[Albion] Aston Villa vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[Dick Head]

Emphatically, Dear Friend

not aft

 

[Wardy's twin]

Can't understand why Baleba didn't start or at least subbed on at half time. They were winning every challenge.

That's my view as well, could argue he needs more integration time but then we played Hinshelwood.....that game cried out for physical presence and we had none. Concerned about Ferguson he really does not look fit.

 

[Sorrel]

(Just got home) it wasn't the best experience; I thought the Villa fans weren't as overjoyed as we would be if the reverse happened. That Ollie Watkins is good, too, but I think our defensive mistakes, deflections and refereeing oversights made it look a bit worse than it was. Yes, from around 10 to 30 minutes in the first half was still terrible, though.

At least it's not as far home as it will be from Thursday's match and I am in awe of those making that trip. At the moment if we get any kind of draw in the next two matches and I'd be happy. The is definitely a case of taking each match as it comes...

 

[Icy Gull]

That's my view as well, could argue he needs more integration time but then we played Hinshelwood.....that game cried out for physical presence and we had none. Concerned about Ferguson he really does not look fit.

Very good point re Hinshelwood and Baleba. I actually posted at HT on the match thread that we should bring Baleba on. It was so obvious we were being bullied, especially in midfield.

I hope RDZ now reins in the big changes every game. I get why he does it but there are too many of them.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

(Just got home) it wasn't the best experience; I thought the Villa fans weren't as overjoyed as we would be if the reverse happened. That Ollie Watkins is good, too, but I think our defensive mistakes, deflections and refereeing oversights made it look a bit worse than it was. Yes, from around 10 to 30 minutes in the first half was still terrible, though.

At least it's not as far home as it will be from Thursday's match and I am in awe of those making that trip. At the moment if we get any kind of draw in the next two matches and I'd be happy. The is definitely a case of taking each match as it comes...

Irrespective of the result. Villa is a shit away day. Despite parking 30 minutes walk away, the traffic was murder today,if the trains run they are worse than the Amex after the game from Aston, the pubs near the ground are all home only (and shite if you can get in) and the area of Birmingham looks like a landfill site where people have built homes in the middle of it.

As an away day, there really is nothing going for.it.and I say that as someone who lives down the road.

 

[Sorrel]

Irrespective of the result. Villa is a shit away day. Despite parking 30 minutes walk away, the traffic was murder today,if the trains run they are worse than the Amex after the game from Aston, the pubs near the ground are all home only (and shite if you can get in) and the area of Birmingham looks like a landfill site where people have built homes in the middle of it.

As an away day, there really is nothing going for.it.and I say that as someone who lives down the road.

Yep. We stayed to the end, then tried to drive away. An hour later we were still in the car park. We’d planned to go by train, but that was scuppered….

 

[zefarelly]

The rotation isn't just for the "tiredness" factor. It's also to give minutes to people that need to be integrated in the the team and how we play. If we can get Igor, Dahoud, Adingra, Verbruggen, Baleba etc up to speed early then we will reap the benefits along the line.

I agree . . . And given we always lose to Shithouse-of-birmingham I'll sleep well n ther knowledge we threw the game

and will do Liverpool again next week

 

[Driver8]

Yep. We stayed to the end, then tried to drive away. An hour later we were still in the car park. We’d planned to go by train, but that was scuppered….

Luckily I managed to beat the traffic today . I was on the M6 by the time the 5th and 6th went in.

 

[El Turi]

I probably sound crazy but I don’t think we were disastrously bad. We were second best for the first half but the substitutes made a big difference and we were well on top for a while. We looked like we could get back into the match until Watkins scored that deflected goal. After that, the game was pretty even but they unfortunately scored from both of their late attacks.

You also have to remember Villa have a massive budget and have signed some players on huge wages so it’s no surprise they have a good team.

Admittedly our defence is a big issue at the moment. Teams do look like scoring every time they attack and Villa did score from all 3 attacks they had in the second half. I think we need some continuity back there for the next few games.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I know we have papered over the crack for a few games but if you ship out your two best players, caciedo and Mac Allister without replacing them with like for like we cannot expect much

Of course league position is driven by results and it doesn’t lie, but I think this coming back to bite us.

