Unim-press-ive

[frank]

Spot on, Dave.
PL may well send the team out to attack at Cardiff tomorrow and we may well win, but this won't excuse the months of absolutely dire home performances

[Monty]

I think the answer to the question is that he depends entirely on the opposition allowing us to play that way. Liverpool vacated the centre of the pitch at Anfield and we took advantage - West Ham and Palace set men behind the ball and we were clueless.

[andyaston]

At Villa Park we push up a little more and all the opposition do is target our channels and our dozy full backs which, usually results in them eventually getting behind us and scoring. Palace and West Ham (first 50 mins) did this to a tea.

If that doesn't work and we sit deeper, as we usually do against better teams they wait for us to make a mistake which we can relied upon to serve up i.e Baker a loose pass, Clark losing the ball or one of our midfielders getting robbed in front of our backline resulting in a goal. We are a gift of a team to play against at Villa Park. This really needs to stop before things get beyond a joke!!

[Phil from the upper holte]

The serious lack of movement affects us as well, we are like statues at home and the amount of time we give away possesion from a throw in is unacceptable, having said that I don't think the football played by Mcleish was any better?

Anyone?

[eastie]

The serious lack of movement affects us as well, we are like statues at home and the amount of time we give away possesion from a throw in is unacceptable, having said that I don't think the football played by Mcleish was any better?

Anyone?

Little to choose between the pair of them - at least with houllier there was some emphasis on the pass and move game but the last 3 seasons at home have been very poor.

[Monty]

The serious lack of movement affects us as well, we are like statues at home and the amount of time we give away possesion from a throw in is unacceptable, having said that I don't think the football played by Mcleish was any better?

Anyone?

It wasn't better, but I think the reason Lambert gets off and McLeish doesn't is that, while McLeish saw that type of play as the goal, Lambert wants to play better stuff but is just failing to do so. In a way, I think the crowd feels a bit sorry for him.

[Mister E]

I question the question, Dave.
I think Lambert did send out a side with attacking intent on Saturday, and - with the proviso that both Vlaar and Okore were unavailable - we fielded probably our best team.

We were attack-minded: hence the amount of space that Downing and particularly Jarvis got in the first half, behind the fullbacks who were pressing upfield. And in the second half, we could and should have scored 3-4 goals thanks mainly to Albrighton.

It was our poor tactics, poor approach and poor individual play that prevented us breaching the visitors' predictably obdurate defence. First touches that went astray, passes not struck well, lack of movement, poor individual decision-making ...
... and, of course, the customary ricketts at the back for the conceded goals.

I hate to admit it, because I have an irrational dislike of him, but Allardyce got it spot on. Lambert didn't and hasn't for most of the season.

[dave.woodhall]

There's nothing irrational about disliking Sam Allardyce.

[Mister E]

There's nothing irrational about disliking Sam Allardyce.

Err, true.

[ChicagoLion]

Does any one believe that he knows the answer?

[Legion]

Excellent final paragraph in that article.

[not3bad]

I don't know how you 'pick yourself up and go again' on the all too regular weekends like this Dave. I took me over 24 hours before I could bring myself to come on here after yesterday.

It took me until this tea time.  Getting sick of this shit.

[supertom]

There's nothing irrational about disliking Sam Allardyce.

Err, true.

His fake internet alter ego is better.

[ChicagoLion]

I don't know how you 'pick yourself up and go again' on the all too regular weekends like this Dave. I took me over 24 hours before I could bring myself to come on here after yesterday.

It took me until this tea time.  Getting sick of this shit.

Try scones or beans on toast

[supertom]

It's slightly worrying that in most of the games against teams of our sort of level, from the 8th down, Lambert has been completely shown up in a battle of tactical wits by Pardew, Allardyce, Pulis, Hughes, the fella at Fulham. Games we'd ordinarily have expected to win, or at the very least get a point.

Granted we may claim to having outsmarted Pelligrini and the fella at Southampton, but those wins were incredibly fortunate. Having 30% possession and 3 shots on target and winning 3-2 is the exception and not the rule. Lambert got it right against Arsenal, Liverpool and West Brom IMO. Whether that was as much luck or judgement, who knows, but he gets it horribly wrong far, far too often, and the way we've played for 90% of this season has been dreadful. Horrific ball retention and dire organisation, and to have a midfield as poor as we do is unforgivable after 3 windows to do something about it. Delph's been carrying the midfield almost single handed. He's trying his best but he needs help.

Under Lambert we seem to have one effective way of playing, where we look reasonably good. The trouble is it's reliant on the opposition allowing us to play in that way. They're not allowing us to do that as much this season and he's struggled really badly in trying to come up with another way of having us play effectively. I don't think he has the nous and I don't think he ever will. He needs help or he'll get canned eventually. His coaching team aren't doing enough because we look about as uncoached as you can look.

I (foolishly) tried teaching my Mrs how to play pool the other day. The results were not dissimilar to watching Villa play. Headache inducing, painful to watch and almost insulting to the sport at its fluid best. I'm not a bad player, not a very good coach, so it's an uphill battle trying to teach someone. Ronnie O' Sullivan would be a better coach, but there'd only be so much he could do as the Mrs, bless her, doesn't have much of a natural aptitude for bar sports. Much like any decent football manager, or coach would probably struggle to do much more than make us average. The trouble is, Lambert isn't a decent manager. He's probably punching above his weight at this level, leading a bunch of players, many of whom are playing above their level. It's never going to be pretty with this set up. This lies significantly on the shoulders of three people (Lerner, Faulkner and Lambert), and somethings got to change. At the very least one of these elements needs changing, at best three. If we got another manager in the summer with Houlliers nous at the helm we won't be brilliant by any means, but we might find things at least begin to evolve, and have a degree more comfort, next season.