Aston Villa v Wolves post-match thread

[AV82EC]

I'm taking it from the comments on here Sky were showing a re-run of our game against Wolves last season?

No, Sky were showing a very dull game between two ordinary sides, as the comments reflect.

That's what I don't understand. The game I saw from the Lower Holte was completely different to the one being described on here.

I agree Bazz. At times, particularly in the opening 20/25 minutes of the 2nd half we looked good. Our movement and passing was excellent and at times the Dingles looked rattled.

We have a solid base from which to build. Herd played well, Petrov and Delph were industrious and Heskey had one of his better games before he tired. On any other day we'd have got a couple in the second half when we were on top.

Wolves will be happy with a point but in no way should the doom and gloom merchants be believed in the descriptions on here.

Well said, unfortunately our tv bound correspondents get to comment first.  I was there today and felt whilst we didn't pull up trees we looked solid if a bit toothless going forwards.  I'm reasonably happy with our start tbh.

[kingstanding villa]

Thats a point more than last season off them . Was surprised at the wolves turn out today .

[nick harper]

I agree the stuffing seems to have been knocked out of the club in the summer. The Lower Holte was as subdued as the bad O'Leary days.

McLeish has got a tough job lifting the club with one hand tied behind his back. It feels to me that the fans have got the hint from Lerner as to how he sees the future.

As for the match, I thought we were decent in patches. Unfortunately the changes he made coincided with the team running out of steam. Herd may save us a few quid in the transfer market if McLeish think the signing he can make should be prioritised elsewhere.

[PeterWithesShin]

Strange game in many ways, no Villa player stunk the place out, but no one really shone either. Crap crowd, crap atmosphere, although i'm pretty Wolves will win this years award for being the away fans who spent more time singing about us rather than their own team. Previous winners of this trophy are SHA and Cov. Although a lot of them did applaud Bell, so fair play to them for that.

Downside, zero shots on target in the first half. Where were Lichaj and Beye? Pretty much all Wolves best stuff came down the right. Herd did well, but is no way a RB.

Heskey did well, but i'm sure there are plenty of the usual posts on here as usual saying he was shit. However, it was obvious he was knackered with 20-25 mins to go, so why leave him on? Bent did very little again. Zog continues to be a ball greedy fucker, he needs to get his head up a bit more. And learn how to cross. Our crossing from both open play and set pieces was shocking today.
At the same time, the first substitution seemed to totally fuck us, we lost all momentum.

So in closing, a typical Villa performance for as long as I can remember, good in patches, very good in smaller patches, crap in other patches and ultimately not good enough to win 3 points.

[Risso]

It is far too early to judge AM on the team, he's only had us for three league games, after all. Not long enough for him to get us playing as he wants us to, and not a large enough sample of games to make any kind of judgment.

I am more concerned by the degree to which the stuffing seems to have been knocked out of the club over the summer. Just over 30k against Wolves, 8k less than last season, is utterly dreadful, and pretty embarassing.

Having said that, the way we've moved players on and not replaced them, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. It is pretty hard to get excited about the club at the moment.

I remember talking to a Liverpool fan at the start of the summer about Downing, and I said - and was utterly convinced in what I was saying - that as we were selling Young, there was absolutely no way Lerner would even consider selling Downing in the same window, so forget about it.

I was wrong on that front, though, clearly underestimating the degree to which Lerner wanted to cut back the spending, and to which he had lost enthusiasm.

Having spent five years carefully growing and nurturing the club, and getting attendances decent again, the speed with which the retrenchment has happened - too much, too fast - has undone a great deal of that work.

We scored 3 goals against arguably the worst side in the league, but have struggled to create any chances against two other fairly ordinary sides.  It's going to be a safe, dull season.  And selling Luke Young, what on earth is that about?

[villan1975]

Disagree with a fair chunk of the people on here as thought Heskey played alright in the first half then disappeared more than likely through tiring.He should have been brought off for Bannan as taking N'Zogbia off in his place was a poor decision as N'Zogbia was really coming into the game and getting stronger.Also a poor tactical move as Bannan is not a wide player as we saw Tuesday.
We created enough chances to beat a reasonable side though just could'nt make our pressure payin 2nd half.
Not as convinced as most in defensive display as Warnock especially in first half was very very poor and went missing positionally on far too many occasions and we will be punished by better teams.
More worrying as most agree is 30000 at home,feel the fans ambitions now match the owners.

