Aston Villa beaten at home by MSK Zilina but we're still through to the knock out stage
Thursday, 04 December 08, 03:35 PM · Comments (75)
It wasn't imperative that we win but it would have been nice. However, we didn't and while the possession in the second half will probably be something like 80% Villa, we just didn't have enough to put a goal in the back of the net.
Normally this is where I'd have a pop or two but I'm not going to tonight and I'm also not going to ask why James Milner gets paid so much and cant cross - it's all for a different time.
But, we are through and that is all that ultimately matters, even if it would've been nice if we won. Hopefully we'll win in Hamburg and we'll win the group but there is some really good news from tonight.
Nathan Delfouneso, making his debut, scored a cracker. There was a longish ball played towards the box and Harewood knocked it down, probably accidentally, to Delfouneso, who volleyed from the edge of the box to score.
It wasn't the best goal he'll ever score, of that I'm sure, but it was a fantastic goal and I'm hugely happy for him and hope that he gets a new contract soon with three times the amount of money Milner is on. He deserves it.
Anyway, I'm in good spirits despite the defeat, so I'm either going to go to bed or watch a film, but I'm leaving this blog for tonight and I hope to see some abusive comments directed towards me below because of my views on Milner.
On something else all together and despite him probably leaving in the summer, I might be changing my views on Barry, although nothing is decided, but I am going to sleep on it tonight.
Now for Hamburg but before that, the media view tomorrow morning. Up the Villa!
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75 Comments · Add yours
we seem to be struggling on set-plays...which was our lethal weapon!!!we struggle to score goals from open play so we desperatly need strike power asap!!!
loving being through tho!!!come on the villa!!!!!!
We always play shit when we are on 5 & this trend of being walked over the park at your home really is takin off
Horrible performce no passion at all and as for Young he has been very very shit of late and i'm not happy with our star man.
Missed chances again that Carew would tap in with his head easy we are nothing without Carew, Zat knight is simple a rookie and he should be playing for a club like luton town
Harewood was complete rubbish like coker tonight but at least coker tracked back a little if we see harebrain here next season i'd be very shocked?
Complete rubbish sums us up
webcam was just as crap in the first 6months he was here give the lad a chance to develope he's still younger than young and needs more time to work with the wing coaches that worked with young from the day he signed you never gave him a chance, i dont normaly knock you damian but this obsession with milner underperforming is getting a bit much the whole team under performed tonight and zelina's over performed milner played for at least 20 mins and showed some hard work and good touches and his crossing is getting better needs to work on his shooting mind but he's work in progress like most of our squad so give them a break!
Did not catch the game, so how was Fonzie? sounds like a good goal, but overall?
Dont have digs at Milner, it was a lack of TEAM effort that let us down. Barry played just as bad, gabby did nothing, brambl.. umm knight yet another defensive error, and our midfield was hollow. Im angry for now, but we're through so its ok.
agreed goldie webcam has looked knackered of late and in dire need of a rest....
Although we are through to the next phase it is still a big worry in the grand scheme of things that we keep losing or dont get a result against teams that we should [ Fulham, Newcastle, Zilina, Borough]. We seem to lift against the better teams [ Arsenal, Man U and Ajax ] but we drift off against the lower teams. So what is the answer? I think one area that would help would be to use more subs in the Prem games. We never use our subs so i think a lot of the players get stale. I also think it does not help to much with their confidence when they can't get a run. Anyhow bring on Everton! UTV
I hope this was the last time we have the misfortune of having to watch Osborne play for the Villa. He is brutal in the centre. Gardiner is a far better CM but MON has at every moment picked Osbourne in the centre ahead of him for some reason. Tonight showed that Osbourne, Saliouf, Harewood and Knight are not good enough to even be squad players if we are serious about progressing in the league or UEFA cup. Championship players at best. Delfoneso looked very lively and what a finish. Hope he starts to get 15mins as a sub in some of the up coming games if Carew is still out.
true, we need more subs which would add competition within the squad which would make the players try harder. But look at bench.. Moustapha agathe, osbourne and so on are not healthy competition, they are reserve quality.
