Aston Villa vs Arsenal (12.45 kickoff) thread

Redzer7

efb wrote: »

2-4 TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!!

Probably the position we will end up in at the end of the season.

peabutler

Top of The League !!!!!!!

How many fans got nailed going to celebrate with Wilshere 3,4 ??

sonic85

thank god we got the 3 points! far from convincing though

keano_afc

Nervy last few but who cares, we're top of the league. Now to sit back and hope Rovers do us a favour.

OneColdHand

better from Villa in the second half. Showed more desire. But Arsenal just too good. Ireland was pretty poor when he came on. Delighted with Clark, and Bannan. Good games from the two of them.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

I suppose it's good that despite getting the win this time. It still should be very clear to Wenger that we seriously need to improve the defending as a team.

everdead.ie

OneColdHand wrote: »

better from Villa in the second half. Showed more desire. But Arsenal just too good. Ireland was pretty poor when he came on. Delighted with Clark, and Bannan. Good games from the two of them.

I thought Ireland did well he was the only one able to pick a pass

gandalf

I must get one of those portable Blood Pressure Monitors to check my stats when Arsenal play these days. I will probably be in for an unpleasant surprise!

matrim

OneColdHand wrote: »

better from Villa in the second half. Showed more desire. But Arsenal just too good. Ireland was pretty poor when he came on. Delighted with Clark, and Bannan. Good games from the two of them.

I thought Ireland did well too. He looked threatening but did show his usual lose the ball and just jog back a few times.

Bannan and Clark had good second halves but were really out of it in the first. But that was the whole Villa team, who stood off and let Arsenal play too much

If we had of pressured them and played like we did in the second half for the whole game we could have won that game

cson

Arshavin Sky's MOTM.

=

karma_

OneColdHand wrote: »

better from Villa in the second half. Showed more desire. But Arsenal just too good. Ireland was pretty poor when he came on. Delighted with Clark, and Bannan. Good games from the two of them.

Ireland was one of your better players when he came on. Although in fairness I do fully expect for a good few villa fans to single him out for criticism even though he only made a late subs appearance.

KeithAFC

The attackers kind of put the pressure on the rest of the team themselves, the game was there to kill off at 2-0, go out early and put them on the back foot, get them worrying about a rout infront of their own fans and kill it off.

Great game and win in the end but still, a more ruthless streak still needed at certain points in matches. When you have the opposition by the throat, slit it.

OneColdHand

everdead.ie wrote: »

I thought Ireland did well he was the only one able to pick a pass

My stream was p!ss poor so maybe I missed a few, but he definately gave it away a few times.

everdead.ie

Is it 8 games without a win for villa?

karma_

everdead.ie wrote: »

Is it 8 games without a win for villa?

MON's fault.

NeoKubrick

Arsenal have to learn basic game theory. If you are winning, you don't need to take risks; the team who is losing needs to. The more you are winning, the more risks the opposition has to take. What Arsenal did in the second half is take as much risks as Villa were taking, which is sheer stupidity when you do have something to lose and the other team doesn't.

They started to control the pace of the game near the end of the game and they finished the opposition off. Hopefully, a lesson learned. That said, United struggled against Villa and Chelsea only drew and, to put this result in context, this is a great result which is +2 points up in that fixture.

shano_88

Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin: "I hope we'll be at the top for more than two hours! It's important to be close for as long a time as we can. In April we will see. Normally I don't play in winter but here I have to - I don't like it."


He is a strange character!

Paleface

He's weirder than weird!

everdead.ie

Ah cool don't know why just thought that the win was the first game he was in charge of

Doodee

OneColdHand wrote: »

My stream was p!ss poor so maybe I missed a few, but he definately gave it away a few times.

So did Carew, Luke Young, Ashley Young, Downing.
Ireland played well considering the conditions.

Pepe LeFrits

cson wrote: »

Arshavin Sky's MOTM.

=

He had a very good game imo.

Great win. Our away form is brilliant; shame about the home form.

the untitled user

Ireland needs to be played higher up the pitch tbh, he's not a CM in the traditional sense, more of a final third player. He wants to be on the end of those passes from midfield, not the one making them. If he's given the freedom that Ashley Young is given I think he could come good for Villa yet, but it's unlikely.

fullstop

the untitled user wrote: »

Ireland needs to be played higher up the pitch tbh, he's not a CM in the traditional sense, more of a final third player. He wants to be on the end of those passes from midfield, not the one making them. If he's given the freedom that Ashley Young is given I think he could come good for Villa yet, but it's unlikely.

He was given that freedom against Blackburn and was awful.

Doodee

the untitled user wrote: »

Ireland needs to be played higher up the pitch tbh, he's not a CM in the traditional sense, more of a final third player. He wants to be on the end of those passes from midfield, not the one making them. If he's given the freedom that Ashley Young is given I think he could come good for Villa yet, but it's unlikely.

He needs to replace Ashley Young tbh.
I think they are clashing styles, especially since Young is now played off the striker and not on the wing.

Ireland was played on the right, center (with Clarke pushed forward) and then at the Back by the end of the game.
For all the meandering he does around the pitch, his vision and passing skill are still top notch. Just hope they can become utilized.

the untitled user

fullstop wrote: »

He was given that freedom against Blackburn and was awful.

I know, I watched that game, but it was in that type of role when he was at his best with City imo. And he was still Villa's most dangerous player during that game.

As an aside, here's a question for Villa fans: why does Houllier keep playing Downing on the right? On the few occasions I've watched Villa this season his left footed crosses and timed runs from deep seem to be Villa's most effective threat.

matrim

the untitled user wrote: »

I know, I watched that game, but it was in that type of role when he was at his best with City imo. And he was still Villa's most dangerous player during that game.

As an aside, here's a question for Villa fans: why does Houllier keep playing Downing on the right? On the few occasions I've watched Villa this season his left footed crosses and timed runs from deep seem to be Villa's most effective threat.

To try accommodate Young with either Ireland or Pires. For the most part Downing has been playing on the left it's only when we try to push Young back wide that pushes Downing to the right.

KeithAFC

Some one get back to me when they can explain why we took a corner kick in stoppage time when winning by a goal.

orourkeda

I cant believe how diabolically poor Aston Villa were in that first half. Rather shocking. An obvious improvement in the second but they only really put arsenal under a sustained period of pressure from the start of the second half until Arsenals third goal.