Manager Paul Lambert

[TRO]

We've come on in leaps and bounds over the past 13 months, or even the past 8 months. Obviously there are still areas that need to be improved upon but it's ridiculous that some people refuse to acknowledge this improvement.

 

I simply cannot see it at all

I do see your point but I think some of us are talking about different things.....its the old chestnut, results/performances.

In terms of results I think we have improved in as much we seem to know how to win a tad better, we used to just draw.

In terms of our technical ability, I'm not so sure and this can have an effect on performance.

We have a lot of new recruits, so perhaps in time they will improve...right now I' m not so sure.

[VillanousOne]

So on to the 5-3-2 from Lambert yesterday.

 

I'll start by saying I liked it when we played the 5-3-2 last season. I think the mullering from Chelsea, Spurs and Wigan weren't especially down to the formation, more a Chelsea on fire then the fallout of the battered confidence. Yes it improved when we went back to 4-3-3 but I think a lot of this was to do with Vlaar returning and being able to drop Herd from the back 3 to bring an extra midfielder in.

 

Yesterday Lambert decided to use Vlaar, Clark and Baker in central defence to pack out our box. This made us very difficult to break through and we conceded from 2 set-pieces, the first was poor marking, and the second came off Dzeko's back.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see Lambert stick with this, even when Gabby, Westwood and Benteke are back. Clark is turning into the cultured defender, Vlaar and Baker are proper 'blockers'. It would be even better with Okore in there.

 

Counter-attacking is a great way to get behind the other team and is much more effective these days. If we're very difficult to break down but have the pace to break quickly, it's a no win situation for the other team. It's like being southpaw, it's difficult to play against.

 

I'd like to see it with Benteke and Gabby up top, and Westwood, KEA and Delph in midfield. But the fact we have Sylla, Kozak, Weimann, all having just the same claims to their positions is great. Having Okore in with Clark and Vlaar would have been fantastic though.

Be nice to see what Albrighton, Gardener, Helenius and Tonev can add to the above also, be interesting what a 442 would be like with two natural wingers. 

[CrackpotForeigner]

 

i didn't know you were a politician

 

I wouldn't be much of one if I were. I can't even get everyone to agree that Okore's an excellent defender. Probably couldn't even sell EU membership to Turkey.

[VillanousOne]

 

We've come on in leaps and bounds over the past 13 months, or even the past 8 months. Obviously there are still areas that need to be improved upon but it's ridiculous that some people refuse to acknowledge this improvement.

 

I simply cannot see it at all

 

would be nice to get better ball retention/possession

But defensively we are starting too look stronger and we know have someone who can actually take set pieces.

 

if the other signings start to contribute and we add some more creativity we could be looking at a radical improvement by Jan.

[TRO]

What I would like to see us do in the future, is concentrate on bringing players in with footwork like Sturridge. We used to have Dwight who had it so did Shaw and LIttle....we need to raise the bar in tech ability.

No disrespect to the bunch who have showed so much character on Saturday, but we do need to improve our skills on the ball.

[VillanousOne]

 

 

i didn't know you were a politician

 

I wouldn't be much of one if I were. I can't even get everyone to agree that Okore's an excellent defender. Probably couldn't even sell EU membership to Turkey.

 

well for the record I think he is an excellent defender, he is the signing i was most excited about, i was merely saying that haven't seen enough of him in a Villa shirt yet to confirm he is an excellent Villa defender..... I have little doubt he will recover and become Laursen Mark 2 (in terms of form not injuries). I just don't like to get carried away.

Remember Alpay, excellent defender then the Beckham incident and we threw away the money we spent on him: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2423907/Alpay-blames-Beckham.html

 

ok yes i know he was a dick and not comparable to Okore in anyway - just saying weird stuff happens in football.

[KjParton]

I see a load of United fans bitching about they have had a "hard start" and thats why they are where they are in the table.

