Rating and Reactions: Villa 2 (3) - 1 (4) Bradford

[chappy]

Can't really be bothered to post my thoughts on this evening. Absolutely gutted. Long journey home and to cap it all off I've been called in to work on my day off tomorrow.

Weimann should have come on when Bent did. First half we were good. Corners are now the equivalent of penalties for the opposition.

Good luck to Bradford, hope they win the final. Despite how gutted I was when I was sat in New St waiting for my train, the train load of Bradford fans that came in from Witton about 20 minutes after I got there was a sight to behold, they deserved their happiness over two legs. We lost this tie by conceding the 3rd goal at Valley Parade.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

I know it's depressing, but beyond all the doom and gloom I hope everyone remembers that the same team beat Wigan and Arsenal. To be honest Ive been more concerned about the league than this cup anyway, that's what i'm focused on. SET PIECES though, god we are shit at them!

[Mantis]

I know it's depressing, but beyond all the doom and gloom I hope everyone remembers that the same team beat Wigan and Arsenal. To be honest Ive been more concerned about the league than this cup anyway, that's what i'm focused on. SET PIECES though, god we are shit at them!

Bradford beat Wigan and Arsenal on penalties and neither of them were over two legs.

To lose on aggregate to a team like Bradford on aggregate in the manner that we did is absolutely shameful. Wigan and Arsenal would've comfortably beat Bradford over two legs.

We lost this game because of two things tonight: Paul Lambert and the fans.

Everyone was well aware Bradford scoring tonight was a strong possibility and when they did - yes it was a massive setback blah blah blah - but we still had 30 minutes on the clock to score two goals against a League Two team. A tall order, yes, but by no means impossible. And yet, the mood just changed like a light switch. Suddenly we stopped singing and supporting the team and the negativity flooded back in. The guy next to me turned and said: "this game has just been lost" and he wasn't referring to the Bradford goal. Our mentality, although it is completely understandable, sucks big time. Bradford supported their team for 90 minutes and deserved the win - I hope they enjoy the day out at Wembley.

But it wasn't the fans who completely lost the plot when Bradford scored. What on earth was Paul Lambert thinking in the second-half? We were playing 3-1-6 for the last 30 minutes I swear. You've got two strikers in Benteke and Bent who are dangerous in the air in the box and yet we just had six attacking players standing in a narrow line, almost as if forming a brick wall, as the ball gets constantly hoofed up to them. I've honestly seen under-9 teams with better tactics and formations. It made me feel sick. You can have as many forward players on as you like, but if you have no supply line, you have no hope. And this is exactly what Lambert did at home to Southampton. Pathetic and just stinks of someone who hasn't got a bleeding clue.

And simple things like defending set pieces - we had every outfield player either inside the box or just outside. Does Paul Lambert not realise that if you stick Gabby and Charles on the two wings you immediately drag 2 or 3 Bradford players out of our box. That is 2 or 3 less players to deal with inside the box. It is such basic stuff that is just going so wrong at the moment and Lambert does not seem capable of putting it right.

I've tried to back Lambert, really I have. But tonight has tipped me over the edge. He's literally useless and clueless and any PL manager who gets tactically beaten over two legs by a League Two side really ought to offer his resignation. However, this is not just Paul Lambert's fault and sacking him and bringing another manager in would not really change a thing. The club is rotten to the core from top to bottom and until Randolph Lerner swallows his pride and accepts that he needs to employ some football people to run this football club or sells us to a new responsible owner then nothing is going to halt this steep decline. We've been in trouble ever since Lerner took the reigns and now we are seeing the results.

I don't buy that it was partly to do with the fans. The support sounded magnificent when we played Bradford away but the performance and result was even worse there. It's correct that we lost the game as soon as Bradford scored (I think everyone knew that) but not because the fans stopped singing but because the players are all completely gone in the head and had already stopped playing straight after half time (as always). That's probably why the negativity flooded back in - because everyone knew that it was all over then. Things might be different if we had a team that wasn't mentally broken and wasn't managed by an inept dour word removed like Lambert.

Agree with everything else though.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Mantis

[rjw63]

I'm not overly upset, because i KNEW we would lose the tie. It came as no surprise whatsoever.

