Ratings & Reactions: Villa v QPR

[Jimzk5]

Not losing was psychologicaly important too, you dont want to be a clubs first win in 15 games

[YLN]

I didn't see the game, but it seems obvious that Lambert didn't trust a defence who have an average of 25 premier league appearances each. I don't blame him. Getting any kind of result with that defence has to be seen as a success, even if we had to play McLeish stuff to get there.

[Archie]

I'am a big fan of Paul Lambert but I must admit that today he killed us with the substitutions after a good first half. I can't understand how Delph can play in Premier League.

Anyhow, third game in a row without defeat and out of the relegation zone. UTV!

[HK_villan]

I'm pretty sure at the end we were playing 5 at the back with Williams, Baker, Clark, Lowton, Lichaj...

[Dom_Wren]

Lads,

Seriously. We were average today and lamberts subs were defensive. BUT! We're in a relegation dogfight! Points mean prizes and the prize is staying in the premier league. Lambert is no mug, he's given us some good and some bad. But chuffing Norah his mantra is to be 4th from bottom this year and build up from that. Like it or love it. We're a 5 year project min. Now yes if in 3 years he hasn't signed a playmaker like tarabat (who was fantastic today) then by all means slaughter him. But bloody hell we need points this year. That's all. Points. I honestly don't care how we play this year. I just want to stay up. Then we will be able to judge pl. come on boys. We're all welcome to our opinion but stay as positive as possible.

Cheers

Dom

[Delphinho123]

Lads,

Seriously. We were average today and lamberts subs were defensive. BUT! We're in a relegation dogfight! Points mean prizes and the prize is staying in the premier league. Lambert is no mug, he's given us some good and some bad. But chuffing Norah his mantra is to be 4th from bottom this year and build up from that. Like it or love it. We're a 5 year project min. Now yes if in 3 years he hasn't signed a playmaker like tarabat (who was fantastic today) then by all means slaughter him. But bloody hell we need points this year. That's all. Points. I honestly don't care how we play this year. I just want to stay up. Then we will be able to judge pl. come on boys. We're all welcome to our opinion but stay as positive as possible.

Cheers

Dom

Never a truer word spoken.

Under Mcleish it was different. We all knew the bloke was inept. The negative tactics/substitutions were no different today under Lambert but there was no light at the end of the tunnel under Mcleish. He had no pedigree as a manager and would never be a success.

Lamberts subs today did exactly what they were meant to do, and that was to sure up the midfield and get that vital point at a club who will probably now go on and string a few wins together under a manager who is perfect for the situation they are in.

It was a good point today and will go a long way in helping us stay up this season, if not the point on our total, but the lack of 3 on theirs.

Ok, the football at times hasn't been pretty under Lambert but lets look at what he has done so far. He has already brought in Guzan, Vlaar, Lowton, Benteke and Westwood. These four players have easily been our best players this season. Just look at the other threads on the main board...'Westwood will be in United's midfield in 2 seasons time'...'We'll do well to hold onto Benteke at the end of the season'...

Just look at the long term plan here. At the moment we aren't good enough to go to QPR (who had a spring in their step today) and pick up three points but I'm confident in 2/3 seasons time, under Lambert, we will.

Our goal this year has to be to stay up whether it be pretty or not. There will be chances to play good football along the way and there will be times we need to dig deep and scrape a point in order to get to the magical '40' figure. Today was one of those times.

Lets stay up, lets back Lambert and let's be positive. I think this bloke knows what he's doing. Benteke, Westwood, Vlaar and Lowton are evidence of this.

I'm personally very excited to see what the team looks like after January and then after the summer. I have complete faith in Lambert and enjoy watching Villa play with the faith I have in him. Things WILL get better.

Up the Villa.

[Richard]

Never a truer word spoken.

Under Mcleish it was different. We all knew the bloke was inept. The negative tactics/substitutions were no different today under Lambert but there was no light at the end of the tunnel under Mcleish. He had no pedigree as a manager and would never be a success.

Lamberts subs today did exactly what they were meant to do, and that was to sure up the midfield and get that vital point at a club who will probably now go on and string a few wins together under a manager who is perfect for the situation they are in.

It was a good point today and will go a long way in helping us stay up this season, if not the point on our total, but the lack of 3 on theirs.

Ok, the football at times hasn't been pretty under Lambert but lets look at what he has done so far. He has already brought in Guzan, Vlaar, Lowton, Benteke and Westwood. These four players have easily been our best players this season. Just look at the other threads on the main board...'Westwood will be in United's midfield in 2 seasons time'...'We'll do well to hold onto Benteke at the end of the season'...

