Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: pauliewalnuts on November 24, 2014, 09:51:47 PM
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Here you go.
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Predictable team, performance and result.
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unbeaten in two
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Bent?
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as much as a club like ours dares to hope for
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Shite.
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A point more than I expected, but yet again, the same familiar pattern of sod-all possession, and just the one shot on target.
Okore and Clark did well.
Bent for Sanchez was one of Lambert's most baffling moves ever.
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Hutton made a difference. Thankful for any points at the moment. We might be able to kick on once Benteke and Delph return.
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Valiant point. Get in!
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Liquid football from Villa tonight
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Not a bad point in the context of where they are and where we are. Weimann should have sealed it 10 mins from time though.
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An utterly uninspiring, craft-free, unentertaining point. YES!
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Sit back concede ...textbook Villa
Our ball retention is shocking every match.The subs were poor And upset balance of the team leading to the goal.
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Some minor positives, Okore looked alright, Gabby scored and seemed interested, we weren't battered even though they were clearly better than us and we actually defended ok. A point against the in-form team of the league (who are still 2nd in the league) and we kept their very dangerous attack quiet. All in all I'll take that, as long as we go into the next two games knowing what we need to do to get 6 points.
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Phew. Would have settled for that before the match. And after it, given that our team cannot pass nor shoot. Freedom of Birmingham to Fraser Foster.
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I'd love to be in the Lerner house tonight. It's going to be some party.
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Spine of the team missing and lacking both goals and confidence. Would've taken a draw before the game started given their run. Thought the back four were pretty solid but we give the ball away too many times to ever get a foothold in the game. Hopefully being unbeaten in two will give us a bit of a base to push on against Burnley. Need to win a game now.
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Based on Southamptons form and ours it's a very good point. I just find us really frustrating to watch we se completely devoid of passion. When they equalised, nothing ? No reaction from the players, they were expecting it.
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There were positives.
Okore, Clark and Hutton for starters. Cleverley battled, Gabby ran his legs off.
Utterly unfathomable substitution though, I'm not saying that was the reason we dropped two points but when we are 1-0 up and parking the tram surely Sanchez or Bacuna or even Grealish buzzing about would be better than putting on the equivalent of a wardrobe up front.
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As a result it's a pretty good one considering the run we've been on against a side flying in 2nd place who had won 11 of their last 12. And 64% of thought we'd lose in the pre-match thread.
That said it was uninspiring overall, and that sub cost us. Under the cosh so you take off the one genuinely defensive midfielder and put on a slow fat striker, leaving you lighter in MF and as such even more likely to be under more pressure.
Still, unbeaten run clicks to 2, against 2 very in form sides and Okore, Clark, Hutton were good, Gabby showed how much he can cause problems for the opposition when he runs at them.
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It's up there with our legendary point against them last season. Expect a statement from Lerner.
Well done Clark and Okore. N'Zog's first half was one of the worst individual performances I've seen. And I like him.
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Bent?
Lambert.
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We deserved a point, not necessarily for playing well but for sheer effort. I know that sounds like manager-speak but I think it's fair tonight. Sounded like Okore and Hutton had good games, as did Gabby especially in the first half.
But our tactics and lack of quality just isn't going to get us many wins.
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Mostly poor again, but there actually were a couple of positives tonight, which is the first time you could say that for a while, really.
Namely, Okore and Clark. They were very good this evening, and I'd be inclined to start with them as a pair again next time out, too. How Okore hasn't been picked remains a mystery/another example of Lambert's total idiocy.
Cleverley wasn't bad, either, and Agbonlahor had a good first half. If this is to be his usual run of three decent games then I suppose it's come at a decent time as we play some of the poorer teams in the league over the next few matches.
Oh, and Sanchez off for Bent? A really, really stupid idea.
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Did Bent actually touch the ball ? I do not think so. What a crap substitution ! I cannot really believe that. If Sanchez was tired, then bring on Bacuna or Grealish. Hell, even Cole ! Bringing Bent on for a defensive midfielder when 1-0 up...
We got a point and I would have taken it before kick off. But playing counter football at home to Southampton and them having all the play - just as all predicted, but how depressing.
Bent did not touch the ball, but N'Zogbia somehow was even worse...
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Awful to watch but I'd have taken a point before hand.
Thought Okore was outstanding, a centre half that actually passes the ball! I've been harsh towards Clark in the past but thought he also played well.
Still can't work out what either Nzogbia or Richardson actually bring to the team. Suspect it may be naff all.
Unbeaten in two, Up The Villa.
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Could have had breathing space out of a pants performance. As it is, it's hardly anything, shows we're still scared of our own shadow and secures at least another half dozen games in charge for that bloke.
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As the 2nd half went on we sat further back. Good point though with the guys out and a Soton team flying at the mo.
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Lamberk will undoubtedly be doing cartwheels over that tremendous result and performance.
Meanwhile those who know what this club should be doing will be typically disappointed at another clueless performance.
A point was fair though as Southampton were thankfully lacklustre in the final third and Mane and Tadic were unusually poor today.
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We didnt lose which is about all we can hope for these days
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Same old shit with the sitting back after having a lead. A point's a point though, especially against Southampton.
