Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 0: It could have been a lot worse
Sunday, 05 October 08, 04:57 PM · Comments (77)
Most of this week I fancied we could get something out of this game because I was reading a lot of press about all these injuries Chelsea had. When I saw the team Chelsea put out I lost a bit of my confidence.
It's not that they have more heart or run harder than us, it's that they have more quality than us and today that was the difference. The Chelsea team that played today could win the league and if they play like they did in the first 45 minutes for the rest of the season, they probably will.
It's not just that they have all these better players, we were also poor today. Barry was poor, but he normally is against better midfielders, Ashley Young couldn't get anything past Bosingwa, Nigel Reo-Coker is no right back or right sided midfielder and it still amazes me that we paid £12mn. for James Milner, to sit on the bench.
During the match commentary, about 15 minutes in, I commented that we were getting beaten in the midfield and with about 10 minutes to go in the first half Gabby came back to play on the right side of midfield to allow Reo-Coker to go into the middle and battle it out with fat Frank, Ballack and Mikel.
We actually looked okay when we played three in the middle, but in the second half we went back to 4-4-2 and we were never going to score when playing two midfielders against those three.
So, while a few players had off days I think it can be generally accepted that as a team, we were poor today. We were given a lesson in football and when you look at the team Chelsea put out, while it's not nice to take, it's almost as if you can accept it.
Chelsea could have also won by a few more, so we should consider ourselves lucky and for those that don't know, Hull have replaced us in the top four after beating Spurs 1-0. Get your money on Ramos getting the sack, quickly.
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Very true, i expected a loss but hey thats the game for ya
I DIDN'T GO TO THE GAME BUT IT SOUNDED LIKE WE WERE LUCKY TO OF GOT NILE. Don't mind loosing but it sounded as if we didn't put up a fight
Now if we don't pick ourselves up and lose to pompey we could go 11th? Our good start to the season doesn't really look that good anymore? We all know our track record against them aswell? I was expecting a loss today? But i didn't expect Hull to replace us? Oh well
Lost to an excellent team.
Main concern was Barry was not interested. All I saw him do was give away petty free kicks and the ball whenever he had it. I guess he won't be going to Chelsea in January.
reality check boys totaly out classed
LMAO Top 4? hehe maybe some of you dimwits will wake up now. That was a chelsea second side and they made us look like schoolboys. The top 4 is a million miles away from harewood,coker,shorey,gabby etc
Taglor - most of us agree with you but you dont have to come on here and gloat.
absoulte sh*t
What's this I heard earlier about Davies fighting for his spot?
That was a pathetic display.
Chelsea were excellent. Great examples of pass & movement which Villa were lacking today. Simple fact is we didnt have the ball today, and when we did have it chelsea's fullbacks were too quick to allow young or gabby any space behind them.
Only plus points were Friedel's saves and Carlos looking much more assured than Davies. Be interesting to see the side selected against Pompey.
I wouldn't be surprised if Cuellar takes Davis's place in the starting 11 after today. If I was MON I'd also be thinking about moving Coker back into the centre with Petrov, who have both been exceptional thus far this season and dropping Barry to the bench! He should be made to play for his place as he just doesn't look like the same player. Coker on the wing may work against lesser teams but it was never going to work against Chelsea. Personally, I like what I have seen of Routledge so I'd like to see him given a proper chance on the right and think he could become a good player for us. I guess most people expect Milner to fufill that role but I think Routledge has more potential, even though he cost millions less!
Honestly alot of people are saying that that is the best Chelsea have played in some time and if thats true they would have beaten most teams in the World. Theres no shame is losing 2-0 to one of the best sides in Europe. I never expected anything from the game as we all know the quality Chelsea have but why are we all getting down? We have still got 13 points from 7 games which is good.
The squad is bound to be tired and that is the problem in having a smallish team but Id rather MON only brought the players he thought were right rather than spending money on crap.
If we lose against Pompey next week then we can get downhearted but today we were playing serious contenders for the Quad and we obviously still need improving.
Thats the problem with all this hype, alot of people expected something today, whilst the level headed amoung us would realise that Chelsea 9 times out of 10 will beat most teams. If we had caught them on an off day we may have done it but it sounded as if they were well up for this game.
