Ratings and Reactions: Villa 1-1 Swansea

[Vincenzo]

From the BBC website-

'Villa manager Paul Lambert is becoming accustomed to such jeers ringing in his ears, with his team also heckled after the 1-0 Boxing Day defeat by Crystal Palace'

Why don't they mention that the vast, vast, majority of Villa fans have given Lambert total backing for 18 months and have been served up mostly garbage at home bar the odd amazing result? Why do we get this repuation as boo boys? Lambert would have got hell's abuse at many clubs by now.Grump.

The popular media are clueless. I was there for QPR at home last season. We won that game because the fans refused to accept relegation and pushed and pushed and pushed the team to succeed. Boo boys my arse, we have had hopeless football at home now for years and

I agree, the crowd tried to lift the team in the second half against Swansea but the ones who boo are all the media will report

Only way to stop those reports is to cut out the booing

Too many though think it is their right to boo, like it's gonna help the team!

Edited December 29, 2013 by Vincenzo

[Harry]

 

I noticed a few times Luna appeared to be calling Tonev to drop deep and help him out.

 

Luna is a poor defender but to be fair to him he gets absolutely no help from whoever is playing in front of him. As for Tonev, he looks like one of the worst players to ever pull on the claret and blue. Woeful. Maybe the manager sees something in him in training but given how bad he has been so far this season he surely is on a short rope.

 

I seriously doubt Lambert would recognise a good player if he punched him on the nose. Tonev is useless as is Luna. I think Bennett is a better player with more potential but try telling that to the fans who booed him at every opportunity.

[VillaAndLoyal]

 

Swansea fans have every right to be hugely disappointed not to pick up maximum points.

Why? For all their pretty football they managed the same number of shots on target as us.

 

 

If you really need me to answer that then I fear for your sanity. But, alas, I'm pretty confident you're just trying to point score. If you watched the match you'd know they had battered us, which doesn't just take into account shots on target..

[briny_ear]

Swansea fans will be disappointed that, despite giving Villa a tutorial in how to play flowing football, they lacked the cutting edge to convert their superiority on the pitch into a win.

 

Villa fans will be...er...disappointed.

[8pints]

Swansea can have Darren Bent.

[nobler]

Although they lack cutting edge at the moment, Swansea have all the fundamentals of a very good team; they largely do the simple things well, good shape and movement, have an identity and have players that can pass a ball and create chances; they possibly have a bit of a soft underbelly but they only really need to add one or two here and there to be a pretty established mid to europa league chasing team. We on the other hand aren't even anything currently, we don't possess any of the mentioned qualities and I think we are a few years behind them. 

 

They've made some excellent decisions at board level, whereas we've made disastrous ones. I'm stating the obvious, I suppose. 

[The_Lions_Roar]

Swansea fans have every right to be hugely disappointed not to pick up maximum points.

Why? For all their pretty football they managed the same number of shots on target as us.

If you really need me to answer that then I fear for your sanity. But, alas, I'm pretty confident you're just trying to point score. If you watched the match you'd know they had battered us, which doesn't just take into account shots on target..

I was at the game and yes they had a lot of the ball but ultimately ended with the same as us. They didn't deserve to win the game, I'm just bewildered at the myth about possession meaning you should win a game.

[Raver50032]

From the BBC website-

'Villa manager Paul Lambert is becoming accustomed to such jeers ringing in his ears, with his team also heckled after the 1-0 Boxing Day defeat by Crystal Palace'

Why don't they mention that the vast, vast, majority of Villa fans have given Lambert total backing for 18 months and have been served up mostly garbage at home bar the odd amazing result? Why do we get this repuation as boo boys? Lambert would have got hell's abuse at many clubs by now.Grump.

The popular media are clueless. I was there for QPR at home last season. We won that game because the fans refused to accept relegation and pushed and pushed and pushed the team to succeed. Boo boys my arse, we have had hopeless football at home now for years and

I agree, the crowd tried to lift the team in the second half against Swansea but the ones who boo are all the media will report

Only way to stop those reports is to cut out the booing

Too many though think it is their right to boo, like it's gonna help the team!

 

Of course it is their (our) right to boo. I'm sorry sir, but coming back time after time to watch crap like we saw against Sunderland, United, Palace and now Swansea - you can't expect people to be happy clappy. These are/were our winnable fixtures...

