Sunderland v 'The Mighty' Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[silhillvilla]

Sherwood has said there is lots of work to be done. I don't think he will allow any complacency.

[Lastfootstamper]

The second goal summed it up for me.
Okore had the ball deep in our half and was facing Guzan. 4 weeks ago he would have passed that back to Guzan.
Instead, he turned, knocked it to Clark, who sent a ball over the top for Gabby to smash home.
No way on gods earth would we have looked to be that positive under TSMII.

I noticed that one, too. I wonder if he got a shout, or the voice inside his head suddenly reminded him of what they've clearly been working on in training these last few weeks.

[Marton]

Enjoying the day as we should BUT...
as pointed out in the escape thread we HAD to win here or at Newcastle to hit the magic target points.

This means we still got to win 3 at home. Thats very achievable with the new energy and positivism Sherwood bringing to the squad.
But there is still  not a lot of room to deal with bad luck, blind refs and freak accidents that seems to always befall our beloved club.

Yesterday I almost thought we might get away with just 6 or 7 points then Burnley ruined that hope. We still need 9 more to relax a bit.

[olaftab]

Agree with 9. 37 will do but don't have to win 3.  2 wins and 3 draws from 9 should be possible.

[Percy McCarthy]

We now have to get at least one point more than Hull, one point less than Sunderland, two points less than Burnley, five points less QPR and/or 8 points less than Leicester. Any three out of those five things happening will see us safe. We have better form, more confidence and better players than all those teams. I'm not worried any more.

[maidstonevillain]

We now have to get at least one point more than Hull, one point less than Sunderland, two points less than Burnley, five points less QPR and/or 8 points less than Leicester. Any three out of those five things happening will see us safe. We have better form, more confidence and better players than all those teams. I'm not worried any more.

I am still worried. We have three games we will do well to get anything from. So we need to get our points from the remaining six.

I will be a lot less worried if we beat Swansea.

[paul_e]

We now have to get at least one point more than Hull, one point less than Sunderland, two points less than Burnley, five points less QPR and/or 8 points less than Leicester. Any three out of those five things happening will see us safe. We have better form, more confidence and better players than all those teams. I'm not worried any more.

I am still worried. We have three games we will do well to get anything from. So we need to get our points from the remaining six.

I will be a lot less worried if we beat Swansea.

Every one of those teams has games against big sides, writing them off as not even worth turning up is what McLeish and Lambert have done for the last 4 years, I suspect we will see a very different approach this tie round and I wouldn't be surprised to see 2-3 points from those games.

[Lastfootstamper]

Two of the goals, edge of our own box to the back of their net, all along the floor, in seconds. One, "over the top" and run in behind. One, cross-field pass with a back-post cross and header. Good positive mix, ya just dunno where we're gonna get ya from!

[Brian Taylor]

Is it safe to go out yet?  Brilliant! Why can't we do that every week? We can I know; I know we can!

[Percy McCarthy]

We now have to get at least one point more than Hull, one point less than Sunderland, two points less than Burnley, five points less QPR and/or 8 points less than Leicester. Any three out of those five things happening will see us safe. We have better form, more confidence and better players than all those teams. I'm not worried any more.

I am still worried. We have three games we will do well to get anything from. So we need to get our points from the remaining six.

I will be a lot less worried if we beat Swansea.

I think our chances of getting something from those three games have improved dramatically after yesterday's performance. Also, we have somehow managed to do only as badly as the teams around us while having that dimwit Lambert in charge, so in my view it's unlikely that with a new manager we're going to do worse to the extent we'd have to, to go down.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

There's a summary of who each of the relegation battle here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31892314

It seems to me that Hull have by far the toughest run-in overall - Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are their next 3 games; and also have Man U, Southampton, Burnley and Spurs to play.

QPR also have a tough run-in, I think Leicester are already down (or at least won't catch us), and I think Sunderland will need a new manager bounce not to get sucked in.

I think the equivalent of 9 points will do for us, but our tough April and the postponement of the QPR game, will probably mean it's going to be squeaky all the way to May.

On current form, it's possible for us to get something out of each of our home games (Swansea, Everton, West Ham, QPR, Burnley); but will be tough to get much out of our away games (Man U, Spurs, Man C, Southampton).

[Lastfootstamper]

We now have to get at least one point more than Hull, one point less than Sunderland, two points less than Burnley, five points less QPR and/or 8 points less than Leicester. Any three out of those five things happening will see us safe. We have better form, more confidence and better players than all those teams. I'm not worried any more.

I am still worried. We have three games we will do well to get anything from. So we need to get our points from the remaining six.

I will be a lot less worried if we beat Swansea.

Every one of those teams has games against big sides, writing them off as not even worth turning up is what McLeish and Lambert have done for the last 4 years, I suspect we will see a very different approach this tie round and I wouldn't be surprised to see 2-3 points from those games.

The way I feel now, I'll be disappointed with any fewer than nine!

[Toronto Villa]

Sherwood has said there is lots of work to be done. I don't think he will allow any complacency.

I agree. Even in Benteke's tweet he mentioned 9 cup finals so I don't think anyone is taking anything for granted. All we have is 6 very valuable points and a lot of momentum but one bad game and it can all feel very different. I hope that not only do we play 9 brilliant cup finals but end the season with 11 cup final wins as opposed to 9!

[PeterWithesShin]

We now have to get at least one point more than Hull, one point less than Sunderland, two points less than Burnley, five points less QPR and/or 8 points less than Leicester. Any three out of those five things happening will see us safe. We have better form, more confidence and better players than all those teams. I'm not worried any more.

I am still worried. We have three games we will do well to get anything from. So we need to get our points from the remaining six.

I will be a lot less worried if we beat Swansea.

Are we the only side down the bottom that have 3 games remaining that will be hard to win then?

[ktvillan]

Whilst we are still not out of the woods and will rarely meet such inept opponents, it is a pleasure to see things such as players moving off the ball with purpose and with a forward momentum, players willing to pass it forward quickly and to feet, players taking opponents on and beating them, composure in the penalty area with players calmly "passing" the ball into the back of the net rather than swinging wildly at the ball, and players who had previously clearly been going through the motions showing enthusiasm and commitment.  And width - I'd almost forgotten what it was like to see Villa wingers and overlapping fullbacks bombing down the flanks, and as everyone except Lambert could have told you, Benteke is beginning to reap the benefits.  The first goal yesterday went from Guzan to Benteke to back of the net in 5 crisp, precise passes, three of them one-touch.  It was like Alan Partridge's liquid football.  Under Lambert we'd have passed it sideways for 5 minutes.   In many ways it's just simple "tweaks" that every man and his dog bar one could see were required, and to Sherwood's credit it hasn't taken him long to introduce the blindingly obvious.  But so far, what a damning indictment of his predecessors managerial ability.