Manager Paul Lambert

[Panto_Villan]

 

I find it amazing that people were incredibly happy with the team when we did well against Chelsea and Arsenal and now exactly the same team is the worst thing since sliced sh*te.

 

Our team was never good enough for a top 6 finish, nor are we going to get relegated. We lost 2-1, scored a goal and I seem to recall us creating three other genuine chances that you'd expect us to score more often than not. People are writing off Kozak after seeing him play for 20 minutes when we scored immediately when he came on? Really?

 

Come on there were no positives today. Guzan kept the score down - and one whistled past the post just before half time. You have to be incredibly niave to think we deserved anything from that game if anything 1-2 flattered Newcastle.

 

 

I don't think we deserved a point today, as we were the worse team over the course of the game. That doesn't mean there were no positives, though (Guzan keeping the score down is itself a positive, or is Guzan not part of our team?).

 

The fact that we didn't play particularly well today doesn't mean that this team is not capable of playing well or will not play well in the future. It's certainly a disappointing result but it's astonishing the amount of fuss that some people are kicking up about it. Let's give it a few more games before we get the pitchforks out, eh?

[Panto_Villan]

Its obvious to see Lambert is to reliant on attack and not enough on defence. This makes us such an easy team to a break down. He's so worried about losing Benteke weather its through injury or the inevitable which is why he's brought a striker in rather than a defender or CM. I personally hate this counter attacking football reminds me to much of O'Neil which to me was just as bad as watching MCleish. Its such easy football and I expect alot more from Lambert. His rein with us fans won't last long if he sticks with this tactically inept shite!

 

I imagine his reign will be judged more on his results than whether he plays a style of football that is to your personal preference. I quite enjoy counter-attacking football when it is done well, but I somehow doubt that will be a big factor in whether Lambert has his contract terminated or not.

[Avflife]

Tactically clueless, PL hasn't got any insight into what formations work during a game. Playing 4-2-4 after scoring, thinking we weren't going to concede is bizarre to say the least, Newcastle and Ben Arfa looked a threat all game. Also why isn't Sylla being considered, I know he has just come back from injury, but he is a way better player than KEA. 

Newcastle (who we underestimated) were the better team the whole game, apart for 5 minutes, after we scored.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Avflife

[Mart-L7]

I think Lambert got it totally wrong today.

1, sick of all this getting 3quarters down the pitch and passing back rubbish

2, why was Weimann on the pitch after half time? He's lost form even in the warm up his shots at goal was shocking everyone missed.

3, so we hardly got the ball into the box and he brings another striker on hmmmmmm :s

4, brings Tonev on in the 82nd min ( tried too ) he actually got on the pitch in the 86th min? Once Newcastle scored their 2nd he should of been on.

[PieFacE]

 

The fact that we didn't play particularly well today doesn't mean that this team is not capable of playing well or will not play well in the future. It's certainly a disappointing result but it's astonishing the amount of fuss that some people are kicking up about it. Let's give it a few more games before we get the pitchforks out, eh?

 

The problem is, it's not just this result, our home form over the past 3 years has been terrible. 

[AVFCforever1991]

I think Lambert got it totally wrong today.

1, sick of all this getting 3quarters down the pitch and passing back rubbish

2, why was Weimann on the pitch after half time? He's lost form even in the warm up his shots at goal was shocking everyone missed.

3, so we hardly got the ball into the box and he brings another striker on hmmmmmm :s

4, brings Tonev on in the 82nd min ( tried too ) he actually got on the pitch in the 86th min? Once Newcastle scored their 2nd he should of been on.

 

88th minute.

[Panto_Villan]

Despite being drawn into the argument about whether the team is fundamentally awful or not further up the page, I do actually think Lambert got it wrong today. Is Sylla injured? I don't really understand why he isn't playing. Wiemann had another poor game, and I think he should have been subbed earlier. Also, I don't understand him bringing on Kozak for a midfielder when we were already struggling in the middle of the park. Some rather bizarre choices there.

[samjp26]

Despite being drawn into the argument about whether the team is fundamentally awful or not further up the page, I do actually think Lambert got it wrong today. Is Sylla injured? I don't really understand why he isn't playing. Wiemann had another poor game, and I think he should have been subbed earlier. Also, I don't understand him bringing on Kozak for a midfielder when we were already struggling in the middle of the park. Some rather bizarre choices there.

