Holden: Bolton @ Aston Villa, Carling Cup, Tuesday Sept 20, 2:45 Eastern [R]

Bolton: Bogdan, Steinsson, Cahill, Muamba, Eagles, Holden, Gardner, Prtley, N'Gog, Kakuta, Wheater.

VILLA: Given, Warnock, Dunne, Collins, Hutton, Petrov, Bannan, Ireland, Delfouneso, Albrighton, Agbonlahor

Little Brad on the bench for Villa

 

I am perplexed why given is starting. Does McLeish really not rate guzan this much? Given has had his injury problems so this seems like a stupid risk. A lot of villa fans are confused why guzan isn't starting. Guzan certainly is good enough for cup matches.

 

Aww, too bad there is no TV on this one, but, congrats to Holden for getting his spot back on the roster! A great day for us and him!

 

My guess is that he thinks he needs to keep Given in against a solid prem team. The back 4 and Given have worked very well together this season and my guess is he doesn't want to mess with that chemistry.

It certainly suggests to me that this will be little Brad's last season with the club though unless he wants to spend another 5 years as Shay Givens backup. Given always has injury problems though so I would expect him to get a decent run at some point during the season.

 

I was really hoping we'd get a stream here.

 

I paid the ~ $7 to listen to it on Bolton radio. I'll try to post updates.

 

Sorry folks, but BBC website now lists the 7:45 program as "Manchester United v. Leeds", not Bolton v. AV.

. . . . and I just got kicked off the Beeb.

 

Bolton playing a 4-5-1 vs. Villa's 4-4-2. Stu playing next to Muamba in the middle.

 

No touches by Stu yet. Bolton's attacks going down flanks and AV is passing it around patiently when they have it.

 

Is that TV?

 

Some nice build up play and possession by Bolton, resulting in a few half-chances. Stu got a few touches, keeping the ball moving.

 

Nice tackle by Stu just broke up a Villa attack.

 

No, AP has the radio feed.

 

Stu getting more involved in the Bolton possessions/attacks now. Announcer using words like "tidy."

 

AP?

 

AP

 

40th minute. Matchtracker appears to reveal a fairly dull match so far.

 

Game is hardly open, but both teams are "going for it."

 

45th minute, 0-0. Here are the match stats:

Aston Villa Bolton Wanderers
5(2) Shots (on Goal) 4(2)
4 Fouls 7
3 Corner Kicks 3
1 Offsides 1
56% Time of Possession 44%
0 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
1 Saves 1

Perhaps I should have said "relatively uneventful". Still wish I could watch and weren't too cheap to pay for the radio feed.

 

Half time. Good start by Bolton, attacking down the flanks, then Villa experience began controlling things more. Kakuta and Eagles good on attack, and Ngog wasn't bad. Most of the Villa attacks were long-ball, so central midfield bypassed much of the time. Villa did the soccer equivalent of stranding men on base, with a handful of great crosses with no one making a run to meet them.

Stu hasn't looked (sounded?) like he's been out the last 6 months, and he's part of the reason why Villa have bypassed the center so often. It's disappointing not being able to actually see Stu's movement.

 

..and quite possibly why the score is still nill-nill and Bolton attacking some. Great to see (hear?) Holden back!

 

Goal Bolton! Chris Eagles. Holden involved, but not an assist.

"Exocet missile into the right corner of the net"