Ponky Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Frustrating thing is as soon as we started to play with a bit of width we looked dangerous. We spent the first 70 minutes trying to poke holes in their defence with ridiculous speculative long balls that just gifted the ball to the opposition. As soon as we started to play it out to the wing backs on the edge of the square to cross it in we looked a threat, and we had several big chances. I gave MOTM to Guzan. He, Vlaar and possibly Baker were the only ones to really play up to their minimum standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Wanted more from this, but with all left wing backs, Delph and Gabby out, not a bad result. Several spurned chances by us, this remains the most worrying problem. Actually, that's the least worrying problem. If you create chances but narrowly miss, as per Benteke 2nd half, then eventually they'll start to go in. If you can't stop shipping goals then that's the time to worry. We look pretty solid in that respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 We didn't set out to be negative? 3 CB's and 3 DM's? Seems the epitome of negative to me. It's what has bugged me more than anything. 3 CBs as required. Or would you have preferred to have lost to a free-kick or corner, but at least not looked like we were set up to be defensive? Who says Westwood, Sylla and KEA are DMs? Surely they pick themselves as the 3 best CMs? Isa would say its Westwood's job to protect the midfield. Which he doesn't do. Which means he shouldn't play for us. Actually Westwood himself says it's his job to protect the defence. Who am I to argue with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Just 3 points off the bottom 3. One more loss could see us in it!!! Have you seen Palace, Norwich and Sunderland? They are all shite. Relax we will not go down. We wont get top 10 either but there you go. And we are what? SIX HOURS without a goal ffs. Also haven't conceded in our last 3 away games. Goals win games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cizzler Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 They threw balls into our box, yet they had 0 strikers. We just didn't need 3 CB's. If you're going to put 3 in there, move Vlaar in front of them at least. So negative considering West Ham's recent record. We had to play 3-5-2 because it's the only formation we are familiar with and our two left back's are injured. Everyone saw how shite Baker was there against Everton. Lambert didn't want Downing to have that opportunity. So 3-5-2. As for Vlaar in defensive midfield? What a bizarre and pointless suggestion. What difference would it have made?! He was our best defender and depressingly started most of our attacks from deep cos he was the only defender calm enough on the ball to attempt to pass it out on occasion. I'm not saying play him there, please read. I'm saying that our manager should have some nous and see that we didn't need 3 CB's and push him on a little bit. As you said, he was our only player today with a bit of presence on the ball. We needed more presence going forward. As much as I have defended Lambert, he doesn't seem to know how to change a game. We didn't need to play 3-5-2 today. You say we couldn't play Baker at LB and that's the reason we played 3-5-2, yet we still played Bacuna at LWB. Kinda invalidates your argument a tad doesn't it? We should have been more positive. Guzan, Lowton, Clark, Vlaar, Bacuna, Sylla, Westy, KEA, Tonev, Benteke, Weimann. The 4-3-3 has been proven to work away from home. Why change it to respect a frankly terrible, negative West Ham side? I'm not completely sure of Bacuna's natural position but it's certainly not left back. Sticking him there in the 4-3-3 formation would have been suicidal. Luna is consistently exposed in that formation and it's he's been playing there all his career. Tonev would have offered no protection and Downing would have ripped Bacuna to shreds. Whereas in the 3-5-2, when he was beaten, which he frequently was, Baker was often there to protect him and block the cross. I still don't really see your point of pushing Vlaar in front of our centre backs. Westwood was playing there. If the idea is to pressure them further up the pitch, then I agree with the intent. I'm really not sure your more positive formation would have yielded a better result. Personally, I just don't think we have the players to break teams down and win games. I think we are resoundingly shit. We rely on individual moments from Benteke or Gabby or defensive errors. The optimism I felt after the first two fixtures has well and truly vanished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Goals win games. They also win them for the other team, which is why it's a good thing we're not conceding them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roonst83 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Worst performance of the season (well, on a par with Hull) today. I'd be much more disappointed if we'd played Kiel we did today with Delph, Luna and Gabby so hopefully these vid will be back next week. We couldn't string any passes together and gave the ball away carelessly so much. Fortunately West ham carried no threat at all else we wouldn't been in trouble.Noone except Benteke ever looks like scoring for us and its increasingly difficult for him to score as he's heavily marked and we seemingly posess