Just look at the long term plan here. At the moment we aren't good enough to go to QPR (who had a spring in their step today) and pick up three points but I'm confident in 2/3 seasons time, under Lambert, we will.

Our goal this year has to be to stay up whether it be pretty or not. There will be chances to play good football along the way and there will be times we need to dig deep and scrape a point in order to get to the magical '40' figure. Today was one of those times.

Lets stay up, lets back Lambert and let's be positive. I think this bloke knows what he's doing. Benteke, Westwood, Vlaar and Lowton are evidence of this.

I'm personally very excited to see what the team looks like after January and then after the summer. I have complete faith in Lambert and enjoy watching Villa play with the faith I have in him. Things WILL get better.

Up the Villa.

another fabulous post, lambert knows what he is doing

[TRO]

Terrible - we were against Reading too - very disappointing as we'd been playing well in defeats against Utd and City.

Four points from our last two games is good - I'm not sure if I prefer playing well or points - surely there should be some sort of correlation?

In theory you would hope so....its what you kinda work towards...its frustrating.

I think we need some more meatier midfielders like Fellaini or Diame... I believe ours are too lightweight.

[TRO]

Just wondering if Harry had Bent and Ireland to call on, would he have kept them on the bench?

Harry had nothing to lose, so he probably would have.a point was not much use to them hence Harry's disappointment.

PL was building on the back of 2 positive results, it was a different approach hence the McLeish type strategy....Its horses for courses sometimes.

good point in my book and a better result for us than them.

[TRO]

Suprised my alot of the criticism of Lambert, well actually, I'm not suprised at all.

I watched the game and thought -

1) We decent first half, reasonably positive, and were better than QPR, which I didn't expect as I thought they would come at us hard in Red-Nose-clearing in the woods's first game.

2) I thought the subs were fine - yes not very positive, but if he'd thrown on attacking players or change formation, and we had lost, people would be saying that we should have kept it tight. As far as I saw, first 20 minutes of the second half our midfield looked tired and were getting overrun badly, so we need fresh legs, so it made sense to brign on like for like - if we didn't make those subs I think we would have lost as Delph KEA gave us a bit of energy again. I also noticed we were starting to rack up yellow cards as the players were tired and diving in to tackles, so three separate subs just helped to break up the game and QPR's rhythm. I als think it sensible to pick a solid midfield (including Herd) to protect our inexperienced back 4 (Clark and Baker were both brilliant by the way - the future is bright if we can keep those 2 and they keep developing).

3) No way would I have brought on Bent or Ireland in the second half when we needed players who were going to battle and scrap for point, I don't think they have it in them. But I, like everyone else, do not understand why Bent is being excluded, there are times when we need him. I don't think Ireland is being excluded at all, he is playing games and being rotated like everyone else.

4) On current form, Bannan should be our first choice play in midfield, followed by Westwood. The other places are all up for grabs.

5) We showed a capacity to retain the ball in the second half and pass it around under pressure for 20-30 passes, which I havn't seen in a while from a Villa team, so this is obviously something that is being worked on in training. Saying that though, we didn't really get anywhere with the passing, it was all in midfield. We were not as direct (i.e. Playing long balls up to Benteke) as we have been previously - but maybe thats why he was less effective in the second half.

6) I think Gabby needs to be dropped. We would be better off with Weimann (if not Bent) at the minute, as Gabby seems to be playing every game but not really contributing much. He seems to have lost that directness to run at people and get into his stride, he's definitely still for the legs for it, as when he does start running dow the line, you can see he is still quick, he's just not positive enough now, he's always looking for a sideways pass.

On the whole though, a good point, and the kind of battling performance that I think we'll need against Stoke, who we normally get bullied by.

Good post that.... as for Gabby I'm with you.

His running is good and his threat is too..... but hey one goal in how many.

He really has to show some effect.I really struggle with this one

Good post that.... as for Gabby I'm with you.

His running is good and his threat is too..... but hey one goal in how many.

He really has to show some effect.I really struggle with this one

PS We need a another player who can link and score.

[GNeeUs]

If Mark Hughes was still in charge I would have expected us to go for the win yesterday.

With Harry Redknapp (a new manager) being in charge, 1st game and with his record I think a draw is a fantastic result.

Fact is our last two matches, we have played in my opinion quite poorly but have got 4 points. If we can play poor and pick up points this can only be a good thing!!

