tinker Posted August 13, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted August 13, 2011 Plenty of possesion for us, reckon its alot better than last year, Delph played quite well....Given is class. Strange to see gabby on the left and zog on the right, would have thought it would be better the other way round...well played villa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Did'nt expect much more tbh. This was one game AM did not want to lose and the result was fairly predictable, if not quite the 'parking the bus' that a lot of people imagined. Points a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderstudy Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Well done Given. Proving quite the bargain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El_Hierro Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Positive first half, not so good second (but could have been much worse). Point at Fulham and clean sheet is decent enough I guess. Defence solid, couple of great blocks, headers and tackles from Warnock, Collins and Dunne (and Petrov), Young out of position a couple of times though. All in all feeling fairly optimistic ahead of the next two games at home. Here's hoping for 7 points after 3 games, which will be a very good start for us. Imagine Adam Johnson on one wing, (a fit) Zog on the other, an in-form Ireland in the hole and a strong defensive midfielder (ala Palacios) next to Petrov, Delph or Makoun in the middle. We're not that far off when you think about it. [/dream] Given MOTM of course. Bargain of the transfer window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.C.O. Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Only watched the 1st half as I had to be elsewhere but from what I gather I didnt miss much in the 2nd. We looked more organised from what I saw and players seem to have that hunger back which looked lost under Houllier. McLeish looks far more involved in the game and in that respect has that air of MON about him. I'm happy with a point as we never managed a clean sheet away from home and to contain a team who have a three week headstart on us is'nt too bad. I'm quite optimistic we should beat Blackburn after that showing. Given will be an excellent signing for us in the long run. N'Zogbia put in some better crosses and set pieces but is not 100% yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingsombrero Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 :yawn: "Look how far and high I can kick it boss!" "Well done son, lets keep it going for the next 37 games." To be fair it's been a pretty lackluster start to the season all round although I guess a Bolton fan might disagree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamburglar Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 A point is fantastic considering how poor we looked for the majority of the game. If Fulham could finish we would have lost. I need to see us play at home before I draw any conclusions but I did expect to see a little more enthusiasm considering it was the first game of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockafella Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Nowhere near as bad as some are saying on here. The first half was very promising and the 2nd half just seemed as they were a lot more match fit than us, which was to be expected considering the have already played competitive games this season. Given 9 - Brilliant, the best keeper we could of got. Brilliant signing. Young 6 - ok in the first half, didnt really notice him in second half too much. Dunne 6.5 - pretty solid, would of been higher if distribution was better Collins 5.5 - obviously always gives as much as can but his distribution too, is terrible, always wants to play the long ball and gives it to opponents defence way to much Warnock 7 - I thought he was our best defender today. Always tried to give Gabby an option, even it was a back pass rather than trying an overlap or coming inside. Made a brilliant block when all our other defenders went toward the ball at one point in game. Gabby - 6.5 - I was a bit disappointed how he got his yellow card, it was always going to happen after he give ref so much jip the first time. Always tries hard imo and will cause problems but I would still play him as a striker. We had Emile and Gabby as wingers at some points in first half with Zoggy playing off Bent - thats just silly imo Nzog - 5.5 - obv not match fit yet. I have high hopes for him though but probably started one or two games too early. Had a wayward shot and give the ball away in good spots a couple of times but showed a few glimpses of how exciting I'm sure he will be this year with a couple of nifty dribbles Delph 6.5 - Solid. I think he was told to play holding role as he was behind Petov all the time and didnt take initiative to go forward when he could of a couple of times, instead of electing to make himself available to the side of the ball to receive a pass. Another player I really like but will be wasted in this position Petrov 7 - Not sure why all the moaners - our best outfield player for 60 minutes - def needs to be subbed now at end of games but while everyone else tries to play bad long balls or lay it of as quick as possible if they have people around them, he seem to command time on the ball and is always calm, can create a bit of space for himself in tight spots and calm things down for us. Yes, he probably does play the ball sideways and backwards a bit too much but without him today it would of been like ping pong at times Heskey 6.5 - run his socks off for 60-65 mins but without really doing too much. Sure he will have better games if he puts in same effort as this but is another one who probably needs to be subbed towards end of games if he starts Bent 7 - Another one who had low marks today, but he did everything he could with the service he had. He prob got bad marks cause he got offside a couple of time but the second one was close and he tried to come back on. Always looking to make runs and space, even in 2nd half when we were the worse team. Used players around him too, set up Zog early and also