I really hope I am wrong but our next few games will define our season.

 

[Nicks]

So many tourists today at the game. We go 4-1 down and off they all go .

 

[Krafty]

I have just come back down from London to check the scoreline and it was 6-1?!

What the f*** happened? Were we just completely sh*te or were Villa really good, or more likely a mixture of the both?

 

[Jimmy Come Lately]

Some of how we are playing reminds me of the first 5 games under RDZ where at times we looked a bit clueless and lost when it came to implementing his ideas. It will come good.

That's the thought that I've been clinging on to. Sometimes our play looks effective but sometimes it looks disjointed. Yes we've got players who are well versed in the system now so it's not quite the same situation but the way Zerbismo (are we calling it that?) works it needs everyone to know their role and be 100% on it. The new lads (or Webster having an off day) become weak links and the whole thing breaks down.

After those stuttering early games where we took two points from a possible fifteen we kicked into a higher gear and had a great season. If we're going through a similar wobble now but we've managed to pick up fifteen points from twenty-one while doing it, then we could be truly fearsome when we hit our stride.

Or RDZ has just cocked it up badly.

 

[cheesy77]

So many tourists today at the game. We go 4-1 down and off they all go .

Didn't see many leave at 4-1. 5-1 though yes a lot did leave in the 85th minute.

We left in 87th min to beat the traffic and there were hundreds, literally hundreds of Villa fans leaving with their team 5-1 up. Now that is embarrassing

 

[pb21]

I probably sound crazy but I don’t think we were disastrously bad.

Admittedly our defence is a big issue at the moment. Teams do look like scoring every time they attack and Villa did score from all 3 attacks they had in the second half.

These two statements are surely contradictory? If every time the opposition attack they look like scoring and you conceded form every chance, it has to be pretty disastrous!

 

[Ike and Tina Burner]

Actually, this game really reminds me of the away match against Derby under Hyppia when we had a midfield 3 of Holla, JFC and Texeira.

I think we all need to accept our midfield is shite compared to last season. Caicedo and Ali Mac were world class players and Jack Hinshelwood currently isn't. This squad needs time to get up to scratch and results like this will happen in the meantime.

 

[jackalbion]

Midfield was about as useful as a chocolate teapot out of possession today, in possession not so bad. Think we need to nail down JP and Dunk as our two best Centre Backs, think we look so much more susceptible to being attacked on the break when Webster is playing. We had an equally weak midfield at United but we’re not hit on the break like this then, there something JP brings that Webster doesn’t that allows us to play a high line. Also think amongst the rubbish today, thought Veltman seemed on the ball. Steele’s shot stopping isn’t great but his all round play is decent enough to keep him as an option, I also think his defence completely let him down today. We move on, we were always going to get some freak results in this season, and I think it’ll dampen some expectations for a bit. After it somehow taking 6 hours to get back from Villa I’m finally home and can get ready for our first European away game EVER.

 

[pb21]

This game really reminds me of the away match against Derby under Hyppia when we had a midfield 3 of Holla, JFC and Texeira.

Yes, it did have the feeling of a performance like those dark days of Hyppiä, albeit at several levels higher. That long since we've been that bad, relatively speaking.

 

[Sirnormangall]

There were too many poor individual performances today - you can usually get away with a couple of underperformers, but there were quite a few who had an off day. We didn’t seem to have enough bite in midfield. Still, I shall wake up tomorrow glad that I support the Albion and not Chelsea …….or indeed anyone else. We haven’t suddenly become a poor team. Keep the faith.

 

[AlbionBro]

There were too many poor individual performances today - you can usually get away with a couple of underperformers, but there were quite a few who had an off day. We didn’t seem to have enough bite in midfield. Still, I shall wake up tomorrow glad that I support the Albion and not Chelsea …….or indeed anyone else. We haven’t suddenly become a poor team. Keep the faith.

A very level headed post, some of our fans like to put down single players. But as a team we were half a yard slow to the ball and Ollie Watkins was on fire.
Good experience and I am sure we will learn by it for when they come to the Amex.