Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[Monty]

A Savage analysis

Hate to say it but he's pretty much summed up the issues.

Yep, and then suggested we go 4-4-2 and keep more possession - totally contradictory pieces of advice.

I didn't think we were actually that bad to be honest. In fact, I thought the performance was a massive improvement on recent weeks, and frankly our biggest problem was shooting from long range as soon as we got within 25 yards of goal, rather than having the calm to make our patience up to that point count.

In terms of possession the general analysis is 56%-44% in their favour, but considering how much time-wasting possession they had when in the lead it shows what I felt during the game: that we were passing better than usual and more than usual. In a normal match, the way we passed would have kept us in it.

But it wasn't a normal game. It was a game against Man Utd having a dead cat bounce, not helped by our left-back playing like he was, in fact, a dead cat. Too many individual errors, and they were always going to capitalise every time. Delph and especially Vlaar cannot return soon enough.

But there were bright points as well, especially Albrighton, whose return to the side pleased me and whose directness and ability to worm his way through defenders was something we've been missing all season. I think if we play like that against most of the teams in the division then we at least have the better chance of winning. Sadly, it was Man U-f****ing-nited.

[Ads]

At one nil you always have a chance, but to then gift them a goal so cheaply so soon after their first and to do the same thing again so soon after the break is going to kill you.

[Damo70]

At one nil you always have a chance, but to then gift them a goal so cheaply so soon after their first and to do the same thing again so soon after the break is going to kill you.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot or in both feet. We needed three feet for the bullets yesterday.

[Clampy]

It was the lack of closing down which annoyed me more than anything yesterday. We had three centre midfielders playing and you couldn't really tell. When we did decide to try and win the ball, we looked a better team for it.

As for the subs bench, I did'nt really get why Bowery was named on there bearing in mind we already had Kozak and Weimann as back up strikers. I'd rather see a young un out the reserves get a chance to sample a first team match day.

[supertom]

It was the lack of closing down which annoyed me more than anything yesterday. We had three centre midfielders playing and you couldn't really tell. When we did decide to try and win the ball, we looked a better team for it.

As for the subs bench, I did'nt really get why Bowery was named on there bearing in mind we already had Kozak and Weimann as back up strikers. I'd rather see a young un out the reserves get a chance to sample a first team match day.

Yep we had 3 CM's up against Utds 2, including a 40 year old. Giggs and Cleverely completely controlled midfield with ease. But that's the difference, Giggsy has a footballing brain and 23 years of experience, while Cleverely may not be quite the standard Utd expect, but is a good quality Premiership footballer.
We had three midfielders who aren't really good enough to be playing every week at this level. In the case of KEA, I hope I never see him in a Villa shirt again. Extremely poor player indeed. Sometimes I wonder if he isn't some kind of prank played on us, like George Weahs "cousin" who played a game for Souness at Southampton.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm still a Lambert fan (just about) but we were shit again today. Sylla has been found out, Luna is shocking, Baker a last resort, Kea is shite, Westwood a passenger. Please don't get me started on 'The Beast.'

The thing is:

Sylla came from the French second division less than a year ago.
Westwood came from Crewe Alexandra, League One, a little over a year ago
Luna came from Sevilla reserves for a paltry amount of money
KEA came from being average in a league which is renowned for making players look better than they are
Lowton came from League One
Joe Bennett came from League One
Bowery came from League Two
Tonev came from looking OKish in Poland
Bacuna came from Groeningen's reserves

There's a recurrent theme here - they're all cheap purchases, they'll all be on comparatively low wages, and none of them have consistently played at the top level.

There are nine names there.  Surely the combined fees and wages spent on those nine would have been better used bringing in three more established players?

We tried that with Given, Hutton and N'Zogbia.

That assumes that any more expensive player is going to fail. You could also say we tried it with Young, Downing and Milner.

There's no guarantee that spending more is going to equal success but it is more likely to get you a decent player than fishing around the lower leagues.

[Mister E]

It was the lack of closing down which annoyed me more than anything yesterday. We had three centre midfielders playing and you couldn't really tell. When we did decide to try and win the ball, we looked a better team for it.

As for the subs bench, I did'nt really get why Bowery was named on there bearing in mind we already had Kozak and Weimann as back up strikers. I'd rather see a young un out the reserves get a chance to sample a first team match day.

The three goals came from individual errors - Sylla, Baker and Luna, respectively (and all down our left).
So, we gifted an indifferent MU team the game.
What really boiled my piss was the lack of a response to this and the absence of tactical or player variety from the bench. I would like to have seen GG and Bacuna on in MF at half-time to give the game some energy and vitality; bringing on Weimann with 15 to go just seemed so token.

