FT: ASTON VILLA 2 - 0 CARDIFF CITY. Match thread

[AdrianAlston]

Would have liked to have seen davies and Ashford on for el ghazi and willock at 1 0.

Exactly, or even earlier

[Father Dougal]

Colwill was brilliant. I'd never considered him in this position before. It could be his future. Ramsey was excellent and showed what an important player he could be between now and the end of the season. Fish was impressive and I really like Salech. The disappointments were Willock and El Ghazi, they have been this moderate all season despite there undoubted ability. It could have been a different story if we had have signed two more effective wide players.

Yep colwill could be a number 8 couldn't he. As in not the holding midfielder (is that a 6?) Or a 10 (his end product isn't good enough) but could be useful to control the ball move it forward then give it on to others who are quicker and have better decision making than him.

[Father Dougal]

I think one of my favourite moments was seeing 2 villa players on the floor lying next to each other after salech had a tussle with them. We seldom have players who can do that and we have been a very soft squad for years now. Good to see.

[splott parker]

Yep colwill could be a number 8 couldn't he. As in not the holding midfielder (is that a 6?) Or a 10 (his end product isn't good enough) but could be useful to control the ball move it forward then give it on to others who are quicker and have better decision making than him.

How many jerseys can one man wear?

[Former Labour leader]

Relieved that my worst fears weren't realised. A battling performance against a far superior outfit.
Ng is showing the endeavour that made him player of the season for 2 years and was unlucky not to get the pen.
Young Lawlor did himself proud and will be a big player for City in the future.
Colwill again showing his class against top teams. He deserves a transfer to a Prem team to get the best out of him.
Ramsey showing he has an important part to play over the next couple of months.
Horvarth definitely our best goalie, if he can cut out the odd mistake.
Onto Burnley now, with a little more hope than before.

[rich munn]

I think one of my favourite moments was seeing 2 villa players on the floor lying next to each other after salech had a tussle with them. We seldom have players who can do that and we have been a very soft squad for years now. Good to see.

Last time I saw that was when Phil Dwyer did it against Fulham.

[The Bloop]

Haven't seen the game as I was out but just read the BBC Sport report. Apparently, Villa struggled to break down our low block.
What on earth does that mean, and are there also middle blocks and high blocks?

[Michael Morris]

How did 'playing out from the back' look on TV?

It scared me to death all game as we played it short around the box.

[Former Labour leader]

How did 'playing out from the back' look on TV?

It scared me to death all game as we played it short around the box.

Yes, I was shitting myself waiting for us to make a big mistake. In fairness it never really happened.

[Former Labour leader]

Last time I saw that was when Phil Dwyer did it against Fulham.

I had to smile too. Well done Salach.

[Don Corleone]

How did 'playing out from the back' look on TV?

It scared me to death all game as we played it short around the box.

Yes , it was scary on TV too Mike, Horvath had a great game but took some big risks with the ball at his feet as sometimes he’s very slow to move it on

[Splott-light...]

another great performance from Colwill tonight, my only criticism is that he seems to hold on to the ball for a little too long, he goes on these meandering runs and even though there's an option to pass as he tires he continues to plough forward, often losing possession..

[Pedro de la Rosa]

Colwill was brilliant. I'd never considered him in this position before. It could be his future. Ramsey was excellent and showed what an important player he could be between now and the end of the season. Fish was impressive and I really like Salech. The disappointments were Willock and El Ghazi, they have been this moderate all season despite there undoubted ability. It could have been a different story if we had have signed two more effective wide players.

Bellamy said Colwill could play there, I think we’ve got 13 games to try him there now. If he plays like that, we won’t be in trouble.

Willock and El Ghazi could struggle to make match day squads now. I actually thought Willock did OK at times today but he’s painfully slow

[Rjk]

I wonder if we will look to set up as 3-4-3 next season, it does seem to suit quite a few of our players

[Pedro de la Rosa]

Would have liked to have seen davies and Ashford on for el ghazi and willock at 1 0.

I’m surprised we didn’t bring on pace at half time, or after an hour. We needed someone to stretch them

[Pedro de la Rosa]

I wonder if we will look to set up as 3-4-3 next season, it does seem to suit quite a few of our players

Riza wants to play 433, ideally.

[Bald Barry Bastad]

Would have liked to have seen davies and Ashford on for el ghazi and willock at 1 0.

Agreed. Manager should have made subs earlier. If either of those had been there instead of Willock when that long ball came over they would have been in on goal.

[Michael Morris]

Was absolutely a penalty on ng in first half. Even keane and Wright said it was.

We'd have lost anyway but still......

Have Aston Villa got away with one here? 🤔

VAR did not ask the referee to review this potential penalty for Cardiff City#ITVFootball | #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/ZCU8WsOhn0

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 28, 2025

[olderblue]

I’m surprised we didn’t bring on pace at half time, or after an hour. We needed someone to stretch them

If there was one criticism from last night it would be this, I really thought at half time we would make those changes?
The positives were Lawlor debut, Giles starting, Horwath looking better than Alnwick, Colwill not looking out of place against a team competing in the Champions League and Salech showing what a good aggressive centre forward can do

That’s not taking anything away from the likes of Fish and Ng etc

I’m glad the manager set us up as he did for the first half, just would have liked to have seen Ashford and Davies on sooner.

With players coming back from injury and playing with the level of commitment we showed last night, we should be looking to climb up the table and get further distance between us and the bottom three

[Kerkyra Blue]

BENT !!! Would they have used VAR if it was a premiere game ??

[Kerkyra Blue]

Glen Williams gave El Gazi an 8 . eight

[WJ99mobile]

We did well

[North Cardiff Blue]

I think one of my favourite moments was seeing 2 villa players on the floor lying next to each other after salech had a tussle with them. We seldom have players who can do that and we have been a very soft squad for years now. Good to see.

Class he smashed them all over the place and just stood there as if he'd swotted a couple of flies.

[the other bob wilson]

Glen Williams gave El Gazi an 8 . eight

Which was one more than he gave Willock who I thought was much the better of our two wingers/wing backs. The report also said that El Ghazi's shot in the first half went just wide

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Which was one more than he gave Willock who I thought was much the better of our two wingers/wing backs. The report also said that El Ghazi's shot in the first half went just wide

Interesting. I thought El Ghazi did more in trying to make things happen. Willock looked slow to me, kept things safe. If we were going to beat Villa, we needed someone to have a go. We didn't miss Willock when he went off. Every time he got the ball I thought nothing would happen. It didn't.