Aston Villa vs Fulham - Post Match Thread

[Lowendbehold]

Interesting quote from Martin Jol on Villa.

"Tomorrow is theirs, they've just got to sort out today".

Sums it all up.

[Archie]

We are improving game by the game, and we dominated the match, but our  defensive organization on set pieces is so crap that we have succeeded in conceding a goal even when our opponents never shot in the goal.
It's a pity because Beker and Lowton played very well, ad even Delph was positive for 89 minutes then he had two lapse of concentration, and he played for Fulham when he made the own goal and when he missed an easy goal.   He is much better than he was until 3 months ago, though.
We should hav won easily this game, let's hope that we won't regret these points.
And I have always been a fan of Lambert, but once again he killed us with the substitutions.

[Mister E]

As others have said, we should have won. We were 2-3 goals better in the first half.

I felt very sorry for Delph: I thought his overall game was excellent. On his goal-chance, he let the blood-rush overwhelm him; as happened to Weimann a couple of times too.

I was surprised that Senderos and Haangeland dealt so well with Benteke: I expected the former to get mullered by our man but the two Fulham CB did really well.

Here's hoping Stoke and Blunderland take a pasting today.

[Bottom Right 89]

This was just typical Villa, after the euphoria of beating Stoke I went expecting us to take Fulham apart but was not to be. They should have needed snookers by half time and same old story if you don't put chances away inevitably Fulham would equalise and means we're not out the woods yet.

From my perspective there were some decent performances - I'll forgive the og from Delph he played well and has done for a few weeks now. Nathan Baker is another one who has stepped up and some of his tackles yesterday were Tealesque. Notice a couple of negative comments about Sylla, I thought he did well and definitely shows potential. Big disappointment and given what he's done this season I'll let him off but Benteke had an off day, he made some bad decisions and gave the ball away quite a few times but I'm glad we've got him and not Berbatov. What a tit that guy is, moaning at his team constantly and it was because he was arguing with someone that they didn't pick N'Zogbia up for our goal - Cheers Berba!

Off the pitch I thought our support was decent but what was going on with the Fulham fans? they brought a right venomous mob, saw a number of them being escorted out, their reaction after the equaliser was akin to a West Brom or Blues crowd thought they were going to invade the North Stand at one point. Not what I'd expect from Fulham they're usually a pleasant bunch when we go to Craven Cottage.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Why did he bring Charlie off? Seems a bizarre substitution.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

We really needed to win that. Could live to regret it. It was one of the games I (& probably PL) expected to get 3 points from.

Pressure is back on. Sunderland game is HUGE.

[Dante Lavelli]

I know it sounds like heresy but I wonder if it'd be worth taking him out for the Man U game and bringing him back in refreshed for the Sunderland game. I wondered whether he was one of the unnamed players carrying a knock. The other was presumably gabby.

The guys sat near me suggested this.  It looked like he was carry a bit of a knock as he wasn't particularly mobile.
Rest him for the Man U game and hope he's fresh and back to his destructive self for the rest of the season.

[Nev]

This was just typical Villa, after the euphoria of beating Stoke I went expecting us to take Fulham apart but was not to be. They should have needed snookers by half time and same old story if you don't put chances away inevitably Fulham would equalise and means we're not out the woods yet.

From my perspective there were some decent performances - I'll forgive the og from Delph he played well and has done for a few weeks now. Nathan Baker is another one who has stepped up and some of his tackles yesterday were Tealesque. Notice a couple of negative comments about Sylla, I thought he did well and definitely shows potential. Big disappointment and given what he's done this season I'll let him off but Benteke had an off day, he made some bad decisions and gave the ball away quite a few times but I'm glad we've got him and not Berbatov. What a tit that guy is, moaning at his team constantly and it was because he was arguing with someone that they didn't pick N'Zogbia up for our goal - Cheers Berba!

Off the pitch I thought our support was decent but what was going on with the Fulham fans? they brought a right venomous mob, saw a number of them being escorted out, their reaction after the equaliser was akin to a West Brom or Blues crowd thought they were going to invade the North Stand at one point. Not what I'd expect from Fulham they're usually a pleasant bunch when we go to Craven Cottage.

Small Heath and Sandwell didn't have a game.........

[silhillvilla]

Massive 2 points dropped this. I think this will come back to haunt us as this was by far the easiest of our 6 remaining games.
Strange day from Lambert too. Bowery a PL player ? Really ?
Strange subs ? There is no point taking off Weimann & Zog and playing Benteke and Bent up top as all creativity is gone ?
Really disappointed after the stoke heroics

[olaftab]

I know it sounds like heresy but I wonder if it'd be worth taking him out for the Man U game and bringing him back in refreshed for the Sunderland game. I wondered whether he was one of the unnamed players carrying a knock. The other was presumably gabby.

The guys sat near me suggested this.  It looked like he was carry a bit of a knock as he wasn't particularly mobile.
Rest him for the Man U game and hope he's fresh and back to his destructive self for the rest of the season.

He has also picked up a few bookings. I don't think Paul's going to do it but leaving him out against Manu may be a good idea. Bent comes in and gets a full game to see if he has any thing in his closet for us.

[Mortimer's Bear]

As an aside, it's impressive how Berbatov can create so much space without actually moving, be can be frustrating to watch at times but he really is a clever player.

[olaftab]

Why did he bring Charlie off? Seems a bizarre substitution.

I couldn't understand N'Zogbia  and Weimann  being off and Holman on. They were our main threat. A braver substitution would have seen Benteke pulled off.

[olaftab]

As an aside, it's impressive how Berbatov can create so much space without actually moving, be can be frustrating to watch at times but he really is a clever player.

But  not very effective.

[PeterWithe]

Mission accomplished for Fulham, they came for a draw and we weren't good enough to deny them that, too many decent positions were wasted with poor shooting but a lot of positives can be taken from the game. Baker was immense and Delph, OG and sitter aside, wasn't far behind. CNZ looked a constant threat.

One thing I did note was that in the system we play, Benteke must be told to be on the shoulder of the last defender, too many times the wide men were in good positions to get a ball in and he was wanting it into feet leaving no-one to cross to, we didn't get the Fulham CHs facing their own goal enough.

This was one of the winnable games we'd have surely targetted so its disappointing not to get the three points.

[Dante Lavelli]

As an aside, it's impressive how Berbatov can create so much space without actually moving, be can be frustrating to watch at times but he really is a clever player.

He was a joy to watch.  He pretty much plays for himself but when he does decide to engage in the game he is fantastic.