StanBalaban Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Interview with McLeish on PLTV saying again he will be strengthening the squad now Luke has gone, and will be adding some experience to the team. Also called the game pretty well to be fair. Mentioned that some people didn't have their shooting boots on today and the service to Bent was poor. Mentioned that players are possibly not slipping the ball through to Bent for fear of giving the ball away.... anyhoo, had Petrov done just that in the first half instead of shooting we'd all be saying what a professional performance it was. Nothing to get too pissy about - an early kick-off, Midlands derby always had the potential to be a dour game. For those like Pilchard saying we would definitely lose 0-2 to Wolves as "they're a team that have spent freely and we've let our best players go" does getting a draw today mean that we've over achieved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Btw I expect us to improve as the season goes on as we have a new manager, playing a new system, with a very different midfiled from last season. So to go 3 games unbeaten and keeping two cleans sheets in encouraging, irrespective of how predictable our attcking play is. It will give the players confidence, which was clearly lacking last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troon_villan Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Excellent result for Wolves that. Hennesey MOTM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinnyVilla Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Pretty dull, other than a few spells here and there. Nothing creative coming from the center of midfield. I don't think it was Delph's best day, though I'm guessing the early yellow probably had him a bit subdued. Heskey wasn't horrible, I'd say more anonymous. Really seemed to contribute little in the second half, and I wonder why Ireland didn't make an appearance? Is he strictly here for the cups? Still waiting for some "wow" from N'zogbia. I did think Herd did well, and the back four in general were solid. Gabby did well and was threatening. Bent works hard, but relies on service and it wasn't there. Petrov was okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 just like the last 4 or 5 years, if a team comes to VP and is organised and solid in defense, we have no clue how to break them down. its not a problem that has suddenly come about due to mcleish, or selling young and downing. even with young, downing, milner in the team we would play poorly quite often. difference was back then we would somehow nick a goal and we would scrape a result, so the performance was overlooked. the problem for mcleish is that given where he has come from and his reputation, he cant afford to play poorly at all, and failing to win just compounds it. he hasnt helped himself by continuing to select heskey. the guy is meant to be upwith bent, playing the link role, yet he spends most of his time on the halfway line leaving bent isolated. second half he was a disgrace and just strolled around doing nothing. i refuse to believe that bannan or ireland in that role couldnt be more effective. it took 85 minutes to put in a decent ball for bent, and that was bannan. nzogbia was good in terms of running at the defence, but his end product was rubbish. not that he was the only one though, our final ball is consistently dire. too many of our players lack a football brain, summed up when petrov had the opportunity to play in bent in the first 15 minutes and chose one of his shit scuffed shots instead. herd was good, and why do our young defenders provide more attacking threat than the seniors. he really attacked corners and forced saves. gabby played well. delph needs to stop the stupid tackles and needs to get more involved going forward. defence is more solid but they are still incapable of making simple passes, and collins' hoofing is annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hercs23 Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 dont know whats going on with nzogbia he looks like he has lost that freedom he had at wigan. you can see he wants to cut in and shoot but instead he is been told to pass short. lets see over time. im sure he will come good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bose Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Interview with McLeish on PLTV saying again he will be strengthening the squad now Luke has gone, and will be adding some experience to the team. Phew there's a relief, hopefully a winger/attacking midfielder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 The gate was 10k below capacity because people expected to see dour football, and that is what was served up today. Two sides more interested in protecting their clean sheet than scoring a goal. Even when we were on top we were reluctant to commit men forwards and often Bent was forced to put balls into to box when it is he who should be in there looking for rebounds and loose balls. Second 0-0 from three games in the league this season. I expect quite a few more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_c Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I know people were liking Herd today, but just looking through the Guardian Chalkboard on today's stats, and Herd made 26 misplaced passes. Against better opposition that would be a disaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redrum Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I actually thought we played ok. What we were missing was a bit of intelligence in the last third. Chris Herd had a great game. Maybe it's just what I expect from Villa anymore .... thats why I am not disappointed i guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 just like the last 4 or 5 years, if a team comes to VP and is organised and solid in defense, we have no clue how to break them down. its not a problem that has suddenly come about due to mcleish, or selling young and downing. even with young, downing, milner in the team we would play poorly quite often. difference was back then we would somehow nick a goal and we would scrape a result, so the performance was overlooked. the problem for mcleish is that given where he has come from and his reputation, he cant afford to play poorly at all, and failing to win just compounds it. he hasnt helped himself by