I actually sort of understand the rationale for the Bent substitution - in theory, you get another player to support the counterattack, while Sanchez is a risk for giving up a cheap foul anywhere.
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Good point and very good from Hutton Okore and especially clark. Gabby did quite well too
But otherwise that was thoroughly depressing. The complete lack of ambition. The ridiculously bad passing and movement - even by our standards
And weimann's miss to wrap it up. How many times are we gonna see him absolutely balloon a really good chance over the bar?
Sanchez and n'zogbia were terrible and bent provided exactly what he always proivides. Nothing
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An utterly uninspiring, craft-free, unentertaining point. YES!
Exactly...
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Missed a chance then conceded. Could have been very different. We need to win and gain confidence nothing more, nothing less. Confidence is the key.
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There were positives.
Okore, Clark and Hutton for starters. Cleverley battled, Gabby ran his legs off.
Utterly unfathomable substitution though, I'm not saying that was the reason we dropped two points but when we are 1-0 up and parking the tram surely Sanchez or Bacuna or even Grealish buzzing about would be better than putting on the equivalent of a wardrobe up front.
Cheers, Dave, saved me commenting. Keep it to yourself but I'm thinking of starting an Alan Hutton fan club.
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I went for 1-1 so nothing new there I thought Okore did well.
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Okore,Clark and Hutton played very well. A point was all we could have hoped for. We got it. But where was Keane?
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Better than losing, but no win in 8 games is bollocks.
There were some flashes of promise, but as we have seen time and again from Lambert's Villa that is all they are and it is never built on. We'd still be playing football like this if we had everyone fit as well.
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But our tactics and lack of quality just isn't going to get us many wins.
That's it.
Individual performances might improve here and there - Okore and Clark did well, I thought, for example - but the overall lack of quality is just horrific.
If match after match you have less than 40% of possession and one, maybe two shots on target, you are never going to win many matches.
That is the rut we are stuck in now, and I just can't see any way out of it.
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Gabby just held his hand up and admitted his mistake!
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Okore,Clark and Hutton played very well. A point was all we could have hoped for. We got it. But where was Keane?
He was there, I saw him when Bent came on
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Attendance 25,311. If nothing else, Lerner is a hard headed businessman who analyses figures. Isn't he?
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Surely we'll win a game soon.
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Sanchez reminds me of Anderson at Man U. Looks as if he cant lose enough weight to be effective over 90mins.
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Attendance 25,311. If nothing else, Lerner is a hard headed businessman who analyses figures. Isn't he?
Wow, that is shocking.
Surely, surely he must look at figures like that and think about what is going on?
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There was no reason to specifically pick Bent to come on. He wasn't going to cause their defence any problems whatsoever. At least Grealish, even if he just got kicked, would have offered a lively option. I don't understand the reluctance of Lambert to use our better players - you may lose (although I find it hard to think of a scenario where Grealish getting bundled over could lead directly to an opposition goal), but you'd still have eleven players on your side instead of ten and a sedan chair in shorts.
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I thought they were excellent utterly fantastic.
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Gabby just held his hand up and admitted his mistake!
Weimann should be the one apologising. He could have put the game away.
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Good point, only saw second half but was pretty certain beforehand that Southampton would open us up at will tonight. Think they were a bit too optimistic with their team selection, they certainly missed Steven Davis' intelligent link play. Long and Tadic were both rubbish I thought.
The ridiculously overrated Fraser Forster handed us a goal so dont think we can be too disappointed. Gabby and Weimann worked hard with their usual limitations. Once again Cleverley was anonymous. Westwood and Sanchez both ran out of steam. Guzan was very solid. Considering this must be the first time Okore and Clark have played together I thought they were very solid. Clark in particular was superb, was in the right spot constantly and deserved man of the match. Okore kept Pelle quiet and matched him physically which was crucial. Hutton too was excellent on his return. Unfortunately I think we have got ourselves another left back turkey. Gives the ball away constantly and switches off a lot with players getting behind him a lot.
For all Southampton's excellent scouting the money they spent on Forster and Long beggars belief. Then again we probably spent the bones of 35m on Bent and Nzogbia
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I've always liked Jamie Carragher
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How the fuck Grealish didn't come on is the mystery for me.I blame the Keane/Republic row.I think I might have it out with Keano.
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Gabby just held his hand up and admitted his mistake!
Shame because he actually put a shift in today.
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I think Bent came on to give us some height defending corners. What stood out for me is that when we did attack them we looked a chance, but if you sit back as we did and always do then it is only a matter of time. Okore, Hutton and Clarke played well Gabbys legs were gone halfway through the second half.
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After eight games without a win, many managers would be updating the CV in preparation for the inevitable. But even with that and a terrible attendance, a point against a form team who are in a false position will be spun as nothing but a triumph. Let the good times roll.
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Good shift by Gabby, Cleverley a cut above in technique and Hutton solid but unspectacular.
Okore and Clark well exceeded my expectations, particularly Clark who deserved the man of the match award. Its gutting to concede in the last ten minutes when I was beginning to believe we'd hold out, having said that I'd have taken a point at the start. Burnley is absolutely vital.
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Gabby just held his hand up and admitted his mistake!
He should have been left up front, he was playing well and the change was stupid.
Ok we're hanging on anyway so the goal might have come, but that substitution was asking for trouble.
