Apologies for the delay on this one, I haven’t had much chance to look at the data and ESPN have introduced significant changes to their match graphics which have made things difficult for me. They say a picture paints a thousand words, this will be graphically heavy I feel.
Firstly, the old cliché about a game of two halves couldn’t be more apt, could it? Villa were woeful during the first half. The opening gambit with Clark moving the
A breathless second half, with a vastly more energised Villa performance, was not enough to prevent Arsenal leaving Villa Park with the spoils, the two unanswered goals during the first period being the difference at the final whistle.
Goals from Arshavin and Nasri during the final 6 minutes of the half capped an irresistible display from Arsenal, Ashley Young’s half-volley over the bar the only reply. Villa threatened to make a fist of things when Ciaran Clark got
Arsenal are a curious side right now, frequently, as far as I can determine, a victim of their own complacency. 2-0 up against Tottenham by half time at the Emirates last Saturday and they somehow conspired to take their foot off the gas to the point they seemed helpless to respond to Spurs’ resurgence and rightly ended up with nothing.
The fans and manager alike, apparently, stunned and without an explanation of where it all went wrong.
They rocked up in Braga
Maybe not a classic, but pretty entertaining, especially in the second half, and a very even affair this one. Arsenal hit the woodwork twice, but otherwise it was Aston Villa doing most of the pressing. Let’s just take a quick look at the shots either side managed to fire off:-
The blue are on target. The red are off-target and the dotted red lines indicate the two shots which hit the post and crossbar. The grey lines are
Last month I took a brief look at how Aston Villa’s passing statistics stacked up against the other teams in the Premiership and although we’re just in the bottom half of the table in terms of the number of passes strung together, I think it was clear that we are simply efficient in our approach. To call us a “long ball team” is a mischaracterization.
Apparently Arsene Wenger has used this term to discuss the way we played against his
After a very tough 90 minutes at Villa Park tonight, both sides left he pitch as they had entered it at 0-0. Arsenal rattled the frame of Brad Friedel’s goal twice, but otherwise it was Aston Villa who bossed most of the game. In the end though, for all their industry, the home side were still unable to find their first goal in the Premiership since before Christmas.
I’ll do a full review with the Statshack later as it’s
I haven’t done this for a while, but I figured it’s worth looking at again since some little event at Apple is causing Twitter to misbehave. We’ll see how it goes.
Aston Villa vs Arsenal
Stats round-up from Villa’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Boxing Day 2008.
Another year, another boxing day… so it’s another Thrilla from the Villa. This is a brief reaction to the game at Villa Park today.