Aston Villa v Wigan Athletic Pre-Match Thread

[JUAN PABLO]

4-0  Villa


Bent 2
Ireland
Dunne

[Shrek]

29,756 crowd

Not optimistic about the crowd for this one.  Below 28,000.

I'd say 34k I'm bringing a few mates who took up that £5 offer.

[Holtenderinthesky]

A draw.  We'll play for 0-0 and get it thanks to a few super saves from Shay Given.  That IS McLeish's game plan after all.   

[paulcomben]

Dunno why, but convinced that Villa will win & Nzogbia will be something more than useless for the first time.

[brontebilly]

Has anyone else noticed how pathetic our attacking set pieces have been this season?

Seeing as we are a kick and rush team these days surely we need to prioritize improving this?

Petrov was taking the corners the last day, fairly pathetic. No pace or direction

[willywombat]

A 4-0 win with N'Zogbia a certain scorer

[Ryu]

Brontebilly, if you look at the things the manager has said, and the way the team tried to play in the 2nd half last Sunday, I can't see how you can call us a kick and rush team.

And when you only have about 2 players above 6ft in you whole team swinging balls into the box from set pieces doesn't seem like the most pragmatic strategy to me. I think this is why Petrov was trying those 'pathetic' low corners.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Think the team will be fired up for this one after a positive 2nd half against QPR. 3-1 Villa Nzogbia to get his first goal. Bannan and Bent .......

[brontebilly]

Brontebilly, if you look at the things the manager has said, and the way the team tried to play in the 2nd half last Sunday, I can't see how you can call us a kick and rush team.

And when you only have about 2 players above 6ft in you whole team swinging balls into the box from set pieces doesn't seem like the most pragmatic strategy to me. I think this is why Petrov was trying those 'pathetic' low corners.

Collins and Dunne were very successful at causing problems in the opposition box a couple of years back. We just need a far better delivery to get them firing again. Petrov hasn't the technique to do it. His efforts were pretty embarrassing.

Even in the second half last week, how many moves of more than 5 passes were made in the opposition half? We don't value possession at all. I know Man Utd have better players but the ball is hoofed at only a very last resort. Players pass the ball to feet and seek the return. Our midfield hides and our defenders and keeper just hoof it in the general area of Gabby.

[Brend'Watkins]

We will win this I'm sure of it.  I only bet when I'm sure of it and I'm betting on this.

How often do you win though?

2 bets last year which I was sure were going to come off and they did.  This will be a 3rd.

[Concrete John]

We will win this I'm sure of it.  I only bet when I'm sure of it and I'm betting on this.

How often do you win though?

2 bets last year which I was sure were going to come off and they did.  This will be a 3rd.

Sounds promising!!!

[Ryu]

Brontebilly,

Collins and dunne can be a threat in the area, but that's it in terms of height in our team.

And I think we did try to play good football on Sunday. Delph had a couple of chances where he made good runs and got behind the defence and I thought ireland and bannan showed signs they could become a good partnership with their interplay.  It wasn't perfect but this is still a new look team really so I don't think you can just state 'we are a kick and rush team' at this point. 

[ASHTONVILLA]

Now we have more players available, I actually think we will win this one (had predicted 0-0).

I think Heskey and Jenas will both come in, which will help us keep possession. Can see N'Zogbia playing well against his old club as well. Can see McLeish picking something like this:

.....................Given...................

Hutton...Collins....Dunne....Warnock


..............Petrov.....Jenas............

Gabby...........Heskey..........N'Zogbia

.......................Bent.....................


Pity to see Bannan dropped, but Heskey does help us keep the ball, and Jenas would be more effective at defending. It might not be pretty but I do think we will win. 1-0 to the Villa.

[Cjamesk]

I'm travelling over from Holland so I'm hoping a 3-1 win!!!!!

Even if our home record is poor against them! I'm hoping that we start the way we did against QPR in the  2nd half (minus the late OG!), muchos better well anything would've been better than the first 45mins!!!!!

UTV!!!!!

[eamonn]

Fantastic exclaiming!