Picture courtesy of the Official Aston Villa website.
I have to hold my hands up and say from the off that I really didn’t give this game as much attention as I probably should have (too busy administering the site fwiw), hence any opinions are at least open to debate.
But from what I saw, I was quite impressed, especially in the first half, where we played some lovely one touch, quick passing stuff.
Impressed enough to say we made Malaga look a bunch of mugs.
Considering they were Champion’s League quarter finalists and sixth place in La Liga, last season, that’s no mean feat.
Of course, in fairness, Spanish teams are a couple of weeks behind us in the pre-season, but who cares?
We got the result, which to me, isn’t massively important, but always looks better than a loss.
Good points;
Benteke. Enough said.
£30 million?
That’s not enough, in my opinion and if he carries on where he left off from last season, I really believe he’s going to be the hottest property on the planet come the end of the season.
I believe it’s now seven goals in the pre-season?
His first goal, he brushed two defenders aside as if they weren’t there, simple.
Now I don’t know how strong the Malaga lineout was, but whatever, Benteke just made it look so easy, which to me is always a sign of real class.
The second was a Penalty which he just nonchalantly rolled past the goalie who had gone the wrong way.
Tonev. Looks a very good buy for what he cost. Industrious, just as you would expect and whipped in some very good corners which will hopefully add to our threat in the coming season.
Okore. Looks like he might have the making of a good defender, but still early days and I’d have liked to have seen him alongside Baker, who he made way for. Never mind, I suspect we’ll be seeing just that pairing soon enough.
Overall, very good in the first half.
Bad points?
Hmm, well we seemed to be a different side in the second half.
I’m not sure who the subs were as I missed the first few minutes.
But either Malaga had stepped up the game, or we eased off. It’s a common thing with the Villa over the last few years and I still can’t decide exactly which it is.
Anyway, Malaga improved and we weren’t as good.
Which is where our defence started to look dodgy as soon as pressure was applied.
This is definitely a worrying trait and I’m not sure it’s really been addressed as well as we’d like, but I’m not going to harp on it.
At the end of the day, where it’s often been said that we probably need to score three goals because the opposition will score two, we did exactly that, which will do for me.
And let’s not forget that one of theirs was an own goal.
I liked the look of that first half and can really see us testing some decent sides.
The defence might be a different story.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2481725497195&set=vb.81483381419&type=3&permPage=1
From the Irish Villans Funny Villa V Blue’s
Hi all I’ve just seen a few tweets saying Darren Bent has agreed personal terms with Crystal Palace #UTV
Wijnaldum will be coming in to Villa Park once this transfer has gone through. Sources say that Bent may hold out for a move to Fulham,
Ryad boudebouz rumour gathering speed app with AVFC scouts watching him.Bent rumour to palace seems to be drooping off…#UTV
i see that lad benteke shoulder charged for the goal has a dislocated shoulder
I’m not surprised!
I wouldn’t fancy Benteke shoulder charging me.
That’s what happens when the Spanish come down the villa son you get took care of think your coming to VP and not getting sorted lol
Not necessarily I remember Barcelona kicking lumps out of us 1983 at vp in the super cup which we won 3.1 on aggregate. Funny no one ever mentions that but quite relevant in a way as it was v the mighty barca who won the eufa cup and knocked out media favourites spurs in the semis.
Turns out he’s fractured his collarbone.
Ouch!
I just had a look at Ryad Boudebouz’s wiki;
“Boudebouz was caught smoking Shisha in South Africa during the Africa Cup of Nations 2013, The Algerian Coach Vahid Halilhodžić removed him permantly from the Algerian squad.”
Hmm, didn’t many of us pillory Stephen Ireland for doing just the same?
Seems harsh to permantly remove him from the national squad.
Let’s hope he wasn’t smoking anything illegal and that it was just a young kid’s mistake.
It’s a new trend lol
Yesterdays game was defifnitely the proverbial game of two halves.
