Chelsea v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[martyn ellis]

Watching that game today only cemented my belief that top flight English football began its descent into meaninglessness the moment some overseas oligarch with billions of ill-gotten gains decided to take up a new hobby and took over a serially failing football team in the heart of fashionable London. Follow this with the Abu Dhabi crowd and the Glazers and now most recently Dubai with Leeds (it was Ken Bates who cashed in on Chelsea and he's just done it again with Leeds, so expect the resurgence of another great traditional club next year) and you realise that, no matter how well a club is run, as I think Villa is, if you throw enough money at a problem it will eventually be resolved. This is why you get the occasional results like today, with a club trying to do things the right way, and this is why it plays into the hands of the despicable Sky who, if they can't have a plucky upset, just love an eight-goal hammering by one of their faves which makes this the league loved all over the world. I would say the same to a Chelsea fan, a Man City or Utd fan or anyone - I am happier still to be a Villa fan now, as I have been throughout many years, than I could ever be if someone came along and bought our success.

[claretandbeer]

The criticism of Lichaj is rather harsh as after he and Westwood were substituted we let in 5 in 35 minutes. On that display he provides,despite his problems against Moses,more defensive qualities than Bennett.
Same with Herd,today he was rash but his battling qualities ensured a clean sheet against Stoke.When it's a gritty battle against lesser opposition,Herd and Lichaj don't go missing.
The whole midfield went AWOL after Westwood's departure.

[richardhubbard]

The criticism of Lichaj is rather harsh as after he and Westwood were substituted we let in 5 in 35 minutes. On that display he provides,despite his problems against Moses,more defensive qualities than Bennett.
Same with Herd,today he was rash but his battling qualities ensured a clean sheet against Stoke.When it's a gritty battle against lesser opposition,Herd and Lichaj don't go missing.
The whole midfield went AWOL after Westwood's departure.


Totally agree

[Loxton01]

Observations from today

1. This season is going to be full of highs and lows. The high of last week carling cup semi and the liverpool win far outways today
2. The whole team and manager were naive today and must learn from it - at 4 or 5 nil the message should of come on just defend stop the goals. To many goals today came from us losing the ball up the pitch. Sometimes you have to no when to stop trying to play and dig in
3. Away from home against physical teams we need to stiffen the centre midfield - barry bannan is too lightweight
4. Weimann showed promise today and was MOTM for me for his movement and workrate
5. Joe Bennett and Eric Lichaj were poor today and for me this is an area we need to strengthen
6. A confident Chelsea team were too strong and too good.

[Brian Taylor]

My 9 yr old now supports Chelsea again and has just been bollocked by my wife for teasing me.

Lock him outside in the garden.

Tell him Santa is a Villa fan and unless he shows some love for the Villa he's only getting an orange for Christmas.

We used to get an orange for Xmas..everyone was happy; everyone got a segment!

[dave.woodhall]

Watching that game today only cemented my belief that top flight English football began its descent into meaninglessness the moment some overseas oligarch with billions of ill-gotten gains decided to take up a new hobby and took over a serially failing football team in the heart of fashionable London. Follow this with the Abu Dhabi crowd and the Glazers and now most recently Dubai with Leeds (it was Ken Bates who cashed in on Chelsea and he's just done it again with Leeds, so expect the resurgence of another great traditional club next year) and you realise that, no matter how well a club is run, as I think Villa is, if you throw enough money at a problem it will eventually be resolved. This is why you get the occasional results like today, with a club trying to do things the right way, and this is why it plays into the hands of the despicable Sky who, if they can't have a plucky upset, just love an eight-goal hammering by one of their faves which makes this the league loved all over the world. I would say the same to a Chelsea fan, a Man City or Utd fan or anyone - I am happier still to be a Villa fan now, as I have been throughout many years, than I could ever be if someone came along and bought our success.

I think I'd rather win 8-0 but I get your meaning.

[eastie]

The criticism of Lichaj is rather harsh as after he and Westwood were substituted we let in 5 in 35 minutes. On that display he provides,despite his problems against Moses,more defensive qualities than Bennett.
Same with Herd,today he was rash but his battling qualities ensured a clean sheet against Stoke.When it's a gritty battle against lesser opposition,Herd and Lichaj don't go missing.
The whole midfield went AWOL after Westwood's departure.


Totally agree

I must admit to being surprised that Westwood came off and bannan stayed on .

[Ads]

Lets be fair, they have some awesome midfielders. We had two schoolboys today and we never layed a glove on them.

Lichaj is a poor full back and they exploited the weakness time and time again. Mata and the like; quality and exprience.

[Legion]

Observations from today

1. This season is going to be full of highs and lows. The high of last week carling cup semi and the liverpool win far outways today
2. The whole team and manager were naive today and must learn from it - at 4 or 5 nil the message should of come on just defend stop the goals. To many goals today came from us losing the ball up the pitch. Sometimes you have to no when to stop trying to play and dig in
3. Away from home against physical teams we need to stiffen the centre midfield - barry bannan is too lightweight
4. Weimann showed promise today and was MOTM for me for his movement and workrate
5. Joe Bennett and Eric Lichaj were poor today and for me this is an area we need to strengthen
6. A confident Chelsea team were too strong and too good.

Yes.

[SoccerHQ]

I think only Aston Villa could  follow a great 3-1 win at Anfield by losing the next game 8-0.

Only real crumb of comfort is that we were battered 5-0 at City and responded by getting 9 points from the next 5 games and beat norwich in the cup so it is possible to respond positively to a total battering.

There is a huge gulf between the top 3 and the rest of the league imo, not just in points but mentality.

[mal]

If you'd said we were guaranteed 3 pts from Liverpool (a) Chelsea (a) and Spurs home there are few on here who wouldn't have taken that. If we beat Spurs that total will have doubled and the fact that it may say something like 5 goals for and 10 against wont cancel out the 6 points. I'm sure the kids will be hurting and feel they have something to prove. As indeed they will also feel if we come to meet them again in March where the inevitable Chelsea complacency may well be welcome too.
Which is not to say that a record defeat is a comfortable thing to bear. Still, a New Year beckons, with a brighter future than the last which always threatened to be dismal from the start.

[ez]

Awful result but i'll take one defeat every seven games

[cdbearsfan]

Sorry to be rushing to defend Lichaj again... but he's a right-back, not a left-back. Harsh to be overly-critical of him when playing out of position against one of the best teams in the World.

[curiousorange]

Lets be fair, they have some awesome midfielders. We had two schoolboys today and we never layed a glove on them.

Lichaj is a poor full back and they exploited the weakness time and time again. Mata and the like; quality and exprience.

You pay Chelsea style transfer fees and wages, you get top players who are already good enough. Westwood has potential but Hazard and Mata were already ripping up their leagues when they were bought.

[mal]

Lets be fair, they have some awesome midfielders. We had two schoolboys today and we never layed a glove on them.

Lichaj is a poor full back and they exploited the weakness time and time again. Mata and the like; quality and exprience.

This bullshit ' Villa are so weak down their left' was repeated again and again by the witless on Sky's commentary team. Where did the goals come from? When did they score from Lichaj being beaten? It's just crap. Chelsea played through the middle of us - they rarely used the width and all three full backs were better than disgraceful.