Aston Villa v Sunderland Post-Match Thread

[Chipsticks]

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

To be honest I thought we were on top for most of the game, and honestly deserved, if either side did, to win it.

[not3bad]

But they scored a goal that should have stood.

[Mazrim]

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).

I dont recall him being horrendous against Chelsea.

[olaftab]

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

No we didnt. We were the better team in the first half and also dominated the play for the first 15 mins of second. Not seen motd but I suggest they have edited it to show the more clear cut chances monderland had.

[PaulWinch again]

Unfortunately the reality is we tested their goalie once or maybe twice. They had a goal incorrectly disallowed and had one cleared off the line, we did get away with it.

[Chris Harte]

Incorrectly disallowed? His arm was offside. I've seen that enough to be offside in the past so why not now? The pundits on MoTD seemed to be ignoring this fact.

And why was their keeper not sent off for handball? Has that particular rule changed now?

[Phil from the upper holte]

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

No we didnt. We were the better team in the first half and also dominated the play for the first 15 mins of second. Not seen motd but I suggest they have edited it to show the more clear cut chances monderland had.

Chances wise they pissed on us, I don't think we were the better team either

[JUAN PABLO]

poor.

we at home against an average Sunderland team , out of form with nothing to play for. 3 points is essential.

Sunderland scored a good goal and missed a couple of sitters and Ireland cleared off the line. 

7 wins in 34 games , a worse record than Kean ( Blackburn )     , if we dont beat bolton that will be a 20% win rate .

He has to go.

McLeish out!!!!!           this is a downward spiral.   

[davevillan]

I thought bendtner was offside...part of his torso def appeared ahead of the defender, and thats offside, no matter how tight it was.
As for their keeper, i thought the ref got it right. He collected the ball inside the area, and his momemtum took him outside, he tried to release but too late..Under the circumstances, i felt just the free kick was the correct decision.

[Pete3206]

Poo

[PaulWinch again]

This is the poorest Villa side I have seen, quality wise. Fair play to the youngsters who have put in a lot of effort, and Ireland has class and worked hard. However this side is so so bad. It's down to the owner who has abandoned investment, and more directly the manager who genuinely has no clue what to do and really hasn't had a clue since he joined the club.

[maidstonevillain]

Just back from the game. Stopped off for a Balti in Sparkbrook.

The football from both sides was so bad, that the game I thought was actually quite entertaining.

Sunderland should have won. Must have missed at least 3 sitters. Plus the dodgy offside.

Both uis and Sunderland seemed to be totally bereft of ideas and organisation. N'Zogbia and Albrighton were useless, and not surprising we cannot score if every cross and pass does not even get close to a Villa player.

Not sure about Weimann. Thoght his decision making was a bit lacking, and also failed to shoot early enough on a few occasions.

Defending in the box was I thought good, but it needed to be to account for the rest of the defensive blunders/howlers. A better team would have punished us a few times over.

Thought the player to put in a particularly good performance was Ireland. Actually gfelt sorry for him. He was on a totally different wavelength to the rest of the team. Not only did he make some superb passes, but ran his bollocks off and defended well when he had to. Hopefully we can have Ireland and Bent firing on all cylinders together next season, whichever division we are in, and we might stand a chance of actually scoring some goals.

Still had a good day out.

[brontebilly]

Awful game. Whatever about Bentdner offside goal I'm not sure how he missed the chance in the first half.

We lack quality all over the pitch. Albrighton, Gabby, Nzogbia all poor. Wiemann tried hard but wasnt much of a threat either. Ireland was pretty decent I thought but he has nothing in front of him. Herd gives his all but is very limited on the ball. The same for Lichaj really. I wasn't overly impressed with Cuellar. Hutton was predictably shit when he came on. I'm struggling to think of any positives really after that display

I can't see us winning a game at the moment. scrap that I fail to see where the next goal is coming from. We destroyed Bolton down the wings in the away game earlier in the season but the likes of Paul Robinson aren't around anymore so it will definitely be tougher on Tuesday.

[davevillan]

Incorrectly disallowed? His arm was offside. I've seen that enough to be offside in the past so why not now? The pundits on MoTD seemed to be ignoring this fact.

And why was their keeper not sent off for handball? Has that particular rule changed now?

You cant be offside if you arm is further forward, as you cant legallly score a goal with the arm...as i put earlier, in the opinion of the A/R the torso was further  forward hence the flag for offside.
Likewise, my post explains why the keeper wasnt sent off..The law hasnt changed, you just didnt understand it.

[tomd2103]

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.

The injuries to Collins and Gabby looked pretty bad (Collins groin and Gabby shoulder) and I would think they are both doubtful for Tuesday.  If so, I would probably go with the team you have, except Baker would have to fill in for Collins.  Also think it would be a toss up between Gardner and Clark who got that central midfield spot.  I definitely think playing Ireland in the hole would get the best out of him and that Heskey would be able to hold the ball up for us.