I am not blaming Gabby even if he thinks he was at fault.
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Poor again.Forget budgets after 3 years you should be able to coach a team to at least keep the sodding ball.
We invite pressure because we can not keep the ball , Cleverly /Westwood and Sanchez offer near enough zero going forward.You look at the team and again they don't look like a team there is so little link up play or cohesion anywhere in the team.
The positives were Clark and Okore who were sold through out as was Hutton.
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
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Good point but think there's a good chance we'll be in the bottom three this weekend.
Is that 2 points from 24?
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
1999
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1 shot on target at home. Until our shots on target improve it is going to be continual struggle to win games.
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
If that's the amount of tickets sold it's awful. It means there may have been even less in there.
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Bent?
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
1999
Wow, under Gregory. I'm surprised it isn't actually longer, I seem to remember the crowds being decent then.
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Small positives were Okore looked decent, but then why didn't we play him earlier. Also Gabby was ok in first half. Major issue is we play the same match every game. We try and pinch a goal and then cling on for grim death whilst gifting the opposition the ball. He has to go.
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
1999
Wow, under Gregory. I'm surprised it isn't actually longer, I seem to remember the crowds being decent then.
We had a lot of sub 30K in 99/00. The lowest was 23,885 against Sheff Wed, a Sat 3pm game as well.
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One thing that I'm quite happy about tonight is that I didn't notice the lack of Delph or Vlaar. Don't get me wrong, they're two of our best players, but I don't think we played that much worse without them. I think we have the resources and players with not a little talent. I'll go to my grave maintaining Lambert is not the man who'll get the most out of them though.
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A decent result on paper but our lack of attacking threat will cost us points all season which is why we won't finish above 15th.
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Im sure we had 23k odd against Sheffield Wednesday in 1999 when Dion had his neck injury.
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I reckon there was sub 24k actually in the ground and 1500 of them were saints fans .
So about 22,500 villa fans .
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
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Bent?
Ha!
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We can't rely on keeper howlers every game.
Hutton and Cissokho continually coming up against 2-3 opposition players on the wing, with absolutely no support is becoming an all too regular sight. If they don't go back to a CH or the keeper their only option is to try a deep cross which most CH's will eat up for breakfast.
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Maybe Lambert is hoping to get some money for him in January. I guess it backfired.
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Bent?
Ha!
Bent? More like broken!
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .
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Southampton's bubble will burst at some point, they really aren't that great and we should be winning these games. Again though, crap substitutions, one shot on goal and a complete lack of faith in our Manager. This inevitably leads to a crowd of just over 25k. He simply has to go. We need a boost.
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
If that's the amount of tickets sold it's awful. It means there may have been even less in there.
I don't think admirers of the North Stand need to chain themselves to their seats just yet.
Well we got a point against much fancied opposition. Could be our springboard to safety for another season, but it's hard work - for players and supporters.
And I don't, ever, want to see Bent trundling in a Villa shirt again. He's trundled for at least three years now. He's actually retired but can't be arsed to tell anyone.
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Well I am not going celebrate a point at home against the likes of fucking Southampton but its better than another loss I guess.
Pretty tired of us sitting back and inevitably conceding.
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .
I can only think he wanted him to hold the ball up like Benteke does to ease the pressure.
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i think I can understand the Bent Substitution if Sanchez was struggling. It would have been nice to have Kozak or Benteke to bring on but we didn't. So Bringing on a centre forward and pushing Gabby and Andi wide, still gave us 5 in midfield and those 2 work hard. But Southampton by then had gone to 4-2-4. This negated a lot of midfield for the last 15. However the southampton fullbacks were almost negated, if Gabby hadn't lost his man. It also gave us the opportunity on the break of 3 against 4.
We probably looked more likely to score in the last 10 mins.
But Alas, 2 mistakes Andi not hitting the Target and Gabby not picking up his man.
I must say, how much bad luck can Lambert have, 5 first teamers missing, 4 of which would be first choice.
Imagine that the otherway around, Southampton without Fonte Alderwiereld, Scneiderlin, Pelle and Mane.
I think someone on the early pages suggested we had a better subs bench.
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I must say, how much bad luck can Lambert have, 5 first teamers missing, 4 of which would be first choice.
Imagine that the otherway around, Southampton without Fonte Alderwiereld, Scneiderlin, Pelle and Mane.
I think someone on the early pages suggested we had a better subs bench.
I want to be doom and gloom , but that is a fair point.
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .
I can only think he wanted him to hold the ball up like Benteke does to ease the pressure.
This is where he's painfully one dimensional, Grealish woud've held the ball up better, Bent is totally gone, there's nothing left in him, we'd be best served just paying off his contract and calling it a day.
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[/quote]
If match after match you have less than 40% of possession and one, maybe two shots on target, you are never going to win many matches.
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Which made Lambert's pre-match interview all the more frustrating. He bridled at the various stats Pete Colley brought up and effectively said they are meaningless and the objective is to win games. Well, aside from the fact that we don't win much, how about actually saying the awful stats are something we want to improve?
As for the game, the defence were excellent, but there's so little ball retention in front of them that you have to feel sorry for them.
Also, depressing to hear the commentator say Villa will be celebrating the point in the dressing room.
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Gabby had his good (ish) game for awhile so that will be that till around January.
