Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[Fergal]

We lost at home again, playing like the away team again...

[fredm]

Yet again Carragher and Neville get it spot on. Not enough effort from Villa, need to up the tempo and make things happen?

Why oh why can't our coaches see this/make it happen?

[Nii Lamptey]

Oh geezus.. MNF on Sky have just said they have news on a potential new signing at Villa after the break.

Looks like it could be true. FFS!

[ROBBO]

For me it was more a case of Arsenal switching off and not being able to switch on again. Benteke scored from a good cross, it shows that if he gets supply he will do the job and he lifted the last fifteen miutes.As others have said our midfield is woeful, thats where the problem lies and it needs fixing.

[itbrvilla]

When was the last time under this manager that we actually played well for 90 minutes ,time after time we only put a decent 45 minutes in

How often under this manager do we perform well for 45 minutes?

[pooligan]

BBC say we had 36% ball possession  ,we are getting better !

[Dribbler]

An amazingly poor and passive 1st half, somewhat better in the second half when we actually pressed and tried to pass the ball a bit.

Lowton was partially responsible for both Arsenal goals, 1st he just let the player run off him on the wing, and Westwood should have tracked Wilshire. The 2nd he really should have got a better challenge in, but Delph lost the ball in a really dangerous area.

Other than that i actually thought Delph played well and actually tried to pick the ball up and take it forwards. The problem is i forget the amount of times i saw him, Gabby or Bacuna go on runs with the ball, but keep it too long and then lose it. Partly this was down to just not releasing the ball at the right time, but a lot of that seems to stem from them just having no options to pass to. I think all three ran their socks off but lacked quality with the final ball into the box.

I feel sorry for Benteke, great goal, and should of had a second, but his main role in the team seemed to be as a target man to knock the ball up to, to either hold the ball up, or flick the ball on. That's just not where we want him and an optimum use of his skills. We may as well buy and play Heskey if that is what we want. Or maybe Holt!

Luna didn't play too badly at all today, Guzan was solid enough and couldn't do anything about the goals.

Baker committed as always and i hope he recovers ok.

Clark and Vlaar looked relatively solid, though even they both throw up the odd potentially costly mistake.

[midnite]

That 5 minute period after the goal. Shows to me we're a team with fragile confidence rather than a team with shit players. We looked like we did last season and at the beginning of this. Quick feet. Good quick crosses cross the box. Arsenal looked dazed.
Then the arsenal player went down injured. Took the momentum out of our play and we just went to default.
Why did we just spend the 6 minutes of injury time with route 1 hoof football??
We looked our best when we were playing it on the floor to feet.

Our team isn't poor, shit or championship level. It's a team with very low confidence. It's not the best villa team I've ever seen. But it certainly isn't the worst.

Don't agree with the cheering of our payers going off either when substituted. They're claret and blue and need to be supported.

[PeterWithesShin]

Two wasted chances at 0-0.  A defender injured. A minute of madness. And a good go for the last 30 and a Benteke goal. And it got pretty cold second half.

[mallo]

We are Wigan in disguise

[jeowje]

We have to take the positives from that! Restored some pride and had them running scared by the end. Benteke surely must finally draw some confidence. Surprise away win at Anfield to kickstart our season? Thats the kind of bet i prefer to put on personally.

[villa kicks]

Lambo will use our 2nd half performance to say we did ok. The fact is we lost again and we didnt compete 1st half. the pace was ridic slow and the football and attempt to get back in match 2nd half was typical lambert. But also the facts are 2 errors and poor tactics as pointed out by carra and gnev on mnf after showed that villa need to imrpove it all round.

I loved that Benteke scored he deserves it !! I love gabby but wish he had more footballing nous!! Vlaar was solid and i do hope Baker will be ok he was brave.

[Herman]

Not too bad in the second half. First time for a long time that we've actually competed with someone and demonstrated a bit more desire and invention.
We are a poor team with some below average players but as least we gave Arsenal a game. With a bit more quality in midfield alongside Delph, who for long periods was trying to play midfield on his own, we may have nicked something.
Simply due to the second half performance it was probably the first game they haven't deserved top be booed off since God knows when.     

[achilles]

Pretty much what I expected, a loss but a couple of positives with Benteke scoring and a bit of fight and effort towards the end of the second half.
We aren't a good side but everybody knows that so I am not beating myself up over getting beat by the top of the league.
As the saying goes 'We move on'.

[baddowvillans]

Looking at goal difference, only two of the teams below us have a better record so it's key we don't change that too dramatically on Saturday. Once Liverpool is out of the way we have the chance with WBA WHU and Cardiff and even Everton away to get some points on the board. It's those games more than tonight that will determine where we end up but like so many others I crave 90 minute performance