Reply to Goldie7:
Totally agree that we are toothless without Carew. Especially as our only means of attacking is to get it wide and then cross it into the box. Pointless if nobody in there who can win thoses headers.
Reply to Adam Davies:
agathe? seriously dude? he f**ked of years ago!
People always try to find positives out of games like this
By far this is the worst performance of the season easy i can see us going on a bit of a goal drought? I just can't see where the goals are gonna come from' and who's gonna score them
Roll on jan ''mon not the end of jan
Harewood out
KNIGHT out FIRST
Osborne out
Salifou out
Gardner out
Coker out
Young out 28mil should do it take it and get downing
Barry out 10mil if we get that now and get derbyshire
Deep down i really do think these players aint up to where we aim to go?
Shocking
Reply to notsosilentbob:
im joking, salifou is a comparison to agathe
well that was pathetic.
if this result means mean we trade harewood in for his scap value, sell osbourne to league 2, and people realise that salifou is an extremely limited plare, and mon realises he needs to spend - its well worth it
also, i doubt even if we win the match in hamburg that we will win the group.
well done nat, cant wait to see him get some more game time!
really i thought agathe in his prime was a decent winger with pace and on occassions a decent cross....salifou however as much as i'd like him to be our zidane hes nothing more that a slower version of a league 2 player
Reply to Goldie7:
28 mil for young thats cheap ....lol
Milner/Gabby did try for the time they we on if MILNER played from the start things would have been different
Milner is good, Ash has gone to the hills? So if it wasn't for milzy we would have no one to whip it in
ash needs a rest milner needs more work, in a year or so we'll have 2 very decent wingers..........shame we needed them tonight though lol
Really what has YOUNG done for us since that freekick at home to sunderland
Answer sod all
I'd take 25million for Young now we make 15mil profit so who cares im being serious he's a big arsenal fan and us muppets let him take the pen against them!
Milner was shocking, he isn't webcam and he can't ghost around players. His final ball either hit the last defender or was wide of the mark. Webcam was off his game and delivery without the likes of Laursen to aim at was off.
No-one looked comfotable on the ball and all in all i am more pissed of with this shit than the Fulham game!
i agree goldie he has looked jaded for a few months now
im not goning to slate him as he has potential to be a very good player but looks shattered problem we then have is with carew out and ash rested who the hell we replace them with! fuck all...when utd players need rest say ronaldo the have players like nani or anderson in the same mold as ronaldo that can do just as well....we have f all that is the issue we need to address at the start of jan along with a target man and a poacher
Guzan - 5
Reo-Coker - 5
Knight - 2
Cuellar - 5
Young - 4
Gardner - 5
Osbourne - 1
Salifou - 2
A Young - 3
Harewood - 5
Delfouneso - 8
Subs:
Milner - 6
Barry - 6
Gabby - 5
Never commented before but regular viewer. First off excellent blog...secondly-poor post
How can you pick out Milner? We had several people underpeforming tonight-none more so than knight, osbourne and harewood. Those 3 were very impressive in terms of how badly they played. Seriously as professional footballers i don't know how bad it can get but don't forget these guys are payed to kick a ball every day of their life. What's more ths was their chance to prove a point that they are good enough to stake a claim in our 1st team of which NONE of the starting XI did (apart from gardner and maybe the fons)...don't pick out milner from a bunch of useless over paid *******. He is quality and yes wasn't the best tonight but clearly will be a a.young duplicate in the next year
UTV
We were bad, but we still advanced, and this is one of MON's last chances to give the reserves some time (except for the next round of the FA Cup). It was nice to see Delfouneso get a goal, and I hope that will get him into the team in place of Harewood, who I really think will be (or should be) joining Stoke or West Brom or some Championship team. How about this: Bring in an out-and-out striker, a forward/attacking mid, and a decent backup center back in January. That's what I'd like to see happen. At any rate, I'm happy we've moved on, and I don't really care if we get a Champions League dropout, as most of those teams are no better than Milan, Udinese, Valencia or Sevilla, who we might get in the next round anyway.
A bad result, but it illustrates the need for Carew to get well and the need to spend. Both thing will happen and Aston Villa will be fine (I hope). Delfuenso needs to get on the field more, I thought he did very well.
