OutByEaster? Posted February 5, 2011 Moderator Share Posted February 5, 2011 We were frustrating - there seemed to be a lack of urgency. This group of players only seems to be up for it when they're right up against it. Friedel - 6 although I suspect it should be less than that as according to the radio on the way home he was at fault for both goals. Walker 7 - Great goal and a display of industry and flair. Collins 6 - Some good, some bad as usual. Dunne 6 - Same. Clark - 5 - Struggled with Duff in the first half and struggled in the second half to get forward enough. This is because he isn't a left back. Makoun - 7 another tidy and promising display. Petrov - 7 helped tie everything together Downing 9 and 5 - nine for the first half hour where he was absolutely superb and five for the rest of the game where he relaxed into not much of anything Young - 6 some good, some bad - the tactic of playing him behind the striker because he likes it and he might sign a new contract if he gets his own way might work - if it does, then good, but if he signs a new contract he goes straight back to the wing okay? Agbonlahor - 6 worked at it, but can't turn a man or draw a foul on the half way line - isn't a winger - definitely isn't a left winger - Gabby should be playing up front. Bent 4 - On this display Gabby should be playing up front on his own. The ref was shit, Johnson is a cock and we are far, far too nice - we need bastards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 We need a midfielder who has a big presence in the middle of the park, someone like fellaini paired up with Makoun. If only Milner was still here.. he could do the job. Petrov and Makoun won't "click" together as a midfield unit.. perhaps they need more time but I just don't see it working out. Don't get me wrong like i said before Petrov had an OK game.. but I still think the gap from strikers to defence is really is to walk through (or play through) with no midfield presence that could cause problems to opposition players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 The team with 5 kids and an old man in it last week against Blackburn played better than the so called first choice team today. Another 2 home points lost to a very average Fulham team. No clean sheet yet again. Our defence needs a major overhaul in the summer if we are ever going to challenge for Europe again. We won't go down but that is because there are shitter teams than us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zapbranny Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Makoun seems to manage to find players in space though, and he's only been training for two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno_2004 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Big mistake not playing Albrighton from the start today - it was a game made for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Big mistake not playing Albrighton from the start today - it was a game made for him. Agreed even I said he should've started Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 we are far, far too nice - we need bastards. Couldn't have put it better myself.. Let's hope Bradley can make an impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanpabloangel18 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 The more I think about todays performance, the more bewildered I become about GH's first team selection and formation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 To play with a lone striker at home to Fulham is disgraceful. We couldn't even win midfield even though we had 5 players in there. I will accept nothing less than 3 points for every home game from now until the end of the season as there isn't a team that I consider good enough to take anything from VP between now and the end of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienvillan Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 The more I think about todays performance, the more bewildered I become about GH's first team selection and formation. I think this was another trial. There is a winning formation somewhere, Houllier just hasn't found it yet. Patience. Over to those who think he never will... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maradona10 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Friedel 0 Makoun MOM The rest of them shite!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAlex Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 On my way back from that shit game. First 30ish minutes we looked good and when we scored I thought we would turn the screw. We didn't though and ended up paying the price. Our passing was great at times but we just can't break a defence down well enough. Young isn't good enough to play in the hole. He can't play the killer ball and is too weak. He should be back out on the wing where he belongs. Gabby isn't a winger. Bent isn't getting enough service and it may sound harsh but he should have stayed onside for that early 'goal' he scored. Friedel was poor and cost us the match. MOTM for me would be between Makoun and Downing. Both shone at parts of the match, although nobody was consistant throughout. Walker's goal was a cracker as well. We are still a work in progress and you can tell. We still should have beaten thrm today though and it's simply not good enough... Agree with all of this but it looked to me that Bent was onside, not that it matters now anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoody Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 haven't seen the game at all. was at work. Disgusted by the scoreline and that we gave away yet another 2 points after going ahead TWICE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parisvilla Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Downing motm for me but that's not saying much. Petrov is currently a complete liability, coker should definitely start with makoun at blackpool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 