MackHaakon

Huge fan of this young man, I believe he has the potential to become a terrific player. Very intelligent footballer, and seems to me to have all the right tools to make it in the PL.  Sadly seems to be extremely injury prone.

If fit, he must surely be in Lambert's plans for the cup game.

Drop Westwood or El Ahmadi depending on formation, bring in Gary Gardner and let him play on a consistent basis if fit.  We desperately need some quality in midfield.

Lots of effort, no talent.

Ugh

I don't agree the stick Benteke is getting. He had several decent attempts at goal and tried to actually pass to his teammates. The level of players around him are awful (bar Gabby), and if he would be getting better service he would play better.

The problem today was midfield and fullbacks. The lack of skill in our midfield force us to play the hoofballs which are hard to do something with.

Pretty average display by our standards

I think our current problems on the pitch is down to the players (lack of) ability/ form compared to the opposition, more than the tactic Lambert and his staff try to implement.

It sounds obvious, but if our players were better, we would play better. Poor technical ability (compared to opposition) and lack of footballing intelligence can wreck even the best laid plans.

The players can develop and become better of course, as can team cohesiveness and understanding. We have a very young and inexperienced squad, and this has been Lamberts choice and strategy - which he has had to implement with limited finance.

And given our financial retraints, it's probably our best shot at becoming a real contender for the top positions in the long run. I think our chance is that several players reach their peaks at approx the same time, and have played together for a period of time to develop a good understanding on the pitch. That would make us less vulnerable to the inevitable sale of the occasional "star player".

Very concerning that a team like Southampton (as good as they are) can walk over us so easy. It was embarrassing watching it on the tele.

Its surprising that we are now only 3 points behind Southampton in the league; but actually on the pitch were a million miles behind.

 

The lads did fantastic to get the points; cant take it away from them; but the game just proves we are only getting further and further away from the top half of the league.

We are the new Stoke. Hold on for dear life. Hit the ball long every opportunity. Hope something comes of it.

 

Like I said though; great to get the three points; cant take it away from them especially when we wasn't expecting to get anything.

This

 

Southampton with 77% of possession !? Do we have any players in this team with a combination of brain AND skills!?

Blimey that is shit. Still winning though, but what worries me is that we are just as bad at keeping the ball at home.

 

Indeed, and more frustrating of course as we usually expect to control games at home

Southampton with 77% of possession !? Do we have any players in this team with a combination of brain AND skills!?

I've been really impressed with Southampton so far. Not because of results - as any team can hit a vein of luck particularly at the start of the season - but because of how they play. Fluid, flowing passing with lots of flair and high tempo. 

Also, their high pressure has been very effective from what I've seen.

They will probably control about 60% of possession and I'm guessing outcreate, outshoot and outscore us. 

3-0 saints

Laursen in his prime was ridiculously good, and losing him to injury was clearly a massive massive blow.  At his peak, probably one of the best defenders in Europe.

He radiated an intensity and authority that just dominated everyone around him.

Ah, I miss those times..

Delighted with the win. Poor 1st half, confidence grew after the first goal.

I completely agree with those suggesting dropping El Ahmadi, bringing Lowton back in at right back and starting to play Bacuna at CM.

The Westwood/ El Ahmadi combo contributes very little in the final third, and we need to have some sort of attacking threat from the centre of midfield.

And Vlaar is a fantastic defender.

We really should beat Cardiff at home.

But in fact, due to our general crapness they may actually dominate possesion, create more chances and win the game. And all hell will break loose on villatalk.

On the other hand, imagine if this is the day Tonev manages to hit the target and scores two screamers, Helenius and Benteke tiki-takas their way through Cardiff's defence, and Delph produces a surging run with an actual end-product.  

Above all else I would like us to play some good confident we're-at-home football.

We rely too much on pace on the counter attack and Benteke's hold-up play.

It's fine that we utilise our strengths but it hands over all the initiative to the other team, and mentally we seem to be underdogs whoever we play.

IMO, we need midfielders/tactic enabling us to control possesion in the opposition's half.

Vlaar MOM.

Are we playing better football now than under Mcleish?

We are just a bad football team with very average players, specially in midfield. Horrible to watch.

Well, fully deserved loss.

As has been pointed out for several seasons - we lack a central midfield player able to initiate possession in the final third. That would allow us to move the whole team forward and control games, and avoid the superhectic, stressed up direct football we're playing atm.

Absolutely abysmal going forward. My eyes are bleeding.

Solid defending.

Weimann needs to get his concentration level up, he looks unfocused and uninspired. His game is all anout energy and when it's not there he doesn't offer much.

Westwood seems frustrated.

3 points there for the taking, just need to raise the quality of passes and movement.

We were absolutely clueless going forward. No ideas, no quality.

I don't enjoy it but I still have to do it. I am looking for signs that a group of young players will reach their peak at approximately the same time - due to luck, hard and intelligent work or a combination. When that happens, I'll enjoy it. 

Right now, with Benteke so far ahead of everyone else in the team, there will be a setback when we sell him next summer. There will be a transition period after that, and much depends on how much we get for him and how well we use that money to reinvest.

He is not as concrete as I hoped he would be, that's for sure. We really need a new Martin Laursen, a player that due to a combination of attributes is almost unbeatable in the air. Really hoping Okore brings some of those skills to the team.

Congrats to Bradford, what an adventure they are having.

I don't care though, cause I'm a (drunk) Villa fan and will suffer with the team, tonight - and as long as it takes.

UTV.

He seems very low on confidence. Sometimes I wonder if he gets some sort of anxiety attacks during games. I think there are some skills hidden in there which could (Maybe) flourish in a successful team. But at the moment he is not mentally prepared to play for a club in the PL, let alone for a club in crisis such as ours.

Hope he proves us all wrong though.