The game was frustrating but they improved 2nd half. How big a difference is there between the 1st team n fringe players though!!?
Bambi....I mean Osbourne, was absolute shite along with Salifou in the Centre. They aren't good enough for premier league action at all. Thank God we've got good competition there anyway!
L.Young played well considering he's not a LB. Hes got great passion and work rate. Top professional. Is it me, or do you just feel awkward for him watching him play there??! Bless.
I'm fed up of people slating Milner, when our 'golden boy' A.Young is probably worse than him this season....
Young's final ball, much like Milners is just not up to scratch. Nowhere near as good as last season. Will someone teach the lad how to shoot as well!!! For the player everyone thinks he is, surely he should be able to have the ability to hit a good shot. And his free kicks are diabolical....I watch him before every match practicing, doesn't have a problem hitting the target then!!
The fringe players in games like tonight just show how good some of the 1st 11 are... for example. Petrov.
Bring on Everton and lets take it out on them Sunday!
Reply to Adam Davies:
Agathe was a Winger so i can't see where you are coming from? He was nothing like Salifu????
Can i add Bubba & Knight will never make Footballers as long as they have holes to Shhit out of. Bubba was doing his Peter Kay dad run what a load of shhhit he is shocking.
Reply to Goldie7:
Goldie are you blind man? Coker was a 2 & how did Buba get 1?? Was that for putting his shirt on the right way round? Only Joking mate...
It was a chance for the 2nd string to stake their claims and to be honest, no one did anything. It shows how weak we are in depth.
I though Osbourne and Salifou were really poor.. and lacked any passion or desire.
Young was a threat all night but he seems to have forgotten how to shoot on target this season. In fact, the whole team need to take lessons in heading the ball on target. How many times have we seen players this season head the ball off target?
I'm still not sure why MON insists on putting square pegs in round holes. NRC IS NOT A RIGHT BACK!!!!!!
We need to make at least 4 QUALITY signings in January... that doesn't mean raiding the championship but really getting some good players. I would like to see Heskey and Owen signed. We know that partnership works for England very well.. and both are gettable in January.
Notts Villain you talked a lot of sense then till you mentioned Heskey and Owen!! What's England ever won??
Reply to Goldie7:
Goldie was you at Arsenal???? Young was brilliant he ripped them apart......a few bad games & you want him sold fuck me mate we need players of his quality & as for Downing he couldn't lace Youngs boots...
Face Facts Barry, Young,Gabby & Milner are what our team needs to be built around. They are the future. Without them we a fuuckked.
Face Facts Barry, Young,Gabby & Milner are what our team needs to be built around. They are the future. Without them we a fuuckked.
We looked pretty fucked tonight with them!
Yep. I've always thought Osborne was never going to make it, hes hopeless and looks like Ridley Scotts Alien friend. He must be something special in training to get picked ahead of Gardner...Lacklustre performance but hey, were through. I Didnt think Young (ashley) had too bad a game, he was constantly punished my their defenders but kept going to the end even though he was obviously struggling. Nevermind, Hamburg in two weeks, whoop.
Just an embarrassing load of crap.
Leave the young guys alone. They were shown up! But what do you expect?
L Young played well.
S**t support? VP was empty.
Don't agree that Carew would have taken chances. He misses loads too.
First touch was awful, even when the big boys came on. Final ball too. Set piece is becoming a joke...
Sorry to go utterly negative, but we were terrible.
Can't believe people are even talking about selling Ashley Young aka Jesus as a winger. Even for £20M+. Why not just sell the whole squad, then Lerner can buy you as much crack as you want.
I found both Young, Milner and even cocker did well.
Osbourne & saliva were quiet, saliva got flu ?
Harewood was fading towards the end but didn't too badly in my opinion.
Overall, i am quite happy that we are through and very happy to see delfonso scored a super GOAL.
Reply to RSamVillaFan:
Barry, Gabby & Milner were not playing until late on ?????? Were you watching?????? Young didn't have a great game but he was the best Villa player by a mile???
Mate Very strange???
