[Albion] Bizarrely flat evening

[WATFORD zero]

shocking viewing in the pub ,so much for the Amex full house lots of empty blue seats on view ,apart from that a fair result imho
regards
DR

But onto the important things, what was the most popular replica shirt amongst your lot in the pub ?

Chelsea, Man Utd, Albion or the Arsenal/Man City half and half one

 

[Wardy's twin]

Dunno if flat is quite the right word. Villa were INSANELY dominant in terms of winning possession. Not seen us bullied like that at the Amex in years. Felt like a preview of how it would be in the Prem against someone like, say, West Brom.

Agree - I thought it was a good game , open and flowing with two equally matched teams generally nullifying each other but I think Villa had the edge. This is what Premier football will be like and this was against a team that was relegated...

 

[Wardy's twin]

Stockdale was hardly bullied either.....although he'll be disappointed with the goal.

He does n't dominate his goal area, good shot stopper & good distribution but needs to be able to catch the ball . Had he caught the ball then we would have had less corners against us and less pressure, same against wolves.

 

[pearl]

Ok. Fair point - although don't forget with clubs like Villa & Leeds, they have a lot of support spread across the country so won't have been a long trip for all of them. Not quite the same as coming here with someone like Rotherham. Regardless, agree with others that it's counter-productive... or at least the over-the-top tone of the announcement is.

two villa fans took the long journey from Sx Uni ..... ha ha

 

[trueblue]

Agree - I thought it was a good game , open and flowing with two equally matched teams generally nullifying each other but I think Villa had the edge. This is what Premier football will be like and this was against a team that was relegated...

True. It's a good indicator of how tough the Premier League would be although I reckon that Villa side is better than they've been for a while - simply because they're organised and longer totally dispirited. And we would expect Albion to strengthen if we go up. With the TV millions it becomes a whole new ball game.

 

[grubbyhands]

Villa were NOT shit

It does make you wonder what game he was watching.They are a quality outfit who ,on reflection, probably deserved to get a winner in the last 10 minutes. How many consecutive corners did they have? What quality from the bench and a decent choice of strikers too.We could easily have lost that one. Still, onwards and upwards eh?

 

[BrianWade4]

If everyone is like me, then on Friday night you are toast.

At work all week, so haven't slept properly in days, normally asleep by 9.30 on a Friday so mustering any energy is a struggle

 

[Bean]

I'm sorry but all these excuses don't really cut it. We're 2nd in the league, 11 games unbeaten and absolutely flying. We should be able to generate some kind of atmosphere.

 

[Langley]

AND Sidwell...my MotM. He broke up so much of Villa's good play

I think you are mistaking him for Skalak.

 

[Jim in the West]

It does make you wonder what game he was watching.They are a quality outfit who ,on reflection, probably deserved to get a winner in the last 10 minutes. How many consecutive corners did they have? What quality from the bench and a decent choice of strikers too.We could easily have lost that one. Still, onwards and upwards eh?

100%. A mixture of us not being on our game (perhaps the Calderwood thing - Hughton definitely seemed quite shocked in his SCR interview post-match) PLUS, Villa being completely rejuvenated by Bruce (who is an absolutely first class manager/tactician). Very happy with a point in the circumstances.

 

[Triggaaar]

Strange that the three games following the international break have given three lack lustre performances.
Brentford home, lost 2-0
Preston home, draw 1-1
Aston Villa home, draw 1-1.

Was the Preston performance really lack lustre? It was just one bad defensive moment and a last minute equaliser.

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

Was the Preston performance really lack lustre? It was just one bad defensive moment and a last minute equaliser.

Maybe not lack lustre, but we were poor 1st half, whatever CH said at half time worked cos we were a lot better 2nd half.

 

[London Irish]

What a strange night at the Amex.

So flat on the pitch and also off it.

It started with the teams coming out to a half full stadium and never really got going at all.

