Isa Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Lambert blames the referee...didn't see that coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMcKenna Posted December 8, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted December 8, 2013 Well I just hope the Vlaar injury isn't to serious. W eve already conceded 4 goals in his absence - and we do need another CB - Even when Okore is fit. Been saying this since May. I don't expect us to yield many points while Vlaar is out..... I do not think the absence of Vlaar was the issue today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 3 strikers isn't working, the midfield is always getting beat. It's fine for counter attacking, but we saw today (v Fulham) its too predictable now. Time for a re-think. Either the central striker needs to drop into midfield (as Berbatov does). Or the outside men, Gabby and Weimann need to be replaced by creative midfielders and play deeper. Berbatov can drop into midfield because he has the ability to do this. We are desperate for creative players. Admittedly a much much better squad than ours but Arsenal are playing Ozil, Cazorla and Wilshere behind the striker today. We have Westwood pinging shit balls to no-one and our wide players running around like headless chickens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Well I just hope the Vlaar injury isn't to serious. W eve already conceded 4 goals in his absence - and we do need another CB - Even when Okore is fit. Been saying this since May. I don't expect us to yield many points while Vlaar is out..... Agreed. Baker causes us a lot of problems when he plays, I know me saying that will not be popular (the old "He is our youth, back him..") but he gets turned easily, pulled out of position easily and beaten in the air more often than not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaw_nuff Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Our luck ran out today? That's an understatement. We were poor no doubt but we were incredibly unlucky to have that penalty given against us and then not get a penalty for the foul on Gabby. Claret and Blue tinted specs. We've had so much luck this season that it's masked the cracks. Rubbish. I even admitted we were poor today. They had a clear penalty denied before the soft one was given, don't forget. Dean had a shite game but going on about 'luck' is just ignoring the truth of the situation: one year on and we have not markedly improved. We're fortunate that other teams are struggling but as the past few rounds of games have shown, the teams below us are capable of picking up wins. The playing style hasn't improved but on the whole results have. I suggest you reread your post. And our playing style is worse, easily the worst in the league I'd say. Results improved because our luck did. If we don't improve the way we play football we're in a relegation battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Next week we'll have to play ugly which shouldn't be too difficult given some of the performances lately. We're already missing Delph and potentially Ron and Luna. I'd bring lowton back and push Bacuna to right of midfield. I'd probably bring Sylla back in and play him leftish like he did against Man. City. Drop Weimann and just have Benteke and Gabby as the front two. I'd keep Benteke in as imo Vidic will be hoping Kozak will be fit as he'd rather be heading high balls away all day and I feel this is the sort of game Benteke will come alive again in. Will it be enough who knows, just shows how weak this squad remains when we have a couple of first 11 players missing against the worst United team for over 10 years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Lambert blames the referee...didn't see that coming! He's got a point though, and as HH said Lambert is never going to publicly blame the players. I have no issue with his post-match interviews. Well I just hope the Vlaar injury isn't to serious. W eve already conceded 4 goals in his absence - and we do need another CB - Even when Okore is fit. Been saying this since May. I don't expect us to yield many points while Vlaar is out..... I do not think the absence of Vlaar was the issue today. Why not? It was certainly one of them. He's the difference between our defence looking relatively calm and composed and looking like a bunch of headless chickens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Lambert blames the referee...didn't see that coming! He's got a point though, and as HH said Lambert is never going to publicly blame the players. I have no issue with his post-match interviews. His post-match interviews are almost as annoying as DOL's at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Lambert blames the referee...didn't see that coming! Yes just ignore certain players who have been complete and utter dogshit and blame the referee It's not like it was ever a close game with the penalty being the deciding factor We were very poor and Fulham won easily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Our luck ran out today? That's an understatement. We were poor no doubt but we were incredibly unlucky to have that penalty given against us and then not get a penalty for the foul on Gabby. Claret and Blue tinted specs. We've had so much luck this season that it's masked the cracks. Rubbish. I even admitted we were poor today. They had a clear penalty denied before the soft one was given, don't forget. Dean had a shite game but going on about 'luck' is just ignoring the truth of the situation: one year on and we have not markedly improved. We're fortunate that other teams are struggling but as the past few rounds of games have shown, the teams below us are capable of picking up wins. The playing style hasn't improved but on the whole results have. I suggest you reread your post. And our playing style is worse, easily the worst in the league I'd say. Results improved because our luck did. If we don't improve the way we play football we're in a relegation battle. Don't buy that at all. Our football has got worse (although I don't think it's as bad as people make out) but results have improved but it's got **** all to do with "luck." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4life Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Here come the overreactions.... Usual suspects who vanished mid week will no doubt make an appearence. In perspective, its a rare away defeat whatever anyone says. Our defence HAS improved, in the overall context. We will lose some games you know. Just because Fulham have been shit for so long doesn’t mean that a new manager might not get the tactics right, he did today as it was clear the job was to stop us counter attacking. We looked good and Fulham looked woeful before they scored, we had some good possession. Benteke has a good effort and Fulham looked shaky, then they scored a goal and the ref gave them a penalty. We were then woeful and shit, this could happen to a lot of teams in the league not just Villa. I’ll let the haters have their enjoyment, its pointless debating with them as they vanish during good results and only appear when we lose. I don't think that its the issue here. We have been awful pretty much the entirety of this season but a few flattering results make things seem a lot better than they are Our problems are thus: 1) We defend a little too deep. Linked to our counter-attacking style but the opposition is often get far too much time on the ball inside our half. Hence the dismal possession stats 2) Because we defend so deep, the gap between midfield and attack is too large hence why we rarely see much interaction between those two groups 3) Our players take too many touches on the ball. When we are actually trying to attack, we don't do so