Ratings and Reactions: Swansea 4-1 Villa

[TRO]

We are in free fall.

That's why I think this is our year to go through the trap door

[VillaAndLoyal]

I went yesterday and I'm completely baffled by people who say we played quite well. No, we didn't. It was a scrappy affair with loads of misplaced passes from both teams which, in part, was to be expected because of the torrential rain in South Wales which left me and most others looking like drowned rats even before the game kicked off. But despite a few spells where we kept hold of the ball, without doing anything with it I might add, Swansea were able to counter-attack at will and dominate us (in terms of chance creation) without really ever getting out of third gear. You'd have never guessed that it was Swansea which had been involved in the Europa League all season as their energy levels put ours to shame. So, coupled with defending which you wouldn't even see at under-10s level, and this was probably the easiest home game they've had all season.

 

What infuriated the away following even more was how the players visibly stopped trying and gave up once the 2nd goal went in. Swansea should have netted their third goal long before they eventually did thanks to some frankly embarrassing and non-existent defending. The rest was elementary as Lambert reverted to his tactic against Bradford (H) last season by chucking on as many strikers as possible and hoping for the best. The guy is a fraud making his living as a football manager - he's literally fcuking clueless! The fact the Villa players got booed off at half-time and full-time tells its own story - we did not play well or better. It was dross, like watching League Two players at times.

 

As someone else said, the away end was fairly muted yesterday but this is completely understandable and a few "what the **** hell is this", "we want our Villa back" and "We want Lambert out" chants were sung around the 70 minute mark but then until 87/88 minutes it was very quiet which I put down to the complete apathy and despondency around the club at the minute. At the final whistle, these songs were sung again and then a few of the players had the bare-faced cheek to clap or come over to us and there's no other way I can phrase this: they received dogs abuse (and rightly so). Some of the more self-righteous amongst us on here will I'm sure reply with "you're not proper Villa fans for not SUPPORTING the players blah blah blah" but I'm sorry, these players should wear our famous shirt with pride and the very least we expect is 100% effort in every game. NONE of those players, Gabby and Vlarr included, are worthy of wearing our shirt. It's all very well saying the right things like Vlaar does for example, but actions speak louder than words and when do you ever see him lead by example ON the pitch? All of them put in half-arsed performances and they must shoulder some of the blame. Us fans put in 100% effort when we fork out for tickets, travel, food and drink to support our club, only to witness a performance like that at such a crucial stage of the season.

 

As for Lambert, well the guy as previously said is a fraud. He's had two games now to "get a reaction" after the Culverhouse and Karsa saga and has he? Like hell he has. Same old shit, just a different week and against a different opposition. He's already lost the fans and the way the players are playing, he clearly has no authority or credibility amongst them either. What the HELL is he still doing in a job? Should have been sacked weeks, or months ago. Many owners would have sacked him last season after the Bradford and Millwall debacles. Even in his post-match interview when describing the second goal where Guzan was clearly at fault for not slowing the tempo of the game down by holding on to the ball, he sort of admitted Guzan was at fault but then back-tracked and said how magnificent he had been since he was manager. It's as if he's too scared to upset the players - sometimes these overpaid prima-donnas need a kick up the backside but Paul Lambert has about as much authority as Carson Yeung now has at Blues. None. And it shows in the players performances.

 

Lastly, this whole "let's party because the Blues are down" is incredible. We're on the brink of relegation and yet I come out of the away end and a few dozen numpties are singing "the sh*t are going down" - what the hell? Are they for real? Probably had too few many shandy's and neglected to realise we're on the brink of relegation ourselves and are in freefall...

 

Rant over. Our club is an unmitigated disaster zone.

[The Fun Factory]

Hi people. Just back from south west wales after a extended stay over in the city. I had a lovely time meeting up with some old friends, it was just a shame that those pesky 90 minutes get in the way of a good away trip.

 

Awful. Just bloody awful. Okay all season we cannot score goals, but our defence is going back to 12/13 mode as well. Betrand looks useless and Bacuna is not a defender. I just never want to see Baker ever play for Villa again and even Vlaar and Guzan had poor games which is a worry. The second goal was a shambles- no all 4 were. I think we have just given up now, even the away support can smell a dead team. There is no way we will win again this season- at tops we may draw next week but would 36 points be enough?

 

Lambert has been found out. We are  worse than last season after spending 20 odd million to add to the squad. He is also a coward who does not go to the fans after a bad defeat, and when he gets sacked at Villa, he will not get a decent job in football management again.  We deserve to go down after the past 4 years of shambolic management at board and football level and for the first time on Saturday, I really feel it will happen.

