Aston Villa 1 Knuckledraggers crawl back under their stones 0 Post match thread.

[ChicagoLion]

Back to the game, I thought we were awful in the first half and they were the better team without being that great.
We were massively superior in the second half, Jack was great and nice to see Ayew has some ability.

Not sure a performance against a tired second division team is a good measure but at least there is some hope.

Can see why playing Jack and Gil at the same time could be difficult.

[KevinGage]

Ayew ran around a lot when he came on, but there was very little focus to it all.  I don't recall him going past a player often (or ever) and getting a shot off. An improvement on recent showings, but that wouldn't have been hard.

Apart from all the times he went past players?

I also saw him going past some players and I was on the other side of the ground

In my defence, my Sky Go connection seemed to start playing silly buggers from about midway through the second half.

I did see him chase down some of their defenders and look a bit more up for it, but I missed the shot and didn't see him morph into Rivaldo, as he seems to have done based on some of the reactions here.

Rowett mentioned him turning the game as well, so hopefully there is more of that to come.

[kippaxvilla2]

I love their 'always the bridesmaid sympathy' type comments.   Such as these.

Re: All the best from B6Pages:‹12
California Blue replying to pablo ibanez00:39, Wednesday 23 September 2015
Quote
pablo ibanez
You booed your own players off at half time, we cheered our players off at full time ,thats the difference between us. Now fack off back to relegation.

This IS the difference between us & them , what a bunch of pricks, they showed their true baby blue & pink colours tonight.

KRO
The Birmingham Blues, USA Chapter .

The thing is, they have never had expectations whereas we have, even we have reduced them with the dross served up the last few years.  They live and die and live again for beating us.

[Des Little]

Back to the game, I thought we were awful in the first half and they were the better team without being that great.
We were massively superior in the second half, Jack was great and nice to see Ayew has some ability.

Not sure a performance against a tired second division team is a good measure but at least there is some hope.

Can see why playing Jack and Gil at the same time could be difficult.

They're too similar.  Both water carriers.

[kippaxvilla2]

And as if to prove a point, I have actually heard a few of them in the lead up to this game on local radio saying they would take beating us over promotion.

[PaulTheVillan]

Apparently most of their lads were in Sam Wellers.  Not exactly running town really.

So, they went into the same pub they always go to. Running town? Idiots.

[aj2k77]

Apparently most of their lads were in Sam Wellers.  Not exactly running town really.

So, they went into the same pub they always go to. Running town? Idiots.

I drink in their quite often on weekends, is it meant to be a nose pub?

[Ads]

It's always been their main pub.

[Villatillidie25]

After the mad dash up the motorway post work and the long, although happy, journey back down to London after the match I'm struggling to function now so here is my match report:

Guzan - 6 - Had very little to do throughout the match but thought he claimed a couple of cross easily enough. His distribution was marginally better, although he still looks uncomfortable on the floor. Made one save in the second half where they should have done better and made it look a little harder than it probably should have been.

Bacuna - 6 - Reasonably solid game by and large. He won a few headers last night and didn't get caught out by the crossfield ball quite as much as previously. He is still a little susceptible to the ball between him and Richards and is sometimes too flat-footed. Against better wingers he will continue to struggle. If we play 3 in the middle, I would play Bacuna but if we play 2, then I would play Hutton.

Richards - 7 - Grew into the game and was excellent in the second half.

Lescott - 4 - Looked very cumbersome for the 45mins he played. TS should get a lot of credit for making changes at half time and taking Lescott (rather than Clark off).

Amavi - 7 - As with Richards, he grew into the game and delivered the telling cross

Westwood - 6 - A player who divides opinions. I, personally, don't mind him but think he should increasingly become our 4th choice central midfielder. His main issue is that he slows play down too much and plays too few forward passes. Oh and his corners are atrocious. It's as if we don't actually believe we can score from one, regardless of what we do with the ball.

Vertetout - 7 - Grew into the game hugely. First half he grafted well but was a little ineffectual, possibly as he struggled to adjust to a 3 man midfield. In the second half I thought he was excellent, moving the ball quickly, with purpose and forwards

Clark - 6 - A mixed game for Clark. I felt for him in the first half. This experiment should not be repeated. He did ok protecting the back four but was so slow on the ball and on the turn that it sucked all impetus out of anything we could do. However, he played pretty well in the second half and was an upgrade on Lescott

Sinclair - 5 - Not one of his better or more effective games but I feel he is one of the few with a natural goal instinct. Almost (i stress almost) this alone merits a place in the team until we can add or develope a couple to have similar instincts

Agbonlahor - 6 - I actually thought he was one of our better players in the first half. Not saying much I know. Having said this, his end product and movement are so poor generally that he simply can't keep playing. He should be an impact sub at most these days with the mandate that he should stretch teams as much as possible, get his head down and give tired defenders something to think about in the final 15mins

Gestede - 7 - A strange game for the big man. At times, he looked inept with a first touch worse than most pub players and at others he bought the ball down and brought others into the game. The difference was largely correlated with the first and second half. If this tells Tim anything, it is that we can't just shell balls from defence and/or cross balls from deep and expect him to do something with it. We need to get to the by-line and pull back quick crosses for him to attack

Ayew - 8 - Best performance in a Villa shirt. With a bit of luck he will push on from this. He played with a swagger and confidence, demanding the ball from others, that belied his poor start in Claret and Blue. That run through the Blues box and shot was brilliant, just a shame he was losing his balance as he pulled the trigger.

