VillaAndLoyal Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Where to start? Terrible, terrible performance and I hope I never see that again in my lifetime. I think Lambert got the tactics badly wrong today - we should have packed the midfield and given the defence some protection but for most of the game Chelsea had acres of space to play in between our defence and midfield and also down the channels. Although we won at Anfield, the same problems today were present then, the difference was Chelsea were extremely clinical and, to be frank, a class above Liverpool at present. Lambert also made the wrong substitutions today and how Bannan stayed on I will never know. The third fatal thing he did wrong was not to order our players to just shut up shop at 4 or 5 nil. So all in all, shocking day in our history and we collectively need to learn from it. It was a similar collapse at Southampton. BUT, all that said, some of the overreactions and comments from our fans are just totally embarrassing on every level, much like our team's performance. I have witnessed today supposed 'fans' of ours on Twitter calling for Lambert to go and verbally attacking people who can still see the bigger picture. It is not a crime to like to stay positive and retain faith in our manager. Generally speaking, over the past couple of months our level of performance has been getting better even if we are still massively inconsistent. Back in October/start of November i'd have predicted we would be rock bottom come 2013 but we have picked up the points to make sure that won't happen. Our defence and midfield still needs strengthening in January, but I have no worries about relegation despite drubbings like today. Finally, why on earth should our fans receive refunds after that? They didn't buy tickets on condition of a certain scoreline. No-one forced them to go and some people need to get a grip... It is not the end of the world (that was on Friday) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parisvilla Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Has Bannan ever had a shot on target? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Could have been worse, could have lost 9-0 Let's face it, it could easily have been 12 or 13 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I think my lowest point today was when he brought Bennett on. A real WTF??? moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I think my lowest point today was when he brought Bennett on. A real WTF??? moment. Nothing wrong with that at all. Lichaj isn't very good at wing-back and Bennett is more attacking. What I couldn't understand was bringing Westwood off but leaving Bannan on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 You can't deny Morpheus that on another day they would've scored half the goals they scored. No excuses for the shit performance but almost everything fell for them today. No it didn't. How many chances did Chelsea miss not including the penalty so anyone suggesting everything went for Chelsea are simply deluded. If everything had went for them the score would have been in double figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno_2004 Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Just unbelievable. Turned off at half-time hoping for perhaps a 3 or 4-1 but to see **** eight?! Jesus. Last time we got a thrashing we went on a good run but man alive, getting beat like that is inexcusable. Seeing Holman walking around in the first half made my stomach turn, the only thing he has to his game is his endeavour and without it he might as well not be there. I just hope boxing day isn't going to be ruined in a similar way. At least last week was fairly enjoyable but come on Villa, this just isn't on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 No it didn't. How many chances did Chelsea miss not including the penalty so anyone suggesting everything went for Chelsea are simply deluded. If everything had went for them thescore would have been in double figures. Did you not see their goals? Some of them were unstoppable and wouldn't have gone in on another day. They still would've beat us obviously, but things did fall for them and it'd be deluded to deny that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Did you not see their goals? Most of them were unstoppable and wouldn't have gone in on another day. They still would've beat us obviously, but things did fall for them and it'd be deluded to deny that. We'll I guess Chelsea were just lucky today then. 'Unstoppable and wouldn't have gone in on another day.' I'll leave it at that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 We'll I guess Chelsea were just lucky today then. Where did I say that? They won because they outclassed us massively, but that doesn't mean things didn't fall for them. And yeah, some of them wouldn't have gone in on another day. Do you think Luiz is going to score every free kick he takes from now on or Torres is going to continually score those sorts of ridiculously amazing headers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 How did things fall for them? Deflected shots, own goals or were they just well taken goals? Define how everything went for them when they missed at least another four chances and a penalty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 How did things fall for them? Deflected shots, own goals or where they just well taken goals? Define how everything went for them when they missed at least another four chances and a penalty? I never said everything went for them I said most did. Torres' first goal was a magnificent header but nine times out of ten that wouldn't have gone in. Same for Luiz's freekick. For the third goal Guzan made a brilliant save but Ivanovic just happened to be there to tap it in anyway. Frank Lampard's shot was unlucky to go in (from out point of view). Both penalties were soft. Obviously that's not to say they didn't deserve to win because they did. 8-0 doesn't flatter them but you can't deny that everything just went right for them today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeordieVillan Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I posted last week that while the Liverpool result was great, it was papering over some the cracks in some respects, and I wasn't getting carried away. Just a few observations - 1) The scoreline is awful. 