Dare I suggest that we can concentrate on the league now? No? Didn’t think so. Nevertheless, we are out of the Carling Cup thanks to a 2-0 loss at home to Bolton in what, by all accounts, was an utterly dismal performance.
Chris Eagles picked up on a Marc Albrighton mistake to score a screamer from 20 yards. Gael Kakuta picked hit a shot on the turn from the edge of the box and beat Shay Given in the bottom corner.
Alex
Bolton come to Villa Park for the 3rd round of the Carling Cup, Alex McLeish has fielded a very strong side and Owen Coyle is able to hand Stuart Holden his first appearance since his knee injury at the tail end of last season.
Aston Villa
Bolton
1
Shay Given
1
Adam Bogdan
2
Alan Hutton
2
Gretar Rafn Steinsson
5
Richard Dunne
5
Gary Cahill
6
James Collins
31
David Wheater
3
Stephen Warnock
11
Ricardo Gardner
19
Stiliyan Petrov
7
Chris Eagles
25
Barry Bannan
6
Fabrice Muamba
7
Stephen Ireland
8
Stuart Holden
12
Marc Albrighton
21
Darren Pratley
14
Nathan Delfouneso
28
Gael Kakuta
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
24
David Ngog
Subs
Subs
22
Brad Guzan
22
Jussi Jaaskelainen
23
Habib Beye
4
Paul Robinson
34
Shane Lowry
20
Robbie Blake
16
Fabian Delph
16
Mark Davies
38
Gary Gardner
10
Martin Petrov
10
Charles N’Zogbia
14
Kevin Davies
Graham
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
I’ve talked about this many, many times: possession football is all well and good, but if you don’t move the ball into position to score goals often enough, you don’t win many games. Our home record was 13th best in the league last season as we consistently struggled to roll inferior opposition over and that was to be the key challenge to address this season.
If Gérard Houllier learned anything from his position in the stands, it’s that grinding out
Gérard Houllier and Gary McAllister watched their new charges labour to a disappointing draw from the stands today and will know that they have an awful lot of talent at their disposal, but also have their work cut out for them.
It started extremely brightly with Villa absolutely dominating the opening 30 minutes or so, much like the first game of the season against West Ham. Marc Albrighton was having a field day down the right flank and it seemed
I haven’t had chance to pull together a proper preview for Bolton’s visit to Villa Park, but this game is definitely more about various intertwining story arcs off the pitch than tactics and strategy on the pitch.
It is, of course, Kevin MacDonald’s final game in charge and it goes without saying that he and the players will want to both finish on a high note and attempt to atone for the slip-ups in the past few weeks. MacDonald’s grace
5
Aston Villa
Nov 7th 2009
Bolton
1
57
Possession %
43
23
Shots
13
12
On Target
6
8
Corners
1
2
Offsides
1
5′ A Young, 43′ Agbonlahor, 53′ Carew, 72′ Milner, 75′ Cuellar
Scorers
44′ Elmander
Gardner
Booked
Cohen, Cahill, Davies, Robinson
Sent Off
277
Good Passes
159
59
Bad Passes
68
18
Interceptions
18
48
Tackles Won
48
35
Tackles Lost
37
2
Blocks
3
18
Free Kicks
18
Starting XI:
1. Friedel
2. Young
25. Warnock
24. Cuellar
5. Dunne
20. Reo-Coker
4. Sidwell
7. Young
8. Milner
10. Carew
11. Agbonlahor
Subs:
22. Guzan
14. Delfouneso
26. Gardner
21. Shorey
47. Clark
12. Albrighton
16. Delph
Average Position Map
Aside from blotting their copy books by giving up a sloppy goal, Villa ticked all the right boxes today. It doesn’t seem very long ago I was suggesting our slightly jaded looking side needed to deliver an absolute thumping to an unfortunate victim in order to restore some confidence.
What we need, I think, is the confidence that can be derived from dishing out a real spanking. One of those games where everything goes right and finishes in a 4
Full match report as Arsenal fail to beat Boro’ and we comfortably take care of Bolton to occupy 4th spot in the league. Too early to start dreaming about Champion’s League??