Manager Paul Lambert

[MikeMcKenna]

We were absolutely dire today and frankly it is hard to see how we are going to improve.

I do not have absolute faith in Lambert and blame him for our home record. Did we actually get into their half in the first 10 minutes today? We looked like the away side waiting to hit them on the break.

Sort it out Lambert! The fans will not be as patient this year.

[Mantis]

Lambert's definitely at fault for a lot of things but to be fair to him our home form was poor long before he came along.

[VillanousOne]

So even when the weight of opinion was almost 80% of fans and tabloid media stating we want or need an attacking midfielder all close season - we don't sign one, instead we sign Kozak the one type of player no-one thought we needed - remember Heskey? (And yes that is harsh on Kozak who could turn out to be a hell of a player)

 

When we were crying out for an experience defender we got Dawkins and Sylla

 

When many (not all) though Bent should still be part of our squad and on the bench at the very least, Lambert plays Bowery.

Despite the loss at Bradford, Lambert hasn't learnt the lesson that playing 4 attackers when your midfield is being over run is not a good plan - cue us getting beaten by Newcastle

We managed to get so much from players we had no right to expect so much of such us Lowton, Westwood, Weimann etc. now some of those players could struggle with second season syndrome.

Tactically i can honestly think of less than a handful of times Lambert's subs/formation changes have ended with us turning defeat into a draw or win.

I like the idea behind a squad of young hungry players and pacy attacking football, but it's not quite working out.

Lambert has had enough time now, their is no excuses.

[TRO]

Lambert's definitely at fault for a lot of things but to be fair to him our home form was poor long before he came along.

Ditto

But it is all the more reason for saying its unacceptable.....and let's be fair the record is unacceptable.

If you check the records we was still poor at home, when we achieved 6-6-6 under O'Neill....so it's been going on for far too long.

[MikeMcKenna]

Lambert's definitely at fault for a lot of things but to be fair to him our home form was poor long before he came along.

Why "to be fair"? Lambert has been in charge for over a season now. You cannot use our home form being poor before his arrival as some kind of defence. When was the last time we had a clean sheet in a league match? How many league matches have we played with Lambert where we kept a clean sheet?

[Mantis]

 

Lambert's definitely at fault for a lot of things but to be fair to him our home form was poor long before he came along.

Why "to be fair"? Lambert has been in charge for over a season now. You cannot use our home form being poor before his arrival as some kind of defence. When was the last time we had a clean sheet in a league match? How many league matches have we played with Lambert where we kept a clean sheet?

 

Because although he is to blame for a lot (including our home form to a large extent) the problem was there before he arrived. It's not like Villa Park was a fortress before he came along.

[suttonpaul]

Ok I'm bored I will throw my hat in to the ring.

 

If I were the manager (always a bad start to a sentence) the first seven things I would try and sort is the following........

 

1. Tell Guzan to change up his distribution make the other team guess if your going to throw, play it short or as he does 99% of the time kick it long ball.

 

2. TRY to teach the centre backs how to challenge for a header on the oppositions goal when they come up for corners (we don't score enough).

 

3. I would have brought a player who is more creative in the middle of the park but can also defend this player for me as we have to do it on the cheap would not have been Sylla last January it would have been Sissoko for the same money as Sylla!

 

4. I would have brought a player for the midfield three who gets into the box from midfield late ala Taylor, Lampard, Scholes etc doesn't have to be someone awesome they only have to oust Alhamdi for playing quality while having the ability to make those runs.

 

5. I would be more ruthless with changing the playing staff in the game example today of the worst player was Wiemann he should have been subbed somewhere between 55 and 65 mins gone with Tonev coming on an easy decision to make which is done on 88 mins.

 

6. We NEVER flash low balls across the box for someone to get their foot on or the opposition defenders to make a mistake and an own goal, its so basic... WHY NOT?

 

7. We need to take a few pop shots from outside the box to keep the opposition guessing what is going to be done, we can be quite predictable.

 

Tell me I am wrong and enlighten me.

[suttonpaul]

 

Lambert's definitely at fault for a lot of things but to be fair to him our home form was poor long before he came along.

Why "to be fair"? Lambert has been in charge for over a season now. You cannot use our home form being poor before his arrival as some kind of defence. When was the last time we had a clean sheet in a league match? How many league matches have we played with Lambert where we kept a clean sheet?

 

 

I'm not sure if we can link other sites but I do feel that this interesting little video by Pat Nevin MIGHT explain a little about our home form other than the fact that we are a counter attacking team which is always going to be a better away team setup.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22646131

[DiegoD]

26 premier league games without a clean sheet. Worst run in the entire league.