First half we commanded and controlled play, playing the enforcers. Unbelievably good and slick passing, best I’ve witnessed so far under Lambert and we reaped the rewards with 3 well deserved goals. Everyone looked good, Tonev notably although at times was a little too eager and ran into dead ends but it was great to see and looks a real coup. Luna was solid and looks a really good player IMO (just a little wayward on positioning for the OG by Okore). Vlaar however, looked our weakest player on the day, one glaring switch off almost cost us a goal with a through ball that should easily have been cut-out and could have even resulted in a penalty for Malaga, Vlaar desperatly challenging back after his own mistake.
2nd half was very bizarre. We weren’t the same team, same players but not the same team, looked sluggish, pressing was non-existent, especially for Malagas second, it was quite concerning to see, noone wanted it and there was 2 Malaga players next to each other who had equally the same amount of space on the edge of the area. I couldn’t put my finger on it, I suggested yesterday.that it could have been a tactical change by PL, to sick back and catch them on the counter, this worked once and almost resulted in us scoring, it looked scary how quick we moved the ball from one end to the other in a matter of seconds, but it was not consistent enough and basically we were played off the field for 45 minutes. Subs came on and nothing much changed, I have to say I’m a huge fan of Helenius and think he can be exceptionally good very soon, vision, technique, awareness is superb.
I wont go on forever, and I’ll keep it to that. We saw out the win which was nice and as I said in yesterdays post, the upside defensively is that we did hold out and only technically conceded 1 goal against CL quarter finanlists. UTV
Spot on md8 agree with all that.
i also agree ~ first half was excellent ball retention and hunting in packs 2 regain possession ~ second half i slightly disagree malaga upped there game and effort, maybe we also relaxed which resulted in a poorer half but we had control which is impressive as there aren’t no mugs
they aren’t no mugs (was mean’t 2 say, blame my mob lol)
You could be right Nath mate, I really don’t know what happened, I’m sure it was a mixture of us dropping off a little Malaga massively improving their game as you said and maybe PL saying let’s try to catch them on the counter. I wouldn’t say we were still in control, there were a few shaky moments but all in all I think we handled the pressure nicely.
And even that goal was a deflection.
I can see Helenius coming on as an impact sub and playing behind Benteke, he has made some blinding passes in the games so far and can clearly score himself.
Interesting point someone made earlier about Gabby not coming back to support Luna although Delph does seem to do his fair share. I reckon Lambert has been encouraging Luna and Lowton to go forward in these pre season matches, I can see them being reined in if they start leaving the two CBs too exposed. I can see us starting with Delph, Westwood and hopefully Sylla for the first few matches. Tonev looks good (as does Bacuna) but I’d rather see us shoring up the defence and leaving the attack to the proven three at least for these first three matches.
Yep, can’t argue with any of that mD8
Sorry its funny how some people see game’s and things that others don’t, firstly Vllaar was not as some say poor on the day, Luna was out of possison and the cause of an own goal, if we can establish someone to keep that area sound maybe some one will stay off Vllaar back, all you budding manager’s will see in the comming weeks the real truth on Vllaar ability, the man is doing a captains job and having to put right what others don’t do. Give the team a chance ,nit pick in 6 games into the season, we are all a lot happier than we was this time last year we see progress, have faith time will tell.
I for one want to see Vlaar do well and hope the rest of the defence look after their own positions and the midfield gets better at shielding them. I reckon we’re going to keep improving, and with someone solid next to Vlaar (Okore looked very good and may well start ahead of Baker) he’s going to look a lot better. Remember those three matches in December when we shipped 15 goals, Vlaar was out injured. Lowton now has a full season under his belt, Luna looks a lot better than Bennett and Okore looks very good (and I’m a fan of Baker too), plus Delph and Sylla come back to cover well. It’s all looking one hell of a lot better than it has at the start of the last couple of seasons.
The last time we kept a clean sheet was when vlaar was injured to.
But, and a big But, how many games did we draw and win to stay up with him back Oohah ?
That was because the team improved in the last couple of months anyway especially going forward. We still would have got the same results if he was out. He is no loss lets face it if he was out injured for the whole season not many villa fans would lose sleep over it. But if it was Lowton or baker we would.
