nobler Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Sort of at a loss as to how or why that happened. It's very worrying indeed. Our soft underbelly really showed again today and it's very disappointing, we really need to be building on the success of previous good results and carry on some momentum. At the moment we are a team that might play excellent one week then lose the next three. Utterly appalling second half. Thought first half we looked reasonably assured, without creating much but movement was decent. Ireland coming off was a blow though. I just never expected us to fall to pieces so easily, for some reason. Another weekend of humiliation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBM Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 relegation here we come, come back mcleish, all is forgiven... ok, over exaggeration but what a shocking scoreline, we should of trampled all over them, we simply havnt won games that we should of done so far, and this is one f them, just not good enough but this is what you get when you play too many kids 3 kids in defence? i suppose they will still get treated to happy meals afterwards, dont agree with bannan starting, well, dont agree with bannan playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulver Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 1st half : Average 2nd half : Awful Completely different vibe and performance to Newcastle and Swansea. We were less in their faces, and passing the ball around on the deck far less. Not sure why Lambert felt the need to change things Not sure why Ireland went off, but we completely lost our midfield shape as soon as he did. Poor Westwood looked 2 yards slower than everyone else and really needs bedding in slowly. Very poor, and it's put me in a right mood for the rest of the night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Terrible, terrible result. Guzan - 5 Lichaj - 4 - I like Lichaj but he looked poor on the left today. He would be more comfortable on the right, but even then, still a squad player. Vlaar - 5 - Didn't really do too much wrong. Clark - 4 - Poor. Gave the ball away a lot. Lowton - 4 - Didn't really do anything. Holman - 3 - Did he actually complete a pass? I'm all for work rate, but you actually be able to play a bit too. KEA - 3 - Woeful. And worryingly so. Have not been impressed at all last two matches Ireland - 6 - Hassled, won the ball back, looked threatening. Wasn't brilliant but our best player on the day Bannan - 5 - didn't do that badly. Faded and went missing but was better than the KEA and Holman Bent - 5 - Got his goal. Apart from that, not great. Didnt read Benteke's flick on's Benteke - 5 - Worryingly poor work rate. Also perhaps could have scored Subs: Westwood - 4 - Not impressed at all. Frustrating really as I had high hopes. Give him time though Agbonlahor - 4 - Didnt touch the ball. Looked a bit fat as well Bennett - 5 - Didnt really do anything. Awful performance against a very poor side. They will lose heavily plenty of times this season Southampton and at 1-0 at half time, they were there for the taking. Lambert's tactics seemed a bit off for todays game but I'm sure he will sort it out. Big game against Albion next week. If we lose that, I will genuinely be concerned for our safety this season. Up the Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I actually thought McLeish had come back to oversee us for 1 game as it was that dull, insipid and boring to watch with no clue whatsoever on how to play football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Sick of seeing us help out teams who are desperate. we're like a **** charity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 The season is still young but that performance cannot be repeated too often or we will be in deep shit. The defending was laughable at times and the cover in front of the defence was nowhere to be seen. Ireland is the only real quality midfielder we have and it is blatantly obvious that we miss his presence in that area of the pitch when he isn't there. Southampton are a poor side but we made them look unplayable second half. It is very worrying to lose in that manner to a side that will struggle this season to stay in the league. We have to hope that Lambert knows what he is doing and can manage a response from the players that ensures this doesn't happen again anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted September 22, 2012 Moderator Share Posted September 22, 2012 We know we're a new team playing a new way with players who are new to this league and to each other, we know we'll be inconsistent and we have to expect some poor results over the course of the season. Doesn't excuse the fact that this was not good enough. Guzan - 5 - Not sure there was much he could do with any of the goals, but ultimately the ball has gone past him four times. Lichaj - 3 - Had a stinker - nothing quite worked out for him, to be fair he's gutsy, he kept coming - but he kept giving the ball away. Maybe teams have wised up to him being played out of position. Clark - 4 - Still for me a bit wishy washy as a CB not a great obstacle today. Vlaar - 6 - Did his best to stem the tide and he tries to lift the team. Lowton - 6 - Got caught forward too often and needs to stay in position, but he put some work in down the right hand side. El Ahmadi - 4 - Off the boil. We're looking to him to keep the ball, slow things down and control tempo - there was none of that. Ireland - 6 - Good things and bad things in equal measure in the first half, but bundles of energy and desire - we missed that when he went off. Bannan - 6- Pick of our midfield with the ball today, like Ireland he had his fair share of visits from the **** up fairy but he got some stuff right too and we kept the ball a lot better with him on. Holman - 3 - When Ireland went off, I wondered who would be our most advanced midfielder - in the match thread somebody suggested Holman; I'd forgotten he was playing. I think I heard him mentioned once in commentary today - a complete non-performance. Benteke - 