tommo

MoN really makes my blood boil at times

I think we could be in big trouble. That's possibly the most disastrous team selection I could have imagined.

Think this'll be tougher than the Palace game.

I'd go,

........................Friedel

Young......Cuellar/Collins..Dunne...Warnock

.......................Petrov

Young......Milner........Delph.......Downing

...................Gabby

Can't really see us slipping up with this team and I can see us playing better football.

Reading are playing with a lot of enthusiasm at the moment and if MoN goes in with the system which has seen us playing fairly average football of late then I think we may struggle. If so, my tip would be a draw with us generally on the backfoot, defending solidly, and a win in the replay. With the team above however, a positive 1-2 win.

Friedel 7- good save to deny Carrick

Cuellar 5- imo should have started at cb, poor distribution and continually let us down further forward

Collins 5.5- particularly shaky in the first half, and perhaps beaten too easily for Rooney's second

Dunne 7- you can't really legislate for a hideous error like that, however, he was immense that aside

Warnock 6- ok, some good work and an excellent challenge

Young 6- a bit hit and miss, but gave his all

Petrov 6.5- started the game superbly and despite giving his all, we needed genuine energy in the middle in the first half and he tires to easily. Valencia drifted past him easily for the second

Milner 6.5- a good shift

Downing 5- can't fault anybody's effort apart from his. A few decent balls but far too half-hearted a performance for my liking

Heskey 5.5- despite good hold up play (in the first half) he looked exposed and cumbersome

Agbonlahor 8*- best demonstration of hold up play I have seen from him. His pace was an outlet and this is the Gabby that the media tell us is a prospect. Keep up the good work.

A good effort in all but was disappointed that we didn't take the game by the scruff of the neck for long periods, and United rarely got out of second gear. A nervy game early on, and the Vidic decision may well have been crucial. MoN's management was irritatingly predictable (particularly Downing getting the full 90 and benching the right back), but you can see how much defeat means to him and hopefully we'll bounce back in the FA cup.

Very disappointed to lose to a side who in my opinion couldn't be arsed if they'd won or lost this game. The celebrations at the end were all a bit flat.

You could tell in the first half that those players knew they'd be in the final, and it had a negative effect.

How could you tell that?

You must be a world class body language reader.

What happened in the 2nd half then, were they no longer going to play in the final?

They got a kick up the arse and Burnley capitulated. Villa's play usually involves high energy... not a lot of that in the first half, with the exception of young

Well after winning and scoring 5 I cam see why some were annoyed with MON picking a strong side, playing cuellar at RB and picking injured petrov and heskey.

Entertaining match thread

We did enough. Arguably Young would have done a better job than Cuellar, Delph would have at least put himself about, unlike Stan, and the Fonz may have been more energised than Heskey. But that's in hindsight. It has often been proved that we play more positively with these players.

You could tell in the first half that those players knew they'd be in the final, and it had a negative effect.

Friedel 6- nothing to do and not at fault

Cuellar 6- so, so, but distribution was poor and Luke Young must be thinking similarly. Lost his man for the first

Collins 6.5- ok

Dunne 6.5- an off day by Dunney's impressive standards.

Warnock 6- lost his man for the 2nd

Downing 6- an utterly dire first half was followed by two surprise goals and an improved performance

Petrov 5- allowed poorer players to drift past him throughout the game. Negative in possession and rarely made himself available

Milner 5- a spectator for much of the game and his tackling was often pitiful

Young 7.5*- bright, enthusiastic, and often our only spark. Good delivery, for the most part.

Heskey 6.5- a little sluggish but was reasonable

Gabby 6.5- worked fairly hard and improved in the second half

-

Carew 5- needs to do more with the time he gets

Fonz- should have been on sooner for me

Sidwell- ran around aimlessly

I thought in the first half we had one eye on the final, not closing people down, no energy (Stan and Milner with the exception of Ash) and I questioned MONs bog standard team selection. However with a bit of luck and a second goal we came up against a side bereft of any confidence and I can't think of any opposition who have looked worse than Burnley in recent times. Coyle has left a mess and I really feel for their fans.

