Daholteend

3 wins on the bounce? I'll take them! Let's not obscure reality, since MON left we have been a very sad sight.

The idea that we would be promotion contenders immediately was hopeful at best. Have we lost sight of how poor we were for the last 6 years under Lerner?

We actually will benefit from another year in the Championship. It will take that long to build a solid footballing base to enable us to return to the Premiership and be competitive. 

These 3 wins will go a long way to take the pressure of relegation off our backs and perhaps we might end the season with a promising finish. We might also discover that what Steve Bruce envisions for Aston Villa is close to what we fans have always dreamed and never really thought could happen.

That said, this was a solid win over a team headed to League 2. However a win is a win and still worth celebrating. Too bad that we had to suffer more injuries along the way though.

Hudders will be more challenging and our result there might be more indicative of where we are at this stage of the season.

Pleased with the 3 points !

Michael118 wrote:

I just read an article where he is blaming Di Matteo and our lack of fitness on our results. Maybe it's a factor, I don't know, but it not the main factor. I don't think Steve Bruce knows what is wrong with Aston Villa and I don't think he knows how to or is capable of fixing it.

What we are missing and have been for a long time is skilful hard nosed player in a central midfield sweeping role that can use his influence on the team to encourage them to turn defence into attack through a passing game.

Our midfield has been lightweight for so long and are easily hustled off the ball like feathers.

MON sorted this problem out with players like Petrov, Milner, Downing linking up with the likes of Young and Carew.

Brian Clough got Derby County out of the second division and to the top of the first by signing Dave Mackay and that is exactly the kind of player we are missing too.

Bruce may well be right about the fitness of some players like  Jedinak who played after a long air-flight. But that is only part of it.  Even a fit Jedinak doesn't have the   skills or football brain that  the Petrov's and Mackay's  had.

Until that sweeper/leader is  found  I think we are stuck in groundhog  day.

We have also suffered for having players on the  team that just  don't  care about  Aston Villa. Players who have  skills but are either selfish , lazy or both who don't play a team game. We know who they are and  hopefully  Steve Bruce will soon  work  them out of the  system or  re-train them to be team players. (Not going to hold my breath on that issue)

Bruce has a  massive challenge on his  hands. I  am not going to try to predict   how  he will  do. Also I will not pretend to judge  him until  he  has at least 15 games  as manager.

If we  can get to January without too much  damage and we are able to fix the  midfield/sweeper issues in the transfer window we "might" have an outside chance of getting somewhere near the play off places.

Steve Bruce should be pleased with this result gaining a point after such a dire performance. For that he has to thank Alan Hutton whose block of Carvaleiro's attempt saved Villa from our usual ploy of giving away a significant goal in the final ten minutes.

Now it is back to Bodymoorr Heath  to sort out a team for Reading. Good luck on that   Steve, you are going to need it. 

Luckily it's only October. There is still time to salvage something and sorting out the midfield must be a priority.

20 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Buy all the Mc's!

Villa have had a fair few Mc's in their days. McParland and McGrath being legends but the likes of McEwan, McLeod, McMahon, McNaught & McCann weren't bad...it's time for another Big Mac!

7 hours ago, OLDVILLAIN said:

 gueye and clark gone..pity we cant sell gabby,lescott and richards...xia should just put them on a container ship straight to the chinese superleague..

I would have thought that the old slow boat to China would be the best exit route for Lescott & Gabby

The referee's failure to give penalties for Huth's arm-swinging fouls on Kozak in the  Penalty area was disgraceful.

On the bright side though the fact that Huth was paying so much attention to Kozak arguably gave Gestede just enough space  to create something and score that all important point winning goal. So Kudos  for Kozak for being in position and  taking not one  but several for the team.

Concerning Kozak, we have to remember that  the lad has  barely played  2 games  in a couple of  seasons and in the  absence of any other strikers he  needs to be given a  run in the team. As I said above, if Kozaks running of the channels  gives other opportunities for Gestede and Ayew then he should be played and today I am glad he was on the pitch.

I hope that the rumours of  his being loaned  or  sold this  transfer window are  rubbish. If Gestede or  Ayew gets injured who are you  going to play?  Gabby ? My vote is  Kozak .

1 hour ago, ferguson1 said:

 I am in a fortunate seat position whereby you can here the real 'talkers' on the pitch and we are such a quiet team!! 

If I recall correctly Garde  banned the speaking of French from the  dressing room. That would suggest that half the team will be quiet and the other half have nothing to say until they can speak good English and that alone might take a  while ;-)

Joking aside, your point is well taken. Villa lack having a number of English speaking, Premier League experienced  veterans that can leave their mark on a game with their leadership skills in play calling and strategy on the pitch especially defencively. Players like Laursen and McGrath come to mind.

