Aston Villa v Swansea City Post-Match Thread

[villajk]

Well done to Swansea. Brendan Rodgers has shown that not having much money does not mean that you can't play proper football, and has given a lie to the idea that, just because you can't compete at the top, doesn't mean you can't play the game in the 'right' way.

Agreed Monts.

Total agreement here also

Ditto

[villajk]

I've only been supporting Villa since Saturday. Is this what it's supposed to be like?

This is what your glory hunting has done to us.  Tsk.

[lovejoy]

McLeish has used up his get out of jail free card from saturday already.

[Edvard Remberg]

Bent has to be sold, he is shit and we play shit when he is on the pitch.

Bent is shit?

With all due respect, what absolute nonsense that is. Look at his record. Look at his record here, even.

No striker - especially one with Bent's strengths - is going to prosper if the team don't get the ball to him.

Selling Bent now would have the triple whammy of taking our only reliable goalscorer away, making us look even more like a club going nowhere, and alienating the fanbase even more.

Right now, I can't think of a dimmer thing to do that sell Bent.

Alex McLeish starting Warnock next (prem) game?

[pauliewalnuts]

We looked good for 20 minutes, then for the next 70 looked as poor as we have done at home all season.

The most disturbing thing for me was that Swansea passed the ball around us like aliens from the planet football. The contrast between Rodgers and McLeish was laid out about as starkly as it possibly could be today.

Warnock was execrable today. I can't remember the last time I saw a player take a full back to the cleaners as thoroughly as Dyer did to him today. it was pitiful to watch.

Saturday was fantastic, but today was the sharpest reality check possible.

Currently we have a large number of players who are not good enough, a manager who is deeply unconvincing, a squad which is quite frankly not strong enough, an owner who hardly ever graces us with a visit from the other side of the Atlantic, and whose idea of running the club seems to be insist that we can't strengthen the squad until we do more about the wage bill. We are going absolutely nowhere other than in the wrong direction, and at a worrying pace.

I don't like booing the team, and it isn't nice to hear chants of "you don't know what you're doing" at the manager, but i fully understand the reasoning of those who did it today.

We have lost five of our last six home games. I can't believe anyone is surprised to hear boos after that.

[Legion]

Well, where to start with that performance? I don't think I'll bother.

Bent is not even close to being shit. See 'Warnock' and 'Hutton'.

[old man villa fan]

One team showed movement in midfield, how to pass, control and technique.  The other showed none of these.  Until we start to improve in this area we will only be a counter-attacking team, which works well away from home when everybody puts the effort in but does not work at home where teams sit deeper.

On top of this today, our use of possession was appalling.  From simple deadball situations, corners (how many was it, 14 or 15), I can only remember one Dunne header that we actually won the ball.  To make matters worse, Swansea seemed to win every 2nd ball on the edge of their area which allowed them to play the ball out with composure.

I am getting fed up with people defending one or another of our defenders at various times.  All of them are a mistake waiting to happen.  Today it was a lazy Warnock and Cullear being taken apart by Routledge and then even given a second chance standing rooted to the spot as he allowed him to put away the rebound.  Other days it has been Dunne or Collins.  The defence has absolutely no composure and today resorted back to the long ball.  Why is this, is it that they are too impatient and cannot be bothered to play the ball around with purpose looking for openings to develop.  They do, however, need players immediately infront of them to receive the ball.

The debate regarding Bent and Gabby still goes on.  At home, one up front will not get you the goals you require so somehow we need to develop a system where they can play together.  Also, as much as Gabby tries, he will never score enough goals to be a lone forward.  Why is it that when we bring Bent back it means that Gabby is played wide and therefore both players are easy to pick up as they are in fixed positions.  Why can they not interchange and play as twin strikers.  Or is it that one or the other (or both) are not clever enough to do this, or the midfield not creative enough to play this system.

Others have said that Swansea made 6 or 7 changes but looked as though they played together week in week out.  The reason, they have a method of playing together as a team so that they can interchange players without it affecting them.  With Villa we have a team of individuals who look as though they have never played together before.  This can only be down to either poor coaching, poor tactical thinking, the wrong mix of players and lack or cetain abilities in some players.

Likewise, others have remarked how little comparatively Swansea have spent on building their squad which shows it is all down to management/coaching.  Martinez started it, continued by Sousa and Rodgers.  It shows it can be done by using modern methods of management.

How many false dawns are we going to have before we can move forward an build.


 

[Phil from the upper holte]

I understand why the fans are frustrated, Christ I'm frustrated but after the booing and the chants the players became worse they didn't want the ball they were terrified. It does not help

[The Situation]

I'm struggling to understand how we could possibly play so bad after a brilliant away victory on Sunday when we should be riding high with confidence and momentum.

It just seems like whenever we take one step forward we go two steps back.

You cant even use the insane scheduling as an excuse because Swansea were in the same position as us.

The amount of losses we've had is unacceptable and very worrying. Home form is crucial. Why could McLeish stay unbeaten for a year at Blues? He should start making Villa Park a fortress.

[andyh]

There will be those who say today was a blip.
I think Saturday was the blip, today was normal service being resumed.

From the kickoff, the ball found its way back to Collins who promptly hoofed it as had as he could.
After 10 seconds it felt like the tone was being set.

[Shrek]

I'm sorry Bent is a contributing factor to us not playing well.

He scores tap ins, he isn't a goal machine, he is a goal hanger.

We don't play a system or have the personnel to accommodate him, so what's the point?

It's no coincidence he came back in and the performance suffered. The ball never sticks up front it just keeps coming back thus applying constant pressure on ourselves.

[CJ]

That was utter, utter pants. Outplayed by Swansea (who were very good but even so....). To hear them chanting 'boring boring Villa' and 'premier league you're having a laugh' just rubbed salt into the wound not least of all because they were right. Mcleish sounded suitably clueless on the radio on the way back

Maybe the 3 decent performances against Arsenal, Stoke and Chelsea were a blip and we've now reverted to type.

[Jimmy Smash]

Let's face it, for the forseeable future we're going to be a team who's aim is to stay in the PL by the looks of it. Looking at Swansea's plan and trying to emulate it mightn't be a bad idea.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm struggling to understand how we could possibly play so bad after a brilliant away victory on Sunday when we should be riding high with confidence and momentum.

It just seems like whenever we take one step forward we go two steps back.

You cant even use the insane scheduling as an excuse because Swansea were in the same position as us.

Last season we went to Chelsea, performed well, got a draw, then four days later put in a terrible performance to lose to Sunderland.

This time around, it was an even worse performance.

The worst thing today wasn't about the outcome of one match, though, it was seeing the difference between a team which has been set up to play a modern, passing game under a forward thinking manager totally outplay a team which really needs to be dragged into the 21st century.

I'm not saying we should appoint Rodgers any more than we should have appointed Martinez when Wigan beat us at home that time, but as a general indicator, it was depressing stuff.

[luke25]

I think its telling that the last 3 goals we've conceeded, each of our back 5 has had a hand in them, shocking stuff.