It has to be sorted out.

He's signed 2 keepers, 2 lbs, 2 cbs and a rb.

Something needs to change.

 

I'm backing us to go the whole 2013 calendar year without a clean sheet in the league. 

 

It makes setting up fantasy teams a lot easier, but an attacker who is playing against Villa.

[sonic_bouma]

26 premier league games without a clean sheet. Worst run in the entire league.

It has to be sorted out.

He's signed 2 keepers, 2 lbs, 2 cbs and a rb.

Something needs to change.

 

I'm backing us to go the whole 2013 calendar year without a clean sheet in the league. 

 

It makes setting up fantasy teams a lot easier, but an attacker who is playing against Villa.

What really annoys me is lambert completely fails to acknowledge our lack of clean sheets

He may be protecting the players but all we got yesterday was "I don't set them up to play that way"

Very reassuring

Having to score a minimum of two goals to win a game is a recipe for disaster

We had to do it last season and it looks like this season is the same

I really think The lack of protection in midfield and his inability to organise a defensive unit will mean he will never be a manager we will look back on and think "he was fantastic"

All the other ingredients are there but unfortunately the one that is missing is a huge one

[Big_John_10]

Actually I didn't mention it yesterday but how many times did one of our players just kick the ball straight out of play for a throw? It was ridiculous.

[Risso]

He's spent a decent amount the last two years, but he hasn't got the balance of the team right, at all.

[Mart-L7]

I'm starting to think dishing these new improved contacts to some of the players have added pressure on their shoulders or its got to their heads?

lowton , Westwood , Weimann all got new contracts then we have the main man Benteke sure hes getting the goals but overall I don't think he's playing great then we have Delph who didn't get one now looking better each game pretty much

[Kingfisher]

I have high (not unrealistic) expectations this season, but I'm not going to call for the managers head if we're falling short, unless we're doing exceptionally badly. I don't think that will happen.

But the goodwill of the first season is over, and performances like Newcastle are going to get highly criticised, as that was just not good enough. Midfield, as is happening on an alarming regularity came out very much second best. We lost ANOTHER early goal to go behind, counter attack at home isn't wise at the best of times, never mind being a goal down. We need more creativity and I can't see where it's going to come from, (why spend seven million of Kozak?). There is nothing wrong with Gabby and Weimann, really good players, but sometimes I feel we need a bank of three creative players behind a lone striker rather than the three up front.

[Risso]

He's spent a lot of money, but other than Benteke nobody else has really set the Premier League alight.

[Dodgyknees]

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

You picked out one comment and made that the focal point.

Once again..

The focal point was that one game (Arsenal, Liverpool) is not a pointer for improvement when after these games we showed we had not moved on. Improvement is over a matter of games, not one.

Because (here comes your favourite bit, if using please quote all) just as we looked to improve when we won 3-1 at Anfield, we then went and lost 8-0 to Chelsea.

Form is more than one game, so on reflection after today's loss to Newcastle it is quite logical to point out that might not have improved.

[poitier]

I am beginning to worry that the signing of Benteke was something of a fluke. Lowton and Westwood have been good value for money so far, but if it wasn't for Benteke I don't think Lambert would be held in very high regard for his transfer dealings, tactics or style of play. He is living off that one signing at the moment.

[Dodgyknees]

I am beginning to worry that the signing of Benteke was something of a fluke. Lowton and Westwood have been good value for money so far, but if it wasn't for Benteke I don't think Lambert would be held in very high regard for his transfer dealings, tactics or style of play. He is living off that one signing at the moment.

I think he has done well, but we need this years batch to hit form a lot quicker or it'll be another year of gloom.

[Alakagom]

Hearing that Tottenham is considering loaning out Lewis Holtby in January.

I hope we can jump straight into this deal. Lewis is what we need so much. He's massive talent being wasted at Spurs bench right now.

And considering we have history with Spurs e.g. Even the strange Dawkins loan last year I hope we could be in for this deal.

[Honest bunch of lads]

Still have faith in PL, he's sort of the polar opposite to MON in terms of signings, but maybe he does need to mix it up a little more in terms of buying the odd experienced Prem player. Can't help see Barry's performance yesterday and feel he would have really sured things up in midfield and helped us in that clean sheet quest. The likes of Stoke and West Ham may not win as many friends as Villa with their approaches, and that is the other extreme but maybe you do need the odd stalwart.