Aston Villa v Cardiff City Pre-Match Thread

[Brian Taylor]

Brummagem-speak is actually Welsh in translation, so they say. Cardeef Mite? The Welsh used to bring their silver and gold to Birmingham for smelting because of the Black Country coal. You can thank them for the Jewellery Quarter, cheap holidays and welcome  in Towyn, Aberdovey and Saudersfoot.  Long memories and loyalties the De Brums.
Brothers in arms the Welsh!  I love that Dai Llama bloke.

[Isa]

That might be a slight blessing in disguise as it forces a rethink on formation.

Not sure about that. If Lambert resorted to 3-5-2 just because our two LBs were injured then it is hard to expect any different with Gabby and Weimann out also.

[pauliewalnuts]

Brummagem-speak is actually Welsh in translation, so they say. Cardeef Mite? The Welsh used to bring their silver and gold to Birmingham for smelting because of the Black Country coal. You can thank them for the Jewellery Quarter, cheap holidays and welcome  in Towyn, Aberdovey and Saudersfoot. 

Not to mention water.

[Legion]

Mat Kendrick: Gabby Agbonlahor, Andi Weimann, Antonio Luna and Joe Bennett are all out but Fabian Delph should return.

Oh. That does not bode well. At least Delph is hopefully available.

[Legion]

Against Cardiff City. At home. We should be capable of putting fixtures like this to bed.

[Nastylee]

Against Cardiff City. At home. We should be capable of putting fixtures like this to bed.

The problem with this is the word 'home'.

[supertom]

I'd like to see a bit of fresh impetus really. Get Tonev back in, he deserves a crack again. Lets also see what Helenius can do. He's been compared to Ibrahimavich (and granted I do realise we used to have the Togolese Zidane) and if he's even a fifth of the player Ibra is he could prove useful. He might offer a little guile we've been lacking.
A couple of youngens like Robinson and Johnson on the bench would be good too.

[Matt Collins]

If none of our injured or ill players are fit again I predict a really dire game!

Kozak and benteke upfront and no real width or creativity in midfield only means one thing. LAUNCH IT!

It'd be a risk and I'm not sure lambert would do it but I'd be tempted to play

Guzan - Lowton vlaar Clark baker - Westwood Delph / sylla - bacuna helenius Tonev - benteke

But having the attacking three all made up of new signings who've not really done anything (not in that position at least for bacuna) would be a risk. I think more likely we'd see three in the middle at the expense of helenius. Or kozak with benteke and a narrow four. Or 532

To be honest, despite it 'only' being Cardiff at home, none of the configurations I can come up with fill me with great confidence about our ability to score more than one goal. And while it's very dull, that kind of puts the premium on keeping a clean sheet. So stability in the defence and midfield would be crucial

[Matt Collins]

We go again.....

                Guzan
Bacuna, Vlaar, Clark, Bennett
    Herd, Westwood, Delph
Tonev, Benteke, Gabby

Not averse to Lowton staying in the side as he is one of our best creative players but not sure we can afford to have both him and Bennett in the side at the same time.

No to Kea and Sylla in the side. Not sure why Chris Herd hasnt got a chance yet this season.

We need to match these physically, if we dont they could kick lumps out of us in midfield.

Herd hasn't had a chance because he's not good enough.

[Matt Collins]

Actually, if Delph is back I predict he might go

Guzan - Lowton vlaar Clark baker - bacuna Westwood Delph - Tonev - benteke kozak

I don't like the diamond, especially without an attacking full back on one side, but I prefer it to 532. Tonev would have to provide width on both sides, especially the left.

[Richard E]

Have a sneaky feeling we might see that rarest of beasts tomorrow, a home clean sheet. Not sure with the absentees we have tons of goals in us but on the other hand Benteke has to tear someone a new one soon.

2-0 Villa.

[Clampy]

It'll be interesting to see his team because Cardiff played 5 across the middle last week. I didn't watch it so i'm not sure how the formation actually panned out in the end. If Gabby and Weimann are out, it'll at least give us a chance to see how Benteke and Kozak do together.

[PaulWinch again]

Bloody hell we're short of attacking options there, we can't afford to play 5 at the back against Cardiff. Delph being back is a relief though.

[eastie]

Bloody hell we're short of attacking options there, we can't afford to play 5 at the back against Cardiff. Delph being back is a relief though.

    Don't worry pwa, this will do the job-

              Guzan

Lowton Clark. Vlaar. Baker

      Sylla.   Westwood

Bacuna.     Delph.   Tonev
   
          Benteke

[Dave]

The Guardian clearly know the best place to get the lowdown on sensible Villa related opinions:

Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

3) Will Aston Villa jump-start their season … again?

Cautious optimism seems to be the prevailing mood among Aston Villa fans contributing to the pertinent thread on the Heroes & Villains website in the buildup to what seems, on paper at least, a fairly underwhelming football experience. An admittedly less than forensic trawl through the comments suggests many Villa fans are expecting a nervy 90 minutes and with their team having failed to score in four Premier League excursions it's not difficult to see why. While few if any Villa fans appear overly worried by the possible threat of relegation, there appears a genuine concern that unless their side can cobble a decent run of results together, a season that started so full of promise with an away win at Arsenal will end with a whimper before Fairytale of New York resumes its position as festive radio playlist staple.

For all Paul Lambert's eminently sensible talk about how his talented young side is a work in progress, but one whose "fundamental principles are already clear", even before the goals dried up Villa under his stewardship seemed to resemble a car with some infuriating and unidentifiable clunking noise emanating from under the bonnet to spoil an otherwise pleasant driving experience. With an international break looming, another performance as laboured as that analogy will leave Villa fans with plenty of time to quietly seethe ahead of their next match, a potentially explosive derby against local rivals West Brom. BG