no service to him. I thought Lowton did okay on his return and offers more going forward. I'd like to see him start next week.Back to a week trying to train the boys how to win at home. Need 3points against Cardiff and a performance like against Everton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Just 3 points off the bottom 3. One more loss could see us in it!!! Have you seen Palace, Norwich and Sunderland? They are all shite. Relax we will not go down. We wont get top 10 either but there you go. And we are what? SIX HOURS without a goal ffs. Also haven't conceded in our last 3 away games. Goals win games. No shit. I was just pointing out that while we're not scoring much at the moment, we're also not conceding. Relegation teams tend to score few and concede lots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Bit sad we're not scoring much this season, despite having exactly the same front three as we did last season in the majority of our games. Who'd have predicted back then that we'd have a solid defence and no goals? Maybe Lambert took all those comments about not being able to organise a defence at any point in his career a little too personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnbull Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 After an awful 1st half, a lot better 2nd. At least we were relatively tight looking at the back, but why we took so long to start getting crosses into the box, I don't know. Vlaar MOTM for me, solid as a solid thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heid3ster Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 No excuses, no positives, no bright sides, at least none I have to offer. That was a horrible game of football from both sides. Depressing to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCAM Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I'm glad to not lose, we weren't full strength, we kept a clean sheet... Still not enthusiastic about this season, we've been awful for the main part. Our good days have been overtaken by our poor days. Most of our players are 'under performing'...but the consistence of this under performing makes me think a lot of them are just playing at their actual level. This is problem with buying young players from lower leagues, they're a huge gamble and even when the gamble pays off (Westwood and Lowton last season) it's unlikely that they keep it up. We need to pick up at least 5 wins between now and New Year, when considering our opponents. Anything less and we will be struggling come May. We are unlucky that Benteke is out of form at the same time as Wiemann... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 solid as a solid thing. My favorite comment in this thread. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) I'm glad to not lose, we weren't full strength, we kept a clean sheet... Still not enthusiastic about this season, we've been awful for the main part. Our good days have been overtaken by our poor days. Most of our players are 'under performing'...but the consistence of this under performing makes me think a lot of them are just playing at their actual level. This is problem with buying young players from lower leagues, they're a huge gamble and even when the gamble pays off (Westwood and Lowton last season) it's unlikely that they keep it up. We need to pick up at least 5 wins between now and New Year, when considering our opponents. Anything less and we will be struggling come May. We are unlucky that Benteke is out of form at the same time as Wiemann... Periods of bad form aren't exclusive to lower league players. Edited November 2, 2013 by Mantis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Biro Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Had to follow via twitter etc this afternoon, sounded like an incredibly negative approach from us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaForever1970 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Last season: Moan we're shit at defending. This season: Better at defending, moaning about not scoring. Result: Villa fans have to **** moan about something! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) Poor starting team from Lambert and odd tactics not to change it apart from the enforced change. Really not good enough and dire entertainment. Edited November 2, 2013 by Brumstopdogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) Last season: Moan we're shit at defending. This season: Better at defending, moaning about not scoring. Result: Villa fans have to **** moan about something! But going from one extreme to another isn't really any of any benefit. Edited November 2, 2013 by Isa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnkarl Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Good defense, shite offense. Now to balance the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Wanted more from this, but with all left wing backs, Delph and Gabby out, not a bad result. Several spurned chances by us, this remains the most worrying problem. Actually, that's the least worrying problem. If you create chances but narrowly miss, as per Benteke 2nd half, then eventually they'll start to go in. If you can't stop shipping goals then that's the time to worry. We look pretty solid in that respect. Except at home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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