Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[SoccerHQ]

Herd did well for me on his first game back for months.

The lad's a battler and if he can improve his distribution sufficently he could be a decent defensive midfielder in the making.

[BC54 VFC]

If anyone knows who the idiot(s) was/were who let the smoke bomb off in the Golden Cup before the match can they please shop them to the police.

At this rate there'll be no pubs left to go to before the match in Blackburn.

[hawkeye]

Herd did well for me on his first game back for months.

The lad's a battler and if he can improve his distribution sufficently he could be a decent defensive midfielder in the making.

Great first half, I think he ran out of legs, a very decent prospect, not seen anything from Gardener yet to sugest that he is as good

[Simba]

Well, here I am in South Africa waiting another hour to watch a recording of the game  Midnight now. I will still watch as always do.We used to be one of the three live games.

I would love to have heard the half time pick up talk.

I mean what: " too aggressive guys, hold that three points. Now lie deep, we have done enough"

WTF we according to you chaps were totally in control. Why not " keep going lads brilliant the chances will continue to come, well done"  ?

Why always go so deep and allow a team in. Mistakes will happen. Why can't this clown drive us on. Plays for a draw and honestly the most cowardly manager I have ever witnessed. He has done it for years. Had it with this bloke. Get rid.

This team can play. It can. Proved it again first half . Let them, for God's sake. Alex , let them play.
.

[villa1]

In all honesty, I don't think Blackburn could play any worse that they did in the first half. In the second they were only going to get better. That, combined with us taking our foot off the pedal, meant we were always going to struggle to hold onto the lead.

Our biggest mistake was not taking the chances we created in the first half, having being gifted so much time and space by them. The game should have been won by half time.

[robbo1874]

Didn't see the game but don't have to anymore - i've given up getting up at 2am to watch this shit.  Now i wake up at 5am and lie in bed wondering how we got on only to find I was right not to waste my time again.  Every cloud and that.......

The most predicatable result ever from the most predictable Villa team ever.

I'm the same Jim- cant be arsed staying up to watch anymore. Only watched a couple of games this season. Wolves Away was the last one.

[taylorsworkrate]

11 games left. 11 points to play for.

Post of the day.

[Mister E]

Did the Ewok Park groundsman tell the players that they could only use one end of the pitch today ?

I wish I'd taken some binoculars with me. I'll have too watch MOTD to figure out what went on in that goalmouth scramble.

Anyhow................

First half was pretty good. Great run by Carlos to set up Zog and we could have had a couple more.

Second half was like watching a repeat of the Wigan game from last week.

Good to see Herd back. I really rate the guy and was impressed by the way that he covered back behind Hutton. RB should be Chris' position as long as Gary progresses and cements his place in midfield.

I guess that the long crossfield ball from Collins to Albrighton worked well in training. I can only assume that Bannan was marking Marc in practice, because there was no way that Marc was ever going to win a header against a normal height defender.

Very good summary of what I saw from the Darwen End.

[Mister E]

Herd did well for me on his first game back for months.

The lad's a battler and if he can improve his distribution sufficently he could be a decent defensive midfielder in the making.

His distribution in the first half today was outstanding!

[villajk]

What was the reaction of the fans at the end? I did the manly thing and turned my computer off in a strop.

There was some booing.  A bit of huffing and puffing and then we went on our merry way.

I thought it was all pretty tame - TBF, the players were appreciative of the support and looked pretty miffed at having failed to win.

That's what I was saying.

[Clampy]

Good first half, could have been three up at the break.

Defended too deep second half, their equaliser was always coming and we were lucky it didn't turn out worse than that.

I'm guessing this has been said at least 40 times on this thread already.

This sums up the game without me saying too much else other than tactically, Mcleish is not the brightest when it matters.

[Monty]

63% possession to Blackburn according to the usually conservative Beeb. That's unacceptable.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I reckon I could take Mark Fletcher at Ker-plunk.

He'd be too busy shouting at himself, rolling his eyes and thumping his fist angrily into his palm to pull any of the little straws out.

Ker-Plunk?
I'm like that from the minute I wake up.

[eamonn]

In fairness I don't think McLeish wanted us to retreat in the second half. It's certainly not as black and white as us playing well in the first half and told to ease off at the break. Kean was always going to give his team an earful and make changes. That and the crowd encouraging them, we weren't going to have it all our own way. But it's McLeish's job to pre-empt that and he should have had more of a gameplan for the second half.

''Why can't we ever play well for 90 minutes?'' Well, not many sides can. There will always be ascendancy periods and momentum is so important in football. We needed to score a second in the first half today. Or else nab one on the break in the second. We didn't and so, after another game of failing to capitalise, we draw again. Still, at least Liverpool haven't scored more goals than us.

[SashasGrandad]

I can see this going to the last match of the season.

We go to Norwich needing a point to stay up.

We are 3-0 up at half time.

3-2 at 90 mins.

And we lose 4-3 to go down.

Having just watched MOD - it will be poor marking by Hutton for both goals.