Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[Shoody]

Herd for right back, anyone?

Yes please. Just don't bring Collins back in.

However, with Stoke being the next game and AM more worried about defending, he'll go with Collins and play Cuellar at right-back.

Hope not. Stoke rely on their longballs. But they aren't aiming longballs down the flanks, balls will be coming in from there with Etherington and Pennant. We need speedy closing down on the flanks and big heads in the middle.

Herd does not deserve to be dropped if he is fit. It makes sense to have him at RB as he can close down quicker than Cuellar and he can also deliver a ball from the flank into opposition box. It would allow Clark to play DM who is better aerially than Herd. Having a central (where the long balls will be coming) trio of Clark, Dunne, Cuellar will be better than Herd, Dunne, Collins.

Imo anyway.

               Guzan
Herd  Dunne  Cuellar  Warnock
                Clark
       Petrov       Gardner
Albrighton              NZogbia
                Gabby

(Gardner because he needs to start somewhere and he was good physically vs Drogba when we played Chelsea. So therefore hopefully would deal with Stoke better than Bannan (small) or Ireland (lazy shit) )

[eric woolban woolban]

Whatever the performance, it's a results business and the results aren't looking very good.

FOUR wins from seventeen is very very poor.

Championshit and even shitter football looms whilst McUseless is in charge.

[TonyD]

Hutton put in a strong tackle and got the ball.  The ref was wrong.

[RossLeach]

did they get applauded off at the end?

[PaulWinch again]

Can't really see how playing better but still losing is moving forwards. Gimme a crap game and a 1-0 win any day of the week. Sorry chaps

In my opinion it's because scraping a point with another appalling display won't get us anywhere in the long run. However if we start to play well the results will come and people will actually enjoy supporting Villa again and crowds will come back.

[ez]

I can't believe i'm gonna say this but N'zogbia should've gone down, it would've been a blatant penalty, fair play for his honesty though.

Me too. I said it on the match thread. Should have dived.

[hawkeye]

The Big difference tonight was that we seemed to be prepared to comit to chalenges and to taking players on, we attacked Arsenal, we should have got more from that display, I just hope the penny has dropped

[midnite]

That's what I want to see when down the villa. I know we lost but that was an awesome performance. I we player like that last Sunday we might have had something from Liverpool. every player gave it their all. Stand outs were dune and N'Zogbia. Both were brilliant.

Apart from Ireland/banan swap for went bent is fit I don't see how any of those players should get dropped. As paying fans that is the entertainment we deserve. I really enjoyed tonight. The atmosphere was great too. Not a boo heard. Such a shame we lost, we didn't deserve it. But carry on playing that way and we will be fine.

The crux is if McLiesh reverts to type when certain other players are fit. But for the moment, we played lads. I'm proud of them all

[Summers]

That's the difference though. Walcott didn't go down, he just stopped and screamed at the ref - then got the pen. I still say it was soft, he could have played on.

[hawkeye]

Can't really see how playing better but still losing is moving forwards. Gimme a crap game and a 1-0 win any day of the week. Sorry chaps

In my opinion it's because scraping a point with another appalling display won't get us anywhere in the long run. However if we start to play well the results will come and people will actually enjoy supporting Villa again and crowds will come back.

Spot on, if they play like that every week

[PaulWinch again]

Can't really see how playing better but still losing is moving forwards. Gimme a crap game and a 1-0 win any day of the week. Sorry chaps

In my opinion it's because scraping a point with another appalling display won't get us anywhere in the long run. However if we start to play well the results will come and people will actually enjoy supporting Villa again and crowds will come back.

Spot on, if they play like that every week

Absolutely it's a starting point and has to be built on. I think it's crucial that Heskey leaves soon and Collins' involvement is minimized.

[Walmley_Villa]

Well we got a performance and were very unlucky. They all played well tonight including Hutton and Gabby was probably the poorest performer. Message to Eck - build on this and we will be ok. All we ask is for passion and commitment. Dunne was great tonight.
Also great to get home with a sore throat, there was nearly a decent atmos tonight.

[James]

Just heard Albie on R5, 20k to Acorns for his landmark goal, Villa through and through, good lad! Proud of you! Wenger said we were unlucky not to get a point, fair play, need to get the set piece defence sorted (9 goals conceded already that way) it's killing us, but for the first time this season I have some pride in Villa and will go to bed not hating McLeish BUT, you're only as good as your next game, so pay attention AMc!!

[VWBelgian]

Rather play crap and win some games... 19 points in 17 matches... Look at bottom half, its close. Nothing is gonna change though in january.

[mattjpa]

Can't really see how playing better but still losing is moving forwards. Gimme a crap game and a 1-0 win any day of the week. Sorry chaps

In my opinion it's because scraping a point with another appalling display won't get us anywhere in the long run. However if we start to play well the results will come and people will actually enjoy supporting Villa again and crowds will come back.

Spot on, if they play like that every week

Absolutely it's a starting point and has to be built on. I think it's crucial that Heskey leaves soon and Collins' involvement is minimized.

Or his style of play is changed. Collins offers alot of commitment and has his strengths but needs to be sat down and shown the error of his ways. I also think that a major problem with collins is that when paired with dunne we dont have a ball playing centre half.