ozvillafan

I'm a fan of Lambert and like the way he is trying to go about things..... ... but I can't disagree with Isa here. I did something in that game against Fulham that I have only done once before (in the game last season against Wigan at home) since I started watching Villa in the 90's - I switched the broadcast off at the hour mark and went to bed (it's early morning for these games down here). We were horrid. End of.

Disappointing against Fulham. He used to drop deeper to help Bacuna/Lowton and link up - he didn't even do that yesterday. He hasn't been in great form all season and his injury layoff hasn't helped. I think he needs a rest - even Tonev provides more.

He's allowed a bad day...... .... but I have yet to see him deliver a good dead ball in the time he has played for us. Surely somebody else can deliver a decent ball? Bacuna? KEA? Delph?

The players really play for Lambert. They have the desire to win and are willing to work for the shirt. It stands to reason, then, that they are executing exactly what they are taught throughout the week. There are a couple of glaring things that do my head in: - We defend zonally and do not press or track, hoping to hit on the counter. - We play extremely narrow with Wiemann and Agbonlahor too advanced. - We play what we see, not what we know The last one is difficult to explain, so let me use an example from yesterday. Herd slides in a good tackle and the ball breaks for KEA who is running towards his own goal to retain possession. He immediately passes 20 yards to Herd who is still getting off the ground, who has no choice but to hoof as he is off balance and surrounded. KEA's playing what he sees (Herd), not what he knows (their forwards are advanced, he has room to trap and turn or hold up and draw a foul). We do this too much in a game. We aren't very creative so doing this just makes us predictable and easy to defend.

We simply do not close down. Our 3 central defenders sit back with our back line in a defensive formation on our penalty area and give the opposition time and room in the hope that a mistake leads to a counter. If you didn't know better, you'd think we were the team of 32+ year old players and Fulham the young hungry side, such was the lack of movement and energy. Horrid.

Why there have to be a focus on anything else? There are to main bits to football. Results, and style of play. One of them has improved this season, the other hasn't. If they were both decent, there'd be no complaints. Been a while since you went to the Lerner thread then, eh? Are you saying that there's nothing to moan about where Lerner's concerned?! Not at all. You mentioned there was nothing to moan about if results and style of play were both good. I simply pointed you at another facet

See Butterfingers - there are more than two types of people. There are actually 10 types: Those who understand binary and those who don't. Sorry, don't get this. You'd be in the latter group, then 10 is the representation for the number 2 in binary. It's an old geek joke..... .. and I couldn't resist. Sorry.

Why there have to be a focus on anything else? There are to main bits to football. Results, and style of play. One of them has improved this season, the other hasn't. If they were both decent, there'd be no complaints. Been a while since you went to the Lerner thread then, eh?

See Butterfingers - there are more than two types of people. There are actually 10 types: Those who understand binary and those who don't.

That was their first outing together, no? And against a red-hot Spurs at the time. There is enough improvement in Tonev, Kozak and arguably Albrighton to suggest you have more to cluch than just straws ;-)

The same way we win against any team that tries to attack us (Arsenal, Man City, Southampton) - we get them on the counter.

The only thing missing from that gif is the "thunk" as it rattles the net.

Di Canio got the sack this year. His replacement didn't come for 2 weeks. If you think we could sign a manager by then, you are living in denial. MON left 5 days till kickoff. We lost to Newcastle in our second game. My points are entirely relevant. Why? Because you say so? If results had of been better, I doubt we would have spent anything. No it certainly wouldn't. There are plenty of ambitious managers. McLeish is ambitious. Holloway is ambitious, too. The good ones? They are smart enough to smell a club in decline and, knowing the difficult job ahead, thumbed their noses at us. Martinez, anyone?

Indeed, we had plenty of options. But the job wasn't quite as rosy as you painted. Consider: - being 6 games into the season - having a squad that just got smacked 6-0 by Newcastle - a closed transfer window - no guarantee of funds ("smashing the transfer record" came some months later and was not certain by any means) - facing high expectations from fans/board - requiring compensation for poaching a manager and you might find that common sense would tell you that a majority of the supposed "options" would be: - uninterested (e.g. Martinez) - risky (e.g. lower league managers) - poor (e.g. Hughes) - just downright dumb (e.g. Di Canio).

That's 2 clubs that come out and attack us, expecting the win. We do alright on the counter, so no real surprises there. Getting goals against teams that sit back - that's our issue. We need more creativity in the middle of the park before that will change.

Yep. His 2 goals from open play offer us nothing.

Bonuses? If we agreed a bonus on performance for some (most) of our Lambert purchases, would that be included as a transfer fee? Or only once the bonus is realised?

His shooting is getting better and, lets face it, we know he can hit them so it will come as he settles into the league. I've seen some decent crosses and passes too in his more recent performances. Like the team, the trend is towards continual improvement. Only his touch concerns me - it's overly heavy and he turned over a lot of ball in that first half vs WBA.

Does he need to provide a reason? In his opinion, Shay is better off away from the first team.

Lambert saw something in him so I wouldn't write him off. I've seen steady improvement in the games he's played - mind you, he started pretty low with his full debut. He's not pulling up trees, that's for sure. Needs more time.

I remember when Benteke was 3 games in. Most people thought he was useless. I'm willing to give Kozak more time and stand by my earlier statement that he was unlucky to be hooked instead of Benteke.

Out of curiousity - how many games has Kozak played for us as a lone striker?

This really hit home for me during the game. While there are slight differences here and there, essentially KEA, Delph, Sylla and Westwood are very similar in the way they play their football. I don't think this is a good thing. We could really use a more attacking forward - perhaps for Tonev to find his feet a little quicker or Gardener to be fit. Something different. Anything!

Perhaps, but how long can you go on past laurels and not current form? It's true about Benteke winning the headers. But, then, he was the target for most of the forward balls. Kozak doesn't strike me as a forward that plays off the shoulder of a target man - but that is what he was asked to do. If he was the target man for the last 30 mins instead of Benteke, I doubt he would have performed any less.

Thought he was unlucky to be hooked. Looked more likely to score than Benteke, imo.