Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[Ads]

Baker knows how to tackle, but I got the impression that yesterday he was likely shouting "have some of this you ******!" while do his best to hack them down.

[rob_bridge]

Fair and accurate dissection of our defensive play today by Mills and Lawro on MOTD2.

Sadly I have to agree with you Aftab.

No, really.
How is Lawro suddenly believable this week?
He never has been, before.
I know it wasn't the best Villa performance but I find this acceptance of Lawro's assessment worrying. I hope it is momentary.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. He is a tool - we all know that but at least it looks like he is going to try and contribute. I'd still bin him tomorrow - he has been leeching too much Licence Fee money for too long in return for too little

[Steve R]

He was spot on for a change.

Et tu, Bert?

Ha! You may be pushing water uphill with Sylla, but at least you're in with a shot for post of the week.

[rob_bridge]

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.

I had an Auntie from Glasgow - I never supported Queen's Park. Or the Old firm for that matter.

Coincidentally all those in their early to mid 30's started supporting them as far back as 1986. How very convenient.

[TonyD]

Will be Ron and Delph be back for the Stoke game?

[Ads]

Delph should be, as he was suspended. No idea on Vlaar.

[SoccerHQ]

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?

You should've responded by saying good job we beat Man. City and Arsenal otherwise you'd be even further off the title race than you currently are. That was my stock response when i got a couple of texts last night!

God they have to be the worst team in the football universe to be our bogey team!

[rob_bridge]

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?

You should've responded by saying good job we beat Man. City and Arsenal otherwise you'd be even further off the title race than you currently are. That was my stock response when i got a couple of texts last night!

God they have to be the worst team in the football universe to be our bogey team!

I can think of at least one more

[PeterWithesShin]

My stock reply to them

"Comfortable win for you. I am curious about something though, it is something i've often wondered about. What is it like to not be the best club in your city? To see them putting in performances your team can only dream of, signing players far beyond your means as they chase titles while you plod around in midtable? I really am curious as i've never experienced it with my team so am genuinely interested in how humiliating it is."

It gets some interesting responses.

[Louzie0]

He was spot on for a change.

Et tu, Bert?

Ha! You may be pushing water uphill with Sylla, but at least you're in with a shot for post of the week.

Ta!

[SoccerHQ]

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?

You should've responded by saying good job we beat Man. City and Arsenal otherwise you'd be even further off the title race than you currently are. That was my stock response when i got a couple of texts last night!

God they have to be the worst team in the football universe to be our bogey team!

I can think of at least one more

O.k a team in the premier league who actually matters.

[rob_bridge]

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?

You should've responded by saying good job we beat Man. City and Arsenal otherwise you'd be even further off the title race than you currently are. That was my stock response when i got a couple of texts last night!

God they have to be the worst team in the football universe to be our bogey team!

I can think of at least one more

O.k a team in the premier league who actually matters.

You have the honour, Sir

[eastie]

I hate the old stat trotted out that Man U, Chelsea , arsenal, everton, spurs , Liverpool, have all taken more premier points against villa than any other club - it's hardly a damning statistic as we are the only only other club to have survived the premier era besides those 6 .

[SamTheMouse]

It's all very well saying stick the youth players in the first team, but that's something the manager should be doing out of choice, not desperation. By carefully picking the fixtures to play them in, games where they can put in one or two raw talents where they won't come under too much pressure and there are plenty of experienced heads around to keep them on the straight and narrow. A bit like the way you bring a player back from a long-term injury, cf. Fletcher getting a nice easy second-half run-out against a piss-poor side on Sunday when the game was already wrapped up.

I think if Lambert were to stick a few of the youngsters in this struggling side against any Premier League opponents, they'd just get the shit bullied out of them and their youthful confidence would take a battering. Not the way to help their development, if you ask me.

[supertom]

It's all very well saying stick the youth players in the first team, but that's something the manager should be doing out of choice, not desperation. By carefully picking the fixtures to play them in, games where they can put in one or two raw talents where they won't come under too much pressure and there are plenty of experienced heads around to keep them on the straight and narrow. A bit like the way you bring a player back from a long-term injury, cf. Fletcher getting a nice easy second-half run-out against a piss-poor side on Sunday when the game was already wrapped up.

I think if Lambert were to stick a few of the youngsters in this struggling side against any Premier League opponents, they'd just get the shit bullied out of them and their youthful confidence would take a battering. Not the way to help their development, if you ask me.

We're a side made up mostly of largely untried youngsters though. They're getting bullied as it is. I think lads who've been brought up through the ranks of our club for the last 5-6 years have as good, if not better, a chance of coming in and having an impact than a Bowery or a Tonev from their respective levels (and country's).

For me two of the better performers of the past two games were Herd and Albrighton. Even when fit they've seemed secondary in Lamberts plans to his own punts, but for me Herd is fairly reliable and industrious, he's not brilliant but I could trust him more than some of the signings. Same goes for Albrighton.
Johnson could offer just as much physical presence as KEA (beatin zero isn't a big ask) and as much, if not more quality on the ball. One things for sure we've got some youngsters, including Jack, who look comfortable with the ball at their feet, whereas some of Lamberts signings don't.

They have to get the chance at some point if they're going to make it. It may as well be now. Grealish and Carruthers have to experience their share of big opposition players in League 1. I thought Fonzy for example, who broke in early, looked impressive in the early days. What happened then is that O Neill didn't really give him enough minutes consistently to help his development. That in part was down to his lack of using his bench, and even if he did it'd be on 85 minutes normally. Then we gave the lad too much money too soon. Ditto Bannan.

We're now a club who plays youngsters consistently. That's our ethos. I'd rather we were playing our own more though. We've got Helenius who's probably 1-2 years off from being ready (if ever). At this time I'd say Grealish's experience playing week in/out at County would have him ahead of Helenius, certainly Carruthers would be as he's been in the first team before. But the point is we paid a million for Helenius. Take the combined fee and wages of Tonev and Helenius and we could have got a half decent player who'd be ready for our first 11.