Another goal conceded late on will we ever learn?
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All teams lose first choice players. If they didn't, they wouldn't need a squad. Lambert's no more unlucky than any other manager, and Southampton had cause to gripe in the summer when most of their first team got sold. They got on with it and found a new team, adapted their style and will finish comfortably, albeit well below their current position.
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Gabby had his good (ish) game for awhile so that will be that till around January.
Another goal conceded late on will we ever learn?
Apologies to Ez on the Match Thread, I confused him with this fool. Every bloody post.
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Before the game and especially after seeing who was starting in defence I didn't expect anything from the game so I suppose a point is a bonus but yet again we switch off and concede a late goal.
These dropped points from conceding late in games is going to cost us dearly one year.
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All teams lose first choice players. If they didn't, they wouldn't need a squad. Lambert's no more unlucky than any other manager, and Southampton had cause to gripe in the summer when most of their first team got sold. They got on with it and found a new team, adapted their style and will finish comfortably, albeit well below their current position.
Quite. And they've got a manager not only new to the club but new to the Premier League.
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The argument re injuries would be a bit more convincing if we looked any better when we had most of those players available. We don't, though.
To have managed us for 101 games and lost 49 of them, with a win percentage of 26% is just inexcusable.
They're not the greatest players we have ever had, but he doesn't even get the best out of what he has got.
How long is this going to drone on for, I wonder?
Everyone knows it is going to end up with him getting the sack at some point, it is just inevitable. Why can't he bin him now, while we have six months of the season left?
If we are going to finish in the bottom five year after year, then it'd be nice to see some actual football being played. Tonight was plucky in some ways and we defended, too, but fuck me, it was like watching paint dry.
One shot on target again, six goals scored all season, FFS.
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Not a bad point in the context of where they are and where we are. Weimann should have sealed it 10 mins from time though.
We deserved a point, not necessarily for playing well but for sheer effort. I know that sounds like manager-speak but I think it's fair tonight. Sounded like Okore and Hutton had good games, as did Gabby especially in the first half.
But our tactics and lack of quality just isn't going to get us many wins.
A draw seemed a fair result and an improved performance from Villa.
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Before the game and especially after seeing who was starting in defence I didn't expect anything from the game so I suppose a point is a bonus but yet again we switch off and concede a late goal.
These dropped points from conceding late in games is going to cost us dearly one year.
Didn't we go through a period under TSM (or Lambert, or both) where we couldn't stop shipping goals in the last few minutes? Jesus, it'll be cornalities aplenty next.
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Positives - Okore Clark Hutton , thought Cleverly and Sanchez did well also .
It's the manager and the tactics that are the real problem.
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All teams lose first choice players. If they didn't, they wouldn't need a squad. Lambert's no more unlucky than any other manager, and Southampton had cause to gripe in the summer when most of their first team got sold. They got on with it and found a new team, adapted their style and will finish comfortably, albeit well below their current position.
Precisely. Enough with the excuses. How consistently shit do we have to be before some people realise he's just not a good manager?
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .
I can only think he wanted him to hold the ball up like Benteke does to ease the pressure.
Huh? You mean he wanted him to do the thing that he knew Bent could not do so he stuck him in the bomb squad?
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In Lambert we (t)rust.
A point more than I expected but we're limping along and soon enough it'll all come tumbling down.
These next four games are EPIC!
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I've just bemused people in a bar in Key West (sorry but it's our long overdue holiday) shouting at a screen at a game nobody else cared about.
"But no one won" I heard someone say. I'd have bitten your hand off for a draw beforehand especially after witnessing the West Ham draw.
Whoooooooooo go EPL socccccccer!
They know UTV now down here
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Most frustrating thing for me is the sudden burst of attacking intent in the last five minutes. I thought we showed more positivity after we'd conceded than we had for the first eighty-five minutes of the game. We actually gave them something to think about. So if we are capable of that, of switching to an offensive mentality when it suits, why the hell don't we do that earlier in the game?! Or even throughout it? We might as well concede goals while trying to attack, because we've proven again that we're bloody experts at conceding them when we try to park the bus. If you're not good enough to withstand relentless pressure, don't bloody invite it. I'm glad of a point because I expected nothing, but yet again we could have won that game if we'd actually gone out to win it properly, rather than just maybe, you know, cross our fingers and possibly nick it.
Frustrating because of all that, and because we have a few good players. I thought Okore was good, as was Gabby. And another positive, I waited ninety three minutes for Dowd to make his customary jaw-droppingly unjust, infuriating cock-up, and it never came. Maybe even that useless git feels sorry for us.
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We conceded goals against Tottenham and QPR because Sanchez fitness levels aren't yet up to 90 minutes of Premier League football and he made mistakes as a result. I was pissed off in those games that Sanchez wasn't taken off for that reason so I wasn't surprised today. The problem was replacing him with the right person.
The real gutter is Weimann's miss as that was the game and the 3 points right there.
I'm late joining the party but I've had as much as I can take of Lambert. Same shit tactics. Contain, let the opposition have the ball as much as they like and have the odd counter attack and hope it leads to a goal. I'll even take Pulis now, on a contract until the end of the season.
We could have had Martinez instead of Lambert and at least had some good football to watch. Another great managerial appointment by the club.
