The_Lions_Roar Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Got caught late in the game on the right sideline about halfway and surrounded by 3 WBA midfielders.... ... held the first midfielder off using his body, waited for another one to get close enough and played off him for a throw. Means bugger all in the big scheme of things, perhaps, but if all our players could have done the same it would have been a far less nervy finish. We need that kind of cool head - especially in a derby where the winner ends up in the top half of the table.And this is why the completed passes stat is bollocks, he did his job.I'm not sure why this is worthy of praise but if you're using that example surely you have to balance it out and mention the time he tried to do some sort of flick on in the middle of the park and lost the ball when he could have held it up, the time benteke flicked it to him and while it was a decent first touch, he was too slow to get to the ball before the defender and when he stupidly dived and gave them the ball back cheaply again. Praising that performance would be hypocritical for me because its the kind of performance I used to criticise Bowery for. If you can't see why Holt is more useful to have around the team and on the pitch than Bowery then I give up. Of course he is, but that is the thing, one is as pointless as the other. Holt should not be on the pitch at the same time as Benteke. As soon as Holt and the equally ineffective Sylla came on we lost all shape, direction and threat, and became completely disjointed. Those substitutions could easily have cost us the game. But they didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Personally I don't see the point in playing two target men when your not going play a proper winger that will seek to put decent balls in the box at every opportunity! Holt did well. His pass stat is low because as usual when defending a lead as not one midfielder makes any real effort to support the front 2, but Holt did well to hold it up, slow things down make a nuisance of himself, which is the most you can realistically expect from a target men in that situation, he was far smarter than Benteke in the last 30 minutes (but Benteke's the beast). Was pleasantly surprised by his touch and technique, was expecting it to be like Heskey's, but it was decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Got caught late in the game on the right sideline about halfway and surrounded by 3 WBA midfielders.... ... held the first midfielder off using his body, waited for another one to get close enough and played off him for a throw. Means bugger all in the big scheme of things, perhaps, but if all our players could have done the same it would have been a far less nervy finish. We need that kind of cool head - especially in a derby where the winner ends up in the top half of the table. And this is why the completed passes stat is bollocks, he did his job. I'm not sure why this is worthy of praise but if you're using that example surely you have to balance it out and mention the time he tried to do some sort of flick on in the middle of the park and lost the ball when he could have held it up, the time benteke flicked it to him and while it was a decent first touch, he was too slow to get to the ball before the defender and when he stupidly dived and gave them the ball back cheaply again. Praising that performance would be hypocritical for me because its the kind of performance I used to criticise Bowery for. If you can't see why Holt is more useful to have around the team and on the pitch than Bowery then I give up. Of course he is, but that is the thing, one is as pointless as the other. Holt should not be on the pitch at the same time as Benteke. As soon as Holt and the equally ineffective Sylla came on we lost all shape, direction and threat, and became completely disjointed. Those substitutions could easily have cost us the game. But they didn't. We went into our shell after taking the lead and when we did take the lead Albion looked as likely to score as we did, we weren't that good in the second half, really we should've closed out the first half 4-2 up. We weren't trying to score a 5th from what it looked like to me! Its always hard for subs to come on when their team are trying to defend a lead. Sylla put himself about, Holt looked to slow things down and waste time, they did what they were supposed to do! I think its unfair the criticism Sylla has received this season, as he hasn't had a run of starts, and most of what we judge him on is 15-25 minutes of substitute appearances here and there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted January 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 30, 2014 Got caught late in the game on the right sideline about halfway and surrounded by 3 WBA midfielders.... ... held the first midfielder off using his body, waited for another one to get close enough and played off him for a throw. Means bugger all in the big scheme of things, perhaps, but if all our players could have done the same it would have been a far less nervy finish. We need that kind of cool head - especially in a derby where the winner ends up in the top half of the table. And this is why the completed passes stat is bollocks, he did his job. I'm not sure why this is worthy of praise but if you're using that example surely you have to balance it out and mention the time he tried to do some sort of flick on in the middle of the park and lost the ball when he could have held it up, the time benteke flicked it to him and while it was a decent first touch, he was too slow to get to the ball before the defender and when he stupidly dived and gave them the ball back cheaply again. Praising that performance would be hypocritical for me because its the kind of performance I used to criticise Bowery for. True - that flick was particularly poor, especially as he should have known better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Got caught late in the game on the right sideline about halfway and surrounded by 3 WBA midfielders.... ... held the first midfielder off using his body, waited for another one to get close enough and played off him for a throw. Means bugger all in the big scheme of things, perhaps, but if all our players could have done the same it would have been a far less nervy finish. We need that kind of cool head - especially in a derby where the winner ends up in the top half of the table. And this is why the completed passes stat is bollocks, he did his job. I'm not sure why this is worthy of praise but if you're using that example surely you have to balance it out and mention the time he tried to do some sort of flick on in the middle of the park and lost the ball when he could have held it up, the time benteke flicked it to him and while it was a decent first touch, he was too slow to get to the ball before the defender and when he stupidly dived and gave them the ball back cheaply again. Praising that performance would be hypocritical for me because its the