Aston Villa 2-1 Hull City match report Saturday 31st August 2014

Aston Villa recovered from their midweek League Cup exit with a determined 2-1 victory over a lacklustre Hull City side.

Goals from Gabby Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann were enough to give the home side all three points despite a late reply from Nikica Jelavic.

Villa boss Paul Lambert decided to stick with the same side that drew with Newcastle last weekend and his newly rejuvenated side full of youth and experience were rampant in the first half.

On 14 minutes, Charles N'Zogbia picked up a loose ball 40 yards out on the right hand side. He cut inside onto his stronger left foot and laid the ball into the path of Weimann who flicked it into the path of Agbonlahor who spun off his marker and finished decisively into the bottom left corner past Hull keeper Alan McGregor.

With 36 minutes gone the home side doubled their lead this time with Agbonlahor turning provider. He picked the ball up on the left hand corner of the penalty area and played it down the line where Kieran Richardson fed an inch perfect pass into the feet of Weimann who took a touch before finishing coolly past McGregor.

The Villians had a chance to kill the game off four minutes before half time but Ashley Westwood’s 25 yard free kick hit the left hand post and bounced clear.

As good as Villa were in the first half, they completely switched off in the second and allowed Hull back into the game. City boss Steve Bruce brought on Liam Rosenior for his captain Curtis Davis which helped swing the game in the Tiger’s favour as they completely pinned the home side back. But despite all of their possession Hull created few chances on goal.

Finally, with 73 minutes gone, the game changed when a free kick, 30 yards out was whipped in left footed by substitute Robbie Brady. Striker Jelavic rose the highest to head home thanks to a couple of deflections.

This set up a nervy finish for Aston Villa who brought on 18 year old Jack Grealish for the final third of the game. The Irish youngster touched the ball six times, was fouled five times which resulted in yellow cards for Ahmed Elmohamady, Jelavic and Stephen Quinn.

As the match ticked into time added on, Villa captain Ron Vlaar was taken off with a calf injury but Hull failed to take advantage and Villa hung on for their second victory of the season; making it seven points from nine.

After the game Hull manager Steve Bruce described his side’s first half performance as “pathetic”, “lifeless” and “awful”.

"It was arguably the worst I've seen us play during the two years I've been at the club. I cannot remember seeing us perform so badly. Thankfully, we responded in the second half and made a game of it and could have maybe gotten something."

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert was full of praise for his side's first half showing.

"We were outstanding. The movement in midfield was terrific. If we had scored a couple more goals I don't think anyone could have begrudged us.  The first half was excellent."

Man-of-the-match Gabby Agbonlahor received special praise. “Agbonlahor was outstanding. At times he was un playable with his running power and speed. It has been a terrific start and we have to keep it going."

The win takes Villa up to third in the table behind highflyers Swansea and title favourites Chelsea while the Tigers slip to ninth.

 

 

 

 

 

Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle match report Saturday 23rd August 2014

A Dad-dance by Toon boss Alan Pardew and a bottle thrown by Roy Keane which hit Villa manager Paul Lambert were the two outstanding moments in a frustrating goal-less draw which saw Newcastle defender Mike Williamson shown the red card.

In a match in which both teams couldn't find the target, the off-field incidents proved more interesting than the competitive fayre served to the 30,297 forsaking a Bank Holiday trip to the seaside.

Pardew embarrassingly laughed off his fancy footwork which was trending on Twitter while Lambert, who was hit in the unmentionables by his assistant's flying plastic bottle, also saw the funny side quipping, "You try and tell him not to throw a bottle."

Meanwhile, on the pitch Newcastle defender Williamson could count himself unlucky after two yellow cards which saw him leave the field with the clock ticking into time added on at the end of the game.

Despite this the visitors had the better share of the chances and should have won the game. Daryl Janmaat guilty of missing  clear cut opportunities in both halves, the first on 25 minutes when he scuffed a shot wide of the post and the second a header which Villa keeper Brad Guzan tipped over.

Villa, who started brightly came closest in the 17th minute when a clever Charles N'Zogbia free kick 25 yards out missed the right hand post by a whisker.

Newcastle dominated the second half and Williamson wasted a fine chance when he completely missed a Remy Cabella cross from the right when he should have at least hit the target. On 87 minutes, the best chance of the game fell to Toon substitute Siem De Jong who was played into the left-hand side of the box by Ayoze Perez but put his powerful right-foot shot was straight at Guzan.