Today though I thought Jores Okore put in a decent game and undoubtedly kept us in the game with his timely coverage and clearances. Could Okore be heard from where you were sitting Ferguson1 ?

In the space of 5 days we have gained 4 points, a third of our season's total. We have to take this and  keep pressing for more.

Good to see Kozak and Gestede on together. This  combination has potential for more goals than we have seen  so far..

Still lack a cutting  edge from midfield needed to provide strikers service and unlock defences  like  Leicester's.

Garde has been trying a few things and the team  will only play better as their confidence builds.

Physical players like Huth show us that we are lightweight in our midfield and wherever we are playing next season we need some physical aggression because there is no doubt that to survive teams need a  measure of skill backed up with  some beef to avoid being  hustled off the ball.

Okore and Bunn were solid at the back. Okazaki's goal highlighted the kind of errors that we have to eliminate to avoid  gifting goals to fast predatory teams. Bunn's penalty save was a just reward for a doubtful  PK in the first place.

All is not lost. We managed 4 points  from  teams in the  Top  8 of the table all in one week. A long way to go but not an impossibility on this week's performance.

Not enough movement from forward players off the ball. Kind of told the tale from early on. We were never going to win that. Too tired, too nervous, whatever, Arsenal are so superior, even if we did show up, it would have been a very difficult match.

Agreed . Defending  against AVFC is  very easy.  Double team or Triple team their  threats and Benteke and grealish were both eliminated as a factor that way.  Nobody else raised their game enough to pick up the  slack. Delphie and Cleverly tried but couldnt  match the Arse  defence &   N'Zogbia had nothing to offer today.

Grealish actually didn't play badly he just didn't get the  same   support from the other role players that he had  versus  Liverpool .

Of course it didnt  help that we played  pool at their  worst and Arsenal at their best.

Yes  , Arsenal  are superior and I can't  see that chaging in a long time can you ?

Did anyone hear Sherwood say in his post match interview at he's already told some players that they won't be required next season. I m wondering when he chose to broke the news to those players and if anyone of them were starting for us yesterday - as that could explain just how vacant our players were...

...or we're simply not a match for Arsenal.

I am sure that TS's revelations that if the buy out clause on Benteke's  contract is  triggered  he will be  gone   didn't do Big Ben's or the teams confidence much good. This was one game  where his presence was needed. Mind  you the tactic of  serving  up the ball to  Mertsacker;s head all the time didn't help either.

In the  dejected  state that all of  AVFC  are in after  that game it is difficult to read  between the lines of any  statements.

Reality is that  until Lerner clearly  announces  his real  plans & intentions for the  future of  AVFC  everyone  at  B6  is in limbo particularly TS .

I would compare Lerner's promises to sell  to Chamberlain's  Pre  WW2 "Peace in our time" statements - Optimistic to say the least.

Todays lesson to be taken from Arsenal is relatively straight forward. If you have a club  that continues  to invest in  quality players and has a  solid business plan and management to accomplish that you will succeed. If you don't have a  club that embraces those ideals you will look a lot like we do .

One  would hope that there may be some very real prospective purchasers about to step up and make a good offer to Randy Lerner for  our  beloved Aston Villa but until  I  see the headlines blazing across  the media  that Aston Villa has been sold I feel it will be  business as  usual at B6  and since  I carried  the   delusion  at this time last year I  have no reason to  believe that anything is going to  change  in a hurry. I will be  pleasantly delighted if I am proven wrong  :-)

Problem for the Villa is simple. We are a one trick pony  when it  comes  to our strikers.
It is made worse  for Benteke if your only tactic is to serve up crosses  that are out of Big Ben's range but perfect for Mertsacker and  co who had him in their pocket for the 93 minutes of the game.

It didn't help that our lads seemed  tired and listless and even moreso as the game dragged on.
With hindsight perhaps starting  with Bacuna  and  Gabby might have worked better. Who knows?

To survive next season we  HAVE to bring in at least 2 potent strikers plus midfielders who are capable of scoring goals . Until those  changes are made, we can expect more of the same and  the eventual trip to  the Championship.

I thought  that the only player who played  very well was Richardson. Given  made a  couple of good saves   but then also was caught out on a  couple more. Grealish kept  at it  and with some  quicker and  better movement  from  the players with him might have accomplished something.  Reality was though  that our creative spark was on a low  ebb  and they played  a solid  compact game  whose high line and through ball tactics  for us were spot on. All credit to the Arse, they are the better team and their  quality is undeniable.

