Re: Match day thread: Aston Villa V Sunderland... Sat August 29th 3:00 Kick Off

[The Bald Eagle]

I am totally against making Guzan and Clark scapegoats. The problem as I saw it was the inability to get shots on target. Efforts were scuffed along the ground, not taken in the small window of opportunity that old time sniffers would have thrived on. Other efforts were blazed wide or over the bar. In many of these shots, it was obvious what was going to happen by the players postures as they prepared to hit the ball. They would also have known where the ball was ended up but just went through the motions.

[Sandie]

That shows the importance of getting another striker in for me. Someone who can get on the end of things and do the right thing with it most of the time. We've now got plenty of players that can provide for a striker but not a convincing centre forward.

Some cracking posts on both sides here about Sherwood which gives food for thought. I think with a few more games we'll have a clearer idea of things. I'm not sure even Tim has worked out his best eleven yet. Once he's done that, the players adjust to the league and gel with one another we'll hopefully be in a better place. Hopefully it won't take too long.

The sad thing is that for some players it may take them a long time to come good. Just look at Delph and Petrov in recent years who took a few seasons to do that. For a current example, Sanchez has looked very good in the past few games whereas for the whole of last season he was like some kind of Colombian Nigel Reo Coker. We don't have the time to wait for a lot of the new crop to take so long to adjust.

[avfcff1982]

Disappointing result? Yes. Disheartened? No, that's a big NO.

Should have won of course, not that easy though is it, even against a struggling Sunderland, who showed a bit of fight.

Goals conceded were avoidable, no need to go into why, it's been well covered earlier in the thread. Goals for? Liking Sinclair's application, and attitude immensely, looks our most likely scorer every game, and I have to hold my hands up and admit, I was not happy when he first came to Villa, I thought he was about to go through the motions like he did at the Baggies, I was 100% wrong.

Apart from that, we are lacking up front, Gestede tries hard, but he's the sort to thrive on wingers and constant crosses, not much of that as we play through the middle at the moment, could change though.

Maybe, controversially, I thought the closing down and distribution from Sanchez was very good in the first 45, given time he'll make a great midfield duo with Gana.

Sherwoood seems to be coming in for a lot of stick for everything he does, some fans expect instant success, and don't want t give him time to get things right, it matters not who would have taken over after Lambert (spit), even the greatest manager in the world would have needed time, I'm prepared to give him that time, I'm prepared to be patient, all we need to do is think back to the last few managers, and realise we now have a man in charge, who shows passion, and a massive will to win, back him folks, he'll get the job done eventually, but he's not a miracle worker, if you want one of them got to church

UTV

[GadgetMan]

I am totally against making Guzan and Clark scapegoats. The problem as I saw it was the inability to get shots on target. Efforts were scuffed along the ground, not taken in the small window of opportunity that old time sniffers would have thrived on. Other efforts were blazed wide or over the bar. In many of these shots, it was obvious what was going to happen by the players postures as they prepared to hit the ball. They would also have known where the ball was ended up but just went through the motions.

Quite often though BE when you're behind and chasing the fame due to silly defensive mistakes, or knowing your capable of one any moment, it conversely adds an element of panic into the ranks, so chances are then snatched at where by they may ordanarily be less rushed. Now I'm saying this is the case with every person and every chance, however in every game this season so far we've given goals away. Not always Clark or Guzan, admittedly, but as a team defensively we're poor and they seem to be the weakest links so far. For me, the term 'scapegoat' illicits all sorts of negative connotations. I'm not 'scapegoating' them, I do think Clark in particular has had a poor start and would benefit from a rest or certainly someone pressing for a start. If we're to be successful we simply have to stop conceding poor goals and then some of those missed chances will be less as we won't be chasing the game.

What you've done is highlight where you feel the problem lies, which is attack. Others have said the defence. I don't see why one is scapegoating and the other not by that definition?! Surely they're both an 'opinion' of what we believe to be wrong?

[The Bald Eagle]

An indication of where we have improved was the atmosphere being generated inside Villa Park for this game. We have had full houses quieter that the 35000 there on Saturday. That is all down to the crowd responding to endeavour, tough tackling, good ball control and passing. It is a two way street and signs are promising. With Traore in, we would have pissed it. We would have got more balls in and proved that attack is the best form of defence.

[GadgetMan]

An indication of where we have improved was the atmosphere being generated inside Villa Park for this game. We have had full houses quieter that the 35000 there on Saturday. That is all down to the crowd responding to endeavour, tough tackling, good ball control and passing. It is a two way street and signs are promising. With Traore in, we would have pissed it. We would have got more balls in and proved that attack is the best form of defence.

In so many ways I agree with you on this and I'd prefer to see entertainment etc! However when we lost 6-0 at Southampton, that could of been avoided by simple defensive tweaks. Instead we carried on with a ridiculous high line as not one of the defenders was able to read the game and alter things (or Tim for that matter) Point I'm trying to make is we're not going to be able to outscore many teams in this league so we HAVE to get better at defending even if we get better at attacking, Yes we Adama we may of beat Sunderland, but would we of beat Swansea, Southampton, Palace?

Simple premise for me, cut out the EASY goals and we're instantly a better side. We let in 5 goals v Notts County and Sunderland, 4 of the 5 could of easily beeb avoided imo.

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