No players out injured, 3 of his own players in the starting line up, terrible selection decision with Gabby and Young. No excuses available today for Houllier that simply wasn't good enough, not even close to being good enough. You make it sound like it was Houllier out there playing against Fulham, Trent. I do agree that some of the tactical decisions were wrong. But I personally think the players are more to blame. When Young was playing behind Bent he scuffed all his passes forward. When Young was moved to the wing, he was woeful. When Clark got the ball, he didn't make a run forward, like a winger should do, he just stands there waiting for the ball and then tries to take on 3 players. He lost it every time. Petrov was poor, I wish Houllier had taken him off at half-time. Downing was good first half, faded in the second. Walker was decent going forward and a bit better at the back Today. Makoun was a class above everyone else (though he did fade out in the 2nd half, he's possibly still getting up to speeds with the English game?) Bent didn't do much, but I still think he should be one of the first names on the team sheet. With a few more chances created, he would probably slot one into the bottom corner. Personally, I'd like to see Bradley brought in to play in the centre with Makoun. Aside from the fact that Petrov angered me Today, I think that Bradley would give us a lot more energy in the centre and we could use his height to defend set pieces. Oh, one more thing. How terrible were our corners/ free kicks Today !!!!!?!? Friedel - 6 Walker - 7 Collins - 6 Dunne - 6 Clark - 7 (Ash let him down too many times in the 2nd half, imo) Makoun - 8.5 - MOTM Petrov - 5 Downing - 7 Ash - 6 Bent - 7 Gabby - 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolteEndRob Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Just got home from the game. Very disappointed today although I did predict that I could see us dropping points today when you take the lead twice especially at home then you should not be dropping points. It feels like a defeat. Playing Ash in the hole has got to stop NOW! Get him back on the wing. Gabby cannot play left wing. I'd rather see him dropped than play left wing. How the **** is Darren Bent meant to score goals if he isn't getting the service. His movement is quality, we just can't feed him enough. Friedel at fault for both goals. The first one he should have parried it round the post for a corner and the second one he should have come and clattered everyone to make sure that ball was his. Makoun is great on the ball. I'd like to see him push forward a little bit more as he does have the quality to supply killer passes. Petrov was awful. Some people on here haven't got a clue. If you went to the game today and you thought Petrov had a good game then I'm sorry but you need to punch yourself very hard. He's too negative. He very rarely plays a forward pass. Whenever we get some momentum going he slows it back down and either plays it backwards or square. He looked knackered after 30 mins. Plus my point that I made in the Petrov thread was well and truly proved today. I say it all the time but we are much more solid at the back when Cuellar plays. He'd should be the first defender on the team sheet! Anyone know why Bradley wasn't involved? I would have liked to have seen him come on as a sub today as I feel throwing him in against a team like Blackpool away could be risky. Blackpool is going to be a very tough game. The way they play combined with the way we are defending they will cause us alot of problems. We should line up like this against them: ---------------Friedel Cuellar - Collins - Dunne - Clark Downing - Makoun - NRC - Bannan - A. Young ---------------Bent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Svenne Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Downing motm for me but that's not saying much. Petrov is currently a complete liability, coker should definitely start with makoun at blackpool. Downing the riddle you mean? You never know what to get from him. I'm beginning to turn a bit on him to be frank. He is too patchy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.C.O. Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 This was a game I was expecting us to win quite comfortably. Alas, it was not to be. The first half we were pretty dominant especially after we went in front, however Bent was totally isolated. In the second half we were appalling, especially our defense with the two clowns in the centre making mistake after mistake. Fulham were first to every ball. Walker's strike was a great goal out of nothing, but we produced very little else. Petrov was invisible again, he should be dropped for the next game. Gabby offered nothing either. And why wait until the 83rd minute before making a change? With just a little more quality Fulham could have had us today. It was really subdued at Villa Park today. Seems like the season will just fizzle out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Next week against Blackpool we need to go with: strikers - Bent and Heskey midfielders - Downing, Bradley, Makoun, Young defenders - Walker, Cuellar, Collins, Clarke goalkeeper - Friedel Bench - Dunne, Reo Coker, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Delph, Bannan, Marshall Dropped - Agbonlahor, Petrov and the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienvillan Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Downing motm for me but that's not saying much. Petrov is currently a complete liability, coker should definitely start with makoun at blackpool. Downing the riddle you mean? You never know what to get from him. I'm beginning to turn a bit on him to be frank. He is too patchy... vs. Man.Utd: Downing cross, Bent scores. vs. Fulham: Downing cross, Pantsil scores (og). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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