Bolton 1 Aston Villa 4 Post Match Thread.

[aj2k77]

Gerrard doesn't have the bollocks to start Tim or Archer.

[PaulWinch again]

Gerrard doesn't have the bollocks to start Tim or Archer.

He picked a team and it worked. I don’t think having the bollocks to make a decision has anything to do with it.

[Risso]

Are you always this angry? I get it in the immediate aftermath of a shit defeat like Palace, but we’re the day after a 4-1 win.

[aj2k77]

Gerrard doesn't have the bollocks to start Tim or Archer.

He picked a team and it worked. I don’t think having the bollocks to make a decision has anything to do with it.

I don't agree it worked, Bolton ran out of steam, they're a 3rd division side. It showed the same failings as a manager from him, nothing new, therefore I expect nothing new results wise. We will stay up, because there are worse sides and we have enough talent in the squad that with some moments of quality will pull us through but I can't imagine there being any consistency in results and performance and general improvement. Gerrard is a cheque book manager, has made the wrong call with captaincy, pissed off our leader and generally made a pigs ear of a lot of things. He hasn't promoted youth so far, quite the opposite and his hard man attitude doesn't appear to have roused the squad.

We can either give him loads of money and he can replace everyone with players who fit his desired formation or trundle along in lower mid table because he isn't a good manager who could improve us with nous alone.

Sorry If I come across as angry, I'm not particularly, I just really have taken a dislike to Gerrard now.  I hope we spanner everyone 3-0 every week and win the league or at least finish top 10. Would be fantastic but I don't see it happening and I'm very down about our prospects this season now. Sorry for the pessimism. Maybe they'll all start to click Sunday, we're due a result against West Ham at home.

[nordenvillain]

I was there last night and thought that the referee had a very inconsistent approach to fouls. I thought Luiz was fouled in the build up to the Bolton goal and watching the game back enforces my view. Villa were as poor as Bolton were good in the 1st half. We appeared unable to play in what should have been a higher quality way or to put any noticeable pressure on any one part of the Bolton team. Seeing as Villa came out for the 2nd half early, I think that Gerrard must have had stern words justifiably and told them a few home truths. Our passing and movement were like night and day compared to the 1st half. That Bolton's legs went and our substitutes were obviously of a higher quality were major factors in this change. The midfield is a major concern to me, none of the permutations used this season, including last night, fill me with confidence. Without any doubt, Mc Ginn is not justifying his place except to be involved in the coin toss at the start. Kamara has not impressed me yet, League 1 players were quicker to the ball.

I'm still in the Gerrard In group, there comes a time when we have to give a manager time to have his own players and implement his overall playing style. I don't think less than a year is the time to be thinking of sacking him. Pochettino ? Please tell me what he has won ? He had a reasonable record early in his time at Spurs, but was then sacked when they were 14th. I think the foreignness of his name gives him greater appeal than his record.

[Legion]

Are you always this angry? I get it in the immediate aftermath of a shit defeat like Palace, but we’re the day after a 4-1 win.

He does have a point about Gerrard playing it safe and not being brave enough to start Cam.

[Nev]

Despite my misgivings both before, and at HT I enjoyed last night. As DW mentioned in his piece it was a chance for some of us to follow Villa away, a rarity these days.

The atmosphere was good in the ground, each side appeared to have their own "Red Hang Gang" of babbies floating around outside all to eager to "get the badge in" and in a first, for me anyhow, I ate a Tesco Meal Deal in their car park, goods balanced on a Grit Bin and washed the food down with four cans of San Miguel.

It took me back to Swindon away in the Cup in '92, walking towards the ground with tins purchased from the local supermarket.

It was boiling in the ground, even in the seats but I'll not moan given the decades spent freezing my bollocks off as the team toiled. The toilets were smoke logged to the point of not being able to breathe, I smelt like a long term smoker all night! We managed to dodge the worst of the traffic although we skirted dangerously close to Kidsgrove and Stoke on the M6 diversion, but we won, are in the hat and we will continue to argue about the misgivings or otherwise of both Manager and players but I had a loff.

[PaulWinch again]

Are you always this angry? I get it in the immediate aftermath of a shit defeat like Palace, but we’re the day after a 4-1 win.

He does have a point about Gerrard playing it safe and not being brave enough to start Cam.

It’s understandable though isn’t it? I’m sure we’d all like to see Cam get time, but Gerrard needed a win so he went primarily with what he felt would do that. Pressure doesn’t foster a great environment for risk taking and ultimately it worked.

