Aston Villa v Bournemouth .... FA Cup 4th round .... played 24/25th January.

Well here we are again, playing a team from the Championship. We scraped through against the current worst team in that league, can we beat the best team in the same division.

Bournemouth are probably a better "TEAM" than Villa, but surely we have better players!

What's it to be then? Celebration or doom and gloom?

I think Bournemouth beat us comfortably

I'm just glad I never took the piss out of my 'Nose mates for the 8-0.

I haven't voted yet because I haven't got a clue what's going to happen in this one.

The lowest scoring team in English pro football against free scoring Bournemouth?

Further humiliation to ensue I fear.

My prediction is a humiliation by Bournemouth.

A loss with bells on.

We should beat them. Whether we will or not is a different matter.

The more I think about the more I believe that it would be to our advantage to lose this match. It will be nestled nicely between inevitable defeats by Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Surely Lambert can't survive that following on from the debacle at Leicester?

Thinman wrote:The more I think about the more I believe that it would be to our advantage to lose this match. It will be nestled nicely between inevitable defeats by Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Surely Lambert can't survive that following on from the debacle at Leicester?

People keep saying that, but he always does! :evil:

I think we're going to get absolutely spanked.

Gil has taken on more players today than the others have combined all season. As soon as he did it Delph started too as well and we created chances! Hope to see Sinclair in as well before this game and 2 up front

Villa have scored eleven goals this season .... Bournemouth have scored fifty three. I can only see one result this weekend, it has to be a Villa win!

This is what I'd do on Sunday. Can't see it happening, mind.

kimbo wrote:This is what I'd do on Sunday. Can't see it happening, mind.

That is precisely how I'd go too. Delph is held back by Lambert, he should be attacking, not picking up a yellow almost every match for a mistimed tackle in the forward defensive line.

All the stuff on the Grealish thread about him being bounced off the ball by the opposition is irrelevant to me. Lambert went at the Liverpool match the wrong way round. He should have started out on the attack with Delph forward and Gil playing with him and not only would the crowd have been behind the team but there's a chance we could have scored. At the very least we'd have taken the game to them rather than sat back waiting for the inevitable. Grealish fits in here for me because he attacks well and draws fouls. Didn't he come on for one match this season as a sub and in about five minutes the opposition had three yellows for fouling him? By all means if we're in the lead and Lambert wants to put Delph back in defence then take off Grealish for a third central defender or for Cleverley.

I like Weimann btw but he's a striker, not a wide man, and should be played there. If that means he doesn't get a match because Benteke is first choice then so be it, but if Benteke continues to not score or gets injured we'll need to do something.

FoxyAV wrote:

kimbo wrote:This is what I'd do on Sunday. Can't see it happening, mind.

That is precisely how I'd go too. Delph is held back by Lambert, he should be attacking, not picking up a yellow almost every match for a mistimed tackle in the forward defensive line.

All the stuff on the Grealish thread about him being bounced off the ball by the opposition is irrelevant to me. Lambert went at the Liverpool match the wrong way round. He should have started out on the attack with Delph forward and Gil playing with him and not only would the crowd have been behind the team but there's a chance we could have scored. At the very least we'd have taken the game to them rather than sat back waiting for the inevitable. Grealish fits in here for me because he attacks well and draws fouls. Didn't he come on for one match this season as a sub and in about five minutes the opposition had three yellows for fouling him? By all means if we're in the lead and Lambert wants to put Delph back in defence then take off Grealish for a third central defender or for Cleverley.

I like Weimann btw but he's a striker, not a wide man, and should be played there. If that means he doesn't get a match because Benteke is first choice then so be it, but if Benteke continues to not score or gets injured we'll need to do something.

I like the formation but I don't think Grealish will play, so I'd start Bacuna on the right of three with Delph in the hole and Gil on the left. Gil has played on the left very recently for Valencia and their fans reckoned he was really good there.

villabromsgrove wrote:

FoxyAV wrote:

kimbo wrote:This is what I'd do on Sunday. Can't see it happening, mind.

