Aston Villa vs Fulham - Post Match Thread

[Ron Manager]

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.

Berbatov is a class act. He is one of the few players in the modern game who doesnt panic in any situation.Ice cool brain.

Has Lambert given a reason why N'Zogbia was substituted? . It doesnt make any sense unless he had picked up an injury . You dont take off your most dangerous player who had hit his top form in this match.

I forgot to say earlier in this thread I thought Bennett played very well.

Anybody remember Simon Dawkins he seems to have dissappeared under the radar.

[PeterWithe]

Re the substitutions I thought Lambert had it spot on and all of the subs added something, I really cant understand anyone who doesn't see something in Sylla. He's athletic, powerful and doesnt give the ball away, when he gets a few games under his belt I see him being one of the first names on the team sheet. Holman added energy and Bent also looked sharp. Both Weimann and CNZ had run out of steam.

[Clampy]

There was a chap behind me who whinged about Bennett for the entire game. He said 'Of all my time down Villa, i've never seen a player like Joe Bennett' about three or four times in one of those irritating matter of factly voices which he thought everyone else needed to hear. He was such a pompous cock arse.

[jcsutv]

N'Zogbia being substituted was the right thing to do. All he did for me was score a goal. He consistently makes the wrong decisions position ally and with the ball. He takes players on when he should pass, passes when he should take them on and shoots when it is the wrong option. Yes he scored a good goal, but our problem yesterday was the midfield/attack not keeping possession at key times. CNZ was right to go off.

[Clampy]

What summed up Zog yesterday was just after he scored his goal, he picked up the ball and went on a good run but instead of laying the ball off and putting it into the box, he tried to do it all himself which he does far too often. The motd hightlights made him look better than he actually was.

[N'ZMAV]

Not sure about N'Zogbia, he has talent, but he isn't much of a team player.

[nigel]

Re the substitutions I thought Lambert had it spot on and all of the subs added something, I really cant understand anyone who doesn't see something in Sylla. He's athletic, powerful and doesnt give the ball away, when he gets a few games under his belt I see him being one of the first names on the team sheet. Holman added energy and Bent also looked sharp. Both Weimann and CNZ had run out of steam.

Pretty much how I saw it too

[Marlon From Bearwood]

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.

From where I was sat (admittedly at the other end of the ground) it looked like a couple of over excited fans getting a bit lairy towards our fans when celebrating their goal, rather than being about to invade the North Stand.

[Matt Collins]

N'Zogbia being substituted was the right thing to do. All he did for me was score a goal. He consistently makes the wrong decisions position ally and with the ball. He takes players on when he should pass, passes when he should take them on and shoots when it is the wrong option. Yes he scored a good goal, but our problem yesterday was the midfield/attack not keeping possession at key times. CNZ was right to go off.

I agree he takes the wrong option too often. But he was involved in most of our best chances yday I thought

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Disappointed but this could of been worse. I closely watched Berbatov and realised what a class player he is. I think Benteke should look at Berbatov and model his game on how he plays and makes time stand still when he has the ball. Baker was excellent today and is getting better and better. Not totally convinced by Bennet but he done well and is growing as a player. As many have said i cannot see why PL took Nzogbia off. Holman is very average and creates very little. Felt sorry for Delph he had a good game and works very hard for the team. We will survive. Come on Villa .......

[peter w]

I like Baker. I think he could develop into a top-class defender.What wouldn't make him an International though is his distribution. Its unforgivably poor.

But other than the defence we don't play like a relegated team. To be fair neither do the defence, but they're already playing like they're a division or two below the required standard.

Sorry to pick your post to pieces, as I agree with most of what you say but surely you're being contradictory above -
can Baker be top class (i.e an international) or not? And do the defence play like a League 1 side or not?!

Top-class in as much as being a good Premiership player. But not good enough tomake it on the International stage. He may get call-ups into the squad but his distribution means that he will never be as good as his defending ability suggest he could become.

The defence as a unit keep conceding. That is not good at all. Bad defences get sides relegated. In 86-87 spink and Evans individually did well. But as a unit the defence didn't work well. There were other contributing factors to that relegation but that's another thread.

As good as individual players are, or may become, conceding as often as we do suggests that they aren't good enough to play at this level right now as a unit.

[Clampy]

I know he was'nt on the bench yesterday but Bannan would have been an ideal player to bring on. He might have opened the game up a bit and added something different. I thought the Holman sub was a bit weird.

[CT]

Berbatov was a class act. Linked everything that Fulham did and did it at walking pace.

[exigo]

We'd have happily taken 4 points from Stoke and Fulham before those games.  It's just a bit flat to do it this way round.

[mrfuse]

I couldn't really work out what happened on the goal we conceded as I was right behind the goal but after watching it a few times on goals on Sunday I kind of agree with Chis Kamara.

It was unfortunate as it happened pretty quick but Guzan was slightly out of position. As Delph head's it, Guzan comes to get it but then it fly's past him.

Perhaps Guzan calls for it but as it happens quickly Delph cant really not try and head it so Guzan ends up out of posistion. I cant really lay any blame at Guzan as he has been outstanding and the other argument is that Delph is sightly too far forward.