! ASTON VILLA V CARDIFF CITY MATCH REPORT '
Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:34 pm
Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City
Sat Nov 9th 2013
Cardiff City came back down to earth with a bump less than a week after celebrating a famous South Wales derby triumph as they were beaten 2-0 at Villa Park.
Second-half strikes from Leandro Bacuna and Libor Kozak were enough to secure the points for Paul Lambert's team, who had failed to score for more than six hours coming into the match.
Cardiff enjoyed a fair amount of possession as they frustrated the home fans for more than an hour but they failed to create any clear chances of note before Bacuna's sensational free-kick left goalkeeper David Marshall rooted to the spot.
That opened things up enough for Kozak to double the lead eight minutes later, heading home after substitute Matt Lowton had nodded the ball across the face of goal.
Prior to that late action it had been an unedifying affair all round, with Villa booed off by their own fans at the interval.
The hosts began with plenty of attacking intent, Kozak's header drawing a good save from David Marshall after just a minute - though an offside flag would have cancelled it out regardless.
Marshall was less assured when Karim El Ahmadi tested him from 25 yards, palming the ball back into the danger in front of goal with Christian Benteke sniffing around.
Luckily for the visitors Steven Caulker was a fraction quicker off the mark than the Belgian and cleared the danger.
Caulker was also the unlikely originator of Cardiff's first real attack, carrying the ball towards the edge of the Villa area before chipping a pass towards Aron Gunnarsson.
Villa might have conceded had Peter Odemwingie got a clean connection with his attempted volley but when it bobbled away from the Nigerian, Ron Vlaar slid in to avert the danger.
There were still only 10 minutes gone Medel's floated free-kick drew Kozak into a defensive header that wrong-footed Brad Guzan and flashed across the face of his own goal.
Benteke, still looking for the inspiration that was ever-present last season, had one further sight of goal but shot wide having ignored Aleksandar Tonev's intelligent run.
The next half-hour was little more than a non-event, Cardiff having marginally the better of things but producing nothing clearer than a Craig Bellamy free-kick that Guzan was able to catch with minimal fuss.
Odemwingie gave hints that he may have the skill to create a breakthrough without ever actually doing so, while Villa's efforts were stifled too often by sloppy passing - Yacouba Sylla too often the guilty party in that respect.
When the sides went in for the break there was an audible, though hardly deafening, chorus of boos from the home support.
Nathan Baker's body check on Odemwingie 25 yards out gave Cardiff the first chance to spark the game into life and former Villa man Peter Whittingham stood over the free-kick.
He whipped the ball across the area but none of his team-mates were able to get a boot to it.
Villa countered and went closer than ever to an opening goal as Bacuna's cross found Kozak at the far post.
His header looked to be on target but Marshall did enough to keep it out.
Malky Mackay had seen enough of Odemwingie after 55 minutes and sent on Fraizer Campbell, whose high-energy style at least provided a sharp contrast to the man he had replaced.
With 62 minutes gone Ashley Westwood's first-time shot - taken after Benteke's pass had ricocheted off Kevin Theophile-Catherine - briefly looked as if it might find the top corner but ended up a yard high and wide.
Benteke had two headers in the space of 10 minutes from positions he would typically fancy but on each occasion his radar was off and he failed to hit the target.
Bacuna, moved into midfield as part of a tactical reshuffle, rescued the game from stalemate.
He powered into the Cardiff half and was heading towards the penalty box when Medel's cynical foul stopped him his tracks.
But that merely delayed the danger and Bacuna curled the resulting free-kick round the wall, leaving Marshall flat-footed as the ball hit the net.
Villa made the points safe when Kozak claimed his second goal for the club, heading home after a period of untidy defending by the Bluebirds.
Tonev's initial cross was poorly cleared by Theophile-Catherine, allowing Lowton to head back towards Kozak, who applied the finishing touch from six yards.
Sat Nov 9th 2013
Cardiff City came back down to earth with a bump less than a week after celebrating a famous South Wales derby triumph as they were beaten 2-0 at Villa Park.
Second-half strikes from Leandro Bacuna and Libor Kozak were enough to secure the points for Paul Lambert's team, who had failed to score for more than six hours coming into the match.
