Aston Villa News 24/7Brede Hangeland grabbed a point for Fulham at Craven Cottage with what was literally the last touch of what has been christened the “FxPro Derby”, nodding in a free kick at the far post in the 4th minute of injury time. That threatens to overshadow an awful lot of positives from a Villa side featuring two youngsters making their first starts in the Premier League.
Let’s address those positives first. Nathan Delfouneso, getting his first start thanks to being the only one of five strikers available, got himself around, was lively throughout and was in the right place on several occasions and with a little more confidence one of his three efforts on goal might have found its way into the back of the net.
The other youngster making his first start, Barry Bannan, was quite exceptional in the middle. His movement and passing exactly what we were hoping for from Stephen Ireland. If you didn’t see the game, do not miss Match of the Day later, you will be watching Albrighton’s goal over and over, unsure whether Bannan’s 40 yard pass, Albrighton’s first touch or the finish itself was the best part. Brilliant.
However, once again it was a case of being left to rue missed chances – 15 efforts on goal, six on target, one goal – and then switching off at the end of the game. Albrighton’s silly foul gifting the chance to send the ball in, Clark beaten in the air by Hangeland. It’s a pattern.
The injury woes continue, Nigel Reo-Coker forced off with a knee injury 35 minutes in, the only positive being another impressive midfield performance from Ciaran Clark replacing him. To be clear, that was a central midfield partnership of Barry Bannan and Ciaran Clark for just about an hour against an experienced Premier League side.
Stephen Ireland replaced Delfouneso for the final two minutes of normal time and picked a couple of superb first time balls out as Villa were unsure whether to shut up shop, hang out in the corners, or take advantage of the space and go for a 2nd goal, Ashley Young finally getting involved, coming close with a couple of chances.
Besides conceding the goal at the death of the game, the negatives would have to surround the less than convincing defending at times, wastefulness in front of goal and, I’m afraid to say, Ashley Young who completed one single pass in open play in Fulham’s half during the 2nd period.
The youngsters have been signing new contracts and playing brilliantly while Ashley Young has been “concentrating on his football”. Perhaps he’d do better to grab himself a pen.
Teamsheet here, Statshack later.
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6 Comments to “Fulham 1 Aston Villa 1 – Positives can be drawn from last second draw”
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I saw the game online (http://www.footballstreaming.info/streams/todays-links/) and agree that a lot of positives came out of the game.
I am pleased to see the academy producing. It also heartens me to see a bright future that does not rely upon a wealthy benefactor pouring money at the problem.
Bannan was excellent, so was Albrighton and Clarke. Delfouneso looked a bit shy and took one too many touches when bearing down on goal. Young was more absent than is expected, but then again some of the crisp one touch passing means that we are nt relying on a single player running at and taking on a whole team.
This is the best I have seen Villa play all season, but the worry is always that naivety of inexperience can lead to conceding sloppy goals. I look forward to this team being led by Gabby and then we will be a real threat to maintain a european finish.
We are the most injury ridden team in the Premiership (9 -out) , but the squad depth is surprisingly good. Thanks in no small terms to mr MacDonald and the academy. We should have a promising season if we continue to play like this (albeit Cuellar on to replace Delfouneso might have added some addition height/steel)…hindsight eh
!
i think that’s a pretty balanced analysis.
a cursory glance at the stats showed me why houllier specifically said it was important to keep the ball on the ground with delfouneso playing… he got dominated in the air by hangeland and huges, got very little out of them.
and yes, he was a little hesitant at times, it really just looks like confidence.
We are developing nicely into a mid-table outfit. Something along the lines of West Ham. Shocking decline.
I cannot disagree more.
We are playing some good football considering the BS that plagued us early on.
We had a top-player move for obscene money for the second season in a row, replaced by someone who needs time. We had a manager jump ship at the last minute (for whatever reason). We had an indecisive caretaker who really was happy doing what he was doing and not taking on the first team pressure. We have had a nightmare run of injuries especially up front (Gabby, Heskey, Carew, Weimman, Delph, Petrov and now Reo-Coker are all out). Yet we are still in the mix. The league is very tight ; 6-16 are within a game of each other.
We do not want to do a Leeds or a Pompey or even rely on a Liverpool style last minute court case. We cannot compete financially (or should we want to) with the Oligarchs, Arabs and leveraged buyers. Our fan-base or pockets do not allow us that luxury. We need to be sensible and if that means bye bye big salaries of journeymen and the baggage such as Beye, Curtis et al and giving opportunities to Clarke, Bannan and Albrighton I am all for it. Let them fail or develop and we will reap the rewards.
If we consolidate this year and finish top-8 it will be a good year – I still think 5 or 6 and a cup run is do-able. But we will have bloodied some younger players who will have 20-30 games of senior football to see whether they can cut it at this level.
The future is bright . The future is Claret and Blue
ric, as much as I love your optimism, I think you’re somewhat deluded if you think 5th or 6th is do-able.
Although I was encouraged by the performance yesterday, especially from the kids, it would seem that no-one has yet mentioned that Fulham were even more average than we are.
Yes, they play some nice stuff, but it was mostly powder puff, which reminded me of Albion when they went down.
Nice to see a predominantly British game though, played in the right fashion.
Hard but fair tackling and none of that diving/ “I’m dying” stuff
Our team yesterday would have been massacred by any of the top teams though imo.
I don’t want to harp back to a certain previous manager, but we beat them 2-0 in last year’s corresponding fixture, remember.
And yes I know we have injuries, but I don’t care.
It’s all about results.
Let’s look at who we’ve played;
West ham H
Newcastle A
Everton H
Stoke A
Bolton H
Wolves A
Spurs A
Chelsea H
Sunderland A
The shit H
Fulham H
That’s 6 home games and 5 away.
Mostly against what should be inferior opposition.
And we’ve only won 3.
Let’s look at the next 6 fixtures;
Blackpool A
Manure H
Blackburn A
Arsenal H
Pool A
West brom H
I don’t see many points out of that lot and if we don’t win at Blackpool, we’re in serious trouble from the off.
I think we’ve had a fair run of bad luck lately (we actually created a few chances yesterday), but even then it doesn’t look good, hence my view is much closer to Nan’s than yours.
I’m still going for 12th (if we’re lucky), so very much mid-table mediocrity.
Duh, Fulham was obviously away.
Brain fade