Aston Villa beat Gillingham to play Cheltenham or Doncaster in the next round of the FA Cup
Sunday, 04 January 09, 09:24 AM · Comments (71)
A spirited display from Gillingham wasn't enough and while they may feel a little hard done by we never really seemed to move into top gear today and if we had have done, you'd fancy we would have done better.
Still, two goals from James Milner saw us do just enough to get our hat into the fourth round draw, which is going to get drawn in a minute so I'll probably let you know by the end of this post who we've got and in the title.
You might find this next bit a little hard to believe but I was willing an opportunity to land at the feet of James Milner after he scored the penalty as I'd have loved him to get a third but it never happened and was unlikely to.
After Harewood came on for Delfouneso in the 72nd minute, Milner dropped into the midfield place vacated by Ashley Young after he went up front, to pretty much swap places with Milner.
The game was a strange one all round as we seemed to start playing 4-4-2 with Milner playing up front with Nathan Delfouneso although you could argue he was playing just behind him in a 4-4-1-1 formation, but it's sort of 4-4-2, whichever way you look at it.
Anyway, I won't go into too much detail as that will come tomorrow from the papers but if I had to sum it up, I'd say Young had one of his poorest games of the season until he went up front as Gillingham played five in midfield against us and he was sort of never given any space, mostly because we didn't match them with five in midfield, instead playing the two upfront.
Milner, although scoring two and it being his birthday, also isn't my man of the match. That accolade goes to Stiliyan Petrov again. He made the first and despite playing against five in midfield was, for the most of it, in total control.
Overall, considering we were playing in FA Cup and this was their match of the season, you have to be happy with the result but I just hope we go back to 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, whichever way you want to look at it, for the match against West Brom next weekend.
Like I said, PMP and more tomorrow and the draw has just been done; we're playing away against Cheltenham or Doncaster - bring it on.
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71 Comments · Add yours
you gotta admit it damian, that Milner looked very good today, even his crossing was on the mark!!
btw despite them saying those injuries to young, barry, and gab werent made up, i bet you they were!
cmon.... hopefully cheltenham win!
Milner and Knight were both brilliant today.
UTV!
Villa_1_2_3
I think he made two good crosses today, both to Nathan. But as I said in my prediction post here:
LINK
I even predicted he'd have a good game - more his level
they probably wasnt made up but if it was a league game they would have probably risked it.
Tricky game, but again we come through it so not going to complain as you've still got to beat the team in front of you, whatever league they're in!
I thought Zat looked pretty solid again today and his confidence must be sky high on the back of three good performances.
Milner looked so much better down the middle rather than out wide so hope a right winger comes in so we can move him into the middle more.
Agree with Damian, i thought Petrov was probably the best of the Villa today.
Roll on Round 4, hoping to take revenge upon Donny for the 3-0 we suffered under O'Dreary.
Milner had a great game---the Man of the Match. Delfouneso really should have buried both cross that he received form Milner.
Ashley had an absolute howler, and we won because he cheated. That was a proper dive in the box.
Knight didn't play poorly, but I wouldn't call his performance "brilliant." It was his poor defending that led to Gillingham's goal.
Fair play to Gillingham. They played well and deserved a draw. I'm thankful we got through without having to play a replay. The last thing we need is more games.
Tough game but these lower league teams always come out full throttle. I am just glad that we have come away without any players being subbed through injury, Ash was kicked off the park today and the ref was also 2nd division.
On a positive note James Milner had a great game today, Petrov got stuck in but the rest of the team were pretty average all around. Shorey worries the piss out of me every time a defender runs at him, and Gardener seems equally inept - shocking display today.
I have to disagree with you Damien, Milner was by far the best player on the pitch today. If delfouneso had his boots on the right feet today we'd have been done and dusted by half time.
most defs man of the match!
Damian
As a Milner fan I have to agree that his performance was poor today. gave the ball away too much and his pass back in the first half was dire. But he wasn't the only one NRC, Sidwell, gardner were all below their best and Shorey looked out classed at times.
My MOTM would also be Petrov but I would give praise to Knight as well. Yes he got turned for Gillingham's goal but his performance other than that was excellent. If nothing else this match shows we need more forwards and another wide midfielder.
Hi lads villabiker here the Cheltenham Villa supporters club wont be needin a coach for this trip me I live 1 mile from the ground, so anyone who gets tickets if Cheltenham get through get on the blog and i will give you any advice on how to get to the ground and some good watering holes for a pint before the game. There wont be many tickets for the Villa supporters as the ground only holds 8000
btw, here is the link for all the 4th round fixtures:
LINK
evryone keeps banging on about ash, gabby and petrov but to be honest its the absence of barry we always seem to miss.
another side swipe at milner from damian but at least he scored and there were 9 more outfield players on the pitch who couldnt raise their game as high as milner did.
