Villa (a) Post Match Thread

[Dhav]

I feel a bit let down today to be honest, it feels almost like a defeat, may be because we never really went for it

[attack attack attack]

Of those I'd take Rob Jones, Robbie and Macca.

i'd take all of them. they knew how to play

[Rashid]

Is our current line-up better than the Evans era? Im beginning to think not.

D.James,M Wright, J Scales, N Ruddock,J McAteer, J Redknapp, J Barnes, S McManaman, R Jones, R Fowler, S Collymore.

Evans had a good team but no clue how to get them defending. That is a talented side who knew how to play football but lacked discipline - it's the closest any team has come to challenging since Kenny though.

[Parm]

Evans had a good team but no clue how to get them defending. That is a talented side who knew how to play football but lacked discipline - it's the closest any team has come to challenging since Kenny though.

if we put mascher, stevie and our defence into that side..

[DannyMan2006]

i'd take all of them. they knew how to play

The quality of opposition was of a poorer standard and they still failed to win the league. Good to watch but not good enough.

[Exiled_red]

Is our current line-up better than the Evans era? Im beginning to think not.

D.James,M Wright, J Scales, N Ruddock,J McAteer, J Redknapp, J Barnes, S McManaman, R Jones, R Fowler, S Collymore.

That was a decent side, but David James was dodgy at the time, Neil Ruddock and John Scales were awful, McAteer was over-rated IMO, John Barnes and Rob Jones were played out of position - Barnes was played as a holding midfielder and Rob Jones was a right back playing on the left.

Not to mention the fact that Rob Jones and Jamie Redknapp spent much of that time injured and would have been replaced by Michael Thomas and Stig Bjornebye.

I admired the way that team played it's football but I don't think you could play that way nowadays. And again it was heavily reliant on two players - Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler. I remember a number of games around 97/98 where the saying was "stop McManaman and you stop Liverpool"

[Hustler]

Is our current line-up better than the Evans era? Im beginning to think not.

D.James,M Wright, J Scales, N Ruddock,J McAteer, J Redknapp, J Barnes, S McManaman, R Jones, R Fowler, S Collymore.

Houliier

Westerweld,Carragher,Hyypia,Henzhoz,Babbel,Gerrard ,Hamann,McAllister,Berger,Heskey,Owen.

Subs - Vignal,Fowler,Murphy,Dudek,smicer

[DannyMan2006]

if we put mascher, stevie and our defence into that side..

So we put six of our side into that? Add Torres for good measure and we may as well just add a few from there.

And if we want a true picture you should compare the squads of both, not just best XI.

[Le Chef]

Today has cost me close to £100, including ticket, petrol and food.

I would have got far more enjoyment watching my wife spend it in Marks and Spencer than watching that pile of s***e today.
One player stood out for me and that was Dossena - give the lad a few more weeks to settle in and he will be awesome.
No movement in the final third whatsoever today, which is the same as the last few games.
Our possession at the moment is going nowhere slower and slower.

Is it a good point - I can see Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd winning here!

[Rashid]

Their best teams:

Evans
James
Jones Ruddock Scales Babb Byornebye
McManaman Redknapp Ince
Fowler Collymore

Houllier
Westerveld
Babel Hyypia Henchoz Carragher
Gerrard McAllister Hamann Murphy
Owen Heskey

Rafa
Reina
Finnan Hyypia Carragher Aurelio
Alonso Mascherano
Kuyt Gerrard Babel
Torres

Don't forget though that Evan's team has since had £350m spent on it.

[Rashid]

Today has cost me close to £100, including ticket, petrol and food.

I would have got far more enjoyment watching my wife spend it in Marks and Spencer than watching that pile of s***e today.
One player stood out for me and that was Dossena - give the lad a few more weeks to settle in and he will be awesome.
No movement in the final third whatsoever today, which is the same as the last few games.
Our possession at the moment is going nowhere slower and slower.

Is it a good point - I can see Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd winning here!

Dossenna did well but why doesn't he attack more? We had so much space out wide.

[frank the tank]

well i am after calming down at this stage...it is true that you can't win every game....

i do feel though that we should have stuck to the 4-2-3-1 formation since last season to be honest....we were flying there for a good few games from feb/mar onwards last season and now it seems that we are trying to fit a system into our players as opposed to the other way around....

put it this way - i feel that had we started today with...

---------------------REINA----------------------

ARBELOA----CARRAGHER---SKRTEL------DOSSENA

-----------MASCHERANO----ALONSO-------------

KUYT----------------KEANE---------------BABEL

--------------------TORRES---------------------

Then we would have won the match to be honest....

ah well......we are still unbeaten and also are going to click and get better. Also, if stevie was there today, then we'd have won in my opinion. A lot of people say that we shouldn't rely on stevie and el nino so much but EVERY team has star players that if you take out of the team, then the team isn't as good. As somebody pointed out, take Drogba, Ronaldo, Fabregas out of their teams, then these teams are nowhere near as effective..... that is why they are called star players....

I do feel that Parry and the Yanks could be waiting for the fans to turn on rafa though - as another poster pointed out - so i do feel that this season is win or bust for Benitez - note how there is no mention of a new contract for rafa...

with regard to reira - well i'm not so sure that he is the answer tbh. I watced a lot of spanish football last season and to be honest - Reira isn't even as good as Mark Gonzalez in La Liga - perhaps he will adapt more to the Prem but i'm still not sure to be honest. Rafa seems to like playing forwards on the wings as Keane and Kuyt played there today. You can see the reasons - basically, they can both do jobs there but also when we do attack down a wing, then the forward on the other wing gets into the far post area of the box and you essentially have an extra forward. However, we had a great player for this position but he is no longer at the club - Sinama Pongolle was the perfect player to play on either the left or right wing as a 'high-up winger' in my view..... big pity we sold him (plus he scored on his Atletico debut tonight!)

[Sarb]

Dossenna did well but why doesn't he attack more? We had so much space out wide.

Probably because of the fact that he is not allowed to be too attack minded by our current manager

[Le Chef]

Dossenna did well but why doesn't he attack more? We had so much space out wide.

I think he is getting used to those around him to begin with. Every time he started to go on a run today, Carra was shouting at him to hold back.

[Rashid]

What I find most infuriating even when we are drawing or losing, is Rafa screaming at them to get back into position.