So even now you find an excuse thinking the team got better without him, if I was you change your post name from Oohah to another as you live in the past with Oohahpaulmcgrath, the will never be a centre half to match him at Villa park thinking like you do about Vlaar.Vlaar will come good give him that chance and get off his case, others like him talk about other things as nearly every post you put up slags him off.
Vlaar will come good give him that chance and get off his case,
Can you see that flying pig going past your house about now!!
Well there you go imagining flying pigs now, must be them magic mushrooms your picking from off a tree. Give it up on Vlaar its giving us all a headache go and count all your post on Vlaar I’ll wage over the weeks 200 or more about him. Here’s one for you what you think about our groundsman leaving? Wonder how many holes are in the pitch Oohah please, and prity please give him a break.
Bill,
I hope you noticed I didn’t single out Vlaar in the article.
I don’t think he’s as bad as is sometimes made out either and I’ve said that quite a few times.
That said, I’m not totally convinced by him either and he still has a bit to prove. I’m sure Lambert thinks it’s a case of shape up or ship out this season.
I personally think it’s more about the way we play, where we can be a bit gung ho and pressing. Which is in contrast to MON’s style, where we played the counter more and dug it out with all hands behind the ball, resulting in the constant hoofing, but a much better defence stat-wise.
It’s about getting the blend that’s somewhere in between the two systems for me, which is of course the tricky part, not helped by the modern methodology of having the LB/RB being far too attacking for my liking.
Defenders should be defenders first and foremost, imo, as when they press too much, they get caught out of position which leaves the CBs getting pulled out when they have to cover.
Bennett gets caught out, same as Luna yesterday as does Lowton (and even Kyle Walker and Glenn Johnson who are both highly rated).
Lambert certainly doesn’t seem to see it like that though and it seems most people would agree with the way he plays the game.
Perhaps I’m just too old fashioned in my thinking, but my money says that the wide defenders have to be really top notch to make it work and frankly none of our LB’s seem to be good enough, although I’ve not seen much of Luna in fairness.
And while that’s the case, we’re always going to ship a lot of goals as it’s a weakness that is so easy for the opposition to see. The Man U game was a classic example.
Ah well, that’s enough of my rambling for one night 🙂
Agree anon and like u say if full backs go forward then midfielders should fill in for them when the overlap. And there lies another problem midfield isn’t good enough to do that as they are better at attacking than defending. If you look at utd for example they usually score the most goals in the prem but still have a good defence simply because they keep possession for long periods of the game which takes the sting out if the oppositions attack. In our case if we take the lead in the match we always look like we are hanging on even if we were say 2.0 up with 20 mins left you never feel safe with us. If we are going to play this type if game then we need to dominate possession more when we take the lead and maintain our goal threat this will take the pressure of our defence. For whatever reason we take the lead then panic, then we sit back and invite pressure. The defence is not good enough to let the opposition come at them time and time again when that happens errors creep in and we usually concede. The defence cannot take sustained periods of pressure. Bearing all this in mind lambert needs to make sure we don’t start sitting back and inviting the opposition onto us. If we can break up play and keep decent possession we can frustrate the opposition. This is why we need a decent dm something we still don’t really have and should.
Good reply anon3, no you have sum it up as I see it , if anyone is long in the teeth that’s me, you as far as I’ve seen speak as you see it, and not on Vlaar,s back, we have a new generation of young players and time will tell,its that all I read is a one man’s vent on one player in the team, and never seeing how it came about that mistakes are made, as you quite rightly said attacking full backs, all I’m saying give it time we’ve not kicked the ball yet in the league. 🙂
Bill mate, I hate oohahs moaning as much as the next fan and I am one of the more positive posters on here, always trying to see the upside, glass half full kinda guy. However on this occasion oohah has a point about Vlaar, he far from the sharpest tool in the box. I just don’t have a lot of confidence in him, it’s a shame cause I was really chuffed when we got him, but slowly he’s (to me) looking like one of those players when you dread every moment the ball goes near him. However in saying that, I have said I’ll give him this season, if there is no improvement he must go, I think Baker and Okore should be in the starting 11 personally.
