switters

Home form is suicidal. I think it might be the WBA that ends up being make or break. don't think he'd be sacked for a cup loss. Arsenal and Liverpool no-one will be surprised when we lose. but local rivals at home, when we haven't won at home for so long (and only twice in the league all season)...I can't see him surviving a loss there.

Very unfortunate for both Kozak and Villa. guess we'll look at a loan forward to replace him for the rest of the season

I think there were a few 'frustration' tackles towards the end, but no I don't think we were particularly dirty.

we were poor Sunday, but I don't think we had better options on the bench. I'd go Weimann for suspended Gabby, Delph back in for Sylla & Vlaar for Baker if fit. Kozak, Tonev, Helenius offer less than Weimann from what I've seen. Guzan Lowton-Clark-Baker/Vlaar-Luna ElAhmadi-Westwood-Delph Albrighton-Benteke-Weimann would also consider Bacuna for either Westwood or KEA.

started okay but collapsed pathetically after conceding one. you can forgive conceding one, but to lose two in 2 minutes is awful. after the 2nd the confidence of the two sides dramatically diverged and nobody on our team was able to lift the mood. midfield without Delph is poor - El Ahmadi & Westwood are both decent enough gelling-together/cycle-possession kind of midfielders, but neither ever really imposes self on game or provide enough defensive protection. add in Sylla who offers little and we just didn't have anyway near enough presence in midfield. Rooney could find space at will in between defence and midfield and was able to supply wide players time & again. Luna got destroyed today, but he had a thankless task without any help in front. Lambert should've sorted that at half time (putting Bacuna at LM for Sylla to match Man Utd's 442 seemed no-brainer to me), but really game was lost by then anyway. Albrighton willing, but didn't really provide end-product besides a couple of snap shots. Benteke obviously off-form, but it's hardly surprising he's rusty given how few times he gets the ball to feet anywhere near goal over the course of a match. overall depressing match, need to bounce back quickly over Christmas. this run of games could determine whether we get sucked into relegation battle or can stay in midtable obscurity.

I'd go for Bacuna for Sylla and get him to play in front on Luna. too easy for Man Utd down that side. plus Bacuna at least can take free kicks should we get one in a decent position. don't see us fighting back, but we could really do without a hammering to shatter confidence before Xmas.

definitely miss Vlaar and Delph. pathetic to give away two goals without Utd having to put any real pressure. confidence just disappeared at soon as first goal went in and midfield has gone missing ever since. Luna desperately needs help, everything coming down that side.

2 shots on target in first five mins. promising!

nice to see Gardner back in the squad. midfield looks poor without Delph - need Westwood & El Ahmadi to impose themselves more than usual. hopefully Albrighton can provide some crosses for Benteke.. if we can contain Rooney & Januzaj there's not much else to be scared of in Man Utd team, not even got much on bench without Van Persie, Kagawa, Hernandez, Nani..

makes sense to bring him back. we've got 8 games between 30 Nov and 1 Jan. Tonev not been impressive so far. In fact, very few attacking players in much form at the minute. and there's always likelihood of injuries & need to rotate when you have a lot of fixtures in succession so I'd be surprised if Albrighton doesn't get at least some gametime.

fine in defence, offered absolutely nothing going forward. disappointed that Lambert didn't change it - Tonev not great, but would've at least been willing to drive forward a bit. baffled he didn't get brought on in 2nd half when it was so painfully obvious we were creating nothing. Lambert says in interviews we always set out to win, but it sure didn't look like it today. horrendous match to watch, neither side had any quality in attack.

Didn't Clark come down with illness a couple of weeks ago too? illnesses happen. shame Delph couldn't time his to coincide with the suspension he's gonna get after (I think) his next yellow

must have a few injuries. lineup looks to be severely lacking creativity. gonna need Benteke to come up with something by himself.

Once promising Aston Villa player touted to be a future star ends up becoming a nothing player after being found out a season into his career who languishes in the Championship or worse for the rest of it. See also... Graham Fenton Rob Edwards Peter Whittingham The Moore brothers Barry Bannan Nathan Delfouneso etc etc He has been found out. Cant cross, no pace and cant beat a man now that everyone known he is completely ineffective on his left peg. Nowhere near a Premier League player. bit harsh on Whittingham, who has worked his way back to Premier League now. certainly not been a 'nothing player' for Cardiff.

guess we could try something like: Lowton-Vlaar-Clark/Baker-Luna Bacuna-KEA-Delph-Gabby Weimann/Kozak-Benteke not a huge difference (it'd be like a 433 sometimes), but would be interesting to see if Bacuna & Lowton could forge a partnership on the right. And whether one of Weimann or Kozak would be more effective if played closer alongside Benteke. it might be at the cost of limiting Gabby by playing him in more constrained role

Today was frustrating. but I do think we have to consider that so far at home we've had Spurs twice, Man City, Liverpool. I'm not sure we have the players to outplay these teams, so counter-attack might be best option we have. The other game was Newcastle and that was a disappointing performance, but I think we really need to wait and see what we do when we play more of the bottom half teams at home. those are the games we have to win and those are the games where we'll have more of the ball and must take initiative

not a terrible performance, but not too inspiring either. hard work but little quality on the ball. do think we need to try something tactically different at home to create more chances, I'm just not sure what the solution is with the players we have!

yeah worked hard. had nothing to play off most of the game. did a good job of timewasting and winning free kicks late on as well. helped stop City building any momentum in added time.

Don't know how we managed that - amazing result! The only section of the game we really played well was after going 3-2 up, limited them to relatively few chances & were smart with time-wasting and holding out the game. A mugging really, but who cares. I gave MOTM to El Ahmadi.

we just had no outlet & nobody keeping the ball, so they just kept coming back and goal was inevitable. defence did well to hold out as long as they did, but that's a horrible time to concede & it feels very much like the Spurs match. go to 4 at back either put on Helenius to link midfield and forwards, or Tonev/Albrighton to get some width.

did enough tonight that he should at least feature in Lambert's thinking and with the injuries we have, perhaps get some gametime in the next few weeks.

Who have been our best players during Lambert's reign? I'd say Guzan, Lowton, Delph, Westwood, Benteke, Weimann, Agbonlahor. Out of them, only Lowton was on the pitch tonight and he's dipped in form this season. Yes, some of the defending is worrying & our home form has been bad for a long time - but you really can't read much from tonight other than the fact we can't cut it against a vastly more expensive & experienced team when all our best players are missing.

conceded 4 in the one before..

he definitely needs a loan spell 'cause I doubt he's even going to be getting on the bench here unless we have several injuries. Derby sounds a good option. Perhaps should be looking to loan Bowery & Gardner too (as long as we have recall options in case of injuries).

Helenius also said that, or rather he was disappointed that he wouldn't get to work with Benteke when he handed in his transfer request, indicating it was a reason for him to join. I wouldn't read too much into it He's one of the hottest talents in Europe at the minute, I'd assume a lot of young, up and coming players would jump at the chance to join his team and just get to work with him in training, especially the strikers. plus if Kozak has the workrate, there's a chance he's competing with Weimann for a spot and could be in team with Benteke without it being 442. same goes for Helenius. after all Lamert used Bowery in that position at times last season.