Rating and Reactions: Villa 1-1 Fulham

[Keyblade]

Apart from being disappointed by dropping 2 points to an own goal, I was really pleased with today's game. We were by far the better team, and were on top for the majority of the game. We actually look like a "side" now. We're not disjointed anymore and I feel that the team has finally gelled. 4 points from this game and Stoke away is by no means a bad return.

[poitier]

I thought we weren't at our best by a long way today, and were flattered by the fact that Fulham were as lacklustre as we had hoped. We had that spell for 10 minutes after we scored where we could have killed it off but fell away after that. I don't know what shape we were playing by the end.

 

Holman made some good contributions, I would have thought he is a better fit in the wide area than Bowery, who himself didn't play badly but didn't give us enough going forward.

 

Definitely two points dropped.

[briny_ear]

I look at it this way: we are a poor squad at present with lots of gaps in quality and experience but with enough talented individuals to keep us up and survival is the best we can hope for. This takes a point nearer that and none of our rivals gained on us. The ball

Is now firmly in Sunderland and Wigan's court to overtake us with tough matches. Then we play them both before the end of the season so it's still just about advantage to us.

[darrenm]

Paul Lambert : I thought we were great. We should have been a few goals up at half-time and their goalkeeper made some vital saves. I could not fault the lads for effort. [in terms of Fabian Delph's own goal] you can never fault anyone for trying to do the right things.

The point keeps the momentum there. I played under a great manager once and he said if you can't win a game then don't lose it. I think you can sense in the stadium the fans are behind us.

 

Martin Jol : I thought they were the better team. In the first half, we were a bit hot and cold. The chances they had were created by us.

If you look at the match, they had won three of four coming into the game, so I can live with a point. Our first priority was 40 points and we have achieved that.

 

Agree with both.

[Gompedyret]

Three things:

 

- Weimann needs to get his head back in place. Perhaps a little break? He was all over the place today.

 

- Baker continues on his path to become a very solid defender. Very Laursen-like performance today.

 

This is excactly the type of match we would've lost ten matches ago. We're on our way, even though we still desperately need to convert pressure into goals more often.

[Keyblade]

A good point in all honesty. PL hit the nail on the head, if we can't pull out a win...just don't lose it. I'm glad we got at least something. Our performance certainly merited that.

[StefanAVFC]

Typing on my phone so will do full match ratings when I get home.

Lack of composure cost us today. Simple as that. Benteke did his old Heskey impression and even westy didn't really show up.

Baker could be the new Cahill. Let's not lose him.

[Milfner]

The most surprising thing today was that Phil Dowd actually had a good game (apart from that Sylla yellow). Shocked to say the least.

[DamsonwoodVillan]

Really disappointed.

At least we hung on for a point where as 2 months ago we'd have capitulated to lose.

Substitutions were wrong for me. N'Zogbia may have had the pace and guile to frighten them in the last 15.

Benteke should have buried chances to win.

As I say at least we kept ticking over with a point.

The Sunderland game is make or break now.

[Daniel]

Bennett's decision making is terrible.

[Biskitt]

I don't think anyone had a poor game today but there wasn't any real exceptional performances ( Baker and Zog probably MOTM )

Bar a couple of chances for them, we looked the better team. My biggest gripe would be the poor decision making on a number of occasions which could be down to a lack of experience/composure in some cases.

Don't think our home crowd help though, seemed very quiet and nervous all game ?

[OutByEaster?]

I thought we were okay - we lacked our recent desperation and looked a touch lazier - we missed Gabby a bit, but we made enough chances to win it without ever really getting control of the game.

 

Delph MoTM for me, Baker a close second, Bennett did well and Sylla was decent when he came on.

 

I don't think Bowery is quick enough to play the wide forward role - he didn't get beyond anyone today - Lowton supported him really well in the first half in fairness.

 

My worry at the moment is Benteke - for the second week in a row he played against defenders he couldn't physically dominate and for the second week in a row he was very quiet. Although he scored a good goal last week, his overall performance levels haven't been quite there in the last two games and he looks a little tired. 

 

Delph and Benteke should both have scored the chances they had late on - it's a point. We'll see I guess.

[AXD]

well played by the team today. they deserved a win.

a point isn't getting us up the table, but with Norwich losing, Stoke probably losing tomorrow and Sunderland with a difficult away game, we could still be the winner of our little competition this weekend.

Next week, we can only hope both Reading and QPR try and take their last chance for survival so Stoke and Norwich don't get away from us.

The games against Sunderland and Norwich can decide everything for us. 

[markavfc40]

Not long back. Not sure what to think about picking up a point really. We had enough chances to win it with Delph and Benteke both missing decent chances late on. Having said that I thought Fulham edged the second half and always looked a threat going forward after offering little threat in the first half. Overall I would probably say a point was a fair result.

 

Baker for me was man of the match and Delph, Westwood and NZogbia put really good shifts in. Benteke was pretty quite and we really missed Gabby. Had he played I think we may well have won the game as we really missed his pace.

 

Have to give a mention for Berbatov who I thought was excellent for them. The guy is a class act and I can't remember him giving the ball away and everything they did going forward went through him.

 

Crowd  was very good today. Really tried to get behind the lads even though for much of the game the team were a little flat. Just over 37k with Fulham bringing maybe 700 with no fans at all in the upper witton.

Edited April 13, 2013 by markavfc40

[Robbie09]

Valuable point and our good run continues. ****' crybabies.

 Nail on head. Too many knicker wetting over reactions on here.

[JoshVilla]

Gabby's presence would have really helped today. Overall, I think we still had a good game, we just need to stop giving the amount of space that we do. Also, it looked like the defence were shitting themselves as much as us when Berbatov was anywhere near the ball. A point is better than nothing, but I really did expect a win. We're still capable of staying up, just that a win would have made a much less nail-biting last 5 games. Bring on Man U.........  :\

[turnbull]

Apart from our spell of comedy defending, I thought we were generally ok without being spectacular. We deserved the win though, so Delph's og meant that if we had a cat, I'd have kicked the crap out of it when I got home.

Baker MotM for me, did what defenders should do first and foremost-defend.

[Kingfisher]

 

A game of poor finishing rather than defending for a change. I don't think the subs worked. We ended the game poorly with no real purpose in attack. Gabby was missed. 

 

Given...7 Not tested much

 

I would have been very surprised if he had been tested at all considering he was on the bench 

 

 Oops...Guzan 

[hogso]

Frustrating. Although I agree the Zog sub was odd and looked like Lambert was settling for the draw, Sylla did well, drove the play forward on occasion too, which I was pleasantly surprised by

The win would've eased pressure, but Sunderland and Norwich aren't a patch on that Fulham team. We'll be alright. Hopefully.

[PieFacE]

Fulham were there for the taking today so a little disappointed we didn't get the win. But a point is better than a loss.