Aston Villa vs Sunderland Post-Match Thread

[LukeJames]

I haven't seen any of the game but the 7-5 score over the past two games is what I expected when Sherwood took over, glad Sinclairs banging them in, as previously stated I really like him and think he's vastly under rated by a lot of our fans.

He looks 10 times the player Gabby has been recently.

I agree, his movement and ability too be in the right place at the right time is excellent, a snip at £3m or whatever we payed for him.

[LeeB]

Considering Sunderland at home is a must-win game, I want to know how not beating them affected Everton last season. They couldn't even draw with them. What unavoidable fate befell them as a result of their failure to win this absolutely imperative game?

What's that? Fuck all? It didn't mean a FUCKING THING?

I'll tell you what that is. It's a fucking disgrace, that's what it is.

[Nirog72]

I was really encouraged today by the way we played the majority of the game. As a couple of others have said, a whole match of Gil instead of Bacuna and we'd have won. They had a bit of pressure when they brought Toivonen on and it took us a while to seize the initiative back. If we gel more and get more clinical in front of goal this could be a good season. I thought Westwood was really good today but agree that when everyone is fit Sanchez, Gana and a more creative player may get the nod. It was a late decision to come today and my kids first visit to Villa Park (two shirts purchased as well as the tickets!) and I left really frustrated but in a completely different way than my last visit, when we were truly awful. We are getting there.

[Big Dick Edwards]

Disappointed we couldn't beat a poor Sunderland team but it was an entertaining game. Impressed with the midfield, Sanchez in particular. Our second goal was beautifully constructed, like something the BFR team might have scored. Got to agree with negative comments about Gestede. He's not even that special in the air from what I've seen of him. Bacuna also had a poor game.

Did Gil really dive when he was one on one with the keeper? Looking forward to seeing the incident on MOTD.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Nirog 72 Quote : "We are getting there"

Can I ask where that is?

[brontebilly]

For the second game on the trot Tim didn't react to substitutions made by the opposition manager and again that cost us.

Yes I was screaming at him in the first 5 mins of the second half. Advacaat did well  and the tall blond guy dominated the midfield. He should have switched Westwood back in centre alongside Sanchez to see out their surge but.....

For all this talk that Advocaat made some genius changes and Tim couldnt react, i thought most of our problems in that early 2nd half period were of our own making by individual errors on the pitch. Sunderland replaced the completely ineffective Graham for the slightly more effective Fletcher, and the horrendous Cattermole for Toivonen, yet i honestly didnt see any major tactical issues from that. It wasnt like Sunderland were suddenly camped around our box, its just they now actually had the ball in our half for more than 10 seconds.

Fletcher had a header from a deep cross (clark was weak here) and then the goal - we had the ball on the halfway line, comfortable in possession. Westwood pings it into Gestede whos loses his 1 on 1 battle, Sanchez is weak and loses his 1 on 1 battle, and the less said about Clarks defending the better. Entirely preventable if each player does his job. After that i think they had the Defoe chance where Hutton went to sleep, but apart from that we dominated and should have scored again, and more than once really.

When a team has most of the possession, most of the attacking threat and most of the chances over the full 90 mins, i tend to think the manager has got it right in terms of set up and tactics. Where i think Sherwood can be critisised is that we came out for the 2nd half with far too a careless attitude. It happened last week, and you could argue it happened in the first half today and also midweek. We are showing a lack of concentration and good chances or goals against are happening early on because of it, and that means we are constantly having to find our way back into the game.

Toivonen pushed up on Sanchez, containing his influence and gave them a link man with Fletcher and Defoe. Sunderland also had joy in the second half attacking the channels on both sides between our full backs and centre backs. We got very lucky with Defoe's chance, didnt see the replay but surely Hutton should have pushed up and played him offside. They certainly changed their approach in the second half and were much better for it. It took us until Gil's introduction to get back into the second half.

