Bolton Wanderers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Clampy]

Gabby suspended for Liverpool I think.

Can you appeal against a yellow card? Watching on Football First the co commentator was flabbergasted that Gabby got the card when their keeper kicked the ball at Gabby! Dowd was a complete twat throughout the game

No, you can't contest a yellow card. I don't remember the incident but it does sound like typical Dowd fuck up. The free kick he gave Bolton on the edge of their area in the first half was baffling. He really is a dire referee. He needs to ref in the lower leagues, the games are a bit slower down there, he might understand what he's doing a bit better.

[supertom]

Tom, I think to expect us to be competing with the top 6 given the cost cutting that has been going on is unreasonable.

Just in terms of game to game. I don't expect us to get close to finishing top 6, but even Houllier had us pull off results against those teams and at least give them a game. Spurs probably won't have an easier time all season than what we gave them.
Actually more so, we need to stamp our authority more on the teams around us, particularly at home. Most of the games we've drawn, we've probably been outplayed and out passed.

Fingers crossed we can wheel and deal successfully in January. I think McLeish is here for the foreseeable future given how much it cost to get him, and vacate space for him.

[Chris Smith]

Ah, with you now. I agree that as the season progresses I'd like to see us putting up more of a show in every game, however, one a step at a time. It was a decent performance and the result exceeded the majority prediction on the pre-match thread so we should take some positivity from it.

[Villafirst]

Gabby suspended for Liverpool I think.

Can you appeal against a yellow card? Watching on Football First the co commentator was flabbergasted that Gabby got the card when their keeper kicked the ball at Gabby! Dowd was a complete twat throughout the game

No, you can't contest a yellow card. I don't remember the incident but it does sound like typical Dowd fuck up. The free kick he gave Bolton on the edge of their area in the first half was baffling. He really is a dire referee. He needs to ref in the lower leagues, the games are a bit slower down there, he might understand what he's doing a bit better.

I thought AM could ask Dowd to reconsider his decision - like you can with a red card? It was a howler to give Gabby the yellow when their keeper kicked the ball at him! This could have serious implications for the Liverpool game. I hate Phil Dowd!!

[Mister E]

Ah, with you now. I agree that as the season progresses I'd like to see us putting up more of a show in every game, however, one a step at a time. It was a decent performance and the result exceeded the majority prediction on the pre-match thread so we should take some positivity from it.

You right about it being "one game at a time" (Sweet Jesus) but I was concerned that we withdrew into our shell so rapidly yesterday and allowed a poor side to dictate the gameplay from the start of the second half. Had we continued to find our wingers as we did in the first half, Bolton would have completely capitulated.

But enough for now; a win's a win.

[midnite]

Credit where it's due. Saw the extended football first highlights and villa played well. The midfield clicked which helped take the pressure off the back four.

It shows the frustration for us all and why we all blow up on here because we all know we have players that can play football and are capable of playing much better than they currently have been. We know even with losing our star players we still have a good squad.
I'm certainly not getting carried away but for me it was an unexpected win up at Bolton and I'm glad all the guys that went to the game have been rewarded with our first away win of the season!!

Oh yeah and phil dowd is a dickhead

[Dave Clark Five]

Compass-types excepted.

Villa winning will have spoilt his weekend, along with a few others.
Long live McLeish as Villa manager.

Where's our next win coming from then? Four wins against piss poor opposition is nothing to crow about. I want McCleish to succeed at Aston Villa, but let's get real, it's never going to happen. He's a nice man who's totally out of his depth.

There's a lot of people talking about the prospects over the next few games but these have always been difficult for us. Pity that Gabby will be out but Albrighton and N'Zogbia are looking good. We played so poorly against Utd with most players out of sorts. Yesterday was completely different. The midfield is ticking along nicely. We might surprise someone soon.

[supertom]

Guzan impressed me. He's a quality keeper in the making. It was a shame that the Blackburn games a couple of years back really hammered his confidence, and more so our confidence in him. I remember being really impressed with him against Juve in the Peace Cup in that pre-season. He really evoked Bosnich in that game, and then against Sunderland in the League Cup.

Hopefully he's learned how to handle physical tactics in his own box. He's an excellent shot stopper. I do think he's too good to stay a number 2 for too long. Given's got 2-3 years left though, so maybe he'll have to move on to further his career and international aspirations. But I'd be confident of him being a long term number one for us, if he bides his time.

[Dave Clark Five]

Long live McLeish as Villa manager.

"We're going up, we're going down,
Going up, we're going down"
...no thanks!
Nice bloke and he's been proper dropped in the shite, but the odd win against other struggling teams doesnt paper over the cracks that AM is out of his depth.

McLeish has not had much time to put his best team out.
There have been occasions when the general attitude of the players has been deplorable. That seemed to have changed yesterday. Maybe the disciplining of N'Zogbia has shaken him up. We are finally starting to get value for money with him.
With O'Neill it was always 'wait for the transfer window'. Let's at least give McLeish
that opportunity and hope some money is forthcoming.

[Rigadon]

Didn't see the game but sounds like we were much better. 

Happy for the players and McLeish, this should take some of the pressure off and allow us to have a go a Liverpool next time out.   At least it's something to build upon.

[villa `cross the mersey]

One thing I did notice was the players coming over to the fans after the game - even Dunne !
They seemed pleased with the day`s work and acknowledged the fans part in it.
They did show some fighting spirit and resilience - add some guile and we can all relax a bit.

[barrysleftfoot]

  I watched most of the game on a live feed.I thought apart from the goals, Albrighton and Petrov gave the ball away too much.

  Robinson is the worst FB in the Prem, and yet i don't think Albrighton took advantage of him.The reason why the defence was hoofing the ball is because the midfield kept giving the ball away.N'zog was our best player, kept the ball well, looked dangerous and created chances.Gabby was hot and cold, brilliant for the 1st goal, and gave the ball away far too much.

  A poor Bolton team was allowed into the game too much, but overall ,partic in the 1st half, we played some good football.We are not far away, but we do need a really good CM.

[myf]

How many did we take yesterday?

[Dave Clark Five]

How many did we take yesterday?

I believe it was 2700.

[Monty]

First half, we looked good whenever we passed it, but the amount of unnecessary hoofing was still greatly frustrating. Whenever we passed it, exploited their weakness at full back with our advantage on the wings, tried to play the ball on the deck with a bit of patience we looked dangerous, and the fact that they were also playing 4-4-2 meant we weren't outnumbered in the centre like we can be in that system (although Bent up front really didn't do much at all).

However, second half, as soon as we were put under pressure, we reverted to type and started panicking. We weren't terrible, and clearly the two goal cushion gave us the belief that we could hang on, but we should never have been in a position where we were hoping to just hang on. Make no mistake, Bolton were horrible yesterday, and while the win is good I'd still be worried about our prospects going forward. That said, there are definitely three teams at least who are worse than us in this division.