AVTuco

Clark's been great!

May we borrow the ball for a bit, please?

Gabbyy

You think it takes so long?

Tonev on bench, Luna in. Like it should be.

I think you could be spot on with that first 11 He can't be right. He has Tonev starting and Luna on the bench!

I found myself agreeing with you, then checked the stats for aerial duels This season: 55% successful Last season: 63% successful Why are we better at set pieces? Partial explanation may be Clark has improved +2% from 61%-63%. However, like Vlaar, Baker has dropped: from 63%-56%. Maybe we have just been lucky, or have a more effective system? Do we defend zonal or man-mark at corners? How is that stat calculated? It may offer the explanation. Edit: nevermind, misunderstanding by me.

Guys, it's not the time to even think about selling Benteke now. Buy low, sell high.

I must admit that I don't share the pain so much. It is vital that we get results this year, as many more points than last year as possible. Our young team needs confidence and positive results more than anything. We need to get to a positive cycle that only comes from good results and points. If we play attractive football and lose, it's not going to work. And actually I would put the success of both of your 'adjustments' down to youth and inexperience. I don't usually buy this argument, but it is just so clear in everything we do. We need time, as has been said numerous times in this thread already.

1-2 Villa. Benteke and Delph score. We play like crap, as expected, but pull out another unexpected win. Soton just cannot penetrate our rock of a defense.

Thank you very much for your kind words. Sure you can, although I think I'm quite handsome really.

There are quite contradicting views on here regarding our full backs. Last year I undersood the stick Bennet got, but now I really don't. Full backs are not our problem, and yet some here want to change/drop them. Also, Lambert seems to want his full backs to take active part in attacking. Therefore, when assessing the quality of our full back's play, putting more weigh on their play forward is warranted.

Yeah, me too. Only one poster here, but others in match threads.

Ok, thanks for the discussion Isa. Let's come back to it after the soton game.

Very unfortunate there are "fans" like that out there.

Eight times. Do you do this to all our players, or just Luna?

Luna being here is also good for Bennet since he can work on some basic things while Luna carries the torch. Bennet's time is next season and onwards.

I did watch it, thank you. You're right in that I based my opinion on the fact that Bacuna hasn't played there since, not on how he played. I think you're making Luna look worse defensively than he really is. He is sometimes out of position because he tries to get things done going forward, but he's quite good at recovering too. And he doesn't make silly mistakes like some of our other defensemen. I think Luna's mishaps overall have not been dangerous, I don't remember him being directly at fault of any of our conceded goals. I get your point of wanting a more defensive minded and defensively reliable full back, but I don't feel Luna is a liability back there.

Ok, so which joker bumped this thread?

So Luna out and Lowton in with Bacuna playing on the wrong side. And your goal is to be better defensively? No thanks. I don't recall Bacuna playing so well on that side. Anyway, for some reason that experiment did not last long. Lowton in and maybe KEA out, that I could try.

Luna has looked just as bad defensively so no idea why you had made up your mind he is so much better already. Not sure you remember the Joe that played last season? My post earlier was incomplete in that I think Joe has something in him. I don't think he's rubbish. He needs confidence and strength, and he could be a good player. I merely think Luna is overshadowing him for the moment.

But we have progressed with him holding in midfield though. We'll never progress [to anything vaguely acceptable] with somebody like him holding midfield. 'This' is acceptable for most on here though it would seem. I don't think 'this' is acceptable longer term, but it suffices now. Most of us probably either expect him to improve quite a bit, or Lambert to bring in someone new when the finances allow for it. If your expectation now is very high, you'll always be disappointed after games.

Not sure if I agree he's been our best player all season, but I'm happy to read he is respected. Fair play HeyAnty. Who u think is our best player is thus far, it has to be a defender with the clean sheets we are keeping surely? Like Stefan said, Vlaar has been a rock. Ciaran has been one of our best players, that I would agree with.

Although I would like to see this tried soon, I'm not sure KEA deserves to be benched now. And Benteke is a difficult one. Something needs to be done to get him going, but do you bench him because he can't be arsed, or do you show faith in him through a bad streak of games? I suspect Lambert thinks that by taking Benteke off yesterday he showed Christian he is not playing well enough. But sticks with him.

I mean it's safe to say it's the norm for him. The reason I like Luna is mostly his contribution going forward. And that is because our midfield is what it is. So we need something else. Luna gives us width, which we lack desperately. He won't be dropped. Apart from me thinking there's no reason to, it seems like Lambert likes him quite a bit, since he brought him back to the line up as soon as Luna was fit enough to play. Also, our only other natural LB Bennet is injured, so dropping Luna would mean Baker gets back moving Clark to LB. Do you think that's better? I don't, and clearly neither does Lambert.