Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[Irish villain]

I thought we were as good as I have seen us in a long time last night. As posted on the match thread, I got really angry after their third. But this wasn't anger at seeing a Villa team do the 'inevitable'. It was anger that our performance wasn't going to earn us a point. I felt we deserved to get something from that game.

We passed it brilliantly for the first hour last night and moved forward to great effect. I have loved Weimann since the tail end of last season and really felt we had our best three strikers on the pitch last night. Darren Bent quite simply isn't suited to this villa side and PL's style of play. The work-rate from Gabby, Benteke and Weimann was phenomenal and Weimann was clinical (deserved a hat-rick, if only that header was a yard either side...).  Our young players, who many of us had worried were becoming accustomed to losing, actually are starting to look like hungry winners. Bannan has improved an awful lot while Clark is looking quite composed.

As others have said, KEA worries me slightly. He just seems a bit off the pace and lacking in energy. I don't think Delph will ever make it at this level. I fail to see anything that suggests he will. I have always thought Delph was very ordinary and we seldom seem to do well with him on the pitch.

[Ads]

Obviously disappointed but  to be fair we didn't capitulate and they were exceptional for about half an hour. During that spell we still looked to get forward and create ourselves. Other dropped 3 points against this lot is usually the result  of our bottle going  and us hanging on for grim death. not last night. For that we should be proud of the belief the team had in themselves. Carry this type of performance on week in week out and we'll be challenging at the right endof the table.

Southampton "had a go" at them at home, with the same result, and are still in the bottom three.

That's because they concede 5 every other week and are a load of shite.

[Clampy]

I think there's a good player in KEA, maybe he needs a season to fully settle in and get to grips with the pace of the league. I would'nt touch the midfield at the moment though. The only problem for me is that because we're playing Weimann, we're missing width at times.

[eastie]

I thought we were as good as I have seen us in a long time last night. As posted on the match thread, I got really angry after their third. But this wasn't anger at seeing a Villa team do the 'inevitable'. It was anger that our performance wasn't going to earn us a point. I felt we deserved to get something from that game.

We passed it brilliantly for the first hour last night and moved forward to great effect. I have loved Weimann since the tail end of last season and really felt we had our best three strikers on the pitch last night. Darren Bent quite simply isn't suited to this villa side and PL's style of play. The work-rate from Gabby, Benteke and Weimann was phenomenal and Weimann was clinical (deserved a hat-rick, if only that header was a yard either side...).  Our young players, who many of us had worried were becoming accustomed to losing, actually are starting to look like hungry winners. Bannan has improved an awful lot while Clark is looking quite composed.

As others have said, KEA worries me slightly. He just seems a bit off the pace and lacking in energy. I don't think Delph will ever make it at this level. I fail to see anything that suggests he will. I have always thought Delph was very ordinary and we seldom seem to do well with him on the pitch.

Good post, the youngsters like benteke, Westwood, Lowton, bannan, and Weimann will gain a lot of confidence from that display and having a good run in the side - the system looked good and suited the players and its hard to see where bent or nzogbia would fit into things as it stands- work rate and high energy are a big feature of this team and I think the future looks a lot rosier now.

If we continue to play like this the results will come and with results comes confidence - we could find ourselves putting together a decent run and moving up to mid table, city will be tough but arsenal are not a team to fear and I'm hoping this is the start of an exciting time to be a villa fan.

[Michel Sibble]

Wasn't at the game but was in Brum for this one, glued to the radio set.

WM kept saying this game will be the watershed moment for Lambert - it HAS to get better. Our 4-2-3-1 formation seems to work for us (incidentally the same one the Boggies are using)

Westwood and Stevens sounded like they gave a very good account of themselves. Ireland has found his role, Guzan's a monster and Benteke is a f***ing dragon.

How we play against Reading will be the mark of this team's mental strength, I have no doubt Lambert will use ManYoo as nuclear fuel to shove it up the Royals' arses.


Oh, and Bent is finished as a Villa player.

[mrastonvilla]

Very proud of last nights performance and felt we were extremely unfortunate not to get anything from the match. Uniteds first 2 required to extremely large slice of luck to go in.