kind of performance I used to criticise Bowery for. If you can't see why Holt is more useful to have around the team and on the pitch than Bowery then I give up. Of course he is, but that is the thing, one is as pointless as the other. Holt should not be on the pitch at the same time as Benteke. As soon as Holt and the equally ineffective Sylla came on we lost all shape, direction and threat, and became completely disjointed. Those substitutions could easily have cost us the game. But they didn't. I said `could have'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Got caught late in the game on the right sideline about halfway and surrounded by 3 WBA midfielders.... ... held the first midfielder off using his body, waited for another one to get close enough and played off him for a throw. Means bugger all in the big scheme of things, perhaps, but if all our players could have done the same it would have been a far less nervy finish. We need that kind of cool head - especially in a derby where the winner ends up in the top half of the table.And this is why the completed passes stat is bollocks, he did his job.I'm not sure why this is worthy of praise but if you're using that example surely you have to balance it out and mention the time he tried to do some sort of flick on in the middle of the park and lost the ball when he could have held it up, the time benteke flicked it to him and while it was a decent first touch, he was too slow to get to the ball before the defender and when he stupidly dived and gave them the ball back cheaply again. Praising that performance would be hypocritical for me because its the kind of performance I used to criticise Bowery for.If you can't see why Holt is more useful to have around the team and on the pitch than Bowery then I give up. Of course he is, but that is the thing, one is as pointless as the other. Holt should not be on the pitch at the same time as Benteke. As soon as Holt and the equally ineffective Sylla came on we lost all shape, direction and threat, and became completely disjointed. Those substitutions could easily have cost us the game. But they didn't. I said `could have'. A lot of things could have happened! Why don't we focus on what actually happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam_ Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Thought he did well last night, seems to be able to hold the ball up very well and I can only see his presence as a positive. Good loan signing IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I don't think a lot of people realize this, but he was actually receiving instructions and was about to come on prior to the Lugano conceding the penalty, so it was a purely defensive change, Lambert was going to make it whether or not villa took the lead. Don't think bringing a striker on for a defender is a defensive move. Not a criticism at all, I would've been a fan of it. I'm just pointing out he wasn't brought on as a defensive forward in the Bowery role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarpie Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Good interview with Holt: http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~3645348,00.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM3000 Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 He was smart enough to make runs round the back of the defence after a long ball was played to Benteke and if he missed it Holt would pick it up. Seems like a smart bloke, not at the peak of fitness but will try to do the right thing. Would like to see him from the start of a game but it will be hard with Benteke back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Playing a lot more than even those who defended the signing thought he would. Hopefully he'll have more of an attacking impact than previous two appearances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Playing a lot more than even those who defended the signing thought he would. Hopefully he'll have more of an attacking impact than previous two appearances. He was forced on by the gabby injury against Liverpool was a fairly late sub against West Brom, and did very well against West Brom. I don't understand what the problem is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 1, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted February 1, 2014 Playing a lot more than even those who defended the signing thought he would. Hopefully he'll have more of an attacking impact than previous two appearances. He was forced on by the gabby injury against Liverpool was a fairly late sub against West Brom, and did very well against West Brom. I don't understand what the problem isthere is no problem. But John won't let that stop him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 (edited) Without crosses into the box he's not going to be that effective outside of putting himself about a bit. He appears to be a bit of a poor mans Heskey because Heskey at least would make a bigger nuisance of himself. Edited February 1, 2014 by Dr_Pangloss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwan Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Dumb from Lambert two put two target men on it. Just **** dumb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 (edited) Dumb from Lambert two put two target men on it. Just **** dumb Especially when Weimann has proven so effective playing off Benteke in recent weeks Hell if we had signed an AM in January like we should have we could have played him in behind instead of Holt and left Weimann out wide or even rested him because he looked jaded to me and back to his form earlier in the season Edited February 1, 2014 by AshVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Playing a lot more than even those who defended the signing thought he would. Hopefully he'll have more of an attacking impact than previous two appearances. He was forced on by the gabby injury against Liverpool was a fairly late sub against West Brom, and did very well against West Brom. I don't understand what the problem isthere is no problem. But John won't let that stop him Haha another classic performance. No problem though eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Dumb from Lambert two put two target men on it. Just **** dumb Especially when Weimann has proven so effective playing off Benteke in recent weeks Hell if we had signed an AM in January like we should have we could have played him in behind instead of Holt and left Weimann out wide or even rested him because he looked jaded to me and back to his form earlier in the season But unfortunately he wasn't backed for whatever reason to bring an AM in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG_Villa_Fan Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hopefully there is an option to buy in the summer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hopefully there is an option to buy in the summer. underrated post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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