 

They've had:

 

Swansea

Chelsea

Liverpool

Palace

City

West Brom

 

Whereas Aston Villa have had:

 

Arsenal

Chelsea

Liverpool

Newcastle

Norwich

Man City

 

Arguably we've had the harder start and have more points than United. Props Paul Lambert. Just saying. 

Edited September 29, 2013 by KjParton

[VillanousOne]

I see a load of United fans bitching about they have had a "hard start" and thats why they are where they are in the table.

 

They've had:

 

Swansea

Chelsea

Liverpool

Palace

City

West Brom

 

Whereas Aston Villa have had:

 

Arsenal

Chelsea

Liverpool

Newcastle

Norwich

Man City

 

Arguably we've had the harder start and have more points than United. Props Paul Lambert. Just saying. 

good point

Arsenal we were excellent, maybe luck played a part but we actually played really well in all quarters

Chelsea - in many ways we were better than against Arsenal - but got bummed in the face by the ref.

Liverpool - we were like statues - bafflingly poor

Newcastle - like the bad days of last season

Norwich - not really much better than against Newcastle just we defended well and they were awful

Spurs - our b-side showed they aren't great, but the score line flattered Spurs and their big money signings.

Man City - Outplayed for much of the game - but a spirited smash and grab with some awesome goals and top class finishing

 

considering the injuries...... i guess many of us including me have been very harsh on Lambert, still doesn't mean i don't keep hoping for better.

[Skruff]

 

I thought the first half against city was truly horrible and I couldn't see anything positive about it except for the strength the players showed while defending.Critizing the team and the manager for that is more then fair in my opinion. However, to come back from such a horrible preformance and turn it into a 3-2 win is absolutely amazing, and the player and manger deserves all the praise the can get from that. It speaks of great character.

 

I'm not quite sure how you could criticise either the manager or the players for the 1st half performance?

 

We were playing one of the best teams in the world, they have the pick of players throughout the world and have an unlimited budget. The previous week, they had scored 4 against Man U & 5 against Wigan. We defended solidly & robustly & whilst we conceded possession, they were restricted to half chances & corners. We nearly got them in at half time at 0-0.

 

I think you're making a good point, but I thought we looked extremely poor as soon as we were in possession of the ball that first half and I don't see why that should be justified because we played against Manchester city. Conceding goals against them is to be expected but not being able to string more then 4-5 passes together is just poor, no matter what team you're playing against. We barely made it past our own half before gifting them possession and our strikers had nothing to work with. I expected more, especially thinking about how well I've seen players string passes together before.  We looked much sharper on the ball in second half especially after the second goal, I would assume that Lambert told the players to up their performance, which they did. I just felt as if it was all a bit of a jekyll and hyde performance. The defensive work probably deserves a lot more credit though, as you said.

We don't seem to crumble under pressure in the same way as we used to do. Need to work on corners though, but the fact that city only created something from corners might be an indication of how good the other aspects of our defensive work was?

[Jonoridge91]

I have no issue with how we played against Man City. We weren't expected to beat them, in fact due to our home form we were expected to be walked over. That didn't happen. What we got was a 100% committed performance with moments of creativity and luck which in turn lead to our victory.

 

Lambert's formation worked, we were never going to dominate possession but we excluding the corner he scored from stopped Toure surging into the box and his long rangers.

 

I just can't bring myself to moan and be critical of the performance yesterday because they put 100% into it and we won... Did we dominate possession? No. Did we always look great on the ball. No. But we won and it was damn entertaining to watch.

[briny_ear]

 

I thought the first half against city was truly horrible and I couldn't see anything positive about it except for the strength the players showed while defending.Critizing the team and the manager for that is more then fair in my opinion. However, to come back from such a horrible preformance and turn it into a 3-2 win is absolutely amazing, and the player and manger deserves all the praise the can get from that. It speaks of great character.

 

I'm not quite sure how you could criticise either the manager or the players for the 1st half performance?

 

We were playing one of the best teams in the world, they have the pick of players throughout the world and have an unlimited budget. The previous week, they had scored 4 against Man U & 5 against Wigan. We defended solidly & robustly & whilst we conceded possession, they were restricted to half chances & corners. We nearly got them in at half time at 0-0.

 

The use of selective statistics on this site is growing. Sorry to single you out as an example, rest assured you are by no means alone. So Man C are one of the "best teams in the world", are they? You choose two recent results to demonstrate this (one against a rather weak Championship side). What you don't mention is that in their last two away games in the premier league they drew with Stoke and lost to Cardiff. So maybe not totally dominant in the world?

 

As soon as we actually started to press them in the 2nd half, it turned out their world-dominating defence was quite flaky. I think what people complaining about the first half were saying was: don't just give in here, at least try to make a match of it. In the 2nd half that is what happened and, hey presto! we beat one of the best teams in the world. 

 

I would say, on that account, the criticism of the first half performance was well-justified and I suspect that it reflects what Lambert said to his players at half time. 

[Mantis]

 

We've come on in leaps and bounds over the past 13 months, or even the past 8 months. Obviously there are still areas that need to be improved upon but it's ridiculous that some people refuse to acknowledge this improvement.

 

I simply cannot see it at all

 

Even if you can't see it, it's definitely there. How else do you explain the better results? We've been amassing decent points since March.

[Butterfingers]

 

 

I thought the first half against city was truly horrible and I couldn't see anything positive about it except for the strength the players showed while defending.Critizing the team and the manager for that is more then fair in my opinion. However, to come back from such a horrible preformance and turn it into a 3-2 win is absolutely amazing, and the player and manger deserves all the praise the can get from that. It speaks of great character.

 

I'm not quite sure how you could criticise either the manager or the players for the 1st half performance?

 

We were playing one of the best teams in the world, they have the pick of players throughout the world and have an unlimited budget. The previous week, they had scored 4 against Man U & 5 against Wigan. We defended solidly & robustly & whilst we conceded possession, they were restricted to half chances & corners. We nearly got them in at half time at 0-0.

 

The use of selective statistics on this site is growing. Sorry to single you out as an example, rest assured you are by no means alone. So Man C are one of the "best teams in the world", are they? You choose two recent results to demonstrate this (one against a rather weak Championship side). What you don't mention is that in their last two away games in the premier league they drew with Stoke and lost to Cardiff. So maybe not totally dominant in the world?

 

As soon as we actually started to press them in the 2nd half, it turned out their world-dominating defence was quite flaky. I think what people complaining about the first half were saying was: don't just give in here, at least try to make a match of it. In the 2nd half that is what happened and, hey presto! we beat one of the best teams in the world. 

 

I would say, on that account, the criticism of the first half performance was well-justified and I suspect that it reflects what Lambert said to his players at half time. 

 

 

Single me out all you like-It makes not one bit of difference to me. If you don't like the "selective statistics" that I used, try these:

 

1st & 2nd respectively in the toughest league in the world over the past 2 seasons.

 

As for your "just don't give in here" comment, this is not only stupid but is an insult to the lads who bust a gut for 90 minutes for us yesterday. We beat Man City & you're still finding something to complain about.

 

What did you do when we won the European Cup?  Complain that Withe didn't strike the ball cleanly for the winner?  Complain that Bayern had twice as much possession than we did?

 

There's just no pleasing some people & you're one of those people. You will always find something to moan about

 

"just don't give in here" ffs

[peterms]

We don't seem to crumble under pressure in the same way as we used to do.

Yes - that's a key point, picking up the "resilience" issue mentioned by Biskitt on the previous page.

 

For much of last season we looked fragile, so that even if we were winning in the last ten minutes, it looked like we might lose.

 

That's changed.  We seem tougher, more robust.  Maybe some of the less experienced players had to go through a painful learning curve - I don't know.  But it's clear that the team is far more resilient than last season.  Comparing what happened when we went behind against top teams last year and this year, it's like another world.

[villa-revolution]

 

 

We've come on in leaps and bounds over the past 13 months, or even the past 8 months. Obviously there are still areas that need to be improved upon but it's ridiculous that some people refuse to acknowledge this improvement.

 

I simply cannot see it at all

 

 

For anyone to suggest improvements have not been made is, quite simply, complete nonsense. There have been so many improvements in every front it is unreal.

 

I also don't understand the complaints in any aspect of yesterday's performance. Manchester City are one of the best teams in the world, have a team packed with world-class players and, on paper, should be beating us comfortably. But they didn't. Yes, they outplayed us at times but surely that is to be expected. And the win was down to various reasons. 1. They were poor of the day by their own standards. 2. We really did defend well as a unit. 3. The change of tactics helped in that respect. 4. We carried luck at times but scored three goals so in the end we deserved it!

 

Filter in the players missing and it makes it even more of a fantastic result.

 

What I tried to suggest earlier in the day is I think there will be many ups and downs this season and at times we'll probably we a bit inconsistent. But I do believe this really is a long term project and with the money available/unavailable it has to be.

 

 

Lambo's project is now out of it's embryonic phase & the chick is just jumping out of the egg. One day we will all have "CHICKEN TONIGHT"

[villa-revolution]

 

 

i didn't know you were a politician

 

I wouldn't be much of one if I were. I can't even get everyone to agree that Okore's an excellent defender. Probably couldn't even sell EU membership to Turkey.

 

 

CrackpotForeigner for Premiership of Oz

 

Then Villa would have 2 Prime Ministers at both ends of the earth.

 

I'm going to claim Aussie citizenship so I can vote him in at the next election.

 

Put a tick in the CrackpotForeigner Box.

 

Go on, you know it makes sense & you know you want to too.

 

Make it happen CF.

Edited September 29, 2013 by villa-revolution

[foreveryoung]

Not to sound negative but if we lose against Hull next week most of you will be saying how shite we are again. We won a game yes, Man City, don't mean Lamberts plan is finally coming together. Lets wait see where we are at Christmas i say. Don't get me wrong i wanna be positive, but were so inconsistent its extremely difficult to see the future and its so black an white on here gives no clues whatsoever!!!

[smetrov]

Still chuffed with the win yesterday. I can't beleive we have played 6 and won 3 !!!!!.

 

I can totally forgive yesterdays first half performance - Gabby is always a big loss, Benteke goes without saying. It was new system for a lot of the players as well - you could sense they were concentrating on the bread and butter stuff.

 

We grew into the game as it went on - The Holte was particularly load after we equalized - and from then on it was like a cauldron.

 

Ultimately I think better football will only come with better players - but for now these will have to do - at least were scoring a few goals. I hope that if\when Benteke moves for big money, Lambert can bring in some higher quality players and really start to push on. 

[StefanAVFC]

Not to sound negative but if we lose against Hull next week most of you will be saying how shite we are again. We won a game yes, Man City, don't mean Lamberts plan is finally coming together. Lets wait see where we are at Christmas i say. Don't get me wrong i wanna be positive, but were so inconsistent its extremely difficult to see the future and its so black an white on here gives no clues whatsoever!!!

 

Always a loud minority.

Edited September 29, 2013 by StefanAVFC

[The_Lions_Roar]

Worth noting it took us ten games to get to 9 points last year.

2w 3d 5l scored 8 conceded 14. West Ham a, Everton H, Newcastle a, Swansea H, Southampton a, WBA H, Spurs a, Fulham a, Norwich H, Sunderland a.

3w 0d 3l scored 9 conceded 8 after 6 this year. Arsenal a, Chelsea a, Liverpool H, Newcastle H, Norwich a, Man City H.

Much harder opposition this season too so far.