Anything11

I like Lowton and i think he is an intelligent player. His downfall is that he isn't powerful/strong enough 1 on 1 with players and gets beaten (which interestingly i believe is Bacunas strong point) but reading the game and going forward he is great. Remember he has never really played along a solid centreback partnership like Vlaar/Baker this season.

We aren't going to be able to compete financially with the top half of the league and just because we are Aston Villa and have a proud history does not mean that we deserve anything better. People need to grow up and stop thinking that its their right to demand the club perform to their expectations while blindly ignoring all constraints that the club has. Unless you have the 200m to buy the club plus the funds to maintain a top 8 club for 10/15/20 years to come then cut the sh$t and get realistic. We are buying players for 800K and they are expected to be world beaters? This is going to be a slow progression from ridding the club of the financial mess it was into becoming a stable top half side. We tried to cash splash route and it almost relegated us. People crap on about not wanting to give Lambert any more money as if he has just blown in all on dross. Who else do you think could have purchased players for the prices we have payed and kept us ticking over? Maybe Martinez would be a shout but thats about it. Do you honestly think Lambert isnt as frustrated as the rest of us with the inability of the team to play consistently? He gives nothing away in interviews win or lose and most managers in the PL do the same and every remark they make has the potential of getting turned into a media storm. Do you really think a man who changes formation multiple times per match has the only tactic of "kick it to benteke"? Things are nowhere near as simple as people make out. Majority of villa fans need to grow up. There are people on twitter calling for Hoddle to be put in charge and to bring back bent and ireland into the fold. Talk about moronic. We need time as a club to find our feet and Lambert is giving us that. If we have made no progession by the end of next season then i will concede he isn't the right man for the job and should move on but i will be thankful for his work getting us through the last couple of years including relegation battles and wage bill clear outs. Not many managers come through these things well and to me he is doing a pretty good job (except the stoke game - f**k stoke).

It is a confidence issue. You can see the fear creep into the team and then half of them start hesitating on passes and become very static. It comes with having a very young team and i can only imagine its very frustrating for lambert. When the confidence is there and the team gets going we can take it to almost any team but its just so inconsistent. The team needs a few more cool heads - Vlaar/Westwood and sometimes delph are the only ones that come to mind who are always keeping things going (although as is westwoods position - when the team declines he struggles to have an impact/get on the ball) Bacuna is a great example of this. Amazing vs Chelsea - had no fear of making runs or bashing into hazard and then vs Stoke he was useless. Didn't look up for it at all. People see this and automatically assume the manager has told him to not make any forward runs and i think its very short sighted in my opinion. There are plenty of plans being put into place during the game by Lambert and unfortunately some of them don't work and i think some of this comes down to trying to execute them with 800K players. Look at Lamberts norwich team. Not all the most technically gifted players but they were the type of players who have no fear and will take it to anyone. Not all of Lamberts signings have turned out this way and i think it contributes to the inconsistancy we see. And yes they are his signings and therefore it is down to him BUT i don't think its always down to bad tactics.

People forget this far too quickly. Give it time.

Yes, it is called favoritism. Hahaha this is ridiculous. Lambert should be logging on to VT to see how to set the team up for the weekend? Grow up. There is a reason he is where he is and we are all siting behind a keyboard.

I stand by that... Edit: In fact, I'm not sure I even stand by that. He has even looked a poor man's Benteke so far. At Lazio, one thing he did at least have in common with him was that physicality and aerial strength to his game. Hasn't displayed any of that thus far. He isn't meant to be Benteke. Benteke is bordering on world class. Our central forward is not there to "make things happen" it just turned out that benteke is that good that he does this. When Kozak is playing it highlights the hole we have in our playing roster for an attacking midfielder. I have no doubt Kozak in a team that creates more (not just in transition or on the break) would scores goals or we would at least see what he is made of. Right now he is being left with too much to do.

Good post. Been saying this for quite some time that the balance is wrong in midfield. I also think we're a little too lightweight as well and need a bit more physicality. I am not sure that is it though. Any opposing holding midfielder(s) really don't have much to worry about aside from our forwards running into their space. Imagine a holtby type player instead of KEA for example giving opposing midfielders something to worry about. We make their job very easy as they can sit in front of their back 4 and see all 3 of our midfield in front of them. With an intelligent AM in there it would mean these players getting dragged around or at least having their attention divided more than it currently is. Right now we rely far too much on the rapid attacks of our front three in transition and our midfield trio are just in there for hard work which i don't think suits westwoods passing game or work off the ball. That is what i think anyhow.