Reply to Aero-4-Villa:
There goal was Knights fault he got to tight to the striker.
keef...
are you crazy? milner - "poor"???
milner was brilliant today! regardless of a couple of sh*t passes, he had two great finishes for the goals and should have had two assists if Delfouneso knew how to finish from quality crosses... His all round game was good too, he barely ever stopped running and rode the tackles well.
I cant beleive hes still being criticised by some people even after a performance i beleive MON himself would call "splendid".
Give the guy a break man!
UTV
Reply to Aero-4-Villa:
i think its called tunnel vision on some of the people on here
Have to agree Damian,Petrov MOM,though had Nathan scored from Milner's cross would have given it James Milner.
Thought Zat Knight was very good he seems very confident.
Was always going to be a tough game,their cup final etc.
Maybe a good chance to have a good run?
if Milner had scored a hatrick today people would still slag him off on this blog. His back pass on a ploughed field was bad yes, but any ball on the floor was bobbling aimlessly. It's amazing that with all the good things he did in that game people like keefvilla jumps on the bandwagon and slags him off. There were far wosrse performances today and without Milner we'd have probably lost that game, let's get some perspective please.
AP68-"tunnel vision"
i couldnt agree more!
Reply to Jimmy_Villain:
Jimmy not eveyone's slagging him off,i thought Petrov shaded it for MOM,took his first goal superbly and happy birthday to him,hope he goes on to be a Villa star for years to come.
Reply to marmite61:
Oh, i get it, it was Milner's fault that Nathan could not make his mind up how to hit it? What sort of logic is that?
I've got to say though its easy to give Milner the MotM when he scored both goals. Petrov had a very tidy game doing the dirty stuff, winning the ball and distributing it well, can i give it to both of them please?
Damo, stop having cheap digs at Milner, if he read half the stuff you wrote he would probably turn into the type of mercenary footballer we all hate. Him and Harewood always give their all regardless of their natural ability, i would rather have a 'battler' like Milner on my team than a flair player like Robinho who goes missing when the game gets hard.
I know its all about opinion and such but even it out please, NRC takes at least two touches to get the ball under control and you never dig into him.
Reply to marmite61:
yeah and you also said that if Nathan had scored off his cross you'd have given it to him, which makes no sense at all. Milner made a perfect cross and it's not his fault that Delfouneso couldn't finish it… Why would that have made him MOM? Please explain that logic…
Reply to marmite61:
ffs how shallow...so you didnt give it to milner because of another players inability to convert his good work..not a very good argument
petrov mom however milner comes a very close second end of...
podolski available for 9.5m anyone interested????
Fair point Guys,can we agree they can share it??
WPOTM award!
Steve Sidwell?
Reply to Fitzy_7:
think we all are! BUT is MON?
Same old story for me. Slow to react at the back, not much sting up front and no incisive balls through the middle. But of course thrilled to advance. Shorey looked out of his league today, as usual. Harewood was his usual headless chook self. Sidwell was rather quiet again. Shorey and Harewood should be on their way in the window i think....I hope that Davies learns to head a ball soon, as he will become lethal...Decent display on to the next round
Reply to marmite61:
haha i actaully felt sorry for you then..lol..you did take a battering
to be fair no one can stand up and be proud of there performance. we were supossed 2 be the prem player here not them . once again the ball is in the air get the thing down wot we need is a ball player in the middle who can produce that clinical pass and run at players . but saying that were through now bring on baggies and push on VILLA FOR LIFE
I agree with Damian, Petrov was pure class - it doesn't matter whether its Liverpool or Gillingham he always gives 100% to the team. Fair play to Milner; he took both goals extremely well! Zat Knight also deserves a mention, of course most will blame him for the goal, but it was a great turn and finish by the striker... why not look at what Knight did in the first half when he made that excellent sliding tackle on Jackson to deny him a one-on-one opportunity with Friedel!
Jimmy Milner hey Damian!
good job Villans
Good result in the end - won the game & no one got injured.
Thought Petrov was great & Milner & Knight had good games as well, lets hope he uses it to push on next weekend.
One Knight highlight was his pinpoint cross to Davis in the 2nd half.
Shorey did (as a few others have said already) look very dodgey. Gardener & Sidwell didn't have good games either, CG cause he played under par & SS because he seemed to go missing (again).
Bring on the Baggies! UTV!!!
Our back 4 worries me,especially if we are going to face decent teams in the weeks ahead.Knights mistake gave them the goal,Shorey looks hopeless,NRC cant play at RB and Davies looks nervous without Laursen.I hope we sign a top class centre back if Laursen is going to be out for a long time,as well as a much needed stiker.