Grealish - 9 - The man oozes class. We can wax lyrical and get excited about him but he still has a long way to go. He needs to get his head down and improve his end product so that he consistently hurts teams. At the moment, there is a tendency to either play slightly safe or not, at least go for the jugular. This, nevertheless, is a small criticism and one I truly hope he dismisses over the course of this season. Quite simply, he made the difference and gave Rudy a link to the midfield.

Match Report: I can understand Tim's decision to try to nullify Birmingham in the first half. We knew they would be fired up for the game and, with confidence a bit low, must have expected them to come out of the traps. I also suspect he rested a few people - I can't believe Sanchez wouldn't be played ahead of Clark at the base of the midfield. Having said this, the Clark experiment didn't work at all. While he covered the backline well enough, his passing and, more importantly, speed of passing, was far too slow. It stunted anything we tried or wanted to do and created an incredibly dour first half. Add to the fact that Westwood also suffers from a similar malaise and the result is the first half; one with few chances, poor and slow passing. Gabby ran the channels well enough but his end product is, generally, appalling. There was nobody close enough to Rudy and the mantra seemed to be "get it up to Rudy asap and see what happens". Long balls from defense or deep crosses simply aren't his forte, especially when there aren't other players nearby. While I don't like to see the Villa booed, it was understandable. We should probably have changed tactics earlier but I suspect the personnel in the first half wouldn't have been able to do that and credit should be given to Tim for changing it as early as realistically possible.

The second half, saw everything change. Taking Lescott off (rather than Clark in a like for like) was a very good decision as Lescott had been poor and Clark had done nothing wrong, merely lived up to his limitations. Bringing Grealish on instead meant that the entire midfield pushed forward 15 yards. This allowed us (through personnel and formational) to play quicker balls that were further up the field and in more dangerous areas. It also meant the midfielder was closer to Gestede and so he began to have more of an impact. By pushing forward further, it gave the full backs a little more space and so they ventured further forward more (they were also probably given this licence from TS). This, in turn, meant that our crossing was from more attacking positions, closer to the Birmingham goal and, so Rudy became more dangerous, ultimately burying his best chance and winning the game for us. Add all of this with the fact that Ayew had his best game in a Villa shirt. His close control and willingness to run at the full back (something Gabby is not able to manage with much success) added another outlet that we had not had in the first half. The second half could, and probably should, have seen a couple more Villa goals and the lapse in concentration that saw them get through for their best chance still shows that we are susceptible to the odd defensive blunder - the way they got through was far too easy. In a Premiership match, we would have conceded then and drawn a game we should have won.

Nevertheless, progress from Veretout (who I thought was excellent in the 2nd half), Ayew and a clear way of how to utilise Gestede should bode better for the future. Add that to the fact that Gueye should come into the midfield for Westwood and Traore to add further impact (from the bench initially) and we should feel more positive about the future. The next month is huge though and we could really do with picking up 10 points in the next 5-6 matches, which will be a tough order given that our fixtures take a marked turn for the worse.

[KRS]

I've watched the game back on Sky and despite being very unhappy at half time at the game, my observations from watching it back are that it wasn't as bad as it seemed on the night...

We pretty controlled the game for the first 25 minutes then Blose came more into, retaining possession but carrying very little threat going forward. We were very sloppy in our play, passing, giving possession away cheaply with punts to Gestede where it simply didn't stick in the final third of the pitch...far too many sideways and backwards passes to the back four or even all the way back to Guzan. We then started to lose our way with the new formation giving them more space in midfield to retain possession. I'd say overall possession in the first half was probably about 50-50 but we had almost twice as many attempts on goal (7 against there 4) and both teams managed 1 shot on target each.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I wasn't happy at the game, but thats not as bad as some may like to think particularly when it was their best spell of the game that they are appear to be very proud of...as someone said last night, it was half with one shit team and another team playing shit.

The second half was a very different story and after about 15-20 minutes in we had 75% possession according to the stats and were completely dominating the game. The rest is history.

Credit where credit is due...Rowett has done a great job with Blose under the circumstances. I've watched them on TV a few times this season, and they play some decent football for a team on a genuine shoe string budget.

[Damo70]

Never seen the lower North so animated they went proper mental

As a long time Holte Ender who has had a season ticket with his son in the lower North since the McLeish season it is a mixture of part timers and regulars who can be the biggest bunch of moaners or the most passionate fans going on any given day. The bigger games and close proximity to the away fans tends to bring out the best support. Last night it was rocking but the noses were surprisingly subdued. I think that even with their legendary delusions they were there in more hope than any real expectation. All credit though to their post match change of opinion. Before we beat them we were the most shit team  in the premier League and nailed on for relegation. Today we are a team who has spent more money than Manchester City this summer and should be expected to win games like last night comfortably. You've gotta love 'em haven't you?

[cheltenhamlion]

Sam Wellers? Now the Railway then. That is where CT from here started yesterday afternoon.

5 of them arrived in The Bartons at 4pm. Tried to look tough and left when the regulars who don't give a fuck about football started staring them out.

And Jesus Dave in the Sack of Spuds? I didn't expect to see that post.

[aj2k77]

It's always been their main pub.

I must be completely oblivious to what's going on around me, we're talking about the same place right? On Hill St/John Bright Street?

[CT]

That would explain why things were starting to get a little tense in there!!

[class-of-82]

Also how good was the support finally got my voice back bout 2pm today got back into bed in Essex about 12-30 am but boy was it worth it.
Now fuck off you blue nose scum bags back to where you belong you had your cup final at the best ground you ever been to heard the best support ever read it and weep.