villaglint

Deserves a mention for his performance in reserves tonight. Has all the talent to be a very good player. Gets a lot of stick on hear which is massively undeserved. He pulled strings, played long and short passes - showed great dribbling skills really played his part in bossing game. Now I accept that it is tough to play him in CM in a 442 against some of the stronger midfield's in PL and it is a step up. But the boy has all the talent in world and its up to club to try and get best out of that. Streets ahead of Albrighton in my book - obviously out wide is not his best position but I would still have him there ahead of Marc right now.

Cant remember the last time I had such fun watching a Villa performance. So many players to be proud of and excited about for the future. Bannan - outstanding - anyone on this site saying he is "championship level at best" should watch that game to see what he is capable of. No doubt Premier is a step up but if we can figure out a way to get the best out of him we have a real player. Best performance I have seen from him. Gardner - wonderful strike and overall helped boss the game. Weimann - led the line tremendously hardly ever gave the ball away. D. Johnson - really like the look of this kid. Always seems to make good decisions and seems as happy attacking as defending. Baker - Absolutley outstanding last night - has pace Clark is missing and looks really solid in all areas. Carruthers - Deserved man of match and glad he got his goal. Had the cutting edge that Newcastle never managed to subdue. Really hope we handle these kids right and they get their chance when the time is right. That performance was everything the 1st team has been missing. They were closing down with energy, making the key tackles in midfield, keeping possession really well and stringing passes together to cut through Geordies at will. Need to get all reserve games on AVTV!!!

Played great in 1st half - would love him to go until end of season without going bonkers and just concentrate on his football. Really is a clever player and you sense our players are looking to find him now. And that is the main thing Ireland is all about moving the ball quickly so if he only receives the ball once ever ten minutes he wont contribute anything. But if we are feeding him regularly he has the ability to dictate a game.

Agreed - I thinks its time for Weimann to get his chance.

What I really like about Herd is he seems genuinely suited to that role. A few times I saw him hunting people down and winning the ball which did remind me of the Mascherano's, Makele's and Keane's who just love to tackle. My worry over him is whether his possession is good enough at top level. As I've said before I think against the top sides this weakness has been exposed before. However that can definitely improve as it will hopefully with all our kids as they get more experience.

When I saw he was starting I was disappointed as I didn't think GG had let anyone down with his couple of starts. However I thought Herd was very good in 1st half so glad to be proved wrong. He tired in 2nd half and seemed to lose the game mentally along with the rest of them

Started great last season then lost his confidence for a long time. Seemed to have got his confidence back earlier this season but that has quickly evaporated. Would love to be proved wrong but I don't really see him as PL quality. Think he would be a useful squad man as he never lets anyone down. But if he's to be our starter he needs to improve massively or he (and we) wont be good enough.

Well he deserves it that is for sure - I think Dunne at his best is the better defender and I think when MON was here that Collins and Dunne deserved to play together as it seemed to work. However theyve been pants for some time and what Carlos has massively over both of them is a decent attitude. Carlos looks like he has a desire to really put it on the line for the club. Not sure if either of the other two do. That added to the fact that Carlos doesnt just hoof it constantly puts him miles ahead of Collins for me. Glad we are looking to keep him because he is versatile and it saves is shelling out for another CB. My current thinking would be to ship out Collins and Warnock and buy 1CB 1LB

Yep this is true - just remembered Dunne is out. So that means I do agree with VillaGoMarching's team - though I think Hutton will be there in place of Herd.

I actually quite like this except I would have Dunne in place of Collins. And Gabby on left/Zog on right. Doubt he will drop Hutton though - last few games Hutton hasn't made as many mistakes which is progress at least so Eck will persist with him. Would be good to see Lichaj get a chance even if it is at LB. Its a tough choice between Ireland and NZog - normally I would edge for Ireland because he'll allow us to keep ball better and links up with Keane well. However cos its Wigan I'll agree that Zog should start - imagine it will give him a bit of extra motivation

Not sure that solves any of our current problems. Our biggest issue (after shoddy defending at corners) is keeping possession - Herd - showed against Spurs he is a bit off pace in terms of being slick enough on ball to keep possession flowing against top teams. Not to say he cant improve this part of his game but it will take years not months. In the mean time he is a great tackler and header so he has a role but we need to be aware of his limitations. Gardner - could yet be a good ball player - seen nothing to say otherwise so will give him benefit of the doubt at this stage. Albrighton - certainly not good enough at keeping possession flowing - regularly loses ball when he gets it. As with Herd has positives to his game and might get better but right now he is one reason why we cant strong five passes together in game. N'Zogbia - as with Albrighton - playing them both is a big risk in terms of keeping possession. Anyway as for Weimann seems to be doing his best to force his way into Ecks plans which is great to see. Look forward to watching him get his chance at some point.

Feel a bit for him Watched highlights of his 1st time at Leeds the other day. Reminded me that there he was an attacking goal scoring midfielder. Not the defensive enforcer we have tried to turn him into. Playing out of position and the major injury have meant he hasn't shown his talent. Of course he has to take some personal responsibility for that too. He has been largely poor this season or below average anyway. Just not sure we are helping him by asking him to play out of position in a really tough league.

http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/2xytvc06lukhsvovwjhhug/Show/Stats-Analysis-Differing-Tactics-from-Villas-Boas-Villas-Boss Says it all really One of my main frustrations about AM is how he goes on about how many strikers he plays as evidence of his attacking intent. Point is that just by filling team with strikers doesn't necessarily make for an attacking team. You actually need some midfielders to create the chances too!

