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It was honours even at Villa Park after a frustrating performance led to points being dropped for the second time against Fulham this season. An own goal from John Pantsil and a superb goal from Kyle Walker were both cancelled out by goals from Andrew Johnson and Clint Dempsey. Brad Friedel won’t want to watch the replays.
It started extremely promisingly, some exceptionally fluid play from Villa at times, Jean Makoun at the heart of much that was positive. An early effort from Darren Bent, slotting home Downing’s parried shot, was chalked off for being marginally offside, but it was an encouraging sign of intent.
Downing was a force to be reckoned with down the right, driving toward Fulham’s back line with every opportunity, fitting that the opening goal came from his outside of the boot delivery, Pantsil nodding into his own net with Gabby charging in behind.
Fulham were allowed to assert themselves towards the end of the half, Steve Sidwell in particular playing like a man with a point to prove, but they were barely able to worry Friedel by the time the break came.
The second half looked to be more of the same with Gabby and Darren Bent both being set up for chances that they should really have done better with. Somehow though, and Sidwell playing a better game than most of us have seen might have much to do with it, Fulham grew in confidence and began to stake a claim.
It’s was Sidwell’s 4th shot from distance, parried by Friedel straight back where it came from, that was pounced on by Andrew Johnson diving low to head in. No one in claret and blue covered themselves in glory, but Friedel really should have palmed the shot to the side. Johnson did well to get on the end of the chance, it has to be said.
Villa showed flashes of their early form, but some of the fire seemed to have died down. With legs starting to look tired, Houllier switched Gabby into a more central role and Ash out to the left and the benefits were felt almost immediately as Ash won a free kick from Danny Murphy attempting to charge up the flank.
The free kick was cleared and fell to Downing on the other flank and he sent the ball back to Stiliyan Petrov who quite lazily laid the ball off to Kyle Walker, seemingly exasperated at a lack of alternative options. It didn’t go down well with the home support, but Walker responded in positive fashion, setting off on another arrow-like run toward goal before unleashing a powerful low drive to the bottom corner that Schwarzer had no chance of saving.
With 18 minutes left on the clock, the game was far from safe, Fulham’s central partnership of Sidwell and Murphy were winning the battle over Makoun and the tired looking Petrov.
In the end, the equaliser came from a corner, Clint Dempsey delaying his run just enough to ghost into empty space, Brad Friedel the only player able to make a challenge, but unfortunately he was second to the ball and Dempsey headed in.
From there, the game tapered out. Marc Albrighton came on for Petrov with barely more than five minutes left on the clock, Emile Heskey ran on to replace Gabby at a corner in the 87th minute, but it didn’t make any difference. There was the usual frantic chase for a winner, leaving worrying amounts of space at the back, but neither side were able to break the deadlock.
Overall
Once again much to be positive about in terms of individual performances. Downing was excellent, particularly during the first half, as was Ashley Young playing just behind Darren Bent. Bent himself and Gabby were largely ineffectual, the logic of employing Gabby out wide now lost on just about everyone, myself included.
Jean Makoun was again the heart of the team, although he didn’t quite manage to match the impressive passing numbers from Old Trafford; just the 61 complete passes for an 83% success rate today. Petrov, I thought, was much better during the first half, but faded badly; he simply does not have the fitness to keep up with the pace in the Premiership for a full game and in the end made Sidwell look better than he is.
Kyle Walker was excellent for the most part, although he frustrated by wasting some great positions with poor crosses, he must have made up for that with a great goal. He still looks a little suspect defensively at times, but that’s not uncommon for an attacking full back.
Tactically, Houllier threatens to erode a lot of the goodwill he’s amassed during January with an insistence of playing Gabby wide and Ash centrally despite neither player being offered the chance to work to their strengths. Whatever the underlying rationale behind sticking with this approach, sooner or later the manager must concede that it isn’t the most effective use of the personnel at his disposal.
Today, although I wouldn’t claim that Fulham weren’t decent value for their point, it still feels a lot like two points were dropped and we’re just not in position to be that generous. The positive vibe might be back, and rightly so, but we can’t get complacent, there’s still much work to be done.
On to the next one
Now we look to the next one, away to Blackpool next Saturday. Holloway’s men were beaten 5-3 in an incredible game at Goodison, as he said himself, Blackpool are in danger of slipping into the part of the table most would have predicted they’d occupy and they’re now one place below us in 15th.
We were less than convincing in beating a weakened Blackpool at Villa Park, their determination alone is enough to cause concern about the reverse fixture, especially since we still don’t seem to have the ability to kill off a stubborn opponent or, indeed, hold out against a determined one.
As today served to prove, still moving in the right direction, still a long way to go. Next time, Petrov’s place has to be at risk to Michael Bradley who was paraded in front of the Villa Park crowd, but not included in the 18 man squad.
Aston Villa starting XI: Friedel, Walker, Dunne, Collins, Clark, Petrov, Makoun, Downing, Agbonlahor, Young, Bent. Subs: Marshall, Delfouneso, Pires, Cuellar, Heskey, Reo-Coker, Albrighton.
Opponent starting XI: Schwarzer, Baird, Hangeland, Hughes, Pantsil, Dempsey, Sidwell, Murphy, Duff, A Johnson, Dembele. Subs: Stockdale, Salcido, Gera, Gudjohnsen, Kakuta, Greening, Davies.
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17 Comments to “Aston Villa 2 Fulham 2: Points squandered after failure to capitalise on strong 1st half”
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How in the name of Paul Mac is Petrov still in a Villa shirt!
Blood boiling at the lazy fat has been!!!
he’s been our weakest link for some time IMO. that said, first half, i thought he was pretty decent, certainly by his standards.
second half, very poor, would have preferred to see NRC in there, we had next to zero tackling ability in the centre for the 2nd 45 mins.
