GaztonVilla Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I would also backup Houllier in one aspect, we had our 3 first choice centre halfs out. 3 of our back 4 were 21 and under. Perhaps the poor defending at set pieces can be explained by the fact that the first team and the reserves operate under different defensive styles at set pieces; confusion is rife. It has been for months but nothing has changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan. Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Rod, Back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAndLoyal Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 The highlight was the away pub beforehand and the amazingly fit barmaid with massive baps. Cue the whole pub singing: "fit barmaid m'lord, fit barmaid" "massive tits m'lord, massive tits" "Get them out m'lord, get them out" The lowlight was the game, as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC-Prideofbrum Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Frustrating, only seen the highlights but Bent and Young seemed to link nicely together, quite a few balls through for Bent that he possibly/should have made more of. Sounds as if we played well but just got beaten by set-pieces, hugely frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Yeah Bent got in behind a few times. They couldn't play the offside trap, we couldn't defend corners. They made the most of our weakness, we didn't theirs. Should have won it comfortable, even conceeding 3 goals. It's just the same old with us. As soon as Young missed the penalty and they scored I put some cash on them to win as it was always going to happen, so at least I made some quids out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 We are a lower mid table team. We are exactly where we are supposed to be. 2-1 up against **** Bolton with 15 minutes to play, and we lose. We are SHIT, and if we stay up, it will be a good **** season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Brilliant move by Houllier to put out a weakened squad for the Cup tie, it's clear that his strategy has paid off in f*ckin spades Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banger75 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Just watched a replay of the game. Even knowing the result I was gutted we didn't take one of our approximately 1 million chances, with Bent and Downing particulary wasteful. The fact we are creating so many chances is a massive positive, and on another day - with a bit of luck and some more clinical finishing - we would have scored more than Bolton. However....our desperation in defence was very much lacking, with everyone waiting for someone else to throw themself in the way, or block a shot...as usually done by Dunne, Collins and Cuellar - experts in this type of defending. I also saw that Cahill had a fistful of Baker's shirt for the first goal - hence stopping him from jumping. Fair play though for Cahill, the guy is all class, as shown by goal number 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
il_serpente Posted March 6, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted March 6, 2011 Great play, shitty defending on set pieces and shitty finishing. Should have been 6-2 or so to Villa. I don't buy the Houllier bashing. He picked the right team from what was available. Who else would you have had on? The subs he put on certainly showed why they didn't deserve to start. As for all the comments about this game somehow proving that the team selection for Man City was a mistake: what a crock. The selection for Man City was a mistake, but if anything today supported Houllier in that he had a fresh team that came out and played extremely well and dominated a good portion of the match. Some people have been slating Houllier for the team having no spirit or fight. I saw 22 players on both sides working their asses off today. The commentators on FSC here in the states kept commenting on the commitment and spirit of both sides and I agree. I second the motion that Young never be allowed to take another corner of free kick. I've said so for a long time now. Add penalties to the list until Bent misses. I'm going to assume that Bent will not usually be so wasteful. We'd better hope so, since he doesn't offer too much besides goals. Someone has mentioned that he always seems to jump too early for long balls and today it was on full display. I don't think he won a single header. Friedel should play the ball out short on goal kicks and any other time he has it unless Heskey is up front. Has anyone else noticed that Villa always seem to give the ball away on throw-ins in the middle 2/3 of the field? They always try to create a scoring threat directly from the throw and it never works. Just get it in play where we can keep possession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbertoAVFC Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 In all honesty, the result is gutting. But you have to put things into perspective. Having massively criticised Houllier for midweek (something that I won't ever drop), yesterday IMO was simply a combination of bad luck through injuries and wasteful finishing, something GH cannot help (even if some people think it's all a fitness coach conspiracy). Performance = good. Result = GUTTED. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAndLoyal Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I don't buy the Houllier bashing. He picked the right team from what was available. Who else would you have had on? The subs he put on certainly showed why they didn't deserve to start. As for all the comments about this game somehow proving that the team selection for Man City was a mistake: what a crock. The selection for Man City was a mistake, but if anything today supported Houllier in that he had a fresh team that came out and played extremely well and dominated a good portion of the match. Some people have been slating Houllier for the team having no spirit or fight. I saw 22 players on both sides working their asses off today. The commentators on FSC here in the states kept commenting on the commitment and spirit of both sides and I agree. Some people REALLY just do not get it, do they? The reason we lost today (bar the awful finishing) is not because of the team Houllier started with. It's because 1.) Our confidence (or lack of) is there for all to see as well as our soft under-belly. You just knew once Ash had missed the pen we would lose. Why do we have such low confidence? Because we've had a shit season in which Houllier keeps doing things to make it worse, and is a defeatist in the process. How is that likely to inspire the players? 