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Not good enough.
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Turgid stuff again from Villa. Just one shot on target at home and the usual surrendering of possession.
Do us a favour, Randy and Paul. Just get out of Aston Villa.
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Gabby had his good (ish) game for awhile so that will be that till around January.
Another goal conceded late on will we ever learn?
Apologies to Ez on the Match Thread, I confused him with this fool. Every bloody post.
You're a fool.
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .
I can only think he wanted him to hold the ball up like Benteke does to ease the pressure.
Huh? You mean he wanted him to do the thing that he knew Bent could not do so he stuck him in the bomb squad?
Indeed, if you want someone to hold the ball up, the list of things you'd be better off putting on than Darren Bent is endless.
A frisky pony, a floral arrangement, a television, an accordion, a character from popular fiction, a pile of books, a barrel of biscuits, kittens, Darren Bent's mom ....
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No I'm a fool and so is my wife.
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I think we did pretty well tonight. Southampton had a rare off night and we almost took advantage. Its good that our heads didn't drop after that late blow against Spurs, since then we have had a couple of battling performances. Gabby had maybe his best performance of the season tonight, Westwood looked pretty good set pieces, and the defence looked tighter with Okore making a solid return. Again my one main criticism would be the lack of thinking outside the box. I agree that Grealish would have been a good player to bring on. But, thing is this point has set us up nicely for a much better run of fixtures. The next four games are when we can judge us. If we can get at least two wins and don't lose the other two then I will be pleased with how things are going, but if we slip back into the form of recent then it is time for Lambert to go.
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Gabby had his good (ish) game for awhile so that will be that till around January.
Another goal conceded late on will we ever learn?
Apologies to Ez on the Match Thread, I confused him with this fool. Every bloody post.
You're a fool.
Both of you please play nicely or you'll be taking a break from the site.
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A frisky pony, a floral arrangement, a television, an accordion, a character from popular fiction, a pile of books, a barrel of biscuits, kittens, Darren Bent's mom ....
W. G. Grace
the Namib desert
a cut-glass decanter and six matching tumblers
some green stuff
light aircraft
a red Blues bin
ETA - excellent word filter!
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Did bent touch the ball in his cameo ?
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cuddly toy, chocolate tea pot
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A frisky pony, a floral arrangement, a television, an accordion, a character from popular fiction, a pile of books, a barrel of biscuits, kittens, Darren Bent's mom ....
W. G. Grace
the Namib desert
a cut-glass decanter and six matching tumblers
some green stuff
light aircraft
a red Blues bin
A beard
Stockton on Tees
The 07.25 Marylebone train
Kate Bush
The 1960s
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .
I can only think he wanted him to hold the ball up like Benteke does to ease the pressure.
Bent in his prime wasn't that good at doing that. Modern Bent is absolutely useless at it. A truly mystifying substitution.
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You're clearly delusional because on the match thread I only made 4 posts and non were mentioning Gabby.
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Fire extinguisher, pair of step ladders, fudge.
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Just got in and am trying to warm up.
I thought we were played off the park for the first 30 mins. We were saying that we really do not look like a premiership team in anyway.
That said, we restricted them to one decent shot first half ( superb save by Guzan) and a shot that flashed across the goal second half. Other than that, they didn't create many clear chances, and I think that is testimony to Clark and Okore, Hutton and Cissokho who were all very solid.
But, again, we are a team devoid of any attacking ability or flair.
Lots of huff and puff and effort, but no quality at all.
Another point at home..2 out of the last 24.
Regardless of any positives tonight, I think we are going down.
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A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.
Sigh.
I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.
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I'm slightly disappointed in a way because Southampton didn't look up for it at all but it's not the heavy defeat everyone seemed to be predicting.
The Bent/Sanchez sub didn't make any sense.
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Utterly shit to watch, no ambition on the pitch to do anything. No one is going to turn up to watch the opposition have the majority of the ball and chances,
Lerner has given up and isn't interested.
Lambert has no interest in playing football, he's in desperation mode and scrambling for every single point in any way possible.
The fans have caught on that no one gives a fuck and there will be more crowds this low. When was the last time we had 25,000 for a league game? It looked more like 21 ish to me, a Carling Cup crowd.
All in all the point is welcome, but what is the point?
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Positives - Okore Clark Hutton , thought Cleverly and Sanchez did well also .
It's the manager and the tactics that are the real problem.
Actually thought Sanchez was our worse player tonight. He really does seem off the pace and his passing which was a big reason why we signed him has been awful. However, he does deserve more time to settle, some of the Villa fans on the radio really went over the top with their remarks. One actually called him the worse player ever to wear a Villa shirt...
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Every time I've seen Bent playing this season (albeit briefly) he just looks like he's having a light jog in the local park. One of those jogs you tend to have when you haven't been on a run for 2 years and weigh 2 stone more than the last time you ran, and you bloody know it. You jog around without breaking sweat and think you've done a good job because you were outside for 20 minutes. You go home, have a pie, a pint and then realise you've put on another pound by the next morning.
Darren "Large chips please" Broken.
That is his name now and how I will refer to him henceforth.
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The fans have caught on that no one gives a fuck and there will be more crowds this low. When was the last time we had 25,000 for a league game? It looked more like 21 ish to me, a Carling Cup crowd.
