barry'sboots

Oh I see, I hadn't realised we should not include all his performances prior to Saturday as they weren't exactly where he wanted to play, despite the fact that he's a midfielder and to his horror had been asked to play in midfield. Have you ever seen Frank Lampard play in a 2 man CM (not done it that many times for Chelski but obviously has tried to play there for England)? He is not half the player he is in a three when he is given the freedom to roam and get himself into goal scoring positions. Frank in a 2 man CM is poor but I don't hear Chelski fans suggesting that he should leave?

Have to say that I only saw the highlights - first home game missed in years due to a wedding .... aaaaghhh! - but, in many ways it sounds like so many of our games, including the previous two games - Wolves & Spurs - and Chelsea (h) last year (although two out of three of those we managed to get three points). Villa much the better side in the first half with the opposition beginning to dominate in the second half. I personally believe that this is caused by Stan's tiring in the second half and becoming less influential and, when we lose that drive and influence out of CM, it really knocks us back - we concede more possession and we get the ball out to our flair players less often (hence it appears that they are having a poorer game). If he could play for 90 minutes as he often does for the first 45 minutes we would be in the CL spots IMO. I know a lot will disagree with me but, those who do agree/share my view, was this the case on Saturday?

That was my point.. with a huge, battling, energetic DM he could play in a central 2. Don't understand why people are so keen to get us playing with a 2? We are the only Top 8 club from last season playing this as even Redknob now is playing with a sole striker with VdV off him. You've lost me... I don't mean play a 4-4-2. The reason I'd like to see Ireland in a central midfield 2 is so that we could play Downing on the left wing, Ash behind a striker and Albrighton on the right wing. As it is, we have 4 options for 3 positions (Ash, Downing, Ireland and Albrighton) and as I think they're all great players deserving a place in our squad! (Obviously Albrighton is still young so this would add to our rotation options, but ideally I'd like all 4 to be in our starting 11) Essentially you're talking there about a 4-4-1-1 I think though, so your still, in my mind, a man down in CM as I don't think Ash, playing as the one of the striker, makes us solid enough when we are playing the better sides. I also personally prefer to see him out wide, BUT with a licence to come inside and play of Gabby/Heskey so we are not as rigid with our two wide players. For me, our ideal formation (front 6) is: ---------------- NRC --------------------- ---------------------- Delph ------------- Stan until he is fit ------------ SI --------------------------- DJ ----------------------------------- Ash --------------- Gab/Heskey ------------- But, as said above, I'd like to see DJ and Ash come inside a bit more than the last couple of years and leave room for Warnock and Young to overlap, knowing that there are two sitting CM'ers to cover the CB's.

Similar prognosis to when JPA first pitched up and the only player on his wavelength was Solano. I think the difference now is that Ash and DJ are both capable of developing an understanding, and playing, with SI but this needs time to develop. I also think Delph, when he comes back, will work really well with SI.

That was my point.. with a huge, battling, energetic DM he could play in a central 2. Don't understand why people are so keen to get us playing with a 2? We are the only Top 8 club from last season playing this as even Redknob now is playing with a sole striker with VdV off him.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. I didn't see the Chelski game - first home game missed in years due to wedding of close friends - but I imagine that part of the reason we had the first half and they had the second was Stan's running out of steam. I would sub him between 45 and 60 and I also think that this would make him more energetic when he is playing. I might also look to try Heskey up front with Gabby out right and Ash out left but encourage them both to come in off the wing a lot more and link up with Heskey/Ireland/each other. This would also mean DJ could come on later, possibly as a replacement for Stan, and be a little deeper.

Some good thoughts there, I'd go with that. I would totally agree with that although I cant see Cuellar coming back in I think you are spot on with this. I hope Ged is reading. We have to go with a 4-3-3 and match up to Chelski to stand a chance. Citeh did a few weeks back because they were as strong/solid. It worked at VP in Mourinho's last game when Luke Moore worked really hard and just sat on Makalele when he got the ball and it completely threw Chelski's rhythm off.

I think too much attention is put on the results of the reserves - maybe because we have won the title for the past couple of seasons. I think we should be more focused on bringing through the individuals and, for me, this means getting good youth out on loan (to the right set up of course) playing competitive games and learning. I believe we hold on to our players too much, maybe partly because we have such a small squad, so I would rather we invested in a few squad fillers (cheaper players that fill our bench maybe for a couple of seasons but would have a re-sale e.g. Gary O'Neill when he was fit) if this would allow us to get the youth real experience of competitive football.