Our defence (considering) have been fantastic last 3 matches (1 goal in 3). We just miss that someone to link defence with striker, supply some goals for Benteke, Bent, Gabby, Weimann etc. I do not know who that person is in our team? Ireland?

I like Bannan but he is just so wasteful in the last 3 matches. Holman looks more an impact player. Delph did well defensively today. KEA? Until we can get some decent supply, whats the point in playing Bent anyway?

[VillaIoW]

If Mark Hughes was still in charge I would have expected us to go for the win yesterday.

With Harry Redknapp (a new manager) being in charge, 1st game and with his record I think a draw is a fantastic result.

Fact is our last two matches, we have played in my opinion quite poorly but have got 4 points. If we can play poor and pick up points this can only be a good thing!!

Our defence (considering) have been fantastic last 3 matches (1 goal in 3). We just miss that someone to link defence with striker, supply some goals for Benteke, Bent, Gabby, Weimann etc. I do not know who that person is in our team? Ireland?

I like Bannan but he is just so wasteful in the last 3 matches. Holman looks more an impact player. Delph did well defensively today. KEA? Until we can get some decent supply, whats the point in playing Bent anyway?

Really good post. Fully agree. To only concede 1 goal considering we have had no Vlaar and using 3rd choice left back is impressive. Look at United without Vidic conceded 3 against Reading

[jonno_2004]

So people aren't happy because our team, consisting largely of players from the lower leagues and the youth team, "only" managed a draw against a team made up of players who previously played for the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal in their first home game under an iconic manager who has previously won every first home game of every club he's ever managed?

Perhaps O'Leary was right.

I **** despair of Villa fans sometimes.

Best post of the thread. People who wonder why we get the reputation we do need to look no further than this thread.

[TRO]

Accepting that we are work in progress it is clear to me that there is a distinction between playing the top and bottom clubs.

1. Top clubs have the offensive player quality so the initiative is with them, we press closed down, marshall, intercept and launch our own raids, in short we let the ball come on to us.

2. The bottom clubs in terms of ball control etc are no better than us and so their is more initiative on us to create ( there is no supporting act) we are on our own in terms of creativity and that is where we are left wanting.

We clearly need a lift in quality....The kids are great, but to be fair to them they are not there yet.

I think it is difficult, because i share the view there is only one place to learn the first team... as i read the other day I month in the first team is worth 6 months in the reserves in terms of development.

[TRO]

Accepting that we are work in progress it is clear to me that there is a distinction between playing the top and bottom clubs.

1. Top clubs have the offensive player quality so the initiative is with them, we press closed down, marshall, intercept and launch our own raids, in short we let the ball come on to us.

2. The bottom clubs in terms of ball control etc are no better than us and so there is more initiative on us to create ( there is no supporting act) we are on our own in terms of creativity and that is where we are left wanting.

We clearly need a lift in quality....The kids are great, but to be fair to them they are not there yet.

I think it is difficult, because i share the view there is only one place to learn the first team... as i read the other day I month in the first team is worth 6 months in the reserves in terms of development.

[TRO]

The performance has negated what could be a valuable point in this game.

With all the criteria taken in to account The Harry factor,relegation candidate in a 6 pointer, injuries and a young team.

It was a good point.... win at home draw away criteria for a top team.

Getting back to my earlier post.... where the tricky bit comes in, we need to beat Stoke

That is the game that is now very important a draw will be a set back in my book, Its that game that if we lose/draw the criticism has more value. If we win, the QPR result will have more value.

[CI]

Absolutely correct, we need to beat stoke and I think that will be a problem.

[sonic_bouma]

i wasn't keen on our performance yesterday, very lacklustre in the 2nd half

but the day after the point we got feels better and better

its nice to see a 2 point gap between us and the bottom 3 and hopefully Delia's rent boys and MONderland will get a draw to keep them right in it

i cant justify slagging our performances off too much when i harp on about how poor our starting line up is before a game

Lowton,Baker,Clark,Lichaj,Westwood,Bannan,Holman - i mean what do we expect from these guys? 1 or 2 of these players should be in the first 11 but all of them together?

im surprised we didnt get trounced by both QPR and Reading

we are lacking in so much quality its unreal and even Guadiola would not be able to playing much better

looking forward to January to see what Lambert does - i still think there will be about 10m to spend

[CI]

Stoke has already got a 0-0 feel about it

[skarroki]

Just listened to Chris Kamara on Soccer Saturday. He said we were well worth the point, the back four played well and Bannan was tidy in midfield.

if it's Kammy saying it i will take it as gospel, the living legend!