5 - Awkward and not blessed with a particularly high workrate, a big presence though and someone who can do the surprising or add a moment of quality - the Savo comparison might have legs. His lack of workrate means that him and Bent aren't going to work. Bent - 3 - Stood about. Scored. Stood about some more. Not good enough and hasn't been all season, needs dropping. subs Westwood - 4 - Didn't notice him last week, barely noticed him this week - he doesn't look ready for this level yet. Agbonlahor - 5 - Not sure where we was asked to play, got himself a bit involved but we were already in pieces. Bennett - 5 - Nothing to be proud of and a couple of errors, but again, by the time he got on our shape and discipline had gone. Lambert - 5 - He's got an awful lot to think about - only Westwood on the bench to cover our midfield left us in trouble and then the decision to take Bannan off rather than Bent or Benteke completely ruined our shape. Oddly, he'll probably have learned more from this game than the Swansea one - let's hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Sick of seeing us help out teams who are desperate. we're like a **** charity. We are a **** charity. If there was a one legged centre half who hadn't scored for 12 years then I can guarantee that he would score against us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Bear Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 The worst thing? Southampton werent even any good? We played a woeful promoted side who have lost 4 on the bounce and got done 4-1. Soul-destroying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regular_john Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Worried - that's three losses from five so far and with many of the bigger sides still to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic_bouma Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 wow... i hoped for a draw but i didnt expect to see that toothless shit... i cant think of 1 single positive.... im expecting an up and down season but this defeat really hurts... the blame today lies solely at the feet of Lambert for me... this diamond formation he is obsessed with got well and truely bummed by SOUTHAMPTON... the gaps in our midfield were astounding and taking Ireland off made it far far worse..baffling decision... his replacement Westwood? well i looked forward to seeing him but he was **** awful and looked completely overawed.... on paper a team with Lichaj,Westwood,Bannan,Holman,Lowton does seem remarkably poor... Holman offers nothing in the way of football...he's just there to run around... and i dont think Bent and Benteke actually linked up once.... i expect major changes against West Brom...Bennett, Zogbia for width and gabby for pace all to come in please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screwdriver Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 we stopped passing the ball in the 2nd half. We just lumped it long for Benteke. Taking Ireland off changed the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 We sign players from the lower leagues so we shouldn't be surprised when we get performancies like that. Westwood didn't track for two of th.e goals which is pretty basic stuff. Barry, young, Milner, downing, mellberg, Lauren have left or been sold and we replace them with Players from lower leagues - what do we expect? Told a mate this morning we would finish top half after last week - the embarrassment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troglodyte Posted September 22, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted September 22, 2012 Rome wasn't built in a day, and even after the performance against Swansea Lambert said that we were a long way off where he wants us to be. I'm happy he made substitutions today - it's good that he wasn't afraid to do so, makes a change from our previous managers - but I don't think they were the right ones. I assume Ireland had taken a knock. However, it was a very disappointing performance. We seemed to have very little in terms of spirit in the second half, particularly the first twenty minutes or so. KEA was largely anonymous and there seemed to be very little link-up play without Ireland, which reflects how important he is to us. I thought Vlaar was very commanding in the first 40 mins, then had some shaky moments. Lichaj had a poor game and is much better at right-back. I hope that Bent and Benteke can build up a decent partnership but there wasn't too much today other than a couple of promising moments. Bent is a luxury, and we need to be more creative in midfield to afford this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I fully expected a loss/draw. They are hurt. They were spouting all last week "our season starts against Villa" I thought they would come out blazing. They didn't and when we went 1-0 up i thought we were lucky as ****. They were terrible and still beat us 4-1. That's what i'm most worried about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic_bouma Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 is there an arguement to suggest Lambert tries to be too clever with his subs and tactics? we were winning and Ireland was one of our better performers and he takes him off for the inexperienced Westwood... weve seen his tactics at West Ham fail and his starting eleven against Everton that included Herd ripped apart... got everything right against Swansea but his decisions do seem rather bizarre at times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Never thought I'd say this but the game against west brom next week is massive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 "We're Aston Villa, you'll score when you want!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackAVFC1993 Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Big game Tues to get some hope back. Man City will put out a poor team probs against us and if we can get a result there then huge boost before WBA game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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