[Archived] Villa Semi Final Match Preview

[alexanders]

I dont think the 4-5-1 with Dunny behind Kalininc is as bad as people are making out. We used the same tactic in the second half, but difference being that we were passing the ball around instead of hoofing it. If we continue to do that the formation is okey with me.

[Paul]

Unfortunately Dunny's natural replacement in that formation is also carrying too much blubber. How can a manager ensure that players control their own weight during the season? It must be mighty difficult with some.

Surely this is one of the things we pay the manager to do? Make sure the players are fit. If it isn't then one has to ask exactly what do we pay the manager to do. I'm not blaming anyone for Dunn being injured but there has to be a question raised by playing a half-fit, over-weight Dunn.

[Bobby G]

What has Dunn been doing for the last two weeks?

[Bazrakats]

In the second half when we had Emerton and Pederson on the wings we actually looked dangerous with full backs overlapping and good crosses in to the box. As soon as Pederson came of and Dunn went left side we lost that shape and never looked like scoring unless it was from a set piece. We should be playing to our strengths using the wings more. We actually looked a dangerous side. Would love to play like that week in week out but knowing Sam we will revert back to 1 behind the striker and long balls over the top.

[PAFELL]

people have had 6 weeks to save up £15 for a semi final (we played chelsea on the 2nd of december, thats just £2.50 a week. hell you would struggle getting 10 fags for £2.50 (depending on what you smoke) hell you couldnt even get 4 liters of coca cola for £2.50. i manage to live of £50.90 a week, that includes fags and beer and my season ticket, not to mention my moblie phone contract and my broadband. hell a ss, child or yound adult cost just £5 (83p a week) so for a adult and a child it would cost a little over £3 a week, yet your telling me at least 25% of the fans who didnt turn up today (within a reasonable distance) couldnt afford £2.50 a week? please your talking out your brown hole

You didn't answer the question about mortgage - you haven't said anything about rent / council tax / petrol. Oh of course your rent will be paid for you, oh so would your council tax as you are on jobseekers. You are not living in the real world. again you have no idea why people were not at or able to get to the game. It was a mid week game, many could have been working nights for example, some of those may not work nights at weekends, which is why they can get there for a sat or sun game. There are many, unknown factors, why a person cannot get to a game. Is does not make them any less of a supporter. Also you are probable not aware how many supporters Rovers have that live a long distance away and come for the weekend games which makes up the attendence. People didn't have weeks to arrange for the game as it was a rearranged fixture. Many may have planned for that night, but could not do it for last night.

[Majiball]

Well I'm gutted, you hope for change and your prays go unanswered.

I'd love to know why people are not getting on Chimbonda's back for the goal. Yet again he fails in his defensive duty's, stop crosses coming in. I honestly believe he's scared of the ball now.

Sam why oh why are we playing a right back at right wing when we have a pacey right winger type of the bench. Why oh why wasn't this pacey young player brought on to combat the ariel authority that Villa set up. CB at RB why wasn't Hoillet given a chance to expose him, when the chance came along.

5 Rovers against 3 Villa players and they dance right through us, yet again. Its just not good enough, pace or no pace 5 should kill 3 every time.

I was pleased to finally see a full back at left back who actually gets in front of his man and can swing in a left foot cross. I thought he did a lot better than his last outing against a pacey English wideman.

We need a second man up top to help Kalinic, not some bloke stuck in a hole but someone who can actually help him.

I just don't see Sam changing his ways ever, regardless of what perceived pressure is placed upon him.

[Bobby G]

Olsson was better than his usual self but the ease which Young got past him tells me he will be a liability against pacey defenders. Its happened on so many occasions in his career with us.

[Majiball]

Olsson was better than his usual self but the ease which Young got past him tells me he will be a liability against pacey defenders. Its happened on so many occasions in his career with us.

Much imrpoved on his rapping against Lennon, progress is good.

[daveoftherovers]

He also missed a handball from Chimbonda in the box giving us a free-kick for God knows what.

It was a push by Heskey, which was what Dunny was taking issue with Heskey over when they were going back up the pitch.

[Gav]

What has Dunn been doing for the last two weeks?

Eating by the looks of things.

[Inta Beaver]

I thought McCarthy was very lucky not to get sent off, and Kalinic looked sharp just wish his luck would change and was given a good run in the side from now!

