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

[Eric the Half a Bee]

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.

There was one moment when Horvath got it wrong, but I was encouraged by how well we were able to do that. It was clearly a plan to draw Villa out to leave space in behind their defence. It shows we have got players who can pass the ball. Better option than whacking it long.

[AdrianAlston]

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

Willock and to a lesser extent El Ghazi slow down play, even though they operate in positions where they are supposed to inject pace. Compare that to when Ashford and Tanner play. It took us half a season to sort out the midfield balance (Moving Chambers, signing Mannsverk and releasing Siopis), signing a proper centre forward (and Robinson's injury issues improving) now we have to be brave with our wingers.

Midfield selection could be interesting for the next match, which three of Mannsverk, Chambers, Robertson, Ramsey or Colwill do you play?

[Tuerto]

[QUOTE=Eric the Half a Bee;5575623]There was one moment when Horvath got it wrong, but I was encouraged by how well we were able to do that. It was clearly a plan to draw Villa out to leave space in behind their defence. It shows we have got players who caric

Eric, in my opinion, Villa wanted us to have the ball, they weren't exactly breaking their balls to get if off us, because they probably knew that we would end up giving it back all by ourselves.

[The Lone Gunman]

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?

It basically meant we spent most of the game with ten or eleven men behind the ball and defended very deep.

[Trigger]

Didn't get to see it but looking at the stats it seemed a stroll for villa and they didn't struggle much to break down anything.

[The Lone Gunman]

Didn't get to see it but looking at the stats it seemed a stroll for villa and they didn't struggle much to break down anything.

City set up to keep the score down and defended resolutely. Horvath had a fine game and made some decent saves. There were a number of good performances in the City ranks and it took Villa a long time to score. A victory for the home side looked inevitable from the first whistle, but while City didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory, they didn’t disgrace themselves either (which was my pre-match fear).

[Forest Green Bluebird]

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?

Low block, mid block, high press ...

https://learning.coachesvoice.com/cv...yche-mourinho/

[The Lone Gunman]

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?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/c785rxj5gp2o

[Eric the Half a Bee]

City set up to keep the score down and defended resolutely. Horvath had a fine game and made some decent saves. There were a number of good performances in the City ranks and it took Villa a long time to score. A victory for the home side looked inevitable from the first whistle, but while City didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory, they didn’t disgrace themselves either (which was my pre-match fear).

I think that's as good as we could have asked for. Going toe to toe with them would have been disastrous. A 2-0 defeat won't hit confidence and some players might gain some.

[Tuerto]

I think that's as good as we could have asked for. Going toe to toe with them would have been disastrous. A 2-0 defeat won't hit confidence and some players might gain some.

Pretty much what you are saying. Villa won easy, it wasn't a physical affair either.

[The Lone Gunman]

I think that's as good as we could have asked for. Going toe to toe with them would have been disastrous. A 2-0 defeat won't hit confidence and some players might gain some.

I was content. The way Riza was talking in his pre-match press conference it was as if he was going to field a side full of under-21 players, but thankfully he didn't. Indeed, the average age of both starting line-ups was 26. However, City did have the two youngest players on the field and they both performed with credit in the roles they were given.

City can be satisfied they managed to keep things respectable and the side appears to have come out of the tie relatively unscathed, which is a bonus, but it was pretty much a walkover for Villa. They never needed to extend themselves.

[TheBirchgrovePub]

Police did their best to make it kick off last night, piss poor organisation all round

[splott parker]

Police did their best to make it kick off last night, piss poor organisation all round

Wasn’t it just. Getting off the coach a young copper screaming ‘Move’ in my ear, the other copper with laughed when I said, ‘Who are you? My father’. Some of the police did seem to be set out to antagonise. Villa fan with his wife/girlfriend, not a youngster either, called me a Welsh c*nt on the walk back to the buses as well, very upsetting on St David’s Day Eve

[the other bob wilson]

[PhyllisStant]

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.

I thought he was great coming on. I think we've found a bit of a gem there. The only shame is I can't see room for him and Robbo on the pitch together in our current set up.

[Michael Morris]

Highlights:

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

Wasn’t it just. Getting off the coach a young copper screaming ‘Move’ in my ear, the other copper with laughed when I said, ‘Who are you? My father’. Some of the police did seem to be set out to antagonise. Villa fan with his wife/girlfriend, not a youngster either, called me a Welsh c*nt on the walk back to the buses as well, very upsetting on St David’s Day Eve

Lucky for the Villa fan that he was with his lady friend

[Michael Morris]

Wasn’t it just. Getting off the coach a young copper screaming ‘Move’ in my ear, the other copper with laughed when I said, ‘Who are you? My father’. Some of the police did seem to be set out to antagonise. Villa fan with his wife/girlfriend, not a youngster either, called me a Welsh c*nt on the walk back to the buses as well, very upsetting on St David’s Day Eve

Only hassle i saw was outside the coach park as City fans crossed through exiting Villa fans. A bit of shouting and shoving.

Just after that saw a fella who fallen over near the shops, looked like he missed the kerb and then at New St a poor chap tumbled on the up moving escalator and no matter how many people tried to get him upright he kept falling backwards but without actually going anywhere as the escalator kept moving

Someone hit the emergency stop and he was fine. I wouldn't laugh about it otherwise.

[Jimmy the Jock]

Wasn’t it just. Getting off the coach a young copper screaming ‘Move’ in my ear, the other copper with laughed when I said, ‘Who are you? My father’. Some of the police did seem to be set out to antagonise. Villa fan with his wife/girlfriend, not a youngster either, called me a Welsh c*nt on the walk back to the buses as well, very upsetting on St David’s Day Eve

You aren't Welsh Steve?

[splott parker]

You aren't Welsh Steve?

I certainly am Welsh and I’ve been known to be a c*nt on more than one occasion….. so maybe the Villa bloke had a point