Aston Villa v West Ham - Post Match Thread

[dave.woodhall]

Agreed MB, Westwood is becoming one of those players that's important to the side and how we play, but you don't really notice until he's not there. If that makes sense.

I think at this point it's compulsory to mention the name Des Bremner.

[mrastonvilla]

Just back. The sort of good steady win that we haven't really had the luxury of over the last few seasons.

Had a great day, couple of pints in the Bartons, H and V f sellers on the streets of Aston, a chat with Legion and all 3 points. Looking forward to Wembley. It's our year.

[Pete3206]

Thought Collins was brilliant for them.

[Pat McMahon]

Some good play in the first half and then good grit in the second half when W Ham were the better team, albeit without creating many chances.

Cleverley was MOTM for me. My biggest concern was how Given doesn't clear out opponents who are clearly targeting him at set pieces - I was convinced they would equalise from one.

I thought Collins handled Benteke really well, though a lot of our crossing was poor. Song should have been booked sooner for clearly targeting Grealish but I thought Song was pivotal to their resurgence after half time and was the best player on the pitch in the second half.

The where were you when we were shit chant was a repeat of last week. Solid rather than spectacular support in the Holte today.  I was in L7 by the Brigada boys and their drum - it didn't bother me at all.

Fair play to the W Ham fans for their half time applause of the former Villa staff who have died in the past season.

[not3bad]

Nzogbia 5

Thought the Zog played alright, had a few moments when he was a threat and put the effort in.

Zog definitely a 7 for me. He had a good game.

[olaftab]

I've been nervous about this match since about Thursday which, was when I started to come down after the Everton game.  I'm a nervous nelly, I can't help it.  More stuff gets done around our house between the hours of 3-5pm when we kick-off at that time on a Saturday.  Come on Villa, don't let us down now we're this close.

Dave the job's done. It's just the paper work that needs filling in🌞

[olaftab]

A score of 5 is correct for Given. I know Guzan had a mare against Coty but time for his return is nigh.

[Toronto Villa]

Very nervy on the Holte today. Seemed fairly quiet in L4 considering it was essentially full.
Although there were moments towards the end when they were lumping it up to Collins that most of us wished we were still hiding behind the flag.

That's a stonking pic, can I/we nick it for FB?

I've nicked it as my desktop and laptop screens now. Quality picture.

[silhillvilla]

Come to think of it, didn't hear a single song out of West Ham end today. Early on there were some Ole Ole's then a wall of silence .

[Chris Jameson]

Thought Cleverley was superb and it's great to see a player like Jack almost demanding the ball and always looking to create something. Collins was very good for them unlike Nolan who looks like a Sunday league player. Thought we played some great football in the first half and could have gone in 2 or 3 up. Allardyce seemed to send Song on with instructions to kick Jack as many times as possible without being sent off.

West Ham were singing 'Bubbles' quite a bit, I could hear them in the Trinity.

[not3bad]

David Cameron will have been chuffed to see his team win today.

Win win for Cameron

David Cameron will have been gutted to see his team relegated today.

[PeterWithesShin]

Scunthorpe were relegated today?

[Chris Jameson]

Or Shorpe as they are known until Cameron started supporting them.

[paul_e]

The key thing for me now is that we are finally seeing how good our midfield can be.  Delph, Westwood and Grealish were excellent, Cleverley was better than that.   In the last month or so we've outplayed spurs, liverpool, man city, everton and now west ham by bossing the midfield and we're getting better and better at it.  The game is so easy if your midfield is controlling the tempo and when you've got someone like Grealish who can stitch it all together you really should be looking at top half/challenging for Europe.

[villan from luton]

Agreed MB, Westwood is becoming one of those players that's important to the side and how we play, but you don't really notice until he's not there. If that makes sense.

I think at this point it's compulsory to mention the name Des Bremner.

Well said, Des was a brilliant player even if his debut v Arsenal made some wise person think he was tosh, that same person says he was great now lol. As for Cleverley, he is a superb player and probably too good for us as we are now, but we need to try and keep him