Aston Villa v Norwich City Post-Match Thread

[eamonn]

Oh, I almost forgot, it's no coincidence that Ireland came on and they scored shortly after. The lazy git could've done a lot more to prevent the cross that lead to their 2nd goal. Why do we bother with him?

Exactly. Criticism of Ireland is harsh. He's not meant to be a right-back, Hutton the dunderhead was down after taking a knock.
To be fair to the guy, defending is not his strong point. I thought he deserved praise for attempting to fill in for Hutton who was still recovering from the earlier challenge. Could have easily scored today had N'Zog got his head up earlier as well.

[eamonn]

No praise for AM I notice ....must be his fault that .....

Warnock - playing 100 times better than for past 2 seasons - not perfect

He's not. The season before last he was very good.
Last season he was gash in the games he played.
This season so far he's been hit and miss.

[Big Dick Edwards]

An entertaining game that I felt we just about deserved to win. The midfield was a lot better balanced than it's been so far this season. Petrov was always looking for the ball, Herd put in some great tackles, and N'Zogbia, while still not quite clicking in an attacking sense worked very hard defensively. Gabby was inspirational. He was everywhere -  up front, popping up on both flanks, and helping out in midfield. I've never considered it before but I can see him becoming a future Villa captain if he maintains this form and influence.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Oh, I almost forgot, it's no coincidence that Ireland came on and they scored shortly after. The lazy git could've done a lot more to prevent the cross that lead to their 2nd goal. Why do we bother with him?

Exactly. Criticism of Ireland is harsh. He's not meant to be a right-back, Hutton the dunderhead was down after taking a knock.
To be fair to the guy, defending is not his strong point. I thought he deserved praise for attempting to fill in for Hutton who was still recovering from the earlier challenge. Could have easily scored today had N'Zog got his head up earlier as well.

He's meant to be a midfielder who, so we've been told by many, is very talented. Talented players know when to cover and work hard. Fair enough he can't defend, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be busting a gut to stand in front of someone about to cross a ball - you don't need to be able to defend to do that. Anyway, I'd rather not dwell on it, I enjoyed today.

[Brend'Watkins]

Great game for the neutral!

I'm not a neutral and although it was our best performance of the season you know things aren't quite right when your best full back is Warnock.  Hutton is a liability, an accident waiting to happen, Cuellar would be a far better option but not the answer.  We need to sort our defence above all else. 

On a positive note there were many players who played well today, Gabby naturally, Herd, we should stick with him in midfield as he has that energy and ability to tackle well.  Given looked assured and Petrov is playing like a captain should.  The Zog looks better than of late but he needs to reverse his decision making.

Happy with the 3 points but we could and should have made it far more comfortable.

[Witton Warrior]

There were a lot of positives from today, the negatives were the same old same old.

Thought we were rampaging down the left in the first half after Norwich scored and could easily have gone in 3-1 up at half-time. There was some close passing that came off where before we lost the ball easily.

Are Norwich "neat" or just ineffective? Thought the latter myself.

Defence was worrying at times but this is to be expected it seems.
Midfield was good when we linked up and moved the ball quickly.
Strike force excellent! I want to see us pushing into the box and putting close pressure on the oppsoition goal. We looked like scoring every time we got into the penalty area.

Gabby is just superb at the moment - he showed his physical strength today holding off challenges and keeping the ball.

We counted how many dead balls made it past the first defender - counted 2 out of 9? Poor.
When we put it in quickly to feet  casued problems

[Pete3206]

Enjoyed it. Gabby was brilliant again.

[midnite]

Oh, I almost forgot, it's no coincidence that Ireland came on and they scored shortly after. The lazy git could've done a lot more to prevent the cross that lead to their 2nd goal. Why do we bother with him?

To be fair to the guy, defending is not his strong point. I thought he deserved praise for attempting to fill in for Hutton who was still recovering from the earlier challenge. Could have easily scored today had N'Zog got his head up earlier as well.

Completely agree. Ireland wasn't to blame. Thought he actually tried to cover well for Hutton going in for the earlier challenge.

[Exeter 77]

I really didn't expect us to hang on in those last 15 minutes.

An alternative to Hutton, who seems to be getting a lot of stick which I don't think is all deserved as he offers a lot going forward, is Lichaj but I'm not sure how much longer he will be out.

[timeoutbigbar]

Excellent game, my first trip to VP this season.  Gabby was pure class, and I actually thought Heskey was pretty good today (which I was pleased about because of the constant sarcastic remarks made by people sat around me).  I also thought N'zogbia was pretty good today.  He could have laid the ball on for Ireland late on, but I think his pace and directness caused Norwich a few problems.

[The Left Side]

3 points in a good open game of football, yes we should have seen the game out but a win is a win and lots of positives with Jenas, Gabby, Bent and Herd. All nice before an international break!

[KRS]

3 points. The only thing that matters today.

[Summers]

Herd looks fantastic. Bent eventually doing the business. Gabby is rampant, easily our talisman. Petrov looking good still. Jenas showed good touches and composure when he came on. Zog needs to look up sometimes. Defence needs working on in training.

[PaulWinch again]

Just seen the goals on MOTD, Gabby brilliant for all three. Also Benty great positioning. Loved that Gabby pointed to the badge when he scored.

[Macho Man Randy Savage]

Good result today. We've got some tough games coming up so this puts us in a stronger position.