VillanousOne

Can't fault the effort - but the quality of play is again absolutely dire - lost count how many times we end up turning attack into defence or the ball ends up with Brad 'hoof it straight to the opposition' Guzan. Or ridiculous long balls into the channels where no-one is running into. Lambert will probably say we were excellent and deserved to win. Also considering Swansea's size and budget - how many foreign players have they got that no-one has ever heard of yet seem compentent and comfortable on the ball? Yet we can't rustle up two players like that?

Guzan hoofing it to no one not helping

why can't we **** keep possession??????

Ok seeing as I am bored I am going to list all the factors in my opinion that are hurting this club: 1) Form: Gabby, Benteke and Weimann all being woefully out of form or injured - they are the focal point of our team - all our attacks and creativity comes via those three players as we have nothing in midfield to create anything. Their form/fitness is not Lambert's fault but the lack of a competent midfield or plan B is. Also whilst Clark has pushed on Baker has gone backwards and to a lesser extent so has Lowton, Westwood and Sylla. KEA has offered something - just arguably not enough. But everything which was good and consistent about our team last season has now faded aside from Guzan, Clark and Vlaar within occasional flashes of Delph. 2) Limited and reactive tactics: Lambert changes the team and tactics every game, you can partially understand why because it's a results business after all - but the players that do play must struggle to understand their roles and the system they are meant to play week in week out, so few leaders and so little experience - no wonder half the players look like they don't know what they are doing. Look at Delph trying and failing to pass to Tonev v Stoke, utter comedy, you'd think the two players had never met before. Also for some reason when we do play well it is usually for 20-45 mins, we seem incapable of making a single set of core tactics work for 90 mins. 3) Lack of depth: Last season when we lost key players like Vlaar and Benteke to injury or rested players in the cup our football also when to shite - because without our key players we look like a league one side. This hasn't changed. Kozak might have added a little depth to our front line but again he's not the sort of player who is going to create and score his own chances like Benteke did (when he was good) so playing Kozak without width or creativity isn't the best option. Bacuna has added depth despite some bad performances of late, Luna and Tonev have offered nothing better than what we had already, and who knows with Helenius? 4) Substitutions - Lambert still makes them too late or choses the likes of Bowery and Bacuna to turn a game around when we are losing. He also always brings on the same players - never gambling on players that might actually make a difference. 5) Suspensions - Because we seem to have lost the ability to play football properly, our passing is poor our first touch non-existent and our possession retention laughable - thus we end up picking up so many yellow cards because our players are constantly chasing the game and trying to win back possession with moody tackles. 6) Injuries - I have not known a season where so many players have been injured so frequently, plus having Okore and N'Zogbia ruled out so early has really limited our options and Tekkers injured/psychologically messed up is crucial to where we are now (yeah the sudden knee injury thing isn't the full story in my opinion anyway). Lambert can't be blamed for that. Even Bennett has failed to kick a ball in anger - which most would be happy with if Luna was actually any good. Even Albrighton and Herd have come back into the equation and no-one would have predicted that in the summer!!!!! 7) No voices: And finally to repeat slightly - we have so little leadership and experience in the team. Guzan can marshall the defence to an extent and Vlaar helps when fit but the rest of the team look like rabbits in headlights. Gabby has experience and talent, but he barely says a word to his team mates, in fact most of our team only seem to communicate when a pass intended for them goes straight to the opposition for the 50th time. The thing that alarms me is people are starting to think that if we had our first choice eleven playing now things would be different, obviously the odds would be better, but about 8 games in we where playing with that first choice eleven and we were still bloody awful. When Benteke was fit we went through a 4/5 game period where is was just Guzan hoofing it to Benteke and sod all in between. My only hope is from the pain and tribulations of recent months Lambert starts to understand the weaknesses and strengths in our squad. If he thinks we can go back to 433, counter attacking and hoofball when everyone is fit - then we are doomed to relegation.

so is there any combination of any players anyone believes will get us an actual victory? i'm going with Lambert's dream line up: Guzan Bowery - Bowery - Bowery - Bowery Bowery - Bowery - Bowery Bowery - Bowery - Bowery if Bowery isn't fit then play Bowery and bring on Bowery as an impact sub

This can't be passed off as just a blip, we have been in an alarming decline for months now, whereas last season we could attack well but not defend this season we've failed to do either. Lambert has to do the honourable thing and resign, he's had enough money and time to do a better job than this.

