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Villa v West Ham Reaction Thread

TheEgo

By TheEgo
in PL: West Ham h

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nickijay Newbie

nickijay

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We were amazing today although West Ham didn't turn up. I haven't seen the boys play that well for a long time. It does make you wonder just how bad things had got behind the scenes with mon. Their performance was like sticking 2 fingers up at him and proving they are better off without him.

Albrighton was unlucky to miss out on motm he was outstanding. Shame big John just couldn't find the back of the net, other than that he had a great game. So glad heskey didn't make it on and even more pleased that Nige did.

Its a good start hope we can build on it.

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rjw63 Grand Master

rjw63

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Fantastic display, the lads looked and played like they were glad the previous manager was gone.

Albrighton MOTM, but no one put a foot wromg. Might be a bit early but Kev Mac might be a decent option

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djdabush Community Regular

djdabush

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Just noticed on Football First that Heskey gave Young a huge round of applause as he came off. Nice to see a bit of camaraderie in the team, especially when Heskey could have been sulking about not getting a game.

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Jez Newbie

Jez

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Aston Villa hammer West Ham to show future is bright without Martin O'Neill

David Lacey at Villa Park

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 14 August 2010 17.08 BST

Stewart Downing celebrates with Ashley Young after scoring the first goal for Aston Villa against West Ham. Photograph: Peter Ford/Action Images

So who was Martin O'Neill anyway? Aston Villa's response to the sudden departure of their manager of the past four years was to brush West Ham aside as if nothing had happened. In West Ham's case, nothing much did. Villa could easily have doubled their score.

While Kevin MacDonald, Villa's caretaker, will have been pleased by the spirit and alacrity of the win, he will not have been fooled by it. Compared to O'Neill, whose touchline telephonics will always recall Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic, MacDonald's presence was unobtrusive, his celebration unostentatious.

Even so, he did admit that he found the experience: "quite nerve-racking at times."

MacDonald knows Villa will be fortunate to encounter such supine opposition again this season. Avram Grant, now in charge at Upton Park following his valiant attempt to keep Portsmouth afloat last season, may already be feeling that he has left the deck of the Mary Rose only to find himself on the bridge of the Hesperus.

So Villa's performance has to be set against the inadequacies of their opponents. Nevertheless, they could have been out of sight by half-time given the chances they created and the frailties of a West Ham defence that was opened as easily as a revolving door.

In the first 10 minutes, John Carew put a free header over the bar then intercepted a back-pass by James Tomkins only to see the ball bounce back off Tomkins after Robert Green had blocked his shot and hit a post.

Villa took the lead on the quarter-hour when Green met Ashley Young's cross from the left with a punch that allowed Marc Albrighton, a 20-year-old whose confidence grew throughout, to drive the ball back into the goalmouth. Green could only push it into the path of Stewart Downing, who scored with a tap-in.

Five minutes before the break, Stilyan Petrov's well-timed late run surprised a defence surprised by everything and the Villa captain met Ashley Young's chip with a firmly directed header past Green.

With substitutes Pablo Barrera and Frédéric Piquionne giving Carlton Cole better support after half-time, West Ham achieved a modicum of attacking pressure but their defence remained there for the taking. After 66 minutes, Albrighton slipped rather too easily past Tomkins on the left and cut the ball back for James Milner to remind Villa fans of what they are about to lose with a resounding left-foot drive into the right-hand corner of the net. Carew then completed a hat-trick of misses with another header over and a shot against the post.

Milner left the field to cheers five minutes from the end and the team were applauded off at the finish. On the opening day of last season, O'Neill's Villa were booed off after losing 2-0 at home to Wigan. Managers come and go but, in the end, everything is down to the players – their form and their moods. In this game, West Ham's mood was as black as the thunderous sky.

