Swindon Town v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

We have all noticed that when Ireland , particularly, and Bannan are not on the pitch we intend to play crap  and either lose or lose winning positions. As was the case yesterday until the third gaol went in.

Completely agree, they should both be starting where possible.

[tomd2103]

Watched the goals again, I think you're being a bit unfair on the gabby saying the defender would have got in the prem, I think he'd have been under more pressure but I don't think there was a particularly poor touch in there, the last one had to be quite heavy to open up the angle for the shot.

Both of Benteke's are great finishes, he seems to like aiming for the corners.

Their 2nd is quality, for a young kid from the 3rd tier to come on and do that against a premier league team is pretty impressive.
The first however I thin k Given could've done better, he seemed to dive but not actually move, if that makes sense.  I think Guzan would've saved it.

Lichaj's defensive header for their second goal was awful.  He somewhat made it up with it for the cross for our third though. 

[not3bad]

We have all noticed that when Ireland , particularly, and Bannan are not on the pitch we intend to play crap  and either lose or lose winning positions. As was the case yesterday until the third gaol went in.

Completely agree, they should both be starting where possible.

We keep the ball much better when Ireland's in the side.  People say he's not been as creative as he should be and that may be so, but he's the nearest thing we've got to the kind of presence Petrov gave us.

[danlanza]

don't get me wrong, good to be in the hat for the next round, but fuck me, how the mighty have fallen. tripoding around about an away win at Swindon!

It would seem that way. I wonder how the Wigan fans feel today. We won and went through. It was never going to be an easy game and anybody who thought it was is just not being realistic.
I am mystified though at Lambert having a go at Benteke. I hope it is a way of winding Benteke up so on Saturday he thinks "Feck you Lambert" and then goes on to score a hatrick against blunderland, then Lambert can have another go and Benteke can score another 3 against Manure. What a lovely dream that was.....

Are we contractually obliged to have one comment like this on every post match thread where we didn't lose and the opposition wasn't one of the Sky clubs?

[TonyD]

We have all noticed that when Ireland , particularly, and Bannan are not on the pitch we intend to play crap  and either lose or lose winning positions. As was the case yesterday until the third gaol went in.

Completely agree, they should both be starting where possible.

Yep,  with somebody like Clark maybe giving the cover in midfield and ONE wide player.

[Kingthing]

Class finishing earnt the win tonight. Lambert nearly cost us by refusing to bring on fresh legs. Another limp,spineless display by Ireland, don't want to see the overpaid, burnt out player in a villa shirt again. The last minute winner was even sweeter seeing that prick Di Canio acting up on the pitch after the whistle. God I was glad it didn't go into extra time, it was fukin freezing.

Ireland set-up the first and was lively throughout according to 5Live.

He was fukin terrible. He also shirked countless tackles.

Are you serious?

[PaulWinch again]

Class finishing earnt the win tonight. Lambert nearly cost us by refusing to bring on fresh legs. Another limp,spineless display by Ireland, don't want to see the overpaid, burnt out player in a villa shirt again. The last minute winner was even sweeter seeing that prick Di Canio acting up on the pitch after the whistle. God I was glad it didn't go into extra time, it was fukin freezing.

Ireland set-up the first and was lively throughout according to 5Live.

He was fukin terrible. He also shirked countless tackles.

Are you serious?

I think tarzan has a similar issue with Ireland that stuart has with Benteke. It doesn't matter what they do, they cannot do anything right.

[Percy McCarthy]

Indeed, and it's mass hysteria when it comes to Gabby.

[rutski]

Class finishing earnt the win tonight. Lambert nearly cost us by refusing to bring on fresh legs. Another limp,spineless display by Ireland, don't want to see the overpaid, burnt out player in a villa shirt again. The last minute winner was even sweeter seeing that prick Di Canio acting up on the pitch after the whistle. God I was glad it didn't go into extra time, it was fukin freezing.

Ireland set-up the first and was lively throughout according to 5Live.

He was fukin terrible. He also shirked countless tackles.

Are you serious?

i thought ireland was good in the first half and made the first and lovely pass to gabby for the second, but in the 2nd half was pretty much a passenger, though swindon did go more route 1 2nd half and missed the midfield out. Lambert gambled on us having more quality when we had the ball rather than sit back too deep. it could have backfired but thankfully it didnt and his plan worked!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Indeed, and it's mass hysteria when it comes to Gabby.

Can somebody tell me what Gabby did in the build up to the first goal? Ian Dowie was extremely excited by it but on the TV clips it doesn't show the build up, just Ireland's run and cross.

[Steve R]

Listening to the radio, what I noticed most in the second half was the absence of any mention of KEA (in particular) and Ireland, and only occasional mention of Bannan. There was also a ball-jarring repetition of 'poor clearance finds [Swindon player]'.

It made some sense to change something in the later stages, preferably before Swindon got back in the game, maybe both Holman and Delph could have been introduced.

[Matt C]

Very well taken goals (from both sides in fairness).

This habit of going to sleep for periods during games suggests we lack  a bit of leadership on the pitch - something to be addressed in January hopefully.

[damon loves JT]

I think that is the nail on the head. It's a problem of leadership, which is why the Bent/armband kerfuffle has been so toxic. We are scratching round for a leader on the pitch. I was hoping Vlaar would take that role but his form seems to make that problematic.

[Brend'Watkins]

We don't half miss Petrov's contribution. 

[eastie]

Indeed, and it's mass hysteria when it comes to Gabby.

I'm no fan of gabby but if he contributes like he did last night then he deserves to keep his place, I'm a great believer in the man on possession keeps the shirt as long as he performs well- he needs to consistently deliver now, starting on wearside.