Hamburg SV 3-1 Aston Villa ***Live blog*** FT
Game: Hamburg vs Aston Villa
Competition: UEFA Cup
Date: Thu 17 Dec 08
KO: 19:45 GMT
Venue: HSH Nordbank Arena, Hamburg
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FT- The whistle goes and the misery is over. Villa are embarrassed here by Hamburg in a very dismal night for the claret and blues. What positives can we take from this? Well… very, very few. The B-team is DEFINITELY not good enough, infact the A-team players that played tonight are not really either. Cuellar made far too many mistakes, Luke Young wasn’t great, Shorey was nothing more than average, Knight was what Knight has been since he joined us (sorry Zat) and Guzan was half decent but against the odds. The midfield was not even close to dominant enough and the strikers were second to most and fluffed what they weren’t. Disappointing, NRC was about the only player who played well. Ooooh, I thought of a positive; we qualified. But that didn;t really happen tonight, so does it count?
92- Hamburg nearly make it 4 in injury time. Guzan saving well first then the rebound is just narrowly over.
91- Maybe this is for the best, we play better against the good opposition.
90- Nope. Ajax have equalised so we’re third. Short if a miracle.
88- How did that not go in?! A ridiculous scramble with Delfouneso, and Harewood inches from scroing and then NRC hits it off target. A goal could help our goal difference and move us up a place.
87- Hamburg break, Cuellar clears, back in and it looks dangerous but Luke Young comes over and makes a vital challenge. More Hamburg error than Villa comeptence though.
86- Cuellar heads the danger clear, his game at least has picked up since conceding the third goal. A bit late though I think Carlos!
85- The comeback is not looking anymore likely from the way Villa are playing, any pick up we got from the goal seems to have been cancelled out by the red card.
83- RED CARD – Sidders gets a second yellow for pulling back, just when things looked up a little.
82- GOAL – Cuellar gets it in the box, Salifou plays it across goal and it bounces off the Fonz and in. Consolation goal for Villa.
81- Villa free-kick goes right over, Kinight heads back across goal but no-one is there.
On the comments, Simon says Villa are woeful. That can’t be argued with.
80- Bannan plays a good ball down the wing for the Hare, who gets a corner but its cleared easily by Hamburg.
79- Harewood with a chance but he can;t get the ball under control. He will be gone in January.
77- SUB – Yep, Jol is definitely feeling sorry for us and takes off Petric now. So with the two real goal threats now off, can we do anything?
76- Cuellar gives the ball away, part of a performance that will definitely not have Curtis Davies worried about his spot.
75- Hamburg get a cros in despite three Villa players on him but it’s too high for Petric. Thank god.
74- Bannan runs around like a blue-arse fly and then a poor clearance puts Villa in but the the cross is straight to the keeper by Young.
73- Knight makes a rare good challenge and keeps Jansen out. Hamburg corner. Straight to Guzan.
72- Fonz does two men on the left flank but his touch is a little too strong and it runs out for a goal kick.
71- The Germans are playing with confidence and they can pass the ball around very well. A comeback is extremely unlikely.
70- Hamburg break into the box but Villa crowd them out and Guzan gets it.
69- Sidwell fouls and walks off whispering ‘no’ under his breath, but the ref doesn’t get the card out so Sidders stays on the pitch.
68- The Fonz picks out NRC, he beats a man and plays it across goal but Sidwell and Harewood are both a yard too far back and it rolls out. Reo-Coker couldn’t do much more.
67- SUB – I think Martin Jol feels sorry for us and takes off his best player, Olic will ruin Cuellar’s night no more.
66- Sidwell stretches to put Harweood in but he’s judged offside.
65- Guzan and Cuellar consider gifting them a goal with some scary play at the back.
64- YELLOW CARD – Sidwell gets in the book for roughing up Benjamin.
63- MON will be embarrassed by the disappointing display from the squad players and from his selection tonight.
62- Bannan gets into the thick of it and then puts a very good cross in but no-one really even tries to win it. In the air we are abysmal. Not that much better on the floor though!
60- SUB – Young Barry Bannan makes his first team debut in a very dismal night, he will be very keen to make an impact, but will he get much chance? How disappointed are you out tehre Villans?
59- Hamburg strike and Guzan saves well to save a few Villa blushes, the resulting corner is headed wide by Olic. Why are we losing every single challenge in our box. This is extremely poor.
58- Gardner limps out of the game, with blood on his knee (surely prof it should’ve been a penalty, it was nearly 2-1 but it’s 3-0) and MON is furious.
55- Harewood pulled dirtly there but his sfters are lucky not to earn him a yellow card. Villa cross but the keeper beats Gardner to it and hurts him, the ball goes clear and Hamburg break very fast and Olic beats Cuellar easily to the ball and tucks away another great goal. 3-0 now and Villa are in real trouble. Gardner is still down and wants a penalty, the opposite is the actuality.
52- Villa corner earned by Delfouneso’s persistence but the corner can’t be controlled by Harewood or NRC in the box and it’s clear.
51- Sidwell takes the ball on his chest outside the box and fires a shot in but its well over. Will O’Neill make any changes soon? Who should come on? There’s 4 youth players on the bench, along with Friedel, Petrov and Curtis Davies. Comment below.