A little wobble ... losing away at Citeh by the odd goal before stuffing Le Arse. I can't wait until we get on to one of these little wobbly runs.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Can't ask for much more than this at this stage. Fingers crossed!! Citeh must already be tracking him though.

Yeah...Petrov is still fit! I think this is massively unfair. How can you call Petrov fit? Uninjured maybe??

Really gutted that I can't go to this one as my wife is bridesmaid at a wedding. Bloody annoying, people getting married outside of May, June, July, early August. At least my dad and his mate will enjoy my STs. Small consolation. We need to play a 3 man CM if we are going to have any chance of getting a result against Chelski IMO. It worked for Citeh, although I wouldn't want to be that negative, and could work for us. ----------------------- Friedel ----------------------- Young --- Cuellar --- Dunne/Collins --- Warnock ------------------ Coker --- Petrov ----------------- DJ ---------------------- SI --------------------- Ash -------------------- Gabby/Heskey ----------------- I would love to see Coker do a man marking job on Lampard if he plays.

We do agree on one thing then - Flamini would be awesome.

And you will probably defend him? I think this is a key weakness and is highlighted on the Stan thread with an external article referring to the second goal. As discussed elsewhere, I would switch Stan and NRC around - so Stan is the more advanced of the two and NRC has the responsibility in front of the back two - and bring SI in, so we have three in CM, to provide the link to the front three. I would replace him but don't necessarily think we have that replacement available at the minute.

When he came on H2 against Bolton, he was the only one of our CBs that beat Davies in the air as he would step in front of him etc.. He is a smart CB and will become a Villa legend. I like Collins because he is 100% - he will throw his body in front of everything - but he is not as intelligent a defender as Cuellar. We should have known that Spuds would be pumping high balls into Crouchy (no surprise as this was their main tactic against us last year). You need to put him under enough pressure so that he doesn't get free headers BUT make sure that the space around him is properly marked and compete for the second balls. We didn't do this, and won't, IMO, whilst Stan is the DCM as he lacks the necessary energy and will let people run off him. VdV had a field day because he had space in the box.

Has to help when you have as much space to operate in as he had. I bet he wishes he could play against Stan every weekend??

Simplistic, methinks. VdV had more space than he could have dreamt of and no marker. I would have stuck NRC on him and just said don't give the lad any space. We would then have had to bring Ireland in to the game and removed one of the wingers with Ash going back out to the left hand side.

Petrov should have gone off much sooner. He can't play for more than 45 minutes. Saw his pathetic effort to get himself fouled when he was in the box and had a sniff - he was leaning into the player in true Petrov style ready to go down at the first chance as he knew he didn't have the legs to carry it on. Carew is a waste of space now. Better with 10 men and wouldn't have to suffer all of his cheap free kicks. The Fonz must have a really bad attitude to not get in the squad in front of JC.

Petrov and Albie for Ireland and Sidders for me. A bit more solidity and energy to combat their three in CM.

Huddlestone at center half? He has played there quite a bit before, but should be easy for Heskey & Ash to move around a bit. Looks like a very unbalanced CM with little defensive capability. We should have it in us to put this team to the sword! Really disappointed for CC and it certainly seems unfair. If CC is on the bench, and as such not injured, then I will be very disappointed in Ged.

I'd like to see: -------------------- Friedel ------------------- L Young --- Cuellar --- Collins --- Warnock ------ Downing --- NRC --- Petrov --------- --------- Ireland ---------- Ash Young ------ ---------------- the Emilinator --------------- Play with a bit less width, more solidity, but with Ireland and Young having the freedom to drift in and out and link up. I think that this would make them both difficult to pick up. Don't see why we can't get a result with them having had a tough game a few days ago. They are hardly on fire at the moment.

I wouldn't mind seeing this. Similar to the role that Delph played against Man U (h) last year in a three. Constant recycling of the ball and keeping us in possession. I think he would do this better than Stan as he has more energy and this would leave NRC to be the enforcer alongside.

Probably because CH's (and possibly DCM's) tend to make the best skippers as they are typically organisers, vocal and committed and the game is played in front of them. Look at Ferdinand and Terry. Therefore, if you become a regular in that position you have a decent chance of being skipper.

It was about 40 minutes to late IMO. He didn't play 2nd half.

Maybe not in an away game against Wolves but he will get his chance and take it I think.