Paul Lambert

[Pelle]

I can agree that we've been pushing it at times when it comes to the possession thing. But the thing is, like against southampton, they didn't create that many clear chances to score. We were extremely accurate when we got ours, but I can't say we fluked that one. Possession isn't worth a shite if you can't do anything with it. And southampton with all their possession the times I've seen them, is quite bad at using it.

 

And for the win against citeh, I missed that one, but I saw the highlights but apart from the goals the highlights showed lots of half chances for them but nothing like hitting the posts or bar several times. We kept them away from our goal and hit them on the break. Probably the best way to try and win a game against them for a club like ours. I guess we were a bit lucky with KEA being offside, but those things happens.

 

Having that said, I think there have been games where we could've tried to push a little higher and tried to keep the ball better just to ease up the pressure, even if we've won some of those games. But in the end it's the points that matters. And even though we've played some really poor football this season, the points gained will help us in the end to play better football and finish higher and higher untill we hit the ceiling, which probably is around 7-6th without really heavy investment.

 

I can't help thinking about a comment that HH did earlier this season, about Lamberts plan was to collect as many points as possible untill the winter break and then try to play another kind of football with a bigger margin to fail with that kind of football. Something like that. And as it's been, it seems to be what we've tried to do. If one think that is a good tactic is up to each and everyone to decide for themselves. I just hope that if this is the way we're going every season that we get better in scrapping the points together in the first half of the season. Like we were this compared to the first season with Lambert.

 

We've made some slow progress, but even slow progress is progress. I'm patient and I hope it continues.

[El-Reacho]

We absolutely need to retain possession better.  It's far more tiring to be running around after the ball than to be in control of it - plus you have to have the ball to create chances.

 

Possession isn't the be all and end all, but you certainly want to be approaching 50% in a game rather than 35%.  Pretty sure we've been better with our possession stats over the past few games (naturally, including defeats) anyway.  Much like our defence issue last season, this seems to be something we're working on.

 

You don't necessarily have to have the ball to have some control of it. Without having possession we still managed to keep the ball away from from our box and prevent Chelsea having any shots on goal. We also managed to press the ball into positions where we could push for possession to turn it into breaks - like Delph's goal.

 

It might be far more tiring to be chasing it rather than holding it - but it's also much easier and can be done with fit well drilled £2m midfielders as opposed to the £20m+ midfielders that are required to keep possession against the likes of Chelsea and City. Horses for courses and all that.....

[Oaks]

What do you mean by 3 poor transfer windows in a row?

In the last 3 windows he's only signed Bacuna who's been a success, and hasn't signed the "number 10" the team has been crying out for.

Bertrand? Not permanent but a signing none the less.

Okore? Looked promising.

Kozak? Has scored goals.

Steer? Decent back up keeper.

Still think it's too early to write off tonev as well.

I don't think you can say they were bad transfer windows.

I can and I did. You can't count Okore I agree. Kozak looks ok back up ditto Steer nothing more. Tonev is awful and I still say it was a glaring mistake not to sign a number 10. Bertrand was a must with Bennett and Luna injured, I will only count him if we sign him he wasted the other loan option. Other than Bacuna the other players who played Sat were here 18 months ago...only really Okore would really change that.

So they weren't bad windows as they added decent much needed back up to the squad. Not every player is going to be signed to go straight into the first team. Although this summer that's where the focus is.

Yes but 1 in 3 windows when rebuilding a team is poor.

[Oaks]

The Man City game was a bit of a fluke result. We were just better than Chelsea on Saturday.

[ozvillafan]

The Man City game was a bit of a fluke result. We were just better than Chelsea on Saturday.

 

We were better because our tactics were better.

 

4-3-3 defending a higher line than usual which caught them offside numerous times and narrowed the space for their midfield to work in and for our midfield to press in. Tactics are spot on and reaped results - very similar to what we saw on the opening day against Arsenal.

 

That being the case, why, oh why, oh why does Lambert then persist in games against "lesser" opposition with a 5-3-2 formation sitting so deep the opposition GK needs to come to halfway to get a decent view of the game?

 

It does my head in.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

If you were enjoying the season before the previous 2 games then good for you. I wasn't. We averaged a point a game and were having a record low home form season.

No surprise you're back now because before the last 2 games you had little evidence to back up your opinion. I'll see how the season ends, hopefully it continues like the last two games.

And if it doesn't, what?

You get to come on here and type a big fat 'I told you all so', well done you.

That's more than a bit harsh. All the guy is doing is putting forward his opinion.

We have been brilliant over the last two games but not so good before that and he's only stating the truth.

Except we were fantastic against Liverpool, entertained against West Brom...

What annoys me is that whenever these bursts of good form happen certain people talk as though it is the first time it has happened, not only this season but under this manager. Then the next time we lose, as we may do next week, it's back to square one with them.

The fans are as inconsistent as the team.

Fans aren't being inconsistent in criticising a poor performance and praising a good one. It's just the nature of the game unless you expect praise no matter what?

I think you need to read my post again.

