[Archived] Villa Semi Final Match Preview

[ChrisT]

had a good go in the second half, by keeping the ball on the ground. Hope team of second half plays at the weekend.

Pederson has to go --- rubish

[DE.]

Our failure to ever have a decent first half is costing us big time here.

Sam can make the changes that make a difference, but he seems utterly inept when it comes to setting out the original formation.

Time to concentrate on the league, I suppose.

[ultrablue]

The players second half performance keeps on saving Sam the worst of it: but as "the expert" would have us believe, its all about results. SAM OUT!

[BRFC1995]

gave workmate 3 to 1 odds we'd win, that confident we had no chance made a fiver but would have been happy to shell out 20 notes tomorrow.

Very down about our chances of scoring let alone winning a game for the forseeable future, Fulham to win is a safer bet than red rum.

[beerwins]

I would'nt say thats the cup dream over but with our away performances we will have to better than that.

First half same old crap, second half tried but too little too late.

Poor Kalinic the lad deserves some starts under his belt now.

[philipl]

Yet again Sam got the tactics all wrong and cost us.

After the first ten minutes of the second half we gave it a go but managerial ineptitude has cost us any chance of going to Wembley.

[greggyk]

ZERO chance Sam will be sacked before the season is out... Williams sitting next to him massive show of support to.

Oh, and Pedersen should never start again this season...I'd rather we play Olson in his position

[ada2020]

Well it was lost in the first half thanks to Sam's overly cautious tactics.

Better second half, much better, Kalanic looks good to me and he simply has to start for a run of games. The technique used in that second shot that hit the post was superb.

Would anyone else like to smack David "fat (Please don't use that word again)" Platt in the face, biased ######.

[Stonesrick]

He won't go tomorrow - but he will next Monday because Fulham will do us and he ain't got a Plan B.

[ada2020]

ZERO chance Sam will be sacked before the season is out... Williams sitting next to him massive show of support to.

Oh, and Pedersen should never start again this season...I'd rather we play Olson in his position

Sorry, but I disagree about Pederson, he didn't do that bad. It was the tactics that lost us the game.

[PAFELL]

With us playing the ball on the floor so much do you think this is on purpose by Sam? Not saying it is him behind it but maybe the players who have said to Sam they prefer to play like this!

I thought that as well. I thought it was possible that Sam was told at HT that he was sacked, and Neil macdonald took over - complete contrast.

[Bobby G]

I have no idea what I watched in that first half. One of the worst performances Ive seen from us. We didnt get out of first gear. Whether we were nervous or something else, who knows, but we were damned lucky not to be down by 2 or 3 at least.

Second half, I cant fault the effort, although, I would have brought on Di Santo early in the second to help out Nico. It was a sideways move to throw in Reid.

Disappointed cause I thought God was on our side with all the misses Villa had.

Considering our form and away record, how can we even score at Villa Park let alone win?

Looks lost now. And whilst Kalinic was unlucky twice with the post, I think we were lucky not to lose by at least 2 goals if not more.

Kalinic is by far our best "striker". He cant score, but I have no doubt this guy would get 10-15 in the league if he played every game. Nzonzi also gave a worthy performance.

[BRFC1995]

other teams pick players based on form whereas our pressing matter who is the $h177er ollsen or pedersen, if players where picked on form we could'nt field a team

[accyrover]

Sam did seem to be over cutious in the 1st half. Really should have started with 2 up front, Emerton on the right instead of Salgado and Dunny in the middle. I thought Kalinic was outstanding tonight.

Sam won't go. We can't afford to sack him. We've not got any money, remember ?

Accyrover

[PAFELL]

Thats the chance, we are out of it now, won't get anything at Villa!

Unless there is a new manager in place by then - new manager sydrome!!!!!!!!!

[Alex Rover]

Dejected.

We gave it a go in the second half, but as always hit the post and failed to score. Once again.

The shambles that was the 1st half can not be excused. Complete failure by the manager to get the players ready for the game.

Only a miracle can help us now.

Bang on, sums it up perfectly.

[Dan]

Much better attacking wise 2nd half, Niko very unlucky. Defending was a shambles throughout. If we had attacked all match like we did in the first half, the game may have been completely different. Sitting back and hoofing it in the first half brought us under loads of pressure and Villa scored and then could sit back and hit us on the break when we eventually decided to attack. Once again Sam proves that his game plan wasn't working, as it never has. Why he hasn't learnt this yet god only knows. The fact we eventually do attack shows he knows deep down he is wrong, but makes the same error every single game. It's a cup tie, we are the home team ATTACK! So that's the cup done with :-( BFS will come out and say we were unlucky, which to some extent is true, but we lost this match because of the first half and he needs to go. Bloody tannoy system. Also I wonder if that ###### stupid Wendy will ask some real questions to Sam? Will she heck as like. Sack him in the morning, send Salgado home and get rid of Olsen and Pedersen. The glass half full brigade will be on later saying that the 2nd half was ok and he should stay as usual, but they are wrong, matches last 90 minutes and Sam is only doing half a job(most of the time much less). ###### off once again and I donlt think I can be arsed watching Rovers until that clown is sacked, it's just not good for the health and ruins my week/weekend every ###### time.

[G Somerset Rover]

I have no idea what I watched in that first half. One of the worst performances Ive seen from us. We didnt get out of first gear. Whether we were nervous or something else, who knows, but we were damned lucky not to be down by 2 or 3 at least.

Bobby it can't be an isolated first 45 or suprising that we were nervy because it happens EVERY game which cries out that something is not right.

How many more times do we have to improve drastically second half before Sam lines the team up like this from the off?

He's had a chance too many.

[Roverall]

ZERO chance Sam will be sacked before the season is out... Williams sitting next to him massive show of support to.

Indeed. I had a similar uncomfortable feeling - The two of them sitting up there chuckling away like it was a "Class of 68" school reunion.

Sorry, but I disagree about Pederson, he didn't do that bad. It was the tactics that lost us the game.

Seriously? Thought he was his usual rubbish self. Crappy throw-ins, no commitment in the tackle, useless corners etc.

[philipl]

They sit next to each other whenever Sam is in the stands.

Very interesting that nobody spotted the shot of Sam in the second minute though.

[beerwins]

Sam will not get sacked, as much as I agree with most that he is tactically inept and costing us points with his bad decisions he will not be sacked, the board certainly wont want the bad press, I doubt very much they have the compensation money and he looks very pally with JW.

The january window is the best sign to see if sam is staying or going.

[Blackpool_Rover]

Im sorry but David Dunn just wasnt fit enough to play. He worked wonders but clearly was unfit. Should have started with Di santo instead.

What im gonna take from this game are superb performances by Kalinic and Robbo and i must say i have a little hunch that Salgado will be a very good player for us. You dont lose talent overnight and for me he shows passion and a bloody good workrate...once he finds his feet in this league he will come good.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Good stuff:

Could have been 2-4.

Kalinic. He has enough to warrant starting ahead of Di Robertinho.

It didnt snow

Nobody died.

Bad Stuff:

HOW FLAMING PREDICTABLE WAS THAT. 4-5-1 !!!!!!!!!! FOR HEAVENS SAKE.

i cant be bothered. How often have we played 4-5-1 for the first half and then have to rescue the match by playing 4-4-2 in the second.

REID?????????????????????????????????? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY. Hoilett. Apparently he can attack. A T T A C K. Its not illegal to try to win a we don't like that word, please don't use it GAME.

Please. Somebody shake the man.

[Amo]

Oh well, at least there's the FA Cu-...

[broadsword]

What shot was that? when he got the suicide pills out?