With time pressing on and Williamson was booked for a foul on Villa substitute Darren Bent and four minutes later as the match ticked into time added on, the defender blatantly stopped on-rushing Villa midfielder Fabien Delph leaving referee Mike Dean with no option than to send him off.

On a positive note, the Villa defence kept its second clean sheet with impressive performances by back in favour Alan Hutton and man-of-the-match Aly Cissokho. The midfield players were full of industry but the weak link was in and around the box where the Villa strikers failed to test Toon keeper Tim Krul and it was clear Paul Lambert's side was missing injured talisman Christian Benteke. 

Nevertheless, the Scotsman praised his side’s performance saying, "I thought first half we were excellent. All we needed was that finishing touch. Last season that was a game we would have lost. Four points from six is a terrific start for us.

"I think Cissokho was outstanding. Philippe Senderos has been brilliant and Alan Hutton has been outstanding.”

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said: "We had some great chances. Siem de Jong had a massive chance at the end. I am pleased with the team. We know we need to threaten but there were a lot of good things today. We haven't scored yet and that will be hanging on us now.”

West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Sunderland match report Saturday 16th August 2014

Sebastian Larsson netted a late equaliser to spoil Alan Irvine's Premier League debut as West Bromwich Albion boss.

 The former Birmingham City player returned to the Midlands to pounce on an 84^th minute cross from the left hand side by Patrick Van Aanholt after a defence-splitting pass by substitute Jordi Gomez.

The equaliser was a reward for the Black Cats who saw a fifth minute lead slip away thanks to a controversial penalty decision by referee Neil Swarbrick who pointed to the spot after Baggies frontman Victor Anichebe went down easily in the 42^nd minute.

The Mackems started the game the strongest and took the lead after the West Brom defence was caught napping. A free kick 35 yards out on the right hand side was whipped in by Larsson and former Manchester United player Wes Brown drifted, unmarked to the far post where he headed back into the area. The ball was cleared to the edge of the box where Lee Cattermole rifled a fierce shot into the top right hand corner of Ben Foster's goal.

The Baggies' response was slow and sluggish and certainly wasn’t what new boss Irvine would have wanted on his first match in charge in the top division. Despite some good possession in the middle of the park, the home team could only manage a couple of long range efforts which Vito Mannone in the visitors’ goal dealt with comfortably.

But with three minutes to go until half time, Craig Gardner skipped around the edge of the area and fed a ball to the right of Anichebe. The big Nigerian striker spun off his marker Valentin Roberge and went down lightly under pressure from the Sunderland defender. The referee surprised most of the fans packed into The Hawthorns by pointing to the spot and England under-21 striker Saido Berahino converted coolly to level the game.

Both teams started the second half brightly and West Brom were unlucky not to go ahead. A free kick was punched into the air by under pressure Sunderland keeper Mannone  and as he tried to get back onto his feet he was adjudged to have been obstructed by Baggies captain Jonas Olsson as Baggies defender Craig Dawson headed the ball inches over the line. The Goal Decision System later showed it was a goal but referee Swarbrick reacted to a flag by his assistant and ruled it out.

The closely competitive game continued to hang in the balance until the 74th minute when West Brom finally went ahead.  Olsson burst forward out of defence and played a ball into the feet of Graham Dorrans who turned in from the left hand side onto his favoured right foot and unleashed a venomous shot which Mannone could only parry straight into the path of his former team mate Gardner on the left. He lofted a left-foot cross to the far post where an unmarked Berahino tapped in his second of the match from two yards out to set up a thrilling finale.

Under Pepe Mel last season West Brom were guilty of squandering the lead on a number of occasions and again their demons came back to haunt them. With 84 minutes on the clock substitute Gomez slipped the ball through the Albion defence on the left where overlapping full-back Aanholt whipped in a cross which Larsson hit home from five yards to ensure that both teams left The Hawthorns with a point.

After the game Black Cats boss Gus Poyet questioned the referee’s decision to award the first half penalty but said he did not want to say too much ‘to avoid getting into trouble’.

“I don’t want to start the season talking about referees. I want to talk about football and I thought we played well in patches.”

Baggies boss Alan Irvine said he had enjoyed his debut as a Premiership manager and was quick to admit ‘it was a soft penalty’.

“I'm disappointed really that we didn't win because I felt there were a lot of good things. We controlled the first half and you didn't want half-time to come. We didn't play as well in the second-half.”

Irvine was full of praise for two-goal striker Saido Berahino who he predicted ‘could have a very big season’.