Aston Villa v West Brom Post-Match Thread

[onje_villa]

Funnily enough I though Delph looked good today and he's someone I've never really thought was any good.
Would love to see a stat on Vlaar, everyone seems to be raving about him but I think first and foremost he needs to win his headers and clear his lines, the fancy turns can come later.

I think Long won more headers than he lost.

And I don't agree with KEA, thought he was very sluggish and gave the ball away numerous times.
Bennet and Benteke, very young, very raw, they'll obviously get better with games.

[PaulWinch again]

Puzzling game that and a sign of a team still finding its way under a new manager. Major positives are that we retained a lot of possession and that Bent is starting to score goals. We just need to tighten up at the back and take more of our chances.

[SoccerHQ]

I think we'd have won that if we'd scored first....or started Bent as Benteke was woeful but in fairness I wouldn't criticise Lambert too much as we scored 4 at Man. City without using Bent.

Much the better team in the first half but poor to lose that goal as we'd have a let off from Long just a minute before. At this moment in time conceding goals really seems to knock this team as we struggled to really get back into the game until the goal.

Draw probably fair in the end. How many times though did a simple throughball from WBA beat our defence, which was very square on a lot of occasions, that is a concern for me.

[SoccerHQ]

Hmm...worst league start since tv invented football apparently. All well and good saying we looked ok but November is a bitch of a month so we're going to have to get a win or two on the board over the next few weeks.

That's true but I reckon this season will be a bit like O'dreary's first season when we were in the bottom 3 in December and were top 6 at the end.

I doubt we'll finish as high as that but I expect us to really kick on in the second half of the season when the run of games looks easier.

[Somniloquism]

The thing that pissed me off with their goal (apart from our defending) was they won the ball at the start of the move by someone jumping into the ball with both feet before catching KEA. Normally I wouldn't be that bothered but it was in the exact same spot that the same ref gave a freekick and a booking against Delph when he won the ball and caught the guy without studs showing and only going in with one leg.

[Ads]

I think we're clutching at what our best midfield is at the moment.

I would agree that the defence needs to wise up and quickly.

[Walmley_Villa]

Fair result today. Thought Bennett looked decent, also thought Delphi did ok. Holman very good again. We needed to get Gabby running at them a bit more. Baggies deserve credit, Long was a handful and they have a good solid look to them so a draw is no disgrace. I did think they had won the CL the way they celebrated the goal though!

Also, why do Albion fans dress like its still the 1970s?

[Louzie0]

The thing about this season we are going to win, lose or draw games we don't expect to. Now and then we'll even win, lose or draw games we expect to.

1 win in 6 so far.  Any chance we could win a few more games, whether we expect to or not?

Yes, I'm sure we will

Bound to, according to the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.

'The more precisely the position of some particle is determined, the less precisely its momentum can be known, and vice versa.[1]
(Werner Heisenberg, 1927)

Substitute 'player', 'pass', or even 'Villa in the Premier League table' for 'particle' and Toronto's point is proved. QED.

[Witton Warrior]

Tought we should have won that. Not impressed by Albion at all. They looked the same as a Mobray side.

If Benteke had taken his chance just before HT and Bent had kept his head down just before the end this would have been relatively easy.

Boy do those Baggies hate us - only just stopped laughing as we de-boinged them ;-)

[preston28]

Good team effort if lacking a little quality. Enjoyable to watch. Should have won it but will take the point.

Not bothered about bad starts etc - we are work in progress and we should be judged over the 38 games.

Contented and getting happier.

[Richard Richard]

Just got home, thought we played very well in patches such as the majority of the 1st half and in periods of the 2nd half. We are very much a work in progress and I doubt there was a younger starting line up anywhere in the country over the weekend than what ours was today. I thought Holman and Delph were very good, but I was shitting myself everytime Lukaku got the ball, he's a beast. First time i've seen Benteke in the flesh and he was pretty awful but at 19 theres a lot of time for him. Over all happy not to lose and signs are promising for the future.

[Toronto Villa]

The thing about this season we are going to win, lose or draw games we don't expect to. Now and then we'll even win, lose or draw games we expect to.

1 win in 6 so far.  Any chance we could win a few more games, whether we expect to or not?

Yes, I'm sure we will

Bound to, according to the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.

'The more precisely the position of some particle is determined, the less precisely its momentum can be known, and vice versa.[1]
(Werner Heisenberg, 1927)

Substitute 'player', 'pass', or even 'Villa in the Premier League table' for 'particle' and Toronto's point is proved. QED.

My point exactly. Sir, I see you too have read The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory.

[Somniloquism]

Just got home, thought we played very well in patches such as the majority of the 1st half and in periods of the 2nd half. We are very much a work in progress and I doubt there was a younger starting line up anywhere in the country over the weekend than what ours was today. I thought Holman and Delph were very good, but I was shitting myself everytime Lukaku got the ball, he's a beast. First time i've seen Benteke in the flesh and he was pretty awful but at 19 theres a lot of time for him. Over all happy not to lose and signs are promising for the future.

Benteke is 21, Lukaku is the 19yo Belgium striker. One cost £7mil and one cost £13mil.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

This looks like a bunch who will put on the Villa shirt, play for the manager with enthusiasm and effort and give it a go.
Won. lose or draw I will always applaud that.

[The Situation]

I did get a bit worried when they managed to play those thru balls into their forwards. Lukaku looked good for them when he came on. He did cause our defence one or two problems... I thought his shot that eventually clipped the post was going to drop in.