Manager should have been shitcanned after Wigan.

Good luck Bradford

[AVFCAM]

The way I see it, there's no shame in losing to this Bradford side, they beat Arsenal and Wigan on the way here...we only lost 1 of 2 games (this is ignoring the poor performances and tactics by us)...

The one overriding thing to take from all this, is that until Lambert sorts out our defending from corners, we are doomed. Beaten by Bradford by 4 corners, Baggies equaliser was a corner.

Perhaps I'm talking sense, perhaps I'm just not bothered anymore...when you think it couldn't get worse, it does...

[PaulTheVillan]

Dec 23 - Chelsea 8 Aston Villa 0

Dec 26 - Aston Villa 0 Tottenham 4

Dec 29 - Aston Villa 0 Wigan 3

Jan 1 - Swansea 2 Aston Villa 2

Jan 5 - Aston Villa 2 Ipswich 1

Jan 8 - Bradford 3 Aston Villa 1

Jan 12 - Aston Villa 0 Southampton 1

Jan 19 - West Brom 2 Aston Villa 2

Jan 22 - Aston Villa 2 Bradford 1

Clear you desk Paul.

[villa89]

The way I see it, there's no shame in losing to this Bradford side

You see it wrong. To lose to a league 2 side over two legs when the second leg is at home is the worst result probably in the history of Aston Villa. We need to wkae up to just how bad our performances were over the two legs. Championship here we come.

[Robbie09]

This is probably going to get lost in the mire but I'll go anyway.

Got back about an hour ago and am drowning my sorrows in a beer.

It started wonderfully; the fans were in full voice, in a singing competition with the Bradford fans, all the flags waving, massive wave of positivity.

We absolutely dominated them all the first half. They hardly got the ball over the halfway line and we had one scare with a shot. Bennett put in a great cross and Benteke scored. Bennett is obviously low and confidence and is not liking getting stick from the fans as Bannan went straight to him where you could see he was really pleased.

After that, we turned up the heat even more. Bennett was excellent, getting involved in everything and was very dangerous. I wish that mazy run would have resulted in something because until there was an offside it was sublime.

We got to half-time and it was great. I was sat near the Holte and was looking forward to seeing a few going in in the 2nd half.

It was going well. We started the 2nd half in the same way as we finished the first. "We've done it before and we'll do it again".

Then we conceded the corner. Everyone knew what was coming, but secretly hoped we'd not let them undo us from our obvious weakness. Obviously we would defend every set piece with our lives, watch every ball coming in and make sure we were first to everything.

I didn't see what happened to allow their player to get in and score as I was too far away. But firstly you wonder if Guzan would have claimed it, and there seemed to be a hell of a lot of pushing and shoving going on. If corners are so easy to score from, why can't we do it?

The players walking back to the centre circle knew what the rest of the ground knew. It was over. If we'd taken 45 minutes to get 1 goal, it was going to be difficult to get at least 2 more without conceding in the last 30. The heads dropped and our shape went.

Lambert rolled the dice by bringing Bent on, who was almost a saboteur. Then as we were desperately trying to get the ball up front quickly, he also brought on Weimann. The worrying part was when Bent came on giving directions of who should go where and no-one understood who was covering where. Delph wasn't sure if he was covering left-back when Bennett came off so there was a massive gap Hines exploited.

We threw everything up top, everyone was getting in each other's way and it was a bit of a melee. We didn't have time to be patient and Bradford got 11 men behind the ball. Given was able to dribble the ball to the halfway line to put it into the box but to no avail. We had a few chances but again we don't have good enough, and we can't afford good enough players to be clinical.

Special mention to Bent at the end who ended up celebrating with the Bradford players while all other Villa players were skulking off. Sell him for anything to get him out of the club.

Given: 5. Wonder if he could have got to the corner? Didn't have a lot else to do.

Lowton: 4. Not at the races

Vlaar: 6. Solid

Clark: 6. Solid

Bennett: 7. Few mistakes but everything good went through him

Delph: 7. Was on a mission. Tidy, committed. How I wish his run and shot would have gone in.

