Everton v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Irish villain]

JPA is tweeting about the game too!

[oldtimernow]

Re: The 'non goal'.

I hope he was well onside and that it's shown to be over the line. I like the idea that we may have got the biggest slice of luck imaginable and got away with daylight robbery. Further, I hope the point it gained is the difference between being relegated and us ultimately staying up.

We were on the wrong end of a similar incident at Leicester City in April 1970 and we  finished up being relegated to the 3rd division. As you can gather I'm still sore about it.

Call it Karma. You can say what goes around comes around.

All I know is that after waiting 41 years, when the managers, players, TV pundits all analyse it from 20 different angles, speed it up, slow it down, use every bit of technology and then get all self righteous and pious I can say "Bollocks to the lot of ya ! Im Villa me and we're staying up ! "

Yes I remember it, wasn't it a Pat MacMahon blaster that hit the goal stanchion?

[eamonn]

This just in from Twitter

KyleWalker28 Kyle Walker
That could be the worst game I have ever played.... The boys got me out the shit today I o u all a performance next weekend!

A footballer swearing in public. Controversial. Seriously though, comes across very well in the interviews I've seen on avtv. He even did co-punditry with Marky Marc for the youth team's FA Cup semi-final suggesting he already has an afinity with the place.

I wonder, like Glen Johnson, would he be better deployed as a winger/wide midfielder than full-back. Both seem to be better going forward, wing-back would probably suit them best. Born a bit too late for the 3-5-2 craze.

[oldtimernow]

How did Ashley Young play or does he only bother putting in a shift when wearing an England shirt!!

Is the correct answer

[citizenDJ]

Decent game, that. Thought we looked decent most of the time (well, not so much Walker, of course...) and could have won it really, especially given that the two we conceded were pretty soft.

Downing in particular was very good, and I thought Luke Young had a good game too.

Darren Bent did what Darren Bent does. God bless him.

[Surrey Villain]

Blackburn will lose at Arsenal. I still think we'll be okay. Can see Blackburn, Wigan and Wolves dropping. Why the f*** does Houllier drop Cuellar and Albrighton from the starting line-up? He's just hopeless at selection and tactics!!

Obviously got it all wrong today, terrible point.

Even more terrible was the fact we lost two points, mainly due to the officials' ineptitude in not spotting a blatant dive by Jagielka but also to the lack of fresh legs towards the end.  Stewart Downing was causing havoc but also did more than his fair share of defending covering Walker who looked unfit.  The addition of Albrighton to run at a tiring Everton defence may have provided another goal and even prevented Jagielka getting that far up the pitch to dive in the area.

[WikiVilla]

Agree we need a keeper who can command the 18

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

This just in from Twitter

KyleWalker28 Kyle Walker
That could be the worst game I have ever played.... The boys got me out the shit today I o u all a performance next weekend!

Disarming honesty. Preferable to saying he performed like a pub player.

[VillaAlways]

BRMB Wowing about the phenomonal away support.Well done to all concerned including my other half.Also mentioned the Bring A Scarf campaign.We,the fans will get us through this I'm sure

[WikiVilla]

Downing was exceptional today as was Bent

[sonlyme]

Friedel has been a super goal keeper - anyone who nay says that hasn't got all their teeth and probably has 'bosko' tattooed on their neck.

But his strength has always been as a net minder - staying on his line - getting his angles right - and forcing the striker to beat him.  For this to work he needs good defenders in front of him - if they lose their form and fitness - he is exposed.  Hence - we are the league's worst at defending aerial attacks.

No point in moaning now - let's get this awful season over with first - then get a whole new back line.


Too many people like pointing the finger IMHO - it's a team sport - can we stop looking for someone to blame? - and look forward to roaring the lads on against Newcastle next week.

[Holtenderinthesky]

Not happy with Friedel again today

What?
He made three fantastic saves and neither of the goals were his fault.

Totally disagree I'm afraid.  The first would have been saved by a better/younger/more agile keeper.  The second was practically straight at him and for the (seemingly) 1,000th time in a row he failed to save a spot kick.  Law of averages would suggest that he should have at least saved a couple by now.  How he didn't stop that I will never know.  Get rid as soon as possible, he makes some good saves occasionally (as he did today TBF) but he is not good enough to play at this level anymore IMO.  He has poor command of the area and does not know when to come off his line and when to stay put.  The concession of so many goals from corners cannot be ignored.

Just like the younger, more agile Howard got down to save Bent's?

Bent's goal was hit with pace and from a slightly different angle from what I remember.  There is no doubt in my mind that Friedel should have saved both goals.  He normally gets nowhere near penalties and the fact that it was so close to him for once and he still didn't save it has pissed me off more.  He did make a couple of good stops during the game so I won't be too hard on him but that doesn't change my view on the 2 he didn't save.

Imagine if we'd scored our last pen (at Bolton for a 3-1 lead) and saved this one today.  We'd have 5 more points at least as we would've been a different team against Wolves had we won at Bolton. 

[Greg N'Ash]

This just in from Twitter

KyleWalker28 Kyle Walker
That could be the worst game I have ever played.... The boys got me out the shit today I o u all a performance next weekend!

Disarming honesty. Preferable to saying he performed like a pub player.

Aye. bet the last player to say that didn't realise he'd actually end up one

[Pete3206]

Can I just say a few words about Bent's superb goals today.

They were superb.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Downing was superb, as was Bent after his couldn't be arsed performance against Wolves.
Midfield a tad shaky, defence a pile of shit as usual.