All in all the point is welcome, but what is the point?
1999
And there probably were a lot less than 25k there, as that figure includes all season ticket holders, regardless of whether or not they actually turned up.
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Every time I've seen Bent playing this season (albeit briefly) he just looks like he's having a light jog in the local park. One of those jogs you tend to have when you haven't been on a run for 2 years and weigh 2 stone more than the last time you ran, and you bloody know it. You jog around without breaking sweat and think you've done a good job because you were outside for 20 minutes. You go home, have a pie, a pint and then realise you've put on another pound by the next morning.
There was one moment when someone threaded a ball forward into their box, and Bent had to move to his left to get to it - admittedly, he wasn't going to make it, but it was actually funny watching him, he looked like a Sunday league player.
It was funny in the same way that that clip of Gareth Barry chasing Mesut Ozil in the match in the 2010 WC was.
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My worry is that as our slump continues, attendances drop off, finances deteriorate further and the valuation of the club reduces we start to become within the financial reach of millionaire scrap dealers and bog paper tycoons. A takeover still seems light years away though.
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A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.
Sigh.
I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.
That's how I feel. Kudos to Southampton and all that, but nothing's changed. Still feels like we're tilting towards the drop, still can't wait to get shut of the manager and his non-existent tactics, still waiting for the malaise to lift. A nothing result in a nothing season.
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You're clearly delusional because on the match thread I only made 4 posts and non were mentioning Gabby.
Well done. Have a quick flick through your post history and you'll see you come across as the Nigel Farage of H&V. You must have hated it when Gabby scored. Thank god he never tracked back, eh.
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Gabby had his good (ish) game for awhile so that will be that till around January.
Another goal conceded late on will we ever learn?
Apologies to Ez on the Match Thread, I confused him with this fool. Every bloody post.
You're a fool.
please play nicely or you'll be taking a break from the site.
I couldn't care less. It seems like when someone has a pop at someone on here (out of the blue) it's ''Both of you''
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A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.
Sigh.
I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.
You seem stuck in the past my friend. You know Man City were once a team a club like ours should be have hoped to have beaten. Football changes. Southampton right now are a good side, not just that, but their much better than us. Deal with it.
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And so the most boring team in the league meanders to a rare point and slowly but surely creep to the magical 38 points target.
I think I'd be angry if I wasn't so used to this after 4 years now. Most of the crowd are aswell.
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Im a ST holder..i didnt go.take at least one off the official figure!
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
1999
Well tonight I'm going to party.
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I don't like Gabby and never will. Get over it already.
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Im a ST holder..i didnt go.take at least one off the official figure!
Bad fan.
I was, errr, on the back shift at Longbridge.
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What's that 2 points out of a possible 24?
We're only going in one direction.
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I don't like Gabby and never will. Get over it already.
Ha! Enjoy..
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A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.
Sigh.
I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.
That's how I feel. Kudos to Southampton and all that, but nothing's changed. Still feels like we're tilting towards the drop, still can't wait to get shut of the manager and his non-existent tactics, still waiting for the malaise to lift. A nothing result in a nothing season.
The reality is that Southampton are punching above their weight. They'll even out and finish 7th-8th (if lucky). We however shouldn't be where were are. We should be a little closer to being mid-table with this group of players.
The next 3 games are key. This is where we should be establishing that we're better than the likes of Burnley, Palace, Leicester. But can we do it?
At home, we should be able to have way more of the game against a side like Southampton. They're having a good run, they've got good players, but they're not a million miles from us. The difference is the manager for me, more so than the quality of players.
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25311 - when was the last time we had a crowd that low for a league game?
1999
Well tonight I'm going to party.
Well, if you look at it on past precedents, this fixture last year, we drew 0-0, and Randy said he was disappointed we weren't all focusing on the "remarkable" result of the day before. Given that Southampton are better this season, we've taken a mighty point again, AND SCORED A GOAL, he's probably snorting cocaine of a hooker's nip nops about now.
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I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.
Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .
I can only think he wanted him to hold the ball up like Benteke does to ease the pressure.
Bent in his prime wasn't that good at doing that. Modern Bent is absolutely useless at it. A truly mystifying substitution.
Ever since Lambert arrived his substitutions have been the stuff of nightmares. Closely followed by his team's throw ins.
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All teams lose first choice players. If they didn't, they wouldn't need a squad. Lambert's no more unlucky than any other manager, and Southampton had cause to gripe in the summer when most of their first team got sold. They got on with it and found a new team, adapted their style and will finish comfortably, albeit well below their current position.
Quite. And they've got a manager not only new to the club but new to the Premier League.
That's not quite true though. I have just checked on a combination of sites, from sporting intelligence, sporting life, physioroom and it seems in a league table for the last 3 years , with the least affected team being top of the league and the worst being bottom.
We have been
12-13 relegated 3rd bottom
Last season relegated 3rd bottom
This season doing quite well 6th bottom
No team outside the regular top 6 is anywhere us. Infact the only teams close to us, have been been Fulham and QPR in the 3 years, and 2 have been relegated
And their is a world of difference between not having your players like us, and not having your players and then getting a £70m transfer kitty instead
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We'd better get used to a half empty VP. There'll be plenty of them next season.