Ireland: 5. The reason no-one was passing to him was because he just wanted the ball to feet without moving. Everyone else is looking to play the ball into space. They don't realise Ireland can play tight, so unless he's in acres of space they don't pass to him. Cue tantrum.

Bannan: 5. Divides opinion. Passes were fine, he was the engine, keeping the ball moving around. Couple of fantastic long passes, but not the quality to channel everything through. This is the position we need a top quality CM.

N'Zogbia: 6. Forced stuff to happen. Still Charles N'Zogbia FC but a bit more composure would have reaped rewards.

Gabby: 5. Tried, but ultimately failed.

Benteke: 5. Was playing the hold-up striker, but doesn't have a great first touch. Well taken goal, but doesn't run or take chances anywhere near enough.

Bent: 0. Please leave. Should have been on the end of a knock-down from Benteke at 94 but couldn't be arsed.

Weimann: 4. Proved why he wasn't picked. Obviously wasn't fit.

Lambert: The only blame I can really lay at his door is that the set pieces still haven't been sorted out. The worst thing tonight was to concede so you make sure everyone knows their job from corners. He has to take the blame for that. I don't attempt to second-guess him looking lost or aloof, or panicked etc., because that means nothing. But defending corners is a basic that should have been fixed by now.

Well said, a very eloquent post.

[Harry]

Just watched the interviews on AVTV and credit to Vlaar he was gutted, just could not speak, so I guess he cares.Bizarrely Lambert was bemoaning us for playing a long ball game in the second half.

Last time I checked you were manager and the players were supposed to do what you wanted. Oh and aren't you the manager who put four out and out strikers on for the last 10 minutes which kind of suggests thats what you wanted.

Final thought I don't agree with the notion that the fans did not play their part in the second half. The players are so mentally fragile that as soon as Bradford scored we were in trouble so whatever the fans did probably would have no effect. Added to that me and most fans in the ground know the script this season when it comes to Villa and we are just so so pissed off with watching complete shite.

Its a bit like watching your ex snog someone else when you still have feelings for them. You are pretty much powerless to do anything about it.

[Rugeley Villa]

Mark Hughes on a short term deal is the man in my opinion. Nigel Adkins. Even my dead gran (god rest her soul) could do a better job than Rab C McFuckwit. The man is a complete fucktard.

not sure about adkins but I do like the bloke, same with hughes, I really want lambert to succed but how much longer have we got to put up with this, also some of those players should never pull a villa top on again, are we even gonna bring any players in this month?? If lerners main goal is to just stay in prem league and float around bottom half spending as little as he can then he should **** off, by finishing 17th every year lerner is making a profit so that's good enough for him but that ay good enough for me! And if that is the case with him let's get **** relegated and be done with it

[Rugeley Villa]

Even though we had all that possesion first half we did nowhere near enough in my eyes, no speed no movement players just standing around instead of running into the achers of space we had, very average first half was, I like lowton but he's very weak and as for that midfield trio they should be embarrased but they won't give a ****

[Stevo985]

Gutted.

The team, including Lambert, in fact maybe Lambert most of all, panicked.

First half was exactly the way we should have played against Bradford. Solid at the back, and a tidy midfield all comfortable on the ball and who can all pass.

We controlled possession, frsutrated Bradford, patiently created chances and didn't give them a look in.

OK we weren't amazing in the first half, but we created a handful of decent chances and I genuinely believe if we'd kept that 11 on the whole game we'd have gone through.

The problem came when Bradford scored. Again our marking from the corner was awful. But that aside, it was their only real chance up until that point. Completely against the run of play.

Now if the team and Lambert had kept their cool, realised that what we were doing up to that point was working, then we'd have been fine. But they didn't. It showed inexperience from both the players and the manager.

The midfield who, up until that point, had dominated the game, was slowly dismantled and from there we showed the most bizarre tactics I've ever seen.

I don't blame Lambert so much for bringing on 2 more strikers. We were chasing a goal. but he shoul dhave ensured they kept some sort of shape.

But the midfield lost any shape, and every attack ended up with the 4 strikers on the pitch literally standing in the D of Bradford' penalty area.

