Chelsea v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Mister E]

I sat with the Chelski lot. Apart from the expectation they have of their team - not surprising given the expense they've incurreed to bring the best to the "Bridge" - they adopted an irritating ennui that said "why do we have to play teams like Aston Villa; it's sooo-o-o-o boring?!"
The only player that they seemed to notice in our famous colours was Delph.
In truth, I thought we played okay whilst lacking the guile to penetrate thir defence. Like others, I thought after 7 minutes that we would be in for another pasting, and actually we played them reasonably well. But, in the end when they put consistent pressure on us we conceded.

Things will get better for us, I believe, this season.

Good points? - Westwood, Delph and TC23 look like a developing midfield unit.
Nor so good? - our squad is far too shallow: bringing on Bent and NZog is a total waste of time. The former did nothing; the latter gave away 3 freee kicks in quick succession and made two rubbish passes; and that was it.

[Ron Manager]

I was impressed with the build up and the shot from range that Delph had early in the second half.That is what I want to see from Villa.

Unfortunately our midfield do not have the ability to create. Cleverley,Westwood and Richardson are more or less the same player, tidy and effiecient can pass a ball but no more than that.Delph has a higher level of ability but doesnt create chances for the two at the front.

It would appear that Joe Cole may not be the answer. Perhaps young Grealish could do this job.

N'Zogbia needs moving on and without wingers Darren Bent is not worth puting on the pitch.

Still not too bad so far. Probably better than we thought.

[tom jennings III]

Nice to see Stan looking well in the crowd. Lovely pint and burger at the White Horse before the game. Realistically a 3-0 loss here is not season-defining and whilst I wish we were able to compete we have to be honest with ourselves. Playing for a draw and trying to nick one is the only option with the players available to us this season.

6th in the league with 10 points is better than expected so we have to get through the Man City game (and I believe we have to use similar tactics to today although it will not look pretty!) and then get the momentum going again. Hopefully with Vlaar, Benteke, Okore and Grealish integrated into the first team.

Taken in isolation today's performance was poor but we have to keep it in perspective.

[JD]

Oh well, I expected nothing and we got nothing. Let's hope we play better against Citeh and hopefully Vlaar will be back. 

[barrysleftfoot]

 Spot on for me Ron M.

 I like Sanchez, and think when he gets up to speed his pace, strength and aggression is what we need.I'm ok with Delph, not over impressed with Westwood, and not sure that for £8m we can't get a better player than Cleverley.Sigurdsson was cheaper than that and would have been a better fit.

 We need better footballers up front to play off CB/Kozak. Weimann, Gabby and N'Zog lack the quality at this level

[Clampy]

It was kind of expected yesterday but disappointing all the same. I wish we'd had a bit more conviction going forward because at 1-0 we could have snatched a goal and maybe an unlikely point.

Also i know we let in 3 goals but i thought Senderos was excellent, especially in the first half.

[Ian.]

When Benteke is fully fit and back in the team I'm quite positive our whole attacking options and belief will be vastly different to now.
We have shown our midfield and defense is a huge improvement, we are just lacking up front somewhat. Also having a player like Benteke on the pitch gives the other players a lift and sense of belief.

We're on really tough run and I'm still really positive with how we're doing so far. I'd rather focus on the positives than dwelling on losing to teams like Arsenal and Chelsea. Especially when we are missing vital players.

[Goldie.7]

Zero shots on target........... How many times has this happened under Lambert.

[supertom]

I felt yesterday and last week we really let their defenders off quite easy. Cahill got an early booking and we didn't get at him. It was more annoying last week as Chambers (I think) got booked early and as opposed to putting Gabby out to the left to exploit that we gave that kid a piss easy ride all the way to the final whistle.
I understand damage limitation, and in the case of last week, unforeseen circumstances, but to have so little attacking intent is really an insult to the game to be honest. You get very little by sitting back and hoping to only get beaten by 2-3 rather than 4-5. To not even seem to bothered about scoring yourself is a bit pathetic. I hope we're a little more adventurous against Man City as we were in the first half against Liverpool and first 30 minutes against Arsenal. There's no harm in taking the game too them whilst still remaining cautious at the back.
There was no need to have 10 men behind the ball all the time yesterday as Chelseas fullbacks are more defensive minded than attack normally. Ivanovic is good at right back but he's not blessed with pace or brilliant delivery, he's a center-back at heart. We could and should have been more adventurous.

[eamonn]

BTW - I saw Jon and Pauline at the match on TV today - they looked well.

Which odds are greater - them back on H&V or Okore getting a game?

[silhillvilla]

Villas starting 11 today cost £14m

Chelseas starting 11 cost £190m.

& the 2 subs we bought on cost £34m.

[Holte Sweet]

Villas starting 11 today cost £14m

Chelseas starting 11 cost £190m.

& the 2 subs we bought on cost £34m.

And that still makes it an insurmountable disparity, especially when you consider the current market value of our 'two subs'.

[PeterWithesShin]

Zero shots on target........... How many times has this happened under Lambert.

Well it didn't happen yesterday.

[Flamingo Lane]

I have looked for it, so please excuse the daft question, but where on this site will I find a fixture list for the season?

[thick_mike]

Not sure there is one, they fixtures are copyright of the Premier League...Pfft!

Have a look on the BBC website...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/fixtures