villaglint

What is interesting about the Countinho link (if true) is that even if we don't get him it is unlikely he will be the only player of that calibre and type on the list.

Remember when we bought Benteke we were supposedly also in contact with Wilfred Bony

For

Strength and Power - it is N'Zogbia all the way

Work rate and general reliability - Holman

Technique and vision - Ireland

If we could mould them all we would have a hell of player but alas we are stuck with what we've got which is three players who all bring major flaws.

N'Zogbia - is a headless chicken who often displays surprisingly poor technique in terms of his general control and hold up play.

Ireland is pretty static for an attacking mid (I know he runs around a lot but very rarely does he run with the ball). That's fine, its just not his game but I do think this is why he often drifts in games and doesn't pose a great threat to defences.

Holman is a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous, probably the best of the lot right now but he needed a rest.

Sorry I don't see what people are seeing in his performance last night. Sure, he did a lot of running. But for me his running was predictable in that it was always (bar once) into dead ends resulting in him losing possession. I can only remember that one occasion where one of his dribbles amounted to anything. He got to the byline and laid it back for Gabby to take a shot that brought a very good save from Duke.

Zog was style over substance and we can't afford to have that on the pitch. If he was actually achieving something then fine, but he's not. I'd much prefer to have Ireland threading through balls for Weimann and Benteke in that position 'in the hole' rather than having someone who thinks he can take on the whole team on his own time and time again.

Accept your point but wasn't his through ball to Bent on Saturday just the type of thing you are talking about. I had hoped that this would be Ireland's forte but for one reason or another it hasn't happened.

At least N'Zogbia causes them problems through running at them, (creates space for others and causes the defense more problems) if we could somehow get him to pass or shoot at the right time (something I and others felt he did in the first half) I can see him being maybe more effective than Ireland has of late in that role.

He is - for whatever reason - a very intensely nervous character who plays with brittle confidence and lacks self belief big time. What we saw for twenty minutes last night was the real CNZ which is a player who is not only confident in running at players but one who is confident enough to get an effort on goal at the end of it. In the second half we saw the CNZ we've seen 99% of his time here which is a player who can and will run at players but who lacks the confidence to pull the trigger or to make a decision about who to cross to or how ..... that CNZ will simply run with his head down until he gets crowded out with nothing to show for his efforts.

Lambert needs to somehow get into his head and say I don't want you to pass, I want you to run, beat one or two but then get your head up and shoot. If you shoot and miss, get up and do it again next time and the time after and keep doing it because goals will come.

He needs self belief and he needs the encouragement to play his game with the fear of failure somehow removed.

I think it makes a difference that in the first half he was playing through the middle, similar to where he played for Wigan and clearly where he is most comfortable. In the second half we went to 4-4-2 and it was a performance more reminiscent of most of his time with Villa.

I disagree though that all you want him to do is shoot. I desperately want him to pass, if we play him through the middle we should be saying to him beat and man and find a pass from the gap you have created. He did that really well to start with and also got off a few shots. If he can build on that he might have a future here after all

Even though he was frustrating at times I actually thought that was his best performance in Villa shirt by some distance.

Looks so much more threatening than Ireland in that role, has ability to really cause problems. He is too greedy at times, at the beginning it looked like Lambert had really drilled into to him to be looking for a pass but towards the end he reverted to type a bit.

However I think if we can get everything behind him sorted there is goals with him, Benteke, Gabby, Weimann and Bent on the pitch. Main worry is none of them have excellent technique so sometimes we do find the ball coming back at us quite a bit which is not good bearing in mind how paper thin our defence is.

Did they say he has scored 8 in his last 11 games?

Brilliant return if that is true especially when he hasn't even always been playing upfront.

Very poor again last night. He looks all at sea at the moment. Got schooled by Hansen.

I can still remember a day when prospects with potential used to learn their trade out on loan with clubs or by coming on late in games and bedding in slowly.

