DotsandCrosses

Dunno why everyone wants Jol, mediocre record just about everywhere. He's won, what, two Dutch domestic cups (as in, not the title) and that's it? Admittedly did pretty well with Spurs, but he's no spring chicken. I'd rather have Moyes (and yes, I acknowledge the hypocrisy in criticising Jol for lack of trophies then suggesting Moyes).

That said, IIRC Jol does have a brother called Cock. Cock Jol. A scout. Cock. Jol.

Brilliant, I saw a Pac-Man dude when I passed the Emirates. Great to see.

Got to say, I didn't get a ticket today because I had a prior arrangement earlier in the day, but I came back from said arrangement by the Emirates (I live in London. Lived in Aston when I got into football though, so Villa are my team!) the away fans were absolutely fantastic as they were coming out of the stadium. Well done, anyone who went!

@DotsandCrosses - I remain of my idea about the formation mate, but thank you for sharing your blog and your beautiful diagrams, many congrats for them, I'll make a bit of advertising that is well deserved for the accuracy that you put in the job.

Thank you very much. Football's all about opinions, after all, we can agree to disagree eh? :winkold:

I am looking forward to the Liverpool game a lot now.

Agreed. It was a 4-3-3, Delph was working on roughly the same axis as Petrov but running from deep to link. I've written about it over on my blog in much more length though, so I won't bore anyone who doesn't care here!

Excellent job, mate.

It's only a detail, but I think that your scheme confirms just that our formation was 4-2-3-1 because Reo and Petrov were behind Delph, and Delph was almost on the same line of the wingers.

Not quite. Petrov was on a similar line with Delph. If it was a 4-2-3-1, Delph would be much further forward. Compare that diagram to the one I did for the Carling Cup final and you'll see what I mean. The positioning of the three is much more extreme in a 4-2-3-1.

Can't understand how you can consider immense the pair Dunne & Collins, though.

They concede one or two goals every game.

I was acclimatized with the likes of Paul mc Grath and Alessandro Nesta (the former captain of my Italian team) who conceded one or two every season!

Try to see again the RvP's goal, their blunder is evident: http://rutube.ru/tracks/4433971

You misunderstand me, I think individually they were exceptionally good TODAY (um, yesterday, come to think of it). Over the course of the season they've been pretty pathetic, as I said in the graph showing their tackles made next to the conclusion, but today, as individual defenders, they excelled.

Having a go at them over the RvP goal would be harsh really, considering it was a goalmouth scramble and they had been defending more or less for the entire game minus the first 20 minutes. Heavy Arsenal pressure would eventually pay off, but it was due to their good defending (partially) that we didn't concede more.

He did extremely well today I think, hassled the opposition well and ran from deep tirelessly. We didn't get to see too much of his attacking skills because we were forced back for about three quarters of the game but he worked his socks off.

Finally after 37 games we played 4-3-3, hopefully we'll keep it that way.

Or was it 4-5-1?

It was 4-2-3-1 imo.

How? There was no one in the 'hole'.

Agreed. It was a 4-3-3, Delph was working on roughly the same axis as Petrov but running from deep to link. I've written about it over on my blog in much more length though, so I won't bore anyone who doesn't care here!

What a fantastic match. Voted Friedel MoM because he was superb, though Bent ran him close in my eyes. Collins was immense, too, best defending I've seen from the backline all season (though the competition isn't all that great, admittedly).

Excellent performance. 25% shots to goals conversion rate for the team as a whole, we could only dream of that under O'Neill. Great stuff.

I think how it is performed is critical. Walking around waving and soaking up the applause just isn't on for a team that has failed so badly this season. What would be acceptable is them clapping the supporters specifically to thank them for their support.

I'm not sure Downing would want this lost posted under the guise of a thread about him?? :winkold:

I'm sure he'd be flattered. Hell, I would.

Brilliant news, good to see some loyalty and sense of repayment. He's improved immeasurably from the one-dimensional up-and-down winger we signed.

Turns out 12 mil was a pretty good deal.

What did Downing create of any note to make him our biggest attacking threat? God knows how he was rated MOM because he did sweet FA. NRC was MOTM by a clear distance but no way would i say Downing was behind him as he did nothing, didn't take on his full-back. Like i said Downing struggles at home, when teams sit back and as a midfield duo is static as they come all creativity is left to two players.

One player. Young can't create to save his life. He can create space for others to create in extremely well, just he himself doesn't possess the vision and passing ability to take advantage of it. Downing is the only one who can.

I write a pretty in-depth blog about tactics to do with the Villa mostly. Most of the match reports I do are Villa (apart from the occasional one that takes my fancy) , and using diagrams and stats from sources like WhoScored. Anyone who likes stuff like ZonalMarking or Jonathan Wilson should enjoy this. Check it out.

http://dotsandcrosses.wordpress.com/