VillaAndLoyal Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 I'm really not sure whether today was the blip, or if Newcastle and Swansea was the one-off. Time will tell as so far we have been toothless against a really poor side (West Ham), utterly dire (Everton), really good (Newcastle), really good again (Swansea) and utterly dire again (S'ton). I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the following point but for me today the biggest mistake, and the most worrying thing, was Paul Lambert dropping Andreas Wiemann from the starting line-up. Why on earth would you change a winning team? Since he joined the club, PL has made clear his policy of 'play well, stay in the team, play poorly, you'll get dropped' which begs the question why he deviated from this way of thinking today. Wiemann has looked lively so far this season and his exclusion from the first team was very harsh. But, apart from being a strange move, what that one decision did is change our whole way of playing. Neither of the forward players were dropping deep to collect the ball or working hard to press Southampton defenders in possession, two things Wiemann does very well, and it showed. Not to mention that, by having both Bent and Benteke playing, we resorted to hoofball which is a complete reverse from what we all thought PL was trying to do. It just did not work. Very strange decision for me that and one which played a big part in the final outcome of the game. We were very average in the first half and perhaps a bit fortunate to go in 1-0 up. Even in the first half, our midfield was getting far to overrun and we were letting Southampton run riot down their left wing. Fortunately for us, the Saints were just as average and we weren't punished. Having said that, for our lack of quality in the first 45 I was still impressed overall with our endeavour and work rate, particularly from players such as Ireland and Holman. Second half started in much the same way, with both sides attacking but with little quality and then the free-for-all started after Lambert levelled. As others have said, it was a complete and utter collapse. The Saints did up their game, and the crowd got behind them finally, but even so that scoreline is definitely of our own doing. We fell apart in all areas of the pitch and it could have easily been 7 or 8 considering they missed a couple of chances first half. When a team collapses like that, it shows a real lack of confidence which is even more worrying considering we had come off the back of two superb performances. What it also shows, for me, is a lack of leadership and so Ron Vlaar as captain must take a fair share of blame for not rallying the troops after the equaliser. Westwood looked out of his depth, KEA looked anonymous which for a centre midfield player is alarming, Holman faded badly in the second-half, Lichaj had a shocker, Vlaar as I said lacked leadership and fell apart too and I'm afraid to say Joe Bennett when he came on looked horribly lightweight and didn't look like any improvement on Lichaj at all. Bent was anonymous as usual, apart from his goal which let's be honest a partially sighted monkey could have stuck in the net. Benteke was pretty anonymous too although he knows how to pick a pass and seems to have great vision and a footballing brain which is important. His lack of a workrate could prove frustrating, even more so when paired with Darren. Our defence was clearly awful today but for me the midfield was mostly to blame as Southampton had far too many runners which just sliced through into the gap between midfield and defence at ease. That makes it far harder to defend against. If Ireland really has broken his arm, how are we going to fare without him? As I see it, he could well be crucial to our season. Our midfield is our biggest problem area in my opinion and without him in it, we are even less creative and even more lightweight. Strange times at Villa. Can't work out if we are on the brink of having a decent team, or are relegation fodder. But it is worrying how few points we have picked up from relatively easy games. Man City in midweek could well be a cricket score - second team/youth team or not. And I do hope Lambert sticks to his principles re: playing a passing game and picking players on merit, and that today was a badly thought out one-off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troglodyte Posted September 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted September 23, 2012 We simply have to show more energy, throughout entire games. Now we have a lot of young players, a relatively deep squad, and no European fixtures in midweek, we should be able to press consistently; we also have to keep possession better so we don't get drained during the 90 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAFC2000 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Its going to be a long season with a lot of dips and little ups!!! Ireland going off at half time was the turning point, games like that are so important in midfield. The problem is the Premier League as much Villa. The PL should be scrapped and in stead city and United should just play each other 36 times a year. At least Blues got thrashed tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Bad day at the office, disjointed performance all round, but people need to relax, seriously. Our overall trajectory is up, I'm very confident of that, but there'll be more days like this ahead, especially before Christmas. No point giving yourselves aneurysms over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borgs Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Not many passers in this squad. Gave the ball away all game, especially pinging it long to the front pair. That's not good football and the result was deserved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 It was stated on MOTD tonight that our squad is full of ordinary players and I have to agree. We are already in trouble and I am dreading playing the likes of Arsenal and Man U this season. Lambert has already turned us into Norwich but without the same hunger.Yeah, let's sack the useless cnt. With the club raking in huge profits, the