Gabby missed badly as we blow it
When I saw the team sheet today and realised that Gabby had not recovered from his groin strain I was worried. For me the attacking side of our team needs Gabby or someone similar to play, there is no doubt in my mind that Delfouneso should have started and I am very disappointed he did not come on after around 60 minutes. MON is one stubborn guy and his refusal to bring on Delf may have cost us three badly needed points, especially in the light of the Spurs result a couple of hours later.
It is getting frustrating that when we seem to be on the verge of something we manage to find ways of not taking advantage on it and find ways of basically blowing it. At 1-0 today we should have set ourselves up for the win an yet somehow through dreadful defending we nearly lost the game, and yet our defence has been the strong point of this season.
Work that out.
In the context of today Albrighton did enough to get a starting place against Sunderland, if Gabby is not fit then we have to play Delf alongside Carew to give us pace up front, of course there is no doubt Young should be in at RB but where was Delph ? missing off the bench for the first time when he should looking to start on Wednesday.
I can understand some of the frustration today but we HAVE to get behind the team even if we do not agree with some of MON’s call’s and the restlessness was simply not called for in the second half an we have to cut that out if we all want the success we crave.
There is NO other option.
Wolves fan likes us, I quite like them
Louie from mywolves blog and I have swapped previews and he is too nice to us !!!
I have to say that I quite like Wolves, used to go to the Molineux a fair bit and stood on the old South Bank in the Bull/Dennison/Mutch era
=========================
One fact that might Villa’s fears (if any) is that in recent times Wolves are crap at derbies. We haven’t one a derby game this season, or last season and the season before that. We put in a good performance at Molineux in October but the games against Birmingham have brought us disappointment.
If I had to pick a team to replace Liverpool in the top four it would definitely be Villa. I know I shouldn’t but I like Villa’s style and their players. Martin O’Neill has done a superb job and the type of players he has bought has moved Villa onto the that next level. The three wingers, in my opinion, are the best English ones. I don’t know if you count Milner as a winger anymore but he’s been fantastic this season, Downing of course was injured at the start but looks good and Young is a top class player. I like Heskey and Carew, they are a good match for Agbonlahor who could be one of many at Villa who flies with England to South Africa.
If you watch MOTD then you know what are season has been like. All the endevour but no real flair. The only player who looked like bringing that was Nenad Milijas and Mick McCarthy dropped him. Player of the year at the Molineux is already sewn up. Kevin Doyle has been unbelievable this season, he is unlikely to be playing for wolves regardless what league we are in. Some of our players have started to come out of their shell. Matt Jarvis has been a great attacking threat for us on the left wing, he’s one of the quickest players in the league and Adlene Guedioura, our Algerian centre midfielder, has given us some extra bite in the centre of the park since signing in January. A player who Villa have been linked with recently has also been one of our best players this season. Karl Henry, our captain, has made the step up look easy.
But with the 451 we have been playing for the last ten games, we lack goals. Our star player last season, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has struggled with fitness and not scored quite as many as we expected (his only goal was against Villa). Michael Kightly has been injured all season, and only made a few appearances this season. He scored ten and set up twenty five last season and has only made an impact in one game this season. That was also against Aston Villa, where he got the penalty.
I think it will be quite close, but in the end you will get the win. You will have to much quality for us.
Good luck (after tomorrow of course) for the rest of the season.
Poor effort from Wolves fans
It is reported on Villa forums that Wolves even with a reduced allocation have failed to sell out their allocation and some reports indicate only 1800 ticket sold.
I do understand the tickets for away supporters at Villa Park is high (around £40) but this IS a traditional local derby (it can be argued the former incarnation of Wolves vs Villa is the oldest game we still play) and they are in a relegation scrap.
So if true this is a poor show from their fans and will mean a near capacity Villa Park will be totally focussed on pushing Villa forwards towards a vital win.
Bouma in as strong Villa and Wolves reserve sides meet
Match kicks off at Bucks Head at 19:00
Wolves side is very strong almost equilvant to the one they played a Old Trafford a few weeks back, with the likes of Hennessey, Stearman and Milijas playing.
Villa will have in our side Bouma making his second welcome return from injury, Davies, Salifou and the returning Osbourne.
With the likes of Ciaran Clark and the undoubted star this season, Weimann, playing, it promises to be a very strong test for Villa’s table toppers.
FA Cup Draw – Wolves or Crystal Palace – A – 13/14th February
The draw has been just been completed for the 5th round and it is
Wolves or Crystal Palace
Tie to be played the weekend of 13/14th February, nice for Valentines !
In my view a very good draw for Villa and a very good chance to progress further in the competition
IT IS OUR YEAR
Stop clapping Carew and show some desire !!
Disappointing after taking the lead that we got a draw but I am always satisfied with an away draw in a local derby. It was a match after the first 3 minutes of little excitement and few chances but in the 2nd half we controlled the game and really should have come away with three points.
The most disappointing aspect of today was actually we worked several very good chances to create chances on the wings but the delivery was shocking from all the forward players and until Heskey came on we actually created little. Ashley Young is really worrying at the moment, he seems very bereft of confidence and every position he got into he wasted.
However I will contain my anger towards just one player – John Carew.
For a while I have felt like a lone voice in the wilderness in what I was saying about him. He i a faker and bluffer, he fools people by little claps and acknowledgments to the crowd that is somehow worth the adulation that he does get. Well today in the pub I was watching the game this myth has been blown apart.
He was dreadful, he was lacking any kind of desire and how does a defender like Craddock beat him to every ball ? If that performance was by a player called Heskey the Villa fans would have been in uproar, well this time it was Heskey who provided the telling ball and Gabby doing his usual trick of scoring in derbies.
MON, do the right thing, drop the show artist and play a player who gives us all every minute no matter how poor he has been since January, the myth has been broken.
The Wolves fed to the Lions ??
We have to get use to these games over the next few weeks as the Wolves game is going to be the first away game of 4 consecutive ones. Our recent record in local derbies lets say has been just superb and I and most Villa fans do not expect that to change. This is not an arrogant statement nor a cocky one but a realistic judgement of where we are in the football world and where Wolves are.
Wolves are not a bad team at all, I expect them to survive this season but we struggle against the more physical teams, this is something Wolves are not. They have decent ball players in the middle but there are few that would worry players of our quality and I do not expect our defence to be overly worried by Kevin Doyle !!
Following on from the Chelsea game we expect few if any changes because MON has always stuck with a winning side. I expect against Wolves the pace and new power of Gabby will cause their defence major issues and if Carew can be bothered then those two will be unstoppable. The form of Dunne and Collins should be enough to cope with Doyle and I think we should have a comfortable victory.
However it is a local Derby !! anything can happen, shocks can happen (Wolves have not beaten us at the Molineux for two decades) and we should not be complacent but we have plenty of reasons to be confident of starting the 4 away games with a win.
Recent Comments