Aston Villa v Everton Post-Match Thread

[Gulf Villa]

Watched it on the TV over here in Oman, as I have every game this season and I think the problem is a manager being pressured into changing his natural instincts, i.e give nothing away, into a more open attacking stlye, that we as fans require, but he has not got the players to do it and probably the natural inclination or knowledge.
Petrov today played deeper, so we see the 21st century's version of Wilkins, Clarke to me was caught between two stools, do I push on, or do I stay deep to help out the skipper who is breathing through his arse, after 15 mins.
Then we have the option of the ball played out wide to our two marauding full backs, but if I give it them, they then hit from the one side the Trinity and from the other the Witton lane.
Other option lets give it back to, Glen Hoddle Collins, who can ping a 60 yard measured pass to Crufy Bent, who it sticks to like glue, allowing Ireland and Gabby to make those dagger like thrusts through the middle, or at worse lay it back to Ireland who because of the movement of Bent , Gabby and Super Marky, has options galore.
We can also then ask Super Marky to cover at the back and give us the impression of the Tony Adams Arsenal back four, with the hands up and regardless of wether they are offside it will be given.
But if none of that works, what options have I got, I can bring on touch of a rapist Heskey, Roberto Carlos Cuellar, Charles when I can be arsed Nzog, now only got 5 games without Becks Keane, or some relatively young reserve players.
Just maybe time to look at another way of playing, because this one Sir Alex is just not working.

[Chris Smith]

We started brightly but faded after 15 minutes but then picked up again for the 10 minutes before half time and carried that on until they equalised. We scored after a period of constant pressure andt hen started playing some lovely stuff but then ave away a really soft goal.

Albrighton was the weak link today going forward, wasted so much possession and yet his name gets mindlessly chanted. He should have been taken off but you can guess what the reaction would have been.

Warnock seems to have lost the plot, he's not a crap player but he's awful at the moment.

Must mention Ireland, looked a class above anyone else on the pitch today. We need to get players on the same wavelength to make the most of his his touch, vision and movement.

[brian green]

I think your summary is exactly correct Greg.   We all knew before the season started that our midfield was the hole in the doughnut.   Delph has failed to live up to his billing and his shortcomings have not been eliminated by our coaching staff, Petrov's engine has blown all its gaskets, Gardner has been wrapped in cotton wool and has not been allowed to become a man, Herd is not a midfield player and neither is Clark, Ireland has only just been give the chance to prove himself after languishing in neverland for months, Milner and Young have been sold and mind bogglingly stupidly Makoun has been shipped out.

If we had four across the back who were class defenders the waves of attacks which pour through when our midfield turns into meerkats would not create such havoc and so many late goals but we have Dunne, Hutton, Collins and Warnock who get roasted all the time.

As for the suggestion that we have a better team than Swansea because we have more international players than they do, in any sport it is what your players are going to do which matters not what they have done in the past.   An over the hill international player is still an over the hill player.

[Lizz]

Stephen Ireland applauding the Holte when they chanted his name was a nice moment.

Haven't Everton got some exotic sounding substitutes?!

Clutching at straws for yesterday afternoon not being a complete waste of time, the delay by the announcer in saying the last name of second Everton substitute with almost an alphabet's worth of letters in his name made me smile.

[nick harper]

I thought we played some decent stuff at times largely when Ireland was involved. He does have a fantastic ability to find space and you can visibly see his confidence growing. Problem is the rest of the team aren't often on his wavelength.

Playing him wide left at the start typifies why I have serious doubts about McLeish - he needs to play through the middle, end of - and we looked much better when he changed it.

Biggest frustration was how often we wasted great positions with really poor final balls. The two full backs and Albrighton were particular frustrating.

We are better set up to play away from home at the moment with the players he has and the lack of presence in midfield to support Petrov.

[Matt Collins]

Not woo worried with regard to relegation but it's not pretty and it's certainly not entertaining. Apparently, we're losing on average £1.5m from game revenue due to the decline in crowds.

