Ratings and Reactions: Villa 1-1 Southampton

[dudevillaisnice]

 

Having a bigger forward to hold up play is just papering over the cracks. Lumping it to a big man to hold off their defense for as long as possible while the other 9 players escape from their own area is the worst football that can be played.

 

Did you watch Saints today? Almost every time the ball was hoofed forward by us it was intelligently recycled by them. Long balls when there was an opportunity or a mismatch (Pelle vs Westwood in the air, whos gonna win?) and short, smart passes to probe and pull us about the rest of the time.

 

If we had an amazing defense, rapid attackers and absolute workhorses for a midfield it would be a smart way to play (the MoN years). But we don't, so it's not. We're just fighting a losing battle every game.

 

There needs to be a complete overhaul to the football philosophy at this club.

 

 

Spot on.

[troon_villan]

A few players just not fit to grace a Villa shirt.

 

Weimann and N'Zogbia are so frustrating it hurts.  They pop up with a goal/assist every so often and it papers the cracks for a while but then 4 games out of 5 they can't even control a ball or pass the **** 5 yards.

 

Sanchez I don't know, have you ever seen a player win a tackle with ease and then just slice it back to an opponent as much as this guy?

 

Cleverley does **** all and his sidekick Westwood mirrors him.

 

Would have taken a point before and it was great to see Okore play so well all over the pitch.  That's about as positive as I can be.

[TRO]

We still find a way to make it feel like a defeat.

 

 

 

No.....They find a way to make it feel like a defeat.

 

ps... thought you meant the fans and i meant the players

Edited November 24, 2014 by TRO

[Stevo985]

Pretty sure this "glad we got a point" phrase is becoming dangerous. It's tantamount to accepting relegation.

Bollocks

How is it bollocks?

We haven't won a match since the 13th September.

We're a massive club floating near relegation - THAT is bollocks.

How does that have any relevance to your original post?

Your saying if I am happy with a point its the same as me accepting relegation.

That, my friend, is bollocks.

Of course being happy with a point is accepting relegation. You do realise we need to win SOME games to stay up, right?

I'm 100% behind Roy Keane philosophy - doesn't matter who you face, 3 points or f*** off.

Well, we don't actually. But that's being pedantic.

Being happy with a point is not accepting relegation.

ALWAYS being happy with a point might be. But that's not what you said.

[vivahate]

Can somebody justify the Bent sub for me? Couldn't see any reason for that at all.

[villa4europe]

A few players just not fit to grace a Villa shirt.

Weimann and N'Zogbia are so frustrating it hurts. They pop up with a goal/assist every so often and it papers the cracks for a while but then 4 games out of 5 they can't even control a ball or pass the **** 5 yards.

Sanchez I don't know, have you ever seen a player win a tackle with ease and then just slice it back to an opponent as much as this guy?

Cleverley does **** all and his sidekick Westwood mirrors him.

Would have taken a point before and it was great to see Okore play so well all over the pitch. That's about as positive as I can be.

Agree with everything apart from the Westwood comment, I like him and think he's playing well always wants the ball, always moving and does well off it

Problem is he has nothing in front of him, he has Sanchez behind him who like you say you wouldn't trust and cleverley next to him who does absolutely **** all

He's the only player we have on the pitch that I trust on the ball, think in a decent midfield he'd be a good little player

[Harry]

I would have taken the point before kick off as my match prediction was 3-1 to Southampton. We might have been got all three points save of the disastrous substitution. You take off a hard working DM to be replaced by a languid striker who looks woefully unfit and off the pace and move your main attacking threat in Gabby back into midfield. So seemingly Lambert has a Plan B but it's crap.

 

I though the crowd would be low but 25k just shows the fans are deserting droves. The atmosphere was pretty poor too, Lambert has lost the fans and the fans have lost the team. To me tonight was yet another stay of execution for Lambert.

 

Yes we defended well but yet again we conceded a soft goal through losing possession way too easily and then compounding it with further mistakes. Southampton did not play well but the way they play football is vastly superior to us with our painfully drawn out build ups or worse still the inevitable hit and hope mentality.

[villa4europe]

What's with guzans kicking? Looks like a tactical choice to me, diagonal balls to try and get a 1v1 near the touch line, incredibly easy to defend, goes out for a throw 50% of the time

[matrim]

What's with guzans kicking? Looks like a tactical choice to me, diagonal balls to try and get a 1v1 near the touch line, incredibly easy to defend, goes out for a throw 50% of the time

Looked to me like the only person who could win the header was Hutton so that was the target.

We tried a short ball to okore for a while but it was copped into quickly any he was closed down

Edited November 24, 2014 by matrim

[kevpants]

What's with guzans kicking? Looks like a tactical choice to me, diagonal balls to try and get a 1v1 near the touch line, incredibly easy to defend, goes out for a throw 50% of the time

When we don't have Benteke he kicks away from their centre halves towards their full backs where Gabby has a better chance of winning or sometimes Hutton pushes on to use his aerial strength as a target. Makes sense if you ask me.

[troon_villan]

A few players just not fit to grace a Villa shirt.

Weimann and N'Zogbia are so frustrating it hurts. They pop up with a goal/assist every so often and it papers the cracks for a while but then 4 games out of 5 they can't even control a ball or pass the **** 5 yards.

Sanchez I don't know, have you ever seen a player win a tackle with ease and then just slice it back to an opponent as much as this guy?

