Swansea City vs Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[UK Redsox]

we will be fine

The new 'Prepared'?

s'aight

[Richard E]

FIFA 15 predicts a 2-0 away win. N'zogbia 15 and 71.

[l_mckay]

2-1 defeat I think. Benteke for us

[N'ZMAV]

1-1. Bony and not so Bony (Gabby) to score.

[adrenachrome]

Birmingham Mail

Aston Villa team news: Hutton and Cleverley both back from suspension

Paul Lambert has a tough call to make in the middle of the park

Dec 25, 2014 10:30 By Gregg Evans


Villa will welcome back Alan Hutton and Tom Cleverley for tomorrow's trip to Swansea.

Both players were suspended for the 1-1 draw with Manchester United after picking up five bookings but will go straight back into the team today.

Hutton will replace Matt Lowton at right-back and Cleverley is expected to take the place of either Ron Vlaar, Jores Okore or Ciaran Clark as boss Paul Lambert considers switching back to a flat back four.

If the manager decides to stick with the three centre halves that performed so well against United last weekend the man most likely to drop to the bench would be Andreas Weimann who played in a midfield role last time out.

An unlikely option would be to rest Carlos Sanchez to help avoid burn-out although it’s thought that Lambert is keen to see how the Colombian performs alongside Cleverley and Fabian Delph in a matchday situation.

The South Wales clash is likely to come too soon for Joe Cole who has only just returned to training after pulling a hamstring in the win over Crystal Palace earlier this month.

“Joe is doing alright, he’s doing well,” said Lambert.

“We’ll see how he’s feeling and hopefully he’ll be not too far off it. He was playing really well before he got the injury.”

Ashley Westwood, Libor Kozak and Nathan Baker are all out with longer-term injuries.

[peter w]

i like this. it's mostly the reason that I go into tomorrow's game with a tiny bit of hope. We have gota  half decent defence at the moment which gives us the chance to win games.

http://www.football365.com/f365-features/9618998/The-PL-s-Most-Improved-Defences

[olaftab]

we will be fine

The new 'Prepared'?

s'aight

"wewi llb efine" almost sounds Latin so a befitting motto!

[olaftab]

FIFA 15 predicts a 2-0 away win. N'zogbia 15 and 71.

I believe the first but doubt the second prediction.

[Risso]

we will be fine

The new 'Prepared'?

s'aight

"wewi llb efine" almost sounds Latin so a befitting motto!

"Weg o ag ain"

[Toronto Villa]

i like this. it's mostly the reason that I go into tomorrow's game with a tiny bit of hope. We have gota  half decent defence at the moment which gives us the chance to win games.

http://www.football365.com/f365-features/9618998/The-PL-s-Most-Improved-Defences

when you consider the current CB partnership is I believe the 4th or 5th combination this season you can see that despite the really bad run we endured some things were coming together. Look at this season compared to calamity of a couple of years ago where pretty much every attack/set piece led to the inevitable we can say that really isn't the case anymore. Our defensive frailty this year has been less about errors but more about the tactics of the manager in trying to soak up pressure for extended periods of time until the doors just cave in. If we commit now to keeping the ball more, the defence gets a breather and is able to regroup. Those stats should continue to improve.

[silhillvilla]

More or less 50% of the goals we've conceded have come in the last 20 mins of games. I wonder if this is a fatigue / concentration thing ?

[Lizz]

0-3 away win. I actually dreamt this last night, can't remember the last time I dreamt about Villa.

[Damo70]

More or less 50% of the goals we've conceded have come in the last 20 mins of games. I wonder if this is a fatigue / concentration thing ?

This seems to be a common theme in the Lambert years.

[olaftab]

This was also a common theme in the O'Neill era. We were known as a team that will get tired post 70 especially against top opposition.

[silhillvilla]

Add to this, we are the only team in the PL not to score yet beyond 76 minute. From what I can see we tire and drop deeper and deeper and give up almost entirely any sort of offensive play.
In short we put pressure on ourselves which invariably leads to a goal against.