Manager Paul Lambert

[Kwan]

I think, all in all, we're about where we should be given the run of fixtures and our results. Perhaps a point or two more (Chelsea should have been a draw, I really think we would have won against Everton had we put away at least one of those chances, City probably should have been a loss but we pulled a rabbit out of a hat). What will be to watch going forward is how we play against a variety of weaker opponents, home and away and how we set up and play against them. I hope not to see more performances like the defensive doldrums that was West Ham, but we will see. I know the team can play better football on this, but the shellackings of last year have seem to become a focus. Reintroduce some risk, Paul, to get the goals flowing.

 

Too many times our defenders (especially Clark) are hesitant to try and play out of the back and instead pass it back to Guzan or just punt it out of bounds. I know that you're more likely to make a mistake if you play some football, but you have to try eventually. You can't be afraid forever.

[Isa]

Terrible stats but not surprising.

We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

What 'great' football did we produce against Liverpool?

[srsmithusa]

The past several pages of this (ahem) highly enlightened, and fair minded discussion have convinced me of one thing.   I badly need more tylenol.

[Big_John_10]

Terrible stats but not surprising.

We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

What 'great' football did we produce against Liverpool?

I thought 2nd half we were the better team. We tried to keep the ball and were patient in our build up and played some nice stuff.

Actually thinking about it as well against Newcastle we for very short periods played some nice stuff. I remember one move that started from our defence that if weimman had scored would have been a goal of the season contender.

[Big_John_10]

To divert the topic from existential reasons of where the club should be and how bad previous seasons were and what players we theoretically could have bought with the money we didn't know we had with the wages we don't know were offered, etc. etc.

Here's a continuing study of faux statistics that might/might not have any relevance.

Aston Villa crosses per game: Last - with 14. Cardiff and Crystal Palace have 17 crosses per game to round out the bottom.

Aston Villa long balls per game: 2nd - with 68. Only Tottenham have more with 70. For reference, United are third with 67.

Aston Villa short passes per game - 18th - with 307. West Ham and Sunderland are 19th and 20th with 296 and 294 respectively.

Aston Villa possession % - 19th with 41.8%. Only Sunderland are worse with 41.6%

Aston Villa pass success % - 18th with 41.8%. Only Sunderland and West Ham are worse.

Aston Villa also lead the league with 16 fouls, tied with United.

Random stat - Aston Villa are last in the league at shots within the 6 yard box with 3% of their shots.

Terrible stats but not surprising.

We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

You're certainly not as positive as you were a couple of months ago! I don't know if anyone noticed, but last season we had some ups and downs, and things really started to pick up through the course of the season, so maybe we should take a lesson from that.

We're in a better position, look much less like getting smashed (we don't look like getting smashed at all)—we could/should have beaten Everton—we have a young team clearly patience is a virtue here.

I thought we'd have a season where relegation would not be a worry. I'm not sure that's going to be the case now. I also thought I'd continue to be entertained by our style of football and again this doesn't look like it's going to be the case.

I thought we'd really build from a fantastic final 3rd of last season and at the moment it just looks like we're fighting to get by.

Maybe the next few games will show me more reason to be optimistic.

[Kwan]

 

 

Terrible stats but not surprising.

We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

What 'great' football did we produce against Liverpool?

I thought 2nd half we were the better team. We tried to keep the ball and were patient in our build up and played some nice stuff.

Actually thinking about it as well against Newcastle we for very short periods played some nice stuff. I remember one move that started from our defence that if weimman had scored would have been a goal of the season contender.

 

 

I think that move was 7 touches total, back to front, with Lowton bursting through right down the middle and taking apart the defence with a beauty through ball.

 

Of course, Andi shot miserably wide instead of slotting it through to Gabby for a 1v1. Kind of sums up our season right now.

 

We actually had a couple good moves with that Newcastle game, but we just couldn't finish.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Kwan

[AvfcTheObsession]

Would anyone else agree that we dropped a clanger in not getting Barry in on loan in the summer

He was available and would have walked straight into our midfield bringing much needed experience and steel

I would prefer to use that midfield slot to allow a younger player to develop.

Problem is our midfield often contains KEA who is not young and has no chance to develop, therefore having our experienced midfielder as somebody with a lot more quality would not only improve our team but also be more likely to help improve the likes of Westwood, Delph and Sylla.

I don't agree - obviously KEA is nowhere near the player Barry is, but firstly KEA is not a regular and so isn't permanently tying up a first team spot, secondly, I imagine he is costing a fraction of what Barry would cost and thirdly, if Barry did turn up there would be no point employing KEA and he would need to be loaned out or sold, probably at a loss. I also think that the influence you think Barry would have on Westwood, Delph and Sylla is over-rated

I heard that Everton are paying half of Barry's 80k a week (Citeh are footing the other half) - We don't need Barry to stay up and we wouldn't win anything with him around so therefore I'd rather bank the 2m in wages and put it towards a Kiyotake-type purchase in January or at the end of the season

Whose to say we would win anything with Kiyotake around? Do we need him to stay up?

