Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[JUAN PABLO]

fook off richard Keys , trying to say the 20,000 prem goal should go to Aguero too .    you cov twat .

Why is he saying that?
Just saw Marc on SSN and the £20k is going to Acorns, good lad.

Andy Gray sticking up for us .  Great charity , great young lad with his head on his shoulders .   Keys going on about the timing of the goal , Gray basically saying shut up you hairy prick . 

[JUAN PABLO]

Anyone heard about how bad Ireland's injury is? Played his best game for us last night. It would be a shame if he was out for an extended period.

he is not having much luck .   he looked good last night , we need a fit Ireland on top of his game .  We havent got the money just to write off certain players .        He was trying hard last night

[LeeB]

A strange sensation came over me watching the came last night. I think they call it 'excitement'.

Really pleasing to see Clarke, Bannan and Cuellar come in and really bring something to the team, and also N'Zogbia and Hutton really showed the players they can be.

Hutton obviously let himself down, silly, but it can happen when you're wound up and you've given your all. Some of the comments by our 'fans' on the matter are a disgrace, but there you go.

[Greg N'Ash]

Overall a much better performance, easily the best this season. He got the selection right by dropping Collins at least and no Heskey is worth a point normally. I must say Carlos getting back in is odd for someone who hasn't really got a future here presumably. Mebbe MON has bid for Collings (*prays*) or AM was putting Carlos in the shop window. Mind he bought Ireland back again which seems odd, but i suppose he could still have no idea what his best side is. Hutton, well you can't say it wasn't coming - in fact it was probably the least brutal of his challenges - sign he's getting a reputation among refs?. All in all encouraging but no points unfortunately and we've got to start picking a few up given the table.

[Legion]

MotD Highlights

[The Laughing Policeman]

Last night was better all round, on the pitch and in the stands.
Fast paced attacking football, neat tidy passing (no I'm not talking about Arse!) heads didn't drop when we went a goal down.
Should the Zog have gone down in the second half? I'm not sure where I stand on this one. On the one hand we would have got the pen and maybe gone on to win the match. On the other hand fair play to him for staying on his feet and trying to get a cross in.
Losing still hurts but the way we played last night helps to ease the pain.
Applauded off at half time and no booing of our own team for a change.
The Holte in full cry is still the best end in football.
More of the same please on and off the pitch.

[ozzjim]

A side with Ireland Charles and Albright in it is much more forward thinking. I really hope Clark gets a long run in midfield.

[TimTheVillain]

Far better performance, should have at least 1 point from the game.

N'Zog looked really up for it, and all in all, although pointless, we showed that we can at least play a bit of football for the first time in ages.

Can we please offload Heskey in January now AM ?

[Walmley_Villa]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I thought our fans were bloody brilliant.

It was certainly noticeable from the stream I was watching.  We're not fickle, we just want to watch a decent side having a go at playing decent football.  The result isn't usually all that important.

A Mirror Sports Writer on Talksport said our fans were great last night and that the Blackburn fans should take a leaf out of our book on supporting your team. Lets keep it up because it does make a difference.

[Merv]

That was much better - a performance like that, even if we ended up empty-handed again, does a lot for optimism.

A far few of us have been calling for Cuellar and Clark to be more involved all season, great to see them both start. I always feel much happier when we've got Clark, Albrighton and Bannan in the side, it at least feels as if we're trying to develop something longer term.

I guess concern now is the injury/suspension list, which is mounting. Real shame Ireland now injured after a promising start. Suppose v Stoke it'll have to be Cuellar RB with Collins back or Clark at CB, and Delph or Gardner into midfield with Petrov and Bannan. Squad getting very stretched now.

[Risso]

Hopefully it's the sign on better things to come.

As Brian Green says, it's still a defeat. And we don't want to start claiming defeats as some sort of moral victory. We can leave that to the likes of the B-lose and the Olbiyun.

But that level of performance will be enough to beat most sides in this division. They've set the bar now, we know what they're capable of. Lets hope it's not a one off.  We also didn't look particularly weaker at the back without Collins (we didn't look more secure either). Food for thought for Big Eck.

To be fair a constant theme on here has been about not expecting to be at the level of the top 6 but to at least put up a fight and play some entreating football. We got both last night so it seems slightly churlish to then go back to saying the result is all important.

It's easily the best we've played all season, and although I was pissed off when they scored the winner, I was annoyed with how unfair it seemed rather than with the team or the manager, if that makes sense.  Let's hope they're capable of replicating that form on a regular basis, and that it wasn't a false dawn.  While I enjoyed the game for the first time in ages, unfortunately it was still a loss, and 12th place in the table could soon become 15th and so on.  Still, it was promising.  The other time we've played really well was against Wigan using similar personnel and formation, so I really hope McLeish sticks with that, and doesn't revert to the Collins/Heskey hoofathon.  If he's got anything about him he'll realise that last night was the way forward and persevere.

[darren woolley]

Let's play like that in every game.

[TonyD]

Enjoyed the game last night.   Injuries pick the team not AM.   Clark and Carlos made the free play possible.  Clark must play again in midfield and Carlos next to Dunne.  So who to cover for Hutton??? Collins and Heskey stay away. 

[Neil Hawkes]

                 Guzan
      Cuellar Dunne Clark
                   Herd
           Petrov   Bannan
Albrighton                  NZogbia
                  Gabby
                   Bent

I like the cut of your jib!
Half our defensive problems have been the right/left backs as they can't be relied on, whereas that line-up gives us 3 bloody good defenders and an extra one in front with bags of energy - who needs a right/left back?

It would also be perfect to ease Mr Gardner into the team, when Petrov looks puffed.

Go for it Alex....................it could be an inspired choice!

[garyshawsknee]

Hopefully last night was a Eureka moment for Mccleish. Clark needs a good run of games,and ill be gutted if Cuellar is sold in Jan.