 

While they are playing - of course they get my undoubted support. And if they lose a game but having played attractive football and with a modicum of effort, as a paying customer, I would be more likely to give them a cheer and pat on the back. At the moment, they deserve to get the boo from whoever, cos they just are not trying. It is debatable as to whether they are good enough or not - if they can score that goal against Swansea and play like the first fifteen minutes, then it proves there is a team in there. A team that can play.

 

The crowd were with the team from when Fat Boy Slim started, right up to 45 minutes and half time. Then again, from 45 minutes to 90 minutes. The crowd just then simply let their collective feelings known. But the media have fook all else to report on the game and it's plain and simple lazy journalism to fill a couple of internet/colum inches.

 

Remember - when we won the league back in 1981, the bigger news was that Liverpool didn't qualify for Eurpoe. Little old Aston Villa... Nobody else cares but us...

[Electric Avenue]

For all their possession the only clear chances they had were the header that guy somehow missed from 4 yards, the De Guzman shot that fizzed 1mm wide and the shot Shelvey had that hit Luna on the 6 yd line. If michu had been playing I'm sure he'd have scored at least 1.

[Raver50032]

 

 

 

Swansea fans have every right to be hugely disappointed not to pick up maximum points.

Why? For all their pretty football they managed the same number of shots on target as us.

If you really need me to answer that then I fear for your sanity. But, alas, I'm pretty confident you're just trying to point score. If you watched the match you'd know they had battered us, which doesn't just take into account shots on target..

I was at the game and yes they had a lot of the ball but ultimately ended with the same as us. They didn't deserve to win the game, I'm just bewildered at the myth about possession meaning you should win a game.

 

Well, Palace showed us how to play a counter attacking game, with just one move...

 

And Swansea showed us how to keep the ball, look more of a threat etc, and despite only scoring one goal. If we were consistently winning games/drawing hard games with such small possession, I wouldn't care. The occasional smash and grab just doesn't thrill me with any sort of optimism right now. If you are still bewildered, then fair play, that is your view.

 

For me, Swansea looked the most likely winners of that game, especially in the 2nd half. Guzan was my MOTM once again. Unlucky Swansea. I guess I am grateful that our team didn't get raped...

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Funny too how Palace could easily of come away from the Etihad with all 3 points. What has Pulis done to them! Doesnt bode well that A relegation rival are full of confidence lol

[The_Lions_Roar]

Swansea fans have every right to be hugely disappointed not to pick up maximum points.

Why? For all their pretty football they managed the same number of shots on target as us.

If you really need me to answer that then I fear for your sanity. But, alas, I'm pretty confident you're just trying to point score. If you watched the match you'd know they had battered us, which doesn't just take into account shots on target..

I was at the game and yes they had a lot of the ball but ultimately ended with the same as us. They didn't deserve to win the game, I'm just bewildered at the myth about possession meaning you should win a game.

Well, Palace showed us how to play a counter attacking game, with just one move...

And Swansea showed us how to keep the ball, look more of a threat etc, and despite only scoring one goal. If we were consistently winning games/drawing hard games with such small possession, I wouldn't care. The occasional smash and grab just doesn't thrill me with any sort of optimism right now. If you are still bewildered, then fair play, that is your view.

For me, Swansea looked the most likely winners of that game, especially in the 2nd half. Guzan was my MOTM once again. Unlucky Swansea. I guess I am grateful that our team didn't get raped...

I believe a draw was a fair result, neither team did enough to win the game. There's no doubt about it we're struggling to create at the moment but I don't buy the opinion that a team deserved to win as they had more possession. Anyone that's watched football knows that Swansea are a team that can keep and pass the ball well. But at the end of the day that can get you nowhere, just ask Albion fans when they had mowbray. I appologise if I'm not all doom and gloom and you believe I should be.

[The_Lions_Roar]

Funny too how Palace could easily of come away from the Etihad with all 3 points. What has Pulis done to them! Doesnt bode well that A relegation rival are full of confidence lol

Exactly, doesn't make our performance acceptable against them but I think a lot of people underestimated them.

