villianusa

I don't think we are good enough to play with 10 players.

With a new manager coming in, I don't think you can say that for sure. New manager, new players, new ideas. I'm not saying he wouldn't be available, just that we couldn't afford him. I'd agree with that unless it was a loan where we paid a percentage.

With the money we are likely to have available I would spend it on Whittingham. He would give us some balance on the left and some good delivery from set pieces. We have to start getting Benteke in front of goal, with decent crosses put into him. It's not ideal, but doesn't look like we have many options going until the summer. Four midfielders of Whittingham Delph Westwood Albrighton. It's not going to get us into Europe, but might just keep us in the Premiership which seems to be the plan for now.

With a new manager coming in, I don't think you can say that for sure. New manager, new players, new ideas.

" I can't fault the effort from the lads." "We have to pick ourselves up and go again, it's important we bounce back." He doesn't let us down, his response after the game.

Moyes was asked after the game "What was the difference between this and your previous games?" He was nice enough not to say the shit team we were playing against.

Poor performance - poor team - poor tactics - poor manager - fans at the ground awesome as usual (they deserve better)l.

The goals have come from good crosses outside, something Villa has been missing all season. Give Benteke a chance to attack a cross from 8 yards and I'm sure he would have scored more goals this season. We are playing a 433 in attack and 451 in defense. We drop to the half way line as soon as they get the ball. The problem is we can't get from 451 to 433 before we lose the ball and the cycle starts over.

Baker was playing well until he made the pass where it looked like he has tweaked his hamstring. He can't run and if we had a defender on the bench he would be off.

He made his run from midfield, where was the midfielder covering is run? KEA is standing just outside the box and allows him a free run.

I'd rather know why our movement off the ball is so bad.

The comparison to McCleish are fair enough when you look at our style of play, but the nature of the way the managers set about building the teams are completely different. MCleish wasted a lot of money, Lambert doesn't have the money to waste. We are such a boring team to watch, but we have managed to grind out some results that we may have not done under previous managers or even last season. No way around it, this is going to be a poor season to watch if like myself you look for much more of a passing game. I don't believe Lambert is looking to play that way because even though the players are cheap you can find players in the lower English divisions who know more about passing and movement than Villa are showing right now. I don't believe Lambert has the tactical know how to get much more out of the players he has bought. He seems to be very limited and over the next few years he will be found out very much like his mentor. We play better away from home because we can hit teams on the counter, we can't do that at home (teams more defensive) and that's why we struggle so much. No creativity, so we end up passing the ball around in the middle of the park until we lump it forward, lose it or both. We struggle against teams at the bottom of the league because at the moment a point is good for them, so they are more defensive even if they are home or not. The has been shown recently against Sunderland and Fulham. I feel sorry for Benteke, and he will be out of here as soon as he can. He's not getting the service or support like he did last year and the injury has set him back. Saying that his attitude doesn't seem to be the best right now. Injuries are nobbling the squad right now and soon as we can get everyone fit the better,

I agree, did very well yesterday considering the amount of time he had been out. Full of energy and as brave as any player we have, got pulled out of position a couple of times, but I agree would be ideal to replace Delph against United.

Lucky we don't play another team on a bad run in our next game.

It's okay though we've had 49% possession.

Even until poor defending by Bacuna and Guzan No way a penalty, player jumps into Bacuna and falls when he feels contact. Fulham can sit back now so we won't be able to hit them ion the counter. Need new tactics for 2nd half. Take off Wwimann and KEA and bring on Albrighton and Tonev. Get some crosses into the box.

Is our reserve left back any good? At some point we have the kids a go and see if they are good enough.

He never wanted to stay here and it's showing. Yeah, hes playing like he knows he wont be here january Keeps playing like that and he will be, no one will want him.

Problem is Benteke receives the ball 30-40 yards from goal and not where we need it in front of goal. We have shown (down the right) if we get behind them and put ball into the ball we will cause problems, sadly it hasn't happened enough. We need to release Gabby quicker down the left and get him to run more at Bardsley. He will give us a freekick or two (maybe even a penalty). Sunderland are doing okay, but we are making it easier for them with sloppy passes and easy turnover.

Fell behind to a great goal, and really poor pass from Bacuna. I'm not sure why Clark never came in to help Baker after the pass, he seemed to be looking for someone who wasn't there. We fought well to recover and just about deserved a draw. The Baggies are a good side and a point in the end was a good result. It's always nice to beat our local rivals but the gap isn't there anymore in our favour. Don't always agree with Lambeet but he was right not to start the trio after their time off. If they only returned back to training on Friday then now way would that have lasted 90 minutes. I wouldn't have started with the team he did but in the end happy with a draw.