No need to worry, Taglor your talking rubbish about a Chelsea second side, if we look at the players only Ivanovic & Malouda could be considered 2nd team and thats up for debate. When you play Chelsea you know their second team is better than most other clubs first team so stop being so negative.
We had a bad game, a loss was coming as we havent played as well as we can for a while now and im glad it was at Chelsea rather than a demorilising loss to a team we were expecting to beat. Its nowhere near the disaster alot of you are making it out to be and everyone needs to calm down.
Taglor pops up only when we lose. You're a disgrace Taglor.
We lost to Chelsea at S. Bridge. Is anyone really that surprised? I wish we hadn't looked to dire, but let's keep some perspective here.
Taglor some times i wonder if you no anything about footy that may ave been a 2nd side for chelsea but look at the players who came in . most would get in most sides in the prem i think we have just played the champions this season early days i no and not many sides will out play us like that nan was a fan i agree with you we lost to a very good side
Come on guys, we lost to a team who hasnt been beaten on their home turf in 80+ games. They may have had a few of there best players out but together they still played amazing and would have destroyed liverpool the same as they destroyed us. No the top 4 is not out of reach this season. Just because we lost today we are still having a great start to the season and I honestly think we'll stuff pompey next game.
I have never seen a Chelski performance that good, they were by far and away awesome. I have a bet on Manure to win the title but on that performance i wanna change my mind.
Outplayed
Outclassed
Outfought
Sigh!!
What disappoints me is - from the radio commentary - we seemed in awe of them. We didn't seem to kno how to play against them. I must admit I expected us to put up more of a fight. :-(
Hey Hum. The key thing now is that the team moves on and puts this result behind them. It's now essential that we beat Portsmouth and get back on track and rebuild our confidence.
Today was the reality check that some villa fans needed. We are a million miles away from the top 4 - and probably good enough to challenge for fifth. The gap in class was embarassing.
I think Young and Shorey have been very poor this season. I honestly think Barry should play left back in the interest of us having a stronger team - who cares about his england place! He will leave the first chance he gets, if he can get out of Fat Franks pocket that is.
The only positive from today was Cuellar - who looked the real deal when entered.
That wasn't pleasant to watch.
Chelsea were first to everything, and while I can't fault their performance I think they were flattered by the 5 in midfield. We just couldn't get hold of the ball.
It must be said that Barry was very poor today. I have thought he has done well so far this season, but he just looked outclassed today. I think, again, that against that 5 man midfield it was always going to be an uphill struggle.
Portsmouth is a HUGE game for us now.
They simply wanted the game more than us well done chelsea top marks
2 losses is not a bad start to the season dont get down lads
we've got time and player changes on our side for the rest of the season.
as i've said before somewhere apart from the top 2 (chelsea/manure) this league is open to all
MON has to stop with his stupid subs..!! Why did he take Young off..? Should have been a straight swap Coker for Milner..!! Davis looked way out his league.. Cuellar looked good, but after Davis i would look good...!! Time to refresh the midfield, give Sidwell a go now he's fit...
eoin1981 couldn't agree with you more mate. That what you get when you bring in 2 average (at best) Full backs. We are miles off 4th with the type of quality MON is bringing in. We will get 5th but you can forget about 4th until we can get a few players who can actually pass the ball. By the way the defense was all over the place the same way it has been for the last 2 seasons. WE could have conceeded 7 today. Just be grateful that Deco wasn't there today.
eoin1981:
A million miles from the top 4? I would say a million miles from Chelski and Manure, but exactly from Arsenal or even Liverpool.
im not knock any players. buti watched the game on justintv and as i said earlter i think we ave just played the champions but i have always stuck up 4 gabby but watching him to day there was a lack of effort on his behalf . head droped very early he has to put the effort in all the time . not just when things r going 4 us so lets start thinking about pompey game and get a result UTV
Taglor, time for some self analysis.
