Aston Villa v Fulham Post-Match Thread

[brontebilly]

Everybody gets nervous when they're invested. Fulham created absolutely nothing in the last 10 minutes.

ESR was dreadful when he came on, was expecting more from him. Fulham weren't bothered at all today. We really should have cut back the goal difference gap between Forest and ourselves a lot today.

[Ads]

Everybody gets nervous when they're invested. Fulham created absolutely nothing in the last 10 minutes.

ESR was dreadful when he came on, was expecting more from him. Fulham weren't bothered at all today. We really should have cut back the goal difference gap between Forest and ourselves a lot today.

It's a shame we didn't. On another day it's a 4-0 stroll. I thought that ball that went out on the full with Traroe really summed them up.

[VillaTim]

It should have been a comfortable win but it wasn't that's the whole point .
And the point was it's reflective of a season where we have tossed points away certainly late in games (the stats will tell you) and could be sat confirmed now top 4 but aren't .

[pauliewalnuts]

It's game, what, 54 of the season?

That's what happens when you play so much football.

It seems pretty pointless to be moaning about a match we won, though.

How is a match which we won reflective of a season in which we threw points away?

[villa for life]

It's game, what, 54 of the season?

That's what happens when you play so much football.

It seems pretty pointless to be moaning about a match we won, though.

How is a match which we won reflective of a season in which we threw points away?

Actually, top coaches are renowned for moaning at their teams even if they win. Winners have high standards.

[PaulWinch again]

Ahhhhh I’ve missed it for so long, Tim’s a top coach?

[rob_bridge]

Regulation win. Should have scored one or two more.

SJM and Youri very good. Maatsen developing into proper talent. Cash had a fine game overall dealing with their biggest threat

[markeeeebeeee2005]

Good to get the three points and a fair few players toiled.  Asensio is incredible some games then others has the presence of Joey Guðjónsson.

[rooboy316]

Kamara wasn't awful but he did look like he was struggling to play at his normal tempo and it led to him giving the ball away cheaply a few times.

Given he was out for so long it's no shock that his fitness levels aren't as high as the rest of the team but he in particular looks like most of the squad did this time last season where the summer can't come soon enough.

I think Asensio is part of the problem too. He just wasn’t making himself available for the pass often enough, when Kamara and Tielemans were getting the ball in tight areas. Rogers and Ramsey did a much better job of providing an option for an outlet ball.

[eamonn]

Didn't realise at the game that they were down to ten for the last 15 minutes. We should have had enough about us not to be pinned back at home against ten Fulham players. The drop-off from Youri to Roscoe is quite stark and Ollie offers more off the ball than Malen, ditto McGinn v Ramsey.

[darren woolley]

I'm pleased with the win and clean sheet but I was nervous towards the end.

[Rory]

Mention to the Fulham fans - while there weren't many of them, they seemed good in voice and humour. And pretty much all stood and clapped through the half-time remembrance.

Which you'd expect them to do, because most people aren't twats. But then again, some people are twats, and they weren't.

I've always found Fulham fans to be decent sorts. And Franky is a gentleman.

[dcdavecollett]

Saw Emi in the warm-up hitting long passes into the Fulham half (where they were remarkably well-controlled by Robin Olsen) and wondered whether we would use that in the actual game.

I soon got my answer, as Emi regularly went long to SJM who won and kept just about every ball he received. The defenders didn't know what to do as SJM turned one way then the other and started up attack after attack. Brilliant to watch.

Other MotM candidates were Yuri and both full-backs who had really good games.

[Matt C]

Very simply we need to win our last four games and that’s the first one checked off. Not our finest performance of the season but it matters not. Thought Tielemans was the best player on the park by a mile, what a season he’s had for us.

I’m sure it’s data-based but I’m really not a fan of the early substitution of McGinn trend. We really miss his energy and the general momentum of the team lessens when he’s not there.

[Percy McCarthy]

Just watched it again and watching it stress-free makes a big difference, for me at least. Asensio didn’t do much and Barkley was crap - I said to the babby when he came on that he’s a non-entity who just dwells on the ball until someone takes it off him, and so it proved (Barkley, not the babby).

But everyone else was fine. Tielemans and McGinn were magnificent, as was Rogers second half. Maatsen was top notch, Ramsey and Onana were good subs, Malen lively and Digne did well v the bodybuilder. Kamara was decent I thought, I sympathised a little with the criticism I read on here on the way home, but thought he was better on second viewing and made some good, important tackles towards the end when we were a bit nervous.

All in all I thought we played well with some lovely slick passing at times, albeit against not the most challenging opposition. Should have won by a few more.

As for the TNT coverage, it seems that all they want to talk about, prompted by the host, is who can get themselves to a “bigger” club. Load of shite.