Overall a very positive result and here's hoping they pull their fingers out in the final because that first half was dreadful and we've gotten away with it today.

Fonz and Delph in mid week please MON and please for christs sake rest Milner and Petrov.

Some ratings:

Friedel 5- at fault for the first and maybe a bit slow getting to the second. Otherwise, OK.

L.Young 7- solid game

Dunne 7.5*- solid again

Collins 6.5- good goal but I worry about him at times in the air

Warnock 5.5- offered a bit going forwards but wasn't tight enough and gave away possession sloppily at times

Petrov 6.5- didn't notice he was playing until he played a nice pass, and of course the goal which has become a collector's item

Delph 6.5- some good vision. Not convinced by him in the holding role though, prefer to see him further forward

A.Young 5- wasteful on the ball and passing

Downing 6- did one or two good things including a great ball for the goal.

Milner 5- didn't notice him

Heskey 6.5- shame he had nobody with him

-

Carew 6- two good openings but failed to score

Fonz 7- bright and showed an excellent touch

Palace worked very hard. My only gripe was the lack of any innovation through the middle, we deserved our 'set-piece kings' label today.

The goalkeeping position is open again for the final after that display from Brad Senior.

Ref didn't help. Far too stop-start for petty decisions which resulted in hoofball tactics and a scrappy game. Good result.

Friedel 8- crucial saves although they were all relatively straightforward

Cueller 7.5- defensively he was very good

Dunne 9.5 *- we have the best centre back in the league, if not the world, on current form. Defoe in his back pocket. Every challange was defensive art.

Collins 7- struggled early on vs. Crouch but was part of a solid unit.

Young 7.5- good, nothing much got past him.

A.Young 6- not really in the game

Petrov 6.5- ditto, but good defensive work and an outrageous pass.

Milner 6- ditto young

Downing 6- ditto

Gabby 6- ok but also ditto, didn't hold the ball up, but we were playing hoofball

Heskey- not much impact in the time he was on

Carew 6- didn't hold the ball up but wasn't particularly poor.

All in all an excellent defensive performance (Dunne) against a very good and dangerous side. Half of our side was better than half of theirs, hence a deserved point!

I dont get that substitution at all

He's gone 451-

................petrov

........milner.........Delph

Young........Gabby....Downing

This performed very well at the wkend

that's a postive change- good move MON.

That would make sense! How did he play just out of curiosity?

Beye was good. Strangely he started at cb but was effective when moved to rb. Warnock didn't play well I thought and did a few strange things.

On this evidence Beye would be my choice over Cuellar at rb, if young is shifted to the left side. He's a solid player and probably better than how a lot of people rate him on here. We've had a hell of a lot worse over the years at rb.

Not sure about Beye vs Arshavin, but Cuellar vs Arshavin would be a no match imo

So Gabbys turn and shot that was saved well by Green didnt count?

It was something created out of nothing. It wasn't a clear chance. And were there any more chances? Not sure there were 2bh

Did I enjoy watching Villa today play some good football against West Ham? Yes I did.

hmmm, didn't see any myself

unproductive performances

over 13 shots + 15 ish corners + being camped in their half apart from a 10 min spell 2nd half. We should have won today and on another day would have. Yes with more quality in midfield/attack we could win but every team out there needs more quality.

only two of them were genuine chances. And the 'on another day' thing doesn't wash with me. Results happen for a reason. The reason today imo was that MON was too stubborn to try and combat Wet Spams 3 man midfield with something different when his teacher's pet first 11 weren't producing. 'On another day' we'd have been beaten 5-1 at Manchester United. They failed to take their clear chances fortunately.

I would say that the management was piss poor, and he let the players down. And I haven't witnessed many worse or unproductive performances this season at least, maybe Wigan at home and burnley away first half, west ham away 2nd half, and blackburn (league) 2nd half.

