Aston Villa v Everton Post-Match Thread

[garyshawsknee]

Missed it all this afternoon. Did he start with Ireland on the left? If it didn't work last week,it wouldn't work today.

[PaulTheVillan]

Missed it all this afternoon. Did he start with Ireland on the left? If it didn't work last week,it wouldn't work today.

Looked like a 442 to start with Ireland left , but it didn't stay that way for long. Once Ireland was in the middle he was easily our best player.

[SamTheMouse]

I've got to go put up some shelves lads. It's going to be a lot more exciting than the last 90 minutes. Have a good afternoon and evening everyone.

Only if your shelves are beige...

[paul_e]

Missed it all this afternoon. Did he start with Ireland on the left? If it didn't work last week,it wouldn't work today.

Looked like a 442 to start with Ireland left , but it didn't stay that way for long. Once Ireland was in the middle he was easily our best player.

I thought Ireland had a very good 20-25 minutes at the start of the 2nd half but did nothing after they equalised.  Don't get me wrong, those 20-25 minutes show exactly how good a player he can be but we need the rest of the team to play the right way for him to be effective for long periods.  Clark was also very good for that time, which made it all the more mistifying that we 'sacrificed' Clark in the middle (by dumping him in at LB) to bring Keane into things.  Petrov had the worst game I've seen from him in a long time today and yet there was never a hint of seeing any of the 3 young central midfielders on the bench coming on to replace him.

[pooligan]

Biggest worry for me was the fact that we were playing a Everton team without 3 of their regular back 4 yet apart  from a ten or fifteen minute spell when we scored they never looked in trouble. Says everything about our manager and his approach to the game.

[Fin Feds Dad]

I cant think of two worse full backs that have ever played in the same team for us.

We are pedestrian, too slow - cannot pass and move, can't cross - its turgid , unwatchable shite.

Should have made a change at half time - but no one near me was shocked he never - incompetence at every level at the minute.

[PeterWithesShin]

Same old same old. Dunno if I can be arsed to come up with a post-match verdict as it will look like the same as most of the others i've done this season. 

[garyshawsknee]

I'm glad I missed it all,sounds like nothing new,twenty minutes of good play is the norm. It's mid Jan now,and we've only had a few complete performances all season,pretty worrying.

[timeoutbigbar]

Infuriating.  I thought we were comfortably the better side second half, and after the goal we had the momentum.  We just got caught out at the wrong time and the momentum was gone.  Things to be improved upon, but not the worst result in the world I suppose.  Ireland a positive once again, we looked a lot better when he switched into the centre and Gabby went wide left.

[Risso]

Biggest worry for me was the fact that we were playing a Everton team without 3 of their regular back 4 yet apart  from a ten or fifteen minute spell when we scored they never looked in trouble. Says everything about our manager and his approach to the game.

"Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story...."

[Witton Warrior]

We nearly always draw with Everton.It's the law

Do you know yer 'istory... etc

[Steve kirk]

1-1 was exactly what I and most of us expected, 7 points clear of the bottom 3 with much better goal difference so we should be ok but god its so incredibly dull, we will limp along like this to the end of the season and dont start me off regarding Warnock, for me he should not pull on a first team shirt again, been going down since 1966 and he is the poorest left back I have seen playing for Villa.

[SoccerHQ]

Mediocre game, showed why two former regulars of the top 6 won't be back there again anytime soon.

In fairness we were good for 15-20 mins before/after the Bent goal and really should've killed the game off at that point, a 1 nil lead is rarely enough in the premier league.

Ireland was good, Bent looked more lively than usual but why oh why do we have to play Gabby so deep all the time? It's Phil Bleeding Neville at RB for god's sake not Dani Alves.

And our full backs aren't very good are they? Warnock is a disaster at the moment and tried to show Everton's strikers how to score, get rid in the summer. Hutton in fairness wasn't too bad defensively but I expected more from him going forward really.

[hipkiss92]

We need a spark to come in and re-ignite the whole club. We have been going through the motions for over a year. Somebody needs to galvanise the owners, management, players and supporters.

To do that Randy would have to get rid of McLeish, replace him with someone like Hiddink, then give him a fortune to replace shit like Warnock, Hutton and Collins.

Absolutely no chance of that happening, those that go are going to have to suffer much more of that shite

Or get in someone like Brendan Rodgers/Paul Lambert who are producing results and entertaining football with a limited budget.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Petrov had the worst game I've seen from him in a long time today and yet there was never a hint of seeing any of the 3 young central midfielders on the bench coming on to replace him.

After coming back after the summer break looking as fit as a butchers dog and putting in some great performances, often in advanced positions, he now looks completely tired both of ideas and energy. It seems an effort to drag his frame back to defend, even from the half way line and for the best part of today took the easy option and sat in front of the back four.

The more worrying thing is that Clark was doing the same. Did either of them cross the half way line in the first half? To his credit, Clark upped his game in the second half and started to bring the ball forward before being shoved to left back. I realise we have Ireland in a more advanced role but ffs, why are the central two sitting so deep?

Petrov when he's full of running can help make things happen but this is the third consecutive game where he's looked completely and utterly knackered. When your two central midfielders are only making themselves available to recieve the ball in deep lying positions, all attacking momentum is lost.