Reply to MarlE:
Here Fucking Here at last someone with a brain.......Where are all these muppetts coming from???? Sell Young i've heard it fucking all.......
Hi guys! I am from Slovakia: U blame it on everybody, but Zilina were better. U cannot win just with "run and kick", should be lucky U didnt play in Zilina. it would be 5:0 and international shame on Your team...
Reply to Goldie7:
Ok we lost to msk zilina as we have lost to many teams this year that really we should have beaten but really young for downing have you ever seen that fucker play if we want to have any contentions of competing th the top four then young is definatley one of the players that needs to stay at the club along with barry if we can convince him not to go to shitty liverpool
How can some of you call your self villa fans - I cant believe people are turnng on Ashley Young......its fans like you that are spoinling the game. The guy didnt play well, but he looks tired and in need of a rest. Its not his fault MON has no-one as back up to him, and the fact that we are far to reliant on him, Carew and Gabby is where our real weakness lies.
My perspective of the game was it should've have been a draw with the team we put out, but there was nothing in it that said we should have won.
I think Guzan was good enough, anyone would be slightly concerned when he's only played a couple of games for this team, and had Knightmare infront of him. I don't think Cuellar liked playing next to him either, they both looked out of sorts at points.
Osbourne and Salifou were just out-numbered. Neither have obviously played with eachother, and aren't good enough to handle a three man central midfield. I'd let Salifou go, loan out Osbourne to see if he can handle it, and bring in a young replacement for our new beacon of defence, Petrov.
I didn't think Young was that bad last night. If anything his crosses were the most consistant in this game than i've seen all season. His corners were dangerous and well placed into the box, but Knight and Cuellar just weren't in the right places. That says more about a lack of Laursen, Carew and perhaps incorrect training back at Boydmoor Heath.
I thought the Fonz did really well for his goal, brilliant finish for a 17yr old. Hard to judge him on one game, but he had the benefit that no one was going to criticise him based on one game. Hopefully the future of England's strike force is with us. As for Marlon, I don't think I saw him do very much, bar the 'assist'...
Milner was wasteful after he came on, but the problem is the longer he goes without scoring or having a really meaningful contribution to a match the more this will happen. I think he's being let down by a bit of expectation. To be honest I don't think we'll see really great things from him until next season so he can get his head straight, but it depends if people want to give him enough time. What I will say is he can still cross better than both Reo-Coker and Gardner, who were both pretty uneffective on the wings.
This is embarrasing to read... i've never in my life seen such a dumb fuck as you goldie...
Not the end of the world if it brings MoN to his senses.
Osbourne: was given a new deal recently, god knows why, he looks totally lost and out of his depth whenever I see him, put him out on loan he's no use to us.
Salifou: despite the odd nice touch he barely ever figures in games, another one we need to put out on loan and in the shop window.
Knight: I thought he was a half decent player at Fulham but he just hasn't done it for us, MoN must be the only person in Villa Park who thought getting rid of Cahill to bring in Zat was good business.
Harewood: well what can you expect, cost 4 million, was on his way to Wigan until MoN stepped in, couldn't get in the West Ham team. Quite honestly getting Darius back at a quarter the price would have worked out better.
Gardner: this is a good young player who never gets a run in his proper position, ultimately he is a better prospect than Reo or Sidwell and will bag 7 or 8 a season from midfield.
Finally, how can MoN ever expect Milner or Young to give their best when they have a different wing back behind them every week. I thought football was about forming partnerships and understanding between players, Put Luke Young at right back where he has specialised throughout his career.
Transfer window: for god's sake not Heskey please !
i went to the game, saw the team sheet, heard the away fans and knew we would loose.
First moan MON...