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I couldn't care less. It seems like when someone has a pop at someone on here (out of the blue) it's ''Both of you''
That's because you insulted each other. if you hadn't responded in kind it would have been one warning. Seems pretty obvious to me.
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We simply must avoid a loss at burnley then get benteke back and hope for wins v palace and Leicester .
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We simply must avoid a loss at burnley then get benteke back and hope for wins v palace and Leicester .
We'll draw at Burnley. We haven't won there in something like 30 visits since 1936. To counterbalance that I am going and we never lose on my infrequent away games. Probably 0-0.
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A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.
Sigh.
I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.
You seem stuck in the past my friend. You know Man City were once a team a club like ours should be have hoped to have beaten. Football changes. Southampton right now are a good side, not just that, but their much better than us. Deal with it.
It's more the fact we could have it in our hands to improve if Randy showed a bit more nous and enthusiasm, and we had a better manager. Granted they're injured or suspended right now, but with Vlaar, Delph and Benteke in our side, we're not too far off Southampton on paper. They're batting above their average and it won't last, but we're underperforming. We should be getting more from this squad.
Randolph seems content to let us drift aimlessly under a clueless manager while our better players just drift away for nothing. That we're letting this happen so easily is our own doing unfortunately.
Run a club well and generally it'll transfer to the pitch. I don't buy the budget excuse any more, we should still be doing better than hoping for 15th place.
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It's ironic we'll probably scrape survival this season on the basis of a decent defence. Tonight we had our first three choice CBs out but looked fairly comfortably at the back, helped by having full backs who can actually defend for once.
We've gone from the extreme in the first Lambert season of not having a clue how to defend but at least having a go in most games and in the end scoring a decent amount of goals in the run in to know barely creating or scoring.
Tonight what did we create? Kudos to Gabby for chasing but the goal came from a long punt downfield and Forster messing up. And the Weimann chance was from a breakaway from a corner. I think that was it.
Individually I don't think the players are too bad in midfield, we miss Delph but I thought Westwood, Cleverley and Sanchez were all fine. It's just collectively where it all falls apart, not helped with the front trio weak in possession so we can only play launching long balls up to them which needs we'll lose it more often than not.
I defy even the most optimistic fan to have watched that tonight and think in a few months time we'll be playing teams off the pitch, it simply isn't going to happen, we just don't have the quality so it will be another season of just scraping enough points to stay up.
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We simply must avoid a loss at burnley then get benteke back and hope for wins v palace and Leicester .
That is has come to sentences like this!
You are right, by the way.
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Somewhere else tonight the Atkinson quote about most games it was as if McGrath had been given the script before the game was used to explain just how good McGrath was.
Well you don't divine powers to know the script for every single one of our games.
The only 2 unkowns in every game are.
1. Will we fluke a goal?
Honestly how many of the imperious six this season haven't had a hefty slice of luck involved. The 2 against Hull?
2. When will the incessant backs to the wall defending lead to the inevitable?
Just before the equaliser, even the commentators over here were pleading for us to move 10-15 metres up the pitch. It wasn't as though they'd got the sort of pace to really hurt us by defending a bit higher up the pitch.
If we can see how terribly predictable we are. If rent a quote commentators can see the inevitability of how we play the last 20 minutes every game, then why the hell can't he?
Because if he can't he shouldn't be in the job.
And if he can see it, why doesn't he do something about it? Because if he doesn't know how to he shouldn't be in the job.
And if he doesn't think he can do anything about it he shouldn't be in the job.
Conclusion. He shouldn't be in the job.
The only possible argument for keeping him is the weakest one of all. God knows who Randolph might appoint next. For Randy that's no argument at all.
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I've just bemused people in a bar in Key West (sorry but it's our long overdue holiday) shouting at a screen at a game nobody else cared about.
"But no one won" I heard someone say. I'd have bitten your hand off for a draw beforehand especially after witnessing the West Ham draw.
Whoooooooooo go EPL socccccccer!
They know UTV now down here
Coverage is better over here in the USA than in the UK in my opinion. All games are on TV and many of the big ones are on free TV.
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Great night, Holte Suite was free to get in and got back in record time. No idea what your all moaning about. Great lighting now outside the entrance to the Holte, shame the walk through Aston Park is in the pitch black.
Decent result, a poor performance with 1980s tactics from the gaffer. Bizarre substitution. Still we are a day closer to a change.
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by the way, did we really charge Saints fans £43? If we did its a bloody disgrace.
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A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.
Sigh.
I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.
You seem stuck in the past my friend. You know Man City were once a team a club like ours should be have hoped to have beaten. Football changes. Southampton right now are a good side, not just that, but their much better than us. Deal with it.
It's more the fact we could have it in our hands to improve if Randy showed a bit more nous and enthusiasm, and we had a better manager. Granted they're injured or suspended right now, but with Vlaar, Delph and Benteke in our side, we're not too far off Southampton on paper. They're batting above their average and it won't last, but we're underperforming. We should be getting more from this squad.
Randolph seems content to let us drift aimlessly under a clueless managers while our better players just drift away for nothing. That we're letting this happen so easily is our own doing unfortunately.
Run a club well and generally it'll transfer to the pitch. I don't buy the budget excuse any more, we should still be doing better than hoping for 15th place.
