I have to say from the off that I think Cardiff will be down there in the relegation mix come the end of the season.
Why?
Because they’re poor and in my opinion should never be classed in the same league as us.
I don’t dislike them and indeed have nothing against them, but they just shouldn’t be anywhere near on a par with us.
They shouldn’t even be in the English league, but that makes me sound a bit racist, which I’m really not.
I do dislike their owner though and my best estimation of him is that he’s a tool of the highest order.
But that’s by the by.
I’m not here to talk about the opposition.
That said, I feel that it sets a background to what I was expecting today.
For me, nothing other than a win would have been good enough.
The simple fact is we got that win, which makes our position in the table look quite a bit better.
It was a poor first half though, wasn’t it?
Benteke looked sharp and we seemed to be playing a bit wider than we have done of late, which had me thinking that Lambert had done his homework about Cardiff’s wing play.
Tonev did well on the left and dare I say it? Kozak looked better too.
I got the impression that if you give him the proper sort of service, he might actually have something about him, which is contrary to what I’ve seen up to now.
I thought we looked quite bright from the off, but the first half got worse as it went on for me and both sides were very, very average.
The half time possession stats of Villa 40% and Cardiff 60% disappointed me, but didn’t surprise me.
Anyway, I thought we looked a bit better in the second half, but already had another “no goals” type headline in my head for this article.
But then Nedel took out El Ahmedi and conceded a free kick.
What a stormer it was from Bacuna.
Marshall never had a clue and in it went.
Did we deserve it?
On balance, yes, just about, I suppose.
Cardiff then went on the offensive, bringing on another striker and it proved to be at their cost as Kozak scored a somewhat scrappy header to make it 2-0.
The defence looked decent, although not totally convincing, but light years above what we saw last season.
As for Frazer Campbell being pacey, did anyone else notice how Bacuna murdered him when tracking back a couple of minutes before the end?
The final possession statistics were Villa 44% and Cardiff 56%.
That’s disappointing against such poor opposition at home in my opinion.
Still, I’m not taking anything away from anyone.
We play to win and that’s exactly what we did.
So happy days, I guess.
Next up?
A poxy international break.
The only question for me is why do we have to do these friendlies?
Comments
106 responses to “Villa 2-0 Cardiff: positives and negatives, but a win”
Remember, all these young foreign players need time to settle in. It’s not just about adjusting to a new league, they’ve also got to make a lot of adjustments in their personal life, getting used to a new culture.
I think Bacuna, Tonev and even Luna and Kozak (yes, he’s slow, but I think he will score goals) will come good given time. Vlaar is starting to show us that with a bit of time and patience, these players can reach their potential.
Still don’t always agree with Lambert’s tactical decisions, but have to say that the coaching staff seem to have worked hard to address the abysmal defensive lapses of last season.
Still a lot of work to be done yet, mainly in other areas of the team!
To be fair a centre half usually takes a season to settle down I remember everyone slagging Mcnaught of when he joined us but after a year he started to perform. Though midfielders and strikers should settle in a lot quicker
“Benteke looked sharp”
Is this a joke? i really think the villa fans are blinded, benteke has been so poor since his injury, im not here to slag him off but i really think he was brought back to fast, he has come out himself and said he still isnt 100%. And we have only ourselves to blame, we have proved we are a good team and dont NEED benteke to win and score goals. Man City is a prime example of that.
To summerise this; bentekes stats have dropped massively, his overall average score on the stats website i use before injury was 132 for 5 games. Its -35 for his last 4 games. Personally i think he needs to be dropped for the start of WBA and allow gabby to play through the middle with kozak and tonev
Agree mate like I said the new heskey lol. Only joking still think he’s good just lost a bit if sharpness and confidence plus defenders have sussed him a bit and are doubling up. I fancy him to bang a couple v WBA though
Are you kidding me????? Do you just ball watch??? He made at least 5 lovely runs into the box, all alone and we failed to get the ball to him. If he played in a team with good creativity he’d have had a hatfull!!! That as well as every time he get it to his feet he does something positive with it.
Defenders aint sussed him at all OOHAH, we cant cant supply him.
Aint they?? What match did you watch? At on point in the second half he received the ball and 4 Cardiff players where straight on him and any player with half a brain would have layed it off taking all 4 of them out the game in the process but no he tried to retain possession and got crowded out.
Woah, he lost the ball once. Shit, quick – Sub ref..!!!!! You jokers..!!
That the best response you can come back with coco? Here’s Bentekes match ratings from the B’ham Mail
BENTEKE 6
Mini-goal drought is possibly playing on his mind. Forced a save and missed a couple of headed opportunities.
Old Mat Kendrick must have been having a pie a pint or a piss when Benteke those 5 lovely runs into the box and f**k me I must have been with him cause I missed them too!