[Matt Collins]

To be ultra critical Clark was at fault for the first and third goals. He didn't react at at all to Hernandez going through and didn't put his leg out to block any attempted shot, he just ran with him. Lack of defending instinct maybe?But he should have done better.

I disagree. It was Stevens who lost Hernandez for the third. And it was Stevens who played him onside for the first although perhaps Clark should still have been tighter.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Have had time to reflect ; I still feel hollow - despite our best performance at Villa Park we still contrived to blow a two goal advantage. OK we raised our game, as we did against Citeh but we have failed to do so against the might of Norwich and Southampton.
I was pleased with the way we played but we still got overun at the end - Bannon and Ireland looked shattered - yes they worked hard but are they fit?
I want to believe that this game (as was Sunderland) is a turning point in the season and we can build upon it and start getting the points on the board...but we are talking about the Villa here - watch us cock it up against Reading at home.

[JUAN PABLO]

I thought the free kick for their 3rd was more the fault of KEA than Benteke, but will have to watch it again.

agree

[eastie]

I thought the free kick for their 3rd was more the fault of KEA than Benteke, but will have to watch it again.

agree

Me too, although it would be harsh to blame him alone, Hernandez shouldn't have had a free header in the box , bannan miskicked in the build up to the equaliser and Stevens played Hernandez onside for the 1st - all things with a bit of luck that wouldn't be punished but unfortunately Hernandez is a lethal finisher.

[JUAN PABLO]

KEA made a mess of his control that led up to the free-kick for their third goal. He had control but he allowed it to squirm away from him; having said that, it didn't look a free-kick as they were both jostling for the ball. But that's it, Manure get these decisions every time from over generous ref's and if you work on percentages, it's no wonder they win so many games.

exactly , I was more pissed off with him losing the ball and the ref gave them all the decisions .

[OCD]

They've just shown the goals again on Goals on Sunday and they showed it from a striker's point of view. They showed for the first one that Hernandez started 10 yards behind our defensive line and then came back into an onside position in between Clark and Stevens. I don't think Stevens was to blame for the first one. I think Clark needed to react faster but you're talking half a second difference - that's how finer margin it was. Hernandez was lucky that the ball fell into his stride after he messed up the initial touches.

For the second goal, firstly if Gabby's going to play that position he needs to learn the defensive side too. He just stood ball watching and let Rafael drift in behind him. Not good enough for a Premier League player. Stop the cross. Having let the cross come in, all our defenders are central outnumbering RVP and Rooney whilst Hernandez has drifted outside of the box and come back in totally unmarked.

By the time the third goal came I think there was a lot of mental tiredness creeping in. Benteke needs to hold the ball up. KEA can't be giving away a freekick at that stage of the game. The defensive line is too deep in the box to defend the set-piece - perhaps inexperience and desperately trying to hold onto something late into the game. And Stevens loses Hernandez. Hard to put too much emphasis on Stevens though given that his first full Premier League game is against Man Utd. He must have been concentrating all game and a momentary lapse of concentration isn't a surprise at this stage of his career.

That's looking at what went wrong. There was so much that we did right though - both from a defensive aspect and the way we attacked them. Our defence has looked a lot more organised recently and they understand eachother a lot better. The core of this side is very good and we should be able to pick up enough points throughout the rest of the season to finish somewhere mid-table.

[JUAN PABLO]

As others have said, KEA worries me slightly. He just seems a bit off the pace and lacking in energy. I don't think Delph will ever make it at this level. I fail to see anything that suggests he will. I have always thought Delph was very ordinary and we seldom seem to do well with him on the pitch.

KEA worries me too. I think PL has realised westwood is probably better than he thought he was and KEA is not as good . Too much side passing for me , there was moments in the late stages yesterday when we needed to get the ball forward and still he went for the Draper pass and sometimes back to the goalie .   

I might be being a little hard on him but I don't think he looks the regular I was hoping for.  But it can take a foreign player a year to settle.

[eastie]

Faced with van persie, Rooney and Hernandez as well as Valencia out wide I think our defence did their best , united were clinical - against most teams we would have won the game.

[curiousorange]

The only note of caution I would sound the day after the excellent account of yesterday is that 2 years ago, we followed up a great performance against United with a clueless one against Arsenal. Obviously, different team, different time but Lambert knows we can do it, now he needs to work on the negatives before City and the Gooners.