fact we haven't signed better players must be the manager's fault. Or the owner's. Hell, let's sack both of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 The problem is the Premier League as much Villa. The PL should be scrapped and instead city and United should just play each other 36 times a year.That's how it would be if the television companies had their way. There could also be a loan system to allow players to still get a game even if they sign for one of the big two knowing how full their squads are. Still, that could be a bit dull. Perhaps they could spice things up by allowing them to field Reserve sides in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 It was stated on MOTD tonight that our squad is full of ordinary players and I have to agree. We are already in trouble and I am dreading playing the likes of Arsenal and Man U this season. Lambert has already turned us into Norwich but without the same hunger.Yeah, let's sacko the useless cnt. With the club raking in huge profits, the fact we haven't signed better players must be the manager's fault. Or the owner's. Hell, let's sack both of them. Who was available to buy and who did we buy? It was the present manager's decision to bring in lower league players even when our chairman made funds available to buy more experienced players. Lambert stated this himself and so the buck stops with the manager. Lambert in his post match interview stated 'hopefully we'll be alright.' That doesn't instill me with a lot of confidence in the man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul33 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Too many players had off-days yesterday and the manager got it wrong tactically in the second half and I would be very worried ..... if I hadn't seen the Newcastle and Swansea performances. If I was to make a change it would be to lose Bent in favour of Gabby or Weimann because he just doesn't do enough outside of the six yard box. He lacks pace, lacks strength, lacks aerial prowess and I just don't believe he wants it badly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 The heads dropped and we gave up when they equalised. Not acceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 I voted Given in the poll, did nothing wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 It was stated on MOTD tonight that our squad is full of ordinary players and I have to agree. We are already in trouble and I am dreading playing the likes of Arsenal and Man U this season. Lambert has already turned us into Norwich but without the same hunger.What a ridiculous thing to say. We've already shown more hunger and fight than we ever did last season but obviously we've got a new manager and lots of new players so things will take time to gel. It's a shame that people are already getting on his back after so few games. As for the players, despite yesterday most of our best players this season have been players Lambert has bought in. There seems to be a massive prejudice towards players that aren't from the Premier League in the media and to some extent on here as well. It's completely unwarranted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanO Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 A absolutely shite game, Every player bar Ireland looked off their game but I guess this will happen while the team gels. Still not too worried as I think we will be fine but we looked very poor so I don't expect any complements off the pundits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted September 23, 2012 Crap game. Only saw the second half, but it was poor. I don't think it's any coincidence that Ireland was subbed at half time and we lost control of the game. That's not a huge compliment to Ireland, it's just that without someone playing his position we have no-one linking our midfield withattack. It happened against Everton. We have 4 midfielders playing on the halfway line and 2 forwards playing on the edge of the opponents box. Nothign in betweenn. And that's easy pickings for the opposition. No reason to panic. We saw last week how well we can play. It'll come together. But yesterday was definitely a game to forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarjei Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Very disappointed by the way the game was approached. Long ball can be an alright option every now and then, but not for 90 min when it is clearly not working. The team was stretched so Benteke and Bent was pretty much isolated and the defence had very little cover and there was huge gaps in between to exploit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBM Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 in short, we need a left back to start at left back, and bannan to sit back in the reserves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Crap game. Only saw the second half I don't think it's any coincidence that Ireland was subbed at half time and we lost control of the game. We were terrible first half too & people are again delusional about Ireland. He was average to middling at best, Bannan had a better first half. Holman & KEA were really poor over the full 90. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikantcpell Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 First goal there were 4 defenders around thier striker and he still got enough time to score,that dont even happen in the swedish division 3. If we gonna defend like that against the better teams they will beat us 9-0.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Yeah it wasn't even an easy ball for lambert to cheat down, as soon as that ball hit the turf the challenge should have flown in but all 4 defenders were too far away. Guzan almost made a wonder save but it was a fierce strike. Adkins must have been delighted with lambert yesterday, he was a real handful and a clear MoM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 There are too many inconsistent individual performances right now so , its difficult for Lambert to know who his best team is. It will take time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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