...and certainly shouldn't have changed the system. That just about wraps up what went wrong last night. Credit to Villa, they were bang on it and their 3-5-2 meant they overran us in the middle of the park, and whilst we had some fantastic chances and the scoreline could conceivably been the other way around, the right team won on the night - no complaints. The 4-4-2 just doesn't suit our players and when faced with an extra midfield man, they cannot cope. The final scoreline was ridiculously harsh but two of their goals came as they picked us off on the break as we pushed six or seven forward. My only complaint with Hughton (and it has been my only complaint all season) is that he is not swift enough to make changes - it was pretty clear that Villa were getting on top after the hour mark. When the changes came, they were too late and we'd already fallen behind. It might be asking a bit too much to be on a par with Lambert and Culverhouse when it comes to in-game tactics - they were exceptional at it - but he needs to be a tad more proactive from the bench when we are being outplayed. Good to see Morison looking so sharp (nice gesture towards Mitchell Cole too by the way - he was a cracking lad and will be sadly missed by all who knew him) and he could have had a hattrick with a little more luck. Obviously its a massive, missed opportunity after finding out the laughable Bradford vs Arsenal scoreline, but if we stay up at the end of the season, the club will be in its best position ever, so we can't really worry too much. Defeat to Wigan on Saturday would make it a terrible week. A win would make it a good one. IHWT OTBC
!00% agree Supers. I really believe that the fulcrum of our system is Wes. One striker and Wes behind has served us well. Unfortunately we have no other player who can play this role. Has Fox had his day?No place for him,when the game was crying out for some one to put their foot on the ball and create something.
i'd have played fox (if fit - i know he's been ill recently) and pushed howson behind holt (or morison)
Yup, why 4-4-2? Reverting back to the period of the season when we were losing (okay, I always said I wanted 4-4-2, but I withdraw that train of thought now) seemed a very odd thing to do. We can quite easily say it was a weakened team but that is to discredit Villa but reassuring that with half the first team out, on another day, could have beaten them. Am I gutted we are not in the semi's? Yes I am, this was a fantastic opportunity but once again with so many changes in personnel (forced or otherwise) and a winning formation dropped has cost us. Back to winning ways on Saturday will help to ease the pain but in the time honored tradition of a football fan will look back on last night and say - if only.
Cast your mind back to when we played Swansea away last season. PL didn't make any sustitutions, but asked E Bennett to play the 'Hoolahan role', which he did to devastating effect. He provided the 'killer pass' which led to our 2nd and 3rd goals and had Vorm not produced one of his fantastic saves that day, we would have scored another goal that followed on from Bennett's pass. I wish CH would play Bennett more (or at least bring him on as a a sub earlier), as I feel he has more to offer at times than Pilkington.
I totally agree regarding E Bennett. I think he has proven how versatile he is playing in different positions and I highly rated him last season and am a big fan. He has a good engine on him and works hard also.
yes and Pilks looked like he needed a night off last night, Benno would have had a bit more pace, no critiscm of Pilks just thought he looked a bit tired
I thought howson was terrific last night but again his own game was ruined by the fact he wasnt far enough up the pitch (why not in the Hoolahan role?). Pilkington was hopeless though and clearly needed to be withdrew at the hour mark. Were it a full strength side and in the league we would have beaten them, but that is the cup for you.
Totally agree. It is the only puzzler rather than complaint. He has two other outfield coaches/assistants of course. I wonder how much of an input they have. I think as Villa showed last night with three goals in 11 minutes, you can be over cautious in changing things and the game has gone in a blink of an eye.
it was frustrating because the game had been very even until around the hour mark, perhaps we'd slightly edged it chances wise. then villa had a little spell for maybe ten minutes where i thought 'uh-oh, they've taken control' and it was only a matter of time before they were rewarded with a goal. nothing can be done about the third and fourth goals because we pushed so many forward that we were always likely to concede on the break, but had hughton been a bit more alert with his changes, he could have swung the game back in our favour earlier without waiting for their goal before reacting. missed opportunity, undoubtedly. the game was there to be won. villa reacted quicker and reaped the rewards.
Is it just me or does anyone else feel that Pilkington is blowing really hot and cold this season - some games he appears to be completely on top of his game and yet in others it is as if he is not even on the pitch. I would not be at all surprised to see EB in his place on Saturday. I agree with the posters who think that Howson could do a job in Wes's role - I think that he was excellent against the Swans and played very well last night.
Pilks was incredibly lacklustre last night - and as alluded to in a different thread, Birthday Boy should have spotted this and done something positive about it before it was too late. Especially as we had E Bennett and S Jackson on the bench. We've seen Jacko operate out wide in spells and his pace could easily have negated the threat posed by Villa's extra man in midfield, who would have had to be a bit more defensively minded?
pilks did this last season. he's a big-game player. plus, playing out on the wing, he will naturally drift in and out of matches so i think criticism is unfair. he basically just looked knackered last night and probably could have done with a rest. without hoolahan, he was starved of the ball for long spells. i think he started the season slowly but has improved almost week in, week out. he's still a key player
He is not going to hurtle past full backs and whip in pin point crosses. But he has good control and as he showed on Saturday with Bassong's goal, he can tackle and win the ball back. Ruel Fox he isn't but I like his contribution.
Hopefully last night put to bed any idea of reverting back to 4-4-2 which means we do not need a striker in Jan as Holt, Morison and Kane ( anyone know the current position with him - is he back in training? ) are more than adequate for playing only 1 up top. Other observations are plentiful. Despite encouraging signs earlier in the season it seemed clear that Bassong can only hold the back 4 together with either Turner or Bennett beside him and it also struck me that Whittaker and Garrido are a far superior full back pairing to Martin and Tierney. It also seems clear that our back 4 is only tight with Tettey and Johnson in front of them. To me Tettey was the biggest miss last night - all four goals came were either scored or created from where he normally patrols and 7 goals conceded in the 2 games he has missed speaks for itself. Couldn't understand why Fox was not given 30 mins or why Morison was taken off when Holt was out on his feet. Finally - and I don't mean to be contentious - based on last night I think that those waiting for Lambert to fall flat on his face because he is unable to turn Villa round could be in for a long wait. Finally, I hope that we can pick ourselves up for Saturday - lose that and we will be looking over our shoulders again. Caldwell being out should help if Holt recovers his energy in time.
sorry, i meant he turns up for the games like man utd, arsenal, chelsea. personally, it didn't feel like a big match last night, even though it was a quarter final. i thought the atmosphere was fairly subdued. the villa fans were excellent, though as mentioned elsewhere, their celebrations were completely over the top and actually came across quite pathetic! on the striker front, don't be fooled into thinking we don't need one just cos we play one up front. holt won't keep going forever and believe it or not, there are better strikers out there than the great man! if the right guy comes along we should sign him, even if it means he plays ahead of our captain - that's all part of improving. ideally, we need someone who can play both on his own and with a partner up front. we need to be able to play with two up top when needed.
