briny_ear Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 It was pretty clear listening to his post-match comments that he thought this was a bit of a fail by the team he put out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villastine Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Actually we were decent enough from the start to about 30mins in when most of the ground figured out that we were harmless……Holding on to the ball but with no idea how to link play with Bent. Holman, Nzogbia and Ireland were supposed to figure this out and they, and in a way Bent (due to some poor movement), were responsible for our defeat. I honestly thought the defence coped fairly well with West Ham and we conceded an unfortunate goal. Our biggest problem was the collection of lightweight and pedestrian players we have as our attacking options. Our options on the bench were not exactly explosive either. Lambert needs to sort this problem. Saying that I hope I wont see Nzogbia, Holman and Ireland play so badly again. If they do I’m sure Lambert will never pick them again in the same team. What is clear is we need Gabby and Albrighton back badly (oh and playing well too) If we have any money for transfers we need a winger, a left full (or another shot at redemption for Warnock) and a Striker with pace and the ability to link play. Still I saw just about enough to be confident we will get better but it could be a tuff few opening games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I'm not sure if it's been pointed out but Norwich didn't play passing football last year? Doesn't seem right to me? Maybe not every game of the season did they pass the ball very well as theyd vary the way the played throughout the season with either 5 in midfield, a normal flat 4 or a diamond so different players, different formations are going to change the way and help/or not help the way the ball is kept. They may have been more direct in the way they attacked than what we saw vs West Ham which also is probably down to the personal but on plenty occasions last year they had the better of the ball, even against Man United they registered 52% possession and probably more impressively they amassed 53% away at Swansea which was more than what Man City, Man United and Arsenal achieved so I imagine they'd have had to move the ball around very well in that game in order to have such a high possession stat given the opposition. For a team like us, there isn't really a right and wrong way of playing. Everton mix it up all the time, some games they move the ball around very well and play really nice football and other games, they are horrible, nasty, aggressive and in your face. You could argue we were the same in later years under O'Neill, although maybe more counter attacking than 'aggressive'. Newcastle passed the ball well but were very direct in getting the ball into their forwards feet and playing off them, they didn't waste their time moving the ball regularly around the back. I do think Lambert's approach will be highly beneficial to us and also successful in the future. Pressing high was always my biggest gripe last year, we didn't do it anywhere near enough and allowed ourselves to be dominated and penned back in games. Thankfully that does seem to be changing and keeping the ball will be important, right now we are lacking a cutting edge and end product to our game but the basic principle of keeping the ball, moving and making angles will stand us in a good position in the future and hopefully add more dimension to our play. I think doing what we are doing right now is the hardest part of the game, getting players to press high up the pitch and work as a team within that as well then being able to keep hold of the ball, certainly far more difficult than organizing a side to sit back and hit on the break or even move the ball wide quickly and delivering cross after cross. Maybe at this moment in time we could play in a way that suits our players more although given our lack of success recently and players at our disposal, we're not exactly blessed with many options. I'm really confident though that we'll be successful under Lambert, the players are still developing as a team and ideas that may take longer than others given the level of intelligence required as a Unit and the amount of changes we've seen to the squad over recent times but everything we do will be for a purpose and 9 months down the line, I think we'll all appreciate the ideas and what we've been working on in the early parts of this season. Keep positive. Damn it POB, that gave me a hard-on. I have that effect on the male species. :shock: Worked your magic on me too Good read. That degree being put to good use POB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I'm reserving judgement until the game on Saturday. I actually think we'll be reasonably good at home this season, certainly will win more than 4 games at VP anyway. Away we'll be hit and miss but I expect 8-9 wins at VP this season with the commitment to attacking football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LockStockVilla Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Was watching the interview with Mikey Drennan after the reserves win...the lad waas saying that in the first half they struggled a bit mostly moving the ball side to side, having a bit of trouble moving it forward...then PL had a chat with them at halftime and apparently in the second half the movement improved and they scored 3 goals...hopefully he does the same for us Saturday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Was watching the interview with Mikey Drennan after the reserves win...the lad waas saying that in the first half they struggled a bit mostly moving the ball side to side, having a bit of trouble moving it forward...then PL had a chat with them at halftime and apparently in the second half the movement improved and they scored 3 goals...hopefully he does the same for us Saturday That's good to know They listen to him, maybe we should start them on Saturday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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