I thought we were very good at times today. I’m not so sure that GH has got it wrong. Ash looks pretty good off Bent. He very nearly set up twice but just over hit. More time and I think this will become a very effective pairing. Which leaves Gabby. Can’t see where he fits now really. He may move on at the end of the season, I think.
it smacks of accommodationism (might be a made up word) to me.
the reality is that there just isn’t room on the pitch for bent, gabby, ash, downing & albrighton at the same time. if you were picking on form and ability, it would surely be gabby watching from the bench.
I don’t get why we would play Petrov ahead of NRC in midfield. GH will lose the fans very quickly if he keeps picking a clearly shot Petrov. I like Stan but he doesn’t have the legs for a full 90mins anymore!
We have lost 4pts now against a Fulham side we should be beating easily, especially at home. I don’t understand why GH is persisting with Petrov but i guess he thinks he knows why he’s doing it? We don’t have that confidence back as of yet and he thinks Stan may play the calming role in the game but if he’s not got the legs anymore then he becomes a liability.
Why is Albrighton left sitting on the bench aswell until 5mins from the end? It’s ludicrious! I don’t wanna keep having a go at GH but his team selection is bad on recent showing. He looks afraid to go for it when clearly he’s not confident in the players he has.
Baz Bannan not even on the bench? Why? Is the lad injured or what?? Bannan woulda opened Fulham up easliy today if he was playing with Albrighton. Ok, so maybe GH thinks they both need a rest but we need our best young players now more than ever. We need a good passer in that centre midfield role and if Bannan ain’t good enough then why give him a deal to stay? None of it makes sense to me..Hogg was sent out on loan…I haven’t been on here for a couple of wks, on the web i mean, so i am probably missing out on some important info…I think we must not slip back into that scared team we became in the 1st part of the season. We have to go at teams. It’s the best way for us to win games. We should have bags of confidence now but i think this team is still a little fragile and GH would see that because he’s with them everyday..
I don’t see it so it’s probably stupid of me to be having a go at him right now. I don’t wanna be having a go at GH or the team because we’ve been through the roughest period we’ve had for yrs. I just think next season can’t come quick enough for GH or the players or us fans either…Roll on the next game now and hopefully we get a good result because we definitely need it. I’ve said all season that we’d be ok and i stand by it. I also said that we’d still finish in the top7/8 and i am gonna stand by that also! UpTheVilla!!!
I hope that this lineup was a reflection of the fact that a game was played Tuesday, and would not be the same with a full week of rest.
In other news, Carew had a great game for Stoke.
Petrov looked slow and sloppy
Makoun looked good, still needs work on tackles/closing down
Friedel was in poor form, one goal to a bad parry, another to a half effort
Walker floated a few bad crosses, but made a great goal
Downing battled the wind
Bent battled the offside calls
As ran and ran and ran, usually between 3 players passing the ball
Gabby was out of position
Overall an average performance, we only deserved one point. I swear bent got a nick on Walkers goal. A bit disappointed to see Petrov still in the first 11, should be sold in June to make way for better quality
Brad
Cuellar. Collins. Dunne. Clark
Albrighton. Bradley. Makoun. Downing
Ash
Bent
Surely, that’s going to be next starting XI?
i was firmly of the belief that bradley should be one for next year, but fitness aside, i’d be happy to see him ASAP.
Nan – it makes too much sense, so I imagine your line-up is highly unlikely.
Bradley, assuming he is match fit (and how could he be less fit than Petrov?) will add some steel and forward threat to the mid-field. He might not be the most elegant technically but paired with Makoun might just work well.
Cuellar vs. Walker — I just don’t know. Cuellar would never have scored the goal that Walker scored. And that goal really lifted spirits for the team. On the other hand, we might not have let one in either…
I actually thought we looked very comfortable for most of the game.
Positives?
Makoun.
He really looks the business and is a cut above.
Downing played well too, imo, although I’ve seen posts slating him elsewhere?
Negatives?
Petrov needs dropping.
Walker?
Awful, simple, his goal apart.
Glen Johnson Mk 11, he doesn’t know how to defend, imo.
Play Cuellar at RB.
Gabby on the left offers nothing.
How many times did we get Bent into the play?
We have some of the best crossers in the game, but where is the delivery in this system?
Albrighton rested?
Why?
I saw many posts suggesting that Fulham was an easy win.
I didn’t agree with that assessment, but thought we’d have a go, seeing as we were at home.
I’m still way off saying that Houllier is the solution, put it that way.
Just seen Jonathon Fear’s review in the Guardian. He had Walker as MotM. He rated Petrov as a 7 and Makoun as a 6. Unbelievable.
Wow.
As you say, unbelievable
just had to check that out. makoun and downing both a 6 to petrov’s 7.
the mind boggles.
Dan,
1st time poster. I just started following Villa this season. Do you have any stats on goals conceded vs. goals scored on set pieces? I would bet we are -10 this season. By the way…like your work. Keep it up.
thanks and i don’t, but i will look into it. interesting point.
i do know that we rank 18th for points lost from a winning position with 16 points lost and that we’ve conceded 31% of our goals in the final five minutes of each half. i’d bet a lot of those came from set pieces and were completely preventable.
keep an eye out, i’ll include anything i find in a future post.
Welcome to the site, and to Villa Nation. I am a relatively recent Villa fan also, and I think this is the best place to be for intelligent analysis and commentary.
I would be interested in the set piece net goals also, although I think the worst statistic is the late goals – It is a -10 for goals in after the 75th minute. Goals in the last third of both halves account for more than half of all goals allowed (23 of 45).