50- Cross into the box and Olic and Cuellar fight for it, Cuellar winning the battle and the resulting corner goes straight to Guzan.
49- YELLOW CARD – Zat Knight gets a yellow for showing studs and then arguing with the ref.
48- More Villa pressure, NRC breaks but the Hamburg defence is still very strong.
47- Delfouneso very nearly works his way through with pure persistence, cleared in the end.
46- Villa have come out much livelier but the first shot comes from Petric and if it wasn’t so far out it could’ve been a real danger. Guzan gathers well though.
HT- No time added and the whistle goals and Villa fans can breathe again for a little while. Hamburg fully deserve their lead here, infact they fully deserve to be 4-0 up. Villa need to really take stock at half time and work out a whole new strategy because so far we have been outclassed. Barry is sorely missed commanding the middle of the park, Young is sorely missed giving us width (width of any use anyway) and Agbon is missed upfront, the Fonz is full of potential but Gabby’s experience coupled with pace and skill is hard to match. At t he back we have looked weak, Cuellar has not done what we know he can, Knight still can’t get back to the form that made us buy him and Luke Young is letting too many crosses go over. Salifou too is clearly not comfortable. A LOT for MON to look at and only 15 minutes to do it.
44- Jansen gets the better of two Villans and his shot is awesome, but the woodwork saves us from going 3 goals down.
42- Villa again don’t look anywhere near string enough with this second string playing. Penetration of the Hamburg defence is looking unlikely. The importance of Ashley Young couldn’t be much more glaring.
40- Prague take the lead in Amsterdam so now we go back to second in the live table.
39- Sidwell picks the ball up in the centre circle and plays Delfouneso through but he clearly doesn;t have Gabby’s pace and can’t beat the defender to it.
38- Gardner seems to have been pulled deeper, having played a little too far forward against a team of Hamburg’s quality.
36- NRC gives it away cheaply and Hamburg slwoly build an attack but eventually NRC attones for his error with a good challenge.
35- Shorey gets a ball over the top, feeds Gardner who sets himself up but puts it narrowly over. Would’ve really liked him to hit the target there.
34- The Hare earns us a corner, his break down the right wing not able to reach a Villa shirt.
33- Another cross and again the Hamburg man is first to the ball, but luckily he can’t get behind it and its straight to Guzan. Villa are looking capable of being thrashed here if things don’t change.
32- Hamburg attack again but it goes through to Guzan. Everytime they break though Villa look fragile and stand off-ish.
29- Hamburg break down the right, the cross finds Olic, who muscles ahead of Cuellar and makes it 2-0. Its another Zilina and Cuellar isn’t looking anywhere near as confident in his preferred position as he has at right back.
27- They make nothing of it though and Villa clear. The ball is very much liking the middle of the park tonight. It’s a slow game.
25- Villa pass around the box, trying to penetrate but in the end fail and Hamburg break. Free-kick Hamburg. Debatle too, Salifou got the ball.
24- Luke Young nearly gives it away in his own box when the ball bounces off his head but he recovers well.
21- Can Knight keep hold of Petric tonight, it’s not looking like it, so thats a scare for Villa.
17- Long clearance by Hamburg is brought down excellently by Petric and with another outstanding touch Villa are behind. Superb goal and that goes against the flow Villa had just started to create.
16- Gardner cross headed clear but Villa keep hold of of it and a cross is sent in that NRC can’t do much with with his header.
15- Villa are now building the pressure on Hamburg and pinning them back in their own half. Villa throw.
14- Shorey’s corner is headed away but Villa keep putting it back in but in the end Marlon is offside.
13- Very nice work from Craig Gardner, taking 2 one and then feeding Harewood well. The Hare gets us a corner.
12- It’s been a slow start to this game, but the other game in our group already has 2 goals. Prague have equalised which puts us back into 2nd place as it stands.
10- Villa eventually get into their box, his throw falling to NRC but his shot is wide of the target.
8- Olic causes a scare but his ball back across the box is to no-one.
7- A little Hamburg pressure now but Villa are defending well though struggling to get it away.
4- Both teams start fairly cautiously, the pitch not being the best and no-one wants to concede early.
3- NRC breaks down the right but its a Hamburg throw in.
2- Ajax don’t waste much time putting the pressure on us by going one up against Prague in four minutes.
1- It’s Hamburg first to scare but Olic can’t get hold of it and Villa break.
Pre-KO- NRC goes in for the toss then gets the team in a huddle, whats he saying to them? “Don’t balls it up royally like against Zilina!” maybe.
Pre-KO- MON is feeling braver than Jol, who has named a full strength side.
Pre-KO- So the teams are in and its exactly the team I predicted, so that saves me some editing, just need to delete the word ‘likely’
Press F5 or click refresh for minute-by-minute updates.
Line-up:
Guzan
L Young – Cuellar – Knight – Shorey
NRC (capt.) – Salifou – Sidwell – Gardner
Harewood – Delfouneso
Comments
One Comment on Hamburg SV 3-1 Aston Villa ***Live blog*** FT
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Simon Preston on
Wed, 17th Dec 2008 21:17
What a woeful match. Villa have not once looked like a team that’d win any sort of competition tonight. I think the mindset is that they have qualified anyway.
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