westholmevillan

Gabby has got the worst ball control that I have ever seen in a professional footballer!

Charlie Aitkens first Villa game in 1959 (I believe)......Aitken a true Villa Legend. I think it was also Johny Dixon's last game for Villa. I think we played Sheffield Wednesday.....cant recall the score...can anyone help me with that? I believe it was in the old 2nd division.

Only 6 goals conceded in the last 11 games....unbeaten and not conceded in 2015....in the hat for the 4th round!

Happy New Year to one and all!

UTV

What is Lerner's nickname in this forum?

Lambert got one VERY GOOD tactics.

That was me..he took our best creative player off after 15 mins (Vlaar)... The mans a genius

I voted for Grealish, he tried and deserve something.  Sanchez was least disappointing.  None deserve moth.

We are totally lost.

What is the plan? What do they do in training? Something needs to change

Whats training?

Did genuinely seem with a couple of crosses that he couldn't generate the power to put a good cross in due to his more slight frame, but he can work on that. Looked a real threat. Does he actually wear shin pads or does he just wear them really low? Hard to tell.

The rules say that shin pads are compulsory....so yes he does wear them!

Criticised in the early parts of the season for lack of passing and lack possession , criticised now for too much passing and too much possession

 

I think there's plenty in favour of this new approach. It does require a bit of creativity in the team and curses that Joe Cole is injured (but hardly surprising); I much prefer the frustration of not being able to score over letting the opposition have the ball and inviting them to try and score.

 

Lambert took a pretty big gamble in the 67th minute making an attacking change bringing in Grealish for Cleverley and I'm glad it didn't backfire.

 

Benteke was quite disappointing today but I guess this is the problem when the ref allows the opposition defenders to use him as a mannequin to drape their shirts on.

Agree with most of that but dont think bringing Grealish on was a gamble. It was a very sensible sub IMO. We needed someone who could hold the ball up and show composure. Its easy just to hoof the ball away when you have only 10 men and your tired. Grealish worried the shit out of the Sunderland players and kept it in their final 3rd with his composure..... More of the same from Jack please!

Toothless before the sending off, wasteful afterwards. We didn't seriously look like scoring until the last few minutes. Some of the control and passing in this match was appalling, and Weimann continues to be a waste of a shirt. Sanchez played magnificently, and Grealish did more in the few minutes he was on than most other players did in the whole match, but that's about it as far as positives go.

 

I'm genuinely angry with our attacking players. Benteke can berate the other players all he likes, but he cost us chance after chance by refusing to make an attacking run or even try to get away from the players marking him.  Nzogbia did okay but still keeps running into blind alleys. Off-the-ball movement was terrible, and nobody ever seems to want to make a run in behind the opposition defenders, which means that we can pass the ball around as much as we want but defenders know they don't have to do anything as we never try to pass it forward.

 

As for Delph... well, he made a couple of good attacking runs but wasn't at his best and while I'm not convinced that the red card was a stonewall decision for the referee, it's certainly the kind of challenge that would be more likely to be a red for us than for certain other clubs.

Cant defend the Delph tackle.....over the top with studs showing = no brainer!

Sanchez outstanding. Great purchase by Lambert. To be fair whenever Lambert as payed over the 4 million mark for a player, he's got it right!

Weimann was shocking today, especially in the final third. He needs a rest. How many more times do we have to say that Grealish MUST start?

Awful tackle by Delph. Red card was the correct decision IMO.

Grealish and Bacuna must start against Palace!

Calder listed on bench on Official site

Oh no he isnt!!

Riccardo Calder is on the bench!! a youth team prospect.

Oh no he isnt!!

he's on the bench, have you not seen the starting line up and sub bench for today's game?

He was also on the bench against Man Utd so why are you saying he isn't on the bench?

Bench: Given, Lowton, Okore, Bacuna, Herd, Robinson, Grealish

Thats why I said he is NOT on the bench!

 

BBC: 

Substitutes

• 05 Okore
• 07 Bacuna
• 17 Herd
• 31 Given
• 37 Robinson
• 39 Calder
• 40 Grealish

Well, I prefer to believe the OS

Riccardo Calder is on the bench!! a youth team prospect.