Strange logic for not improving the team, a player wont make us win trophies or be the difference as to whether we stay up or not so lets not bother.

[Big_John_10]

Terrible stats but not surprising.

We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

What 'great' football did we produce against Liverpool?

I thought 2nd half we were the better team. We tried to keep the ball and were patient in our build up and played some nice stuff.

Actually thinking about it as well against Newcastle we for very short periods played some nice stuff. I remember one move that started from our defence that if weimman had scored would have been a goal of the season contender.

I think that move was 7 touches total, back to front, with Lowton bursting through right down the middle and taking apart the defence with a beauty through ball.

Of course, Andi shot miserably wide instead of slotting it through to Gabby for a 1v1. Kind of sums up our season right now.

We actually had a couple good moves with that Newcastle game, but we just couldn't finish.

It was an incredible move that shows what we're capable of. Which again makes me confused why we now seem to just want to hoof it long.

[Morpheus]

 

 

To divert the topic from existential reasons of where the club should be and how bad previous seasons were and what players we theoretically could have bought with the money we didn't know we had with the wages we don't know were offered, etc. etc.

Here's a continuing study of faux statistics that might/might not have any relevance.

Aston Villa crosses per game: Last - with 14. Cardiff and Crystal Palace have 17 crosses per game to round out the bottom.

Aston Villa long balls per game: 2nd - with 68. Only Tottenham have more with 70. For reference, United are third with 67.

Aston Villa short passes per game - 18th - with 307. West Ham and Sunderland are 19th and 20th with 296 and 294 respectively.

Aston Villa possession % - 19th with 41.8%. Only Sunderland are worse with 41.6%

Aston Villa pass success % - 18th with 41.8%. Only Sunderland and West Ham are worse.

Aston Villa also lead the league with 16 fouls, tied with United.

Random stat - Aston Villa are last in the league at shots within the 6 yard box with 3% of their shots.

Terrible stats but not surprising.

We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

 

You're certainly not as positive as you were a couple of months ago! I don't know if anyone noticed, but last season we had some ups and downs, and things really started to pick up through the course of the season, so maybe we should take a lesson from that. 

 

We're in a better position, look much less like getting smashed (we don't look like getting smashed at all)—we could/should have beaten Everton—we have a young team clearly patience is a virtue here. 

 

The concern is though during last season's run in we played some terrific football (the Sunderland game especially) and we all hoped that progression would continue but rather than even stagnating, our style of football has regressed to something that a previous manager would be proud of.

 

However, it's a good point you make concerning the timing of our improvement last season but it really doesn't explain or excuse why we haven't maintained that throughout the start of this season.

 

One of the reasons put forward for that lack of continuity is the quality of teams we've played so far having to play less expansive football to tighten our defence but we are already set up to be a counter attacking team so that argument holds little weight for me.

 

I also read many posts last season explaining our flirtation with relegation as a young team taking time to gel and that we would be much better this season when those young players had a Premiership season under their belts. That may still happen and its still a little premature to judge but that excitement we all felt in last season's run in that we might actually have the makings of a good team being built which plays entertaining football has certainly been dampened this season and thats why some of us are more vocal in our disappointment than others.   

[Richard]

I think people need to realise that we're never going to be in the top four unless we have a mega bucks owner. Best we can hope for is competing around 6 to 8 and a good cup run. That maybe passive acceptance in the eyes of some but there you go

[Morpheus]

Most people have excepted that Richard and i haven't seen anyone stating that we should be in the top four but for several seasons now we haven't even looked like being a top 6-8 team and thats the concern.

 

Personally without major finance i'd be more than happy with 6th-7th, enjoying a good cup run or two and playing attractive football. That alone would start bringing the fans back in droves to Villa Park and have the club as a whole buzzing but we need better players at the club to do that and Lerner needs to start backing the manager on the players he wants.

[1974Centenary]

I think people need to realise that we're never going to be in the top four unless we have a mega bucks owner. Best we can hope for is competing around 6 to 8 and a good cup run. That maybe passive acceptance in the eyes of some but there you go

 

I have not seen any posts were people are expecting the Villa to be in the top four.Would be nice if we were competing for the top 6-8 or even 10th places but were not,and that's the problem,not the lack of champions league football.

[Shaw_nuff]

Most people have excepted that Richard and i haven't seen anyone stating that we should be in the top four but for several seasons now we haven't even looked like being a top 6-8 team and thats the concern.