What, missing out on £1.5m per game??! So at say £25 per ticket average, our attendances are sixty thousand down on where they should be? Seems unlikely!

If this is in comparison to some other clubs, I can believe it. That was true even when we had high attendances because our tickets even then were so much cheaper than somewhere like Spurs, who made twice as much as us on matchdays despite a smaller capacity.

[Matt Collins]

Playing Ireland wide left at the start typifies why I have serious doubts about McLeish - he needs to play through the middle, end of - and we looked much better when he changed it.

One of my bugbears is people looking at tactical choices about where to play players in isolation. Of course it's obvious Ireland is better in the middle. To do that it seems you almost certainly have to play 4-5-1 / 4-3-3. There are at least as many reasons to suggest we struggle when doing that because Bent struggles with the role. It's not as straight forward as 'Ireland has to play in the middle'. Even Zidane had to play wide left to make things work tactically, so it's not a boneheaded choice.

[nick harper]

The issue with Ireland is that he drifts inside anyway because that's his natural inclination. Whether looking at the decision in isolation or as part of the wider tactics, it was poor- McLeish needs to make the best use of the most creative player we have.

[Matt Collins]

I would try to play Ireland centrally too, but I do think we have a problem in terms of who plays the no 9 position if he does. Gabby is inconsistent but his performance at Stamford Bridge was on a level that Bent just wouldn't be capable of. But Bent normally would have scored the chance Gabby had (definitely last season at least!)

I think i makes 100% sense to play 4-2-3-1 at Wolves next week and to give Bent the front role. But there's a pretty high chance we won't make the ball stick up top.

I think the Clark / Petrov axis can work, provided both full backs get fwd and Petrov has enough energy. I think other comments on this thread demonstrate the current problems with that, although I imagine that's what Mcleish is aiming for.

[Matt Collins]

Sorry, one more comment: didn't see the game, but read that we had 11 shots on target. Is that misleading? I'm not sure we had 11 shots on target in our last 6 games put together?

Also worth remembering we almost always draw v Everton, and often don't play particularly well in doing so.

[PeterWithe]

I seem to be in a minority of one who actually enjoyed the game, well the second half at least, maybe its just because I've missed a lot of games recently. I also thought Petrov was one of our better players. We lacked a little inspiration in the final third but that kind of talent is normally sold to richer clubs.

[The Laughing Policeman]

A bit of a curates egg of a match for us, good in parts. Ireland was without doubt the best player on the pitch from either team.
As for Stephen Warnock, when he was at Liverpool I rated him as someone to keep an eye on for the future. Now I'm beginning to think we'd be better off with Neil Warnock at left back. 

[Marlon From Bearwood]

That's the 2nd home game running that Warnock has done something so embarrassingly bad that he's pretended to be injured immediately after. Yesterday - the near Own goal. Swansea - when Dyer had just torn him a new one for the 3rd time during the 1st half. I really can't stand the bloke. Maybe Houlier had him sussed.

[Walmley_Villa]

That's the 2nd home game running that Warnock has done something so embarrassingly bad that he's pretended to be injured immediately after. Yesterday - the near Own goal. Swansea - when Dyer had just torn him a new one for the 3rd time during the 1st half. I really can't stand the bloke. Maybe Houlier had him sussed.

He always has an 'injury' or 'knock' when he drops a bollock. There is/was a decent player there but his confidence is shot.

[olaftab]

We started brightly but faded after 15 minutes but then picked up again for the 10 minutes before half time and carried that on until they equalised. We scored after a period of constant pressure andt hen started playing some lovely stuff but then ave away a really soft goal.

Albrighton was the weak link today going forward, wasted so much possession and yet his name gets mindlessly chanted. He should have been taken off but you can guess what the reaction would have been.

Warnock seems to have lost the plot, he's not a crap player but he's awful at the moment.

Must mention Ireland, looked a class above anyone else on the pitch today. We need to get players on the same wavelength to make the most of his his touch, vision and movement.

I must say I completely agree with this. Sorry to disappoint you Chris!