[Hughesy]

The referee was pro villa? He turned down two blatant penalties and booked Agbonlahor for an imaginary dive! If it wasn't for the ref this tie would already be over.

Blatant? The one on Agbonlawhore - Samba didnt touch him or the ball, Whore just went down as he saw Samba coming in - so he got booked for Simulation

The Chimbonda was a handball - however his arm was up and he was pushed into the ball - so again very dodgy and could have gone either way.

Olsson was better than his usual self but the ease which Young got past him tells me he will be a liability against pacey defenders. Its happened on so many occasions in his career with us.

Ease? There was a number of times Olsson matched Young for pace and stopped him getting past him easily. He is improving rapidly and was 100 times better than the Lennon game

As for the game:

1st half - Sh!te. Olsson should of started at left back as I said before the game....and we played too many long balls. It looked in that half that Sam had lost the players. Villa's pace caused us problems and this is something we need to resolve.

2nd half - Much improved and whatever was said got the players back on side, and how unlucky can Niko Kalinic get!? 2 great efforts both hitting the post. And also a lovely 1-2 with Dunny. Olsson battled well against one the leagues best wingers and our midfield improved.

Best players of the night - Kalinic, Robbo & then Ollson when he came on

Wimp of the night - MGP

1 thing I could not understand - why did we take Salgado off for Reid, when we have Hoilett sat on the bench?!?

The tie - Almost Game over, cannot see us over-turning the score at their place....unless we go there playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3

And whoever it was saying it further up - I too agree Nelsen is one of our players we need to look to replace if we want to move forward!

[Majiball]

Eating by the looks of things.

He does look a tad portly does he not.

I have a few gripes with this both with Dunn & the management team(you get paid £20,000 a week, its not all meant to be spent on food), its highly unprofessional to get yourself in that state mid-season. Who is monitoring him whilst he's out keeping the rest of him in shape whilst one area heals? No-one by the looks of things. Probably all to busy having a laugh.

Dunn being allowed to get in that state whilst out is not on, both parties should hang their heads in shame.

[Gav]

The defence is a shambles, the midfield is non existent and the striker played extremely well considering, just another day in the life of watching Blackburn Rovers most will say.

That first half was a disgrace, what the manager said to them before they came out obviously had no impact at all. We couldn’t string 2 passes together and gave Villa far to much room in which to play.

Slightly more worrying is the body language of the players, they came out for the second half with shoulders slumped and in ones and twos, no togetherness at all, and that people is down to the manger to sort out.

I’ve not seen or heard any of Allardyces comments, but you can bet he’s rueing bad luck, when in reality we never looked in the game apart from that 10 minute spell in the second half.

You could sense an under current last night and the fans are just about at breaking point, he’s not got long to turn things around.

[Hasta]

I've just watched the game on TV and in the first half it was actually worse than at City. Whilst the second half was better, Villa still had enough chances to put us to the sword. The Chimbonda handball was a penalty and the Agbonglahor one reminded me of Michael Owen against Argentine. Probably not but if you start booking people for them you're going to book a lot of people incorrectly over the course of the season.

Kalinic looked lively and Robinson kept us in it at times but the rest really did look poor. I also think both Kalinic and McCarthy should have walked !!

Very disappointing but unfortunately what we all feared. I seem to have braced myself for it before it happened.

Oh. DazMaz I couldn't go - work related issues. Unfortunately, sometimes work IS a valid excuse.

[only2garners]

Bringing Reid on just to send Emo out wide on the right baffled me too and was a huge mistake by SA. We were on top at that time and Reids appearence seemed to swing the emphasis back towards AV again. Villa's entire defence was rocking and well and truly on the back foot. Bringing Reid on simply allowed them to slow the match down again and play time out. The last thing the formidable but ponderous (and tiring imo) players on Villa's back line would want would have been Hoilett running at them at speed and with the ball at his feet. The only way they could have stopped him would have been to foul him.

I think you have to bear in mind that as Reid came on O'Neill withdrew a striker (Heskey) for an extra midfielder (Sidwell). He clearly had worked out that we were beginning to overrun his defence and they needed shoring up. After that Villa played behind the ball looking to exploit the inevitable gaps on the break. It nearly worked but thankfully not. I can't see that Hoillett would have found any room to run into in that situation anyway.

[Hughesy]

I also think both Kalinic and McCarthy should have walked !!

Walked?