...why when we play a team where we want to win but they are inferior (because lets face it zilina were awful) do we not start with a large proportion of 1s team players put the opposition on the back foot then rest players.
there is no point bringing on our good players with 30 to go and expect them to pull out a result they might but they might not.
all we succeeded in doing was knackering barry, gabby, a young, bruizing guzans confidence (fonz was good as is the only +ve).
second the players...
fonz was good
osbourne isn't good enough sorry mon you shouldn't of renewed his contract.
i am unsure with salifoo
zat knight out
reo coker is too prone to mistakes therefore cannot be a defender and he can't pass so he can't play in midfield he is my 5 choice in midfield and i think he should go i like his energy and that is his only (+ve).
harewood out
routledge out
gardiner keep i think he has alot of inteligence on and off the ball.
cuellar had a mare but keep
third...
we are playing an inferior team with no ball control skills in midfield why are we not into their backbone as soon as they make their first touch. no pressing it was pedestrian.
fourth...
we need to draw or beat hamburg which will be difficult.
Reply to Goldie7:
you really need to watch more football
Ashley Young Since Sunderland
Crossed Martin Laursens Goal Vs Ajax
An Assist For Gareth Barry Same Game
A Through ball for Agbonlahor to finish against blackburn
Hit The Bar From A Freekick at Slavia Prague
A Fantistic Assist That lead to Gael Clichy's Own goal
A stuning Goal Saving tackle against park ji sung
And He created countless chances against fulham that we just couldnt score from
and im sure im missing some
ive also noticed many people getting on reo cokers back but he was fantistic against man utd
also many people are having a pop at zat knight who is short on game experience and i can remember him playing very well against slavia prague and on top of that hes a villa fan so he aint gonna wanna see us lose any more than me or any of you
i Agree that the performance was poor and that there could be a possible goal drought but tobe fair martin oneil has said we need to proiritze and maybe thats what we did and as for that slavakian or where ever hes from your out so shhhhhhh
Reply to HectorFullone:
totally agree with you about Gardiner. He has more potential then NRC( Maybe Sidwell as well) if given a fair chance in his position in the Centre (not at FB or on the wing ). How the hell can MON rate Osbourne as a better midfielder is beyond me. I just hope he doesn't make him the new Gary Cahill and sell him and keep a player with half his abilities.
young made a good tackle last night in his own penalty box and was the last man
i agree about gardner but sidwell is good now, gardner will be good in a couple of years.
very disapointed with the result, villa really frustrate me at times. we should of got the three points against a team like this then we would of stood a better chance of topping the group and getting an easier team in the next round. least we through thats the main thing but i think we may have hit our peak to soon and now were tired, we dont have a big enough squad of quality where we can rotate, good job its nearly january. we go and beat the likes of arsenal draw with man u then we go draw with fulham which really frustrates me, were not very consistant which we need to be if were going to break into the top four
Reply to the angry economist:
Are you sure you were at the game mate??? Zilina were poor?? 1st half they looked like a top team, their passing and technical ability was superb....
our reserves wouldn't make the blues first team
Reply to the tearful economist:
Shame on you!
tell me if osbourne would get into their side chris honestly? look in this game you need honesty and honestly osbourne needs to go in jan on loan or hopefully out it would be interesting to see who he goes to if he goes on loan i reckon league 1
Reply to Villa_Chris:
Or did we just make them look good? Come on lads no disrespect to Zelina but they are the 2nd best team in Slovakia (a country where football is only the second sport after ice hockey). And like the guy from Slovakia said above you cannot keep kicking the ball away and expect to win anything.
im not knocking the standard of a youngs play,but ive noticed recently hes started to throw his arms around towards the ref (alla titty baby ronaldo)every time hes tackled,we dont like the grease ball doing it ,so i dont want villa players doing it either,as for last night,i hope we have seen the end of MON thinking he can put out these second raters,if he does it again in the 3rd round of the fa cup we will be knocked out of another competion
9
talusmanvillafan
i we talking about webcam? he falls over too easily, some would say cheats. he needs to man up and play football ... but it's part of hte game these days
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Reply to AVFCBlog:
thats right im talking about webcam,i know its part of the modern day game but it gets to me big style when a villa player does it, hes good enough with out all the histrionics
Ultimately a frustrating night, how are we to develop a WINNING mentality in our club when we send out teams such as last nights. 7 'B' string players plus 4 'A' string added up to a dis-jointed, uncoordinated and unfamiliar 'C' string side.
I am all for giving opportunity to squad players to prove themselves, but 7 at a time! spells disaster against teams who are desperate to win.
