Walsall v Aston Villa Humongous Thread

[PeterWithesShin]

Are the goals online anywhere?

AVTV will have them on later.

And don't forget that AVTV is free if you have a ST. You have one don't you s_h?

I do, but I moved seats and my new season card hasn't turned up yet.

Did you register with AVTV last season as today is the last day of free AVTV for ST from last season. So you may be able to sneak in a quick view of the goals.

[Mister E]

Prediction of the thread: on page 3 (July 29th):
danlanza - five nil.

Nice one, Mystic.








One day, all your transfer predictions will be this good.

[saunders_heroes]

Are the goals online anywhere?

AVTV will have them on later.

And don't forget that AVTV is free if you have a ST. You have one don't you s_h?

I do, but I moved seats and my new season card hasn't turned up yet.

Did you register with AVTV last season as today is the last day of free AVTV for ST from last season. So you may be able to sneak in a quick view of the goals.

No. I tried to on an iPad but it just wouldn't work for me. My PC takes about an hour to boot up and I lose the will to live trying to turn the damn thing on. Think i'll just wait for SSN.

[danlanza]

Prediction of the thread: on page 3 (July 29th):
danlanza - five nil.

Nice one, Mystic.








One day, all your transfer predictions will be this good.

I bloody hope so.

[PeterWithesShin]

Villa hit five for the second game in a row in a morale-boosting victory at the Banks's Stadium.

And there were five different goalscorers too in an exciting pre-season display from Paul Lambert's team.

Fabian Delph and Gabby Agbonlahor opened their accounts for the campaign, Christian Benteke continued his red-hot form and academy graduates Jack Grealish and Gary Gardner scored their first senior goals.

The visitors looked razor sharp from the outset with Agbonlahor in full flow.

On seven minutes, he motored down the left and produced a clever cutback for Andi Weimann who fired wide at the near post.

Villa were ahead moments later when Delph gathered possession inside the Walsall half and beat goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell with a rasping left-foot drive.

Then, on 33 minutes, the Saddlers defenders were caught out by Agbonlahor's blistering pace as the Erdington-born hotshot doubled the advantage.

There was no stopping Agbonlahor as he surged past three defenders before nutmegging O'Donnell with his finish.

Further attempts by Agbonlahor and Graham Burke deflected just wide, while Benteke clipped the woodwork with a curling shot from around 18 yards.

Boss Lambert made seven changes at the break but frontmen Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann were given another 15 minutes to impress.

And the fearsome forwards continued where they left off.

The third goal arrived seven minutes after the restart when substitute Nicklas Helenius brilliantly picked out Weimann with a pinpoint diagonal pass.

Weimann crossed for Benteke who timed his arrival perfectly to score from six yards.

Helenius showed tremendous vision once again to tee up another substitute Grealish on 67 minutes.

It was a huge moment for boyhood Villa fan Grealish, who kept his cool to slot past replacement keeper Shane Lewis for his first senior goal.

Gardner saved the best until last, drilling home a magnificent 35-yard free-kick four minutes from time.

WALSALL: O'Donnell, Purkiss, Butler, Featherstone, Chambers, Westcarr, Benning, Baxendale, George, Morris, Sawyers. Subs: Holden, Mantom, Lalkovic, Hemmings, Downing, Chambers, Flanagan, Heath, Roberts, Griffiths, McQuilkin, Lewis, Hewitt.

VILLA (first half): Steer, Vlaar, Baker, Bacuna, El Ahmadi, Luna, Delph, Benteke, Burke, Weimann, Agbonlahor.

VILLA (second half): Guzan, Lowton, Clark, Helenius, Agbonlahor, Westwood, Luna, Sylla, Benteke, Weimann, Herd. Subs: Donacien [for Herd, 61], Carruthers [for Agbonlahor, 61], Gardner [for Benteke, 61], Grealish [for Weimann, 61].

[danlanza]

Gardeners goal

[SoccerHQ]

Easy win really, Walsall are toothless upfront and couldn't cope with our pace and power at all.

Very impressed with Delph, not just as he scored first but he was popping up everywhere demanding the ball. Much improved now he's injury free. Like the look of Luna aswell.

[Dave Clark Five]

Why did people find the flare throwing so funny?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Great result and the sort of score we should be beating Walsall etc by.
Great support by the Villa faithful - proud to be a Villain!
And Stan was great with the fans, having photo's taken and shaking hundreds of hands just in front of me.
And a clean sheet!!!
A great Villa night out!
UTV!

[supertom]

Today showed a good indication that Helenius could play along with Benteke, as well as Gab and Wiemann too. He may be wearing number 9 but on looked very number 10 on todays showing.

[Percy McCarthy]

Just saw the goals on SSN.  Wow!

Couldn't believe we were on after Spurs under-21s, who lost 1-0 to MK Dons. I even think they showed more highlights from that game.

[Olneythelonely]

Just got back, I know it was Walsall but;

We were very, very good. Luna was our best player I thought, his work rate, speed and touch has given me a huge amount of confidence.

Gabby, Delph, KEA, Sylla and Westwood all looked superb. The rest only looked very good unfortunately. Our passing and moving were top notch.

Just had a look through the thread and I was bemused by the Gardner stick. Even ignoring  his free kick, I thought he looked like the player he was in the youth team.

The support was great. Apart from the flare throwing. I really enjoyed it and it's got me really looking forward to the season. A bit of patience during the first month and I think we'll be pleasantly surprised this season.

[curiousorange]

Delph, Gabby and Tony Moon were brilliant tonight. We actually look like a Premier League team, in the respect that it was obvious there was a huge gulf in class between us and Walsall. We played really good, intricate stuff tonight and people didn't mind the ball in to feet. The fact it was 5-0 says more about our profligacy up front than it does about Walsall coping with us, because it could have been that at half-time.

[newryvillain]

Just saw the goals on SSN.  Wow!

Couldn't believe we were on after Spurs under-21s, who lost 1-0 to MK Dons. I even think they showed more highlights from that game.

And they didn't have a 12 year old run down the stand steps to head the ball back ino play!

[Brend'Watkins]

I've been away for a week so can somebody tell me who is Tony Moon?