 

I went to the site of the Old Vetch field today. It is a park and garden allotment. It was eerily quiet and you have to remember how quickly Swansea have gone from a division 3 side going out of business to a better team than Villa in about 10 years. I think it might be better if we just give up and make Villa Park a nice boating lake again. It would certainly be less tortuous than every sodding weekend at the moment.

 

I just don't care anymore if we stay up or go down- I just want this season to end.

Edited April 27, 2014 by The Fun Factory

[TRO]

I went yesterday and I'm completely baffled by people who say we played quite well. No, we didn't. It was a scrappy affair with loads of misplaced passes from both teams which, in part, was to be expected because of the torrential rain in South Wales which left me and most others looking like drowned rats even before the game kicked off. But despite a few spells where we kept hold of the ball, without doing anything with it I might add, Swansea were able to counter-attack at will and dominate us (in terms of chance creation) without really ever getting out of third gear. You'd have never guessed that it was Swansea which had been involved in the Europa League all season as their energy levels put ours to shame. So, coupled with defending which you wouldn't even see at under-10s level, and this was probably the easiest home game they've had all season.

 

What infuriated the away following even more was how the players visibly stopped trying and gave up once the 2nd goal went in. Swansea should have netted their third goal long before they eventually did thanks to some frankly embarrassing and non-existent defending. The rest was elementary as Lambert reverted to his tactic against Bradford (H) last season by chucking on as many strikers as possible and hoping for the best. The guy is a fraud making his living as a football manager - he's literally fcuking clueless! The fact the Villa players got booed off at half-time and full-time tells its own story - we did not play well or better. It was dross, like watching League Two players at times.

 

As someone else said, the away end was fairly muted yesterday but this is completely understandable and a few "what the **** hell is this", "we want our Villa back" and "We want Lambert out" chants were sung around the 70 minute mark but then until 87/88 minutes it was very quiet which I put down to the complete apathy and despondency around the club at the minute. At the final whistle, these songs were sung again and then a few of the players had the bare-faced cheek to clap or come over to us and there's no other way I can phrase this: they received dogs abuse (and rightly so). Some of the more self-righteous amongst us on here will I'm sure reply with "you're not proper Villa fans for not SUPPORTING the players blah blah blah" but I'm sorry, these players should wear our famous shirt with pride and the very least we expect is 100% effort in every game. NONE of those players, Gabby and Vlarr included, are worthy of wearing our shirt. It's all very well saying the right things like Vlaar does for example, but actions speak louder than words and when do you ever see him lead by example ON the pitch? All of them put in half-arsed performances and they must shoulder some of the blame. Us fans put in 100% effort when we fork out for tickets, travel, food and drink to support our club, only to witness a performance like that at such a crucial stage of the season.

 

As for Lambert, well the guy as previously said is a fraud. He's had two games now to "get a reaction" after the Culverhouse and Karsa saga and has he? Like hell he has. Same old shit, just a different week and against a different opposition. He's already lost the fans and the way the players are playing, he clearly has no authority or credibility amongst them either. What the HELL is he still doing in a job? Should have been sacked weeks, or months ago. Many owners would have sacked him last season after the Bradford and Millwall debacles. Even in his post-match interview when describing the second goal where Guzan was clearly at fault for not slowing the tempo of the game down by holding on to the ball, he sort of admitted Guzan was at fault but then back-tracked and said how magnificent he had been since he was manager. It's as if he's too scared to upset the players - sometimes these overpaid prima-donnas need a kick up the backside but Paul Lambert has about as much authority as Carson Yeung now has at Blues. None. And it shows in the players performances.

 

Lastly, this whole "let's party because the Blues are down" is incredible. We're on the brink of relegation and yet I come out of the away end and a few dozen numpties are singing "the sh*t are going down" - what the hell? Are they for real? Probably had too few many shandy's and neglected to realise we're on the brink of relegation ourselves and are in freefall...

 

Rant over. Our club is an unmitigated disaster zone.

 ......sadly, a brilliant rendition of honesty...from the heart.

 

We could do with a bit more from the people who supposedly run the club.