Get your money on now for Villa to win the FA Cup and get into the Champions League. I've never seen a side have so much luck as they are at present. Victories in last two away league games through late own goals when deserving a point at most each time and now another fortunate late winner with one of the softest penalties you'll see. Really tough on Gillingham. Even Man U would have been embarrassed to claim that one.
No problem AP i'm old enough and ugly enough to take it
.
UTV
Milner was better. BUT.....
It WAS a dreadful miskick, followed by a blind back pass that COULD have cost us the game.
More worrying is Davies for me. 2 games running he has headed a ball meekly up in the box presenting trouble.
One final question (and I may be on my own here) in the last two games I watched did we lose EVERY single 50-50 header? If so why is this?
I had a cheeky £4 on Milner to score first today at 10/1.. Its paid for all the beer and a ruby for tonight. Happy birthday Mr milner!
Nan I agree Davies is still making mistakes and in my opinion cost us the goal because although Knight was turned it was Davies who lost the flicked on header. Of the two mistakes it's the bog standard header into the area we should be clearing routinely. If (I should say IF) we are talking to Upson I'm not surprised, I've been banging on about the centre half position for sometime and am nowhere near as happy with them as others seem to be regardless of who is fit.
More worryingly I think teams are seriously starting to suss us out and regardless of Damian's (correct) comments about formation I don't think we would have been much more threatening with Gabby in the side. Without Barry we don't have another midfielder who is looking for the killer pass. Yes Petrov can play but he tends to want to carry the ball rather than play it long.
Somebody tell me I'm imagining it about all the headers we lose.
I HAVE JUST BEEN SURFING THE NET REGUARDS CAREW GOING TO GALATASARAY IT IS ALL OVER THERE WEB SITE THEY HAVE CONFIRMED THEY HAVE APPROACHED THE VILLA.
ALSO ON THERE SITE IT SAYS WE ARE IN FOR SERBIAN STRIKER JOVANAVIC FOR 12 MILLION IT IS US OR STUTGART
SAVO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply to ROGERAVFC:
no its not on their web site...
just a rumour
i looked on the site and all i could find was this
LINK
lol
love the advert for the football teams air wic thingy...wonder if the scum have one!!!
Reply to Graham:
You are dead on Graham. We are getting the luck and the decisions that the normal top 4 normally get. And we also have the kind of grit and grafting players needed to continue this run.
TexasVillain it might be a bit far to say Ashley Young cheated on that play. I am not sure Ashley Young pulled a Ronaldo but he did get contact and going down is an understandable reaction (even if he did make a little meal of it).
And Aston Villa have another away tie against lower league opposition, perfect given what they just experienced. And I don't about the rest of you, but I am hoping Doncaster Rovers beat Cheltenham. Doncaster Rovers are a footballing side that will let us play and give us space, Sean O'Driscoll is not a get stuck-in, get in 'em type of manager and I think Doncaster Rovers would be taylor made for Villa. If its Cheltenham it will be a lot like this match and if we play a full strength side we might have an easier time, but I think it will be another nailbiter.
Roll on a double over the Baggies!
[ From yesterday's blog post
Damon :'you've got to fancy that we'll win this game and it is my prediction and I'll even go so far as to predict that James Milner will get a goal'] Spooky, very spooky!!
Reply to George_Templeton:
if i cant get to a away game i sometimes nip to cheltenham town and i promise you they would be no problem you could play the fringe players and still win in fact they are that bad ive seen them twice this year night games and they deserve to be where they are in the league
Happy Birthday Milner Mate
Just think if we had
L.Young Cuellar Laursen Bouma
Barry
Gabby Big John
Look at these we have to com back along with january signings
UTV
Reply to villa_biker:
I just looked at the league one table and you weren't kidding. Worst goal difference in the division and in the relegation zone. That said Gillingham are 10th in League Two and made us look bad by playing exactly the way Cheltenham will play. Too bad we have to wait until the 13th to find out which one, but I hope you are right that if we get Cheltenham will stuff them (and you won't have to make a long trip to see it).
Don't know what you lot think but to me Nicky Shorey gets worse every game he plays . He looks really nervouse on the ball . Maybe it's a confidence thing. Hope he comes good . UTV
Confidence is the thing for Shorey, I agree.
It is the same for every player under MON.
Just look at Knight now.
Look at Petrov.
Look at Coker.
Look at Gabby.
And the one's who could not be saved, Marlene, Rout etc.
I thought Knight played well - he's really stepped up since Laursen got injured and should be given credit for that - but he struggles against decent opposition. Anybody know how long Cuellar is out for?
Reply to notsosilentbob:
Woah! Baros is at Galatasaray. He gets around.