That is precisely how I'd go too. Delph is held back by Lambert, he should be attacking, not picking up a yellow almost every match for a mistimed tackle in the forward defensive line.

All the stuff on the Grealish thread about him being bounced off the ball by the opposition is irrelevant to me. Lambert went at the Liverpool match the wrong way round. He should have started out on the attack with Delph forward and Gil playing with him and not only would the crowd have been behind the team but there's a chance we could have scored. At the very least we'd have taken the game to them rather than sat back waiting for the inevitable. Grealish fits in here for me because he attacks well and draws fouls. Didn't he come on for one match this season as a sub and in about five minutes the opposition had three yellows for fouling him? By all means if we're in the lead and Lambert wants to put Delph back in defence then take off Grealish for a third central defender or for Cleverley.

I like Weimann btw but he's a striker, not a wide man, and should be played there. If that means he doesn't get a match because Benteke is first choice then so be it, but if Benteke continues to not score or gets injured we'll need to do something.

I like the formation but I don't think Grealish will play, so I'd start Bacuna on the right of three with Delph in the hole and Gil on the left. Gil has played on the left very recently for Valencia and their fans reckoned he was really good there.

Unfortunately without Grealish we'll get Gabby or Weimann and we've established that these two playing either side of Benteke isn't working without the long ball and fast breakaways. Lambert needs to try something new or accept we're going to keep on drawing or losing and being easy to prepare against by any opposition able to stay awake late enough to see us on MOTD.

Grealish probably be out on loan by then lol

I like the lineup but honestly I would try putting Delph wide and place Gil in the middle. Delph turns it over too often trying to make a final pass for my liking. I like his drive, dribble ability, work rate, etc. Those attributes would be more helpful on a wing, where we are dreadful.

During the 30min that Gil was on... he was all over the pitch, but he was primarily in the middle, maybe shading to the left side where he was starting from. You can tell he just wants the ball at his feet trying to make something happen. I'd rather have Delph and his fantastic work rate running up and down the side, shutting down an opponent winger/wingback. Plus, Delph has a decent ball in him, I'd be ok with him crossing/challenging players on the outside.
I know he is primarily played as a center mid, but Delph is closer to a true outside mid/winger than Gabby or Weimann. Since we have Sanchez/Westy/Clev as our DMs, why not put Delph into one of our weakest positions and see how he does? Surely will perform better than GA or AW.

my 2 cents!

And I agree with previous posters that Grealish unfortunately will not start most likely. Without him starting, most likely PL will play either GA or AW on the other wing- which is disappointing.

I too would rather see Bacuna on RM, then Delph LM and Gil CAM.

I don't think there's a single fan that would be unhappy with the team pictured above

I also don't think there's a single fan who will agree with the team that goes out on Sunday.

I wouldn't mind seeing a 442 with a diamond. Gil and Bacuna (Only because I know Grealish won't be picked) wide and Delph at the top and Sanchez at the base. At least then one of GA or AW gets a chance to prove themselves as a central striker and should be willing to try and make the shirt theirs.

mefromhere wrote:I don't think there's a single fan that would be unhappy with the team pictured above

I also don't think there's a single fan who will agree with the team that goes out on Sunday.

I wouldn't mind seeing a 442 with a diamond. Gil and Bacuna (Only because I know Grealish won't be picked) wide and Delph at the top and Sanchez at the base. At least then one of GA or AW gets a chance to prove themselves as a central striker and should be willing to try and make the shirt theirs.

