Aston Villa vs Sunderland Post-Match Thread

[dave.woodhall]

Sanchez and Gana very good, again.

All Clark had to do was stay on his feet and the chap would never have got his shot off.
Unsure if it was a free kick for their first, but nothing anyone could do about the strike itself.

Was it a 2nd half penalty on Gil? Couldn't see from my position.

I thouht Guzan positioned himself badly for the first.

[ChicagoLion]

The dissapointing thing is the fact that we should have won the game easily.Westwood Gestede Clark Bacuna all poor.
Gil Sinclair Gana Richards Amavi Sanchez all very good.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I'll ignore the hyperbole

Sinclair 8

He took his penalty superbly and made a great run to get in the right place to tap his goal in but other than his shot/cross to Richards, he was hardly in the game. Not his fault, as I've explained earlier but 8 points I can only assume are for the goals as you give Gestede 4.

Sinclair is far more suited to playing centrally, he's no winger but we need to find ways of getting him more involved in games.

[Matt Collins]

I couldn't tell re the penalty. But he had plenty of time to shoot before that. When you think we had
- 2 Sinclair goals
- Richards open goal
- Gestede two pulled shots from great positions
- Gil great chance and potential penalty
- Westwood chance
- gana chance first half

I take into account how shit Sunderland are. But that just isn't a bad all round performance.

[ChicagoLion]

Sanchez and Gana very good, again.

All Clark had to do was stay on his feet and the chap would never have got his shot off.
Unsure if it was a free kick for their first, but nothing anyone could do about the strike itself.

Was it a 2nd half penalty on Gil? Couldn't see from my position.

I thouht Guzan positioned himself badly for the first.

agree he was too far over and rooted, also seemed slow to react, it was not exactly in the top corner.

[dave.woodhall]

I'll ignore the hyperbole

Sinclair 8

He took his penalty superbly and made a great run to get in the right place to tp his goal in but other than his shot/cross to Richards, he was hardly in the game. Not his fault, as I've explained earlier but 8 points I can only assume are for the goals as you give Gestede 4.

Sinclair is far more suited to playing centrally, he's no winger but we need to find ways of getting him more involved in games.

Are you for real? He's scored five in two games and you want him more involved?

[Louzie0]

Where have you found anyone content with a point? There are just some of us who haven't jumped off a bridge like you.

No one is jumping off a bridge. Whether we are two points off Europe or survival every game is important. Should've won the game, could've won the game.. gave them a point.

Worse team in the league by far, at home.

I think Chelsea might just have beaten us to that one, this week.

I think Palace will have a good season though, and finish between 7-10th. Sunderland however, good god they are just flat out terrible.

There's not a lot to cheer there, that's for sure. They haven't won any of their games yet.
And then, there was Liverpool today

Without illness and with some finishing firepower to complement Sinclair, I think we shape up to be a lot better than last season already.

[brontebilly]

I felt a bit sorry for our front two today as we were so predictable in throwing crosses into the box and the Sunderland defence won the vast majority. Only on the very odd occasion when we played it on the deck and ran at them did we ever look like scoring. Sinclair's second being the perfect example. Neither Sinclair or Gestede were in the match much but that was more down to tactics than anything else. There was an improvement when Gil came on but over 90 minutes we made it very difficult for both to get involved in the game.

On a positive note, Sanchez and Gueye look to be forming a great partnership though it did look like Gueye was tiring for the last 15 minutes, as did Amavi who had a great first half again but never manages to repeat it 2nd half. As much as I appreciate Westwood, he's no attacking midfielder and today it showed, wasting a couple of the few real opportunities we created. Bacuna should thank his lucky stars he's got a new contract. Not his best today bu a very long way.

Hutton put in a real shift, getting forward plenty of times and still managing to take care of his defensive duties. The two alongside him still worry me though. Clark was at fault for one of their goals and Richards still doesn't fill me with confidence. Both need to learn how to dominate their space.

Overall a draw was a fair result despite us having plenty of the ball we didn't really do much with it. Sunderland always looked more threatening in attack but overall they're a pretty poor side. They got lucky that we played to their strengths with our tactics.

Good summary.

