West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa Post Match Thread

[saunders_heroes]

It did, it also lead into some very other loud songs. It even shut the gimp with the drum up.

Honestly, Palace and the Albion should be relegated two divisions for having drums.

I'll definitely agree with you on that. Drums and any other instrument should be banned from football grounds without question. Only desperate small time clubs like Albion and Bolton employ them. Oh and England.

[Gregorys Boy]

A dissarpointing end to a decent run of form.  With Man Utd up next it was important we got at least something from this game.  Noramlly West Brom away is a tough fixture, but it feel like they were for the taking this time, and to conceed late is a blow also.  I will wait until I see the highlights before commenting further, but this lose to put the pressure back on us now over Christmas.

[Richard]

Having watched the albeit brief highlights just on Goals on Sunday :

Clear red card bad mistake by Richardson - not helped by Gardner clearly yapping in the refs ear

Did we create anything until late on ?

Poor judgement coming for that cross from Brad but unlucky that the chance fell so easily to Gardner

Bentekes flick was decent a half chance at best

West Brom are irrelevant it would have hurt much more to lose to Blues like that

[Flamingo Lane]

West Brom are irrelevant it would have hurt much more to lose to Blues like that

Speak for yourself.

[silhillvilla]

I think Guzan must have lost the ball in the floodlights ! It was quite an uncharacteristic mistake by him

[kippaxvilla2]

When is our luck going to turn, it is so frustrating.  We get a few good results together, then have a bloke sent off in a game we surely would have won or drawn, now we lose him for three games, have another midfielder out injured, another player suspended for a game and another midfielder who can't play against his parent club.  Just as things started to look up again.

[ez]

We were lucky against Leicester when their player was sent off. His red card has been overturned.

[OCD]

When is our luck going to turn, it is so frustrating.  We get a few good results together, then have a bloke sent off in a game we surely would have won or drawn, now we lose him for three games, have another midfielder out injured, another player suspended for a game and another midfielder who can't play against his parent club.  Just as things started to look up again.

Those sort of circumstances can create an opportunity for someone and is often the making of a player. It might see Grealish starting a run of games for instance, who might show enough to then become a regular starter.

[Matt Collins]

We were lucky against Leicester when their player was sent off. His red card has been overturned.

Yes but it didn't influence the result

I'm watching Man U and I'm telling you we can beat them next weekend

[adrenachrome]

Irvine had a plan to sit back to sit back and hit us on the break. Before the sending off, we were playing with a high defensive line and controlling possession.

The back line were very good again, particularly Okore and Clark, and Sanchez looked the part.  Delph looked lively when he came on.

As far as Gabby is concerned, when the opposing defence plays deep and he cannot see substantial space behind the defensive line, the light in his eyes grows dim and he his enthusiasm wanes. Benteke was awful, just like the last 2 games he played for Belgium. He seems to be a ryhthm player and when things are not clicking along at the correct tempo his touch deserts him. When it clicks, he is unplayable.

Guzan is a concern. The problem with decision making on crosses which he had when he first played and which he had rectified has now returned. As another poster wrote, all keepers have dodgy periods and it is how they deal wit them that counts.

Like others, I did not see point of letting them run riot down our right side for 25 minutes after the sending off with Hutton dealing with 2 or 3 players on his jack. You could argue that we did not concede in that time, but it let them build up confidence and momentum. No point playing Zog in a game like this, and even less so when you are down to 10 men.

I am fairly sure that we are going to continue to find it difficult to break down defensively minded teams, particularly at VP.

[Toronto Villa]

As disappointed as I was yesterday ultimately was, the overall positive is the desire to play a lot more possession football. Up until the sending off we had the ball close to 60% of the time. Now, I'll temper that by the fact we really didn't create anything so clearly that is an area for improvement and development. However directionally this is a lot better in terms of style of play.

[Monty]

Very good point about Gabby, adrenachrome. I think he should be saved for obvious counter-attacking games.

[PeterWithesShin]

Jores Okore and Carlos Sanchez were the best Villans on show when the figures were analysed post-match.

Okore was strong defensively while Sanchez marshalled the midfield in a tight derby loss to West Brom at The Hawthorns.

Alan Hutton, Tom Cleverley and Ciaran Clark also featured high up in the statistics.

Sanchez was No.1 for passes with 59 successful from 65 in total. Cleverley was No.4 with 42 successful from 49 in total.

Sanchez was No.8 for attacking third passes with nine successful from 10 in total.

Sanchez was No.3 for chances created with one. Sanchez was No.3 for ball recoveries with seven, alongside Cleverley.

Okore was No.1 for tackles with six successful from nine attempted. Hutton was No.2 with five successful from seven attempted. Sanchez was No.3 with four successful from four attempted.

Okore was No.2 for interceptions with four. Hutton was No.5 with two.

Hutton was No.1 for blocks with one, alongside Cleverley.

Okore was No.1 for clearances with nine successful from nine in total. Clark was No.2 with eight successful from eight in total. Hutton was No.4 with four successful from four in total.

Clark was No.1 for aerial duels with four successful from seven in total. Aly Cissokho was No.2 with three successful from four in total. Okore was No.3 with three successful from three in total, alongside Alan Hutton.

Charles N'Zogbia was No.1 for take-ons with two successful from four in total. Hutton was No.3 with two successful from three in total.

Fabian Delph was No.1 for shots with two in total and two on target.

Hutton to Christian Benteke was No.1 pass combination with 11.

[villan from luton]

I am pist off losing to that bunch of tripe but put that down to one silly challenge that gave the ref a choice to make. Have seen worse incidents such as elbows in the Swansea game now watching, but it was a stupid irresponsible tackle and we had to contain more after that. Lots of comments about the first 20 minutes and no efforts on target. We are away from home, were keeping possession of the ball and their fans were getting frustrated

[Chris Smith]

As disappointed as I was yesterday ultimately was, the overall positive is the desire to play a lot more possession football. Up until the sending off we had the ball close to 60% of the time. Now, I'll temper that by the fact we really didn't create anything so clearly that is an area for improvement and development. However directionally this is a lot better in terms of style of play.

I am guessing that this what Lambert was getting at when he talked about a slight change to the way we played. It might take a while for all of them to be fully comfortable with a more patient approach but, despite what the 'get it forward' brigade say, it surely has to be the way to go if we want to progress.