If Vlaar doesn’t perform Lambert will replace him with Okore or Baker. He’s not stupid, which is why he brought in Okore in the first place.
Hope so though I’d still like another ch as if baker or Okore are injured we will be in big trouble. I can’t see vlaar improving at 29 yrs old you can’t improve with what you Havnt got. He’s no positional sense and slow as fuck plus he is error prone. The only thing he could improve on is his fitness which should make him concentrate more on set pieces and not switch of at crucial times
Spot on md8 I will still get behind vlaar and hope he proves me wrong.
MD8 I’ll go with that, I just want to give him that chance, you have to realize most of our side have joined the English league and new to the pace and how quick we play in this country, but to slag him and others not going to help. I said and say it again he will come good but just let’s lay off him till we start the season, that’s all I want but Oohah will not let it go, he has a idol in Paul McGrath an wants all the team to be like him, just give him the chance, that’s all I ask.
McGrath is everyone’s idol but IMO the best pairing we had was southgate and ego not much got past those 2. Since then I don’t think Wev had a decent ch pairing except maybe dunne and Collins for 3/4 of their first season then it went tits up
Foxy that’s what I’m saying let the man find out if he’s the player or not, some blame Vlaar when he puts a shirt on.
I must admit I did like Stephen Ireland but like N’Zog he just wasn’t good enough. By that I mean he played some great football when he could be bothered but in the end he never showed what he was clearly capable of, mostly from just not having his heart in the right place. I was surprised how quickly Lambert cast him into the wilderness but it doesn’t half make a statement to everyone at or thinking of coming to Villa. Bent I think was harshly treated and I think there’s an irony that with Tonev and Bacuna now at the club they could give Bent the service he needs if Benteke was injured or needed resting (or even in cup runs). An expensive sub but a means to an end we could probably still do with. Bent is a one trick pony but it’s undeniable that he scores goals. Vlaar puts in more than enough effort but maybe too much effort and perhaps the captaincy should go to someone else for a while to take it off his shoulders? Delph, Westwood and Wiemann work off their arses for the club and could all do the job, with that responsibility removed maybe Vlaar will loosen up?
Ryad Boudebouz.. looks a decent prospect..
BUT i do think we need presence in midfield.. a dominant player to play alongside Westwood.. a Viera type.. obv we won’t get someone that good but someone similar to N Zonzi M Bia Diakete with a good attitude would be great..
I can see shit loads of transfer happening in the last week of August.. I hope IF PL see’s the midfield isn’t upto it then he will be in for a dominant midfielder..
We don’t need anymore attacking players IMO I think we are strong enough in that area. We still need a dominant ch and dominant midfielder if we got them we would finish top 8 IMO
We need a lock picker.. trust me that type of player who can run from midfield create and score is still needed.. we have no goals from midfield..
A dominant CM is more of a priority..
Agreed Lionheart, it’s a must. Personally would like to see Kyotake over this Algerian lad and Wiijnaldum. We need a proper flair player with trickery, not just a work hard box to box. Obviously someone with all these would be the best.
MD8.. mate i wouldn’t mind this guy for 3M IF!!! it means we can get another midfielder in..
Yeh fair play mate, For 3mil I’d be all for that, guy looks decent and would be great for some more squad depth.
Looks like downing is on his way to west ham. He’s found his level then. Only £5m as well. Fair play to Lerner he stitched Liverpool and utd up a treat getting £20 or so million for downing and young. They’ve both done fuck all since they left us. What a waste
RL doesn’t get done over in selling players.. he’s got top dollar for Young Downing Milner even Barry..
Benteke won’t be going on the cheap too if he performs again this season..
True benteke if he has good season and wc has to worth at least £40 million next year. Spurs will be kicking themselves
i just don’t get the whole Benteke saga.. still baffles me..
WHY put in a transfer request and then sign a new contract strait away..
The offer was on the table.. Benteke should have just waited till end of August.. if Spurs Arsenal or anyone else had come in for him with a 25M offer he could have said i want to go.. that way giving him till end of August to find a club.. Spurs and Arsenal might both have the money and need a striker..
Was truly strange..