Aston Villa v Fulham Post-Match Thread

[tarzansbrother]

Petrov needs to be dropped. Slow,ponderous and the ability to stifle our attacking play in an instant. The way Walker brushed him off the ball to run into space and score his goal summed it up for me. Fulham played well and fully deserved their point. I would bring in Heskey,Cuellar,Bradley against Blackpool and drop Collins,Agbonlahor,Petrov.

[WikiVilla]

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

Most of them 5 yard square balls in our own half. Don't be deceived by stats

[tsvet]

Don't understand the proper football of today. No real ideas, terrible positioning of players, very late ineffective subs and to top all that more than desperate tactics at the end. I'm afraid that all who are waiting for the summer to finally have a real GH team will be up for a disappointment - nothing much will change. This is simply what the guy has to offer. I pray that I am wrong, as otherwise, baring in mind the persistence of the board with the current manager, it will be a waste of good two years.
By the way, is it only my feeling that McAlister brings almost nothing to this team?

[WikiVilla]

On another day Bent's goal counts, Clark doesn't miss an absolute sitter and our defence doesn't fuck up for both goals.

Things are improving, look at the upcoming fixtures. We will win a fair chunk of them.

mmm didn't we say that about fulham ? They were supposed to turn up like lambs to the slaughter no ? Next game Blackpool, we'll need  to score at least 3 because they normally get at least 2 and create loads of chances, with our defence I can see a defeat here

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Piss poor defending and a bad performance from Friedel.

Until we somehow learn how to keep a clean sheet, we'll never push on.

Makoun did very well, Petrov looking too weary and I was surprised he was selected. Let's now see what Bradley can do.

Ashely behind Bent is a waste of time, as is Gabby on the wing.

[garyshawsknee]

Ashely behind Bent is a waste of time, as is Gabby on the wing.

It seems that every manager has a 'blind spot' and this seems to be GH's,and both players suffer due to this.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Ashely behind Bent is a waste of time, as is Gabby on the wing.

It seems that every manager has a 'blind spot' and this seems to be GH's,and both players suffer due to this.

You're right about a blind spot, virtually every supporter can see it except Gerard.
They should swap.
Gabby with Bent and Ashley back to his best position on the left wing.

[Chris Smith]

Ashely behind Bent is a waste of time, as is Gabby on the wing.

It seems that every manager has a 'blind spot' and this seems to be GH's,and both players suffer due to this.

They should swap.
Gabby with Bent and Ashley back to his best position on the left wing.

We did that in the second half.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Ashely behind Bent is a waste of time, as is Gabby on the wing.

It seems that every manager has a 'blind spot' and this seems to be GH's,and both players suffer due to this.

They should swap.
Gabby with Bent and Ashley back to his best position on the left wing.

We did that in the second half.

From the off I mean.
Gabby is no winger and if Ashley plays behind Bent, he has to weigh in with the odd goal, which he doesn't.
We're not using them to the best of their abilities.
Hopefully the shift around in the 2nd half is the shape of things to come.

[pablopicasso_10]

disappointing...

ashley young, gabby and downing should all play in their correct positions, and petrov should be dropped....

[Chris Smith]

I wouldn't bet on it, Rip. I think we're more likely to see tinkering with the central midfield 2, my feeling is that once we get that right the rest will follow.

For most of the first half Petrov and Makoun dominated and we looked a threat but they faded in the second and we lost our way. We need to either get a pairing that can last the full game or be a bit smarter with substitutions.

[cheltenhamlion]

Felt like a defeat after the game. Poor defensively, didn't create enough chances and should have won. Makoun had a good game though.

[villasjf]

Other things that didn't impress - pretty shit officiating, and the  world record long throw attempt at half time (after one decent and two weedy attempts, the chant of 'da da dada, fucking useless' was chant of the day). 

Another aside - Doug Ellis sitting in Lower Holte?  Wonder why

I pointed this out to the lad beside me on row OO and he said he sits in the Holte End once every season but I have never seen it before. Nice to see though, he did save our club in 1968.

[PeterWithe]

I didn't think we were anywhere near as bad as is being made out in the first few pages of posts. We didn't create enough, which is a disappointment given the amount of talent in our side, but we played patient progressive football, albeit within ourselves, and an on form Fulham side were very much second best, our lack of concentration gifted them a share of the points.

There were some very promising displays from Downing and Walker and Makoun was superb, I'd like to see how he does with a more defensive partner beside him and him playing further forward, those one touch passes with him closer to our pacy players may see teams being opened up more regularly.

I seem to be in a minority that saw Petrov as being decent, certainly he looked a bit ponderous in posession but his defensive work was sound.

[villa1]

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

Most of them 5 yard square balls in our own half.

 Don't be deceived by stats
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Cobblers. He plays one and two touch. Keeps the ball moving quickly, and not always to the side. The opposite of Petrov at the moment.

Some of our passing yesterday was very gpod at times. We just lacked the service into Bent in the final third. If he doesn't get that, you don't get an awful lot else from him, apart from chasing the odd ball down. We need to adapt to this, but it will take time. We are trying to play more through balls than we did with MON in charge, which always baffled me considering we had Gabby up front to run onto them.

At 2 - 1 the scoreline was masking poor performances by some of the players.