[supertom]

Yep and established doesn't necessarily have to equate to Given, Hutton and N'Zogbia type signings. We can buy better quality from similar standard leagues. Buying from France, relatively cheaply too, is paying off for Newcastle at the moment.
There's clubs in the top flights of France, Germany, Spain and Italy, all crying out for cash and who'd probably sell decent players for reasonable prices. These were the sort of signings Houllier was looking at, like Cabaye. That should be our market now as much as possible. Likewise a signing or two more of Vlaars ilk would improve us. He had a decent reputation in Holland, and though injuries haven't helped him, he's looked good this season. KEA on the other hand was a strange signing. Bacuna has potential, but again, he's a long way off.

It would help us no end.

[Mortimer's Bear]

There's a plastic at work who has had 2 snidey digs already this morning, I asked him where he was sat yesterday and astonishingly enough he wasn't at the game.

They really are wankers aren't they?

[MoetVillan]

The highlight for me was when Fletcher came on.  My wife suffers with the same thing, so delighted to see him back.

Which unfortunately says little for the rest of the game.  Albrighton's best game in a Villa shirt for me.  I thought Westwood played ok, and Luna is starting to get back to his best.  But, like the England cricket team, if we gift them goals (wickets), we are in trouble.

I fecking hate United.  And the referee seemed more than a little biased to me.

[Damo70]

There's a plastic at work who has had 2 snidey digs already this morning, I asked him where he was sat yesterday and astonishingly enough he wasn't at the game.

They really are wankers aren't they?

They usually claim to have an uncle from Manchester who brought them up on tales of Munich and George Best. Which is strange, because whilst I accept people can marry people from other areas, all of my aunts and uncles are from the same part of the world as my mum or my dad. But every Brummie red has a Mancunian uncle.

[Fin Feds Dad]

It was the lack of closing down which annoyed me more than anything yesterday. We had three centre midfielders playing and you couldn't really tell. When we did decide to try and win the ball, we looked a better team for it.

As for the subs bench, I did'nt really get why Bowery was named on there bearing in mind we already had Kozak and Weimann as back up strikers. I'd rather see a young un out the reserves get a chance to sample a first team match day.

It was a gutless effort - as bad as anything served up under McLeish - and I include Tottenham away in that. Pathetic.

[Ron Manager]

This is what I think about our players for all it matters.

Guzan  Consistently good
Lowton Defensively incompetent, could come good in time.
Luna  Awful in the extreme
Baker Has gone back drastically this season very poor.
Clark  Still think hes a defensive midfielder but has played well next to Vlaar.
Vlaar  Excellent
Westwood  Too lightweight Im afraid but passes the ball well over 15-20 yds. Doesnt create chances
Delph Obviously our best midfielder but doesnt create and doesnt score on a consistent basis
Sylla  Worth a gamble but very short of what is required
Gabby. Sometimes hes good other times he is not. Too old to change.
Benteke. He's a mystery which even Morse couldnt solve!
Weimann. Has all the aggression without much skill to supplement it
Kozak  Has shown improvement, worth a run.
Bacuna  Like him, could come good.

On a match related note it was good to see Darren Fletcher come back from such a serious condition. I hope he gets a chance under Moyes.

[eastie]

It was the lack of closing down which annoyed me more than anything yesterday. We had three centre midfielders playing and you couldn't really tell. When we did decide to try and win the ball, we looked a better team for it.

As for the subs bench, I did'nt really get why Bowery was named on there bearing in mind we already had Kozak and Weimann as back up strikers. I'd rather see a young un out the reserves get a chance to sample a first team match day.

The three goals came from individual errors - Sylla, Baker and Luna, respectively (and all down our left).
So, we gifted an indifferent MU team the game.
What really boiled my piss was the lack of a response to this and the absence of tactical or player variety from the bench. I would like to have seen GG and Bacuna on in MF at half-time to give the game some energy and vitality; bringing on Weimann with 15 to go just seemed so token.

Also for the first goal there were 2 men on him but he still got the cross over - unacceptable - all 3 goals were piss poor defending.

[supertom]

This is what I think about our players for all it matters.

Guzan  Consistently good
Lowton Defensively incompetent, could come good in time.
Luna  Awful in the extreme
Baker Has gone back drastically this season very poor.
Clark  Still think hes a defensive midfielder but has played well next to Vlaar.
Vlaar  Excellent
Westwood  Too lightweight Im afraid but passes the ball well over 15-20 yds. Doesnt create chances
Delph Obviously our best midfielder but doesnt create and doesnt score on a consistent basis
Sylla  Worth a gamble but very short of what is required
Gabby. Sometimes hes good other times he is not. Too old to change.
Benteke. He's a mystery which even Morse couldnt solve!
Weimann. Has all the aggression without much skill to supplement it
Kozak  Has shown improvement, worth a run.
Bacuna  Like him, could come good.

On a match related note it was good to see Darren Fletcher come back from such a serious condition. I hope he gets a chance under Moyes.

That you've forgotten KEA in that list, says everything about KEA as a player. Other than that, wholly agreed on all the above.