maqroll Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Perfect result for the board, then. Another point. Well done. Surely we won't finish lower than 17th place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted January 14, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted January 14, 2012 I think there has been a slight over reaction by some on here after that game! We were unluky to drop those points today, playing some good stuff in that 2nd half particularly. My main gripe was for the individual error that saw Donovan (Who was fantastic today) run half the pitch under no pressure to set up the equaliser. Dont know whos man that was but he dropped a clanger. Apart from that we were the better team today! However the main over reaction is to the full backs. From where i sat the 2 had wildly contrasting games today. Warnock had a mare, pure and simple. However the man is clearly not only playing poorly, but is suffering from a complete lack of confidence. He really needs to be dropped to take him out of the limelight for a while and given a break. Hutton on the other hand played quite well today IMO! There was none of the screw ups in defense and he offered quite a lot going forward. He overhit a couple of crosses today, but at least he attempted them thus keeping the Everton rearguard guessing and not just waiting for the 5 yard pass that Cuellar would have offered. Im not saying he pulled up any trees today, but he was still one of our better players and definately does not deserve any abuse based on this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted January 14, 2012 Moderator Share Posted January 14, 2012 Given - 6 - a couple of good reaction saves and a reluctance to come off his line for anything. Hutton - 6 - I thought he did reasonably well today, our best period was largely inspired by his coming forward to join attacks and he had a hand in the goal. It don't mean I like him, but fair's fair. Dunne - 6 Okay. Collins - 6 Ditto. It looks like he's been asked to stop launching his 40 yard pinpoint howitzers to no-one in particular and tried to keep it simple a bit more today. Warnock - 3 - Can't do a thing right can he? You have to feel for him in a way, his confidence is shot to pieces and we can't take him out of the firing line because we haven't got another left back. Still, he's no good for us or himself at the moment - Lichaj is almost fit I believe? Petrov - 7 - I thought he played well today, held things together and got into Everton more than any of our other players - free kick was decent and he lead from the front. Clark - 6 - A couple of errors, but he looks decent on the ball and he makes good decisions. Albrighton - 5 - Struggling a little at the mo to get going on the wing, has a good habit of drifting in at the far post though and could maybe have scored from that. Ireland - 7 - Lively and interested, not fantastic but certainly good. I think he will have very much appreciated the Holte End singing his name in the second half - it's been a while since he's been popular anywhere. Agbonlahor - 5 - I'm his biggest fan but he was poor today. Seemed reluctant to poke it past Barry Chuckle and run him. A bit isolated on the wing and kept wanting to drift infield. Looks a touch frustrated at the mo. Bent - 6 - I'm his biggest critic but he was better today. Never mind his goal, I was pleased with his workrate, especially in the first half - he looked interested and keen. For the game itself, I thought the first half was utterly devoid of excitement or ambition from either side - the second was better and once we scored, we took complete control and you just couldn't see Everton scoring. Once they had (from what looked like a comedy of errors in our defence), you could see them going on to get a winner - which they promptly didn't. Keane was okay, tactically it was difficult again to see our exact intention, Everton huffed and puffed and the game just sort of meandered into it's logical conclusion. Not the most memorable of matches and one that indicates that both Everton and ourselves are mired in the doldrums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheltenham_villa Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I think we had the makings of a reasonable team today, just lacking some killer instinct and to many mistakes. Not Albrightons best game, the mistake for their goal aside he barely made a cross count. I also think were guilty of trying to play our best players, not our best team. Shoe horning Gabby, Bent and Ireland into the same team isnt looking great. Ireland has to play at the moment, pick one of the others. As I commented in another thread, its time for the players to start taking some responsibility, they showed in the second half that they are capable, lets see them cut out the mistakes and put effort in for the full 90. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeps Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 McLeish out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Gosh Warnock. Has his girlfriend left him, grandma died, pet ran away? What has happened to him. Was nice to see Bent be a bit more effective in the 2nd half, Gabby did what we expect, and Ireland did again what we are coming to expect of him. As someone mentioned before though, a very good observation, no one really seems to be on the same wavelength. QPR is a must must must win. Think we'll see over 30k for that one? I think not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefa3011 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I think there has been a slight over reaction by some on here after that game! We were unluky to drop those points today, playing some good stuff in that 2nd half particularly. My main gripe was for the individual error that saw Donovan (Who was fantastic today) run half the pitch under no pressure to set up the equaliser. Dont know whos man that was but he dropped a clanger. Apart from that we were the better team today! However the main over reaction is to the full backs. From where i sat the 2 had wildly contrasting games today. Warnock had a mare, pure and simple. However the man is clearly not only playing poorly, but is suffering from a complete lack of confidence. He really needs to be dropped to take him out of the limelight for a while and given a break. Hutton on the other hand played quite well today IMO! There was none of the screw ups in defense and he offered quite a lot going forward. He overhit a couple of crosses today, but at least he attempted them thus keeping the Everton rearguard guessing and not just waiting for the 5 yard pass that Cuellar would have offered. Im not saying he pulled up any trees today, but he was still one of our better players and definately does not deserve any abuse based on this game. I agree with that, I was thinking towards the end of the game that it must have been Hutton's best performance in a Villa shirt. Other than the possible penalty/red card incident. Ireland was a class above anyone else on the pitch today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Deserved a draw and got one. Pretty unimpressive stuff from both sides for the majority of the game. We did play some nice stuff after taking the lead but the confidence that led us to doing that evaporated after the equalizer. The Villa are a fragile team representing a fragile club. Woe betide us if we hit a run of bad fortune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCAM Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Anybody