My two penneth - Eck had not been helped by Randy and is taking the pain as a result. I don't think its too much to expect to be able to drop two talented but mental luxuries who told him to f### off the previous week. Problem is our squad is so thin we don't have the cover. AM has to take the blame for these insipid performances against the top 6/7 because each game is exactly same. Heskey may be better at defending than SI or Zog but newsflash ! the bloke is not a midfielder and if you play him there we are going to struggle to build the play. Albrighton while a worthy trier is not good enough at the highest level - again he doesn't have the ability/football brain to keep possession in tight situations and build the play. Unfortunately we don't have squad to leave players like SI and Zog out right now - especially when in the last two games we actually played well in attack. It was the bleeding defence which let us down against Newcastle. AM's post match interview was nothing short of delusional - yes we went in with a similar plan to Everton but Everton harried and hassled and did what they do. They also had players on pitch who can string 5 passes together. I am trying and trying to believe that AM can turn it around - I love to be optimistic when it comes to Villa. All I can say is I hope they are fitting the revolving door now because if we are to be any kind of decent side next year the footballing staff turnover will be large to say the least.

Agreed - he didn't let anyone down. Whole team struggled to string two passes together but its been like that long before Gardner came in. Obviously it was tough for him but as the wise sage Neville said it was four against 2 in CM at times. They were chasing shadows

All Hail king Gary ! I heard him speak for the first time on AVTV the other day and what a pleasure it was - a great brummy accent on a kid who sounds like he has his head really screwed on. Talking about how he idolises Lampard and Gerrard and tries to emulate their play. That was enough to get me wildly optimistic about the player he could become. No doubt my bubble will be burst but what use is football if not to ride the great waves of emotion.

Also he only played an hour - commentators thought this was a sign he would start at weekend. -- I think its a fairly balanced decision - would be very exciting if he did start - just saying if I was picking team I would go with caution and have him raring to go in a game where he can have a solid impact.

I have really been back and forth on this one. On the one hand picking him would be a very positive sign from Eck saying we are looking to get a result here not just poking our arses in the air and hoping for the best a la Spurs away. Ultimately though I am siding with the fear of hurting his confidence. Up against Barry, Milner/de Jong, Silva it could be a real lesson as they wont get much back tracking from Keane. I think confidence can be incredibly fragile with certain players. Look at Albrighton last season started on fire then barely looked Championship by the end. Taken him a year to get it back, Ireland another example. Very hopeful Gardner will have character to be mentally stronger than that but who can know at this stage. Overall I feel the prospect of GG having a stormer and us winning 2-0 convincingly is less likely than us getting beaten 2-0 convincingly and GG being taken backwards a step. I would keep Clark there for this game, he's letting nobody down at moment even if he's not setting the world alight. Would then start Gardner in next game because he is the future of our CM not Clark.

Definitely with BOF on this one. It keeps getting mentioned that Wolves tore us apart but all of there play came down flanks. Clark and Gabby were woeful that day in 1st half and Albrighton/Hutton not much better on other side. Frimpong did have a good game but he only got though centre once - when he lobbed it over Petrov to get through. Fact is that Gardner can tackle as well as Clark, he is more mobile than Clark, can pass better than Clark and offer us something in an attacking sense. He looks like he always wants the ball which youngsters starting in Prem rarely do. Only difference is Clark has 10 games more experience. Big woop. No brainer for me and he and Stan can play there together - both good enough to get forward and back. That said I wouldn't start him against City ;-

Just scored another for the reserves

In the past I have been critical of Petrov and I actually thought he had had it. No doubt when surrounded by Young, Milner and Downing he looked the weak link. However this season you cannot be critical he has consistently been our best midfielder. One of the few who can find a man from 5 yards. Also been getting forward well and creating some chances/getting the odd goal. Obviously he is not playing the holding role this season which is why we are seeing him play his more natural game. Dont get me wrong he is no world beater and not good enough to get us where we all want to be. But he has done us proud this season no doubt.

Agreed it is unrealistic to expect that we wont have any crosses into the box during a game. It was how we dealt with the cross that was the issue. Don't know why AM went so mental over it. Can only think he is really feeling the frustration of having a crap set of defenders but not being able to drop them because he has no adequate cover. That said Ireland has been stupid to react in the way he did and done himself and us no favours. Black mark against AM and SI for me

It really is a no brainer to get this kid into the team asap (agreed not against City) Clark is in the team because he can pass (ish) and can tackle. Looks like Gardner can do both of those and more. Usually in this situation Gardner would be kept out of the team because "he doesnt have prem experience". But in this case Clark has probably played 10 games in CM so doesnt even have the experience himself. Forget the fact that he's learning a new position while Gardner has played there all his life. Think he and Petrov could be very good for us. Hope to god we can somehow keep Keane and then who knows maybe we will score as many as we concede

Think he is doing OK - makes very few mistakes - good tackling and generally tidy in possession however he is not a midfielder in my eyes. Doesn't have the speed of mind - AM talked about us being pedestrian in 1st half - that could be said for a lot of our recent games and I think part of that is Clark looking to play safe all the time rather than having confidence to go for early (sometimes one touch) pass. Maybe with more games/experience he could get there - he was excellent against Fulham away last year with Bannan and I really thought he had potential to be another Barry (Gareth) so we'll see.

Played well again when he came on - said a while ago and I would like to see him in this team. I know it would be a risk defensively but I would play instead of Clark who is too slow of mind to play in midfield. With Bannan, Ireland, Keane, Petrov, NZog I think we could start to boss teams possession wise which might override the drop we would have defensively by having the wee man in place of Clark.