Aston Villa v Norwich City Pre-Match Thread

[Concrete John]

Is it just me or is anyone else getting worried abouthe fact that Jenas is being cast as some kind of saviour this week? I seem to recall someone else being lauded to the skies in the week before a home game with Norwich and we all remember how that turned out.

I know what you mean - never been a big fan of Jenas as a player.  However, I'll give him a chance in a Villa shirt and as Ads says it's an area of the pitch we could do with some new blood in.

And I genuinely don't know who you're referring to in the 2nd part of your post!

[PeterWithesShin]

Ugo?

[Concrete John]

Ugo in 92/93 was my first thought, but I can't remember him being 'lauded to the skies' prior to the game?

[PeterWithesShin]

Ugo in 92/93 was my first thought, but I can't remember him being 'lauded to the skies' prior to the game?

That was the bit that threw me as well.

[TonyD]

I really don't have a clue how this game will pan out.   Fingers crossed for a good solid team peformance and 3 points.

[Vanilla]

I don't think N'Zogbia is actually sure what his role is. Surely this would have been discussed with him before we bought him. And the fact the manager admired him for so long makes the fact he looks lost in the team even more of a mystery.

His role is that of the wide right player in a 4-3-3.  I don't think there's any communication issue there - just that he's been playing poorly!

We don't seem to be playing 4-3-3 though. It's more like a 4-4-2, switching to a 4-5-1.

[Vanilla]

I really don't have a clue how this game will pan out.   Fingers crossed for a good solid team peformance and 3 points.

Don't know about the solid team performance, but the 3 points is so vital with the games coming up.

[Concrete John]

I don't think N'Zogbia is actually sure what his role is. Surely this would have been discussed with him before we bought him. And the fact the manager admired him for so long makes the fact he looks lost in the team even more of a mystery.

His role is that of the wide right player in a 4-3-3.  I don't think there's any communication issue there - just that he's been playing poorly!

We don't seem to be playing 4-3-3 though. It's more like a 4-4-2, switching to a 4-5-1.

The closest we've got to a 4-4-2 under AM is the Diamond we played against Wigan, but even then we had Gabby wide more often than not.

I do think our formation under AM is a bit unusual as it uses Heskey in the attacking midfield role for some unknown reason.  It's almost as if he sets up the defence, puts two midfielders infront of them, then sticks Gabby wide left of Bent with the two remaining players a bit lost positionally.

[levico]

Of course it will be a draw.

Norwich are not bad enough for us to register one of our rare wins.

[JJ-AV]

0-1 Norwich.

[SoccerHQ]

3-2 win and a late goal from Dunne.

This could be similar to the Blackpool game at VP from last season.

[VancouverLion]

2-0 Bent 12, Gabby 78.
Same team as last week except Jenas in for Heskey.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

1-0
Late Bent Winner

[Eigentor]

1-1

To our surprise, Norwich will dominate the match early on, but we will score on the break with Gabby.

Then we defend our lead vigourously with 10 men behind the ball. Norwich runs out of steam, we start to control the match and even vaguely look like scoring a second. But then we concede on a set-piece in the last 5 minutes. After that, headless end-to-end until the final whistle.

[KRS]

Anything other than a win is not acceptable.