Aston Villa v Notts County - Post-Match Thread

[Des Little]

If Gabby starts ahead of Sinclair on Saturday I'll be calling for a Sherwood to have his bumps felt.

[Stirchley Villain]

Grealish, Sinclair, Gil, Adama, all very good. Sanchez played well I thought, Veretout  aswell. Baker was his usual self, Hutton at fault for the first goal. Bunn I thought was flat footed for the goals despite them being great speculative shots. Richardson good in parts but generally meh. The one worry for me is Ayew. If he can't get a decent game in against Notts County it's a worry. I think he may well be an expensive dud.

[charleeco7]

Cracking night of kamikaze football. Play three defenders and a keeper that isn't much cop then that's what you get.
But going forward it was brilliant at time Adama could be something else if realises when to run and when to pass. Gill in the middle is a joy to watch with Jack. Need to try and shoehorne them all on on the odd occasion

I thought Sanchez did well at the back but baker was terrible.

[martyn ellis]

The usual high standards of commentating/reporting tonight from our Jack and our Andy (Blair). Infuriating tendency to assume we are all watching the game with them so you get comments like 'this could be dangerous' but you don't know who or where. But the best bit was on Kozak's injury:
Jack: Well he's had a long layoff with injury.
Andy Blair: Yeah. What was his injury again?
Jack: I dunno, a cruciate I think, or maybe a broken leg.
I kid you not. He must be the only person connected with Villa who doesn't know the nature of his injury and his setbacks on the road to recovery. If they can't get someone to do the most basic of research of the players they're interviewing all week, then it's a poor show. Terrible terrible standards of reporting. You expect some knowledge from people within the club.

[CJ]

Well that didn't exactly go to the script. Thought Sanchez was good - did a lot of covering when others had wandered out of position and got some good challenges in, otherwise a bit shambolic at the back; thought Veretout did well; Sinclair, Adama and Jack all excellent with Gil MOTM for me - he has to start; Ayew still failing to impress I'm afraid; subs - Libor provides a focal point and holds the ball well - play him; Joe Bennett comes on and scores, what more can you say; Cole's block of a goal followed by an air-kick shot was sheer comedy gold. Could and should have run out with a lot more goals, but they should have had at least 1 more. Oh, and Jack is never going to score - even when the goal was gaping and he just had to pass it into the net he still missed. Frustrating and exhilarating in equal measure but we'll have to do a lot better against our neighbours in the next round

[Ads]

Chaotic but exciting. We did our job and reap a tidy reward.

[CJ]

Oh - and who was that Graham Burke lad who scored a fantastic goal for them. He looked somehow familiar.........

[PeterWithesShin]

We could have scored 10 tonight, when was the last time you could say that about a Villa side?

[dekko]

Brilliant cup tie.  Two sides with no idea how to defend going at it hammer and tongs.

We looked shit at the back, but our defence consisted of a 3rd choice CB, 2nd choice RB, a midfielder and a converted winger.  Midfield was one CM behind 4 attacking midfielders and a striker.  Of course we were a defensive shambles.  But we won and scored lots of goals and probably should've scored lots more.

Really, really got my moneys worth tonight and I think with all the stressing and panicking and worrying we do, its easy to forget that football is bloody good fun.  And thats what I had.

[somec]

Just saw a link on the Villa official FB feed to 'Joe Bennett's Goal' with a big play button.

I clicked on it hoping to see the goal and was greeted with an 'audio boom' of that Woodward Wally waxing lyrical about Bennett's left foot.

Cringeworthy doesn't even come close.

[Des Little]

The usual high standards of commentating/reporting tonight from our Jack and our Andy (Blair). Infuriating tendency to assume we are all watching the game with them so you get comments like 'this could be dangerous' but you don't know who or where. But the best bit was on Kozak's injury:
Jack: Well he's had a long layoff with injury.
Andy Blair: Yeah. What was his injury again?
Jack: I dunno, a cruciate I think, or maybe a broken leg.
I kid you not. He must be the only person connected with Villa who doesn't know the nature of his injury and his setbacks on the road to recovery. If they can't get someone to do the most basic of research of the players they're interviewing all week, then it's a poor show. Terrible terrible standards of reporting. You expect some knowledge from people within the club.

Beats me how anyone can listen to that buffoon Woodward. He really does sound like Alan Partridge, minus the footballing knowledge of course. Toe curling.

[dekko]

Beats me how anyone can listen to that buffoon Woodward. He really does sound like Alan Partridge, minus the footballing knowledge of course. Toe curling.

The man is a treasure.

[DeKuip]

That was an enjoyable night's entertainment. Yes we can all find plenty of faults but compared to some of the dire stuff we've had to watch at Villa Park in recent years it's just refreshing to see us line-up with players like Traore, Gil, Grealish, Sinclair and Veretout.
Well played Notts too.

[tomd2103]

Went to the game earlier and though it's already been overshadowed by the draw, it was a mixed bag.  Starting with the Manager - I thought he got selection badly wrong and had it not been for a dubious penalty we could have gone out.

Gil, Grealish and Traore showed some great touches at times even if the end product wasn't always there.  I thought Veretout looked more comfortable in a deeper role and once he gets a bit fitter and stronger he should be a decent addition.  Sinclair drifted in and out, but gets in good positions and I thought Richardson had a steady game. 

Now for the bad - I have got everything firmly crossed that we never see that Sanchez and Baker central defensive partnership again.  To be fair to Sanchez, he is not a defender and apart from a few wobbles did OK.  On the other hand, I just cannot see how Nathan Baker is a top flight footballer.  His first two passes went straight into touch and for their penalty, he floated a ball straight to their player and then was caught out as the ball went back over his head and the player was brought down.  He has played a good number of first team games now and is still making basic errors.  Unfortunately, Ayew also looks out of his depth at the moment.  I lost count of the number of times he was caught offside and I think he is one who is going to need a lot more time.

Finally, I'd like to say well done to Joe Bennett for his goal.  The past couple of seasons can't have been easy for him, so it was good to see him get on the scoresheet. 

[PeterWithesShin]

Yep fair play to them, even when they took the lead they kept going for it as well. I wasn't a million miles away when I said this after seeing our starting 11!

8-4 to us is worth a fiver I reckon!