[kippaxvilla2]

He was in a no win position last night though.  Imagine how much pressure he would’ve been under if he had picked a weaker side.  Plus for years we’ve been banging on about taking the cups seriously.

[Skerra]

A few observations from our start to the season. SG has to be strong enough to admit he has made a big mistake in appointing McGinn as captain and should drop him at the same time. Kamara, the jury is still out and last night he could have been sent off for his persistent fouling.
I saw something last night that I hope Gerrard also saw. Our best 2 strikers are Archer and Bailey. They both have pace, which we generally lack and both have good movement and an eye for goal. Would be a huge mistake to let Cam go out on loan. Doesn’t matter how old you are, if you’re good enough, you should be playing.

[rob_bridge]

He was in a no win position last night though.  Imagine how much pressure he would’ve been under if he had picked a weaker side.  Plus for years we’ve been banging on about taking the cups seriously.

Totally agree - not necessarily starting line (we all argue about starting personnel) but picked who he should have largely from the first team squad.

I would like to have seen Cam get a shot as he did last year albeit against a weaker side. Watkins and Ings scored so it was the right call. 

I would expect Konsa and Cash to play Sunday (the former a worry) but what he does in terms of formation and picks further forward will be interesting.
If he plays 4-3-3 and we are as insipid as per Cherries and Eagles then he will righly get tomotaoed or cabbaged

[Dogtanian]

Something I've been thinking about since last night. In the first half particularly, Bouba committed three or four what you might call 'silly' fouls when we lost possession in the final third.  Not dangerous bookable tackles, just bumping into players from behind, enough to put them down and stop them turning or moving the ball on.

I do wonder if this is a deliberate instruction? Tactical fouls in moments of transition when we concede possession.  Man City are masters as it (and regularly rotate the player doing the fouling), it's very sly, but it's a good way of preventing effective counterattacks.

There was an interesting analysis in The Athletic a few weeks ago about fouling in the Premier League. It looked at which teams committed the most fouls overall and then adjusted it for the amount of time spent out of possession. It also looked at tactical fouls where a player is brought down to stop a dangerous break continuing.

It showed that Liverpool and Man City commit the least tactical fouls. But also found that they commit more fouls further up the pitch. Basically, it suggested that they don't commit as many tactical fouls because they foul the opposition as soon as they lose possession, rather than waiting till a break was happening. The effect is the same, but with much less risk of bookings as it looks like a normal clumsy challenge rather than a cynical tactical foul. They prevent a break and give themselves time to get back into position, but without a booking and the ball still deep in the oppositions half.

[boozey182]

He was in a no win position last night though.  Imagine how much pressure he would’ve been under if he had picked a weaker side.  Plus for years we’ve been banging on about taking the cups seriously.

That's usually the case when a team plays lower-league opposition - you either win like you should and everyone shrugs, or you get beat and you're a laughing stock. I fully understand why he picked the team that he did, and it's difficult to argue with as we won convincingly.

What I will say, though, is that in this round last year Cameron really made a name for himself, having not really done anything noteworthy up until that point (he certainly seemed below Barry, Barney, Aaron Ramsey etc in terms of expectations). You could argue that giving him a full 90 minutes has saved the club millions of pounds, and it's a shame that we weren't in a position last night to give minutes to more of our promising young players, and with it a chance to prove themselves.

Never mind. The main thing was getting a win, which we did. A bit of confidence going into Sunday won't do us any harm at all.

[olaftab]

Watched the whole game.

Archer needs to start, he would have scored if he had been on the pitch longer than 10 minutes. Knows when to attack a defender and knows how to support another attacker, (see Bailey goal; if keeper had saved, he was in position for the rebound). Every time I've seen him play (on tele), he stands out as a natural striker.

Tim needs to play alongside Kamara, that means dropping McGinn, Luis or JJ. I'd rather have any of those 3 to come on as subs later, than to start and be so understaffed in the midfield battle area. Again, Tim looks naturally gifted, doesn't panic and has the knack of being in (mostly) the right position at the right time. Can also make a decent pass and tackle.

Agree with all of this

Same here.

Maybe, but it's not a good place to assess these things on what we did against a third division outfit for about 20 mins.

[astonvilla82]

Players shouldn't need Gerrard to tell them how to beat Bolton, that's not demeaning Bolton either,like when Dean Smith was here players are hiding behind the manager