Swansea City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[villadelph]

we might not get a point for a long time. today had to be three points and our inept ability to create anything bites us in the ass. we have no quality going forward, none. fucking swansea! we've got to be having a laugh accepting a point.

Manu are the only team to win there this season, it's just blind arrogance to make statements like that.

No, it's not. It's fucking Swansea City.

Swansea are a decent enough team and no pushover as they proved at anfield, not many teams will get 3 points at the liberty this season.

Oh please, after Christmas they'll fall apart like every promoted side. They pass nice, sure but they won't have the quality to last an entire campaign. And FFS they've played Sunderland, WBA, Wigan, Stoke and Bolton at home.. big deal.

Aston Villa should not be competing with the Swansea's, we should be smashing them.

[eastie]

we might not get a point for a long time. today had to be three points and our inept ability to create anything bites us in the ass. we have no quality going forward, none. fucking swansea! we've got to be having a laugh accepting a point.

Manu are the only team to win there this season, it's just blind arrogance to make statements like that.

No, it's not. It's fucking Swansea City.

Swansea are a decent enough team and no pushover as they proved at anfield, not many teams will get 3 points at the liberty this season.

Oh please, after Christmas they'll fall apart like every promoted side. They pass nice, sure but they won't have the quality to last an entire campaign. And FFS they've played Sunderland, WBA, Wigan, Stoke and Bolton at home.. big deal.

Aston Villa should not be competing with the Swansea's, we should be smashing them.

We are not that good sadly!  How we did we fare again against bolton , west brom and sunderland this season?

[Mister E]

I've been pretty negative on here today, and - having watched the game in full - I stand by it. Not because we didn't win. Not because we didn't create chances. Not because we showed little / no effort.
I have increasingly become negative because of the way that we approach and set up for the game. We strong-armed a neat footballing side; we hoofed the  ball
needlessly; we look and play ugly, for the most part.

We have the players to play attractive, goalscoring football - we choose not to use
them effectively.

I plead for the defence of criticism.

I agree with your constructive criticism but get sick of the vultures who are making a meal of every slip we make. The players must take on some of the blame. It is not all the manager's fault, even though the lynch mob seem to think it is.

Absolutely fair comments, DC5. And I appreciate that you get to all the games and can make a more comprehensible assessment of our performance / prospects than me.
I certainly won't be assembling a lynch mob but the negatives of our approach are depressing and will increasingly see us in the 'dogfight' zone of the league.

[TheSandman]

we might not get a point for a long time. today had to be three points and our inept ability to create anything bites us in the ass. we have no quality going forward, none. fucking swansea! we've got to be having a laugh accepting a point.

Manu are the only team to win there this season, it's just blind arrogance to make statements like that.

No, it's not. It's fucking Swansea City.

Swansea are a decent enough team and no pushover as they proved at anfield, not many teams will get 3 points at the liberty this season.

Oh please, after Christmas they'll fall apart like every promoted side. They pass nice, sure but they won't have the quality to last an entire campaign. And FFS they've played Sunderland, WBA, Wigan, Stoke and Bolton at home.. big deal.

Aston Villa should not be competing with the Swansea's, we should be smashing them.

With our rank in the footballing foodchain at the moment we should be doing no such thing. A draw was a creditable result. The problem being that the performance was at best uninspiring.

[Nirog72]

I thought Bannan looked really good when he came on. His passing and close control are great. I think he has to start, particularly as we will be playing some teams in the next few games where it would be a good idea to retain the ball more than we currently do. I'd keep Delph in the team as well but set the midfield up a little differently.

Gabby had a good game and I thought Collins was really strong but his distribution was a little poor again. Herd was good but needs to go back to RB so we can get the useless thug that our manager appears to think is a footballer off the pitch.

Given and Collins showed real guts to go out there today, as did some of Swansea's players.

Poor first half, good second half which with a bit more invention (probably Bannan on earlier) would have seen 3 points. I'm a bit worried about Bent but he's the sort of player who will stick a couple away one game soon.

[Chris Smith]

I didn't see much, if any, getting in amongst them in the first half. We stood off them as much as we did Spurs until the second half.