There was no way we were going to pass through them, and now the midfield had disappeared leaving no one to play the ball around.

It was never going to work.

Anyway, the only positive I took was that I enjoyed the first half. Atmosphere was great. Second half ruined it though.

Some ratings

Given - 6 - didn't do anythign wrong. Couldn't stop the goal, had nothing else to do really.

Lowton - 6 - Good. Caught out a couple of times but on the ball was excellent.

Vlaar - 7 - Lovely to have him back. I'm told he lost his man for the goal (haven't seen any replays and it was the other side of the ground) but in a way I don't care. Look much more solid and organised with him there. Credit for having th eballs to come to the Holte and apologise afterwards too. I didn't see anyone else do that.

Clark - 6 - Fine

Bennett - 6 - Not amazing but credit for a lovely assist

Delph - 7 - First half he was excellent. Struggled a bit after the midfield dismantling

Bannan - 6 - Started poorly I thought, but got better.

N'Zogbia - 6.5 - One of his best games in a Villa shirt, imo.

Ireland - 6 - Again, Good first half, not so good after the break

Benteke - 5 - Despite the goal, offered very little all game.

Gabby - 5 - Not one of his better games

Subs:

Bent - 6 - I'm giving him 6 because of the 4 strikers on the pitch at that time, he seemed to be the only one trying to organise the attack. He seemed furious that they al ended up in the same place and was trying (but ultimately failing) to orchestrate some bodies in the channels. At least it showed some intelligence. But the way we were set up he was never going to score

Weimann - 6 - Credit for the goal

IN conclusion, the substitutions cost us the game I think. Being braver and taking Benteke off for Bent or ultimately keeping the diamond midfield would have been the better option, imo

Edited January 23, 2013 by Stevo985

[CI]

Nobody deserves over 2 except Weimann who gets 4

[Shillzz]

Thought Delph was pretty good.

[CI]

Delph one forward run and shot aside was poor and should have received a red card

Granted he was much better than Bannan & Ireland

[Stevo985]

He was very good in the first half. As I said, suffered when the midfield was dismantled. had no-one to pass to.

[villa_shere]

load of shite! bottled it after conceded to a league two team. How on earth do we consistently let in corners?? How are we not bottom of the league is another matter.

Weimann, Benteke n Nzog the only players to take any real credit away from that game.

I know Bennett got an assist but his second half performance was woeful. Not sure if its Lamberts instructions or his own incapability but why on earth didn’t he bomb down the touchline second half. Every time the ball came to him he was stood about 5 yards from the player with the ball at the back rather than stretching Bradford and trying to get in behind them or take the wing.

Unbelievable how we haven’t added a midfielder or CB to the team yet either, as the clear for the whole world to see we are severely lacking in those departments.

UTV!

[sherl]

We lost this game because of two things tonight: Paul Lambert and the fans.

Everyone was well aware Bradford scoring tonight was a strong possibility and when they did - yes it was a massive setback blah blah blah - but we still had 30 minutes on the clock to score two goals against a League Two team. A tall order, yes, but by no means impossible. And yet, the mood just changed like a light switch. Suddenly we stopped singing and supporting the team and the negativity flooded back in. The guy next to me turned and said: "this game has just been lost" and he wasn't referring to the Bradford goal. Our mentality, although it is completely understandable, sucks big time. Bradford supported their team for 90 minutes and deserved the win - I hope they enjoy the day out at Wembley.

But it wasn't the fans who completely lost the plot when Bradford scored. What on earth was Paul Lambert thinking in the second-half? We were playing 3-1-6 for the last 30 minutes I swear. You've got two strikers in Benteke and Bent who are dangerous in the air in the box and yet we just had six attacking players standing in a narrow line, almost as if forming a brick wall, as the ball gets constantly hoofed up to them. I've honestly seen under-9 teams with better tactics and formations. It made me feel sick. You can have as many forward players on as you like, but if you have no supply line, you have no hope. And this is exactly what Lambert did at home to Southampton. Pathetic and just stinks of someone who hasn't got a bleeding clue.