[Harry]

 

I went yesterday and I'm completely baffled by people who say we played quite well. No, we didn't. It was a scrappy affair with loads of misplaced passes from both teams which, in part, was to be expected because of the torrential rain in South Wales which left me and most others looking like drowned rats even before the game kicked off. But despite a few spells where we kept hold of the ball, without doing anything with it I might add, Swansea were able to counter-attack at will and dominate us (in terms of chance creation) without really ever getting out of third gear. You'd have never guessed that it was Swansea which had been involved in the Europa League all season as their energy levels put ours to shame. So, coupled with defending which you wouldn't even see at under-10s level, and this was probably the easiest home game they've had all season.

 

What infuriated the away following even more was how the players visibly stopped trying and gave up once the 2nd goal went in. Swansea should have netted their third goal long before they eventually did thanks to some frankly embarrassing and non-existent defending. The rest was elementary as Lambert reverted to his tactic against Bradford (H) last season by chucking on as many strikers as possible and hoping for the best. The guy is a fraud making his living as a football manager - he's literally fcuking clueless! The fact the Villa players got booed off at half-time and full-time tells its own story - we did not play well or better. It was dross, like watching League Two players at times.

 

As someone else said, the away end was fairly muted yesterday but this is completely understandable and a few "what the **** hell is this", "we want our Villa back" and "We want Lambert out" chants were sung around the 70 minute mark but then until 87/88 minutes it was very quiet which I put down to the complete apathy and despondency around the club at the minute. At the final whistle, these songs were sung again and then a few of the players had the bare-faced cheek to clap or come over to us and there's no other way I can phrase this: they received dogs abuse (and rightly so). Some of the more self-righteous amongst us on here will I'm sure reply with "you're not proper Villa fans for not SUPPORTING the players blah blah blah" but I'm sorry, these players should wear our famous shirt with pride and the very least we expect is 100% effort in every game. NONE of those players, Gabby and Vlarr included, are worthy of wearing our shirt. It's all very well saying the right things like Vlaar does for example, but actions speak louder than words and when do you ever see him lead by example ON the pitch? All of them put in half-arsed performances and they must shoulder some of the blame. Us fans put in 100% effort when we fork out for tickets, travel, food and drink to support our club, only to witness a performance like that at such a crucial stage of the season.

 

As for Lambert, well the guy as previously said is a fraud. He's had two games now to "get a reaction" after the Culverhouse and Karsa saga and has he? Like hell he has. Same old shit, just a different week and against a different opposition. He's already lost the fans and the way the players are playing, he clearly has no authority or credibility amongst them either. What the HELL is he still doing in a job? Should have been sacked weeks, or months ago. Many owners would have sacked him last season after the Bradford and Millwall debacles. Even in his post-match interview when describing the second goal where Guzan was clearly at fault for not slowing the tempo of the game down by holding on to the ball, he sort of admitted Guzan was at fault but then back-tracked and said how magnificent he had been since he was manager. It's as if he's too scared to upset the players - sometimes these overpaid prima-donnas need a kick up the backside but Paul Lambert has about as much authority as Carson Yeung now has at Blues. None. And it shows in the players performances.

 

Lastly, this whole "let's party because the Blues are down" is incredible. We're on the brink of relegation and yet I come out of the away end and a few dozen numpties are singing "the sh*t are going down" - what the hell? Are they for real? Probably had too few many shandy's and neglected to realise we're on the brink of relegation ourselves and are in freefall...

 

Rant over. Our club is an unmitigated disaster zone.

 ......sadly, a brilliant rendition of honesty...from the heart.

 

We could do with a bit more from the people who supposedly run the club.

Great post and sums up my thoughts entirely.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Harry

[rjw63]

Excellent posts on this page, telling it how it is to the claret-and-blue-spectacles types that obviously never watch our team

[Stevo985]

Come on... who had "Lambert Apologists" or "claret-and-blue-spectacles" on their bingo card then?

 

I'm still waiting on "lowered expectations" and "excuses" for a full house.

[shaggy]

Yet those who have come out against Lambert have been right.

[Stevo985]

Yet those who have come out against Lambert have been right.

Is this in response to me?

If so I'm not sure what this has to do with my (very tongue in cheek) point.

[blandy]

Excellent posts on this page, telling it how it is to the claret-and-blue-spectacles types that obviously never watch our team

Excellent posts - yes. Not sure that people with a different opinion "never watch our team" Rob. It seems to me they just look at the circs, and don't wholly blame Lambert. There's a new guideline about grouing people in a derogatory fashion like that. Please read it, that's awfully close to the wind.

[Amo69]

Did anyone notice Baker and Delphs reaction to Routledge running in to the area Saturday. They just casually jogged bag watching him, waiting for him to cross or shoot. Not one player tried to close him. It was shocking to watch, especially from Baker.