Aston Villa under-10's vs Arsenal -FA Cup Final Post-Match Thread

[saunders_heroes]

I'm a bit surprised that some are giving Given grief for the second goal, I just watched the highlights and it confirmed exactly what I thought at the match yesterday, that second was a wonderful strike of the ball.

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think Given should have saved it.

I just think we should have been playing the goalkeeper who is half a foot taller and has a bigger reach and would have had a better chance of reaching it.

I think we need a new first choice keeper, full stop. Neither of them are up to it.

[pauliewalnuts]

Re Given and Guzan, if we'd just bricked the goalmouth up, they'd still have beaten us.

Given got some things right, others wrong, but front to back, we offered absolutely nothing, and got what we deserved, sod all.

They were good, but it was a horror show from us.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Arse could have been 2 or 3 up by half time - they weren't, and I thought we would take the game to them with serious intent in the second half. The early Sanchez goal killed us - you could see the players' heads drop, and I do remember thinking at the time, "why didn't Hutton just get to the ball then and knock it forward?" - there was clear movement and dip on the Sanchez shot and it's easy to see how Given didn't get a hand to it. The marking for the 3rd goal was shocking as it was for the 4th, which was embarrassingly easy for Wilshere to cross and for Giroud to tap in without breaking stride.
The better team won, and Arse did surprise me with their work rate at harrying us and closing us down...why the fu*k didn't we do that to them? - didn't think they had it in them to "spoil" opposition play as effectively as that.
No arguments with the result.
Absolutely gutted by the nature of it.
Reading were unlucky to lose to Arse...we were totally outclassed and outfought.
Difficult to be positive today.

[saunders_heroes]

However good Arsenal were (and they were of course), it was still one of if not the most gutless performance I can remember from Villa in all my years. Yeah I know that sounds way over the top, but Christ it was an FA Cup final for crying out loud. At least try and pass the ball to one another.

[john e]

I'm a bit surprised that some are giving Given grief for the second goal, I just watched the highlights and it confirmed exactly what I thought at the match yesterday, that second was a wonderful strike of the ball.

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think Given should have saved it.

I just think we should have been playing the goalkeeper who is half a foot taller and has a bigger reach and would have had a better chance of reaching it.

and is the best keeper we have at the club, why play the second best

[saunders_heroes]

Arse could have been 2 or 3 up by half time - they weren't, and I thought we would take the game to them with serious intent in the second half. The early Sanchez goal killed us - you could see the players' heads drop, and I do remember thinking at the time, "why didn't Hutton just get to the ball then and knock it forward?" - there was clear movement and dip on the Sanchez shot and it's easy to see how Given didn't get a hand to it. The marking for the 3rd goal was shocking as it was for the 4th, which was embarrassingly easy for Wilshere to cross and for Giroud to tap in without breaking stride.
The better team won, and Arse did surprise me with their work rate at harrying us and closing us down...why the fu*k didn't we do that to them? - didn't think they had it in them to "spoil" opposition play as effectively as that.
No arguments with the result.
Absolutely gutted by the nature of it.
Reading were unlucky to lose to Arse...we were totally outclassed and outfought.
Difficult to be positive today.

That's the thing, Reading actually have them a game. We surrendered right from the kick off. Horrible, absolutely horrible.

[john2710]

Had a great afternoon in the Black Lion Kilburn, great build-up walking to the stadium & the pre-match. Then reality kicked in, we never laid a glove on them in 90 mins. Our fans were incredible & worthy of better than we got.

After 15 mins, when Arsenal realised we had nothing to offer it was all one way. Too many average players comfortable at pretending to Premiership level.

Other than the 2-3 seasons under O'Neil, we've been treading water since at least 2000. Taking players from relegated clubs or Championship teams. I just wonder how long it will take Sherwood to get ground down like the rest of us?

[tomd2103]

What's the fucking point? I wish I hadn't renewed already. We're never, ever going to compete again. We exist just to exist. Tossbuckets.

With respect, what melodramatic rubbish.

It's quite accurate though isn't it! :-)

Unfortunately the bit on bold is not far off.  Standing in the queue at Wembley station waiting the head back to Birmingham, a similar thought hit me.  Our existence as a club has become solely about survival in the top flight.  I have really enjoyed the cup run this season, but like yesterday, in all likelihood we are going to have to play one of the top four teams in any cup final we reach and our record against them all is pretty dire.  As the previous decade has shown, the only way to become competitive is spend on the levels Chelsea and Manchester City have.  With Liverpool and Spurs likely to invest heavily in the summer we are looking at a closed shop top four extending to a top six.  We are so far off that at the moment and fans apart, are second rate in pretty much every department.       

[MalcolmP]

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think Given should have saved it.

I just think we should have been playing the goalkeeper who is half a foot taller and has a bigger reach and would have had a better chance of reaching it.
[/quote]

3" to be precise - Guzan  6' 4"    Given 6' 1"  - does 3" make all that difference?

[VillaAlways]

Arse could have been 2 or 3 up by half time - they weren't, and I thought we would take the game to them with serious intent in the second half. The early Sanchez goal killed us - you could see the players' heads drop, and I do remember thinking at the time, "why didn't Hutton just get to the ball then and knock it forward?" - there was clear movement and dip on the Sanchez shot and it's easy to see how Given didn't get a hand to it. The marking for the 3rd goal was shocking as it was for the 4th, which was embarrassingly easy for Wilshere to cross and for Giroud to tap in without breaking stride.
The better team won, and Arse did surprise me with their work rate at harrying us and closing us down...why the fu*k didn't we do that to them? - didn't think they had it in them to "spoil" opposition play as effectively as that.
No arguments with the result.
Absolutely gutted by the nature of it.
Reading were unlucky to lose to Arse...we were totally outclassed and outfought.
Difficult to be positive today.

That's the thing, Reading actually have them a game. We surrendered right from the kick off. Horrible, absolutely horrible.

Arsenal were well below par for that game, as I put in another thread that was the wake up call Arsenal needed for the final ,unfortunately for us.

[pig]

I'm a bit surprised that some are giving Given grief for the second goal, I just watched the highlights and it confirmed exactly what I thought at the match yesterday, that second was a wonderful strike of the ball.

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think Given should have saved it.

I just think we should have been playing the goalkeeper who is half a foot taller and has a bigger reach and would have had a better chance of reaching it.

I think we need a new first choice keeper, full stop. Neither of them are up to it.

I'd agree on both points, Guzan should have been first choice. I also believe we need a new keeper, fresh face, fresh start.

[Toronto Villa]

I'm not about to give up on Guzan yet. Yes he fucked up massively at Man City and he has paid the price for that. There are things he needs to work on and hopefully he'll prove himself again. We have so many other needs that for me, spending x million of our budget on a starting GK isn't a priority.

[pig]

GKs do tend to be quite cheap though, supply and demand, quite a huge supply, not a great demand. I wonder if Guzan has just hit his natural wall and needs to move to another club and go onto bigger and better things. Sometimes it happens with keepers, a lot of their game is so psychological.

[aj2k77]

The game summed up our season, shite.

Can't really say anything more about it as I'm gutted by another terrible performance. There's a lot of dross to clear out and a lot of losers.

[john e]

No point spending a load of money on a new keeper when whoever we get in will still make mistakes like the ones we already have

There is no such thing as a perfect goalkeeper,
the ones who are better than Guzan won't come to Villa because they play for champions league clubs, and the other top keepers about will be no better than what we have

Given is old but is a very good back up keeper for another season, and Guzan is as good as anyone apart from his kicking problem