How did you feel when they got the second goal? (Honest answer)
NAN WAS A FAN BLUENOSES CANT TELL THE TRUTH
Lets now leave this taglor thing please.
think one of the problems is what england was like under sven and thats knowing what the the first eleven is gonna be every week, we know reo and stan are playing a lot better with the knowledge of new players after there place, its nice to have a settled side but you gotta make changes and even if our fringe players dont make a great impact in certain games maybe thats down to however well they play they know they wont start in prem games,
but chins up ya cant fill the cracks til ya see them and MON will have spotted these
i hope
utv
I wasn't in any way being negative before, but I think 5th has to be the limit of our expectations. The gap in quality today was huge. Not one of our players would make the Chelsea team. I also think our style of football does not suit playing against the better teams because we dont get the ball back for 5 minutes after we hoof it forward.
We were beaten by an absolutly class top 2 team.....top 2 team, as in, i think chelsea and man united (when they start cannon balling) will dominate.
Villa, Arsenal, liverpool and Man city will be battling in a mini league of thier own.
Altho we were shit today, we were also out classed and to loose to chelsea at stamford bridge is just a traditional thing in english football nowadays.
Heads up chaps, pompey, blackburn and wigan next and if we get three wins on the tro (which is very possible) then all todays doom and gloom will be forgotten.
it was just a bad day at the office,we were poor today but give chelsea some credit they were very good,at least we have two weeks to get things right.gabby watch out!
Barry?
Anyone got any reason for that performance other than disinterest?
To be honest Nan_was_a_fan i can't ever remember Barry looking that good in the centre againest a top 4 team.
Ok, so i expected a hard fight but we were totally outclassed today. Bit soul destroying, but it pointed out a massive hole in our side.......we need a quality attacker in the middle. Barry would have been the worst player on the pitch if it were not for Davies. Barry didnt turn up ready to play and hasnt all season...i never thought id say this but lets have Sidwell in asap, Barry out. Barry is making it easy to believe MON and his vision that Sidwell is a replacement for him. I expect more from Barry but he doesnt seem capable of giving us 100% so lets change it up. I say it every week but we missed the boat with Barry, 8mil would be good business for him at the moment......Gutting
He's not being a very clever boy really is he?
No Top 10 team would sign him after watching that.
i have decided, i am a faggot, as well as a fucking cunt. nobody listen to anything i say as i am a prick and know nothing.
hear hear taglor
Chelsea played some excellent football today, and the Chelsea fans around me all agreed that it was one of the best performances they'd seen down the bridge in a while.
We looked sluggish and Chelsea looked hungry. Every loose ball seemed to fall to them, and every through ball seemed to get a nudge/knock from them.
Cuellar looked much better than on Thursday which is a plus point, Milner is still struggling to regain his form and Carew was a lonely figure up front, while Gabby looked on.
I think we are suffering from too many games and a lack of rotation (dare I say it). Fact is we have 2/3 top class players and Chelsea/Man U will be able to cope with them every time. We will continue to beat the lesser premier league teams and compete with Liverpool/Arsenal and now probably Man City, but we are a few million miles (or pounds) away from Chelsea and Man United at the moment.
The bigger issue for me was that if Ashley Young had scored first and we'd have won 2-1 I'd have got £175,000 in winnings - Oh Well :-)
Oh! and Spurs lost 0-1 at home to Hull :-)
i hate the phrase "top four" for all the reasons that i've mentioned before- but there are four teams at the top that know each others tricks and neutralise each other whenever they play... we lost for two reasons- we elected to not swamp the midfield and to play our normal game,,, it was a positive move but failed. also there are 12 "top four" clashes every season.. the players are hardened by these and learn not to lose their bottle (we looked scared of the ball in the first half). there's no shame in being beaten by class,, but we've got to learn how best to approach the big games.
I agree with that Word.
Do others think that Davies, Young and Gabby choked because we were expected to challenge them?
Would they have played better/more freely against a full Chelsea team, with us coming off the back of consecutive defeats?
_word we lost because man for man the quality they have is far better then what we have. There is only so much the MON effect can have on a team. O'Neill needs to start bringing in quality players that can hold the ball up and keep pocession of the ball.
_Word...great post...I did not expect the first half to be so dominated by Chelsea..I really think that the press in the week and to some point our management and players building up the game did not help. Chelsea are millions of pounds ahead of us...imagine them having Harewood, Routledge, Knight etc playing in a big premiership game..never in our life time lads.
Bad weekend all in all, but I really think it wont do us any long lasting damage...it was just a big, fat ugly wake up call.