Roll on Fulham and a nice leisurely Saturday 3pm fixture.

It was a boring game with defences on top for both teams and little creative football tried. Both managers happy - and given the creativity of the Villa subs, perhaps we were fortunate Bruce showed us so much respect

 

[London Irish]

Was the Preston performance really lack lustre? It was just one bad defensive moment and a last minute equaliser.

Yep the way we dominated a good Preston team was encouraging, the mistakes were just galling

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Yes, very strange all round, considering how fans were looking forward to this game. Perhaps it might be just down to the fact that it is such a rush to get there, fighting trains and traffic, that one is just not really up for it. Sounds silly, I know, but it was so flat. I was amazed also at the amount of empty seats at the start -were there severe transport problems? We set off from Hastings at 5pm, and arrived far too early - even from Lewes to Falmer was absolutely no problem, so even more astonished.
The club seem to have stopped the full fanzone of late -this at least helps to get crowd going.

Transport was a nightmare last night.

Does the club still employ a transport manager?

 

[Colossal Squid]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Friday night is NOT for football.

I've had to swerve the last couple on a Friday and would be tempted to miss them again in the future. It doesn't feel right, the atmosphere isn't there and I'd usually have to miss something else to be there. Either that or I am just missing having a lovely relaxing evening in knowing I don't have to get up early the next day. A very simple pleasure but one which shouldn't be undervalued

In fairness it wasn't the worst game nor the worst atmosphere, but it wasn't great.

Saturday afternoon I am RIGHT up for it.

Friday evening I am knackered.

Also, SASTA can't cope at the best of times, but on a busy Friday night when the world and his dog wants to get the **** out of London, it's just a complete pisstake. Frankly we should be excused having to stage games on a Friday night because the transport is such a balls up. I honestly cannot imagine how bad things have to get before anyone steps in to end this misery and right now it just seems we're lumbered with this worst rail franchise on Earth indefinitely, AND STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. The club had better be kicking off on our behalf because every one of us is putting money in SASTA's greedy pockets for a shambles of a service that simply cannot justify ANY amount of money.

Still, remember that Millwall game under Hyypia on a cold December night where we lost 1-0? Compared to that game this was an absolute showpiece

 

[Hammer15]

Hi all, long time lurker here finally making a post.

Delighted with that point tbh. Villa are a fast-improving side and will almost be guaranteed play-offs (and possibly more) if they continue on that trajectory. The fact we can play so abysmally and still get a 1-1 shows we're made of the right stuff for the promotion charge. But much, much better needed from now on (particularly from the likes of Stephens who couldn't pick a 10-yard pass at times). Also agree that the atmosphere was weirdly subdued last night, though the team didn't give us much encouragement until Murray's goal.

 

[Bodian]

It was a boring game with defences on top for both teams and little creative football tried. Both managers happy - and given the creativity of the Villa subs, perhaps we were fortunate Bruce showed us so much respect

Watching on telly I didn't find it boring, and the commentators were often saying how good it was for neutrals. Granted, we didn't have a lot of creativity ourselves, but watching your team defend something like seven corners in a row when you know if we concede we're not likely to come back into it is never boring. Unwanted yes - but that's what football is all about.

 

[Shy Talk]

Why strange loads of middle aged/old aged fans kids spending most of the time getting food and the plastic generation in numbers! Just because more of them turned up last night does not make for a better atmo!

So what age are you? Why do you think anyone older than you,and kids, who are possibly younger than you, spoil the atmosphere? What is the perfect age for people to go to a match? Are you a complete AR5E?

 

[*Gullsworth*]

Yep flat on the pitch and flat atmosphere. Villa were loud at times.....We were strangely quiet. We never got going, into our stride but credit to Villa they looked a decent outfit and were unlucky not to win. But we are second,playing great clubs like Villa in front of 30k crowds. Not a bad way to see an under par performance. Who would have thought we would be this success full 10 years ago?