Oh no he isnt!!

he's on the bench, have you not seen the starting line up and sub bench for today's game?

He was also on the bench against Man Utd so why are you saying he isn't on the bench?

Bench: Given, Lowton, Okore, Bacuna, Herd, Robinson, Grealish

Thats why I said he is NOT on the bench!

Riccardo Calder is on the bench!! a youth team prospect.

Oh no he isnt!!

Grealish should be in and Vlaar should be out!

I strongly believe that you make your own luck. That's why it's difficult for me to put defeats down to being unlucky. This time we were unlucky though. We were clearly better than them and should've won.

The ref thought that the push against Gabby didn't affect his shot, which I disagree with, like we all. Wrong decision which cost us a point.

It was difficult to choose MotM. I went with Clark, who was good. No-one was even very good. Okore was exceptionally poor, Hutton was poor too. They've been so good that I let it pass though. Also, the conditions and our formation in the first half were partly responsible for their bad performance.

If you make your own luck then why has no one come up with the recipe?

Well played lads. One of the worst red card decisions ever. 50/50 ball IMO. Blackett tackle on

Lowton 5 mins later was far, far worse. Red card should be rescineded! Okore outstanding again. Well done lads!

Poor team selection for me. Local derbies need a cool composed head in the midfield. Grealish would have been my choice as he his composed. Terrible hot headed decision by Richardson, CNZ offered absolutely nothing (again).
Man of the match for me was Okore. This lad shows good promise. Sanchez also played well IMO. Not too disheartened given that we only had 10 men for the vast majority of the game. Really pissed that Grealish doesnt get a start. Delph for Cleverley and Grealish for CNZ next week.

I am sorry but what has Grealish done so far? Very little. He is a kid with promise but chucking him in a derby game wouldn't have helped matters. Today was a disappointing result on a back of a decent run. Let's take a chill pill and see where we are in a few weeks time. Swansea, Palace, Sunderland and of course United (!) are games we should pick up some points in.

Poor team selection for me. Local derbies need a cool composed head in the midfield. Grealish would have been my choice as he his composed. Terrible hot headed decision by Richardson, CNZ offered absolutely nothing (again).

Man of the match for me was Okore. This lad shows good promise. Sanchez also played well IMO. Not too disheartened given that we only had 10 men for the vast majority of the game. Really pissed that Grealish doesnt get a start. Delph for Cleverley and Grealish for CNZ next week.

Grealish should have started today IMO. A local derby needs a cool composed head...Grealish would have provided that IMO.

PR Spin at its worst. Like it or not we are still in a scrap for PL survival. The 'grand Fox plan' wont get off the ground if we lose our PL status. Mr Fox, show us that this NOT BS by investing in January.

Typical club PR IMO.....talk alot, yet say nothing!

Villa 2 nil!!

Start Jack brigade!

Okore needs to improve passing but boy he loves a last ditch tackle.

Okore had 87.7% pass accuracy today. He does need to improve a little to match Clark's 95.6% accuracy, though.

Okore needs to improve passing? I'm actually blown away by that. He's a proper footballer, his range of passing is superb.

Weird.

Fully agree...at last a CB who is composed and spots a good pass and delivers it to a team mate. Jores has a very good future ahead of him IMO.

Well deserved win. Difficult to choose a man of the match today. I am going to give it to Okore, closely followed by Hutton, Clark.

Gabby actually done what he does best. Terrific run snd pass to Tekkers who found Hutton with a sublime pass.

I thought it was a bit harsh with the sending off. Two yellows would have been the correct call IMO. Having said yhat, I thought Vardy should have walked. Good to see 'super Mark' get a good ovation from the Holte. Grealish had a 30 mins or so. Please dont bring Weimann back yet!

There won't be a Prem game this season where Grealish starts. He'll be reduced to the odd cameo late in the second half of games.

Didnt realise that you had inside information on team selection.....are you a fly on the dressing room wall?