 

Personally without major finance i'd be more than happy with 6th-7th, enjoying a good cup run or two and playing attractive football. That alone would start bringing the fans back in droves to Villa Park and have the club as a whole buzzing but we need better players at the club to do that and Lerner needs to start backing the manager on the players he wants.

He won't get much. Learner's business has hemorrhaged money. He didn't sell the Browns because he wanted to. He sold it because he had to.

[GENTLEMAN]

He sold it because he had to.

 

Where is this stated? 

[avfc1982]

I think people need to realise that we're never going to be in the top four unless we have a mega bucks owner. Best we can hope for is competing around 6 to 8 and a good cup run. That maybe passive acceptance in the eyes of some but there you go

Where on earth are these posts from Villa fans demanding top 4?

[briny_ear]

A problem seems to be that we have lost the ability to play pacy attacking football that unsettled some more illustrious opponents in the early games.

 

For the past four games or so we seem to have been more set on stifling the game in midfield but don't have the skill to switch effectively from midfield dominance to effective forward play, and can't defend well enough. Hence the string of 0-0, 0-2, 0-2, 0-0.

 

A lot of this hinges on Benteke's form, so let's hope he will be back to match fitness for the Cardiff game and that we can start a better run. We should be looking for a return of 2 points per game average from the following  games: Cardiff, West Brom, Sunderland, Southampton, Fulham, Stoke, Swansea. (I'll concede the inevitable loss to Man U now.)

[LordSepulchrave]

Dunno, it'd totally fit Moyes's turbulent start if they lost to us whilst we'd forgotten what a goal is.

[Avflife]

 

 

 

 

Would anyone else agree that we dropped a clanger in not getting Barry in on loan in the summer

He was available and would have walked straight into our midfield bringing much needed experience and steel

I would prefer to use that midfield slot to allow a younger player to develop.

Problem is our midfield often contains KEA who is not young and has no chance to develop, therefore having our experienced midfielder as somebody with a lot more quality would not only improve our team but also be more likely to help improve the likes of Westwood, Delph and Sylla.

I don't agree - obviously KEA is nowhere near the player Barry is, but firstly KEA is not a regular and so isn't permanently tying up a first team spot, secondly, I imagine he is costing a fraction of what Barry would cost and thirdly, if Barry did turn up there would be no point employing KEA and he would need to be loaned out or sold, probably at a loss. I also think that the influence you think Barry would have on Westwood, Delph and Sylla is over-rated

I heard that Everton are paying half of Barry's 80k a week (Citeh are footing the other half) - We don't need Barry to stay up and we wouldn't win anything with him around so therefore I'd rather bank the 2m in wages and put it towards a Kiyotake-type purchase in January or at the end of the season

 

Whose to say we would win anything with Kiyotake around? Do we need him to stay up?

Strange logic for not improving the team, a player wont make us win trophies or be the difference as to whether we stay up or not so lets not bother.

 

If its true and Everton are paying 40k towards Barry's wages I'm fully perplexed why we didn't go for him to make a return to VP; I'm not even going bother wasting my time comparing KEA to Barry, as there isn't even one to be made. Barry would of made a huge difference to our midfield problems, firstly we wouldn't get overrun in midfield, like in the last 2 home game, and two players like Westwood and Sylla would be more confident on/around the ball.

A mistake hopefully we won't be made to regret.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Avflife

[Isa]

Terrible stats but not surprising.We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

What 'great' football did we produce against Liverpool?

I thought 2nd half we were the better team. We tried to keep the ball and were patient in our build up and played some nice stuff.

Actually thinking about it as well against Newcastle we for very short periods played some nice stuff. I remember one move that started from our defence that if weimman had scored would have been a goal of the season contender.

They sat back and allowed us the ball for the entire second half. Despite this, we didn't have the quality to break them down. Hardly great in my opinion.

[villan_007]

 

 

 

Terrible stats but not surprising.We played some great football for the first 3 games against top opposition and have seemed to have just stopped attempting to play any kind of decent football since. I don't know why? Were we found out and had to resort to this way? Is it a loss of confidence from our players or in our players from the manager?

Considering how exciting we were at the end of last season it's this change in style that's been so disappointing.

What 'great' football did we produce against Liverpool?

I thought 2nd half we were the better team. We tried to keep the ball and were patient in our build up and played some nice stuff.

Actually thinking about it as well against Newcastle we for very short periods played some nice stuff. I remember one move that started from our defence that if weimman had scored would have been a goal of the season contender.

They sat back and allowed us the ball for the entire second half. Despite this, we didn't have the quality to break them down. Hardly great in my opinion.

 

 

Yes we did, we carved out opportunities and didn't take them. You don't get many chances against Liverpool, but we created them, and summing up our season so far we wasted our chances.

Edited November 7, 2013 by villan_007