Why on earth do we have a whole team learning their trade at the same time in the f**king Premier League??

OK so Bennett has a few games now so I think it fair to make an initial judgement.

He looks extremely skilful to me - one of the very few players in our squad who can actually go past someone.

His defending looks pretty woeful and he has a lot to learn in this area - obviously a large part of this is down to his lack of experience at the top level.

Question is whether he grows into this position and retains his good attacking instincts - can he grow into our Baines?

Or does he make so many mistakes at the back that he are forced to rethink and he doesn't get the chance to develop that side of his game?

You can apply this same question to several other players too...

It'll be interesting to see how he prioritises the Bradford and Southampton games. Merson made the point on Soccer Saturday that the Saints game is now 100 times bigger than the cup game and this makes his team selections awkward. Do you risk going out to a League 2 side by putting a weakened team out against them? Or do you go into both games with the same team and hope they're not too tired on the Saturday*.

*remember you don't necessarily need to be tired, you just need to be more tired than Southampton.

Yep I'm with Sutherland - we have major injuries and our team is really down to the bare bones. Lambert has pretty much zero choice as to who he plays in defence at the moment, same upfront. He has literally one or two options in midfield but realistically they are all of a similar quality so don't really see any one set being weaker than the others.

Really, really isn't a CB - been at fault for a hat full of goals since he has played there. I know we are short with injuries but surely our youth/reserve CB's are a better bet? At least they know the position.

The start of the Swansea game was painful to watch and the Herd/Clark partnership looked novice to say the least.

I actually feel sorry for Herd because I think this little run of games is going to spell the end of his PL career and he's not even playing in his proper position.

This was a big year for Clark as he got the backing of the manager to play consistently in his favoured position.

I remember BOF saying after the Everton game when Clark was very poor that he was the better bet over Dunne since he was likely to make fewer clangers in the future as opposed to Dunne who was likely to make more.

I think that was a fair argument but the number of major mistakes he has made which have led to goals is now very high and you have to start to question whether he is any good?

The first 20 mins yesterday we really embarrassing - maybe even more so than the Chelsea and Wigan games. They made us look like a pub team. Of course it isn't all Clarks fault but he has a long way to come back from this in my eyes.

Not sure Lichaj is too safe - this new formation demands the full backs really push on and give the team width. Otherwise were playing with 5 at the back and sitting too deep.

I like Lichaj but for me he doesn't look comfortable in this role. Look forward to seeing if Bennett can offer us something similar to what Lowton does on right

I yearn for the day when we can get a regular flow of crosses into the box. Weimann is actually really good in the air and Beneteke aint half bad either

Bent and Benteke can't play together proberly being one reason.

.

They looked all right against Swansea - Bent set up a sitter that Benteke missed and then set up his goal. Bent has done well when playing with a "big man" in the past so I don't see any reason to right it off just because we lost to Southampton heavily. The implosion in that game was not Bents fault.

And yes Gabby does offer better protection down the flanks and yes I do think 4-3-2-1 is our best formation however if we are going to play with a top 2 as we did on Sat find it strange that Bent doesn't get a look in.

Which is all to miss the point...I wasn't trying to say that Gabby is worse than Bent. Rather that Gabby needs competition for his place...

Seeing as nobody else is talking about this I'll bring it up.

Gabby has been pretty garbage ever since the Utd game - his inconsistency really is killing us and has done for a long long time.

Everyone is happy to dig into Holman, Ireland etc but Gabby gives the ball away far more often.

So annoying because he has the ability to tear teams apart but we only see it 1 every 10 games if that. Starting to think we only see it when teams get there tactics wrong and give him too much space.

I know why he is in the team - because of the threat his pace gives us. But if Lambert is truly picking on form and not names then I don't know why Bent didn't get a look in on Sat especially as we were playing 2 up front.