I won't disagree on them not deserving the money they were given but not all of them were poor skill just poor attitude. Sadly Villa seem to have good managers of players but poor coaches. They can lift to players to good performances, but when they meet teams with similar charged players they don't have the tactical knowledge to beat other teams. High energy and commitment will get you to a certain point but in the end the players need ability and a tactical sense of the game. We haven't got a team of 11 who have that let alone a squad that can see out a season and that falls on Lambert and his coaching team who he hired. The only players who other teams would look at in our squad are Guzan, Gabby, Delph and Benteke. The rest would really struggle to get in sides like Hull and Sunderland which is very disappointing.

Hahahahahaha Glad you found it amusing. We had players who could perform but sadly this manager (and previous) were not able to get anything out of them or played a formation that didn't suit them. Instead of trying to be a coach he "bombed" them out and started the youth philosophy. Sadly this could very well see us end in the Championship if he does teach the players to do more than give 100% (and he doesn't seem to be doing very well at that). As above, Everton do now have a better squad at the time Lambert took over I think it was very close. We are now much further apart and they have a manager who seems to know what he is doing on the field. We can wait four of five years for him to get it right but right now I'm just looking for team that know what they are doing and look like they turn up to win a game.

I would disagree Everton had a better squad but a better manager who can get something from his players.

When it comes down to it it's the manager and the players who are to blame. Randy may have pulled in the purse strings that may of got us to the top four but in the end it's what happens on the pitch that counts. I watch all but one game this season (on TV) and we don't look like a team that knows what it's doing. I mentioned in an earlier post that we have the 2nd worst possession stats in the league but we also look void of ideas. For those who are defending Lambert how can that be possibly be any ones fault but his? He is the one who coaches the team, buys the players, picks the formation and sets the pattern of player. The players are lost because no one is leading, We are a very poor team now with a lot of fight and togetherness but that's not going to win us enough games. I look at the money he has spent in the last two seasons and he still hasn't been able to find a balance or his best team. Yes we have injuries but he has bought back up that just isn't good enough. I look at where we have fallen from Everton who have a smaller budget than us and it's embarrassing. Net spend in 2013 Villa -11.3mil euros Everton +8.mil euros Net Spend in 2012 Villa -24.2mil euros Everton -2.9 euros I know it takes time to put a team together but if you don't buy the right players it will never happen. Other clubs similar to us seem to be able to buy players who can fit right in and play like they have been in the Premiership for years while we have to wait and give them time. Building for the future is great but if you can't play in the present then what's the point? Those players who do come good in the end will go to bigger clubs as we will be at the bottom of the league or worse and the cycle continues. Lambert has to responsible for what goes on on the field. Most managers have been more tactically astute than him this season and the only one who wasn't was the Man City manager and his subs cost them the game. If we are performing this way at the end of the season then it may seriously be a need for a change. I want him to succeed but i'm not sure he can with the decisions he is making.

The worrying thing for me is Lambert is hiding behind missed chances to cover up how badly we are playing. Ten games in and our possession is at 37.3% only beaten by Stoke who are below 23%. We are so bad at keeping the ball it's a joke, I can't understand how he can honestly believe the way we are playing is good or entertaining. We rely on long balls to Benteke and hope we can't snatch something on the break because we aren't good enough to pass the balls through players. I watch other teams and watch basic movement into open areas that our players don't seem to want to do or know how to. A Villa player gets the ball and everyone else stands still. if we get lucky we have one player open for a pass where other teams will have three or four. This was a feature under the last few managers so I'm not just blaming Lambert but he has the job now and hasn't improved it at all. He is found out week after week by other managers and he doesn't know how to change it. It happened last week against Everton and he was clueless against Westham yesterday. The team doesn't seem to have any shape or fluidity and players seem very frustrated. He needs to stop trying to force players into a formation because he wants to play them. He needs to stop playing three in midfield because the players he bought aren't good enough to go 2v2. He needs to give Benteke support and throw Gabby or Andi up top and drop the other. Get some width in the team and put some crosses into the box for the forwards to attack in front of goal. But in the end if we don't do better in keeping possession then we will always be under pressure. Pressure causes mistakes, in turn this will bring more defeats than victories.