More than just one game

[Jarpie]

I said in the Swansea post match thread that the one thing that's pleased me most is the fact that we're not giving the opposition time on the ball. For the first time in a while, Swansea looked ordinary and that was largely down to us.

We're also passing the ball quite well at times too and whilst i don't want to go over old ground, i wonder how good Jean Makoun would be in that midfield of ours at the minute.

I think he would've fit into it very well, unfortunately apparently he didn't adapt living in england and didn't adapt playing in the premier league, at least not in couple games he played for us in that spring.

J2M came into our club in very chaotic time which couldn't have helped him settling down, especially when Houllier & co left and we got TSM.

[not3bad]

I'm not sure what Gabby's role is going to be in this new revolution. Benteke scored. Bent linked the play well on Saturday, Ok, he wasn't much of a threat, but his all round game is improving. And Weimann could have scored twice, looked lively.

Gabby's role will be to come on when needed and hopefully look as good as he did against Newcastle. 

[Dante Lavelli]

I'm not sure what Gabby's role is going to be in this new revolution. Benteke scored. Bent linked the play well on Saturday, Ok, he wasn't much of a threat, but his all round game is improving. And Weimann could have scored twice, looked lively.

Gabby's role will be to come on when needed and hopefully look as good as he did against Newcastle. 

Gabby offers us a genuine threat from the wings compared to the other strikers as well as his greyhound pace.
Personally i think him and Benteke would be the worst to play against.

[Percy McCarthy]

Agreed. Also, Bent is improving (although he may find it more difficult to score now he is contributing more to team play), and Weimann has huge potential.

[Chris Smith]

One of the complaints most often levelled against MON was that he stuck too rigidly to the same team. The assumption now appears to be that Lambert will do just the same.

My guess is that they'll all get opportunities but if I had to put money on it then I'd say only Bent will play more games than Gabby from our forward options over the course of the season.

[paul_e]

I'm not sure what Gabby's role is going to be in this new revolution. Benteke scored. Bent linked the play well on Saturday, Ok, he wasn't much of a threat, but his all round game is improving. And Weimann could have scored twice, looked lively.

Gabby's role will be to come on when needed and hopefully look as good as he did against Newcastle. 

Gabby offers us a genuine threat from the wings compared to the other strikers as well as his greyhound pace.
Personally i think him and Benteke would be the worst to play against.

Gabby, Benteke and Weimann are all going to be horrible to play against and will cause defenders to make mistakes, Bent will be a constant threat from those mistakes (and, based on Saturday, Benteke will be as well).

[JUAN PABLO]

I would not have changed the team from against Noocastle either . It was an improved performance by every one.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

If there was a measurement of how things have changed at Villa Park it was at full time. We must be world record holders for emptying the stadium before the players have left the pitch. On Saturday most stayed to show their appreciation for a hard working and entertaining performance.

I'd imagine almost everybody that was there on Saturday will want to be back for the next home game, not to mention those that never made it. Whilst an attendance of 34,000 can be seen as disappointing, I'm sure if we continue to show that kind of performance at Villa Park the crowds will soon improve. It's so long since we were consistantly entertaining at home, it'll take time to recover from a decade of generally dull football. Hopefully the fans will be out in numbers to see us beat the Baggies and there's nothing like a derby victory to get the buzz going at the Villa.

Lambert, Culverhouse and Karsa deserve credit for what they've achieved in such a short space of time. Long may it continue.

[Hookeysmith]

The only bit I disagree with is with Given being dropped for poor performance, I just don't think that's the case and I think it belittles the quality of the performances from Guzan since.  Guzan got a start int he cup and played well enough to earn the place for the Newcastle game.  He then played superbly and has now followed it up with another superb performance.  The emphasis has got to  be on if you play well enough you'll get game time, not if you play badly you get dropped.