As a long time Villa fan it will always annoy me that our old foe  still haunts us and these  days  we   simply are not in the  same league as they are . I   would love that to change.

I am however massively proud that we got to the  FA Cup Final and that the  lads  did not bow their heads. There is no shame being beaten  by a better team and today we  were.
Up the Villa !

Oh by the way for any  that doubt  this, today was a good example of  what   Aston Villa will look like without  Benteke  because in reality  today we  were.

It is  going to be an interesting   summer transfer  season. Let us see what Randy Lerner plans  to  do to solve our immediate problems.

I am starting to be a little bit more hopeful that we will be playing in the Prem next season. A loss by Hull or a win by us in our last two games should secure that. Who among us would have predicted such a thing while Lambert was still here?

Tim Sherwood and the Villa lads deserve what they are accomplishing and lately Cleverley has put in solid performances as he did  today.  An extra goal for insurance purposes and improving our  GD  would have been better on the nerves during a nervous last 20 minutes but a win is a win and these were a valuable 3 points. Well done  Aston Villa !

With more injuries and Sanchez getting a red card at Spuds, it will be interesting to see if Sherwood finds a spot for Gil next Sunday.

Beating Spurs at White Hart Lane is always a massive pleasure. This year it is even moreso because Tim Sherwood has been able to turn the morale of the players particularly Benteke.

Sometimes a 0-1 victory is even more stinging than a thrashing.

There will be lot's of moaning in the pubs of Tottenham tonight! Meanwhile we Aston Villa fans are ecstatically making our way home (possibly) with 3 points courtesy of Daniel Levy's "issues" with previous managers.

Those 8 minutes of added time seemed to be an eternity and for once we survived. It Doesn't get any better than this.

From Ciggies & AVFC website :

" The manager told me the way that he'd like me to play and it all sat perfectly for me. I'm very happy to be coming down to play for Villa."

The  awkward way that Cleverly describes   the loan hints that he thinks it is a  "come  down"  to be at B6 .  Truth is that it is when you look at the way things have been for us over the last  4 years compared   with Old Trafford.

That said, we do present  a golden opportunity for him to get his career back where he  wants it to be and at the same time it may well be that our tide of mediocrity has turned. Overall I  think  Cleverly is  a  tidy piece of the puzzle that will more than likely  fit.

Lambert and Keane have done a good job so far bearing in mind the limited  funds and  what they  had to work with before the window started.

Welcome  to Aston Villa Tom Cleverly . I look forward to see  you help us  win  games in the  famous  claret  &  blue .

I think one thing's for sure now. Joe Cole is not going to get a kick this season.

If Joe does get a  kick you can bet that he'll be back on the injury bench for treatment!

Well this thread's gone in an odd direction.

Yes  from Blanco  to Brown  and  several  shades in between.

 

 

Bartelt wasn't our first Argentinian. You're forgetting the Arce brothers

Neither Oscar Arce  or his brother  actually played  for  Aston Villa when it was  discovered that  Oscar  was possibly no better than   a  circus  performer  capable of dribbling  and prodigiously  controlling the ball like  a  hacky sack but in fact was an awful footballer .

 

Over the years  there has been an urban myth  about  Oscar Arce  because at the time Aston Villa  also had a good Welsh International player, Barry Hole on  the team  and  the pub  rumours always  questioned  what it would look like  if Aston Villa signed Tony Brown  from the Baggies and played them all in the Midfield.

 

It would have read  Brown  Arce  Hole .

 

Gustavo Bartelt  was a loanee  from Roma  who  lasted a  whole  3 months   and was named  for the bench   once  and never played. 

 

So if Sebastian Blanco were  to  sign  for  us and actually was ITSOTP he would be   our  first Argentinian to wear a first team shirt.   

 

Well that's a piece of Villa's history rewritten. We did have a midfielder named Brown, Jimmy Brown, although Barrie Hole and Oscar Arce never played with him.

 

The Jimmy Brown  you are referring to  was a Scottish Schoolboy and  IIRC  he joined  Villa in May  1969  whereas Oscar Arce left  Aston Villa in January 1969 and thus there was no overlap or possibiltiy that they would play with each other which is  why the  Pub Rumour went around suggesting  that we get the Baggies  player  in  to complete the Brown Arce Hole team sheet listing.

Its all a moot point anyway  since   Arce  was  not  at  a standard  that would have  him playing in the  Villa First Team .