with any great pace. Its all very plodding 4) Very few of our players have the confidence / permission to actually carry the ball or pass forwards 5) The midfield don't seem to have a remit to get forward at all. All of the attacking responsibility is on the full-backs and strikers 6) Our players are never aware when they have space to turn in to. Preferring the simpler backwards pass even when they literally have no opposition players within 5 metres 7) Our movement from midfield onwards is awful. No players coming short, all three strikers seem to just hoon towards the box as soon as we get possession. It makes disrupting any well disciplined defensive unit impossible as currently, we simply lack the ability to consistently cause chaos in opposition penalty areas 8) The full backs get nowhere near enough assistance on the flanks from the midfield or attackers as both units are too narrow. The problem with playing these useless flick-ons off Benteke is that one / both strikers have to tuck in to be effective positions to profit (Assuming that the header is even successful). Unfortunately as every team is aware of what is going to happen, it has become pretty easy to nullify that part of Benteke's game. Full back's cover the wide strikers, strongest in the air on Benteke. Other centre back to cover. Couple that with the fact that the midfield is so far away from the strikers and when the defender does win the ball, we rarely have anyone in a position near enough to where the ball ends up 9) The system is incredibly rigid. Everyone has one role and one role alone. It becomes too predictable and gets easier for opposition managers to prepare against 10) We have only 2 game plans. a. Midfield pass back to defender / keeper on to Benteke's head or b. Interception and long pass to initiate a counter-attack. Thats it, thats pretty much all we have Its incredibly frustrating as the team was much better set up last year but more and more, Lambert has turned into a manager who sticks too long with something that worked once, a while ago because he doesn't know any other way to succeed. I will put my hand up and admit to hating counter-attacking. Its exploiting the oppositions willingness to attack / entertain and as a result I am not a fan. A lot of people forget the fact that football isn't life or death, its a game, its supposed to be entertaining! Our biggest problem is that we have always had Gabby and other quick players and managers have used that as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Hence our tendency to gravitate towards counter-attacking. Its no coincidence that O'Neill also turned us in to a long ball countering side. Its not how he originally set the team out when he first took the job Just because we have pace in the side, why should that automatically mean that counter-attack is the only way we can play. Man-for-man, Arsenal probably have around the same level of speed and yet they don't play counter-attacking football. The obvious response is that they have better players but my response would be that if West Brom can play decent on-the-ground stuff, theres no reason we cant. With the added bonus of being able to unleash our pace for good, instead of for evil! Sorry, long post but this is 15 games worth of venting but ultimately. I'm saying that the manager can sort this out, with our existing personnel. Its the system that is all wrong 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Well I just hope the Vlaar injury isn't to serious. W eve already conceded 4 goals in his absence - and we do need another CB - Even when Okore is fit. Been saying this since May. I don't expect us to yield many points while Vlaar is out..... I do not think the absence of Vlaar was the issue today. I didn't see the game so can't comment. But before half time at Southampton - we weren't giving away many goals. Since Half Time at Southampton, ......we are - you have to ask whats Changed ? - Vlaar Injury for me... (Same at last December) - I fear a pasting on the Horizon if he isn't back soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 3 strikers isn't working, the midfield is always getting beat. It's fine for counter attacking, but we saw today (v Fulham) its too predictable now. Time for a re-think. Either the central striker needs to drop into midfield (as Berbatov does). Or the outside men, Gabby and Weimann need to be replaced by creative midfielders and play deeper. Berbatov can drop into midfield because he has the ability to do this. We are desperate for creative players. Admittedly a much much better squad than ours but Arsenal are playing Ozil, Cazorla and Wilshere behind the striker today. We have Westwood pinging shit balls to no-one and our wide players running around like headless chickens. Could Helenius play a similar role to Berbatov? This would obviously mean the chop for Benteke. I prefer the idea of 4-2-3-1, which would mean gabby and Weimann getting dropped for ??? (We need more creativity in the squad). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 It was a soft penalty but Bacuna was the wrong side so there's always a chance a collision could occur, clever forward play by Kalinkic. I thought Gabby had a good shout but still that would've only got us back to 2-1 with what two minutes left? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Lambert said we never got going after a tough game Wednesday but he can't fault the effort today, and we pick ourselves up and we go again 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa_shere Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Lambert is ok and thats about it. We dnt play great football but we have sone great games. For this season n the next i would like to see him run his contract. I would argue he does learn from his mistakes and does change the team formation and tactics when necessary. The quality of his signings r debatable and our home form is what is letting him down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Lambert blames the referee...didn't see that coming! He's got a point though, and as HH said Lambert is never going to publicly blame the players. I have no issue with his post-match interviews. His post-match interviews are almost as annoying as DOL's at times. Weve lost 0-2 and not played well. I fail to see what the manager (any manager) can say to make that all right ? - TBH I don't know why managers are interviewed after games - once youve heard about 3 post match interviews youve heard them all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 The problem with the 3 strikers is we end up like this.. ________________________________________ (Their penalty area) ----------------------------(20)------------------------------- ---------------------(11)---------(10)------------------------ ----------------------------(8)-------------------------------- ----------------------(16)--------(15)---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------(7)---- -----------(2)---(17)----(6)------------------------------- That was the problem today, too bunched, too narrow and too closed in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avfc96 Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Paul Lambert post-match: As a team, we were short. We never got going. But we pick ourselves up and go again. #AVFCLIVE From the Villa Twitter feed, typical pathetic response from Lambert. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.C.O. Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Someone should make a compilation of his best "we go agains". He's probably used that phrase 100 times since being here, its becoming his "honest bunch of lads". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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