continuing to select heskey. the guy is meant to be upwith bent, playing the link role, yet he spends most of his time on the halfway line leaving bent isolated. second half he was a disgrace and just strolled around doing nothing. i refuse to believe that bannan or ireland in that role couldnt be more effective. it took 85 minutes to put in a decent ball for bent, and that was bannan. nzogbia was good in terms of running at the defence, but his end product was rubbish. not that he was the only one though, our final ball is consistently dire. too many of our players lack a football brain, summed up when petrov had the opportunity to play in bent in the first 15 minutes and chose one of his shit scuffed shots instead. herd was good, and why do our young defenders provide more attacking threat than the seniors. he really attacked corners and forced saves. gabby played well. delph needs to stop the stupid tackles and needs to get more involved going forward. defence is more solid but they are still incapable of making simple passes, and collins' hoofing is annoying. I agree with much of what you said, but in regards to Delph he is still inexperienced at this level and so his decision making in regards to his tackling will improve, but you also have to remember Delph is being asked to play that defensively. We have totally lacked creativity through the middle of the park since Merson left, but the frustrating thing now is that we have two players capable of filling that void and they aren't getting the chance because of Heskey! Ireland and Bannan need to be given the chance to show what they can do. My line up would be Herd -- Collins --- Dunne -- Warnock --------------- Clark ------------------ --------Bannan --- Delph------------- N'Zogbia ---------------------- Gabby --------------- Bent ------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeinMadrid Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 30,776 attendance. Same fixture last year: 38,965. Ouch! That's tons of lost revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I know people were liking Herd today, but just looking through the Guardian Chalkboard on today's stats, and Herd made 26 misplaced passes. Against better opposition that would be a disaster. Do the chalkboards include throw-ins, as Herd took a lot but many ended up on the head of a Wolves player. Thought he did well, certainly didn't miss Luke Young today. Whilst the game was obviously not a thriller today, it was encouraging to hear AMc talk about linking play up to DB9 and getting more fluidity to the attacks. If he can make one or two experienced and key additions, and iron out these points on the training ground we'll be alright. We've got two weeks until our next game and we're still unbeaten. Yes I know Wigan are unbeaten, but all those Martin Jol fans can't say the same for Fulham. It's not a bad place to build from. Back to Bodymoor Heath, work on players and systems to get Bent more involved (as AMc has said he'll be doing) and move forward from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villianusa Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I know people were liking Herd today, but just looking through the Guardian Chalkboard on today's stats, and Herd made 26 misplaced passes. Against better opposition that would be a disaster. Pretty worrying all round. For every 3 passes we made 1 went to a Wolves player. We did much better against Blackburn with 1 in 4 going to a Blackburn player. We did out shoot them 18-6 but not many shots on target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 30,776 attendance. Same fixture last year: 38,965. Ouch! That's tons of lost revenue. but: 1) early kick-off 2) bank holiday weekend 3) on TV 4) 3 homes games in 8 days 5) general money worries for people 6) Wolves didn't bring many away fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamburglar Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Herd is motm for me due to his endless trying. I like the lad, not the best but certainly a trier and a fews senior players could take a leaf etc.... I have always doubted Gabby's technical ability but hes had a decent start to the season and may yet prove me wrong (I have been hoping he will for a while now), good on him. N'Zogbia is just picking up his money and needs to pull his finger out. Defence was solid enough yet uninspiring on the whole, main positive was Herd. The rest did as expected. Midfield was bossed by Wolves for large parts of the game. That is simply not good enough! Forwards need more support. I don't think thiswas what Bent signed up for and I hope things pick up after this. Overall I thought it was a lacklustre game in the main. Still not impressed with the n ew regime I'm afraid. And I get no pleasure in saying that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I was at the match and I wish I wasn't actually (I did leave early as usual to beat the rush).. awful football on display, barring 20 minutes or so in the 2nd half it was so lacking any sort of creativity and we were hoofing it far too much.. at one point Delph had the ball had options to pass it but lumped it forward in the hope Heskey or Bent will get to it and lost possession again.. terrible. well done to Herd though.. but that was terrible and I fear Bent is off again due to lack of service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 yep, Bent must be wondering what he has got himself into here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulver Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Meh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Just back. Apart from a 20 minute spell in the second half it was a pretty poor game. Positives another clean sheet and good performances from all the defenders especially Herd and Dunne. Petrov and Gabby also did very well the rest were just so so. Most concerning for me was the attendance. Can't remember when had such a low attendance especially for a derby game. Wolves brought about 2k so we're looking at only 28k home fans. Having said that those there backed the lads well although its disheartening to see so many empty seats.The club are certainly reaping what they have sowed and though I have kept going I can understand why others haven't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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