Bartelt wasn't our first Argentinian. You're forgetting the Arce brothers

Neither Oscar Arce  or his brother  actually played  for  Aston Villa when it was  discovered that  Oscar  was possibly no better than   a  circus  performer  capable of dribbling  and prodigiously  controlling the ball like  a  hacky sack but in fact was an awful footballer .

Over the years  there has been an urban myth  about  Oscar Arce  because at the time Aston Villa  also had a good Welsh International player, Barry Hole on  the team  and  the pub  rumours always  questioned  what it would look like  if Aston Villa signed Tony Brown  from the Baggies and played them all in the Midfield.

It would have read  Brown  Arce  Hole .

Gustavo Bartelt  was a loanee  from Roma  who  lasted a  whole  3 months   and was named  for the bench   once  and never played. 

So if Sebastian Blanco were  to  sign  for  us and actually was ITSOTP he would be   our  first Argentinian to wear a first team shirt.   

tonev is absolutely shocking so glad he has been subbed. one of teh worst wingers i have seen us sign

Rank  him along with Agathe   !

Sixty minutes in and I maintain my earlier point that Robinson and Johnson look good...then so too Grealish and Carruthers and in total they don't have much experience at all.

 

I do wonder why people expect so much from these very young and naive players. This is a learning experience for them.

Smiling Z_Z It seems to be a tradition to expect so much of  our  youngsters and if and when they eventually get their  chance with the first team and they don't immediately perform like superstars, some "fans"  are quick to  condemn  them.  Remember when Luke Moore and Gabby were coming through the ranks?

It still amazes me in a positive way  that Gabby is still  with us.  Luke Moore in the  early days showed so much promise. Same could be  said  for  Delfouneso who has now  signed  for Blackpool. Similarly Albrighton..but that is  a whole  other thread

I really wish we'd have kept Luna and got rid of Bennett!

Thing is another club  wanted   Luna and quite  rightly. As far as I am aware no one is in  for Bennett and probably won't be until Lambert has sorted out what he is going to do for  both right back and left back.

It's best to take this game for what it was.... a friendly in an overly hot humid climate against a team that itself is trying to define itself having only won 6 games this season and one of those against a non MLS side Laredo. (Yes you may well ask where the F is Laredo apart from featuring in an oft sung Cowboy song ?)

The thing I have noticed so far this pre season is that Hutton is fitter than most and playing decently as a right wing back. If only his crosses were as effective as Albrightons.

Richardson has also shown some bright touches and when he was subbed for Delph suddenly we noticed that N'Zogbia was on the park.

Senderos is steady and should be with his experience and when paired with Ron Vlaar we may hope that the back four are solid.

Gardner and Grealish are both showing promise and I hope that they get a chance to stay with the first team this season.

We have to remember that Houston Dynamo's CB's have not set the world on fire this season and even though it's early in the pre season I would have liked to have seen a more cohesive attacking midfield.

Bent didnt get any service of any note and hardly got a touch the time he was on the pitch. The one opportunity he got late in the second half so surprised him that it went begging.

I hope that from another angle that ball was unplayable because those are the kinds of balls that bent used to trade on.

Our forwards were a lot like Uruguay after Suarez got sent home...toothless. The winning goal it should be noted was scored by our often criticised RB Joe Bennett from a cross from Weimann on the left side. What ????? Yes it is hard to get one's head around that but a goal is a goal is a goal and when it is the only goal of the game...we will take it!

Let's pray that Benteke and Kozak recover 110% from their respective injuries because as of yet I haven't seen much from our forwards that give me any degree of comfort.

WE still need an attacking midfielder that has some ability to unlock Premier League Defences. On tonights showing we weren't able to apply sustained pressure on the Dynamo defence and that ought to be worrisome for Lambert & Keane . (Sounds like a brand of cigarettes doesn't it ? Lambert & Keane

Did anyone enjoy the Houston Cheerleaders pulling down the hoardings with advertising on them before each corner. Some one in their media department should have a chat with the referees so that the referees allow enough time for the commercial to run. A bit like American Footballs TV time outs.

A couple of times I was annoyed because we could easily have missed critical goals..but then I was a little optimistic wasn';t I !! Goals ??? What a concept !!

We can breathe a massive sigh of relief with this result. Well played Weimann, Albrighton and Bowery, not forgetting the edge that Gabby created before being substituted for injury.

Hull looked as though they were staying out of trouble  to stay fit  for  the FA Cup Final on May 17th rather than a team also needing survival points.

Our chances of getting  something from the remaining games improved   today.

If we had lost this game our chances would have been seriously reduced.

Can we get to 40 points this  season ?