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EL: Rapid Vienna h 2009/08/27 Ratings & Reactions


mwj

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In the box, Yes that's a massive downer, he sometimes waits instead of attacking the ball, but from what I saw in the second half:

Midfield had the ball, Heskey dropped a little deeper, ball into him, he played a short ball wide, attacks start to progress.

It's such a small contribution but such a vital one which many people miss IMO.

Fair enough but I didn't see any of what you just described tonight. And if he can play with anyone, he can't play with Carew. He doesn't play far forward enough when Carew drops deep for the flick ons.

True, but he allows Carew generally to play further forward, hence is goal, was on the last man rather the man trying to link things up.

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Best performance so far this season

Stopped reading there really as it has to be the most stupid comment ever on this forum. After beating Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield, we crash out of Europe after a sub-par performance and you claim it's the best this year. Impressive.

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Petrov didn't play too great tonight. But he I thought he had more to do tonight than against Liverpool. Had to go forward and help create as well as get back and defend.

Unfortunatly though thats what makes his legs go and we are pretty open when this happens. I know its easy to say now but surely brining NRC on to chase them down was the thing to do at 2-0

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I'm a relatively positive poster compared to some but I don't know how people can be so complacent about this result.

It is literally a disaster for our club and our status.

A full season of Europe less football. Shocking.

Delph and Petrov are not a compatible midfield pairing, that was the biggest mistake of the night. Yes we won, but that midfield should have been changed when we got our 2nd goal.

I am really pissed off.

We need to absolutely batter Fulham and the scum now to get some good feeling back.

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We're out of one of the four competitions we've entered this year, and one of the two in which we've a chance to do something.

I'm gutted, I thought we played okay with a couple of players doing particularly well, but I think you have to hand it to Rapid, they did the right things and came through.

The ref wasn't much cop, but I don't think we can blame him for gong out.

For me the most disappointing thing was that as the last bastion of the traditional English game of fitness and pressure and a big man up front, we were eventually undone by a side that were much fitter than we were and stuck a big man up front that we couldn't cope with.

Carew ran out of steam on 70 minutes and should have been the man replaced instead of Heskey (although I think if Delfouneso was on the bench I'd have taken both of at that point) Once he ran out of steam, their No. 22 just pocketed him for the last fifteen minutes and we looked lost.

I thought Guzan had a poor game by the standards I'm starting to expect from him, probably the worst I've seen him have in a Villa shirt, he made me nervous tonight where before he's always seemed very sure.

Beye looks like he enjoys being out of position then using his pace to cover himself, which is a little dangerous for my liking.

Cuellar and Davies were nicely solid until Curtis's shoulder fell out again. That's becoming a real worry and we still need another CB once we get Dunne in. Davies's shoulder is like a roaming dog stuck in a garden, once it's found a way out, it'll keep trying until it gets out again. It needs fixing and soon.

I thought Shorey played well and seems to be finding his feet. Which is bad timing on his part.

Delph caught the eye in a tidying up role in the first half and in a more adventurous role in the second, he seemed more than capable of fulfilling both disciplines. First time I've seen him and I like him.

Young looked the one with most drive to win this one and looked gutted at the end of the game. I thought he played well. Milner was his usual non stop self, played some good stuff and defended well too. Neither winger deserved to be on the losing side.

Petrov I'm not sure about in a 4-4-2, his lack of mobility is highlighted and he's starting to remind me a bit of Tugay; an intelligent ball playing footballer who can't chase around anymore. In a five man midfield he's a real asset, in a four he's more limited although he can still do a decent job.

Heskey showed a bit of energy, although usually in the wrong areas and should really have done better with one of the chances he had from crosses. It wasn't a bad game from him, but he never looked like winning it.

Carew looked like a man that hasn't played for a while and was out on his feet for the last quarter of an hour.

We didn't play badly and we've won, but it's a real disappointment to go out at this stage. I think we've seen the last European football at Villa Park for a couple of years now, and I wonder how many of these players will still be here when we next get a crack at it.

We couldn't deal with a big man up front and we aren't as fit as a team from Austria.

Gutted, just gutted.

That's a good analysis of our performance. I think the players did perform well tonight, and they gave a very good effort.

I don't think the defence is solid enough though, at times Davies and Cuellar lost their men and struggled to get back and block a shot. We're missing Laursen badly, and I think we'll continue to struggle there.

Unless we're playing 4-5-1, which protects the defence more than a 4-4-2. I don't think Petrov is the problem. If we had Laursen, Petrov would not have to run as hard to get back and defend. He's better in the holding role of a three-man centre midfield, but he's not out-of-sorts in a 4-4-2. For me, once the defence is good enough, a 4-4-2 will work because the defence can afford to absorb more pressure. But right now, they cannot.

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i agree that blaming heskey is harsh, weneva he pulls on the shirt he puts in a decent shift, its just whenever i see him on the teamsheet prior to a game i feel a bit disheartened, as i just dont expect him or even us 2 score! But thats hardly his fault, lets not 4get who signed him and plays him, fully in the knowledge that in 13 years of bein a pro hes never been a goalscorer, and never really been associated with attractive football!