I agree. While at Norwich PL used the 442 diamond often (from what I remember), it was effective and at times attractive, attacking footy. Maybe now that we have Gil he will pull this formation from the shelf and dust it off? I would however put Gil at the point of the diamond with a combination of Delph/Sanchez/Westy/Cleverly/Bacuna in the remaining 3 MF spots. Maybe something like this:

-----Benteke-----Weimann-----
-------------Gil-------------------
-----Delph----------Cleverly-----
-----------Sanchez---------------
Sissokho---Clark---Okore---Hutton
-----------Guzan-----------------

I like Westy more than Cleverly... but I think Cleverly is more mobile and better defensively. Ideally, I'd like to see a 4231 with Sanchez and Westy as the DMs.

ejs1111 wrote:

mefromhere wrote:I don't think there's a single fan that would be unhappy with the team pictured above

I also don't think there's a single fan who will agree with the team that goes out on Sunday.

I wouldn't mind seeing a 442 with a diamond. Gil and Bacuna (Only because I know Grealish won't be picked) wide and Delph at the top and Sanchez at the base. At least then one of GA or AW gets a chance to prove themselves as a central striker and should be willing to try and make the shirt theirs.

I agree.  While at Norwich PL used the 442 diamond often (from what I remember), it was effective and at times attractive, attacking footy.  Maybe now that we have Gil he will pull this formation from the shelf and dust it off?  I would however put Gil at the point of the diamond with a combination of Delph/Sanchez/Westy/Cleverly/Bacuna in the remaining 3 MF spots.  Maybe something like this:

-----Benteke-----Weimann-----
-------------Gil-------------------
-----Delph----------Cleverly-----
-----------Sanchez---------------
Sissokho---Clark---Okore---Hutton
-----------Guzan-----------------

I like Westy more than Cleverly...  but I think Cleverly is more mobile and better defensively.  Ideally, I'd like to see a 4231 with Sanchez and Westy as the DMs.

Only problem with that one is that you are then relying on full backs for the width again and it just isn't possible to expect them to do it for 90 minutes as Delph and Cleverley wouldn't go wide at all. I want 2 up front with pacey take on players wingers!

I thought that one of our problems on Saturday was that for all the good attacking play, the final ball 9 times out of 10 came from Alan Hutton. That made us too predictable and made Benteke too easy to mark.

mefromhere wrote:

ejs1111 wrote:

mefromhere wrote:I don't think there's a single fan that would be unhappy with the team pictured above

I also don't think there's a single fan who will agree with the team that goes out on Sunday.

I wouldn't mind seeing a 442 with a diamond. Gil and Bacuna (Only because I know Grealish won't be picked) wide and Delph at the top and Sanchez at the base. At least then one of GA or AW gets a chance to prove themselves as a central striker and should be willing to try and make the shirt theirs.

I agree.  While at Norwich PL used the 442 diamond often (from what I remember), it was effective and at times attractive, attacking footy.  Maybe now that we have Gil he will pull this formation from the shelf and dust it off?  I would however put Gil at the point of the diamond with a combination of Delph/Sanchez/Westy/Cleverly/Bacuna in the remaining 3 MF spots.  Maybe something like this:

-----Benteke-----Weimann-----
-------------Gil-------------------
-----Delph----------Cleverly-----
-----------Sanchez---------------
Sissokho---Clark---Okore---Hutton
-----------Guzan-----------------

I like Westy more than Cleverly...  but I think Cleverly is more mobile and better defensively.  Ideally, I'd like to see a 4231 with Sanchez and Westy as the DMs.

Only problem with that one is that you are then relying on full backs for the width again and it just isn't possible to expect them to do it for 90 minutes as Delph and Cleverley wouldn't go wide at all. I want 2 up front with pacey take on players wingers!

Oh I completely agree about the width problem. I was just stating what formation might work best... that PL might actually choose! I have always wanted a 4231 system with true wide players. We now have proper DMs for this formation, unfortunately we do not have enough true wide players. The ones we have are either round peg/square hole, or they arent high enough quality. I would still like to see PL try Delph wide and see how he does running at FBs instead of running at MF players. That would allow Gil to play CAM.

---------------Benteke---------------
Delph---------Gil-------------NZ/GA/AW (Sinclair?)
-------Sanchez--------Westy--------
Siss---Clark---------Okore---Hutton