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EL: Rapid Vienna h 2009/08/27 Match Thread


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Ashley Young is racing to be fit for Villa's Europa League clash with Rapid Vienna.

Young limped out of the match against Liverpool at the start of the week with a twisted knee.

Martin O'Neill is hopeful of having his wing wizard back for the play-off match.

He said: "Ashley is very sore but he is feeling a lot better. We are hoping he willl be available for Thursday but we're not certain."

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What would people do formation wise tomorrow?

We've found 4-5-1 works best but we're 1-0 down against inferior opposition at home so... do we stick with the 4-5-1 that we beat one of the title contenders with or switch back to 4-4-2 to give us more attacking options?

Tough choice for me, I'm not sure. I think probably go back to 4-4-2 for this one BUT ONLY THIS ONE and then straight back to 4-5-1.

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What would people do formation wise tomorrow?

We've found 4-5-1 works best but we're 1-0 down against inferior opposition at home so... do we stick with the 4-5-1 that we beat one of the title contenders with or switch back to 4-4-2 to give us more attacking options?

Tough choice for me, I'm not sure. I think probably go back to 4-4-2 for this one BUT ONLY THIS ONE and then straight back to 4-5-1.

4-4-2 is clearly not working for us, I don't understand why you think we should go back to that?

We need to score goals. We score more goals with 4-5-1. Can not see any reason at all why we should play 4-4-2 again to be honest.

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I don't understand why you think we should go back to that?

do we stick with the 4-5-1 that we beat one of the title contenders with or switch back to 4-4-2 to give us more attacking options?

It's a close call I agree but MON would get slaughtered if we went out tomorrow playing 1 up front for being too negative. But then I suppose he'd get slaughtered if we lose no matter what. I suppose if Ash and Milner push up a lot there's no harm in it. We're only 1 down.

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I don't understand why you think we should go back to that?

do we stick with the 4-5-1 that we beat one of the title contenders with or switch back to 4-4-2 to give us more attacking options?

It's a close call I agree but MON would get slaughtered if we went out tomorrow playing 1 up front for being too negative. But then I suppose he'd get slaughtered if we lose no matter what. I suppose if Ash and Milner push up a lot there's no harm in it. We're only 1 down.

Yeah I know what you mean, but I actually think we get more attacking options with 1 striker and 2 very attacking wingers. Gabby for instance works much better as a lone striker (for some reason). It would just seem a bit strange to me to change the tactic that we used to score 3 goals against Liverpool.

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All three goals vs Pool were from set-pieces and our best attacks were all quick counter-attacks (this is also how we got the pen and the fk for the first).

The problem here is that Vienna will not be pushing forward anywhere near as much as Liverpool. We'll probably have the same weakness we always have at home in creating our own attacks rather than counter-attacking.

I'd be very surprised if it isn't Heskey-Agbonlahor up front. Agbonlahor by himself will be too easy to nullify if they defend deep and don't commit players forward.

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I think we need to change the system again Vienna, we are chasing the game so we will need to be more creative and attacking in this game. I want us to go 4-3-3 like we did in the 07/08 season, as this could work to our favour if MON picks Albrighton instead of Ash.

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451 or 433 is not too much of a difference as long as your wingers are tracking back. The absolute key is having three men in central midfield.

I would start Young on the bench even if he is fit - we don't want to be pushing our luck. Milner left, Albrighton right, gabby up front and maybe Delph in for Sidwell, although I'd be tempted to keep the Liverpool three intact to get a really strong partnership going.

Can someone please confirm the start time - I have seen it variously as 1815 and 2000 - I want to know if I need to stay up late or wake up early :)

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I'd start Albrighton instead of young on the right, and put Milner on the left with Gabs up front, and keep the 4-5-1/4-3-3. Milner and Albrighton will work their socks off and track back, and I think it's important to keep it tight and not concede, or we need to get three.

Is it away goals after 90 mins?

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Can someone please confirm the start time - I have seen it variously as 1815 and 2000 - I want to know if I need to stay up late or wake up early :)

The 1st leg was 18:15 our time. Kick off tonight is 20:00.

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from the front page...

Villa to rescue their European campaign?

Villa entertain Rapid Vienna this evening while trying to overturn a first leg 1-0 deficit.

Opponent: Rapid Vienna

Venue: Villa Park

Date: 27/08/09

Kick off: 20:00BST

We go into this game in a much more bouyant mood that last week. Since the first leg last Thursday, Villa have gone to Anfield and humbled last season's Premier League runners-up 3-1. So our season is up and running and given that morale has to be up; you would hope and expect for much better things this evening.

Having said that, any pre-conceptions the fans may have had about progressing to the group stages by merely turning up on the night have long since disappeared. If our less than auspicious start to the season has taught us anything, it is that we need to turn up AND give 100% in every single game, not assume anything beforehand and give every team every respect.

On the injury front, John Carew is expected to be fit to play and there are no reports of Curtis Davies suffering from his outing in Anfield. Ashley Young is doubtful having taken a knock in the Liverpool game so it remains to be seen whether he will be risked. If he is in any way available, you would think that as our main creative outlet we would need to use him at least until we erase any deficit over the tie.

While I am a big fan of our 4-5-1 formation, I think it might come across as slightly negative to adopt that formation at home against a European side like Vienna. If Carew is available then you would hope he would be part of a two-pronged attack with Agbonlaghor. The defence picks itself, though hopefully not so much in the next day or so.. And the midfield will depend on the aforementioned injury situation.

Tonight is all about the result. More of the same from Monday night please guys. If we show half the commitment and desire we showed against Liverpool then we'll be in Friday's draw for the Europa Group stages.

COME ON THE VILLA!

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Massive, massive game, i'm confident we can turn this around and head to the group stages. We need to be firing on all cylcinders and bag an early goal to settle nerves and get the crowd behind the team. I think we will keep a clean sheet for a change after Monday's heroics, 2/3-0 for me, with an early goal.

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