VillaGoMarching

I'd go for something like this (if fit): Steer Bacuna-Vlaar-Clark-Luna Sylla-Delph Albrighton-Helenius-Bowery Kozak I know it's abit ropey, but prefer to rest Gab and Weimann.

Honestly, I couldn't care one jot. We were away from home doing what we do best, counter attacking and punishing teams. Until we find a system that makes us more comfortable in possession then that may well happen again.

Fair play to big Christian. Never seen an injured villa player try so hard to return to the field. Whatever you say about his transfer request, the kid is hungry to play and score goals. Will be hoping for a quick return to fitness with Lukaku playing and scoring for Everton.

Very poor IMO, rash with his decision making. Honestly we've seen Albrighton do better.

Fair play Lambo. Shows what I know. Doubted him for bringing in Kozak as Benteke's understudy when we are crying out for a Number 10 but fully justified today. Regardless of if Benteke's out for a lengthy period we have a straight swap for him.

I agree that despite all of Karim's good work with the ball, he doesn't have half the penetration Sylla had at the back end of last season, he was winning the ball in our half and driving forward with it, much like Delph. The only down side is that he never seemed to have the confidence to cross a ball or play a positive pass. He also offers Lowton some much needed protection. I'd be happy to see the trio of him, westy and Delph back against Norwich.

We've long struggled to beat anyone apart from relegation fodder at VP. We've got a team that can counter attack brilliantly but now the pressure is on for us to control games. More than anything I think the team and Lambert need to stick to there beliefs and not listen to the grumbles from the stand when a ball gets passed backwards. The echos of the Bradford game were there for everyone to see. I think we all need to be patient, just like our progress last season it's a long process and we'll suffer some setbacks along the way.

Minor injury apparently.

Honestly at home. I'd play a variation of a 3-4-3. Give us more options in midfield and a lions share of possession.

IMO the most disappointing aspect about yesterday was our complete lack of cohesion as soon as Kozak came on. I thought Lambert had learnt from the Bradford debarcle but there was no sign of this. Having four isolated forwards and Delph and Westwood having far too much work to do. Regardless of all this talk about Delph re-emerging as a quality player we still don't have two player in centre mid who can control a game. I actually thought we'd started to wrestle control of the game at the point he took El Almadi off, but Lambert seemed to panic. It was a throw back to an O'Neill type move. Lambert IMO can get a team setup from the start and similarly he gets reactions at half time from the team but his biggest weakness is once the game is rolling he really struggles to make decisions which influence the play. In future Lambert should be bolder but maintain control of midfield by keeping a midfield trio, perhaps sacrificing a full back, and using Lowton-Vlaar-Clark as a defensive trio. Having Westwood sit deeper and allow the front 6 more freedom. I still have faith in what Lambert is building but I think he'll rue signing Benteke's replacement before signing our playmaker. I think it'll slow our progress and we may have to re think our top 10 finish predictions. UTV.

nearly the best bit of business all summer if this comes off.

How many passes for his goal?, i've only so far seen a clip of benteke flicking it over the defender. but heard it was a good passing move.

im not sure it is Gabby, i haven't seen it interact with other players

Did not realise that, just shows that the whole fanbase has a renewed optonmism. FWIW i also think the diffence is looking tighter.

I think Vlaar is open to critiscism simply by being our senior defender, the problem is, he seems to be making the mistake of a rookie, He was at Fault for the goal at Arsenal and again for the Liverpool goal IMO. I've said it before but he's under real preasure to perform and so far this season he's fluffing it.

i'm loving these sweeping conclusions about our team after 3 games. have people not learnt lessons from last season. We're a work in progress, we will have highs and lows, we've just had as hard of run of games as we're likely to face all season, and we've fell short. still early days yet.

I'm not sure what Bacuna does yet, looks like Delph did 18 months ago. Lets reserve judgement till he's settled in.

we condede yet?

came to post this. extremely good analysis so far In all honesty i don't see the point of them doing a show together, one should do the SNF and the other should do MNF. If anything we'll end up getting a reduced role from either, although perhaps Neville can't commit as much as last season with his England duties.

I think given how we've started, is it too much ask for a win? bloody hate Liverpool so it'd complete a great week if we could send Gerrard and Rodgers home miserable.

I'm sure it was Glenn McGrath who was a pundit for the 1st test on TMS, he was brilliant, no loyalty to Aus, just called how it was.

HaHa, I keep seeing a Dortmund type resurgence in my head. but think if we got anywhere near europe we'd be a head of schedule.

When the FA do things like this, they should come out and say why. It undermines Referee's and you can easily see Ref's not giving certain decisions in future and recieving public criticism from an established figure like Wenger. if they FA came out and said it was due to the erratic decision making and amount of cards awarded then i think we may accept it but to say nothing allows all sorts of conjecture.

I was wondering that. Dortmund appear to have a decent defence, so that part of the comparison doesn't hold up either. Dortmund do struggle to keep clean sheets as well though, while both Hummels and Schmelzer are prone to brain farts. going off-topic but Hummels is one of most overrated defenders ive ever seen. You could draw comparisons with our defenders Baker/Bennett. Hummels has made a great career for himself after being deemed not good enough for Bayern. but he isn't in the class imo of someone like Chiellini.

I don't know whether its just pre-season optimism but i really fancy us, I'd like Baker to start in the back line, I'd go for something like this i think: Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Luna, Westwood Delph, El-Ahmedi Gabby, Weimann Benteke. I'd have been tempted to start Sylla, but i think given he played for the U-21's he's not likely to feature a great deal saturday. Rather than play Tonev, i'd have 3 more conservative centre mids, and bring on Tonev should we need a goal.