowlier Wigans 7 goal thriller, Stokes last minute winner and of course Spurs winning a corner.

Anyway, I have a feeling Brad only gets about 6 inches off the ground when attempting to jump for the corner. He seemed to be punching at head height as if everyone else had jumped another foot or so. Just strikes me as another example of age catching up with the old fella. The agility and 'spring' has long gone.

If anybody saw the Wolves game tonight, Hennessy came for (and collected safely) a long ball in injury time way off his line in a way I've never seen BF do. That's the sort of thing that can take the pressure off a defence and something we've been missing for a while imo.

[Toronto Villa]

I think those people looking at relegation need to lay off the crack - we're only 8 points off 6th.

The criticism of Brad Friedel is ridiculous - how many times has this guy saved a point or protected a lead? He makes a mistake, sell him!

I know its difficult given the white knuckle ride that is supporting the Villa sometimes but people need to have more faith we've got favourable fixtures and some decent players - I remember the Billy McNeill days, a draw against Fulham would have been treated like a cup final victory that season we're not that bad!

If you remember the Billy McNeill days, you might recall that we took more points from our first 21 games under him than we have in the 21 games since Houllier took over

I'd like to believe that getting out of the shit is going to be a stroll in the park but it isn't.

We've got only 2 fixtures left that could be described as more "favourable" than Fulham at home, against Wigan (17th) and Wolves (20th). Who also happen to be the only 2 teams we've managed to beat away from home this season.

Mc'Neill even managed to get 3 wins against the top 10 teams that season but I don't recall treating them like cup final victories. We've managed 1 win from 15 games against the top 10 so far.

Are you seriously comparing the state of the club today under Houllier to the complete and utter shambles as it was under McNeill? The two situations aren't even close to each other aside from the appearance of the league table. Back then, many of the players at the club had simply thrown in the towel and it was such a different environment. It's not like that now at all.

[Oh Andy]

  Just got back.

  Friedel, should certainly done better with the 1st, not much to do really.

  Walker......great goal, a goal a midfielder should have scored, can't see Petrov doing that.Played well.

  Clark.....thought he was poor today, too slow with the passing, always turning to play the ball back, did'nt open the game up.

  Dunne and Collins......never in any trouble today for me , and yet the opposition score 2 goals.

  Petrov........too pedestrian, the 2nd goal came from him passing responsibility onto somebody else.His time has come and gone.Never been a big fan, but not getting any better.

  Makoun......quality player, always got a pass on, always an option.Great signing tbh.

  Downing.....typical Downing, some good parts, but never convinces me.Lacks a bit of consistency in the final 1/3rd for me.

  Gabby.......starting to worry about Gabby, Bent does'nt like a partner, so Gabby has to play more like an inside foward.Not sure he has the brains to do that.His movement off the ball is non-existant.

  AYoung.......runs a lot, works hard, has'nt got a killer final ball.No assists, no attempts again.Went on the wing, no decent crosses.Starting to question why he's ahead of Albrighton tbh.

  Bent,.......not sure he was offside tbh, apart from that should have done better with that chance in the 2nd half.Good movement off the ball, needs to be picked out better.

 
 We should have held on after going 2- 1 up, gave them far too much space in midfield, and did'nt create enough chances.Badly need a LB , and need to replace Petrov in midfield.

[l_mckay]

fustrating game today,thought the first half we played well then sat back at the start of the second half,and then as soon as Fulham equalised we started to play again,and then done the same thing again after a great goal from Walker! poor goals to give away. On the posotive side i thought Makoun played very well in the middle,Walker and Downing also played well!

[levico]

If we can't beat Fulham at home .....

The fear's coming back.