Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[TonyD]

Keep the same team with Bannan from start and Herd in for Hutton and we won't go far wrong.   No Collins and no Heskey.   A Clark Bannan and Gardner midfield should be the future with Marco/Zog/  and Gabby/Bent. 

As somebody said will this be the turning point like after the ManU game last season. That's up to AM.

[Toronto Villa]

for the most part there is a lot of optimism on here despite a defeat. This was always going to be a very tough month and we haven't helped ourselves for a lot of it by the manner of our play. But in defeat tonight we can hope that we will now start to see shoots of green emerging. That AM is realising that we don't have to play long ball, flick on, lose possession football. That keeping the ball on the deck and going at other teams with the talented players that we have can win you games agaimst most teams in this league, and as importantly win favour with the supporters. We're not top 6 material, but if we play like we did tonight and with a better brand of football then top 8 this year will be a good achievement. It is a good foundation from which to build on.

[Clampy]

I hope Eck has sat them players down in the dressing room after the game and told them they've set themselves a standard tonight. They played so bloody well, only let down by the number of corners we gave away, which eventually led to our downfall.

If we keep that level of performance and attitude up, we'll be fine.

[Tony]

did they get applauded off at the end?

Yes, they were heartily applauded off.

[Tony]

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.

Yes, moral dilemna there, had he waved his arms around like the Arsenal player, or dived, it would have been a penalty.

[hawkeye]

for the most part there is a lot of optimism on here despite a defeat. This was always going to be a very tough month and we haven't helped ourselves for a lot of it by the manner of our play. But in defeat tonight we can hope that we will now start to see shoots of green emerging. That AM is realising that we don't have to play long ball, flick on, lose possession football. That keeping the ball on the deck and going at other teams with the talented players that we have can win you games agaimst most teams in this league, and as importantly win favour with the supporters. We're not top 6 material, but if we play like we did tonight and with a better brand of football then top 8 this year will be a good achievement. It is a good foundation from which to build on.

Yawn

[Tony]

Fine performance, full of passion, desire and some bloody good football at times. The end product was lacking, Warnock got into some great positions but didn't deliver, but it was good to see him showing the determination to get there.

Really gutted that they scored from a corner, especially as it was one of the smaller guys getting the header, however if we play like that more often than not, we'll be fine this season. On Sunday I left Villa Park embarrassed at how poor we are, tonight I left the ground gutted that a decent performace had left us with no points.

[Klaus Katt]

Though it was arguably the best performance of the season, I don't share the optimism on here. This was a stupid, stupid, stupid Christmas gift. McLeish put his forefingers to his head at 1-1, something to accept if you take the lead when only minutes remain.
   

[pauliewalnuts]

for the most part there is a lot of optimism on here despite a defeat. This was always going to be a very tough month and we haven't helped ourselves for a lot of it by the manner of our play. But in defeat tonight we can hope that we will now start to see shoots of green emerging. That AM is realising that we don't have to play long ball, flick on, lose possession football. That keeping the ball on the deck and going at other teams with the talented players that we have can win you games agaimst most teams in this league, and as importantly win favour with the supporters. We're not top 6 material, but if we play like we did tonight and with a better brand of football then top 8 this year will be a good achievement. It is a good foundation from which to build on.

Yawn

I don't really know why you're constantly trying to wind him up, hawkeye, but carry on and it will end in tears.

[SoccerHQ]

All that hardwork let down by once again not bleeding able to defend and letting one of the smallest players on the pitch ghost unmarked into the six yard box.

I did think the defence had a more settled look to it bar Warnock who was dreadful up against Warnock. Carlos and Dunne played really well so much so you have to ask why the feck Collins is an automatic pick when he's not injured.

I liked how we played in the first half, some good passing and we got plenty of crosses in so much so you ask why we don't do that when we actually have our six yard goal poacher playing, I'm sure Bent would've gobbled up one of those crosses in the first half.

Probably it's because of the high standards he's set himself over the season but I was a little disappointed in Gabby, don't think he tested the Arsenal back 4 enough.

[Toronto Villa]

I hope Eck has sat them players down in the dressing room after the game and told them they've set themselves a standard tonight. They played so bloody well, only let down by the number of corners we gave away, which eventually led to our downfall.

If we keep that level of performance and attitude up, we'll be fine.

I know the club do read this and other fan sites. I hope they read this thread. It doesn't take much to get the fans on their side. It just needs to be consistent and there has been so much volatility in the last 12 months that has been almost impossible as fans to know what's really going on. Playing a good brand of football, and show some desire to win games is such a big piece of winning over supporters. We just want to know that the team is being sent out to win games. Tonight shows that even in defeat, if the atttitude is right, then people will accept that there is a process in place. One swallow won't make this summer, so AM will need to demonstrate that this is now the path forward. If anyone at the club is reading some of this, then I hope they get the message back to Alex and the boys that this is what we want to see. People were happy. The results will come.

[midnite]

If we can play a passing game like that against arsenal then we can play and beat many of the lesser teams. The players have to believe in themselves and the manager need to believe the players can play that style of football. It was so so much better tonight.

[pauliewalnuts]

That's the most enjoyable game at Villa Park for a long time.

I can't believe we didn't win, let alone draw. Everything (almost) was infinitely better. We looked solid at the back (till the end), we kept the ball much better and put dangerous crosses into the box.

What was really noticeable was how much we chased them down and won the ball. You can't just expect the right to play to fall into your lap, you have to work for it and earn it. We did that for the first 35 minutes, then worryingly stopped doing it and Arsenal had a decent spell.

Second half and we were at it again, closing them down. Much better. That allowed the creative players to play.

I thought N'Zogbia was superb this evening. Not just good, but excellent. Albrighton was not far behind.

Hopefully we also won't see too much of Collins and Heskey again, because we look far better without them. Play like that and we will win far more than we lose.

What is vitally important now is how we react at Stoke. I remember last year we put in a great performance at Chelsea then followed it up four days later with the pathetic performance at home to Sunderland.

if McLeish has any sense, he'll not make the mistake of throwing away the large steps forward we made in several departments tonight.

[Tony]

All that hardwork let down by once again not bleeding able to defend and letting one of the smallest players on the pitch ghost unmarked into the six yard box.

We did this at Sunderland too, it is extremely frustrating, tonight we retained the ball well and passed well, which we generally haven't done, but yet again it's a bloody set piece that sees us undone, Arsenal did have a lot of corners to be fair but they didn't look too threatening and it should have been dealt with.

[SoccerHQ]

Can I also say the crowd were really really good tonight.

Even at 1 nil down, there was an acceptance that we were the better team and should've been the ones winning the game.

Hope that shows people that the team just needs to give the required effort and show a bit of quality and their won't be a poisonous atmosphere at VP.