Villa 3 Pompey 1...sorry just loking for some solice!!
well we got a break now so they can be rested well apert from those on international duty then we got five games before an away tie to another top 4 side arsenal, portsmouth at home wigan away then home to blackburn away to newcastle and home to boro, how many of those 15 points will we get if its over 10 then we can say realisticly that we can go better than last season and compete
i was at the game , and i thought something was seriously wrong. It was almost like some betting syndicate had told us to play badly.
when we did get the ball and there was a chance of a break, we just slowed right down and instead of playing forward played across field etc etc. very strange.
We should have believed in ourselves and gone for it, but it seemed like lots of our players were holding back for some reason.
Yes everyone will say " Chelsea played amazingly well" they did, but it just seemed like many of our players had muzzles on, like they were told to hold back.
very weird.
May be im just an old hippy who reads too much in to things, or may be this "Top 4" thing runs deeper than we think..
Too much money at stake.
yours truely
Bitter and twisted..
This result was always on the cards...Chelsea are by far a much better team than Villa have got. Not only on paper (by a million miles on paper) but also as a team. They have that special ingredient that unfortunately Villa and the other teams from 4th to 20th don't have. Chelsea have the ups and a few downs, but that's because they have the belief they are the best. Positive mental attitude will overcome any adversity.
I can take the positives out of this though...If we had won then MON and the rest of us would have got even more giddy with the fact that we were top dogs. Well that's obviously not the the case by any stretch of the imagination. It highlights to all of us that the fight is not over and that we need to continue to build in January and that we need to treat January seriously, as though it was the main summer transfer window.
Bring on Pompey and UTV
nice to here from taglor
Was Curtis unfit or just high?? Young not in England squad, and to be fair he doesn't deserve it.
If you have two great full backs like Chelsea, at least one good CB then we are sussed. This is the first time I have said it as Villa mean loads more than England, but thank god for the International break...
p.s Can Brad F, catch??
The sooner MON realises that NRC and Petrov will never cut it at the top level then the sooner we will have a chance of competing. I also believe that Carew is always shown up as totally one dimensional at that level and just runs out of ideas. We need 2 mids and a striker in Jan and I hope it's true that NRC wants to go as he's not good enough even in his best position.
ive never really liked coker much hes played his arse of the last few games and he was probably the only villa player who put any effort in today but i feel we have better midfielders at the club and if he does want to leave then so be it
one word to describe the game for villa: outclassed
they were way way better throughout the game, and they could have scored a dozen
friedal did well to save us a lot (my MOTM) and cuellar looked pretty good when he came on
Its a cycle thats impossible to break out of: you can't get the players if you're not in the champion's league and you can't get in the champion's league if you don't have the players. Chelsea have so many world class players that are prepared to sit on the bench for the majority of the season (Bridge, Alex, Belleti, etc.) and when they are called upon they are ready and fit enough to do the business. You just can't do that if you're not in the champion's league...can you imagine SWP sitting on the bench for us. I can't see us breaking the monopoly of the top 4 this season!!! (as much as I woyuld love it)
Probably the first time I've agreed with Taglor. But as Damian advises, let's leave it now
This is not AK_27 I just wanted to test whether this site allows imposters
I agree with the comments above about Davies, he did look nervous on the ball, although I think he'll learn from it...
Good thing was that when Cuellar came on he seemed completely relaxed in the environment... Thug love ... He's a good laugh to watch, as you get the impression if he loses the ball he'll just beat the shit out of the person next to him...(he tried to do some fancy footwork in the corner, lost it to some chelsea tapdancer, I forget who now, and then yanked him down to the ground - think that was the yellow card... Give Davies a rest for a couple of games I say...
Sorry AK_27 that was me.
I see the diference between logged ind visiting posters. Damian is it not advisable however to refuse duplicate user names ?
I am disappointed that this site allows gratuitous bad language, it is such a simple thing to sort out.
Ok we all know twat, sorry 'that' taglor only comes on here when we lose and is looking to stir up sh*t. Everybody just needs to ignore him cos he gets off pissing us off. If nobody responds to his crap then he'll eventually disappear which will be a good day for us all.