[villabromsgrove]

 

 

 

 

He tried to get a number 10 in the Summer too, but we couldn't afford the players he had identified.

Perhaps he should've scouted for players within our price-range then? Just an idea.

But then when they're not good enough (because they cost peanuts) people will moan about how shit they are.

But the £7m he spent on Kozak wasn't 'peanuts'. He had relatively significant funds to sign a decent attacking-midfielder. He could've loaned one at least.

 

How do you know the money spent on Kozak would've been enough for the AM we needed?

 

I think the fact that we spent what we did on Kozak fitted the budget because his wage demands were reasonable. I'm guessing Kiyotake or whoever the number 10 was, didn't fit the budget because they wanted to be paid a wage that matched their skill levels.

 We will have a similar problem in this summers transfer window. Three "talented players" will cost far more in wages than six "young inexperienced" prospects.  

[Zhan_Zhuang]

If we finish top ten or higher then Lambert should be praised.

 

Next season we have to push on and fight consistently for European places, he doesn't need to change too much just get some competition in midfield and maybe a RB?

[bose]

The important thing this summer is to get players that will improve the starting 11 not just the squad. Quality over quantity.

[darrenm]

I don't care about possession stats.

 

They don't care about me.

 

All I care about, is AVFC.

[The_Lions_Roar]

For some:

I don't care about results,

They don't care about me,

All I care about is possession!

[bannedfromHandV]

Stats are for T.W.A.T.S

Edited March 18, 2014 by bannedfromHandV

[Mantis]

Presumably the main reason why our possession stats are being brought up more is because results have on the whole improved and we haven't been in the thick of a relegation battle like we were last season.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Mantis

[suttonpaul]

Position first, performance second, stats third.

[LordSepulchrave]

I'm a fan of stats, but not just taking one stat in isolation and using to try and prove some point. Look at this article written back in October for example:

 

http://www.statsbomb.com/2013/10/introducing-mipmop-again/

 

Now although at that point our poss. stats were worst in the league, we were 6th best at preventing shots against us and 5th best at getting shots off quickly. In other words, a lot of possession our opposition had wasn't all that efficient and we were efficient with possession. In that context, the lack of possession wasn't necessarily that big a deal.

 

Yet people (even still) use the possession stat without any real attempt to give it context. I think everyone would like to see us be a bit more comfortable on the ball, be able to open up a defense with some nice triangular passing - but calling for increased possession alone just seems simplistic.

[dn1982]

The Man City game was a bit of a fluke result. We were just better than Chelsea on Saturday.

What was flukey about it? They had 7 shots on target granted they had possession and we won without playing anywhere near how we can or did against Chelsea but we defended resolutely and they couldn't break us down and when they did we kept coming back. It says a lot about the spirit in the players!

Edited March 18, 2014 by dn1982

[shaggy]

 

 

 

 

 

If you were enjoying the season before the previous 2 games then good for you. I wasn't. We averaged a point a game and were having a record low home form season.

No surprise you're back now because before the last 2 games you had little evidence to back up your opinion. I'll see how the season ends, hopefully it continues like the last two games.

And if it doesn't, what?

You get to come on here and type a big fat 'I told you all so', well done you.

That's more than a bit harsh. All the guy is doing is putting forward his opinion.

We have been brilliant over the last two games but not so good before that and he's only stating the truth.

Except we were fantastic against Liverpool, entertained against West Brom...

What annoys me is that whenever these bursts of good form happen certain people talk as though it is the first time it has happened, not only this season but under this manager. Then the next time we lose, as we may do next week, it's back to square one with them.

The fans are as inconsistent as the team.

Fans aren't being inconsistent in criticising a poor performance and praising a good one. It's just the nature of the game unless you expect praise no matter what?

I think you need to read my post again.

 

No, once was enough.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Fair enough. I'm not in the habit of repeating myself, so que sera.

[penguin]

For all this chastising of those who "only care about possession stats", who's actually said this?

We have been very poor on the ball at times and do seem to have a tendency to give it away cheaply thus putting us under unnecessary pressure, this is where I would like to see us improve.

Villalads post which seems to have instigated this discussion, to me is talking more about the team performance and sitting deep than purely possession stats, hence why he has mentioned the City and Southampton game where he feels we were lucky, and I would be slightly inclined to agree, rather than the Chelsea game where possession was similar but the performance and tactics were much different and the win was perhaps more merited.

To me the view some take that "we won therefore the performances are irrelevant" seems too short-sighted, as over the course of the season you would expect the teams performances to be correlated to the results picked up.

I remember a few weeks ago, I can't remember who they were playing, Mourinho's Chelsea had won their game but he said he was disappointed in a post-match interview as the teams performance was poor and over the course of the season this would be what determines their future results.

Edited March 18, 2014 by penguin

[andyjsg]

I've seen the saints game mentioned again and despite low possession we looked like the team who would score, they spent most of the game taping it around the outside of the box. Lambert set us up perfectly for counter attack. Until the injury we were in control of the match and still won anyway. The city game I think is our only 'lucky' game where in the case of west ham we battered them and lost to two dumb goals in as many minutes in a game we were dominating.