Aston Villa v Chelsea Post-Match Thread

[myf]

Myf- only my opinion,but I thought considering who he was up against he did well. He will make mistakes and we need to except that. But he was committed and at the moment its what we need.

he wasn't committed for first two goals. he was missing. i know it wad a big ask for him but he didn't play well today

[villadelph]

A win or a couple of draws from the next three should see us OK.

From where though? Which team can we actually beat..?

[Tony]

If we had got a point it would have been daylight robbery, although Chelsea would have had only themselves to blame for squandering chances and then not defending well, fortunately for them they met a team who can't defend set pieces and haven't been able to all season, this is beyond a joke now.

The ref was clearly biased, this started early on when one of our players was being fouled in their half, he stayed on his feet, stumbled after the ball and the ref let it go, then there was a handball by Terry I think, on the halfway line that everyone saw except for the lineswoman and ref. Their second goal came right after a clear foul throw and what on earth Gabby was supposed to have done when he was clean through I'll have to see later, I couldn't see any foul but maybe he handled it or something.

However our inability to defend set pieces has yet again cost us, we would have been fortunate to get a point but it was there and then we switch off again, it doesn't seem to matter who the players are, they can't defend set pieces.

Our general play in the middle of the park wasn't bad, but there was little end product, our passing has improved, our defending hasn't.  I'm not sure why we had Gardner on the left wing, but he looks quite a player and he's not too bad in the air either, Ireland had an outstanding match.

[villadelph]

Apparently on BBC WM McLeish said he expected a relegation scrap when he took over.  ?!?!??!

Can anyone confirm this?

[Dave]

Myf- only my opinion,but I thought considering who he was up against he did well. He will make mistakes and we need to except that. But he was committed and at the moment its what we need.

he wasn't committed for first two goals. he was missing

For the first he was prostrate having been kicked in the head.

Not really sure what more you could really expect him to do.

[SoccerHQ]

A win or a couple of draws from the next three should see us OK.

From where though? Which team can we actually beat..?

Would you say Fulham are a better team than some of the ones we're going to play in the run in?

[myf]

Myf- only my opinion,but I thought considering who he was up against he did well. He will make mistakes and we need to except that. But he was committed and at the moment its what we need.

he wasn't committed for first two goals. he was missing

For the first he was prostrate having been kicked in the head.

Stay on his feet and clear the ball with his feet. the second was a shambles

Not really sure what more you could really expect him to do.

[Mister E]

we'll scrap out of it.

That's the bit I just don't see in our game: whereas the clubs below us (wiith the exception of the Dogheads) appear to have some fire in their belly, we don't.

[ormskirkvillan]

I don't think you can fault any of the kids today, they made a decent fist of it against aa champions league side. Why we didn't start with Albrighton I don't know. We lacked width and often had nowhere to go when we had the ball. We are in trouble though and without a big change in form/luck we are hoping teams below us drop points. Thought the 19th minute for Stan was superb and showed what he means to the fans.

[villadelph]

A win or a couple of draws from the next three should see us OK.

From where though? Which team can we actually beat..?

Would you say Fulham are a better team than some of the ones we're going to play in the run in?

I think the Liverplehh and United games will be difficult to get a result, and then Bolton threw a wrench in our easier games putting a three day break on either side of the West Brom and Sunderland games, respectively. Stoke is never easy for us, especially with their set-piece prowess. We couldn't beat Wigan or QPR fully fit.. how can we raise our expectations with a depleted squad and McLeish's expertise in the area.

I honestly have no idea where these 6 points of reassurance are going to come from, if they come at all..

[CJ]

Given the lengthy injury list I was pleased he chose to start with youth/inexperience and leave Heskey on the bench. Conceding an early goal meant it was always going to be an uphill struggle for an inexperienced team against a CL team, but at least we saw plenty of passion and fight, and some decent football for a change. Ireland was everywhere and linked up play superbly. Yeah they could have scored more but Gabby should have scored in the first half but Cech got lucky. When we got to 2-2 I thought we'd earned a point but yet another appallingly biased referee decision robbed us of a point. Not too bothered by their 4th - always a risk when we were going all out for another equaliser.

Excellent support from both sets of fans for Stan, and the 19th minute applause will stay with me for a long time. Great that Stan was in the crowd to share it first-hand

[hawkeye]

A win or a couple of draws from the next three should see us OK.

Only Bolton are worse and the significance of that game makes anything possible.

From where though? Which team can we actually beat..?

Would you say Fulham are a better team than some of the ones we're going to play in the run in?

[Steve R]

Not a great game but there are still some positives

1) the 19th minute
2) from nowhere we got ourselves back in the game
3) Lichaj looks a useful full back and a definite upgrade on Hutton
4) We actually scored from a set piece
5) The Albion are still in it too

I thought Baker played well, he made a few mistakes, sure, but it was his first start in the centre and against likely EC semi finalists, ffs.

As someone said in the match thread, defeat to Chelsea isn't going to relegate us.

I can understand McLeish saying that he expected a relegation scrap when he was appointed. As soon as I heard of the appointment, so did I.

[SoccerHQ]

I think we'll scramble 4 points from the Bolton, Sunderland and Stoke home games and get 1 point from either west brom or norwich away.

38 points will be enough, I still think 35 will be.

[Eigentor]

Most importantly, the 19th minute applause for Stan was magnificent, and hopefully it can help him to fight the illness and get well. Also a very nice gesture by Bolton's Martin Petrov when he scored today.

I won't worry too much about the gap between us and the relegation spots. We were always unlikely two beat Chelsea twice in one season, and the teams below us were always likely to start picking up points when the scrap starts. If we survive (and we should), it will be because we get enough points against WBA, Bolton, Norwich, Stoke and maybe even an out-of-sorts Liverpool. If we can't do that, we'll probably get what we deserve.