With regards, that match. Quite simple actually - we are a million miles behind that likes of chelsea and man u. Look an the bright side, we could be spurs and toons fans
Oh, heard this today classic - Whats the difference between spurs and a triangle??
A triangle has 3 points
The problem is we didn't think we were capable of beating Chelsea at Chelsea and we lost, and I think that is what a lot of teams seem to think that they are not capable of beating the top four at there place. Teams need to believe that they are capable of beating anybody in the top four and not capitulating to them. The season has a long way to go and we need to take ownership of fifth. Hull won't be in the top four for long so who cares.
Every body has observed what the blues can do. That's great! And I'm proud of it. F.Lampard can win a game alone.
Chelsea were just 2 good, and it hurts me to say it, but it's true i'm afraid! They had their best performance so far this season, and we choked, so the combination of the 2 was never gonna lead to a good result was it now!
Chins up and back to the grindstone and forget about this match, and get fully composed for the Portsmouth home game, especially as we all know what they did to us last season!
Back to Chelsea match, but i'm afraid although some players weren't good enough...true, but my main problem was that our piece of class Barry, didn't look interested at all, and i'm sorry but I would prefer to have a huffing and puffing NRC and Petrov in my team working there arses of any day, than mr i'm to big for the Villa!
Oh and doom mongers, it’s one match against probably the next prem champions, so get a grip and, we are still in a good healthy position, with plenty of matches to go!
Taglor, why do you even bother coming on here, you seem to be so happy Villa lost, so you can prove some point or another….go make some toast while your having a bath will ya!
On Barry, I had to laugh when the Chelsea supportes started singing;
"He wants to be a scouser, he wants to be a scouser"
Ok Im going to ignore the comments and jus comment on the article as everyone here SHOULD.
Im a little disappointed we got nothing from this game. wWith that said however, Chelesa have 25 world class players, and losing 5 of them can hurt, but i mean their whole squad would walk into most, if not all, prem teams - including the top 4. i think they will win the premier league and yes, we can consider itself lucky we didnt get belted. but at the end of the day a 2-0 loss at stamford bridge is quite respectable and chelsea probably wont lose a game at home this year.
onto villa, and i dont think villa are ''a million miles'' away from the top 4. arsenal have struggled this year, as to man ure, and liverpoo havent been anything special but have got the results. we didnt rock up today, but if we did, the score could have gone in our favour.
we didnt deserve a draw today but i think this is a wake up call. the boys have to step up and start to be counted if they want to progress and really challenge this year. top 4 is def in reach if we stay up there and fight.
13pts from 7 games is still an excellent return.
but we need to do better then today.
Rock steady,
I heard a good'un before spurs got their last point, Whats the difference between spurs and a cocktail stick?
go on whats the diff phill
Bad result,but not the end of the world our good run has given us to higher expectations we are hoping for top four not top two i really think the arse and the scouse are there for the taking,and we have seen the start of a new villa legend mr cuellar!!!
I agree with what most people are saying. Chelsea would have beat any (i'm included Man u) team in the prem with that performance, and having not lost at home since 2004 or sommat - it was always unlikely the outcome would be any different.
I was at the game and I also agree with what people are saying about giving them too much respect. No one wanted to run at them. Gabby turned away from goal instead of towards it. Not once did Ash take on the full back. Comments have been said before that if he fails to get past the full back once, he doesn't try again and I agree with that. I'm his biggest fan, but I just wish sometimes he would attack the defence every time he got that ball.
I've been pro Davies this season too. Shocking yesterday. Cuellar looked great. Time to give him a run.
I agree about Shorey, but lets leave L.Young out of it. i think he is a good right back. When you look at the lack of quality right backs in the prem, he holds his own compared to most.
I also wish MON would get his tongue Out of Reo's bottom. He has been class, but wasn't yesterday.
"Now if we don't pick ourselves up and lose to pompey we could go 11th?"
Yup its possible. If they beat us 4-0, Man U vs West Brom somehow manages to end up with both teams getting 3 points and Man City manage to get 4 points from Newcastle we will be 11th. But lets not stop there, if we dont stop the rot of losing 1 game in a row we could end up losing every game remaining and end up get relegated (though with Spurs, Stoke and Newcastles form we may be lucky and scrape 4th from bottom), these are certainly dark times at Villa park and not only does MoN need to go but we also need a new owner and at least 25 new players in the Jan transfer window.