saying McLeish is happy with a draw is talking out their arse. Of course he isn't happy, he wants to win over the fans, he wants the team to win. As much as he can be faulted for our situation, the sloppy mistakes from our players can't be his fault...Warnock was dropped by Houllier twice (at Liverpool and at Villa) and he is currently showing us why...those mistakes can't be blamed on the Manager...if he's not allowed to sign a replacement, what can he do? Todays game was better, an improvement. Ireland looks good, Given is great, Gabby is wasted on the wing, Clark is wasted at CM, Collins is a liability (and should be replaced by Clark), Hutton needs to pull his finger out. A draw against Everton, when looked at compared to our last result, was a good point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Bore draw from two very poor teams. At least Everton had the excuse of injuries while the standard of football we are producing at the moment wouldn't look out of place on a Sunday afternoon in a council park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAndLoyal Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Failed to beat Everton's B-team at home. No surprises there. Home games are actually killing my soul at the moment, no-one even sings at the back of the Holte anymore. It's just **** shite, everyone has lost interest, as evidenced by the woeful attendance. And for those calling for McLeish's head... Remember who put him there in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Pretty shit yet again. Ok, it wasn't on the same level as the Swansea game and we did get a point but I thought we were outplayed for the large majority of the game and the players just looked completely clueless. I'm not expecting us to be like Barcelona but I think based on this season we must be the worst team at passing in the league. How is it that practically every team we play can pass the ball around better than us? Ireland was my MOTM. He's doing very well at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 From where i sat the 2 had wildly contrasting games today. Warnock had a mare, pure and simple. However the man is clearly not only playing poorly, but is suffering from a complete lack of confidence. He really needs to be dropped to take him out of the limelight for a while and given a break. I'd drop him and put Clark to left back and then get N'Zogbia out on the wing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted January 14, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted January 14, 2012 Ireland best player on the pitch by a mile. First half was shocking. By both teams really. We were the better team in the second half, even after we went 1 up we kept pressing for a second. Thought we were very unlucky not to have a win today. To be honest i'm quite happy with the second half performance. The fact that we didnt sit back and try and hold onto a 1-0 win was good. We actually went for it and kept going, and that's what i want to see from Villa. If we can keep that mentality all season no matter who we play against we'll have some very entertaining games at Villa Park. Which is what I like to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 When Albrighton has a shit day......boy does he have a shit day. I admire his perseverance, but if ever a game needed someone with that extra bit of nous to open what was a depleted Everton defence, this was it. N'Zog should have come on midway through the first half for me. Bent, despite lacking any other obvious talent, doea what Darren Bent does best. Better service would have seen him do even better perhaps, he was in that sort of mood. Given was on form, but looked uncomfortable. Ireland was MOTM, no contest. The rest? Poor. Hutton? Why GOD why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parisvilla Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Actually feel as though I watched a football match at VP today for the first time since Norwich in the first week of November. A number of chances for both sides. Second half thought we played well in spells but were let down by some dreadful crossing from Warnock, Hutton and Albrighton. Gabby was very good, particularly in the first half and was my joint MOTM with Stevie Ireland, whose touch and poise were top class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjenkins Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Today's game was a strange one. I never reacted as despairingly about the situation as the other fans around me. In fact, we played good football in spells, predominantly through Ireland. I thought Albrighton had a tough task today against Drenthe and Baines today, and criticism of him is harsh. He didn't get the ball much in good attacking positions and even when he did the quality of passing in the final third was not what we perhaps expect. Agbonlahor showed glimpses of his pace and ability, but Neville was there for the taking today. Maybe he needs a rest because he's looks top me as if he's flagging in the second halves of games lately. Defensively we were poor, although this starts in midfield for me. Clark and Petrov, whilst tidy enough when it comes to keeping the ball and passing it short, don't have a decent pair of legs between them. Everton ran through us a hell of a lot easier than we managed to do to them at the end of the day. I think Ireland may have won as many tackles as either of his midfield partners, and even though he isn't a speed demon is more effective at eating up the turf too. We're missing Herd badly in my opinion. The defenders themselves? Warnock and Hutton weren't brilliant as everyone has said. I was getting so frustrated by the poor crossing as much as anything, but the positioning and decision-making left a lot to be desired as well. Dunne and Collins carried out their roles as expected but are limited ball-players, so 'hoofball' is inevitable when you don't have a dynamic midfielder to offer a shorter option. As others have mentioned, Hutton did get forward to better effect in the second half and played a lot better, whereas I think Warnock struggled to regain his composure and confidence after his flirtation with scoring an own goal. Overall: Given - 6 Hutton - 5 Collins - 5 Dunne - 5 Warnock - 4 Albrighton - 6 Petrov - 5 Clark - 5 Agbonlahor - 6 Ireland - 7 Bent - 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hev Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 It was funny when Robbie Keane went on a run with the ball, and looked up to see who was running with him so he could pass - only to see . . . no-one. Ha ha, welcome to Villa Robbie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Ireland MOTM by a country mile. Long may his form continue! Agree that we are missing Herd. Warnock needs a rest, his confidence is clearly shot at the moment. I would move Clark back to LB (or bring in Lichaj if he is fit). Disappointing that we didn't hold on because I felt Everton were there for the taking today. Anyway a point is a point and we were a lot better than against Swansea so hopefully something to build on. Bent looked very good today, cracking header too from a position he was very unlikely to score from. Keane looked sharp, could do a job in the last twenty minutes of games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Poor yet again, only highlight was Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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