Very press-ed off

[dave.woodhall]

http://thebirminghampress.com/2014/04/one-way-or-another/

[PeterWithesShin]

Great article I have to say. And I'm not even after a pay rise.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Which was it then ?
Broken into or towed away ?

[Tayls_7]

He has no semblance of an idea I'm afraid. He never seems to be able to generate a positive result when you most need it. Everything seems to be on a wing and a prayer with Lambert. I honestly believe we stumble upon our victories rather than having been engineered by his tactical genius. We've got another duck egg here, budget or not.

[Somniloquism]

I would disagree on the playing football bit. We have tried to pass it around and play it out from the back recently. However the players are:-

• Not good enough to do this well as little real movement or pass and go.
• Giving the ball away closer to the goal so more chance of goals against.

[fredm]

The final sentence says everything there is to say.

[not3bad]

The final sentence says everything there is to say.

Yep.

[Monty]

I would disagree on the playing football bit. We have tried to pass it around and play it out from the back recently. However the players are:-

• Not good enough to do this well as little real movement or pass and go.
• Giving the ball away closer to the goal so more chance of goals against.

I want this notion that the players aren't good enough to move off the ball to be squashed, to be honest. One of Everton's substitutions yesterday was McGeady on for Naismith. We know what those players would look like at, say, West Ham or Norwich or, dare I say it, Villa, but under Martinez at Everton they're excelling at the short passing and moving.

The point is that simple off-the-ball movement isn't something which comes naturally because it's not and individual thing - it has to be done as a team. At its best, like Sacchi's Milan or Pep's Barca, it's an amazingly complicated machine where if one goes there the other goes here and someone else pops over there in never-ending gap-filling motion. But it doesn't have to be that complicated - it just has to be competent, and done as a team, something which only comes through training, and there's no evidence that there is anything approaching this down BH.

[JUAN PABLO]

I felt awful after the Villa game on Saturday  and then even more gutted watching Everton play on MOTD with Martinez.

Good luck to Everton , I like Martinez . if only .....   thou a little jealous

[mrfuse]

I felt awful after the Villa game on Saturday  and then even more gutted watching Everton play on MOTD with Martinez.

Good luck to Everton , I like Martinez . if only .....   thou a little jealous

Cant argue with that Dave and feel exactly as you mate.

[rob_bridge]

Good point Montbert

I went to watch Crewe pay a few uears back when Gradi's retirement was first mooted.

They went a goal down early against a physical Carlisle side. They didn't panic, stuck to what they had learned in training and ran out 5-1 winners. And they played without fear.

Other than against the big teams Villa play with a lot of fear.

The training methods must be shambolic. That said some of the regulars are frankly not good enough.

[Monty]

Good point Montbert

I went to watch Crewe pay a few uears back when Gradi's retirement was first mooted.

They went a goal down early against a physical Carlisle side. They didn't panic, stuck to what they had learned in training and ran out 5-1 winners. And they played without fear.

Other than against the big teams Villa play with a lot of fear.

The training methods must be shambolic. That said some of the regulars are frankly not good enough.

I think it's probable that some of the regulars aren't good enough. The trouble is, we won't know which ones are until they've been given a go under a manager who trains them properly.

As for Crewe, look at how Westwood's off-the-ball movement has declined under Lambert. When he first arrived Gradi's lessons were still clear in his memory, and his reading of the game and ability to find space almost Petrov-esque. His movement into space is still better than most of the rest of the team (useless on its own, of course), but has obviously declined through lack of practice.

[eamonn]

I'm unsure that there have been too many good performances for it to be a coincidence. Man City at home is the type of performance nine times out of ten would not have yielded a win, similar to Southampton away. Even the two pens at Arsenal and Will i am's sending off against Chelsea were huge gimmes. I think we've played really well for 90 minutes once all season, at Stamford Bridge. The mediocre and shit far outweigh the great and the good.

[Irish villain]

I'm unsure that there have been too many good performances for it to be a coincidence. Man City at home is the type of performance nine times out of ten would not have yielded a win, similar to Southampton away. Even the two pens at Arsenal and Will i am's sending off against Chelsea were huge gimmes. I think we've played really well for 90 minutes once all season, at Stamford Bridge. The mediocre and shit far outweigh the great and the good.

This. Southampton away was daylight robbery. We have been absolutely awful 9 times out of 10. Look at the sides beating us: Palace, Fulham (x2), Stoke (x2), West Ham...Awful.

I do disagree with you on the home performance against Chelsea though. I thought we were excellent that day.

[Ian.]

I felt awful after the Villa game on Saturday  and then even more gutted watching Everton play on MOTD with Martinez.

Good luck to Everton , I've wanted him for some time
Me too.

I felt awful after the Villa game on Saturday  and then even more gutted watching Everton play on MOTD with Martinez.

Good luck to Everton , I like Martinez . if only .....   thou a little jealous

Me too, I wanted him here as our boss a while bacv. I did also want Lambert so what do I know? Well actually, maybe more than Lambert