Aston Villa v Reading Post-Match Thread

[Astral Weeks]

I won that game with my positive attitude and faith in the VILLA.......

And humour!

Did it work?

It did for me, Ferg.  Hats off. Wibble.

[Fergal]

Not a great display but its a game we got 3 points out of, we would have lost that last year.
We must remain positive, get rid of the feeling of doom, and we will climb up the table.  Another couple of wins, a bit more confidence and we will be a different team.

[paul_e]

I thought we looked ok given the position we're in and how much pressure we were under to get a result.  Not good, but not as terrible as some are suggesting.  It was a poor game and we had the better chances and got the goal, exactly what was needed after the 3 games before.

Other than the goal I can think of 4 chances where we didn't hit the target and should have, Benteke and Weimann in the first half, Baker and Clark in the 2nd half.  Bit more composure (particularly from Weimann) and that wouldn't have been so uncomfortable.  Yes they missed 1-2 as well we definitely had the better of them.

We need to get the confidence up and a win with a fairly late goal is a good way to start.  Another win at the weekend and we'll look in a much better place.

[PeterWithesShin]

Att: 28,692, lowest since the Bolton game under MON I reckon?

[The Man With A Stick]

I'd have taken that performance and result this morning.  We need points on the board and if we have to scrap our way to getting them then so be it.

Sunderland v QPR sounds like a stinker.  I couldn't care less about that saggy-faced ****** Redknapp, QPR are fucking shit.  Think we'll spoil his party at the weekend, it's not like we don't owe him one.

[Fergal]

We is flying up the table.

You forgot the innit...

[asgpaul]

Massive 3 points but it has to improve.  Guzan continues to impress.

[peter w]

Thank f... for that.

[pauliewalnuts]

The win is the most important thing by far, but god, that was excruciating to watch.

More than anything it showed the folly of relying on too many kids at once. It'll break the kids and it'll break the club, too.

We so need experience in the January window. If we don't get it, we are really going to struggle.

Benteke is our best player by such a margin, he probably claims second, third, fourth and fifth best, too.

[The Left Side]

Benteke my MOTM followed closely by Guzan

[gervilla]

I would like to see Baker get a run in the side.
He is commanding, without the stupid fouling that Clark relies on to stop his man.
Thank feck for Benteke.
We need massive improvement in the transfer window.

[PaulWinch again]

We were piss poor and need to be much much better than that. Three points is a massive relief, but Lambert has to get the experienced players like Bent and Ireland back in the team. It is patently obvious their quality is required.

[Matt Collins]

I predicted a crap performance and a draw or narrow win and that's exactly how it turned out. With more composure we could have had 3/4 goals. But we looked vulnerable against Roberts and at set pieces. Reading had some really good chances.

I thought benteke was good though not his best,  an a few others were intermittently good: Lowton, Clark, baker, Westwood, bannan, Holman. Weimann, gabby and lichaj were poor I thought.

We really missed an experienced head or two tonight. Vlaar for example. Really hope he's back for Saturday. Nick a win there and we're rolling. We're actually only 3 points behind 10th place now, which seems odd.

I thought reading were awful. Awful.

[Drummond]

Another clean sheet. Another goal from our 21 year old striker. A hard fought win. 3 points from the top half having just played 2x Manc and 1x North London.

All with a team with average age 23.

Brilliant.

[supertom]

Love the Goose. He made some brilliant takes to calm things down. Don't want to start a Given bashing because he's got his own strengths, but we wouldn't have had two clean sheets on the spin if he was in goal.

The defence is starting to look better. They're still riding their luck to be fair. Anyone bemoaning Gabby playing over Bent though should consider that without Gab's workrate and tracking back, Reading would have been on the front foot a lot more if we were carrying Bent.
For me it's a case of Benteke or Bent in the starting 11. Benteke is well worth his place. He looks special. He's young and sloppy at times but he'll be top class. Hopefully still with us down the line.