He seems to have settled down in his last two appearances (however brief they have been)

I think people just need someone to point the finger at when we aren't playing too well. Westwood is easy as most of his work goes unnoticed. On multiple occasions on the weekend he was back covering in the center of defense and he always keeps the ball moving. Remember the days of barry/petrov/sidwell etc midfield where we would hold onto the ball for way too long instead of giving and going? I certainly found it frustrating. Right now its not working due to us playing 3 midfielders who are similar (dogged/good passers - not much going forward besides delph running past players). If we had a good AM i think things would look a lot different.

We are either about to click and put some results together or we have reached the glass ceiling with the current lineup. Only time will tell.

Thats a comment i've seen repeatedly and one which i wholly disagree with. First of all you agree that without getting rid of Bent our overall outlay on wages has already come down significantly. Taking that into consideration i don't think its a case of we can't afford it, its rather that the chairman won't allocate the money due to probably preparing us for a sale in the not so distant future. Therefore its not that we can't afford it, rather its more, i won't afford it. We can't afford it with respect to our league position/annual turnover of the last few years. It is not sustainable. How can you not see that? Bent didn't fit our system and it was glaringly obvious. Kozak will need time but he plays in a way that benefits our style and formation - he may never work out but we don't know that yet.

He was fine today. Looked like a player who had just back from injury. The huddleston foul was made to look worse than it was. My only criticism is he takes too many of our set plays

I tend to disagree. We need westwood in there. Its fine having combative midfielders especially against someone like man city but we need a calm head on the ball to fill the gaps. We need to hold the ball more and develop a more flowing game (in the long run)

Luna had a terrible game and the bullshit injury was embarrassing. However i do like the chap and i hope it was just a once off (or maybe 2 - newcastle as well).

i can't believe a player for Villa gets put on the bench by the manager and you lot use it as an excuse to slate him.

Delph is not a no. 10. Putting Delph in that role would just be putting a square peg in a round hole and i would hope we have moved on from doing that.

He appeared to be getting frustrated at points on Saturday as the other midfielders had gone missing. He isn't going to be the player to take the game by the scruff of the neck very often - he works well within a system and the system was not working.

When we were getting Lambert from Norwich, we were told more than once that he was great tactically, and would switch tactics in a match quite often to good effect, when he wasn't getting the desired response. I have to say that I've seen very little evidence of this so far. As you say, Ben Arfa tore Luna a new one all match, and nothing was done about it. It also seems to me that Lambert has also been guilty of leaving players in situations where they are getting beaten to avoid harming their confidence even more by removing them from a situation/game. He could have dropped Bennett on numerous occasions last season but he stuck with him.

He was injured at the beginning of the season (wasn't he?) and we performed well in the first 3 games. After the 3-5-2/3-4-3 debactle of last year i think Lambert may be wary of messing with a good thing as KEA looked to be performing well. I don't think there is much to read into to be honest. We played horribly on Saturday and i suspect he will get his chance. We are only 4 games in.

Just a pinch of racial profiling with no apparent basis at all. How ridiculous. I think Lambert thought the team was playing well from the start of the season and didn't want to change it. Would like to see Sylla given a run as the midfield 3 against Newcastle were horrible.

No one actually knows if PL isn't being backed (he bought 7 players didn't he?). People need to stop asuming that because we didnt spend 12 million on an AM that it means Lerner isn't dishing out the cash. There is speculating and then concluding things based on very little factual information which some posters seem to be going on about in various transfer threads. Personally i think as we move up the table we will get closer to the vision that PL and Lerner share and more money will be spent on players who can make a difference. This will take more than a season or two to accomplish. Lets be patient.

Zing

Although Bennett didn't do anything extraordinary today i did notice a positive attitude change. Losing his place like he did it would be easy for a players head to drop and just end up spiraling but he seems far more determined to make an impact than usual. Most of last season it seemed he was just trying to adapt and "survive" the game but last night i noticed him taking a man on more often and hanging around/making runs into the box. He looked desperate to get on the score sheet and stand out - credit to him for really having a go.

He is still improving with each game and watching him chip one of their players was great. Remember he was out with injury for a long time last season and has been shifted back across the backline to fit Okore in. I think the partnership will continue to develop.

Early days. I think he and helenius are two that we will see come into the side when we start to take a dip in form as our starting 11 tire later in the season. Much like it too a while for last years signings to get going - hopefully the timing is right and they prove to be good enough players.