[Lowendbehold]

I agree the stuffing seems to have been knocked out of the club in the summer. The Lower Holte was as subdued as the bad O'Leary days.

McLeish has got a tough job lifting the club with one hand tied behind his back. It feels to me that the fans have got the hint from Lerner as to how he sees the future.

As for the match, I thought we were decent in patches. Unfortunately the changes he made coincided with the team running out of steam. Herd may save us a few quid in the transfer market if McLeish think the signing he can make should be prioritised elsewhere.

I thought the gate was as a consequence of; live TV, 12.05 Saturday KO meaning a lot working, Bank Holiday and people away on holiday.  It was never going to be a big gate.

We are lighter than last year and most teams would miss Downing and Young.  N'Zogbia will never replace either of them because he hasn't got their work ethic.

We need to get the wage bill down still and get rid of Ireland, Cuellar and Beye.  That would mean we could get in 2 or 3 real quality young players and the youngsters become the squad players.  Then we will be really competitive.

[brian green]

Just home from the game.   Dull uninspiring stuff.   The size of the crowd tells you that most people have sussed what is going on.   It is retrenchment and survival football.   What happens on Wall Street over the next year and the effect on Randy's finances will decide when or if ever we become ambitious again.

N'Zogbia on that showing does not merit a start until he is fully match fit and prepared to assist rather than go for personal glory so much.   Heskey works like a rented mule but is not and never will be the strong, ruthless midfield anchorman we are crying out for.   Bannan should have come on for Heskey and we should have upped the pace and tempo for the last quarter of a hour.   Instead we slowed and at the death Wolves were much the likelier to win the game.

Performances are not going to be any better or worse than last season but the fans have had a bellyful of spin and PR and are voting with their feet.  It is the price the club is paying for retrenchment and abandoned ambition.

Delph was clearly very rattled by his early card and to me it reveals a serious problem in depending on him too much.   I think he will get a lot of attention from referees in the coming season.

To summarize it is pretty much what I expected when we appointed Alex McLeish.

[Clampy]

Plus points, another clean sheet, still unbeaten, Chris Herd having a very good game and we did'nt look like losing, especially in the second half. McCarthy taking off Hunt and Jarvis was a big help. I'm not sure what he was thinking there.

Downsides, the lack of service to Bent again, Bannan being stuck out wide when he came on, Albrighton coming on too late and the attendance. I hope the poor crowd for a local Derby prompts Randy into helping McCleish in the transfer market before Wednesday.

[PeterWithesShin]

I meant to add, what a dumb fuck challenge by Delph after 5 minutes to get himself booked. Totally OTT and unnecessary and left him unable to make a challenge for the rest of the game.
Someone seriously needs a word with him about those kind of lunging tackles.

[KRS]

N'Zogbia will never replace either of them because he hasn't got their work ethic.

N'Zogbia hasnt got the work ethic of the lazy non-tackling Downing?

[hilts_coolerking]

Another clean sheet is certainly a plus point, especially after last season.  I wouldn't say I was entirely convinced by the defence today though; they'll need to up their game when we play a good side.

But in the last ten minutes plus injury time I thought Wolves looked more likely to win it than we did.  They were certainly creating more pressure than us.  After our surge at the start of the second half we petered out.  As others have said, that's partly because one or two of players were knackered.

I'd defy anyone to call it entertaining though.

[john e]

I can't remember the last time if ever when Gabby had 2 really good games in a row,
So that's a good thing

[The Moose]

Why don't "the twelfth man" get behind the team more?

[UsualSuspect]

Worrying for me is how long will it take for Nzobia to get match fit???

Fuck me he's a professional footballer but he's played 4 games and isn't fit?

he has a good first touch and I hope it will improve with his fitness *coughs* but he seems to lack that initial burts of pace that gets you a yard