Aston Villa 1-1 West Ham Utd (26/12/15)

Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.

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m-h
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by m-h »

bigcarpchaser wrote:Would anyone play Jenks in front of Tomkins, as an out and out winger? Just for 30 mins mind.
Could work?
Yes. Could have worked yesterday in a 3-5-2 from the start and offered more protection on the flanks and also provided more going forwards. Can also deliver a cross into the box, something we have'nt been doing lately although that does require somebody to actually be in the box to get on the end of it.
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by bubbles1966 »

Looking back through our fixtures, the only time our midfield have dominated anyone all season (11 v 11) was the first 45 v WBA, IMO.

Kouyate, Obiang, Lanzini, Zarate, Moses, Sakho.
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by wizzo_66 »

bubbles1966 wrote:Looking back through our fixtures, the only time our midfield have dominated anyone all season (11 v 11) was the first 45 v WBA, IMO.

Kouyate, Obiang, Lanzini, Zarate, Moses, Sakho.
I'm not so sure that was as impressive performance as some were waxing lyrical about.

Possession was dominant and Lanzini and Zarate were superb but for all our play we rarely tested Myhill.
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Burnley Hammer »

And to be fair, west Brom were awful in the first half. We didn't play quite so well when they stepped up a gear in the second.
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Burnley Hammer »

bigcarpchaser wrote:Would anyone play Jenks in front of Tomkins, as an out and out winger? Just for 30 mins mind.
Could work?
I would if I thought he was a good crossers of the ball. Unfortunately, I don't think he is. Be better off sticking with Antonio. Don't think 3-5-2 would work either. A new tactic that nobody is familiar with, and we'd get ripped apart down the flanks even more than we have been already. I reckon wingers love playing against us, we always make them look really good.
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by richneal »

Interesting match tactics-wise.
We set up as a 4-4-2 for the first 75 mins or so. Antonio drifting as partner for Valencia.

I imagine Antonio will hope for better performances in the future. By my count all but three touches he had on the ball during the entire match resulted in possession going to the opposition. Did well in the 90th+ minute to run and battle his way past 3 of the opposition before being fouled, resulting in a well-placed free kick. Also did very well as auxiliary full back at the end. Bilic take note.

Really enjoyed watching Obiang play - did everything he had to and was very good at closing down.

We know that Zarate can be a game-changer, but it must be frustrating playing with him. Lost track of the number of times during the last few matches that Cresswell has been tearing down the wing with tons of space and Zarate chooses to drift inside and take on 3 defenders for a shot on his right. It works once in a while - as we saw yesterday - but not every time. Zarate has to grow up or we have to give him his own ball to play in another park, coats down for goals. On a positive note - Zarate's corners were way better yesterday - Bilic has clearly responded to the KUMB message board comments over the last 6 weeks and decided to practice getting the ball past the first man.

Gestede and Ayew were great for Villa. Gave our back four nightmares. Gestede consistently made space for headers in the box - no mean feat against any of our top four CB's. He looked great yesterday.

Two good shouts for penalties didn't move the ref or linos. We've all seen shouts like those given before. Noble and Song must have been livid. And the one that the ref gave there's not a lot of arguing about it - doesn't matter what happened before, if Ogbonna hugs the opposition as they're chasing down the ball in our box you've got to expect the ref to call it.

Also really enjoyed watching Song yesterday for those few minutes. We look so much better with him - he's class. I'm buying a pair of those sunglasses, too.

Uncharacteristically, Adrian spilled a couple of balls yesterday. No immediate adverse consequences - we were lucky. Enjoyed watching him and Collins yesterday - both did well.

Can't wait to see a line-up that includes a fit Payet, Lanzini and Song. Can't come soon enough.
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by libero »

Nice sum up Richneal - good stuff

You're right on a lot of things - but not on the pens
We had 2 stonewalls, theirs' was very dubious

Obiang was excellent & Antonio pretty good

Adrian & Collins wonderful
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Re: Aston Villa v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by rciron »

lukeWHU wrote:
So you're saying that if Kouyate hadn't been playing we would have won the last 5 games?
I think he has been off the pace in the last 2 games Swansea and villa he looks tired and has stopped making those bursting runs through the midfield that can be so productive for us, aside from the crossbar effort v villa, which he would normally do similar 5 or 6 times a game
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