7392craig

We all knew this was the game, the one that defined our season, qpr have won too, we'd have to score goals and win games and hope others lose just to get back out of the relegation zone, not happening.

I'm gonna still be at work while the games on, checking my phone every 5 minutes to see the score means I'm probably gonna get very little done. Proper nervous for this one.

Ditto

I agree, the first goal is massive, we score it and we can relax a little and control the game. They score it and heads will drop and mistakes will be made. I really do think that the first 15 minutes is hugely important as we've let a lot of goals in during that time, but relax a little if we haven't conceded by that point.

Not for this one. I'd happily set up like that against Leicester at the weekend but our first priority has to be not losing this game, and then let's see if we can win it. I do agree with you but look how we've done so far setting up 'not to lose'. The best way to ensure you don't lose is score more than your opponent, so that midfield 3 should be fine considering there is a whole back 4 behind them.

I'd like to see Gill, Westwood and Delph in midfield, with 2 of Gabby, Weimann or Sinclair either side of Benteke

I do think that it's not as simple as teams can just score when they want against us, we're generally not a walkover in defence, more that we're prone to lapses in concentration. I do agree that the first 20 minutes in the Hull game are vital, we're terribly weak and have often let goals in under Lambert's tenure in the first 15/20 minutes. I don't know why we have to take that amount of time to settle into the game but we do. If we can get to that point at 0-0 or dare I say it 1-0 up, then we have a cracking chance of getting something out of the game.

It's too hard to say, we've all seen games like this where we play out of our skins and win 2-1, or we'll play shit and Gabby will score two late counter attacking goals after not touching the ball for 80 minutes. But more often than not after playing well against a top team, we hope we'll play just as well in the next game against one of the 'beatable' teams and we don't turn up. We end up with about 25% possession, one tame shot on target and 3 goals behind. I know as much as the rest of you that this is a ****ing important game and I'd give anything for us to win, but as much as my heart says 2-0 us, my head says a pretty convincing loss.

I was just sitting here and then I spontaneously shit myself, did something happen in the game?

Another reason to stay positive?

Does anybody know the lowest points total a team has stayed in the prem with?

Gotta up for work at quarter to 5, stayed up cus it seemed like summat was gonna happen, cheers Villa.

I'm not asking for people to justify themselves at all! Who am I to do that! It was just a general observation that I believe to be true. Do you believe it rains meatballs too?

Personal, what on earth are you talking about.....from what i can gather most folk think he is quite likeable and i for one have written posts to that effect. do you not think it could be the results and that it is anything but personal. Yep, nobody has called him a buffoon, Idiot, Clueless (Insert generic insult here). The majority of people saying he is likeable are the ones supporting him or the ones that aren't caught up in the realm of the black and white. I also said from some...... I personally would love him to do well, I think he's a great bloke, but I've ran out of any hope of that happening. I think he'd do a good job for someone when not shopping in the bargain bin, but there are few managers who can do well on a shoestring and boost the morale of the players when they really are playing bad. Generally you'd just drop those players and put someone else in, but we don't really have that luxury.

His runs toward the corner flag?

I was always a big fan of his, and I stuck up for him a lot earlier in his Villa career, but I'm not sure how long we can carry on with him as manager. Granted things look a little better this season, but we're only a couple of bad results away from a dog fight. He's constantly chopped and changed the defence, we're overrun in midfield every game. If you're only going to play 3 in the middle then there has to be different variety, Cleverly Westwood and Sanchez don't provide anything going forward and Delphs final ball is awful so it's no surprise the strikers don't get any supply. Playing 3 up front works if 2 of them can play wide, Gabby and Weimann both have goals in them if they're utilized properly, neither have any effect when out wide. This is just my humble opinion but to me it seems that he is just refusing to change things in the hope that it just suddenly clicks.

To be honest, I doubt all takes to implement a title-winning philosophy is to go and watch a couple of training sessions. Stevo's thoughts are probably closer to the mark.

I loved the formation against utd, 3 defenders with two wingbacks works for me. Especially with Hutton coming in for Lowton. Hopefully all the strength in defence and with Okore and Clarke playing so well we can isolate Bony, because if he doesn't score for them you have to wonder who will. The Williams Benteke battle will be interesting, but I think we're starting to see him hit top gear now so he may just edge it. I'm going for a 2-1 win with us having more of the ball than one would usually expect.

Lambert joined Bayern Munich a couple of weeks ago to watch their training sessions and speak to Pep Guardiola. Could that possibly be the reason for the sudden change in style? They are famous for building from the back and keeping possession after all. Maybe Pep has given him some pointers and told Paul to stay away from the hoof ball. The difference the last couple of weeks has been quite drastic, playing diagonal balls, keeping it mostly on the floor, putting proper crosses in. Plus he utilizing Gabby as a striker at last, he's a constant threat when he's up front but apart from his work rate he offers little else in other positions, also he's stretching defenders to make space when Tekkers has the ball, something we haven't seen him do in a long time. I can only imagine all of these things are linked to Lambert's recent trip to Munich.

I really hope so. Without him I think we'll struggle. Lol

Yet people are daft for rating him. Oh well.Ahh of course. The juggernaut of a footballing brain that is jack grealish. He's probably forgotten more about football than you know. Bloke's been playing at Villa for years. Wtf has that got to do with it? Do you know my footballing background? Just because you play football, doesn't make you a fountain of knowledge about the sport. My point is simply that jack grealish saying he's the most underatted player he knows, it doesn't mean people are wrong for not rating him. I mean he's hardly going to come out and say something negative is he? For all we know, jack grealish may know an absolute shower of shite in terms of football players so Westwood might not be up against much. In fact, quite right you are: he has spent years at villa. So he will know a hell of a lot of dross. Either way, jack grealish words are not confirmation that those who question westwood's talents, are wrong. ? :r

Had a similar tackle done on me about 18 months ago, torn anterior ligament. 3 months off work, 5 months off football. Let's hope he turned out of the tackle a bit and it's not that bad.

I thought he did quite well, looks to go forward, prefers to run at a player rather than pass around them and looks for a diagonal pass (one of which I really thought Tekkers would score from). Plus he takes perfect corners, I'd have him in the team just for that after watching Cleverly smash them at the first defenders shins.

He hasn't looked remotely the same since his injury. He might still try running at defenders but they seem to always know where he's going and always be faster than him. He looks a good stone overweight as well

I truly hate Weimann