I know it's not easy to apply that for goalkeepers who tend to only get the odd chance to impress when they're out of the team but Guzan left before because previous managers were waiting for the current keeper to make enough mistakes to be dropped, which totally ignores his form.  Everyone on here agrees that Guzan should have stayed in the team last season but because Given hadn't played badly enough to lose his spot he got it back as soon as he was fit.

Sorry mate - i disagree completely. Guzan did very little in the Tranmere game to justify him staying in - it was more about a poor EC for Ireland followed by at least two of the goals against Everton were totally Givens fault

Someone somewhere mention a very good point and that it maybe none of us know how badly the death of his best mate (Speed) has effected him

Either way Guzan was resigned on the basis that if he gets his chance and does well he stays in - well Bradders the shirt is your to lose because Saturday was as a complete a Goalkeepers performance as i have seen for many years - it had everything Great reaction saves, superb domination of area, crossing interception and vocal command of back 4

As i said unless Guzan fucks up Given will get splinters for a while

[Nirog72]

This may sound stupid but whilst he had little to do against Tranmere, Guzan just 'looked' confident, up for it and clearly really wanted the jersey. I think a lot of the change is down to where their relative heads are at the moment.

[ktvillan]

You do need to look beyond the one game and one result.  But even if we'd got pegged back on Saturday you could have taken a lot of positives from the game.  The signs were there against Newcastle and arguably even in the last 15-20 minutes against Everton, which I had assumed was them taking their foot off the gas, but could have been the green shoots of Lambert's methodology taking effect.

I'm really enjoying the fact that our team is now trying to play a bit of good football, as well as putting in the effort.  I'm sure there will be days when it all goes tits up but I think the philosophy being applied is very promising. 

[paul_e]

Hookey - the problem is I completely disagree with the sentiment of "put a stake in the ground for any player to understand their place can be lost with poor performances".

The stake it puts in the ground is, "if you're given a chance and you take it you'll be rewarded".

I want people losing their place because the guy behind them is chomping at the bit, not because they've made mistakes.

I'm not saying Given deserved to keep his spot, I'd have dropped him last season and he's gone backwards since, I'm saying the message he sends is, and should be, "if you earn your spot you keep it unless someone else does more to earn it", rather than "you'll keep you're spot until you fuck up".

As a non-starter the first shows that training hard and putting in the effort when you come off the bench, etc will be rewarded, the latter says no matter how well you do you stay where you are until that guy proves he shouldn't be there.  The latter approach is the more traditional one in the UK and is a key reason why we don't see as many kids coming through at premier league clubs, stick with a trusted if limited player rather than run the risk of picking an untried youngster.

[Damo70]

This may sound stupid but whilst he had little to do against Tranmere, Guzan just 'looked' confident, up for it and clearly really wanted the jersey. I think a lot of the change is down to where their relative heads are at the moment.

I totally agree. From watching Given against Everton and Guzan against Tranmere and Swansea I think there is a big difference in their body language. One seems comfident and up for the challenge and the other seems a bit shellshocked from last season and the Euros.

[john e]

the signs of progress were there right from the start of the season against West Ham,
completely new back four, new players here and there and most importantly a totally new style of play,

 we kept the ball for the first 30 mins better than i have seen any Villa team in donkeys years, we didnt penatrate or do anything special with it, but never the less the signs were there, possession and passing football were here to stay  but the result overshadowed what was trying to be done.

Everton is our only bad display so far in my view, and Everton on that day were as good as anything your likely to see this season, it was the perfect away performance by them, even Moyes said we caught them on a hot day,
 Pinaar, Bains and Fellaini were terific on the day with a near perfect display, it didnt last they then went and lost at West Brom, but thats football i suppose

then Newcastle we carried on with the new style and tactics, and against Swansea it all came together for our fisrt 3 points, this is a team in development, with a manager that knows what he wants and knows how to get it,

i know its been said before, but i reckon Lambert could be the best manager we have had since Ron Saunders, its early days yet, but you just get that feeling that he could build something special just in the same way RS did

[The Left Side]

Hopefully this spurs Gabby on to come out of the blocks firing, nothing wrong with healthy competition.