Aston Villa v Norwich- Post Match Thread

[Marton]

3 positives.

- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.

Still a few lingering clouds though.

- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation

Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...

[eastie]

@Paulmcgrath5: tks so much villa i needed a win because we needed a win  i lv your club  il always lv your club your club is my club !

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Weird game, really.
A purple patch encased in shite, really.

Great to see Benteke infused with confidence and the defence getting better after that first 15 minutes.

Agreed. I was thinking yesterday how Benteke would reach to Lukaku coming off the bench to score the winner for Everton, what with the World Cup just around the corner. What a response! What power, skill, determination and joy to see the big man return to the goals. Chris Smith mentioned the other day on how our survival depends purely on Benteke returning to form and he has a point. Those are three very important points today and gives us not only a boost of much needed confidence but some breathing space, especially considering the tough month ahead.

It would have been nice to see us try and take the game to Norwich in the second half instead of chasing them around. At least we closed them down well and restricted them to only a couple of chances. I predicted a 4-1 win but at half time I was kicking myself I hadn't gone for 6-1, the Holte Enders certainly deserved a goal or two today after having suffered so much shit this season.

Overall it was job done and 3 points in the bag, right now that's all we can really expect, not that I believe this team are as bad as Lambert makes them. Bacuna's goal showed exactly what we've been missing out on this season. Superb team effort.

Edit: Hope you're feeling better, Ads.

[Tom_Mc9?]

3 positives.

- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.

Still a few lingering clouds though.

- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation

Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...

I'm not really sure why this is relevant. We won and he played well - why highlight it as a negative?

[supertom]

3 positives.

- A win in an all important 6-point game.
- Benteke scoring again. Flashed both technical prowess and "The Beast".
- A rare home win.

Still a few lingering clouds though.

- Not going to get anything against Man C.
- Haven't won back to back at home since like forever...doubt Chelski going to allow us to change that.
- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.
- Lamberts 4-3-3 must be PLs most predictable, stale counterattack formation

Always dangerous to say it but I think we at a minimum will keep Norwich, Fulham, Swansea and Cardiff behind us.
Norwich is in big trouble considering their performance today and who they got left to play...

Not that we should right off games like City and Chelsea, but I do think todays win should give us the impetus to really attack and try and dominate the teams in and around us, especially at Villa park. If we get at them we have more than enough attacking talent to win. We should have been beating sides like Palace, Sunderland, West Ham etc at home. Today we did what was and should be expected of us, to win at home to a side that we're better than. For me we've got enough ability to be up with the Toon and Southampton. I think we're a better side than most of the bottom 10 around us.

Likewise picking up away points against our rivals is also key. Keep up the performance levels of Liverpool, West Brom and today, and we'll finish comfortably. These performances shouldn't be the exception, they should be the rule for us. We were by no means brilliant either, but we did our job well and were effective in attack.

[TopDeck113]

Hooray! Goals and 3 points.  At this stage of the season that's all I want - another three occasions and we should be fine...

[Jon Crofts]

I still think KEA is short of being up to scratch but he looked like a footballer for a while today and must have covered every single inch of the pich in the first half.
Horrible the way we were just split open for their goal but fair play to the lads today they knew what was needed and did the business. 

[Dave]

- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.

And was one of our best performers.

[SheffieldVillain]

- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.

And was one of our best performers.

I don't see how KEA was picked instead of Albrighton. Surely if Albrighton was playing it would have been in Weimann's place or even Gabby's?

[Michel Sibble]

- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.

And was one of our best performers.

I don't see how KEA was picked instead of Albrighton. Surely if Albrighton was playing it would have been in Weimann's place or even Gabby's?

KEA isn't a winger, and he merited his place tonight.

[ciggiesnbeer]

KEA played well today. Not sure if he has started for all of our wins this season but he isnt far off. His workrate does put pressure on the opposition.

[Dribbler]

Amazingly poor first 15-20 minutes and we were all over the place and making Norwich look like title contenders. A couple of pieces of individual power and skill from Benteke changed the whole game, and we got a nicely worked and taken 3rd and a fortuitous 4th. It was game over after that.

2nd half was pretty turgid, i would have liked to see us go for some more goals  and play some better football, but we kept things pretty tight and comfortably saw out the game.

A loss today would have had us in a perilous situation i think and would have had a big psychological effect on the players so today's game was a must win at all costs. Now sitting 11th with 7 points breathing space between us and 18th, 8 points if you count current goal difference.

[ChicagoLion]

- Strange picks by Lambert. KEA again starts ahead of Albrigthton.

And was one of our best performers.

I didn't see that, unless passing the ball backwards and sideways is a performance.
I thought the game showed his lack of pace, strength, tackling, heading shooting and crossing ability.
He did not create a chance, did not make a tackle.

[PeterWithesShin]

When you know the result the match thread is a great read to help pass the bus journey to town. It's pissing it down now and I don't care.

[kippaxvilla2]

Only four pages.  Did we win or something?