2.) It's because all season Houllier has had chance to hire a defensive coach to train the defenders - instead we are going into the final third of the season three points off relegation with (reportedly) a goalkeeping coach doing that job. I guess that's not Houllier's fault either is it? This game didn't "prove" Wednesday was a mistake - we already knew that - it merely further highlighted what a massive error it was. You cannot buy one of the most priceless attributes in football: momentum. When you have it, you keep building on it and Cup success often translates back into the league. What Houllier said to his "best" players (players no doubt hungry for silverware) the other night was "I'm going to forfeit this match to concentrate on the league because as a team I don't think we are good enough to compete on two fronts while saving us from relegation" - how is that going to do anything but undo all the "steady" progress he had been making recently? And that was before his horror press conference after the game which Aston Villa even tried to cover up. Houllier made his decision on Wednesday to focus on Bolton - and we lost that too. Meaning his decision to forfeit our promising Cup run was not vindicated in the slightest, to claim otherwise is complete and utter nonsense. Please do not even mention the word "fresh" which intimates you think the players needed resting. We have how many games this month? Man City had played how many games in quick succession before Wednesday? Do not talk such rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 So the Manchester City selections gave us no points although we did play well for much of the game but when we missed that penalty that would have made it 3-1 and out of reach for them I did fear the worst as we struggle to see games out near the end even with a full strength defence. I thought Wheater was lucky still to be on the field to head the ball into Klasnic's path for their winner given he had been booked after his challenge on Ash that led to the penalty (how on earth was he not booked for that?). Had he gone off no doubt Cahill would also not have been pushed up so often. Sour grapes? No doubt about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Oh and there was also that blatent push on Ash by Steinsson as he prepared to take the penalty. But, it was not a good penalty was it and we do have a very able potential replacement for our spot kicks in Bent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GasGasGas Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 So we threw the FA cup tie against Man City for this? Conceding every single game from set pieces is beyond a joke now. As long as the opponent sends a ball into our box that one of their players directs on target, they WILL score. It's just **** totally laughable. Young in the middle does occasionally put in a nice through ball (about a couple each game), but it's being offset by him giving the ball away just about everytime he touches it, either with him being knocked off or some fancy stuff that didn't come off. However his dead balls are making him look a lot worse as they're not even close to average or decent standard. Totally garbage, pathetic efforts. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, and this has been the case for at least a year now! It also seems that the Spurs fans here were actually speaking sense and the truth about Bent when we first signed him. That although he does score, he also misses and wastes a hell lot of chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I will grant that the manager needs to sort out our defending. (But the defending did not go bad after GH got here... Newcastle anyone?) Our defense made mistakes. (Baker was marking Cahill on both of Gary's goals. He deserves a little lenience being young and forced into action through injuries.) But please consider the defensive errors Bolton's "experienced pro's" made. Was it 5 blown offside traps that should have resulted in Bent one-on-one? Anyone notice the ridiculous marking on the one Bent tapped in? Watch the replay of Walker's build up to that goal. Two let walker go by, one let's the ball bounce, another lets Bent run right past him. Another stupid defensive play gave Downing a touch that was easier to score than to miss. An absurd lunge gave away a PK. (should have been in the book) My point is that the defense being slated here made errors, but Bolton's defense made more errors. Much worse because it was their first choice. The difference is that we were punished for the errors of kids. They were not punished for the errors of their first team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GasGasGas Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I also find as well that Bolton's defence was equally shocking. Bent had a couple of 1on1s that he got through but messed up, and had yet another couple that were called up for offside. Walker's cross was also a simplistic one that practically trickled across the entire penalty area, and yet it still reached Bent for him to score. The way Walker just kicked the ball past and ran straight through two Bolton defenders was a joke. The bigger joke is somehow, we contrived to lose to such a poor team. That speaks volumes about us and why we're in such a predicament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GasGasGas Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Oh and I didn't know why the Bolton fans were constantly booing and howling at Young and ref with chants of cheat after Young had won numerous free kicks and a penalty in succession. It's plainly obvious they're still a physical thuggish team who manhandled and shoved Young about consistently. They got what they exactly deserved in terms of fouls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowandlow Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 at least it was a good session although its a shame ive had to resort to that excuse most games this season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Oh and I didn't know why the Bolton fans were constantly booing and howling at Young and ref with chants of cheat after Young had won numerous free kicks and a penalty in succession. It's plainly obvious they're still a physical thuggish team who manhandled and shoved Young about consistently. They got what they exactly deserved in terms of fouls. to be fair some of youngs diving was so bad it made me wince, Boltons defenders were daft for charging into him but a strong breeze would have pushed him over yesterday the ball was miles out before the penalty too, not surprising their fans got their ass in their hands thats said it was the only noise they made all game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LancsVillan Posted March 7, 2011 Moderator Share Posted March 7, 2011 Oh and I didn't know why the Bolton fans were constantly booing and howling at Young and ref with chants of cheat after Young had won numerous free kicks and a penalty in succession. It's plainly obvious they're still a physical thuggish team who manhandled and shoved Young about consistently. They got what they exactly deserved in terms of fouls. to be fair some of youngs diving was so bad it made me wince, Boltons defenders were daft for charging into him but a strong breeze would have pushed him over yesterday the ball was miles out before the penalty too, not surprising their fans got their ass in their hands thats said it was the only noise they made all game So wrong, Ash was far better on Saturday than he has been, in fact I didn't think he went over unnecessarily once, every time he did there was contact and unfortunately these days that is all that is enough. How Bolton ended with 11 I don't know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts