Manager Paul Lambert

[Mart-L7]

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.

Was just thinking the say thing about Barry these lads could of learnt so much from him

[Kingfisher]

Barry isn't really what we need though is it?

[VillaGoMarching]

IMO the most disappointing aspect about yesterday was our complete lack of cohesion as soon as Kozak came on. I thought Lambert had learnt from the Bradford debarcle but there was no sign of this. Having four isolated forwards and Delph and Westwood having far too much work to do.

Regardless of all this talk about Delph re-emerging as a quality player we still don't have two player in centre mid who can control a game.

I actually thought we'd started to wrestle control of the game at the point he took El Almadi off, but Lambert seemed to panic. It was a throw back to an O'Neill type move.

Lambert IMO can get a team setup from the start and similarly he gets reactions at half time from the team but his biggest weakness is once the game is rolling he really struggles to make decisions which influence the play.

In future Lambert should be bolder but maintain control of midfield by keeping a midfield trio, perhaps sacrificing a full back, and using Lowton-Vlaar-Clark as a defensive trio. Having Westwood sit deeper and allow the front 6 more freedom.

I still have faith in what Lambert is building but I think he'll rue signing Benteke's replacement before signing our playmaker. I think it'll slow our progress and we may have to re think our top 10 finish predictions.

UTV.

[Honest bunch of lads]

Barry isn't really what we need though is it?

 

Well that's what I thought in the transfer window because of Westwood, but now I think we could have really used him.

 

I hear a lot of talk of this magical 'playmaker'. Is there any player in the world who sets up guilt edged chances every time they get the ball? Then scale your options down further on who Villa can actually attract and afford. Then look at how lots of Villa fans bemoaned Bent's supposed lack of defensive workrate or any player's lack of defensive workrate. I don't think Ozil/Carzorla/David Silva offer all that much defensively. Ultimately it's a balance, you have a squad who are training and kicking footballs everyday. They all have SOME creative/playmaking ability. It's not like you assign a playmaker and that is the only player who is allowed to take someone on or thread a ball through. 2 of our more creative attacking midfielders in Bannan and Ireland, most people wanted out and I don't disagree there necessarily, but when you say 'we need a playmaker' you're really saying we need better playmakers.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Honest bunch of lads

[Isa]

Lambert's ability to change games has been severely lacking ever since he took over. It's ironic considering that he was considered something of a tactical genius by Norwich fans. Sadly, he nearly always waits too long to make a much needed change, often takes the wrong player off when he finally does make a change and generally reacts to match events rather then anticipating them.

[Nabby]

Sissoko was dominating midfield and Ben Afra was tearing Luna apart on the left so what do does Lambert do..He throws on a target man who from my recall won nothing in the air.

The last 20mins or so yesterday was just long ball after long ball.At times we play some great stuff but so often it resorts back to hitting Benteke early.

I d hoped after Arsenal we had turned a corner we seemed more resolute save the now regular early goal but yesterday was very bad.Once again calls in to question Lambert's ability to sort out a defence as his Norwich team were just as bad.

Yesterday was a massive downer I hope we do bounce back because if we play like that and lose to Norwich then I think the pressure is on him.

[PussEKatt]

We are not doing the basic things like passing the ball ( to another Villa player ) or getting into the box or even having decent shots at goal,FFS we are supposed to be playing in the best league in the world and we cant even pass the ball properly ?!

[foreveryoung]

Big problem is we have no captain and havent for a while who will bollock players who are out of position or not grafting. This is where for me Barry could have fitted in! If we didn't have Benteke Lambert would be slated for the players and set up.

[TRO]

If my memory serves me correctly wasn't we flirting with the idea of signing sissoko.

2.2 million.... So it's hardly a fact we can' t compete

We need some power in midfield.

I was watching so many of our players just getting shoved off the ball in child like fashion.

It all needs a bit of a rethink in my view.

[Mart-L7]

Barry isn't really what we need though is it?

Barry can do all things the other midfield players can't do week in week out and calm everything down.

1, defend

2, pass the killer ball

3, take free kicks and corners

4, pull the others into line

5, be a captain

To top all this off he knows better than most how Villa runs and the kids have somebody around to learn from that's been there done that got the t shirt.

IMO Villa/Lambert missed out good and proper here

[PaulC]

I think Barry fits into Everton's style more than he would ours imo. Old players coming back rarely work out. The only one I can think of that did is Gordon Cowans but he was an exceptional player with bags more talent than Barry and also he was 28/29 . I think Lambert is right to stick with more youthful players. Things will work out better long term.

[PussEKatt]

In our next game count the number of times a Villa player passes the ball streight to an opposing player.

No need to do it for the whole game.Just count the number of times we pass it to an opposing player in the first half an hour?!

[Mantis]

 

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.

 

 

While I agree with what you're saying about the Arsenal and Liverpool games, why can't you also apply that logic to the Newcastle game? Just as games like Arsenal and Liverpool are not evidence of improvement on their own, neither are games like Newcastle evidence of a lack of improvement.

[ozvillafan]

Playing a midfield of KEA, Westwood and Delph at home isn't positive enough.

 

It works well away from home where we are drawn into our own half and need to harry down the opposition midfield. But at home, we need to force the pace and need to put the opposition on the back foot. You can't really do that with 3 grafters in midfield.

 

Having said that, who is our AM? Tonev? Helenius? Bacuna? N'Zogbia?

[Isa]

Tonev I'd presume.

[Big_John_10]

In home games like that in the future I think we need to drop Westwood.

Sylla and Delph are two strong, fast midfield players who are both able to pass and keep the ball.

We should then play with either tonev or Helenius dropping deep from Benteke.

We need to have that player in there to help break teams down and I think Kozak will just encourage us to hit it long.

[Big_John_10]

If my memory serves me correctly wasn't we flirting with the idea of signing sissoko.

2.2 million.... So it's hardly a fact we can' t compete

We need some power in midfield.

I was watching so many of our players just getting shoved off the ball in child like fashion.

It all needs a bit of a rethink in my view.

While Newcastle signed him our owner was making sure the manager only had loose change to spend.

[TRO]

I had Paul Lambert marked down as decisive and it's one of the most important features as a manager.

I have a worry that he is sometimes over protective of his players...he needs to to show allegiance to them granted, but when standards slip he needs to show a bit more of a ruthless streak.

I' m not privy to what goes on in the dressing room, he may be all the things that i'asking him to be....but sometimes the "hook" is required.

I seen things yesterday from players who are having their names linked with the national team and fans claiming they should be in the national managers thoughts...on that basis they are lucky to be in our team.

Matt Lowton's performance was Bennett like and he really needs to get to grips with being a defender first.

I'm looking for Lambert to be illustrating the standards that this club is aspiring to ....by hooking players when they are simply not at the races....this club needs to make a statement of intent and stop this passive, pussy footing around players, but comments "we go again" and "I can't fault their effort"....sorry guys, but it sounds weak.

Maybe the effort really can't be faulted but a lot of other things can be ...like the application.

come on Paul shape up.

[Villaonsea]

Lamberts tactics cost us the game. He set the team up to play on the counter, like we would away from home. The idea was to let collocini have the ball,in the hope he would give it away when passing into the midfield. Unfortunately colo is a good passer of the ball. What I liked about lambert when he was at Norwich was the fact he would constantly change the formation game to game depending on the opposition. Next week we have Norwich who play a straight 4-4-2. Therefore I'd like to see us match up with helenius partnering benteke, and gabby and tonev on the wing.

[BG_Villa_Fan]

Lamberts tactics cost us the game. He set the team up to play on the counter, like we would away from home. The idea was to let collocini have the ball,in the hope he would give it away when passing into the midfield. Unfortunately colo is a good passer of the ball. What I liked about lambert when he was at Norwich was the fact he would constantly change the formation game to game depending on the opposition. Next week we have Norwich who play a straight 4-4-2. Therefore I'd like to see us match up with helenius partnering benteke, and gabby and tonev on the wing.

 

He can't do this. He doesn't have the players for it. We don't have a single midfielder who can play even passably well in a 2-man central midfield and we don't have proper LMs and RMs who can protect their fullbacks too. Also, as we know, no one who has proven to be able to be a 10. Thus all of his options include playing 3 central midfielders, who generally sit way too deep isolating the striker(s). Every time he tries playing 4-4-2 it fails miserably, even when he does that for parts of a game only - Liverpool first 35 mins and Newcastle last 20 mins. 

 

He really has zero options to play with the formation as he doesn't have the players for it. I've no idea why he hasn't tried to improve the midfield.