Saviour? No. Better than Clark (who, to be fair, has improved) and Baker? Absolutely. Why buy him otherwise? Does that make him first choice, despite his lack of experience? Yes. The point is we only presume he is better than Clark, we don't actually know. Vlaar and Clark has been a pretty decent central partnership, the issues are more around if they get injured we are screwed and our left backs are terrible.

i do laugh at this assumption that Okore would have instantly been first choice had he not got injured - people forget he is young and this is his first season in the Prem league. I am sure he will be a great signing - but marking him up as the saviour of our defence after about 20 mins played is just insane.

Berson was actually a very decent player. Makoun

I don't think many could deny Kozak will be a good player for us, he just needs a consistent team around him. Also the fact Benteke is so bad at the moment makes many willing to sell him. I think though the only way we will get some quality and experience in the team is to cash in on Tekkers, but the big question is will Lerner let Lambo spend the money, and will Lambo choose to if he could? Okore and Kozak were 4m plus signings, so even if lambert opts for that level of signing in jam then there is some hope

Risso, I am counting the last three games as the bad spell. There are two home games and six points to seize this week, we can get our confidence back with two quick fire wins. because we play even better at home

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/astonvilla/id/1248?&cc=5739 interesting piece

most fans are at a level where are expectations are non existent for a club our size we now strive to be a mid table team that plays reasonable passing football and is occasionally able to go on a decent cup run, no-one expects to win week in week out but everyone does expect us to at least try and get the footballing basics right. Finishing between 9-13th and not being the new Stoke is literally our dream these days as well as avoiding relegation battles every season. Yet our team is 30% league one quality, 30% championship quality, 40% prem quality (at a push). If Lerner cares then he has to a) Turn up Stop punishing Lambert and the fans for his/the clubs past managerial and financial mistakes I hate gambling with bigger name signings and more expensive wages, I would always rather we did things gradually with younger players and lower risk signings - but it isn't **** working. We should be looking at one mid level experienced signing to every two lower risk signings we make and the occasional experienced loan player in the mix. You need something to sustain you while you build everything else. We are now falling behind every other club in the premiership with our miserly signings, i bet you Palace, Hull and Cardiff will spend more than us in Jan.

The past awful financial and managerial decisions of the club can't be the only reason to keep a manager....... no matter who he is. We have focused a lot on the injuries and suspensions but when we have had our first choice team on the pitch we have still been really awful, for some reason when we did have our full attacking three in place it was all about hoof ball and we lacked width, other times we have just given the ball away or had no first touch in key areas (playing triangles at the back then hoofing it is pointless) we have also been backing off too much and giving opposition players too much room and possession. Lambert has to look at the squad and realise what strengths we have at the moment and play to those, in truth I just don't think he has a clue what our strengths are. And I agree with many posters, after the initial five games we have been lucky to not lose more games. Where we are now is thoroughly deserved, we really are that bad and the results are reflecting just that.

You make it sound like it's a small amount of money. well in todays terms it's not

It sounds like the main issue with our current crop is none of them are physical enough to deal with the Premiership, although I always though if a play is quick footed enough and can move the ball on at speed they don't need to be a hard tackling behemoth. The one thing we know is that for all his 'young hungry players who want to be here' bullshit - Lambert has shown absolutely no faith in the youngsters we have coming through, maybe rightfully so because they are not good enough. From the last crop we have managed to get a half decent player out of Clark and if he returns to form Weimann, at a push Albrighton if he stays fit...... the rest are either rubbish or injured too often. So far the loan crop haven't done anything to suggest they are good enough, not saying they won't but as it stands the loans haven't shown us anything. Delf is so good Blackpool barely ever play him, Carruthers rarely starts also, Grealish has shown glimpses...........at an awful league one club.