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

JONATHAN FEAR, AstonVilla.VitalFootball.co.uk The thought of another season under O'Neill had left me bored and I thought we might struggle. Now he's gone, it's like a breath of fresh air. The display illustrated what happy players can do when they are free to get the ball down and pass it. We were too long-ball and too hit-and-hope under Martin. Against West Ham, we looked more cultured and more relaxed. All the players seemed to be enjoying it. The fans were waiting to see Albrighton step up from the reserves and he was outstanding. He could save the club a fortune. I also thought Milner did well. He got a mixed reception but it will be a shame if he does go.

The fan's player ratings Friedel 8; L Young 8, Clark 8, Dunne 8, Warnock 8; Downing 7, Albrighton 9 (Bannan 89 n/a), Petrov 8, Milner 9 (Reo-Coker 85 n/a); A Young 8 (Weimann 86 n/a); Carew 6

HAMISH MACKAY, Over Land and Sea If Avram Grant didn't know how difficult his job was this season, he does now. We were completely outplayed. Villa could have scored six or seven and we were lucky to get nil. We were that bad. Our players looked like they had never met each other – just like we played for most of last season in fact – while Villa always had an out-ball. They came at us from the start and used the width really well, whereas we didn't get wide at all. None of the new boys shone but we were collectively so poor that it was difficult for them. Our best player was probably Green. He got a lot of stick from the Villa fans, as you would expect, but he did not do much wrong.

The fan's player ratings Green 7; Reid 6, Tomkins 4 (Diamanti 72 4), Upson 6, Ilunga 4; Parker 6, Kovac 4 (Piquionne ht 6); Noble 5; Faubert 5, Boa Morte 4 (Barrera ht 5), Cole 5

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AndyClarke Proficient

AndyClarke

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Big John was unplayable today, I've no idea how you defend against him an absolute beast of a man, shame he seems to have forgotten how to finish!! Young was great and caused so many problems for West Ham it is untrue, Albrighton was great and absolutely buzzing with confidence. Downing did well but I'm sure there is more to come from him.

Biggest problem we have is at left back, Warnock spends half his time fast asleep and we get done down that side, even a piss poor West Ham managed to exploit him. I hoped the second half of last season was a blip following injury but he seems to struggle to concentrate and makes far too many mistakes at this level.

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djdabush Community Regular

djdabush

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Big John was unplayable today, I've no idea how you defend against him an absolute beast of a man, shame he seems to have forgotten how to finish!! Young was great and caused so many problems for West Ham it is untrue, Albrighton was great and absolutely buzzing with confidence. Downing did well but I'm sure there is more to come from him.

Biggest problem we have is at left back, Warnock spends half his time fast asleep and we get done down that side, even a piss poor West Ham managed to exploit him. I hoped the second half of last season was a blip following injury but he seems to struggle to concentrate and makes far too many mistakes at this level.

Carew's problem has never really been sticking the ball in the net so I think we can put that down to a bit of early season rustiness. If he can carry on getting in those kinds of positions we could be in for a big season from him.

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AndyClarke Proficient

AndyClarke

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Hansen's MOTD verdict: Yeah think Villa did pretty well. No mention on positive's like Albrighton et al, just showed how bad WHU were!

Typical!!

I thought it was "MON MON MON MON MON MON turmoil turmoil turmoil MON MON MON...........they played quite well today"

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danceoftheshamen Experienced

danceoftheshamen

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Yeah Hanson & co just made it look like what it is.... The MON pals act!!

It was like "Yeah he was right to go as RL was refusing to give him the money needed to push on" ....ERM.. actually no he wasn't he was just saying "Hey... hold up a minute Martin can we just get the wage bill down a touch 1st please then you can carry on improving the side" ... At least thats my reading of it! Anyway i guess we've all heard that story a 1000 times already so moving on!!

Good performance & refreshingly different approach today which worked a treat!!

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Razor Newbie

Razor

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Stunning performance. Albrighton really made his mark today, what an incredible performance. Could and should have been 5. I was so excited about this new beginning and was proved right, MON was holding us back.

I was pretty disgusted that we played Milner though, he's going to be gone in 2 days and i don't want anyone playing for the Villa that doesn't want to be here.

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