Kalinic - side of his arm hit the player (no intention - booking tops)

McCarthy - Do not blame him 1 bit. Showboating at 1-0? Id of kicked the player much harder, and he wouldnt be playing next week!

[broadsword]

Sam still taking us in the right direction, Hughesy?

[Bobby G]

Benni deserved a booking. Nothing more. Nico just jumped up for the ball. Nothing intentional.

[den]

The somebody was from the Trust.

Looked like David Brown to me?

Seen him there regularly Philip.

Ah, just read this:

What does this mean for Sam, who knows, but it was VERY SIGNIFICANT that David Brown from the trust was at the game tonight.

David Brown was brought onto the board as the representative of the trustees, at the time when John Williams was appointed to Executive Chairman, which is quite a while ago now - right? Well I've seen him on TV at recent matches, so what's significant that he's there again?

[waggy]

Perhaps I'm being too generous with Salgado then.

Nelsen still saw it all happen though, he wasn't doing a sodding thing stood where he was, he should have gone across to Milner because Jacobsen had whoever was at the back stick.

NOTHING TO DO WITH CHIMBONDA TURNING HIS BACK ON THE BALL AGAIN

[Gav]

Nelson has been average at best for a couple of season now LeChuck, just another example of a poor player in a poor side.

[Hasta]

Walked?

Kalinic - side of his arm hit the player (no intention - booking tops)

McCarthy - Do not blame him 1 bit. Showboating at 1-0? Id of kicked the player much harder, and he wouldnt be playing next week!

Kalinic had just been clattered from behind a couple of times. He'd got the free kick but was looking very annoyed at the ref for not taking any actions against the centre halves. A few minutes later he leads with his arm into the guys face. It's either unintentional and therefore not a booking or it's deliberate and a red card. Had it been Heskey on Nelson we'd hav ebeen going mad.

McCarthy deliberately kicked someone when the ball was actually nowhere near. He basically just walked up to him and kicked him. I get frustrated when defenders deliberately obstruct to let the ball go out of play for a goal kick and I always think one time I'd lose my rag and just kick them. I'd get sent off though.

Both incidents were borne out of the same frustration that all the fans are feeling.

[daveoftherovers]

Reference Hughesy posts:

Couple of possible answers and an addendum to a posting I nearly totally agreed with matey:

Ref Best players: Kalinic, Robbo & then Ollson when he came on. Agreed, however, Samba bailed us out of the pooh on various occasions. (Personally I think Kali is going to be a class act) His 2nd effort that hit the woodwork was all of his making and proved he has many attributes, he seems to have most aspects that the other strikers lack, and yes, he needs a run in the team and some support would be needed, has to be DI Santo for me.

Ref Salgado: Well, why was he playing their in the 1st place is more the point?

I actually think he's of a good standard, however, he just decided to go whereever he wanted at one point, although I couldn't blame him, at least he tried to put in a shift.

Reference Reid coming on instead of Hoilett, it was obvious they were going to shut shop and just go solely on the counter, hence them sending on Sidwell, if we'd have put another winger on, we'd have totally sacrificed the middle of the park (I know we had already in the main) however, they would have def gone 2-0 up and it's goodnight, so I can see why BS did that (To a point.)

I agree on Nelson, his woeful distribution causes us far too many issues, but do we have any other "Leaders" ??

Felt sorry for N Zonzi, he tried but looked knackered and low on confidence and people would do well to remember that he is making a huge step up from where he has come from.

Yes Villa have pace, probably more than anyone in the prem, they cause everyone issues, that's life, and have we coped with it in recent years, err... No!

As for the return leg, I saw enough in the 2nd half to suggest we are still in it, I'd like to see us have a go at them and score first, they showed they can flap like the best of them when we did have a go, I'd like to see Dunn in Midfield driving on with 2 true options up front (Maybe backed up by Grella sitting)

IF we beat Fulham, we may have some embers of confidence in a game that we have been well and truly written off in (By everyone) So if the team need motivating, they should read the press, remember what their fans were singing and and listen to /watch Sky and the BBC are saying about it being over...

I've decided to goto Villa, heart over mind, clearly, however, still my team though!

[Blue n White Rover]

NOTHING TO DO WITH CHIMBONDA TURNING HIS BACK ON THE BALL AGAIN

I'd blame Salgado for the goal, he stopped running after Milner as soon as he released it for Downing, that left him unmarked to give them the lead.