And simple things like defending set pieces - we had every outfield player either inside the box or just outside. Does Paul Lambert not realise that if you stick Gabby and Charles on the two wings you immediately drag 2 or 3 Bradford players out of our box. That is 2 or 3 less players to deal with inside the box. It is such basic stuff that is just going so wrong at the moment and Lambert does not seem capable of putting it right.

I've tried to back Lambert, really I have. But tonight has tipped me over the edge. He's literally useless and clueless and any PL manager who gets tactically beaten over two legs by a League Two side really ought to offer his resignation. However, this is not just Paul Lambert's fault and sacking him and bringing another manager in would not really change a thing. The club is rotten to the core from top to bottom and until Randolph Lerner swallows his pride and accepts that he needs to employ some football people to run this football club or sells us to a new responsible owner then nothing is going to halt this steep decline. We've been in trouble ever since Lerner took the reigns and now we are seeing the results.

this - exactly.

[myb]

We have some absolute imbecile supporters. I have never been surrounded by a bitters group of a grade dickheads in my life. From talking about (seriously) us having a bigger firm than Bradford, giving them a kicking, travelling to Millwall next week for a ruck, through to trying to start songs or sing about the Bradford fire.

If the football isn't enough to turn you away then paying money to be surrounded by a bunch of cretins certainly is. God, how depressing a trip to Villa park is.

[Stevomanila]

Gutted.

The team, including Lambert, in fact maybe Lambert most of all, panicked.

First half was exactly the way we should have played against Bradford. Solid at the back, and a tidy midfield all comfortable on the ball and who can all pass.

We controlled possession, frsutrated Bradford, patiently created chances and didn't give them a look in.

OK we weren't amazing in the first half, but we created a handful of decent chances and I genuinely believe if we'd kept that 11 on the whole game we'd have gone through.

The problem came when Bradford scored. Again our marking from the corner was awful. But that aside, it was their only real chance up until that point. Completely against the run of play.

Now if the team and Lambert had kept their cool, realised that what we were doing up to that point was working, then we'd have been fine. But they didn't. It showed inexperience from both the players and the manager.

The midfield who, up until that point, had dominated the game, was slowly dismantled and from there we showed the most bizarre tactics I've ever seen.

I don't blame Lambert so much for bringing on 2 more strikers. We were chasing a goal. but he shoul dhave ensured they kept some sort of shape.

But the midfield lost any shape, and every attack ended up with the 4 strikers on the pitch literally standing in the D of Bradford' penalty area.

There was no way we were going to pass through them, and now the midfield had disappeared leaving no one to play the ball around.

It was never going to work.

Anyway, the only positive I took was that I enjoyed the first half. Atmosphere was great. Second half ruined it though.

Some ratings

Given - 6 - didn't do anythign wrong. Couldn't stop the goal, had nothing else to do really.

Lowton - 6 - Good. Caught out a couple of times but on the ball was excellent.

Vlaar - 7 - Lovely to have him back. I'm told he lost his man for the goal (haven't seen any replays and it was the other side of the ground) but in a way I don't care. Look much more solid and organised with him there. Credit for having th eballs to come to the Holte and apologise afterwards too. I didn't see anyone else do that.

Clark - 6 - Fine

Bennett - 6 - Not amazing but credit for a lovely assist

Delph - 7 - First half he was excellent. Struggled a bit after the midfield dismantling

Bannan - 6 - Started poorly I thought, but got better.

N'Zogbia - 6.5 - One of his best games in a Villa shirt, imo.

Ireland - 6 - Again, Good first half, not so good after the break

Benteke - 5 - Despite the goal, offered very little all game.

Gabby - 5 - Not one of his better games

Subs:

Bent - 6 - I'm giving him 6 because of the 4 strikers on the pitch at that time, he seemed to be the only one trying to organise the attack. He seemed furious that they al ended up in the same place and was trying (but ultimately failing) to orchestrate some bodies in the channels. At least it showed some intelligence. But the way we were set up he was never going to score

Weimann - 6 - Credit for the goal

IN conclusion, the substitutions cost us the game I think. Being braver and taking Benteke off for Bent or ultimately keeping the diamond midfield would have been the better option, imo

This for me too, well said.