We might have qualified already but we looked shit, we played shit and some of that shit will still be stuck, come the very important game this weekend.
What's wrong with playing our best team, in order to win games, then maybe sub 3 squad players on once we have a lead in the game?
Up the VILLA!!
Whats with the negative comments? The Angry Economist especially-you sure you were at the game? I have gotta pick your post apart because its really pissed me off!
first-off we don't need to draw or beat Hamburg - we have already qualified.
Secondly, stop having a go at MON - it's blatantly obvious what the plan was in fielding a load of second-stringers:
Give the majority of the first team a rest
Let the second stringers show what they can do (not a lot admittedly)
You are missing the fact that we lost NARROWLY and the team that MON fielded could and should have won comfortably if they hadn't had a poor first 20 minutes, then everyone would be saying how clever MON was for resting players for the league and still qualifying (which we did anyway). Starting a full strength team like you suggest and then taking some of em off wasn't necessary so why do it?
Personally I thought Ash Young had a good game and can't understand the criticism he is getting. His passing wasn't fully up to scratch and some crosses were poor but he always wanted the ball, was always attacking positively and got some really harsh treatment from their players. The ref didn't give him enough protection and 2 more of their players should have walked.
To claim 'Cuellar had a mare' is insane - he was pretty faultless and looked class on the ball.
MON learnt a lot by fielding that team and it will probably increase his urgency to strengthen in Jan (which we all want anyway), plus it will also stop a lot of the players banging on his door asking why they aren't playing more often.
Looking at a few of the players that started: Guzan didn't do a lot wrong so can't see why his confidence would be affected, Zat made his 1 f**k-up a game, NRC was as poor at right back as he was good against Man U so the jurys still out on that one. Salifou's passing was bad, Ozzie had a mare, Marlon wont work hard enough, The Fonz showed promise and Gardner still isn't fast or dynamic enough but I still like him. CHEER UP!
Reply to VillaMitch:
as i said im not knocking webcams display just his petulant attitude he seems to be devoloping,agreed he did take some stick last night,whereas he just used to pick himself up and get on with it(just like yorke did)he is starting to act like the man ure titty baby IMO
Fair point talusmanvillafan. Thats all wingers nowadays though. They are all about shiny boots, cool tricks and falling over easily. I think Milner's the only winger in league who genuinely grafts, does the crappy jobs and wears traditional no nonsense boots
. 
Admittedly Ronaldo's probably the most hated footballer in the world, is a titty baby and falls over a lot but look at the end product! 40 odd goals a season from one player and two dozen assists would do for me. Sign him up - I can live with all his shit! Maybe Fergie would go for a straight swop - Ronaldo for the Hare
VillaMitch i have read your arguements and understood them.
i did go guzan saw the ball curling into the net but made the wrong decision to stay in the middle.
do you want to win the group or scape through?
everyone on here knows that most of the reserve team isn't good enough so iam sure mon does.
in the end cos we were chasing the game mon had to keep ashley young on for 90 mins and put barry milner and gaby on to frantically chase the game so they are not really rested. its another lost game and we loose momentum
Reply to Toby:
Whilst I agree with you that Milner is not worth £12m I thought he was the hardest working player in claret & Blue last night. I would critisise his ability but not his work rate! If you were at the game you would see that he never topped running!
Reply to VillaMitch:
Ok Ashley Young Does go down far to easily and i dont like to see it ethier two weeks ago i was sent off at my shitty level of football for punching a player in the face who dived to be awarded a penalty but like i said in my ealier post hes a fantastic player and he is one of the core players of our club also ashley does do his share of defending and tracking back just like james and its fantastic to see we have to winger that will get back and fight for there team and as far as flashy boots and tricks doesnt everyone want to see nice boots and tricks John carew red boots Gabreil Agbonlahor has worn a number of different colour boots and even martin laursen wears the new preditors with more white than black and they are all fantastic players(however i hate fucking pink mecurials) and to be fair to ashley he is under contract with adidas so he might have to promote the new merchandise but when hes given the oppurtunity he does where classic black and white boots and people are still talking calling him webcam he's a villa player man we shouldnt be taking the piss outter our own
Oh Yeah and on people Getting On Mon's Back All i can say who would you get to replace him?