Kendrick is a puppet for the club he will always exaggerate the positives and play down the negatives. He us a jobs worth who is scared shitless of being banned from bmh by the club. He has to toe the villa line or he will have no job. Take what he writes with a pinch if salt. IMO of course.
He had a hatful last season without any service remember.
Yeah, this is a good point. Not all player settle in right away. Vlaar seems twice the player he was last year (dont forget he was also out injured for a while too which slowed down his transition)
Bacuna has adapted very quickly though, seems like he is played in the PL for years. A very good signing. I like Luna too, although just like Lowont he has to work on defensive side of his game. Tonev has potential, and if it doesnt work out, it wasnt a risk at 2.5m. I still cant get my head around us spending 7m on Kozak, but hopefully I’ll be proved wrong.
Would love to see us splash out on a 8-10m centre mid to partner Delph in Jan, but I cant see it happening.
Lambert has been quoted on Ssn as saying there will be no big money signings only young cheap ones that we have now Ffs
1. Don’t think anyone should have expected a big money signing in January (which is what he was asked about)
2. He didn’t say cheap, he said no big player signing. Which is quite broad, yes he mentioned young lads like we have, but he was quite broad on what he considers a big money signing or big player signing.
So Ireland has scored for Stoke, what an absolute tosser that bloke is. Wasted career
Did he get his superman pants out to celebrate?
The guy is a grade A wankstain and what’s all this bollocks about he might make an International come back now Keane is assistant manager?
What an embarrassment to Ireland. They are both from Cork and both have a chip on their shoulder. They both hate the Dublin bias FAI.
No wonder Dubliners think everyone from elsewhere in Ireland are mental or backwards. I know that is not true as I have been all over Ireland, but these two basket cases don’t paint a rosey picture of Cork.
We won and kept a clean sheet again, only the moaners on this site would draw the negatives from that.
For what its worth I think Kozak will be a good player for us. He’s a young international forward adapting to a new league and he’s clearly strong and very awkward to mark, exactly the kind of player you need to see out games. The short sighted posters on here don’t like him because he doesn’t have pace, but IMO you can already see his footballing brain and positioning is superior to Weimann and Gabby.
Tonev is getting a lot of flak too, but his crossing has improved massively already, he needs time and support (similar to Vlaar, Delph, etc in the past and look how they’ve come on).
well said sir…..
You are right we should back off Tonev. Point taken. His movement just pisses me off a bit, I personally don’t think he’s good enough, but let’s give him a chance.
Mark got a sneaking suspicion your TJ..:-)
I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO INSULTED IN MY LIFE!
I thought you was alright Billsta!! 🙂
I’m not TJ as I can spell and my knuckles don’t drag on the floor when I’m walking!!
What you forget is is that this team can never be successful under Lerner. There us NO long term plan except to try and get lower league players in the cheap that if they are crap then we don’t lose much money or hope they will come giid like benteke and flog em to the biggest bidder and then start the process all over again. We are the Crewe of the premier now we will NEVER succeed under Lerner, we will always be a selling club. We are stuck with Lerner for years now so there is absolutely no point anymore until he goes. Yes support the team that goes without saying but let’s be realistic we will never taste success again and that’s a fact.
Fack me it’s like the Eastenders Omnibus stuck in a loop on here!
You mean , ( Get me out of here, I’m a Villa fan) TV show, Eastenders full of cockneys don’t watch that crap TV. Come on Oohah just a little bit longer mate we are on the turn, 4 of the Sky Four got rolled over the league is upside down at the minute. Forgot to say I can see into the future Villa will be back.
One of the sky four lost to another sky team. City’s away form is dire they’ve only won once away and even we beat then at home. We won’t go down in convinced of that though
Course we won’t, I’ve been watching as many games as I can Sky, BT,what ever games on I’m there, and have to be honest ain’t one now that worries me, don’t like what Adam saying about Lambert still sticking with youngster’s, it might work but will have to see.
what players have been sold that didn’t want to go. good riddance to them all.
Good one mate, must be that flu I’ve got, but your one of the old school on here with a change of name maybe,? I’ve just got that feeling. 🙂
Nah mate, I’m Mark always have been and always will be unless I’m feeling fruity and get a sex change and become Marie!!
Actually that sounds interesting!!! 🙂
I’m old school as in I like to think I know what I am talking about and have a sensible head most of the time!!
I have almost lost my voice from singing on Saturday and am having great difficulty speaking at work today!!! Worth it though!!!
Oh Birminghaaaaaaaaam is full of fuuuuuuuuuun……………..
OK its me and the f,.’in flu I’ve got Mark, well just did my two minute for the men and women of our great nation. Oohah on form again I see, its better than TV some days on here.
Go and get pissed. That always works for me when I have flu!!
Well said bill about the servicemen and women. Respect to them all especially the fallen hero’s and their families. When you consider what they have to do it makes our petty arguments on here about football look, well, just that petty.