The not quite so mighty-anymore Aston Villa vs Swansea Post Match Thread

[ez]

They were just better than us today. I don't think we're ready to trouble the top half sides yet.

[rob_bridge]

Who was their number 4? He was at the root of everything they did today and no one thought to put a boot into him. Annoying in the extreme.

Ki. He ran the game for Sunderland last year too.

[CJ]

The afternoon got off to a bad start as the roads around King Edwards were closed off by 'a police incident' (rumoured to be a stabbing) so had to park elsewhere. Then the game was pretty flat both performance and atmosphere wise. Truth be told we were lucky not to be 2-0 down by half time but thought we should have got a point overall. Guzan made a couple of decent saves but at other times he was all over the place and his kicking at times was woeful. Sinclair could/should have scored again and if he'd looked up at times he could have found Benteke in space instead of shooting.  Hutton isn't a left back but we seem to be rapidly running out of defenders and options. All in all it was just a bit....meh

[PaulTheVillan]

Thought we looked better in the 2nd half. Delph took control of the game more.

Bacuna had a bad day.
N'Zogbia needs to get his head up and stick to the basics.
Gabby was Ok, lacks that predatory instinct.
Okore hasn't looked good since Sherwood came in, where as Clark has looked solid.
Thought Guzan was poor, wasn't confident with anything he did.

[SoccerHQ]

The high line cost us in the end.

Countless times in the first half Swansea got around the back 4 but Gomis couldn't hit a barn door. Gut wrenching he then decided to score right at the end.

Still if Sinclair for one had his shooting boots on we'd still have nicked a draw, infuriating he connected too well with that chance at the end.

Didn't like the subs today either, Sherwood got those wrong I think.

Still feels like this will go to the wire, we really need to beat QPR.

[Legion]

Referee was useless. Draw would have been a fair result.

[Monty]

I think bringing on Westwood was a perfectly good idea - the trouble was he didn't actually perform well when on the pitch. Not much Sherwood can do about that. I would rather have seen Gil come on than Weimann, though.

On the high line, there is an argument for playing deep and counterattacking against Swansea. However, I believe that Aston Villa, at Villa Park, should make make it their business to play in the opposition half, and the high line is just one of those things which comes with that aggressive style.

[walsall villain]

Never looked like we were likely to win but very disappointing we didn't get a point. Thought Gabby missed the best chance after they had scored, he took a split second too long to shoot and it got a deflection. Benteke very much out of sorts today and Bacuna always seems to be impressive or crap, never just steady. Oh well, I knew this wasn't going to be easy.

[Villafirst]

What has Gil done wrong? He's a player that can make thinhs happen. A laboured display littered with mistakes. Why can't we see a game out and take a point? Brainless at the end.

[Dave]

However, I believe that Aston Villa, at Villa Park, should make make it their business to play in the opposition half, and the high line is just one of those things which comes with that aggressive style.

Not sure I agree. Whether we're home or away it shouldn't really matter, we should be playing a system and formation to suit us best against who we're playing.

And giving Routledge and Montero that much spaces to run into was asking for trouble.

[Boz]

Swansea played well. Thought Delph and Clark were excellent.
Our game suffered when Sanchez came on.

Sinclair needs to take the half chances that come his way.

Hutton was better than Lowton would have been, but less effective than on the right.

Don't agree. We suffered because the strikers were crap today

[Witton Warrior]

Sat 3 rows behind the bench today - Tin shouted "fucking hell" more times than I did!

[Boz]

Referee was useless. Draw would have been a fair result.

Totally agree, he allowed Swansea players to get away with a lot

[Monty]

However, I believe that Aston Villa, at Villa Park, should make make it their business to play in the opposition half, and the high line is just one of those things which comes with that aggressive style.

Not sure I agree. Whether we're home or away it shouldn't really matter, we should be playing a system and formation to suit us best against who we're playing.

And giving Routledge and Montero that much spaces to run into was asking for trouble.

Part of that was having one full back on who wasn't a full back. I agree, you need to play, what's in front of you, but one way to beat Swansea is to get after them and stop them building. We tried that today, but it didn't come off today.

[CJ]

Agree about the ref being useless - viz. the huge cheer that went up towards the end when he gave us a free kick - but he didn't have any major decisions to make that affected the game. Probably just as well