Aston Villa vs Sunderland Post-Match Thread

[steffo]

Benteke really pissed me off today, Grealish on two or three occassions got to the byline and crossed  with Benteke hanging back on the edge of the box when he shouid have been close in. He's complaining far too often about everything and didn't run the lines today, he may be frustrated but he can do something about it the supporters on the terraces just have to put up with it

He must of scratched his head in shock that a player under Lambert has the ability to go the byline and cross the ball.

[adrenachrome]

To be fair when I read GTF I only ever see it in a comedy scottish 'get tae fuck' way.

i originally typed 'Glaswegian' instead of Scottish but realised it would totally change what i said.

Thanks Peter w. I instantly read that in a Scottish voice but for the life of me couldn't remember what it stood for.

Frankie Boyle said that the Scottish electorate were so out of the loop that they thought NATO referred to diabetic amputees.
(NATO = Nae Toe).   

[Percy McCarthy]

By the way Delph's red card and regular yellow cards will keep him at Villa Park as sort of teams he is looking to join will not touch him with a barge pole!

Sadly, I think football scouts are clever enough to look up Delph's stats re bookings before making such inaccurate assumptions about their regularity, unlike posters on the internet.

I would have thought 9 in 36 matches season 2013/14 and 11 in 32 matches 2012/13 is equal to about 2 bans and adverse effect on performance in concerned matches.

That was his first card of the season for us. He had 1 yellow in the last 17 games of last season. I doubt many midfielders in the country can better two cards in about 30 games.

Thanks PWS. Although I didn't look it up, I was aware it was an issue he had overcome recently.

Any stats on our terrible habit of throwing away leads late in games under MON that someone referred to earlier?

[Pat McMahon]

I had a chat with Pat McMahon (the H&V poster not our famous number 8 ) at halftime and we agreed on several things. We were truly terrible so far. Sunderland were marginally more incompetent than us. Very quiet Villa park, even Sunderland fans. Why does N'Zobia keeps obliging the fullback by being forced inside and eventually losing the ball with no end product? Why doesn't he go for the line now and than if only to put some doubt in defenders mind? Why is Weimann positionally clueless and has very poor anticipation? Sanchez was our best player so far. Benteke is very ineffective. Delph has eliminated stupid reckless lunging tackles out of his game and fast becoming an efficient midfielder...ahaa how wrong were we 4 mins into the second half!
After the game we agreed on Sanchez being MotM and applauded the effort team put in to preserve a point and admired Grealish's honest go for goal attitude rather than N'Zogs dithering. Wondered why he is still not starting? Agreed that we can't play to dictate a game and only perform when in desperate mode. Wished each other a happy new year and  parted in different directions.
By the way Delph's red card and regular yellow cards will keep him at Villa Park as sort of teams he is looking to join will not touch him with a barge pole!

Great to see you today Aftab. Shit journey back to London as I forgot some stuff at my sister's in Cannock so had to drive up there after the game then back to London. It was a motorway version of our goal kick routine between Guzan and our full backs.

You have summed up my thoughts on the game. I must add that Weimann seems better without the ball than with it (worrying for a striker), but he is perfect for a 10 man performance. I have seen Cleverly a few times now and I sill can't tell what type of player he is ( ball player / enforcer / dynamo etc). We looked much better after he went off.

I take responsibility for Delph's card given my half time comments that those silly lunges were behind him. Apologies.

First time Grealish has really impressed me. More of the same please.

Worryingly, as Witton Warrior said, Villa Park was a mausoleum until the last 15.

[olaftab]

Yes as I mentioned in my original post we thought it was all behind him and then he goes and ruins it.

[old man villa fan]

Stoke are an intreresting example. Mark Hughes has had less to spend than Lambert yet has come up with Diouf, Bojan and Arnautovic for about 3m which creates a forward line of pace, power and creativity when it's on song.

As much as it would've been seen as negative at the time, Hughes to us in 2011 would've probably been a good move as he's shown frequently he can build decent competitive premier league teams for virtually peanuts.

Fulham and QPR competitive?  Man City team for peanuts! (and QPR).  He broke the British transfer record at Man City!

[adrenachrome]

Stoke are an intreresting example. Mark Hughes has had less to spend than Lambert yet has come up with Diouf, Bojan and Arnautovic for about 3m which creates a forward line of pace, power and creativity when it's on song.

As much as it would've been seen as negative at the time, Hughes to us in 2011 would've probably been a good move as he's shown frequently he can build decent competitive premier league teams for virtually peanuts.

Fulham and QPR competitive?  Man City team for peanuts! (and QPR).  He broke the British transfer record at Man City!

