English Premier League – Half time review: Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Aston Villa
Wolves took on Aston Villa in a feisty first half of football at the Molineux stadium; Wolves approached the match in their typical aggressive manners as they deployed Jarvis as their left winger and opted for Kevin Doyle and Stephen Fletcher
as their front men. Aston Villa on the other hand under their new manager, Gerard Houllier used a 4-5-1 formation with Heskey as the spearhead of their attack. In midfield, the likes of Ashley Young and Downing provided the Villa attack with pace and guile.
Wolves started off the match strong as right from the start of the match they were winning the 50-50’s and the midfield challenges. Regardless, of the fact that Aston Villa had more of the possession in the midfield area due to their
numerical superiority in that region, Wolves created several goal scoring opportunities in the first 10 minutes of the match. Aston Villa’s first strong period of possession came around the 15th to 20th minute
mark where they tried to open up the Wolves defence through short passes and off-the-ball movement.
In the 18th minute of the match, Warnock became the first player to get booked from the Aston Villa side as he miscued his tackle on David Edwards. Both the teams had troubling breaking each other down in the first
half as long ball football took preference over shorter passing. However, it was Villa who broke the deadlock as Heskey made a run into the box but then was challenged by the Wolves defence.
The ball broke to Mark Albrighton as a result who went passed his marker and whipped an accurate ball inside the Wolves penalty area. The pass was met by Stewart Downing’s right foot as the winger netted his team’s first goal of the night
to give them a 1-0 lead. The goal came as a result of Albrighton’s fantastic skill on the ball in the 25th minute of the match.
It was Stewart Downing’s third goal of the season for Villa, who had been quite woeful in their travels in the English Premier League before their match against Wolves. Aston Villa’s goal propelled Wolves into action as they awoke from
their slumber as a result of the deficit. Mick McCarthy’s men started controlling more of the ball but in doing so they opened themselves to Villa’s counter attacks which were on most times led by Downing or his compatriot Ashley Young.
In the 34th minute of the match, Wolverhampton’s striker Fletcher found himself in space on the edge of the Aston Villa penalty area. The former Burnley striker acrobatically got a shot off on Brad Freidel’s goal
but the American keeper was on form as he parried the ball away. Fletcher rushed towards the ball again and this time laid it off to Doyle, whose shot was saved by Freidel yet again as the American proved to be a brick wall at times in goal for Villa. These
two chances were the best chances that Wolves had in the first half of football against Aston Villa, who dealt with everything that Doyle and Co. came up with in attacking terms.
Wolves made their first change of the match as their injured defender; Stephen Ward was replaced with George Elokobe from the substitute’s bench in the 39th minute of the match. The first half ended with the score
line at one all. It was a tough half for both the sides but Aston Villa just shaded it in the end due to their superior crossing ability from wider areas on the pitch. Wolves will be looking to get a shock on their boots in the second half as they will want
to get back into this match as soon as possible.
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