Leicester City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Neil Hawkes]

As depressing as this was, I would be very surprised if both the manager and team has not learnt anything from it. At 2-0 up with 30mins to go, no matter what the substitutions were, the players on the pitch should have had the gumption to see out the game, professionals I believe they are called (and get handsomely rewarded for it too).
Cast your mind back to many moons ago, playing a team called Leicester at Villa Park, with one of the greatest players to grace our club in charge as one of our best managers in recent times and we managed to throw away a 4 goal lead; had extra time be used as much as it is these days we would also have lost that match. We didn't, it was a sharp kick in the nuts and we ended up pretty reasonable throughout the rest of the season - we learnt our lesson that day; let's hope the same is true from yesterday.

Actually, we collapsed after that game and were lucky to stay up.

Oh, my memory of the season is not as good as the memory of the game! (One I was unfortunate to attend at the time).

[john e]

I think the subs were a mistake, but i've seen Villa lose leads like that no matter what the manager did at the time

if he had made different changes it would have been a different result, but we don't know, because we don't calculate the total uselessness of the team to withstand pressure, and even when we have 'shut up shop' in the past we've still lost

if Veretout comes on and Hutton earlier and we still lose its blamed on 'shutting up shop' to early, 'inviting pressure' instead of going for another goal


the bottom line is you should never lose a two goal lead and when you do its always the changes that were made that's the problem, no matter what you do it was wrong,
don't forget we have been here loads of times before when we have made all the same sort of changes we are now calling for,  and still lost

its part of the Villa DNA no matter what players we bring in they have a complete inability to cope with pressure

[JUAN PABLO]

I have no problem with Gil coming off but another midfielder would have been the way .

[JUAN PABLO]

Having slept on it before posting, the positives are we were excellent for an hour yesterday. Lescott, Richards and Amavi looked composed, strong and organised in defence, protected by Westwood and Sanchez, and the three creative players gave us something I've not seen from a Villa midfield for a very long time.
As has been alluded to, Tim blew it tactically. Once we scored against the run of play to go two up he should have shut up shop. Instead he bought on two strikers who haven't showed me that they will actually make it in the Premier League. We failed miserably to hold the ball up front and invited constant pressure until we inevitably cracked.
Tim has to wake up and see what we can all see, that Bacuna and Gabby aren't good enough to be starting at this level. I'd take Hutton at right back every time, and surely Kozak is worth giving an opportunity to up front. He at least has the composure and instinct to benefit from the creativity we now possess and score goals. I have no confidence in Gabby in front of goal at all.

And we still wouldn't have lost that game if Guzan hadn't been such a pussy coming for that ball in the last minute. He was challenging Nathan Dyer for fuck's sake! It should have been no contest.

kozak is  a strange one . Im sure he could have held it up better than Ayew the last 20 minutes and would be ok defending corners.

[Villa Lew]

At least one thing must have got through to Sherwood, is that Gil has gotta be one of the first names on this team sheet.

[Clampy]

Some on here touched on this yesterday but you would have though either Wilkins  or Parkes might have said to Sherwood 'a midfielder might be a better idea that Ayew'. He really was the last player that should have come on. A game is never won at 2-0 with 30 minutes to go.

[KRS]

...so overall, he needs to think beyond how he wants us to play, and be looking at the opposition bench & team when we are on top and thinking 'What would I do if I was him, and what will I do when he does that?' - He doesn't appear to be doing that at the moment. I think that could be termed complacency.

Richards mentioned that the team possibly got complacent when we went 2-0 in his interview on AVTV. May be some of that stemmed from the Villa fans as it was a jubilant atmosphere in the away end for the majority of the game.

On the subject of the crowd, I'm really not getting this love in for the Leicester fans that created an amazing "atmosphere"...from where I was standing, they made very little noise until they scored and the Villa fans spent most the time taking the piss out of them and out singing them.

A couple of words about the game...Bacuna and Guzan. Seriously WTF are they on?! So many mistakes from Bacuna yesterday...he got away with not conceding a penalty with that clumsy challenge on Vardy, played a part in gifting the corner that lead to their first goal, lost his man from the subsequent corner for their first goal, should have cleared the cross in the box for their second (but theres no way that Mahrez should have been allowed to run past 4 players in the first place!!!), and attempted a suicidal high square ball to Sanchez which almost resulted in another goal. Guzan...well he repeatedly showed that he still isn't comfortable clearing his lines, orchestrates these risky passing movements from the back (which again almost cost us when we lost possession in the first half), and was obviously massively at fault for their third goal.

I said it before the transfer window closed that we needed strengthening in 4 positions...CF, CB, RB and GK...we got Lescott but there are 3 positions that need urgent attention and will ultimately cost us points this season.

[Smirker]

Calmed down now and am pretty much over it but when that third goal went in it's the angriest I've felt watching football in years, probably since the Everton 3-2 in Lambert's first season I think it was.

Gabby did OK I thought as well, should have set up Sinclair for a goal and nice work for our second.

We have managed to drop five points from our last two games and this needs to be sorted quick time. Three losses on the bounce now. Starting to feel like another relegation battle is coming.

[JUAN PABLO]

Im sure lliori will be the rB

[Ads]

I think he will be too.

As an aside we scored two goals from midfield. Two more and we equal last seasons record.

[LeeB]

Fucking Less-tuh.

Nothing more to add.

[Ads]

I know. They should be relegated for having those fruity clappers, the racist loving, camp bumpkins.

[Billy Walker]

Sad but true, I found it very difficult to get to sleep last night after what happened yesterday.  The script seemed to be that Villa would romp to victory and we would all be celebrating Jack (and Gil)'s first Premier League goals for the club.  It wasn't to be and the final result was painful but, as others have said, a day later, one can look back and reflect on what happened with a slightly more clear head.

For sixty-seventy minutes I thought Villa were fantastic.  Carles Gil was, for me, head and shoulders the best player on the park during that spell and his goal was nothing short of beautiful.  Likewise, Jack's goal was top notch.  The signs were there, all over the pitch, that a very decent Villa side seems to be taking shape.  I'm not going to be doom and gloom about this defeat, as painful as it was, because, hopefully, every single one of the squad, staff and supporters will have learned something from it about where this new look Villa is as a team: clearly there is currently a naivety and lack of steel to see a win through to the end.  Hopefully as the team gels we will see that steel emerge and all being well the pain of yesterday will speed that process along.

I read on a Crystal Palace forum that some of their fans reckoned Villa were the best team they have faced this season and I wouldn't be surprised if the Leicester fans are saying the same thing about us today.  There are things to be positive about but with no points to show for it it is very hard to take.   I hope we look back to what happened yesterday as some kind of turning point/learning curve/catalyst for the season.

[Des Little]

I know. They should be relegated for having those fruity clappers, the racist loving, camp bumpkins.

Post of the day.  Thanks for cheering me up!

[KRS]

I'm taking solace from the fact that you learn from your mistakes, and teams need to feel the pain of defeat in scenarios to become stronger and develop as a team. Unfortunately as fans we've seen and felt it all before, but its all part of the learning process for both the new players and management.