Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[Dave Clark Five]

Can i be the first to say, hutton did let the frustration get to him but at least he was pissed off at losing rather than not caring. he was really good today

I thought he had a good game until he let them wind him up. What a difference Clark made. Very composed. England Captain in the making.

[Tony]

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.

This is what I expected from McLeish when he arrived, we'd work bloody hard, I also thought we'd be decent defensively but too cautious and that it would be a lack of goals scored that hampered us. Tonight is the first time all season I've seen us work like I thought a McLeish team would, the passing was far better than I expected from his teams, but defensively, he still hasn't sorted it but there were lots of positives tonight.

[Walmley_Villa]

Except Clarke is Irish...

[The Situation]

Don't get too excited fellas... One game of playing well doesn't mean a lot. I've seen us this season play real good one game, next game followed it up with a dismal performance.

There needs consistency, you need to follow up the next game with another good performance. It's encouraging that we played well tonight but I need to see more performances like that.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter how well you play if you can't keep it together when it matters the most.

I am hoping we can produce more performances like this on a consistent basis then hopefully we will get rewarded with the results we deserve.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

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

Good post but just wanted to highlight your last point. We've seen tonight what this team are capable of. If McLeish can't see what we all saw tonight and build on it, he doesn't deserve to be the Villa manager. For now I'll just sit back, cigar and brandy in hand and reflect on a wonderful Villa pewrformance, even if it was a defeat, it certainly didn't feel like one.

[pauliewalnuts]

Don't get too excited fellas... One game of playing well doesn't mean a lot. I've seen us this season play real good one game, next game followed it up with a dismal performance.

True enough, but at least we didn't follow up that insipid embarassment on Sunday with another horror show. Far from it, in fact.

[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.

Opposition players runs aren't being tracked, I still can't believe it, Benanyon a 5ft nothing midget unmarked 6 yards from goal.

If it's zonal marking we're still doing, again you have to ask why we didn't have a player stationed in the middle of the 6 yard box.

The delivery from RVP was really good though, much better than our corners. Really can't believe we still float them to the back pass, surely it's much more effective to whip it in?

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.

[Dave Javu]

How did Ireland play?

Very well until he got injured.

I think you were at a different game to me.

I thought he was substituted for being crap, not for being injured

[Shoody]

Except Clarke is Irish...

Yes Clarke is but Clark is Half English, Half Irish. Has chosen Ireland though...but has he made his competetive debut yet? Shame as he captained England during his youth career.

[Dave Clark Five]

I forgot to mention, I though N'Zogba was fab tonight ( a few wayward passes aside),
 and Albrighton looks back to his best, thank God!

nzogs best performance tonight

True but still no end product for a guy that cost a lot of dosh.

It will come. Well played Charles.

[TheSandman]

Clark has played for Ireland.

Didn't see the game but am throughly heartened by the fact that we played so well. I really hope we take heart from and build upon the performance against Stoke and Chelsea.

[taylorsworkrate]

How did Ireland play?

Very well until he got injured.

I think you were at a different game to me.

I thought he was substituted for being crap, not for being injured

Crazy statement.

Ireland was a real problem to the Arsenal defenders, as he kept making great late runs behind their back 4, narrowly missing a goal on a couple of occasions.

He never gave the ball away ever.

[Fin Feds Dad]

How did Ireland play?

Very well until he got injured.

I think you were at a different game to me.

I thought he was substituted for being crap, not for being injured

And you were at a different game to me then (funny how we all see the same game differently ).........I thought Ireland did well. There were loads of times when he was in space pointing to where he wanted the ball played - but the other players didn't spot it.

Much happier with them all tonight (apart from bloody Warnock - who is just embarrassing)

[Rigadon]

Much, much better.  Didn't deserve to lose the game and showed loads of bottle and heart.  We still lack a bit of quality but I can excuse that and the result.  More please.

[CJ]

Played really well tonight and that in turn generated the atmosphere which also in turn upped the performance even more. Pressed them all over the field and should have taken one of our chances in the first 15 minutes. Haven't seen any highlights or heard any post-match guff but what was the penalty for? Seemed really soft. But heads didn't drop and Marcy Marc took his goal well. Just knew with the amount of corners we were conceding that we'd give it away again, but I can take losing if we play with that much conviction and passion.

Player-wise I thought most played well and that was probably N'Zogbia's best game so far. Surprising what happens when you play him in his best position.. Why was Ireland taken off just before half time? He wasn't doing great and Bannan was a huge improvement but seemed an odd time to take him off. Gabby seemed a bit lethargic in the second half. The real downsides were Warnock - got in some great positions but crossing was shocking. And Hutton is still crap. The ref did us a favour giving him a second yellow - pity it wasn't a straight red