Aston Villa v Norwich- Post Match Thread

[Tom_Mc9?]

He did a very good job today. I think some people's minds are made up before the game begins - "I don't like this player, therefore everything he does is shite whether he has a good game or not."

[walsall villain]

I was impressed with one or two today who normally come in for a lot of stick. Thought KEA had one of his best games for us, great work rate and kept the ball moving nicely. Also Baker impressed me, did the simple things well and no cock ups. First and third goals were very different but both excellent, more please!
Such a vital win, we have taken 6 points from Norwich who look toothless, and four points off Cardiff, Sunderland, Albion. Those 4 plus Fulham have got to be the bottom five?

[ez]

Lowest home crowd of the season saw it. 30,303.

[PeterWithesShin]

Lowest home crowd of the season saw it. 30,303.

Less than 30,000 in the ground. Of all the matches to swerve.

[supertom]

KEA could find the cure for aids and he'd still get called useless on here.

I'm not a big fan of his honestly, but today he played very well. Not sure why he's still getting torn apart after a game we've won 4-1 and he played a big part in. I thought he was sharp to lose balls, get stuck in, was a lot sharper on the ball and kept himself involved in the game, rather than as his tendancy can sometimes be, go missing or hiding. I thought he read the game well too and rarely wasted the ball.

I've given him plenty of stick this season, but today, hold my hands up, he had a good game. Keep this up every week and I've no problems with him.

[Billy Walker]

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.

When you've got a young squad, supertom, it is very hard to make performances like today the rule - we are a transfer window or two away from that, I reckon.

[AlexAlexCropley]

- 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.

can't agree.KEA when he was on it was the best player on the pitch.
Won every tackle, drove forward, read situations and bailed out his mates.My MOM

[old man villa fan]

Greatly needed 3 points.  I thought that the first 20 minutes we were just aimless without an idea how to get going.  I have seen them play worse.

It took Benteke to turn it around.  Without him we would go down.  I feel that Gabby is going through one of those spells where he adds nothing to the team.  As a forward, if you are not getting the ball, you close players down and then look for space when your team has it.  Gabby is just not doing those things so it is left to Benteke to chase players down on his own and score the goals.

I am not sure a diamond formation works at home, particularly when the two in the middle of the diamond drift too wide.  I would much prefer to use this away from home and use Albrighton more at home.

The defence still worries the life out of me but Bertrand has tightened the left side up a lot more.  Would much prefer to see Clark in place of Baker as he has more idea what to do when he has the ball.  I also think Vlaar looks more comfortable with Clark alongside him.  The selection of Baker looks more to stop the other side scoring, rather than taking the game to the opposition.

Second half we just played out the game and were comfortable.  Some have said we did not play well but if you have the game won, you do not over commit and end up letting them back into the game.  If it had only been 2-1 or even 3-1, I would not have been pleased if they adopted the same approach.

All in all, other than Arsenal letting us down, it has been a good weekend.  There are quite a few games coming up between the bottom teams and a few draws in those games would no go amiss.  With the internationals this week, a week off next week should be quite good for us.

[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.

When you've got a young squad, supertom, it is very hard to make performances like today the rule - we are a transfer window or two away from that, I reckon.

Even with our current group I think we've got the quality to be winning the majority of our home games against the bottom 10. I'm hoping that more of these "winnable" home matches do actually result in wins.

But yeah, this summer we could definitely do with a bit more quality. If we lose Benteke for example, we'll struggle. The bench today was largely poor.

[ez]

I was impressed with one or two today who normally come in for a lot of stick. Thought KEA had one of his best games for us, great work rate and kept the ball moving nicely. Also Baker impressed me, did the simple things well and no cock ups. First and third goals were very different but both excellent, more please!
Such a vital win, we have taken 6 points from Norwich who look toothless, and four points off Cardiff, Sunderland, Albion. Those 4 plus Fulham have got to be the bottom five?

We've done a double over someone, wayhay

[eastie]

KEA could find the cure for aids and he'd still get called useless on here.

I'm not a big fan of his honestly, but today he played very well. Not sure why he's still getting torn apart after a game we've won 4-1 and he played a big part in. I thought he was sharp to lose balls, get stuck in, was a lot sharper on the ball and kept himself involved in the game, rather than as his tendancy can sometimes be, go missing or hiding. I thought he read the game well too and rarely wasted the ball.

I've given him plenty of stick this season, but today, hold my hands up, he had a good game. Keep this up every week and I've no problems with him.

Agreed, today he was very decent - he needs to be more consistent as do a few players but he fully deserves the plaudits he is getting tonight as does Baker - it was a dreadful start but we showed good spirit and should enjoy the feeling tonight.

[ChicagoLion]

I think the result often colours peoples opinion about a performance.

KEA was average at best.

[supertom]

Yeah Baker certainly deserves credit too.

[SoccerHQ]

Very happy with that especially after an all too familiar opening 10 minutes.

Norwich is a really good match up for us so hope they stay up, they can never handle our front players at all.

Now can we build on this and get 4 points from the Chelsea and Stoke home games? Given the way the season has gone I won't be holding my breath but today was excellent so I'm happy for now.

[AlexAlexCropley]

I think the result often colours peoples opinion about a performance.

KEA was average at best.

wow