As for our defence, i thought cuellar was immense 2nite, easily on par with our wingers. And aside from him, i think the other 3 will be back up players anyway, so i dont think our frailties there 2nite are 2 much 2 worry about. A back line of young, cuellar, dunne, and warnock looks pretty solid 2 me, particularly with friedel behind them, and if mon can finally see the light and play nrc in a 4-5-1

Shame we couldnt have had a similar line up tonight. Dont really see how it can be a blessing in disguise, unless people seriously think we can challenge for 4th? For me we have still gone backwards from last season, and the cups are our best chance of success this one. And out of all the cups, this was the one id rather gone further in, so im gutted. And besides, 4th can be all well and good, but it doesnt guarantee CLqualification, its about time we actually had some silverware again, or at least come close! And maybe if we had gone into the season more prepared, and built up a squad strong enough to cope, we wouldnt have thrown this competition away for the 2nd season in a row, and would need 2 talk of blessings in disguise!

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I also thought Cuellar and Davies were pretty decent again tonight. Cuellar has grown on me in the last two performances. It seemed to be the midfield where we lost it tonight. I like Delph on the ball but don't think he has the positional sense off it.

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It's fustrating, I saw a contribution from Heskey tonight, he brought others into the game well and let Carew play on the last shoulder.

When I played football, a player we had upfront scored 6 goals but was one of our key assets and he completly reminds me of Heskey, he missed some chances yeah, but he was so key to the team and people don't see the contributions at times unless your playing with him.

I thought he was good tonight, HOWEVER he has been poor in many games for Villa.

I agree with this. Sadly and it has taken me some time to notice it properly but Petrov in a 4-4-2 is not working. He didn`t close down too well, didn`t burst forward and generally didn`t want the ball too much. I like him as a player and he does well in a central 3. He just can`t play in a 4-4-2, our cb`s were totally exposed after 60mins. They looked pretty solid up until that point. Maybe it wasn`t just Stan, but it has to play a part.

The team in general played well though, they good have just done with some help and fresh legs when Rapid started to push on. I`m not sure why NRC wasn`t used when we were 2-0 up tbh.

I Completely agree, I thought we were excellent, but as soon Rapid showed signs of coming into the matches, changes should of been made,

Exactly and as much as i like MON it worries me that he doesn`t do this. You can`t just let things go and hope its your team that scores next or that you get away with it.

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I meant to add, the problem I see with our 4-4-2 at the moment is that we have two central midfielders who play in quite deep roles and two strikers that aren't the type of players that come back into midfield, join in and create.

In the first half tonight the distance between our central midfield and our two strikers was enourmous and it made it difficult for us to create anything through the middle.

In the second half, Delph looked like he'd been told to get up the pitch and join in but it left us exposed.

What we really need is a striker who can play a deeper role, one of those players who is half forward, half midfielder and can link Petrov and Delph (or whichever two it is at the time) with Carew or Heskey.

We're really lacking that player.

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cack.

Went in the Holte pub before and after and was looking forward to progressing to the group stage.

Arse.

Thought we played well enough to win.

Feck.

Should have played NRC though.

Bollox.

Got 2 pens and the ref was still shite.

Wank.

Got to hand it to the topless Hitler-Spawn, they didn't shut up from start to finish.

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Also anyone who thinks Shorey had a good game should watch it again.

He gave the ball away several times, with the defence already pushed up, resulting in easy attacks for Rapid.

To the reserves with him.

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I haven't read much of this thread yet, so I won't jump to any conclusions of what other supporters have said.

I thought we really did play well tonight. Tonnes of chasing the ball down, even when we were 2-0, I can't think of anyone that played poorly. Petrov, Delph, Beye and Heskey were average but I thought the others were really good. I will mention SHoreys name as I thought he was superb tonight, not sure if the signing of Warnock had anything to do with it, but very impressive. Again.

We were very unlucky to go out, especially to such a poor side. If anything, their inability to shoot helped them, our players just couldn't predict where anything was going to end up, neither could their players, 3 oen goal misses, one eventually went in.

Great effort from the lads, happy with the way the supporters reacted at the end as well, the majority didn't let the overall result distort their view of what was a very good performance overall.

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I meant to add, the problem I see with our 4-4-2 at the moment is that we have two central midfielders who play in quite deep roles and two strikers that aren't the type of players that come back into midfield, join in and create.

In the first half tonight the distance between our central midfield and our two strikers was enourmous and it made it difficult for us to create anything through the middle.

In the second half, Delph looked like he'd been told to get up the pitch and join in but it left us exposed.

What we really need is a striker who can play a deeper role, one of those players who is half forward, half midfielder and can link Petrov and Delph (or whichever two it is at the time) with Carew or Heskey.

We're really lacking that player.

When Downing is fit, I'm really hoping this is the role Ashley Young can play for us.

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Unless we're playing 4-5-1, which protects the defence more than a 4-4-2. I don't think Petrov is the problem. If we had Laursen, Petrov would not have to run as hard to get back and defend. He's better in the holding role of a three-man centre midfield, but he's not out-of-sorts in a 4-4-2. For me, once the defence is good enough, a 4-4-2 will work because the defence can afford to absorb more pressure. But right now, they cannot

I`m not too sure about this mate. Even the best defences in the world will struggle to keep clean sheets if they are constantly having players running directly at them from midfield. Certainly when then end up having free men to pass to as our cm can`t keep up or get back to make a tackle.

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I didn't have a problem starting 442 tonight as we needed to score but i do have a problem with the fact that we didnt switch to 451 when we went 2-0 up.

I thought id be gutted to see us go out tonight but im very meh about it. Beat Fulham and i suppose i wont even be bothered at all.

If we dont get back to 451 with NRC and Sidwell in there against Fulham then that will be a joke and extremely harsh on those two. Heskey and Delph out for them please and Carew or Gabby up top.

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