briny_ear Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 (edited) 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 Sorry, you accuse me of being stupid but that post is so ridiculous it doesn't warrant a reply. If you can't see there was a radical change in the way we approached the second half compared with the first half, actually trying to pressure their defence rather than a futile attempt to contain them, I don't think you could have been watching the game. Edited September 29, 2013 by briny_ear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 (edited) I think we could beat Hull but that little nagging doubt is there. I thought we would beat Newcastle too! Edited September 29, 2013 by dodgyknees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Nothing is ever a guarantee with this Villa team. We could be hopeless against Hull. I'm hoping we put in another decent performance and I think we'll draw the game depending on how Lambo sets us up to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Regarding the 532, PL got it right against city, especially without navas starting, as they are narrow and all play comes through the middle. Against teams who play with out and out wingers the formation is more exposed and teams will get in behind you. Hopefully, if we continue to use it, it is for select games only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted September 29, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted September 29, 2013 (edited) 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. The ups of the season will be us effectively counter attacking the "big" teams. The downs of the season will be us failing to break down the "lesser" teams. Edited September 29, 2013 by PieFacE 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 anyone watching MOTD2? Schmeichel just pointed out Bacuna celebrating with Lambert and said the players love him and we'll be a force in a couple of years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderball Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 We have improved, but only slightly, and I beleive only that we don't fold under pressure like we did fist half of last season. But we haven't progressed as much as we should and as expected - our defence/defending as a team is still dire (we are 3rd highest scorers but have 4th worst defence in the league) and as long as we concede like we do we won't progress much - Lambert must address this. Tops marks for changing the formation and style yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Yea just posted this in the Bacuna thread - think its relevant here as well: Peter Schmeichel has just said on MOTD 2: "Bacuna, as soon as he scored. Straight to the manager. That manager is onto something right. They love him. They will be a force, Aston Villa, within a couple of years" The trick is: HOLD ONTO PAUL LAMBERT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 The ups of the season will be us effectively counter attacking the "big" teams. The downs of the season will be us failing to break down the "lesser" teams. I'm not so sure about that. It's a reasonable summary of last season, updated to reflect recent good results against Arse and Citeh, but things have moved on. I'm not expecting our efforts against weaker teams to be as fruitless as some seem to think. I think we've progressed in several respects from last season. It's still more a case of work in progress than many teams, but I think this idea that we counterattack and don't do much else will soon be forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 If we haven't improved a lot then I can't wait to see how good we'll be when we actually do improve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Last season what was the best result we had against a top 5 team? We beat Liverpool away. That was it. This season we've already beaten two big fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfingers Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 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. Do you really think he can though, given our wage structure? Spurs spent well this summer with the Bale money but I bet none of those players signed for £20K a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 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. Do you really think he can though, given our wage structure? Spurs spent well this summer with the Bale money but I bet none of those players signed for £20K a week. It'll be interesting to see them in a few months time. Maybe it will all work out. Maybe they'll have some high earners not doing the business, or some dressing room tensions. Signing great players is easy, if you've got the cash. Building a team, and keeping everyone happy, is something you can't do with a credit card. From what we've seen so far, it looks like Lambert is quite skilled at teambuilding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaguy Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Last season what was the best result we had against a top 5 team? We beat Liverpool away. That was it. This season we've already beaten two big fish. I'd say two bigger fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 I'd agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 (edited) 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. I hope we can add to the set up which we already have rather than waiting to sell Benteke. We only need a couple of players I reckon - a Kiyotake type would do and perhaps another midfielder. Maybe next summer... Edited September 29, 2013 by Tayls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 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. I hope we can add to the set up which we already have rather than waiting to sell Benteke. We only need a couple of players I reckon - a Kiyotake type would do and perhaps another midfielder. Maybe next summer... Benteke's inevitable sale will obviously add to that though. Say he continues his great form all season and goes for around £40m, I would assume that Lambert would be allowed to use that money to improve the quality of different positions. To truly follow the 'Dortmund model' or the 'Arsenal of the early 00's model' we will need more than one Benteke, as in more than one player that we sell on for big profit. Its simply business really, cash in and buy more assets. Seems like Lambert and co know their stuff in the market too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 I'd love to see what Lambert could do with a £30-40m transfer budget. We've seen that its been paying off so far with Spurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 I'd like to watch the second half if anyone knows a site? I only got to see the first and we were absolutely vile to watch. Anyone saying anything different is buried their head in the sand. We couldn't pass it anywhere, terror filled our players' minds, apart from Delph who looked strong. It was a half of football which goes against everything I believe Lambert stands for; we were set up to defend and contain, not to break or form any sort of attack. I'm very very glad he dealt with it at HT, but I'd like to see what changed in our play. I'm genuinely interested because I've only seen the goals. One that looked a feather offside, a great FK, and a mighty hoof with a great muddying of waters from Kozak; brilliant stuff, but not goals we're likely to be scoring every week. We survived that first half though through City's reluctance to play a high pressing game as they did against Utd, as great as a result as it is, there are lessons to be learnt for our players about attacking opponents. If we go for it, we can do teams, we don't need to be so tentative early in games, look at our record this season of conceding early! Lambert is the man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponky Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 TomaszkI'm pretty sure someone posted a link in the post match thread. Not sure if it's still there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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