[Vincenzo]

From the BBC website-

'Villa manager Paul Lambert is becoming accustomed to such jeers ringing in his ears, with his team also heckled after the 1-0 Boxing Day defeat by Crystal Palace'

Why don't they mention that the vast, vast, majority of Villa fans have given Lambert total backing for 18 months and have been served up mostly garbage at home bar the odd amazing result? Why do we get this repuation as boo boys? Lambert would have got hell's abuse at many clubs by now.Grump.

The popular media are clueless. I was there for QPR at home last season. We won that game because the fans refused to accept relegation and pushed and pushed and pushed the team to succeed. Boo boys my arse, we have had hopeless football at home now for years and

I agree, the crowd tried to lift the team in the second half against Swansea but the ones who boo are all the media will report

Only way to stop those reports is to cut out the booing

Too many though think it is their right to boo, like it's gonna help the team!

 Of course it is their (our) right to boo. I'm sorry sir, but coming back time after time to watch crap like we saw against Sunderland, United, Palace and now Swansea - you can't expect people to be happy clappy. These are/were our winnable fixtures... While they are playing - of course they get my undoubted support. And if they lose a game but having played attractive football and with a modicum of effort, as a paying customer, I would be more likely to give them a cheer and pat on the back. At the moment, they deserve to get the boo from whoever, cos they just are not trying. It is debatable as to whether they are good enough or not - if they can score that goal against Swansea and play like the first fifteen minutes, then it proves there is a team in there. A team that can play. The crowd were with the team from when Fat Boy Slim started, right up to 45 minutes and half time. Then again, from 45 minutes to 90 minutes. The crowd just then simply let their collective feelings known. But the media have fook all else to report on the game and it's plain and simple lazy journalism to fill a couple of internet/colum inches. Remember - when we won the league back in 1981, the bigger news was that Liverpool didn't qualify for Eurpoe. Little old Aston Villa... Nobody else cares but us...

Can't you see how counter productive booing is though

I was as pissed off as all the Villa fans but I know booing only makes it worse

It won't help them play any better and takes away the positive support we gave them during the match

That's just my opinion

UTV

[Adam_]

Why are people trying to defend against the booing? They fully deserved it against Swansea as they were piss poor! As someones said already, many other clubs would have been booing a long time ago.

[Vincenzo]

Just because other teams do it doesn't mean we have to as well

It seems a new trend to boo your own team, even the England team get booed

How does that look to rival supporters? I know how it looks to me!

[Hanky]

Funny too how Palace could easily of come away from the Etihad with all 3 points. What has Pulis done to them! Doesnt bode well that A relegation rival are full of confidence lol

Exactly, doesn't make our performance acceptable against them but I think a lot of people underestimated them.

They were still pretty poor on the day against us though. Which is what made things worse.

[TRO]

Swansea fans have every right to be hugely disappointed not to pick up maximum points.

Why? For all their pretty football they managed the same number of shots on target as us.

If you really need me to answer that then I fear for your sanity. But, alas, I'm pretty confident you're just trying to point score. If you watched the match you'd know they had battered us, which doesn't just take into account shots on target..

I was at the game and yes they had a lot of the ball but ultimately ended with the same as us. They didn't deserve to win the game, I'm just bewildered at the myth about possession meaning you should win a game.

Possession is an important factor in an arsenal of attributes that all the top teams around the world practice without much difficulty. In isolation of many other important factors, it will not guarantee you wins. Without it you look a little bit like us.

[Straggler]

We played ok for 20 mins.  There was a plan and it was press high up the pitch and stop them from playing. It worked well, they were rushing long passes up the pitch into 50 50 contests and it created a goal for us when we won the ball very high up the pitch.   I can pretty much pinpoint the moment where our game plan went to hell.  On 20 minutes one of their center backs got the ball on the edge of his own box and started jogging up the middle of the pitch.  Gabby and Andreas were stood not 15 yards apart and the defender just strolled through the middle of them to the half way line without a sniff of a challenge.  It wasn't just the confidence that went away, you could see that the midfield stopped trusting the forwards to do their job of closing down.  Instead of pressing in the Swansea half we started defending 10 yards into our own half.  This let Swansea right back into the game, allowing them to do what they do best and pass pass pass, with limited pressure on the ball.  Almost everyone was guilty of letting a runner go at some point, which by default means that either another defender has to be pulled out of position to cover, or we leave a man free in a dangerous position.

