Norwich City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Witton Warrior]

Step forward Lord Gabby and be annointed before the Holte End as a Living Villa Legend
Join the serried ranks of yore you fucking beauty!

Said it ages ago, the guy is a VILLA LEGEND, does it when it really matters, loves the Villa, could never see him play for anyone else. He's been the difference the last 2-3 months. Gabby WE LOVE YOU.

There was a thread last year about his status - people argued that he had never won anything so was not a "Legend"
Well I am autocratically bestowing that title and sod the lot of the nay-sayers ;-)

[Keeno]

Step forward Lord Gabby and be annointed before the Holte End as a Living Villa Legend
Join the serried ranks of yore you fucking beauty!

Said it ages ago, the guy is a VILLA LEGEND, does it when it really matters, loves the Villa, could never see him play for anyone else. He's been the difference the last 2-3 months. Gabby WE LOVE YOU.

There was a thread last year about his status - people argued that he had never won anything so was not a "Legend"
Well I am autocratically bestowing that title and sod the lot of the nay-sayers ;-)

Most definitely!:)

[villan from luton]

Wonder if Luke Moore might do us a favour in midweek

[eastie]

3 points off Swansea in 9th place and could be 2 points off 18th on Tuesday - really tense end to the season .
Who would believe with 2 games left we could either finish top 10 or go down?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

3 points off Swansea in 9th place and could be 2 points off 18th on Tuesday - really tense end to the season .
Who would believe with 2 games left we could either finish top 10 or go down?

Hopefully we will be 6 points behind Swansea by the end of Tuesday.

[Colhint]

3 things, Beausajour was stretchered off today. He won't die and will still get about £10,000 per week if anyone feels sorry for him. Secondly Newcastle must beat qpr in their last home  in the 1st division because I don't think they will beat Arsenal and thirdly Swansea started showing a bit of form today before they go to wigan (0-0 v man city)

[Yeltzer]

I must say, West Brom, you bunch of fucking wankers.

This.

[eamonn]

As I said before, this is surely Gabby's best form since the 08/09 season?

Why not 09/10?

[eamonn]

The boggies have gone, they are on the beach, they don't care anymore.

Not true, they battled their arses off today. Even their goalie, Foster came up for a late corner. Defensive failings fucked them up, their players are professionals and Steve Clarke certainly is. They're just fuckers for not holding on.

[aev]

We are 40-1 to get relegated with bet365.

[brontebilly]

Bit of a smash and grab effort this one. Thought Norwich played pretty well with Howson the stand out player in midfield. But they were pretty toothless up front, Holt was crashing into all and sundry but he has looked lost at this level this season. Pilkington only coming back from injury faded too. We started with the wrong attitude, touch of billy big bollocks after the Sunderland result on Monday I suspect. Norwich ultimately didnt have the quality to make it count but we were indebted to a freakishly outstanding second half performance from Gabby and the ref failing to send off two of our players for the three points. Ref thankfully for us seem to bottle both red card decisions, Benteke's one was a no brainer.

With the players we have up front, we will always create chances out of nothing. Gabby's first goal was a cracker too, took it up on the half way line, broke forward and curled it in nicely. He was on fire in the second half, creating a sitter of a chance for Weimann with a brilliant counter attack and cross. Very unlucky to see a left footed effort creep past the post after a lovely one two with Benteke. Then the brilliant finish for the winner and likely keeping us in the league for another year.

For my sins back in January, I suggested we trade Gabby for Craig Gardner as it was clear only MON might get his career back on track......

If we look back, I think that home game against Newcastle when Gabby and Weimann came on at half time and we played the 3 up front, was the start of our revival. 18 points from 36 since and have beaten the sides around us in that time.

Better sides than Norwich would have made us pay for such of the efforts at defending today. Baker for me is nowhere near good enough. Spends half his time on his arse and the other half hoofing the ball. Yet he is still looking better than Vlaar. His efforts to defend a standard hoof midway through the second half were excruciating. Captain my arse.

Guzan hadnt much to do today but nearly handed them a point at the end. He really needs to work on his kicking over the summer. Bennett's first yellow card was utter stupidity, he followed this up with a brain freeze foul on Snodgrass on the edge of the box just after. Then just when Norwich really started to look out of ideas, he fucked up spectacularly for the penalty. I'm not buying the whole its just a young player being naive excuse either, Bennett has done this consistently over the season and even during the game today. For me he abdicates responsibility. Today that should have cost us a red card and potentially the game. Lichaj might have played his last game for the club but fair play to him today. His first appearance in a long while and was very solid defensively I thought. Doesnt have much ability on the ball but kept it nice and tidy.

Last minute assist aside, Westwood to me showed how far he still has to go to be a top midfielder. His lack of presence without the ball really hurts us at times. His passing and play were very passive too until late on. This was in contrast with Delph who was excellent today again. Won tackles, ran with the ball well, passed well. He is well able to get away from players, just a pity he gets a brain fart when in good positions near goal. Sylla looked a little lost in midfield. Not sure what to make of him as a player. Benteke was very poor today and like Bennett could have cost us big time with his hand in the neck of Bassong who thankfully didnt overreact. Second half against Sunderland aside, his form hasnt been great for a while. His touch and movement today were very poor. Weimann wasnt in the game much. At least he got in the position for that counterattack. Not sure how he missed, might have been better advised diving with his head for it. The fuck up at the end was terrible. Gabby's second half as mentioned previously was outstanding. Holman........ oh dear.

[CJ]

Thought Bennett was at his most infuriating today. He gave a stupid free kick away on the edge of the box in the first half, and prior to the penalty he was 4 or 5 yards behind our back line playing their player on side which led directly to the pen. He could have got sent off and could have cost us the points - he's got a lot to learn. Oh, and the commentator got on my nerves today saying how our young defence was being taught a lesson in being roughed up by Holt. I don't call deliberately raking studs down a defenders legs as 'roughing up' - I call it sneaky and dirty.

[Tuscans]

Didn't Mark Bright say something on Final Score along the lines of like, "Gabby should be doing better, I think this is the first time he has hit double figures"....yea, ok Closet boy.

[Matt Collins]

I'm still not relaxing, despite the fantastic result. We could finish on 40 points easily. And if we do Wigan will finish above us. Surely they'll beat Swansea and then they must have a decent chance of beating us.

The best thing is the number of other clubs between us and them. If Sunderland fail to beat stoke on Monday they'll really be in the shit. Newcastle I think will beat QPR though.
Norwich's next game v WBA, Sunderland's next two and Newcastle at QPR will probably determine if we need a result on the last day.

[Tuscans]

We are 40-1 to get relegated with bet365.

Worth a tenner.