Getting rid of Collins was an odd one, i mean was he really on that much money? Also I know most of us disliked Hutton and his hospital tackles, but i really think he should have been kept as an option until sold. All Lambert has managed so far is pay a player the same high wages for doing nothing, same with Given until recently. Making Bent captain and then suddenly deciding you don't like him and freezing him out in favour of Jordan Bowery is criminal. All Lambert has done is taken a player with some transfer value and reduce him to nothing. We can argue till we are all blue in the face about Bent not fitting our 'system of play' but my god Lambert changes that 'system of play' every damn week and love him or hate him Bent did score goals. If we had at least kept him involved we might have been able to actually sell him. Not keeping Cuellar was also odd, i am sure if Lambert had played him more when he was here and offered him a short term deal on reduced wages he would have stayed. Again with Ireland, Bannan and Nzogbia - when fit they all had very short stints in the team as Lambert chopped and changed every week, all were deemed not good enough. And I agree to some extent, Ireland has never been the player we hoped for, Bannan is average, Zog is frustrating. But he has never brought in better or even equivalent options. Westwood and KEA as signings were ok, but in an ideal world KEA would have been a squad player and Westwood would have also been a back up player we would have brought through slowly. They are both low impact players who are mostly workhorses. They need someone with leadership round them. Lowton and Bacuna aren't bad signings, both deserve to start or be on the bench. We've had far worse right backs than these two. As for left back, yes Warnock was mostly shite - but i'd take him over Luna and Bennett. We know Tekkers was a great signing, so was Vlaar (well eventually) and for the most part Lambert has got the best out of Gabby, Weimann, Delph, Clark and Guzan. Kozak I still think is a good signing but maybe not the one we needed at the right time. Tonev and Bowery are atrocious signings, whilst not playing Helenius remains a mystery. Baker and Herd again are work horses with very little brain or defensive ability. Great to see Albrighton back, but no idea when/if Lambert will gamble on Gardener or the generation below. We never replaced Young, Milner, Downing or Petrov with anything remotely similar. 50% of our squad would have been deemed not good enough by the club/fans if you go back 5 years or more. if we carry on getting injuries to our best players every week along with suspensions and total drops in player form - we will get relegated.

Lambert has been hamstrung by a number of factors. But even so, his transfer decisions and tactics have been questionable most of the time. It's clear that Lerner isn't going to throw money at the situation or sack Lambert, so unless the fans start to demonstrate in some way - then its going to be years or playing russian roulette with relegation until we get relegated. Randy seems to be all about damage limitation these days, he clearly doesn't want us to be relegated but he doesn't care if we finish one point above relegation every year - as long as the books are balanced.

I genuinely don't think I have seen a squad as bad as the one we have now.

"I thought we were excellent in the first half. The wind was very strong but even in the second half we had chances. It was a very close game," Lambert told reporters after the match. "We thought when we got it 1-1 that we might have gone on. We will go again. I don't think we deserved to lose." utter baloney

"I thought we were excellent in the first half. The wind was very strong but even in the second half we had chances. It was a very close game," Lambert told reporters after the match. "We thought when we got it 1-1 that we might have gone on. We will go again. I don't think we deserved to lose." the guy is more deluded than McCleish was

how shit does it have to get before change happens???????????? can someone add the plastic bag to the man of match survey, it out did everyone of our team

wow Bacuna for Albrighton, genius

The plastic bag on the pitch is our best player

its all in Lambert's 12 year plan to mediocrity