Rapid switches to 4-4-2 and now the onus is on our back 4 and Lil' Brad to keep Rapid out of our net for the next 30+ minutes.
Jelavic scores moments later. 2-1 in the game, 2-2 on aggregate. DAMMIT. Less than 15 minutes left to get the third goal that'd put the Villans through.
Gabby in for Heskey in the 82nd minute Lowery in for Davies in the 83rd minute due to injury, it seems.
Villa win the 2nd leg 2-1, but loses the agregate 2-2 on away goals. Lame. Lame. Lame. The announcer I'm listening to is absolutely correct. We only have ourselves to blame for this one. Giving up that first goal in the first leg 16 seconds in: Awful. Young lazily taking the PK that would've been the third goal for us: Awful. Heskey being invisible once again: Awful No defensive adjustment to Rapid's change of formation: Awful. Terrible defense to give up the goal that put us out: Awful. Really a shame, they really should've advanced right now, IMO.
I can't understand why MON doesn't give this guy more starts! He imo is your best CM. oh well, now just the league to concentrate on eh?
I agree. It's really befuddling to see NRC sitting on the bench, especially when Heskey's useless ass continues to do little-to-nothing on the field yet get starts and appearances in almost every game. The more I think about it, the more I hope that the lineup that MON put out today was just a "I don't give two craps about the Europa League" lineup, and that we'll go back to the formation that's brought us just about our only success of the season, the 4-5-1. THEN again, this was technically a win. Ah, maybe I'm overanalyzing it. Then again, it would be nice to have Carew & NRC on the field...which is what a 4-5-1 would accomplish. Either way, the only good thing that came out of this is less schedule congestion. VILLA WILL BE GUNNING FOR 4TH PLACE!!! Or at least 5-7th place so we can do the same thing at this time next year! Yay!
Don't understand the NRC thing either, but it'll be interesting to see if he gets any time against Fulham....
I think Villa can win this. They beat us away, and even though Fulham at home will be surprisingly tough I think Villa can grab all three points. My prediction: Aston Villa 2-0 Fulham
Line-up has been announced (right to left) Friedel Beye - Cuellar - Clark - Shorey Milner - Sidwell - Reo-Coker - Petrov - A Young Agbonlahor Subs: Guzan, Warnock, Gardner, Albrighton, Delph, Heskey, Carew
Can't find any that don't buffer constantly. Villa take the lead in the third minute - dangerous cross from Ashley Young, Pantsil heads into his own net. Agbonlahor makes it 2-0 around the hour mark.
Nice win. I haven't seen the game yet, but looking at the match report, it seems like we basically dominated them. Plus, them putting one into the net for us in the 2nd minute didn't hurt either. Other than the Wigan slip-up, we're looking pretty good this year. 2-0-1 seemed like a reasonable start to the first three games, even though I figured that the 2 would be over Wigan & Fulham and the 1 to Liverpool. But oh well, take any way that you can get em. Also, it seems like we're gonna be running 4-5-1 in the league games, at least. NRC, from all reports, looked excellent. Hopefully this means that he's going to get extended playing time. Good win for the Villans, can't wait to see the highlights and can't wait for the Derby on the 13th. IT'S. ABOUT. TO GO. DOWN. On another note, Aston Villa has drawn Cardiff City in the 3rd round of the League Cup. The game's on September 21st. I have a feeling that that's gonna be a tough game i.e. 4-4-2 time for us.
Looked more like a 4-3-3 which seemed like a good system last year before MON changed it for the disastrous stretch run
Friedel Cuellar - Dunne - Collins - Warnock Milner - Sidwell - Reo-Coker - Petrov - Ashley Young Agbonlahor Subs: Guzan, Beye, Shorey, Gardner, Delph, Heskey, Carew. Carew was the only used sub, coming on for Reo-Coker after 70 minutes. Agbonlahor scored the only goal of the game in the 85th minute.
What a goal from Gabby today, he's certainly in fine form. 4 goals in 6 appearances. (PL and League Cup)
What do you guys think of the weekend game against Everton? The past few years have seen a few classics 3-2 and 3-2 last season. Would love to see another one on Saturday (though with us grabbing the last minute winner this time!!!)