 

I do not think this is so much a fault of the effort put in, it is a part of a wider malaise.  We gave the ball away consistently throughout the whole game.  The stats don't lie, on average after 2 passes it is odds on that Swansea would have the ball back.  This means we are spending the majority of the game chasing the ball.  Even after 20 mins I can see why after Gabby and Andreas had been doing 30 yard shuttle runs and full pelt pretty much without pause closing down the defense, they would simultaneously let the other do the closing down. 

 

Equally the unbelievably bad passing is not just about poor technique (although there was some pretty shocking simple passing that went wrong), but it is also about a lack of options.  Without the ball we buzzed about, with the ball we stood like statues.  I remember one point in the second half, Bacuna had the ball in our on half, very central and under only a little bit of pressure.  He held the ball and looked up to see 2 banks of 4 stood there looking at him, not a man jack of them running past him.  They didn't even move, they just stood and waited for the inevitable as he got closed down and lost the ball without a single opportunity to pass the ball to a team mate.  This is the bit that confuses me the most.  Deep in his own half with team mates all around him, Bacuna did not have a single simple pass available to him.  I don't think that there is a single person on this board that does not know that you have to move off the ball.  they must know it too, so why is it not happening?   

 

For me it is a confidence issue.  They don't seem to trust each other to control or pass the pall successfully so would rather stay in place rather than take a risk and be out of position should the pass go astray.  With each time the ball is cheaply given away the players seem to go deeper and deeper into their shells becoming more risk averse with each moment.  There is a law of diminishing returns here that result in stats like 24% possession.

 

There was another moment that stood out in the second half.  There was yet another hurried and scuffed clearance out of the Villa defence.  It looped to Westwood more by luck than judgement, who took it down with a lovely touch then on the half turn played an accurate pass between center back and full back to release the right wing (I think it was AW) with acres of space to run into.  The move came to nothing as the cross was poor, but it served as a reminder that each and every one of the Villa players on that pitch is capable of better than they served up that day.  Nothing Westwood did in that moment was exceptional.  It was a good first touch, but he was under little pressure and at this level you should be able to kill a ball like that.  Equally the pass, whilst well weighted and directed was played in to a big gap and had a wide margin of error.  Simple control, simple movement and a simple pass.  It should be the bread and butter of any team, but it stood out in this performance because of the scarcity of the provision of the basics of the game.

I have been deeply disappointed by the last few performances, it is a standard that deserves to be relegated.  Equally I was overjoyed with how we played against Arsenal and Chelsea at the start of the year.  We can do better, we have done better and we will do better again.

[14K_away]

 

Again sections of the crowd chose to boo at half time - hardly likely to instill confidence is it? Weimann is this season's scapegoat despite assisting Gabby's goal. No wonder we are better away from home

 

So the 12th man is not performing either, sadly we cant have them sacked. Anyone calling our own players cxxxts should be sent on loan elsewhere to boo at a `less shite club`

 

All this cripe about only midtable (In the premier division of the best fecking league in the civilised world) cos the other teams are worse is stupid/illogical, its like saying that $hitty will win the title only because everyone below them was worse than them, which is stating the bleeding obvious.

 

As for my 2c, cant see how Tonev even makes the bench, Luna is [mostly] useless in defense but can be tasty higher up so perhaps he should be tried in the middle before following Tonev on loan elsewhere.

Weiman is not scoring goals but if you watch the replays  he always works hard and is behind many good moves and our rare goals (including against Swansea), he does not appear as fit as last season but would rather start with him than the alternatives, I dont personally understand the shelling he seems to be getting lately.

 

Lambert I assume still has a plan, I instinctively like the man so will assume therefore that the issues are deeper than him but agree that some basics really need to be spanked into the squad, we can carry off some beaut long passes when breaking, other than that its the Stevie Wonder show again, that really is something to (privately) boo at.

Its embarrasing trying to explain to our antipodean cousins (when watching on Foxtel) why anyone would one boo at thier own team, they understand it at the London clubs with little underlying cla$$ in the fan base but not in teams with  real home-grown grass roots support.