As you’ll be aware, Barry Bannan has joined Leeds on loan for the rest of the season with the option of an extension should they make the play-offs. Who knows, maybe he’ll end up repeating the trip he made to Wembley with Blackpool last year. There’s probably a quiz question in that if he does.
As ever, not everyone is thrilled by this move and it provides another convenient stick to whack the manager over the head with. Personally, I think
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The debate surrounding the pros and cons of zonal marking versus man marking at set pieces will doubtless rage on, but most of the big teams will continue to use a combination regardless. Indeed, the argument about what constitutes zonal rather than man marking will be no more likely to reach consensus any time soon.
All of that is outside the scope of this post, I’m simply going to go through each of Bolton’s eight corners and translate what I saw
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The mid-week gamble has backfired, the repercussions are obvious. Three goals conceded at set pieces, or second phase set piece, missed chances at the other end, including a sitter or two for Darren Bent and an Ashley Young penalty saved.
Bent should have opened the scoring inside the first five minutes after being sent through brilliantly by Young, but he wasn’t able to dig the ball out from under his own feet and Jaaskelainen snuffed out the chance before he could
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After Manchester, Gerard Houllier names a full strength team today. Luke Young rejoins the team, filling in at left centre back, Fabian Delph retains his place and will partner Reo-Coker in the middle.
Bolton
Aston Villa
22
Jussi Jaaskelainen
1
Brad Friedel
2
Gretar Rafn Steinsson
36
Kyle Walker
31
David Wheater
32
Nathan Baker
5
Gary Cahill
21
Ciaran Clark
4
Paul Robinson
2
Luke Young
14
Kevin Davies
6
Stewart Downing
8
Stuart Holden
20
Nigel Reo-Coker
6
Fabrice Muamba
16
Fabian Delph
10
Martin Petrov
12
Marc Albrighton
15
Daniel Sturridge
7
Ashley Young
9
Johan Elmander
39
Darren Bent
Subs
Subs
1
Adam Bogdan
33
Andy Marshall
17
Ivan Klasnic
8
Robert Pires
7
Matthew Taylor
19
Stiliyan Petrov
27
Lee Chung-Yong
31
Chris Herd
16
Mark Davies
13
Michael Bradley
19
Rodrigo
18
Emile Heskey
25
Marcos Alonso
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
No, I don’t know what Charlie Sheen has to do with Aston Villa taking on Bolton either, but at least he’s providing some much needed light relief at the moment and having some fun. You remember fun, right? He’s also doing a decent job of making Stephen Ireland look sane. Some achievement, and for that I thank you Charlie Sheen.
He’s also seems to be doing a splendid job of claiming victory from what appears to be a stinging defeat, perhaps
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Eight changes, first starts for Chris Herd and Michael Bradley. It didn’t work, not at all. A routine beating at the hands of a frankly bemused City. A lacklustre and, at times, completely inept performance during the first half deserved the 2-0 half time scoreline. The third goal wasn’t entirely merited, there was a little fight about Villa after the break, but overall it’s probably a fair reflection on City’s superiority.
There was much head scratching before the game when the
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Gerard Houllier says he’s determined to erase memories of the “lowest moment of his career”; the 4-0 loss at Eastlands to close out 2010. How’s he going to do it? Here are the starting lineups:
Man City
Aston Villa
25
Joe Hart
1
Brad Friedel
2
Micah Richards
31
Chris Herd
17
Jerome Boateng
5
Richard Dunne
19
Joleon Lescott
21
Ciaran Clark
5
Pablo Zabaleta
16
Fabian Delph
24
Patrick Vieira
25
Barry Bannan
18
Gareth Barry
19
Stiliyan Petrov
21
David Silva
13
Michael Bradley
42
Yaya Touré
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
13
Aleksandar Kolarov
14
Nathan Delfouneso
45
Mario Balotelli
18
Emile Heskey
Subs
Subs
12
Stuart Taylor
33
Andy Marshall
32
Carlos Tevez
36
Kyle Walker
11
Adam Johnson
8
Robert Pires
10
Edin Dzeko
20
Nigel Reo-Coker
27
Jo
12
Marc Albrighton
38
Dedryck Boyata
7
Ashley Young
57
Reece Wabara
6
Stewart Downing
Since the analysis of Gabby’s goal at Blackpool was well received, I thought I’d repeat the task for the goals against Blackburn yesterday. This time the solid orange lines represent player movements without the ball, the dashed orange lines indicate movement with the ball (dribbling) and the blue lines show the path of the ball between players (passes).
Goal One: Build up to the penalty
With the opening goal coming from the spot, there’s obviously nothing to look at with the goal
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There were no signs of rust today as Villa returned from the two week absence and put in a confident, dominant performance to beat Blackburn 4-1 with two goals from Ashley Young – one from the spot – Stewart Downing and a Grant Hanley own goal, turning Marc Albrighton‘s low shot/cross into his own net.
All five goals came in the second half, Nikola Kalinic grabbing a late consolation with nine minutes left – possibly receiving a fortuitous deflection sending the
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