Cleverley does **** all and his sidekick Westwood mirrors him.

Would have taken a point before and it was great to see Okore play so well all over the pitch. That's about as positive as I can be.

Agree with everything apart from the Westwood comment, I like him and think he's playing well always wants the ball, always moving and does well off it

Problem is he has nothing in front of him, he has Sanchez behind him who like you say you wouldn't trust and cleverley next to him who does absolutely **** all

He's the only player we have on the pitch that I trust on the ball, think in a decent midfield he'd be a good little player

I trust both Cleverley and Westwood on the ball, just not to do anything significant with it. Ok like you say there's not much quality ahead of them but they have to shoulder a hefty wedge of the blame for the lack of creativity.

[OutByEaster?]

 

We still find a way to make it feel like a defeat.

 

 

 

No.....They find a way to make it feel like a defeat.

 

ps... thought you meant the fans and i meant the players

 

I did mean the players TRO, but I can understand why you'd think otherwise, I thought the fans were good tonight all things considered.

[maqroll]

The best thing about that was the way we reacted after conceding the goal, we took the game to them and didn't sit too deep like previous games.  That's a great result for us with all things considered. I thought Clark was brilliant and had his best game for us in a long time, fair play to him. It was good to see Okore play well and he looked strong and calm. Hutton was good.  Westwood had a decent game and got stuck in as well as playing some really nice passes to get us out on the counter. Gabby and Weimann had decent games apart from the goal when they both take a bit of the blame.

 

Clark MOTM

 

edit:  we get a draw vs the team second in the league and restrict them to barely any good chances and certain folk still can't see any positives....what a surprise.....Just to point out to some of you, we were missing Vlaar, Delph, Senderos, Baker and Benteke while Southampton had there full strength team out.!!!!!

Yes, and a plucky win was in the cards until the manager decided to protect the lead by subbing off his defensive midfielder for a striker.

[flamingsombrero]

Point more than expected so can't complain too much but man that was dire to watch.

[ozvillafan]

Not sure what to make of this one.

 

We have been dire at home for a long time - and that dates back to before Lambert took over. We have just come off a worse ever run of results (which you could argue is still continuing). We had our captain, his back up and his usual defensive partner along with our 2 best forwards (Benteke, Kozak) missing. 

 

I know Southampton were dire and we really didn't play well, but we ground out a draw (and even scored - albeit fortuitously). That should give us some ground for optimism....

 

... but I just can't find any.

 

Oh, and please - don't let N'Zogbia in a Villa shirt again. 1 good pass from this 60 minutes. Everything else was a turnover. Even Bent would do better.

[PBVogel]

Clark and Okore were solid and need to be for the next couple of games against lower competition -- Lambert after the game saying the other injured defenders are not coming back soon, "Ron and Philippe will be out for a few weeks and Nathan will be out for a lot longer."

[Davkaus]

25k at home gives a big indication of what we think. Yes Christmas is coming and yes it was on TV but it's a poor turnout.

 

Our worst home league attendance for 15 years according to the Guardian. Not great. I suspect it won't be long until it's lower. Who wants to pay forty odd quid to be bored and disappointed for a couple of hours.

[butler50]

Would have taken a point before game but it should certainly have been 3 on Weimanns chance.  We got saints on an off day.  Those of you expecting great football then think again not with the players we have and injuries at mo.  However the points come right now doesnt matter.

 

Clark/Okore/Hutton decent.  A good positive to take is welcome back Okore.

 

Be nice to see us play 4-4-2 really dont no whats happened to Charlie, didnt look interested again. UTV

[Nigel]

Now I understand that most if not all of us want to see an end to this turgid football that we are seeing, but questioning Lamberts tactics for this game is quite frankly ridiculous.  He managed to mostly nullify one of the most attacking teams in the league.

 

 

That tactics option may as well not be there tbh, the moment a managers confidence has been lost he wont be able to make a decent decision is many peoples eyes.

[Stevo985]

 

 

A few players just not fit to grace a Villa shirt.

Weimann and N'Zogbia are so frustrating it hurts. They pop up with a goal/assist every so often and it papers the cracks for a while but then 4 games out of 5 they can't even control a ball or pass the **** 5 yards.

Sanchez I don't know, have you ever seen a player win a tackle with ease and then just slice it back to an opponent as much as this guy?

Cleverley does **** all and his sidekick Westwood mirrors him.

Would have taken a point before and it was great to see Okore play so well all over the pitch. That's about as positive as I can be.

Agree with everything apart from the Westwood comment, I like him and think he's playing well always wants the ball, always moving and does well off it

Problem is he has nothing in front of him, he has Sanchez behind him who like you say you wouldn't trust and cleverley next to him who does absolutely **** all

He's the only player we have on the pitch that I trust on the ball, think in a decent midfield he'd be a good little player

I trust both Cleverley and Westwood on the ball, just not to do anything significant with it. Ok like you say there's not much quality ahead of them but they have to shoulder a hefty wedge of the blame for the lack of creativity.

 

They do. But they shouldn't be there to create. two of them shouldn't be playing in the same team full stop.

 

I think they're both good players, but they are what they are, and without a creative force going forward, it renders them ineffective, especially when there's two of them doing the same job.

 

Hold onto Westwood, send Cleverley back and use the money to buy a link between midfield and attack.