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Ratings and reactions: Villa 0-0 Sunderland


limpid

Who was your man of the match?  

92 members have voted

  1. 1. Who was your man of the match?

    • Given
      1
    • Collins
      0
    • Cuéllar
      2
    • Lichaj
      22
    • Baker
      4
    • Ireland
      26
    • N'Zogbia
      1
    • Albrighton
      0
    • Herd
      13
    • Agbonlahor
      1
    • Weimann
      17
    • Hutton (for Collins 43)
      0
    • Heskey (for Agbonlahor 48)
      4
    • Bannan (for N'Zogbia 81)
      1


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Another game we never looked like winning, great clearance off the line from Ireland and an incorrect offside call from the linesman kept us in it. Ireland played well, especially in the second half.

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Pure gash - again. Sunderland made the more positive substitutions towards the end. Looks like we were happy for a point, perhaps ?

**** off McLunge.

Well, our subs were largely forced through injury. I don't recall Campbell doing a great deal.

Yes and no in my opinion. If Gabby goes off you don't HAVE to bring Heskey on. A good attacking midfielder like Carruthers could have offered a very different prospect to the game than Heskey.

Carruthers to play inside the winger then bring Gardner on for Albrighton when ready to make the third sub and push Carruthers further out wide.

Instead we all knew it would be Heskey on for Gabby and CNZ coming off and Bannan coming on. MON didn't really have to do much homework if he wanted to suss out McLeish's game play!

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Pure gash - again. Sunderland made the more positive substitutions towards the end. Looks like we were happy for a point, perhaps ?

**** off McLunge.

Well, our subs were largely forced through injury. I don't recall Campbell doing a great deal.

Yes and no in my opinion. If Gabby goes off you don't HAVE to bring Heskey on. A good attacking midfielder like Carruthers could have offered a very different prospect to the game than Heskey.

Carruthers to play inside the winger then bring Gardner on for Albrighton when ready to make the third sub and push Carruthers further out wide.

Instead we all knew it would be Heskey on for Gabby and CNZ coming off and Bannan coming on. MON didn't really have to do much homework if he wanted to suss out McLeish's game play!

In hindsight it would have been a good change but Heskey was effective for the most part (when he wasn't in the penalty area). However, Bannan is shit and Albrighton should not have played 90 minutes. He got that wrong.

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1 win in 12. 6 goals in the past 10 games. We're pretty much safe via draws, but it's very poor stuff.

Expect another draw vs Bolton.

Lichaj, Weimann, Ireland probably the pick today. We lacked badly at finishing and final ball. Defence kept Sunderland to a few chances but they did have the (non)offside goal and a couple that were much closer than we came at any point.

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Just over 32,000 today. Club must be losing some money there. Great effort to get behind the team today though. Cheers naturally for Stan and Gardner getting sent off. Not much else to lift the players. Must be fun to play at home for the younger lads.

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Pure gash - again. Sunderland made the more positive substitutions towards the end. Looks like we were happy for a point, perhaps ?

**** off McLunge.

Well, our subs were largely forced through injury. I don't recall Campbell doing a great deal.

Yes and no in my opinion. If Gabby goes off you don't HAVE to bring Heskey on. A good attacking midfielder like Carruthers could have offered a very different prospect to the game than Heskey.

Carruthers to play inside the winger then bring Gardner on for Albrighton when ready to make the third sub and push Carruthers further out wide.

Instead we all knew it would be Heskey on for Gabby and CNZ coming off and Bannan coming on. MON didn't really have to do much homework if he wanted to suss out McLeish's game play!

In hindsight it would have been a good change but Heskey was effective for the most part (when he wasn't in the penalty area). However, Bannan is shit and Albrighton should not have played 90 minutes. He got that wrong.

To be fair, this is exactly what I was saying at the time when I said

"oh great Heskey's coming on", and it may have been your good self that pointed out that we didn't have another forward on the bench.

I'm not saying that my sub would've resulted in the win, indeed we may have gone on to lose the game, but it would've been a sub with some though and a nod to trying something different to try and outfox your opponents.

Basically, do something to win the game and play someone that's shown some form instead of those that have shown poor form.

To be fair, Albrighton and Gabby had no right to start the game in the first place in my opinion.

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To be completely honest, criticising the players at this point seems redundant. On the whole, the youngsters are acquitting themselves admirably, especially considering the absence of leadership, either on or off the field from those who should be providing it. Baker and Weimann have been especially impressive in the last couple of games and feel they could have a future in the first team.

But ultimately, when it matters most, there's no composure and no quality. That's the McLeish effect. And though that wasn't the best nor the worst we've played this season, the fact is the Club are now counting the cost of McLeish being too cautious/negative/inept when he had a full squad at his disposal. There's little point getting on the backs of the young players - and, in all fairness, the crowds aren't. And that may be yet another very lucky break that McLeish is feeling the benefit of as it's ensuring the atmosphere remains muted rather than vitriolic. I've never endured a worse season of home performances and McLeish/Faulkner/Lerner deserve to be on the receiving end of sustained, unflagging hostility for every single passing minute they remain at the Club.

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To be completely honest, criticising the players at this point seems redundant. On the whole, the youngsters are acquitting themselves admirably, especially considering the absence of leadership, either on or off the field from those who should be providing it. Baker and Weimann have been especially impressive in the last couple of games and feel they could have a future in the first team.

But ultimately, when it matters most, there's no composure and no quality. That's the McLeish effect. And though that wasn't the best nor the worst we've played this season, the fact is the Club are now counting the cost of McLeish being too cautious/negative/inept when he had a full squad at his disposal. There's little point getting on the backs of the young players - and, in all fairness, the crowds aren't. And that may be yet another very lucky break that McLeish is feeling the benefit of as it's ensuring the atmosphere remains muted rather than vitriolic. I've never endured a worse season of home performances and McLeish/Faulkner/Lerner deserve to be on the receiving end of sustained, unflagging hostility for every single passing minute they remain at the Club.

well said

and to think i was so happy to laugh at Newcastle when they went down...

look at them now..

lesson learned and i'll never do that again

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Pure gash - again. Sunderland made the more positive substitutions towards the end. Looks like we were happy for a point, perhaps ?

**** off McLunge.

Well, our subs were largely forced through injury. I don't recall Campbell doing a great deal.

Yes and no in my opinion. If Gabby goes off you don't HAVE to bring Heskey on. A good attacking midfielder like Carruthers could have offered a very different prospect to the game than Heskey.

Carruthers to play inside the winger then bring Gardner on for Albrighton when ready to make the third sub and push Carruthers further out wide.

Instead we all knew it would be Heskey on for Gabby and CNZ coming off and Bannan coming on. MON didn't really have to do much homework if he wanted to suss out McLeish's game play!

In hindsight it would have been a good change but Heskey was effective for the most part (when he wasn't in the penalty area). However, Bannan is shit and Albrighton should not have played 90 minutes. He got that wrong.

To be fair, this is exactly what I was saying at the time when I said

"oh great Heskey's coming on", and it may have been your good self that pointed out that we didn't have another forward on the bench.

I'm not saying that my sub would've resulted in the win, indeed we may have gone on to lose the game, but it would've been a sub with some though and a nod to trying something different to try and outfox your opponents.

Basically, do something to win the game and play someone that's shown some form instead of those that have shown poor form.

To be fair, Albrighton and Gabby had no right to start the game in the first place in my opinion.

It wasn't meant to be a criticism of your choice of subs I think had Collins not gone off it would have been a good sub to make. However, I can see the logic in bringing on Heskey for his presence and experience.

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