no one hes a fantastic manager and if he would have played the first team and someone like agbonlahor broke there leg everyone would be moaning then i like to see villa winning every game but to be honest this game was not a must win game and it gave us the chance to let the other lads have a run out
Cheers for the response 'The Listening Economist', I understand ya points but don't agree with them totally. MON expected the team to win obviously so throwing Barry, Milner and Gabby on for the final 15 when it looked like we wouldn't get anything out of the game wont have done them any harm. If his plan had worked and the reserves had played well they wouldn't have needed to come on at all.
I dont think it will effect the momentum in the slightest, I am sure Friedel, Laursen, Davies, Sidwell etc's confidence won't have been affected by the fact they had the night off and we qualified.
With regards to scraping through, if you had told me 2 months ago that we would have qualified for the next round with a game to spare and if we beat Hamburg in the last game we would win the group I would have considered that an excellent acheivement. I am sure people will come back with the "finish top get an easier draw" argument but to be honest I dont care. We want to be in this comeptition so we can have big European nights and play and defeat good teams, not get to the final because we havent played anyone tough enough and then lose to a good team at the end.
In response to Tom, thanks for the insight into the life of a football boot but the 'shiny boots' quip was tongue-in-cheek and I love watching tricky wingers like Ash (and Ronaldo), he is a brilliant player. We pay our money each week to see talent and flashes of brilliant skill and players like Ash make it worthwhile. Ya dont pay to watch a team of Mehdi Nafti's do ya!
And yes, Bendtner does look a prick in those boots ha ha!
Milner cost How Much
lol for some reason ive just got a thing for football boots seriously i know what boots most players wear lmaoo
Many problems could be noticed last night from where I was sat right behind Guzan's goal in the first half, many of which related to players playing out of position.
Reo Coker gave his man too much room for the first goal, while Gardiner seemed to leave him 2 on 1 too often.
Knight didn't win a header in defence all night, despite being 6 foot 6.
Osbourne and Salifou were non existent throughout, dropped off, didn't support in forward positions and gave the ball away when they finally were in possession.
Didn't think Ash was all that bad. Beat his man and was fouled virtually every time, shame it took until near the end for the ref to finally book players for these fouls.
Agree though crossing wasn't the best.
guzan - 5
cuellar - 4
knight - 2
reo coker - 4
l . young - 7
gardner - 5
salifou - 3
osbourne - 2
a.young - 6
harewood - 5
delfonseso - 8
barry -6
gabby - 6
milner - 7
Some very harsh comments on here following this game. It's amazing how many are slating Ashley. He wasn't that bad but as has been mentioned so many times before he is our only real outlet for large portions of games... and to suggest selling him Goldie is just jaw droppingly idiotic to be honest, especially when you want to replace him with Downing. And then to compound that by suggesting we should sign Derbyshire?? I can only thank the heavens your not in charge of the club!
To be honest if you look at the players who were on from the start last night most had something to prove and yes most failed. Having said that I'd keep faith with all but a few of those players.
The players I don't see having a future at Villa are Osbourne and Harewood. The rest all deserve another chance. Harewood for me is never going to be good enough to challenge Carew and Gabby. Osbourne... well I just don't think he's good enough to even be considered a league 1 player to be honest. His work rate is poor, tackling average at best, he doesn't control the game and his passing is often wayward. He doesn't demand the ball enough either.
If and only if we're knocked out of Europe or the FA Cup should we start loaning players out - we still don't have a big enough squad to deal with having 4-5 players out at once. Salifou and the Fonz are the obvious ones to get some regular game time elsewhere.
Gardner is a capable player in his own right and deserves a crack in centre midfield and I really believe he's capable of getting 10 a season from that position. His work rate and movement off the ball are very good and he's got a very good shot on him.
Reply to ak_27:
your having a joke, salifou is a brilliant player
and would walk into most team's in the PREMIERSHIP, it's obvious that you have not seen him play much or you would have a different view. up the villa
feels a bit like a repeat of this game tonight!