 

I think he brought Kozak on at that time for the set-piece. After we scored from it though he should've put Sylla on for Weimann and played a 4-1-2-1-2 with Gabby behind the two strikers and Sylla behind the two center midfielders (in my opinion).

 

Trying to defend a 1-1 draw would've been easier than trying to get a 2-1 win with 4 strikers.

Edited September 14, 2013 by samjp26

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

"You pick them up and go again on Monday now. We have Norwich on Saturday."

 

"You pick them up and go again on Monday now."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

[StefanAVFC]

 

Paul Lambert bemoaned a slow start as Villa went down 2-1 at home to Newcastle.

Lambert was frustrated his team didn't show the usual drive and energy from the off against the Magpies.

Villa boss Lambert believes that was a fundamental reason for the loss, as well as the concession of two poor goals from his perspective.

He was happier with the second half display but is keen for his emerging team to score first in games, so they don't give themselves a mountain to climb each week.

He said: "It was frustrating, very much so.

"We never got going in the first half. It was unlike us. But we can't lose goals like the way we did.

"We started the second half really well. But the first half, we lost a really poor goal and the second I thought was even worse.

"They get back into it then. The impetus and ascendancy was with us. But you can't defend that way.

"We don't set them out to play that way. You have to give Newcastle credit for starting the gamewell. We are not a team who can play slow football. We don't have that knowhow yet to play that way.

"A big part of our game is our energy and tempo. We started slowly. In the second half, it was much more like us.

"It wasn't like us, especially in the first half. In the second half it was a lot better.

"You pick them up and go again on Monday now. We have Norwich on Saturday.

"I can't fault them for effort. They gave me everything they had to try and retrieve it. But the disappointing thing was the two goals.

"I am not one for making excuses. We got beat because we didn't start the game in the right manner.

"The frustrating thing in the games we've played is we have always conceded the first goal. We have had to come back from that. That's a lot to ask every time. It's a lot to do. It's disappointing to start in the manner we did.

"But I can't fault my team for effort. I'd like to get results and more points. But I can't fault them for the way they try to do the right things."

 

I like him but 90% of this is bollocks.

[Mart-L7]

"You pick them up and go again on Monday now. We have Norwich on Saturday."

 

"You pick them up and go again on Monday now."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

"You pick them up and go again."

 

I thought the team played out of their skins today I couldn't fault them

Same old shit different week

[Mantis]

 

Losing 2-1 to Newcastle is hardly the same as losing 8-0 to Chelsea.

 

Didn't say it was.

 

The point is, one win is not a reflection of how we are doing. But four results is. Please try and read it all and not pull out little bits.

 

 

Is it though? The fact that we've played 3 of last season's top 6 in our opening 4 games has for me made it hard to judge the situation properly yet. I mean, after the first 2 games, possibly even 3, you could say we had a very good start. The fact that after 4 games one could argue we've had a terrible start (3 points from 4 games) would suggest to me that it's still too early to get a reflection of how we're doing overall.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Mantis

[Dodgyknees]

 

 

Losing 2-1 to Newcastle is hardly the same as losing 8-0 to Chelsea.

 

Didn't say it was.

 

The point is, one win is not a reflection of how we are doing. But four results is. Please try and read it all and not pull out little bits.

 

 

Is it though? The fact that we've played 3 of last season's top 6 in our opening 4 games has for me made it hard to judge the situation properly yet. I mean, after the first 2 games, possibly even 3, you could say we had a very good start. The fact that after 4 games one could argue we've had a terrible start (3 points from 4 games) would suggest to me that it's still too early to get a reflection of how we're doing overall.

 

 

You missed the point, picked out what you saw as something to jump on and used it as my view. I honestly can't be bothered to argue it, unless you use my full comment.

[Mantis]

I didn't "jump" on anything, I was just pointing out that it's not really a fair comparison.

[Jimzk5]

Paul Lambert bemoaned a slow start as Villa went down 2-1 at home to Newcastle.

Lambert was frustrated his team didn't show the usual drive and energy from the off against the Magpies.