He is one of those managers who seems to do well on a small to medium budget, and fucks it up if he has to go large. Brendan Rogers is the latest in a long line of these chaps.

My theory is that the PL financial bonanza came relatively late in the scheme of things and so managers/coaches from leagues that had mega millionaire players before the Preemyership TV megadeals  kicked in had a head start.   
 

[pooligan]

The more we moan about CNZ ,which by the way is  fully deserved, the more the most stubborn manager i have ever seen in over fifty years following the club will continue to pick him

[supertom]

After his last two cameos (which improved the balance of our attack in both), Grealish surely has to start. He's got more of a footballing brain than most of our squad combined. He's the only player we've got who can drift between midfield and attack and make something happen. He's got a bit of nous.

Get him in there. Sanchez will feed him and Grealish in turn will make things happen.

11 goals in 19 games. We're long fucking overdue shaking things up. Likewise I think Bacuna has earned a start next game.

[Matt Collins]

Hughes had an awful time at QPR and wasn't good enough for citeh but he's otherwise had a good managerial career and did well at fulham for nothing. There's also an incorrect feeling that he just builds thuggish sides. His Blackburn team was that to begin with but soon became very easy on the eye

Villa's defence and central midfield is now much much better than it was in lambert's first season.

It's the players in the final third who are the problem. As evidenced very well yesterday. Our signings in those positions behind the striker haven't worked out at all since Young and Downing left. We need to sign two players to play in those positions asap, even if GREALISH does come through

[supertom]

I agree on Benteke. Disappointing again today. He's not being helped by piss poor service at all, but he needs to offer more too. He's got to go back to basics a little more too. He's always looking for the first touch pass or flick, when he'd be better just getting a hold of the ball and encouraging runners around him. He's one of the best hold up players in the league but he's not really using that part of his game enough for me.

We've got to give him more service and encourage him to be attacking the six yard line more. I've noticed him hanging back a lot more in the rare times we get close to the byline. He's got to be ghosting CH's a bit more.

He's a bloody good player but when all is said an done, he's got 2 goals in 10 games this season. Even accounting for fitness/sharpness initially, that's poor. He's looked fit as a fiddle and very sharp of late, he's just not playing well enough, consistently enough. It's a little too nonchalant at times.

[rob_bridge]

Stoke are an intreresting example. Mark Hughes has had less to spend than Lambert yet has come up with Diouf, Bojan and Arnautovic for about 3m which creates a forward line of pace, power and creativity when it's on song.

As much as it would've been seen as negative at the time, Hughes to us in 2011 would've probably been a good move as he's shown frequently he can build decent competitive premier league teams for virtually peanuts.

Fulham and QPR competitive?  Man City team for peanuts! (and QPR).  He broke the British transfer record at Man City!

He is one of those managers who seems to do well on a small to medium budget, and fucks it up if he has to go large. Brendan Rogers is the latest in a long line of these chaps.

My theory is that the PL financial bonanza came relatively late in the scheme of things and so managers/coaches from leagues that had mega millionaire players before the Preemyership TV megadeals  kicked in had a head start.

Bruce is the same. He did very well on a budget at Blues then messed up when given funds to take to next level. Very good at Wigan with limited resources.
Sunderland he splurged money and fucked up and Hull he did a great job for 2 years but now started to sign 'name' players the wheels have come off.

[silhillvilla]

After his last two cameos (which improved the balance of our attack in both), Grealish surely has to start. He's got more of a footballing brain than most of our squad combined. He's the only player we've got who can drift between midfield and attack and make something happen. He's got a bit of nous.

Get him in there. Sanchez will feed him and Grealish in turn will make things happen.

11 goals in 19 games. We're long fucking overdue shaking things up. Likewise I think Bacuna has earned a start next game.

It's 11 in 22 games

[Ads]

I can guarantee that everybody who watched the game either in person had a better time of it than me, who missed the game, because it took 3.5 hours to go 20 miles down the M6. I abandoned my attempts to make it for the second half, when at half three and approaching J18 at 10mph, I was told that there were long delays around Stafford.

I was quite the angry man.

[Chris Smith]

Both sides still seemed to be suffering from the Boxing Day game in the first half, they put 10 behind the ball and we didn't have the wit to do much about it. Livened up in the second, I think the sending off coaxed them out and gave us room to play.

I have now given up totally on N'Zogbia. He has had plenty of opportunities and just offers so little. Weimann works very hard but just isn't good enough, sadly. Hope never to see either start for us again.

Benteke is puzzlimg me, seems to spend half his time berating team mates which would be fine if his own form was up to scratch.

Two games to play this week, Grealish surely has to start at least one of them and hopefully both.