2) It will sound stupid, but I didn't see a great deal of difference between our performance this week and last week other than - Benteke was shit today, and Chelsea were very clinical. Liverpool quite easily could have beaten 4/5 nil last week. if they knew has to finish. At times we actually passed the ball around pretty well, particularly first half, we just didn't have the cutting edge because we are now so reliant of Benteke that if he has an off-day we are always going to struggle to score goals. 3) The 5-3-2 has worked for us since Vlaar has been injured as its protected out yougn defence, today it didn't work because our midfield looked like they just couldn't keep up. 4) I'm not going to get on the back on the young players after one game - they are all showing promise for me, allbeit to varying degrees. I think Bannan and Herd are decent premier league players, despite what others have said. My problem with Bannan is that he always looks hungover. 5) If Benteke could stay on-side, he could have been clean through 3/4 times in the first half. 6) When Torres scores a header like that, its a really bad omen. Bloody Torress. 7) I genuinely wouldn't be suprised if we beat Spurs. I don't think we'll murder them or anything, but we could easily win by the odd goal. With our young players, you just don't know what you're gonna get. 8) Likewise, if we get through to the Cup Final and play Chelsea, we could win it. They will be massive favourites, but on our day we can give them a game. 9) Part of me loved how we were still playing open attacking football even at 4-0, even though it wasn't successful attacking football. It may be naive, but I think Martin Tyler even said its great to see that Villa are still having a go, rather than doing damage limitation. Of course, part of me would have loved us to keep the score down. Still behind Lambert, I'd be happy with 15th place this season as long as we are safe with a few weeks to go. Then we need some investment in the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 It just wouldn't be that they were well taken goals, Ivanovic was following in and the penalties were indeed warranted? The point remains which you've failed to answer. If everything went for Chelsea how could they have missed chances and a penalty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 It just wouldn't be that they were well taken goals, Ivanovic was following in and the penalties were indeed warranted? The point remains which you've failed to answer. If everything went for Chelsea how could they have missed chances and a penalty? The penalties were never warranted. It was typical fat word removed dowd. He's just lucky it didn't really change anythinng, unlike the West Brom, Man United and Norwich games. I never said everything went for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 So no answer then which was expected. Concerning the penalties they were clear pens and the ref got both right but your not going to admit to that as it wouldn't suit your debate. Isn't that correct Mantis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 So no answer then which was expected. Concerning the penalties they were clear pens and the ref got both right but your not going to admit to that as it wouldn't suit your debate. Isn't that correct Mantis. I just answered your question. Since we would've lost by a huge margin anyway there'd be no point in saying they were soft penalties if I didn't actually believe it. They were soft penalties though. Perhaps you're denying that becuase it doesn't suit your debate? It's that same position again. If we had been awarded those two penalties you would've called them soft penalties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 No you haven't answered my question and I see you've reverted to being a mind reader again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Not a good time to have 8 in your name. But please forgive me for that. For me problem is the central three. They're not the right players for this formation and style of play in my opinion. Yes the defence or attack didn't have their best day, Benteke offside far too often and defence not tracking the opposition and behaving far to impetuous in the tackle. But the midfield give no support to either end of the pitch. They just don't link the two together, they don't track back, they don't keep the ball and they don't create chances. Yes, it's a lot more complicated than this, it's not just those positions and it's not so black and white but for me it's the most direct and simplest way to sum it up. The full-backs are learning to be wing-backs and I understand that and Lowton is doing well because he's a balanced player but the left back position needs some work (Blatant statement of the century I know) Westwood is good, even though he had a bad game today. But those other two spaces need to be filled by players bought in January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 No you haven't answered my question and I see you've reverted to being a mind reader again. Yes I did and no I never claimed to be a mind reader in the first place, I just know what you're like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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