Cardiff enjoyed a fair amount of possession as they frustrated the home fans for more than an hour but they failed to create any clear chances of note before Bacuna's sensational free-kick left goalkeeper David Marshall rooted to the spot.
That opened things up enough for Kozak to double the lead eight minutes later, heading home after substitute Matt Lowton had nodded the ball across the face of goal.
Prior to that late action it had been an unedifying affair all round, with Villa booed off by their own fans at the interval.
The hosts began with plenty of attacking intent, Kozak's header drawing a good save from David Marshall after just a minute - though an offside flag would have cancelled it out regardless.
Marshall was less assured when Karim El Ahmadi tested him from 25 yards, palming the ball back into the danger in front of goal with Christian Benteke sniffing around.
Luckily for the visitors Steven Caulker was a fraction quicker off the mark than the Belgian and cleared the danger.
Caulker was also the unlikely originator of Cardiff's first real attack, carrying the ball towards the edge of the Villa area before chipping a pass towards Aron Gunnarsson.
Villa might have conceded had Peter Odemwingie got a clean connection with his attempted volley but when it bobbled away from the Nigerian, Ron Vlaar slid in to avert the danger.
There were still only 10 minutes gone Medel's floated free-kick drew Kozak into a defensive header that wrong-footed Brad Guzan and flashed across the face of his own goal.
Benteke, still looking for the inspiration that was ever-present last season, had one further sight of goal but shot wide having ignored Aleksandar Tonev's intelligent run.
The next half-hour was little more than a non-event, Cardiff having marginally the better of things but producing nothing clearer than a Craig Bellamy free-kick that Guzan was able to catch with minimal fuss.
Odemwingie gave hints that he may have the skill to create a breakthrough without ever actually doing so, while Villa's efforts were stifled too often by sloppy passing - Yacouba Sylla too often the guilty party in that respect.
When the sides went in for the break there was an audible, though hardly deafening, chorus of boos from the home support.
Nathan Baker's body check on Odemwingie 25 yards out gave Cardiff the first chance to spark the game into life and former Villa man Peter Whittingham stood over the free-kick.
He whipped the ball across the area but none of his team-mates were able to get a boot to it.
Villa countered and went closer than ever to an opening goal as Bacuna's cross found Kozak at the far post.
His header looked to be on target but Marshall did enough to keep it out.
Malky Mackay had seen enough of Odemwingie after 55 minutes and sent on Fraizer Campbell, whose high-energy style at least provided a sharp contrast to the man he had replaced.
With 62 minutes gone Ashley Westwood's first-time shot - taken after Benteke's pass had ricocheted off Kevin Theophile-Catherine - briefly looked as if it might find the top corner but ended up a yard high and wide.
Benteke had two headers in the space of 10 minutes from positions he would typically fancy but on each occasion his radar was off and he failed to hit the target.
Bacuna, moved into midfield as part of a tactical reshuffle, rescued the game from stalemate.
He powered into the Cardiff half and was heading towards the penalty box when Medel's cynical foul stopped him his tracks.
But that merely delayed the danger and Bacuna curled the resulting free-kick round the wall, leaving Marshall flat-footed as the ball hit the net.
Villa made the points safe when Kozak claimed his second goal for the club, heading home after a period of untidy defending by the Bluebirds.
Tonev's initial cross was poorly cleared by Theophile-Catherine, allowing Lowton to head back towards Kozak, who applied the finishing touch from six yards.
Re: ASTON VILLA V CARDIFF MATCH REPORT
Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:38 pm
We had some possession carl thats about it today lets be fair, we created f**k all to even try to win the game and was lucky they only had 8 shots on target out of the 17 they had compared to our two shots on there target, MM aint all that to be fair 
Re: ! ASTON VILLA V CARDIFF CITY MATCH REPORT '
Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:42 pm
They attacked
We defended
They scored
We didnt
Thats all you needed to say really.
We defended
They scored
We didnt
Thats all you needed to say really.
Re: ! ASTON VILLA V CARDIFF CITY MATCH REPORT '
Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:43 am
It's the same old story. No adventure whatsoever going forward. I pity Cornelius already because the weight of expectation on him is going to be massive!
Re: ! ASTON VILLA V CARDIFF CITY MATCH REPORT '
Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:45 am