The constant worry is that Sherwood is unable to put a shape on the side, our offside trap is an absolute mess since the start of the season and shows no sign of improvement. Clark made two very poor errors today one which cost us the goal but there is a general unease about us at the back. Midfield while some of our players individually did well today, where was Bacuna supposed to be playing? Westwood as you have said is playing too far forward, we had other options on the bench better suited to those roles so why cant the manager see that? Gil proved that after his introduction but why set up with a daft starting line up and allow Sunderland 15mins to settle in with their subs after half time before making the change?

We were unlucky not to get the win in fairness, Richards miss was hard to fathom. Sinclair when he went up top showed good movement, to be honest he doesnt seem to want the ball with his back to goal so he struggles on the left. Intelligent runs off the ball though from him, in marked contrast to GA. Gestede was decent after the break I thought, a lot didnt come off for him but held the ball up quite well at times. only getting a point at home to that Sunderland side is a disappointing result. Some positives for sure but ongoing worries re the shape of the team for me. Sherwood's struggles re substitutions and timing of them continue.

Guzan 6, Hutton 7, Richards 6, Clark 4, Amavi 8, Bacuna 5, Sanchez 7, Westwood 7, Gueye 7, Sinclair 7, Gestede 6 . Gil 7

[Goldie.7]

If Defoe's first touch was better we could of easily lost that, on the other hand if our final third ball making decisions were also better, we also could of won it.

Lots of aimless crosses for Gestede were food and drink for their keeper, when an extra touch or a better pass from us would of been better.

Hutton's crosses in the first half were awful.
Bacuna is not a very good player.
Too many players not getting into the box (lazy strolling) apart from the last 14 mins.
Gil should of started (ironic crowd cheers when he came on)
Gestede looks very slow, with a poor first touch.
Guzan looks really dodgy, his poor distribution and decisions will cost us more points.

4 points from 12, considering the teams we've played is a poor return.

[mattjpa]

 
I would love to see this side given a chance when they are all fit and up to speed.


                             Guzan

Hutton       Richards         Clark/Lescott       Amavi
 
                      Sanchez   Ghana

     Adama                   Gil                      Grealish

                               Ayew

This is a great shout if you ignore the fact that you have left out our biggest attacking threat and the man that has scored 5 goals in 5 days. For me, Sinclair would go left and Grealish into the centre

[Ian.]

I wonder if some of the Chelsea fans are on the same bridge as some of ours? Oh and Liverpool for that matter!

I'm still not too concerned, we played well at times and should really have won. It will click, I'm sure. We could have done with a fit Gil, Jack or Traore today to pick them apart.
Clark I still really like but he could have done a tad better with being completely done for for their equalising goal.
Again it's also a shame Kozak is not quite fit enough as Ruddy looks like he needs to settle into this side, a bit like Jordan Ayew.
Once all fit and settled we'll be a good team for sure.

[myf]

Encouraged. Bit of confidence and a settled side and we'll do well

[clash city rocker]

One of our biggest failures is that as a team we can't concentrate for 90 mins. Too many times players switch off and it always seems to cost us.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I'll ignore the hyperbole

Sinclair 8

He took his penalty superbly and made a great run to get in the right place to tp his goal in but other than his shot/cross to Richards, he was hardly in the game. Not his fault, as I've explained earlier but 8 points I can only assume are for the goals as you give Gestede 4.

Sinclair is far more suited to playing centrally, he's no winger but we need to find ways of getting him more involved in games.

Are you for real? He's scored five in two games and you want him more involved?

Erm.. yes. Don't you or do you think he's playing to his limit and getting great service?

[paul_e]

Sanchez and Gana very good, again.

All Clark had to do was stay on his feet and the chap would never have got his shot off.
Unsure if it was a free kick for their first, but nothing anyone could do about the strike itself.

Was it a 2nd half penalty on Gil? Couldn't see from my position.

Looked like it.  I thought there should've been one for Gestede a few minutes later as well when O'shea clearly pushed him whilst he was in mid-air, the ball went over his head anyway but there's nothing in the rules to say you can't be fouled 'off the ball', was just a poor second half from the ref.