Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[Pat McMahon]

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

With Guzan as playmaker the ball spends a lot of time in the air and these precious seconds waiting for the long, lofted hoofs to come down push our possession stats up.

[tomd2103]

This made me laugh. Is it true?

Nathan ‏@GreavesAVFC 2h
In the HT comp, man was asked what he wanted to win, XBOX or 5 year ticket. Replies "After watching this shit I'll take the XBOX" over mic

Yes he did.
Anyway, at the risk of going against the tide, I thought we were the better side for the second half.  The didn't look like scoring and we did.  They key was when Weimann came on, he pushed Lowton right forward, almost as a winger and had Bacuna covering in behind him.  This looked much more effective, as Lowton had given a shocking defensive fullback performance in the first half as had his mate on the left.  Luna had a much better second half too.
The second goal I felt was Luna's fault.  He wanted rid of the ball in possession so quickly that hit a really strong pass to Delphi who miscontrolled it due to the pace on it.  Two passes later it's in the back of the net.  For all the Gooners saying they need a striker, Giroud had one shot tonight and scored a great finish.
Vlaar was superb and but for him we could have been 4 or more down at HT, but second half we really gave it a go and looked OK, I'll take the positives.

Not Luna's biggest fan, but I didn't think he was too bad tonight.  Lowton on the other hand defended terribly for most of the game and the way he was caught out for their first goal was really poor.  Lambert still hasn't worked out that Westwood and KEA are too slow to play together and if one of them is going to play, they need to be alongside Delph and someone as equally mobile.  A better second half and we actually looked like the team that ended last season well at times.

ps.  I don't think I've ever seen a defender go off early in games as many times as Baker has. 

[saunders_heroes]

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

With Guzan as playmaker the ball spends a lot of time in the air and these precious seconds waiting for the long, lofted hoofs to come down push our possession stats up.

I'd bet there isn't another keeper in the land that sees as much of the ball than Guzan does.

Sideways, sideways, backwards HOOF!!
Sideways, sideways, backwards HOOF!!
Sideways, sideways, backwards HOOF!!
Sideways, sideways, backwards HOOF!!

Etc etc...

[CJ]

Shot ourselves in the foot by letting them score again more or less straight from our kick-off, but having said that they passed us off the park for an hour and were probably good value for the two goal lead anyway. Why we left it til the last 20 minutes to have a go, get in their faces and force mistakes Lambert only knows - if we'd done that from the off we may have got more out of the game. Great to see Benteke break his drought, and the look on his face when he scored was priceless - is there such a thing as aggressive relief? Oh - and can anyone tell me how KEA continues to get a game - the cheer all round the ground when he was taken off was almost embarrassing

[Legion]

This season's Newcastle?

[amfy]

Great to see Benteke break his drought, and the look on his face when he scored was priceless - is there such a thing as aggressive relief?

I thought it was noticeable that the contrived celebration of last season came as an afterthought, his immediate reaction was genuine and you could see it meant a lot to him. Hopefully the start of a turnaround for him.

[CJ]

Couple of other things - great cross from Lowton for the goal.

And who was the stranger selling H&V at the Holte gates where Mr Whitehouse normally sells?

[dave.woodhall]

Couple of other things - great cross from Lowton for the goal.

And who was the stranger selling H&V at the Holte gates where Mr Whitehouse normally sells?

Legion.

[Legion]

Shocking first half, much better second. KEA offers nothing. Pleased for Benteke and I hope Baker is OK. I really hope this Grant Holt stuff comes to nothing.

Sorry for not starting the thread but was busy at work and left early to get to the ground on time to sell for Dave expecting to start it on my mobile. Unfortunately, Orange seem to have cut my mobile signal off since Saturday afternoon and I've only just noticed.

[Des Little]

How much longer must we suffer KEA? He's fcuking useless. Surely Lambert must see that by now.

[Legion]

Couple of other things - great cross from Lowton for the goal.

And who was the stranger selling H&V at the Holte gates where Mr Whitehouse normally sells?

Stranger!? I refer to that spot as the dead-zone. Got moved from my (semi)-regular spot outside the Trinity Road gates.

[Seb_AVFC]

Saddest thing tonight was Belgian Tele showing highlights of the 1-3 victory down the Emirates last August before the game. Yes, we were lucky that day. Yes, we easily could have lost that game. But damn yes we showed some fighting spirit and really believed we could pull that one off. Everything we lacked today, even after the 1-2...

[john2710]

I didn't think we were too bad, as much as Arsenal had possession they didn't create too much. Lowton switched off for the first & Delph for the second. We lack bite / quality in midfield & any real width, but we all know that. Vlar was man of the match by a mile & it was good to see Benteke score. Thought other than the goals we defended well. Delph needs to understand he can't do it all by himself.

Thought the ref was poor, god knows what he would have done if we'd actual laid a finger on any Arsenal player. Whinger had set the agenda before the game by saying we are very physical, truth is I've never seen as less physical Villa side.

[CJ]

Couple of other things - great cross from Lowton for the goal.

And who was the stranger selling H&V at the Holte gates where Mr Whitehouse normally sells?

Stranger!? I refer to that spot as the dead-zone. Got moved from my (semi)-regular spot outside the Trinity Road gates.

Funny - didn't notice any unnatural disasters happening at the time 

[Duncan Shaw]

How much longer must we suffer KEA? He's fcuking useless. Surely Lambert must see that by now.

i said after the game, I cannot imagine what chain of events contributes to Lamberts thought process when he is writing out the team sheet that culminates in puttin KEA's name anywhere near it.  The cheer was embarrassing when he went off, but my goodness we were all relieved.