Yeah, that Carew rumour is NAILED ON FOR SURE.
like what you did there nan
Hopefully Doncaster will win, as i live about 5 mins away from the ground. Went to the game the other year, but went in the villa end and had a bet on rovers to win, as you guessed i support both teams, so not too bothered who wins, just as long as its a good game like last time. Both teams play good football, esp doncaster at the moment. (league position doesnt do them justice)Thankfully we dont have O'leary to make a mess of it this time round, as i got stick for weeks and months afterwards, and its all come back today for a 2nd bite.
Ghosthunter
I came close to giving it to Milner but the first goal he scored was all Petrov and the second was a penalty that you or I could have scored. But that wasn't why I nearly gave it to him although it did help.
I nearly gave it to him because he got two good crosses in today - both to Nathan and Nathan buggered up the chances, but he got the crosses in. Then I basically made my decision on who I would rather have had play today; Petrov or Milner and I picked Petrov.
Re. Milner over Sidwell - I think Milner has a lot of catching up to do to be on a par with Sidwell. Sidwell works as much as Milner in every game he plays, gets into the spaces (Young could have given him four or five great opportunites in recent games and didn't - ine today) and if I'm not wrong has scored more than Milner this season having played a lot less games.
Milner could come good and I hope he does, although I suspect his speed is ultimately going to be his undoing, whereas I see Sidwell as been very close to one of the first names on the teamsheet.
Will be interesting to see who Martin O'Neill brings in to replace Routledge.
for 'ine today' please read 'one today'
"will be interesting to see who Martin O'Neill brings in to replace routledge"
Aaron lennon??
Reply to AVFCBlog:
I like Milner, but I kind of agree with Damian in that I don't get why he's so highly rated yet. he's just not proved anything. Very ready to be wrong though. Delfouneso, aside from his glaring misses looks to have the potential though, just needs the exposure.
Whoever commented on Barry was spot on though. We nearly always miss him when he's not there.
I have to say despite making nothing of Milner's two crosses and admittedly the first volley was not a simple ask, but I felt Delfouneso did play well today. He is a player who is very intelligent with the ball and has fantastic dribbling... he hardly got more than 2 passes to him on the ground today. When he did he beat 4 defenders to lay off to the top of the box, whipped in a good cross, and shook two defenders to get a shot that narrowly missed. He is definitely going to be a class player if he works for it. His intelligence on the ball I have been very impressed with.
Milner is to Villa as Kuyt is to Liverpool.
Joe Cole isn't happy with with being subbed all the time at Chelsea. If he doesn't want to worry about that, this is the place for him! How about a 15 million pound bid for Joe Cole!
Reply to George_Templeton:
Would love him at Villa and if i rember right we were linked with him last summer!!!!!!!!!!
Reply to bow77:
Pipe Dreams
Ive read through the comments and agree with a lot on here on this game.
Firstly, Shorey is really poor. Def not good enough for Villa. Whens Bouma back? Soon I should think??
Davies looks dodgy. No composure on the ball and his heading is terrible. Zat looks a much better player. Much more comfortable on the ball.
Gardner, Sidwell both seem below par. Craig was class last season, whats happened to him recently? Sidwell just seems to go missing as others have said.
A.Young was really poor, not moaning though, he cant be a genius every game!
Milner good game,great finish. Petrov class as usual. Player of the season so far!
Roll on West Brom!!!
Milner:
Took his chances well and worked hard. A few good crosses today too. Played well overall. However it was a tough day for dribblers. Every time he tried to run with the ball, play cute passes, back heels etc they failed. Same as Ash. The pitch just wasn't up to that kind of play. For that reason I agree with Damian, Petrov edges it on the MOM for me. However he played better than everyone else.
Knight - Played very well last few games. For all the slating he was getting before the last few games some people should stand up and admit he has done well. One mistake, the goal. But what do you tell a big striker against a small fast one? Get tight, don't let him run at you. He did that and got turned. Credit to the striker, Knight will have done as instructed.
Sidwell vs Milner (from a fan of Sidders) - Milner has for me had more input in to recent games. Sidwell has gone missing at times. Milner works his socks off, and sidwell is prone to the odd foul. However, give sidwell time, and he's going to be villas stevie g. I hope.
Oh and Jones - yes please. The first striker rumoured on here for me that fits what we need. Big, strong, good in the air with ability.
Buy jones, then I'll happily take any of the small strikers discussed as well. i just want backup for carew first.
Reply to Villa_Chris:
Bouma back end of Jan.
Carew making progress, another 3 to 4 weeks.
Reply to StickyAV:
Cheers mate.
Im looking forward to seeing Bouma back in a Villa shirt more than seeing a new signing!! Can't wait!