In the first half we picked up three yellow cards and Given didn't have a shot to save.

And? Hutton and Delph would pick up cards in an empty room.

After 25 mins Swansea had had 75 percent possession. We sat back and let them play. In the second half we stopped doing this and it got much better.

They had 75% possession but most of it was in their own half and as soon as they got anywhere near the box we picked them off. The difference in the second half is that we pressed them higher up the pitch so were often winning it back in their half but it was essentially the same type of performance.

[PaulWinch again]

I do worry about Clark never getting a game as well, as he may start to look elsewhere.

[pauliewalnuts]

There's no reason why we should expect to smash Swansea, at all, but what we should do is go there and *try* to beat them.

In the first half today we barely seemed to be trying, we just sat back and let them pass it around us, our only outlet seemingly the hoof up pitch from the centre halves.

In the second half, we chased and closed them down, and pressurised them into making mistakes.

When Bannan and Jenas came in, it was much more positive, but still not enough - we'd wasted half of the match, after all.

Who reckons Heskey will start on Saturday?

[atomicjam]

Awful first half. Better second. A point is fine at Swansea but the way AM approaches games is making this season painful for me.

[eastie]

I do worry about Clark never getting a game as well, as he may start to look elsewhere.

Fear not dave clark 5 is loyal to the end!

[midnite]

I could of easily fallen asleep during the first half. Quite boring I thought.

When Jenas came on he looked lively. His movement off the ball is good. Great pass to bent that was called offside when it wasn't. When bannan came on I though the midfield as a whole looked much much better. I don't know whether that was down to the fact Swansea were tiring too I don't know. But we played much nicer, much better football when they came on and carried an air of a threat about it. I thought we could just nick it at the end. Much better than Monday night, but we still hve a lot of work to do.

[caster troy]

Better second half. I sincerely hope that is the last time we see Heskey in that position, absolutely woeful. Delph was dire as well.

More Bannan, Jenas, and Albrighton please, with less Heskey, Delph and Hutton.

Credit to Given, a true professional today.

[Simba]

It is a fair arguement Chris and well defended. However, it is not about today in isolaton is it.

It is about how we are playing after a third of the season and how we think we might fair as we go forward. Are we improving? Are we a scare to at least half of the Division? Or are we defensive minded but defensively niieve?

Are you honestly positive about how we play and how we might finish the season in comparison with our competitors of not so long ago. Spuds? For example.

Are you proud of how we play or embarassed.......

[pauliewalnuts]

I didn't see much, if any, getting in amongst them in the first half. We stood off them as much as we did Spurs until the second half.

In the first half we picked up three yellow cards and Given didn't have a shot to save.

And? Hutton and Delph would pick up cards in an empty room.

After 25 mins Swansea had had 75 percent possession. We sat back and let them play. In the second half we stopped doing this and it got much better.

They had 75% possession but most of it was in their own half and as soon as they got anywhere near the box we picked them off. The difference in the second half is that we pressed them higher up the pitch so were often winning it back in their half but it was essentially the same type of performance.

Or, in other words, we stood off them. How do we expect to win matches like that? The outlet isn't the counter attacking of old, it is the witless hoof up field.

Swansea never looked like scoring, bar the Lita chance, but we did far from enough to win the game.

Too little, too late.

[villadelph]

There's no reason why we should expect to smash Swansea, at all, but what we should do is go there and *try* to beat them.

In the first half today we barely seemed to be trying, we just sat back and let them pass it around us, our only outlet seemingly the hoof up pitch from the centre halves.

In the second half, we chased and closed them down, and pressurised them into making mistakes.

When Bannan and Jenas came in, it was much more positive, but still not enough - we'd wasted half of the match, after all.

Who reckons Heskey will start on Saturday?

Completely disagree with your first point. Pending the correct formation and tactics from the start there was no reason we couldn't win that game 3-0. Pathetic approach to go out and get a win that was for the taking away from home. You all have far too much respect for Swansea, and maybe so did McLeish. Is that is why it took us 45 minutes to realize we don't have to sit back and watch them dink the ball around? Should've won today, and with only a few shots on goal today I can't imagine the coming weeks are going to get any better.