Aston Villa v Sunderland Post-Match Thread

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Albrighton: Showing the same form he did for the latter half of last season.
Bannan: Same Bannan as last season.
Gardner: Give the kid a chance. He's played what, 6 games and you expect him to running games?
Lichaj: Improved on last season.
Herd: Improved on last season.
Clark: looked fine until he got injured.
In addition:
Weimann looking fully at home in the league. Baker looking decent.

Not much regression there IMO.

I don't expect Gardner to be running games. He'd been head and shoulders above everyone, opposition included, for the reserves. He's a real athlete - tall, strong and authoritative on the field. I've been advocating his promotion to the 1st team all season. I didn't expect him to run games - he's not experienced enough - I just expected to see a few sparks of promise and creativity that we so lack. I'm therefore disappointed for him and me/us. I suppose I am assuming that AM has taken a very " natural" footballer and told him not to do what he is actually very good at.

Maybe he's just finding the step up harder than we expected?

Very likely. And even though he's not done as well as I'd hoped I'd still pick him every game. He needs the experience as he is likely to be a key part of the team in the foreseeable future. At least I hope so. My fear in watching him is that a "big" club would come in for him and take his undoubted talent away from us.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

He is playing in a struggling team, give the lad a chance

I am. Perhaps if you read what I've said you'd see that.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

Let's be honest, our wingers haven't delivered all season so for Bolton we should just play very narrow and fuck it forward to Heskey as much as we can and feed off him. We don't create jack shit with wide players, lets get it in the box and have a few goal mouth scrambles.

-----------------------Given----------------------
----Frankmosswasmyuncle----Cuellar----Baker-----Lihaj----
-------Gardner------Herd-----Bannan--------
-----------------------Ireland--------------------
-----------Heskey------Weimman-------------

Agreed.
This looks fine to me, except for the Hutton factor!
I'm available to replace him even though Tuesday is my pension day and I'm usually well pi**ed by KO time. A bit like Hutton is!

That ok?

[JJ-AV]

The kids, as promising as they are, are going to get us relegated.

I'd bring in Heskey for Gabby, Clark for Albrighton and Warnock for Baker.

It's such a big game. Gabby is woefully out of form, Clark is calm and Baker and Albrighton are too erratic.

Given
Lichaj - Cuellar - Collins - Warnock
Herd - Clark
Ireland
N'Zogbia - Heskey - Weimann

It's a physically strong, tall side.

If it's not going well it leaves us with Gabby, Albrighton and Bannan as impact substitutes too.

Too often are we left with nothing on the bench to change it.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Let's be honest, our wingers haven't delivered all season so for Bolton we should just play very narrow and fuck it forward to Heskey as much as we can and feed off him. We don't create jack shit with wide players, lets get it in the box and have a few goal mouth scrambles.

-----------------------Given----------------------
----Frankmosswasmyuncle----Cuellar----Baker-----Lihaj----
-------Gardner------Herd-----Bannan--------
-----------------------Ireland--------------------
-----------Heskey------Weimman-------------

Agreed.
This looks fine to me, except for the Hutton factor!
I'm available to replace him even though Tuesday is my pension day and I'm usually well pi**ed by KO time. A bit like Hutton is!

That ok?

Great!
But - do I have to run around very much?
I can kick the ball very hard but not necessarily in the "right" direction.
I also have a tendency to lose my balance and bumble/stumble into people.


Ohhhh. I see now what you've done there!
I am the perfect replacement!

[Toronto Villa]

Bolton game: sub 30k gate?

I hope it's a full house. You can hate the manager all you want but surely if you love the club then people will be there. I know the flip side of winning the game is that it secures McLeish's future, at least for now. But the potential alternative isn't what anyone should ever want.

[JJ-AV]

I'm not able to make the Bolton game. Well, I literally can but I need to prioritise other things at the minute.

I said to myself I'd only go if we lost today.

[richard moore]

Let's be honest, our wingers haven't delivered all season so for Bolton we should just play very narrow and fuck it forward to Heskey as much as we can and feed off him. We don't create jack shit with wide players, lets get it in the box and have a few goal mouth scrambles.

-----------------------Given----------------------
----Frankmosswasmyuncle----Cuellar----Baker-----Lihaj----
-------Gardner------Herd-----Bannan--------
-----------------------Ireland--------------------
-----------Heskey------Weimman-------------

Agreed.
This looks fine to me, except for the Hutton factor!
I'm available to replace him even though Tuesday is my pension day and I'm usually well pi**ed by KO time. A bit like Hutton is!

That ok?

Great!
But - do I have to run around very much?
I can kick the ball very hard but not necessarily in the "right" direction.
I also have a tendency to lose my balance and bumble/stumble into people.


Ohhhh. I see now what you've done there!
I am the perfect replacement!

Surely you'll be playing for them though Nigel on Tuesday evening?

[Mazrim]

Baker has done nothing to deserve being dropped at all.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Bolton game: sub 30k gate?

I hope it's a full house. You can hate the manager all you want but surely if you love the club then people will be there. I know the flip side of winning the game is that it secures McLeish's future, at least for now. But the potential alternative isn't what anyone should ever want.

Agreed.
We need to get behind our team as much as we can, never mind who the manager is. We need to play our part in keeping our team up and if that's singing our balls off (!!!???) for 90 minutes then that's what we should be doing.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Let's be honest, our wingers haven't delivered all season so for Bolton we should just play very narrow and fuck it forward to Heskey as much as we can and feed off him. We don't create jack shit with wide players, lets get it in the box and have a few goal mouth scrambles.

-----------------------Given----------------------
----Frankmosswasmyuncle----Cuellar----Baker-----Lihaj----
-------Gardner------Herd-----Bannan--------
-----------------------Ireland--------------------
-----------Heskey------Weimman-------------

Agreed.
This looks fine to me, except for the Hutton factor!
I'm available to replace him even though Tuesday is my pension day and I'm usually well pi**ed by KO time. A bit like Hutton is!

That ok?

Great!
But - do I have to run around very much?
I can kick the ball very hard but not necessarily in the "right" direction.
I also have a tendency to lose my balance and bumble/stumble into people.


Ohhhh. I see now what you've done there!
I am the perfect replacement!

Surely you'll be playing for them though Nigel on Tuesday evening?

Like it!

[robbo1874]

It could be a lot worse guys....spare a thought for Coventry city supporters tonight.

I just did and I'm still laughing!!

[JJ-AV]

Baker has done nothing to deserve being dropped at all.

On the basis of today, definitely not. But he was at fault for the second goal at Man Utd and he was horrendous against Chelsea.

Bolton is potentially the most important game we've had since the Carling Cup final. We absolutely can not afford to lose. Cuellar has to be at centre half for me (and I don't rate Baker at all at left back).

[not3bad]

Just watched Match of the Day. We got away with that one alright.

[Tom Sawyer]

It's all gone very wrong.