He has made a couple of poor decisions in good position recently (missing the pass to Holman being one) however remember he is a striker and not an attacking midfielder. I am not surprised his through balls arent up to scratch because his real strength is his clever movement and finding a yard in the box.

He works hard and is a threat going forward - when he calms down in front if goal I can see him being a real asset for us.

I thought we played all right tonight - good in patches and pretty nervy at other times.

One thing for sure is we look much more solid with current set up and even capable of scoring the odd goal.

I think we will start to slowly creep up the table - league is so damn tough though unless we get someone who makes a big difference in Jan (which I think it unlikely) it is still going to be tight as come the end of the season.

Yep - not one of his greatest performances and you can tell he knew that himself.

Thought he looked nervy which translated to the rest of the team.

On the plus side though we look infinitely better with him and Westwood in the centre of the park. Keeping the ball and building the play with short passes on the ground, which used to look virtually impossible, now seems a bit more achievable.

Did you not see the Utd game on Saturday BOF? There is absolutely no way we are getting relegated.

Unless that is we lose 2-0 or worse against City and then it is a near certainty I'm afraid...

Ah, the system. The maginificent system that has brought us huge success this season. We are 17th in the table, we have scored a measly 10 goals in 11 games. Our form is bad, we are 17th there as well. Only 4 teams have scored less than us and we have Arsenal and Man City up next.

I would say the system Lambert has used thus far has been a huge failure, our worst start in ages in fact. I would accept Darren Bent being benched if we played well, but nobody can possibly blame one of the best goalscorers in the Premier League for not fitting into the system when the results have been so incredibly bad as they have been.

Yes but the system of playing Benteke upfront on his own with two wide attacking players has only been used in 4 games.

City away which we won.

Swindon away which we won.

Sunderland away which we won.

Utd home which we lost.

That is why people are saying Bent doesnt fit. As Benteke (beast that he is) fits very well into this system.

Completely agree that the narrow 4 in midfield wasn't working and that's why we are sitting so low in the table.

But the current system does seem to suit us and fairly obviously should be kept!

He's been unlucky. What with the off the line v Swindon and off the post last night to name but 2

Hit post vs Everton and Swansea too

No idea how he played yesterday as I didnt see the game.

However just putting this out there - he has started every game we have won this season. Bearing in mind those games have been few and far between maybe he deserves a more extended run.

Also think playing 1 up front with two wide atackers may suit us better. Seems to get best out of Gabby and give us more number in midfield where we have been really struggling. Maybe Weimann can be that other wide attacker?

Worth watching for his run against Ajax alone

Bizarely I was thinking about young Jordan just this morning.

I read a report of Gerrard evangelising over Raheem Sterling and thought how easily he could not be involved this season. Many a manager would have given him a few more years in reserves to help them bed into senior football. Took a lot of vision from Rodgers to see he was ready now.

I was wondering who could make that same kind of impact for us and Jordan Graham is the obvious option. Grealish maybe a bit more experienced but he doesnt have the trickery or pace that Graham does.

His skill level is frightening and would be something for any defender to be worried about even in Prem. As Andy rightly says though he could easily fizzle out into nothing at this stage in his career.

I just wonder though... we are so desperate in our team for someone who can go past a player. Maybe he is worth a go on the bench and give him the odd 10 mins here and there to see what he can do

----------------Guzan--------------

Lowton -- Vlaar -- Herd --Lichaj

----------El Ahmadi --------------

Ireland ------------Holman-------

Weimann----------Gabby--------

-----------Bent---------------------

The way I see it the only way we can score some goals is to fill the team with attacking players and hope we can hang on to a lead by working hard and not conceding too many.

seemed to work against City in last round

Last year after we lost to Bolton I really thought we were going down and I felt sick.

This season if it is to happen I feel like I'll have the whole season to get used to the idea which in a way makes me feel a bit better.

Still a long way to go but if we do stay up it will be a monumental effort from Lambert