Both Graham and Cattermole were lucky to last even until half time, think Cattermole was taken off after 30 mins in one of the earlier games. Sunderland are really poor, both full backs awful, particularly the gutless Van Aanholt. Rodwell, a complete passenger. M'Villa great freekick but did he kick the ball apart from that. O'Shea and Kaboul are still ok in the air but their legs are gone. Will be a fair achievement to keep that side in the league

[CT Villan]

I don't get the blaming of Guzan's starting position for their first goal. Surely, if he carries any blame it is because he positioned the wall badly. The wall is supposed to prevent those curlers around the side and protect the near post, while the keeper covers the middle of the goal and the far post.

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Such tactical genius that they spent the remaining 35 minutes of the second half defending and barely crossing their halfway line?

Poor finishing cost us.

[olaftab]

Toivonen pushed up on Sanchez, containing his influence and gave them a link man with Fletcher and Defoe.

Yes that's it and I thought  Sherwood was not flexible by making a slight adjustment straightaway to provide more support  for Sanchez.

[olaftab]

Such tactical genius that they spent the remaining 35 minutes of the second half defending and barely crossing their halfway line?

I thought that was due to us making a recovery post the first 10 minutes however they did seize up in the last 10.

[olaftab]

I don't get the blaming of Guzan's starting position for their first goal. Surely, if he carries any blame it is because he positioned the wall badly. The wall is supposed to prevent those curlers around the side and protect the near post, while the keeper covers the middle of the goal and the far post.

I am not sure where you were sitting but from my seat middle  and middle of North Upper he was at fault. Far too much to his right almost offering the chap to put it in the net to his left.  I was screaming at him to move over but I guess he didn't hear me!  I thought the ball went up and over and ended up crossing the goal about 4 feet from Guzans LH post?

[Chris Stares]

I don't get the blaming of Guzan's starting position for their first goal. Surely, if he carries any blame it is because he positioned the wall badly. The wall is supposed to prevent those curlers around the side and protect the near post, while the keeper covers the middle of the goal and the far post.

We are sat directly behind the goal but elevated above it right at the back of the Lower Holte and I said before the kick was taken that Guzan was too far over to the right of his goal, and so it proved.  It was a good strike but given you knew he was going to take it right-footed which would naturally curve it around the wall towards the top left corner (if he got it right, which he did) then I thought Guzan should've positioned himself more centrally to cover that more likely possibility.  It would've had to have been a Ronaldo-esque strike to have beaten him as far over to the right of the goal as he was standing.  The most likely option was the one which played out, so for me, I agree with others who have said that Guzan's positioning was poor for the free kick.

[Nirog72]

VCTM - 'there' is (hopefully) playing much better football, creating good chances and winning more games. We should be aiming for beyond 'there' but I'll settle for 'there' at the moment. In my opinion we are now a proper striker away from being top half. It may be that the £16m spent on Ayew and Gestede may have been better spent on one striker (Austin is the only name that pops into my head at the moment) but who knows how good or otherwise they will turn out right now? Importantly also I think we are on our way to becoming more solid and difficult to overrun which we saw quite a lot last season and before.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I don't get the blaming of Guzan's starting position for their first goal. Surely, if he carries any blame it is because he positioned the wall badly. The wall is supposed to prevent those curlers around the side and protect the near post, while the keeper covers the middle of the goal and the far post.

We are sat directly behind the goal but elevated above it right at the back of the Lower Holte and I said before the kick was taken that Guzan was too far over to the right of his goal, and so it proved.  It was a good strike but given you knew he was going to take it right-footed which would naturally curve it around the wall towards the top left corner (if he got it right, which he did) then I thought Guzan should've positioned himself more centrally to cover that more likely possibility.  It would've had to have been a Ronaldo-esque strike to have beaten him as far over to the right of the goal as he was standing.  The most likely option was the one which played out, so for me, I agree with others who have said that Guzan's positioning was poor for the free kick.

Guzan is a professional GK who took up the position he thought best. He left that space as he thought the wall would cover it. It was a great free-kick. As far as I can see, his only problem as a GK is his kicking.

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Agreed NRog, we played some decent stuff and you could see the midfield moving and finding space as we rarely do at home. Having our two 19 year starlets, who happen to be our most threatening options would help, but with Benteke up top, we'd have scored 7 today.