And if Petrov was man of the match by a mile, then I must have been watching another game

He battled well in midfield against a West Ham 3 with not much help from Milner.

Not much help from Milner????!!!! Milly was knackered because he had to do all Stan's work. Stan is good with the ball at his feet, that's it. He does nothing else. Nothing that Delph or NRC could do just as well or better imo. I'd agree that he was one of the better players today. It's up to MON to counter that 3 then. He didn't. It was a pi$$ poor performance all round.

And he's blamed fatigue...that's simply laughable.

Who are all the muppetts just dismissing today as rubbish? Remember O'leary's reign in charge? We created today 13 chances of which 3-4 were good ones. On another day we would have won comfortably as had over 15 corners which we nomally have sucess from. Petrov man of the match by a mile. My only criticism is MON possibly did not change things up in the last 20 mins. I was thinking Sidwell for Carlos shifting Milner to RB as Carlos did alright but offers nothing going forward.

Fair enough but I don't remember any clear chances apart from Gabby skewing horribly over and cocking up again in the 92nd minute. And if Petrov was man of the match by a mile, then I must have been watching another game.

Big John I do admire your refusal to say anything negative about Villa, but when you watch a putrid performance like that with frustrating management, player favoritism and no inclination to at least try something different. People are going to be irritated. That is why this is a reaction thread.

Just as the reaction was positive after the 2 blackburn games, and the scores were 3-1 (with Delph and NRC) and 1-0. Not 5-0 as you suggest.

It seems you are happy with deliberately throwing away points because you are too stubborn to make a change because that is what you are paid to do.

This begs the question. Is

Young....Petrov...Milner....Downing

...........Gabby......Heskey

the answer?

For the 'oh so offensive' 'we need to win games' formation this is supposed to be because we scored 4 against pompey, it clearly isn't working.

1 goal in 4 games.

At around the 70 minute mark when WHU brought on fresh legs in midfield we started to struggle. To my surprise though, it was Milner who ran out of legs more than Petrov. From that point on WHU were able to pass the ball around our central midfielders who did not have the energy to chase them. Why MON will never bring on fresh legs to replace a starting CM (unless its NRC who doesnt require replacing usually) is a mystery to me.

Our finishing was woeful and from the amount of corners we had we should have expected Green to have been a bit busier. Very frustrating day to be a villan.

Milner tired more because he ran his ass off to cover Petrov, who every time he went forward didn't have the legs to get back when WHU eventually countered.

This.

Only one team wanted it in the end. A combination of poor judgment and finishing has cost us, Gabby at the end and Carew being offside. West Ham offered very little in the game, just sat back and defended. Behrami is a cheating word removed. Another poor refereeing performace.

Petrov was excellent today, great energy, passing and commitment. It was going to be one of those afternoons.

Petrov looked bolloxed last 15mins as he does in most games.

I agree. Petrov was one of the better players today, but I still don't see what he brings to the side. If that was great energy passing and commitment...then...I don't know. He was fairly average and did next to nothing in my eyes. The rest were worse.

Friedel- nothing to do 6

Cuellar- ok, but Young would've done a better job 6

Dunne- 7*

Collins- 5- looked tentative and Nouble owned him

Warnock 6.5- the main attacking threat

Young 6- ok but wasteful in the 2nd half

Petrov 6- one of the better players today but I fail to see what he brings to the side. Largely redudant apart from a couple of decent things on the ball

Milner 5- didn't see him apart from one shot

Downing 5- passing was very much 50/50 today.

Gabby 3.5- woefully inadequate finishing and hold up play

Heskey 5.5- redundant due to poor performances from the rest.

Carew 5

MON- inadequate, his tactical stubborness/deficiences, player favoritism and 1970s mentality were horribly exposed and let him down. He let the players and the fans down.

That was the great squad that MON keeps talking up.

This is abortionally poor management from MON