Once the Newcastle take over is complete we should work on bringing the dream team of Ashley, Wise and Kinner to Villa park
its a sign of how far we have progressed under MON,everyone is so despondant after this result look at it properly they are a very very good side(probably the best team in europe).bring on pompey and normal service will be resumed
Lot's of talk about reality checks here, but there is a positive side to this game. Chelsea put out their best available side and boy were they up for it. We've just experienced what it's like to be a top four side going to Stamford Bridge - there was no underestimating us as in previous seasons. We've just been taken seriously by one of the big boys and shown how far we need to go to be able to match them.
I'll be honest - we're light years away from them - but then so are Liverpool; and we're not after the title this year, we want fourth.
We were so confident and were given a lesson in football! Walking back to birmingham with our bums well and truly spanked and our tails in between our legs!!
But lets not get too down about it, even the best teams in the world would have struggled the way Chelsea played yeaterday... Its nothing to be embarressed about, yeah its disappointing because we lost, that natural!!! Come on... We could be spurs...
Not too disappointed as Chelsea were head and shoulders above us. As people have said, they could have beaten anybody on that form. Plus 85 games unbeaten at home isn't bad :-)
The main difference between us and the top 4 sides is the ability to '1 touch' pass through the park. Their link up play was outstanding. Villa players often dwell on the ball and sides find it easier to close us down...
I think the last time we past the ball around like that was against Sheffield Utd in the last home game of the season when Berger scored that amazing goal!
We are progressing as a team and one day we'll be a great side!
Shame we couldn't step up and beat Chelsea but they are a top class side. I'm getting worried about Hull now, they may do what the occasional promoted team does and finish high up the league with the potential to nick our UEFA cup spot.
Incidentally we have been drawn in pot four for the UEFA cup while Spuds are in pot one. I know it probably goes on recent UEFA cup history, of which we have none, but that does seem a little bit off. Ah well let's hope we're in the same group as Spurs!
Ashley Young isnt in the England squad and from a Villa perspective thats a good thing, gives him a rest. Someone said that he didnt deserve to be in there but when we look at the squad Downing is there and he hasnt been that great so far this season.
Brad Snr looked very good yesterday, he was in the kind of form that had we been more on our game in both defense & attack could have saved the game. In this game his heroics meant nothing as we were outclassed, but against lesser teams with performances he will save us lots of points.
Great article Damian, keep 'em coming. I love this blog, been working in Bangkok since June last year and It has kept me sane although I have not missed a televised game.
WE just need to get it all into perspective
Chelsea were awesome yesterday simple as that, and sadly we were not. We can and will be, although I agree with many comments on here, we are going to require some very heavy investment in January and beyond if we are truly to fulfill our aspirations.
Milner is chomping at the bit and Sidwell is a quality player. Villa have a very young squad and MON will develop them. He is the best thing that has happened to Vila in modern times along with Randy and is capable of gettin any team into the so called 'top four' given time and sufficient financial resources. We have a team now that can really grow into something and be capable of making a nasty dent into the champions league places. I could talk about players, positions, formations, etc, all night. But will leave that for another day.
OnlyVilla, fantastic post I Laughed my bollocks off. I really like the sentiment and agree with you on many points. Curtis was shitting himself at time today back in the pub team ect. I do feel sorry for thr lsd as he has had mny issues in the past but can be a densive rock at times. Cuellar could be a very pleasant surprise indeed.
Look forward to getting down the Holte soon as I'm back in The midlands in two weeks and adding more to this great site.
thing Good thing was that when Cuellar came on he seemed completely relaxed in the environment... Thug love ... He's a good laugh to watch, as you get the impression if he loses the ball he'll just beat the shit out of the person next to him...(he tried to do some fancy footwork in the corner, lost it to some chelsea tapdancer, I forget who now, and then yanked him down to the ground - think that was the yellow card... Give Davies a rest for a couple of games I say...
Whoops, sorry OnlyVilla. I cut and pasted you comment for reference and forgot to remove it before sending my first comment.
Oh well it will teach me not to send posts at 5.11 in the morning Thai time when I am more than knackered and can't sleep.
we need to kick start against pompy again then taglor wont post