*Aston Villa V MCFC Official Match Thread*

[Blue2]

PS. All those who were questioning the Tevez sub, scroll back on this thread prior to the half time break and read some of the comments on him. Carlito seemed to have an eye on his upcoming Argentina games and I personally thought it was right to take him off, considering it had already been requested by Madonna. Do you think that he only spoke to the club and not Tevez direct?

Agree it was right to take him off, but only if we had a decent player to replace him . It was a shite substitution.

[Beefymcfc]

PS. All those who were questioning the Tevez sub, scroll back on this thread prior to the half time break and read some of the comments on him. Carlito seemed to have an eye on his upcoming Argentina games and I personally thought it was right to take him off, considering it had already been requested by Madonna. Do you think that he only spoke to the club and not Tevez direct?

Agree it was right to take him off, but only if we had a decent player to replace him . It was a shite substitution.

Not a shite sub, as if he'd scored it would've been a totally different ball game would it not? Showed that we were going out to win it for me but didn't quite work.

On another day, as they say!

[Colin the King]

Overall, poor performance but a decent result. I thought we failed to click in the game, the momentum seemed to shift between the two sides all night and even when we were in control, didn't consistently carve out chances. They quite obviously were told to frustrate us and deny us space and time and it was up to our players to come up with a response. They were leathering the ball above and beyond our midfield and directly either onto the flanks or into the penalty area as it's their strength- it was clear from the outset but rather than come up with a threatening response we seemed content passing the ball in triangles, culminating in Given ending up with it and lobbing it forward, beyond the midfield and back to Dunne and Collins- it's food and drink to that pair. Maybe if we'd been calmer we'd have carved out more/better opportunities but it's gone now and we can be reasonably happy with the point.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Would've liked to have seen Petrov come on at some point not sure what this guy has to do to get games.

that's what I was thinking mate. He has been absolutely electric every time he has been on the pitch this season. Maybe Hughes was pissed off about the way he turned his back on Hughes last week after scoring and wanted to make a point? I don't know. What I do know is that we were in desperate need of a player who could run at their slow defence.

[AFKAE]

Overall, poor performance but a decent result. I thought we failed to click in the game, the momentum seemed to shift between the two sides all night and even when we were in control, didn't consistently carve out chances. They quite obviously were told to frustrate us and deny us space and time and it was up to our players to come up with a response.

There were lots of occasions when we had a throw-in in our own half and Bridge or Zabaletta couldn't find anyone free to throw it to. Several seconds passed each time and everyone just stood and watched. Eventually it got thrown either to the centre backs, who passed it to Given, or to Given directly and then lumped up the pitch.

I'm a bit surprised by some of the DeJong ratings (i'm normally a fan of his) but I though the DeJong/Barry midfield thing just wasn't working in the first half. Petrov (theirs) seemed to have a pretty free run to do what he wanted. The situation certainly improved with Irelands appearance in the second half.

Thought SWP was pretty poor, would've subbed him with Petrov.

[Blue2]

PS. All those who were questioning the Tevez sub, scroll back on this thread prior to the half time break and read some of the comments on him. Carlito seemed to have an eye on his upcoming Argentina games and I personally thought it was right to take him off, considering it had already been requested by Madonna. Do you think that he only spoke to the club and not Tevez direct?

Agree it was right to take him off, but only if we had a decent player to replace him . It was a shite substitution.

Not a shite sub, as if he'd scored it would've been a totally different ball game would it not? Showed that we were going out to win it for me but didn't quite work.

On another day, as they say!

Sorry mate , but disagree, RSC is no where near ready to play for 1st team, anyone can see that , therefore a shite substitution.