made great run and cut back near end for Albrighton when it looked like it wasn't on for him. If he plays like that when we dominate teams then he score shitloads again, and probably get a few assists too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Good point, Big Eck is gonna make us a tough nut to crack and as an ex CB I'm delighted with that. Just need a bit more flair going forward and we can compete with the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 we are in safe hands again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomav84 Posted August 13, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted August 13, 2011 negatives - bent isolated up front, gabby and heskey didnt know their roles, petrov seemed insistant on breaking down any sniff of an attack we had positives - back 5 played very well, delph and n'zogbia taking players on, clean sheet and a point at fulham - never a bad result Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 given was outstanding and the back four played well. Collins still a bit suspect for me. Gabby cant play wide but we all knew that its not exactly a secret but why every manager tries it is beyond me. Nzogbia was dreadful today and Delph is just not good enough i dont see what the fuss is with him at all. Thought stan was solid to be fair to him. Heskey was poor and Bent was started of service but when you sell the likes of Young and Downing and dont replace them you are asking for trouble. We need two centre midfielders and a winger as soon as possible. May as well get rid of Heskey, Delph, Gabby and Beye this month there is just no need for them. I thought the formation picked was poor and the starting line up was poor. Not impressed with McLeish selection wise. Overall rating 5/10 think we will struggle to hit the net this season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAndLoyal Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 My summary is that my head hurts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bc54vfc Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 My summary is that my head hurts Well you shouldn't have drunk so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nm4733 Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Given was outstanding and dunne and collins seemed to be back to there old selves throwing there bodies to block the ball. Cannot complain about a point away to fulham, a clean sheet was well fought out. n'zog does not look match fit yet maybe bought in a bit too early however we could see a shimmer of his skill. Mcleish needs to bring in a player that is gonna be able to hold it in midfield and give bent the service he needs, we are a work improgress however i think big improvement on last season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 A point is fantastic considering how poor we looked for the majority of the game. If Fulham could finish we would have lost. I need to see us play at home before I draw any conclusions but I did expect to see a little more enthusiasm considering it was the first game of the season. and if we could finish we might have won. collins failed to hit the target when 8 yards out and with room to jump relatively unchallenged. heskey had several good chances, including a one on one (although not the best angle) and a free header 8 yards out. if albrightons shot late on went a couple of feet the other side of the post we may have snatched all 3 points. we didnt look great, but we didnt look poor for the majority of the game either. it was a game where there were few chances for either side. fulham got into good positions a handful of times and made given work. we got into similarly good positions a handful of times but failed to make their keeper work. on the balance of play it was a fair result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conorm Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 heskey predictably shit, couldnt control shit , didnt win headers Did you actually watch the game? I assume you did, given your in-depth reaction but, seriously, Given put every single goal kick on Heskey's head and he either won them all or won a throw. That might not please you in terms of tactics but I guarantee you it was entirely to plan. You can slate any player for not doing his job but Heskey more than did his today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamburglar Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 A point is fantastic considering how poor we looked for the majority of the game. If Fulham could finish we would have lost. I need to see us play at home before I draw any conclusions but I did expect to see a little more enthusiasm considering it was the first game of the season. and if we could finish we might have won. collins failed to hit the target when 8 yards out and with room to jump relatively unchallenged. heskey had several good chances, including a one on one (although not the best angle) and a free header 8 yards out. if albrightons shot late on went a couple of feet the other side of the post we may have snatched all 3 points. we didnt look great, but we didnt look poor for the majority of the game either. it was a game where there were few chances for either side. fulham got into good positions a handful of times and made given work. we got into similarly good positions a handful of times but failed to make their keeper work. on the balance of play it was a fair result. we could have nicked a win but we would not have deserved it, in my opinion. if zamora hit either of his two cler cut chances two feet to the other side he would have scored, amongst others. Shay Given is man of the match for a reason! i'll reserve my judgment for now and would like to see a different lineup against Blackburn. The team today didn't click often enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Gash second half, midfield looked shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 We will be very difficult to beat playing as we did today ALEX 1-0 the defeatists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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