Villa boss Lambert believes that was a fundamental reason for the loss, as well as the concession of two poor goals from his perspective.

He was happier with the second half display but is keen for his emerging team to score first in games, so they don't give themselves a mountain to climb each week.

He said: "It was frustrating, very much so.

"We never got going in the first half. It was unlike us. But we can't lose goals like the way we did.

"We started the second half really well. But the first half, we lost a really poor goal and the second I thought was even worse.

"They get back into it then. The impetus and ascendancy was with us. But you can't defend that way.

"We don't set them out to play that way. You have to give Newcastle credit for starting the gamewell. We are not a team who can play slow football. We don't have that knowhow yet to play that way.

"A big part of our game is our energy and tempo. We started slowly. In the second half, it was much more like us.

"It wasn't like us, especially in the first half. In the second half it was a lot better.

"You pick them up and go again on Monday now. We have Norwich on Saturday.

"I can't fault them for effort. They gave me everything they had to try and retrieve it. But the disappointing thing was the two goals.

"I am not one for making excuses. We got beat because we didn't start the game in the right manner.

"The frustrating thing in the games we've played is we have always conceded the first goal. We have had to come back from that. That's a lot to ask every time. It's a lot to do. It's disappointing to start in the manner we did.

"But I can't fault my team for effort. I'd like to get results and more points. But I can't fault them for the way they try to do the right things."

I like him but 90% of this is bollocks.

Nah, what he says id right, we are too slow to get going, we are poor at defending & you can't keep giving teams a 1-0 head start, what is bollocks is its his team, he can see exactly the same issues that us fans can see so why aren't we improving in these areas, in 12 months the same things that hampered us last season are still with us. I like Lambert, but **** sake days like today make me wonder why.

[foreveryoung]

If all the players played out of there skin, we are well in the shit this season.

[The Fun Factory]

'you can't defend that way' Where have you been for a year Paul?! Joking aside Lambert is a funny one. Sometimes you think yeah he knows what he is doing, we are going to be a Dortmund lite, its fine. And then peformances like today and last season you think does this fella know what he is doing? Baffling tactics sometimes. I am going to put this down to  a bad day in the office and expect a much better peformance at Norwich. We need at least a draw at Carrow Road to get back on track.

[markavfc40]

I like Lambert I really do. However I am pissed that he still hasn't got us defending much above pub team levels at times.

 

Its now pretty much a given before a game kicks off that to win we are going to have to score at least 2 or 3 goals due to how shit we are defensively. Whilst we are a threat going forward you are going to get games like today when in the main it just isn't happening attacking wise. That is when you need to be on your game defensively to grind out a 1-0 win or a 0-0 draw. We just don't have that in our locker and whilst that remains the case we look destined for another season of at best a lower to mid table finish.

Edited September 14, 2013 by markavfc40

[VillaChris]

Real time to panic will be if we don't beat Norwich or Hull away, those are bottom 6 teams right there. Lambert likes returning to Carrow Road and winning so I think we'll be o.k. Concern for me Is there's a real prospect we'll get to November without winning a home game looking at who we're playing in our next three.

 

That said we used to finish 6th winning just 6-7 home games a season in the MON years so maybe it isn't that great a problem as long as you find 16-17 wins from somewhere.

[VillaChris]

I like Lambert I really do. However I am pissed that he still hasn't got us defending much above pub team levels at times.

 

Its now pretty much a given before a game kicks off that to win we are going to have to score at least 2 or 3 goals due to how shit we are defensively. Whilst we are a threat going forward you are going to get games like today when in the main it just isn't happening attacking wise. That is when you need to be on your game defensively to grind out a 1-0 win or a 0-0 draw. We just don't have that in our locker and whilst that remains the case we look destined for another season of at best a lower to mid table finish.

 

It's not going to chance though, look back to his outstanding record at Norwich, they never had the best defence even when they were walking league one and finishing 2nd in the championship.

 

I do think we have better in defence than we did last season, Okore is better than what we had there and poor game aside today Luna looks better to me than Bennett. What we need to modify now is making sure the full backs are adequately protected, they were not at all today.

 

What we also need is someone who can actually score and create from central midfield, that will be a new signing then.