I agree with most of that, but before tonight Saints had won 11 of 12 and most on here thought they'd batter us. So while drawing with them is hardly the stuff of orgasms, an in-form side is an in-form side regardless of who they are, so a point is pretty decent imo.
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I don't even necessarily want Randy to start throwing stupid money at it again.
I want him to realise he's made a mistake with Lambert, to get shot of him ASAP, to appoint someone who knows what they are doing and support them in doing it.
For three years plus now we've been an absolute embarassment. By our own standards, it just isn't good enough.
I just want the owner to react to what is going on, and to start showing some leadership before it is too late.
A home match against Southampton where it was considered a massive result to get a point. Southampton FFS. In front of our lowest crowd in 15 years, having 35% of the ball, and managing one shot on target all match, and even that came from a goalkeeping error.
It is just so far off being acceptable, it is untrue.
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I don't even necessarily want Randy to start throwing stupid money at it again.
I want him to realise he's made a mistake with Lambert, to get shot of him ASAP, to appoint someone who knows what they are doing and support them in doing it.
For three years plus now we've been an absolute embarassment. By our own standards, it just isn't good enough.
I just want the owner to react to what is going on, and to start showing some leadership before it is too late.
A home match against Southampton where it was considered a massive result to get a point. Southampton FFS. In front of our lowest crowd in 15 years, having 35% of the ball, and managing one shot on target all match, and even that came from a goalkeeping error.
It is just so far off being acceptable, it is untrue.
This needs to be printed off and nailed onto the door at Villa Park. Spot on.
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On the way home now, before the match I'd have taken the point but fuck me that was dispiriting, a jammy goal, and one, one other moment of quality.
We need a change, on paper ours is not a bad team, in reality we are fucking woeful.
New manager please.
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I'm slightly disappointed in a way because Southampton didn't look up for it at all but it's not the heavy defeat everyone seemed to be predicting.
The Bent/Sanchez sub didn't make any sense.
IMO Lambert was too cautious replacing N'Zog with Richardson. N'Zog had not done anything of note so must have expected to have been taken off - but the manager didn't have the balls to put Grealish on and tell him to do what he did against Hull - i.e just be a nuisance up front.
Also when Weimann switched to right and Gabby went left - he didn't follow Clyne like Weimann had been doing.
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In terms of where us and Saints are and how they've been playing I suppose a draw has to be taken as a good result. And good to see Okore back and Clark finally have a decent game. However it was piss poor to watch again, and I lost count of how many times we gave the ball straight back to them after gaining possession. We can't seem to pass, move or control. It really is woeful sub-schoolboy stuff from a top tier team.
Gabby may have scored but that's the second home game in a row where he's cost us a goal by not picking up the man who scores the equaliser. Laziness or lack of concentration? Don't know but he's us down twice now.
Weimann should have killed them off but again showed his lack of composure - his biggest weakness.
Still want Lambert out.
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i don.t go with all this negativity, watched the game on TV here in Spain and thought Villa contained a ( previously) rampant Southampton side very well . With half a team missing it was a decent result , Clarke ,Okore & Hutton outstanding .
People asking why Okore has not played earlier ...but when ? .
Alright this is not a very good Villa Team but at the end of the day you play with the cards you are dealt and tonight Villa played their cards pretty well .
My cup may seem to be half full and perhaps its the pure relief that is talking but we did,nt get the hammering many expected .There were positives to be drawn from tonights performance and the Team will gain a lot of confidence from this performance .
I have no doubt that we will be active in the Transfer market this mid-season .well , its something to cling on to ! ..at least no sleepless night tonight .
UTV.........................Godzvilla !
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Well said Paulie. I'm not one for wishing someone gets their cards but Lambert reached the end of the road almost two years ago - he's been off map, wandering in the middle of nowhere since the Bradford tie. But getting shut would be a sign that Lerner actually gives a flying cack to do something different. We all know we give off the stench of stagnation, so we need more than a decorative lamp to let us know he's listening.
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Southampton were limited/shit, that we didn't show enough endevour to put them under any kind of pressure was telling.
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At some point we've got to do my than just try and contain teams. We've been largely fortunate that West Ham and Soton were both below par in the last two games. Tadic was unusually poor for them and Mane's final ball was consistently off.
Good result, but still too many of the same old problems.
Delighted for Jores "Salifou 2" Okore though. Had a good game. It's about time we kept him in the side as he's good on the ball and quick.
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From where we are I thought we did well tonight. Kept Ston at bay for long periods with both Clark and Okore keeping Pelle under control. Shame Weimann didn't put that chance away as that would have been 3 points.
Absolutely strange substitution bringing on Bent. I reckon Grealish coming on would have helped us in two ways. He would have worried Ston defence and would have tracked back better to pick up Clyne.
I think we will beat Burnley as I can not see them scoring against our defence.
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Southampton were limited/shit, that we didn't show enough endevour to put them under any kind of pressure was telling.
I am not celebrating a point either but to be fair maybe Villa's play and tactics had something to do with them looking limited/shit today. They have looked exceptional so far this season.
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I honestly have to wonder sometimes whether some of bomb-squad 2 would do better than some of bomb squad 1. Hutton has been excellent. No problems there, but Bacuna is a forgotten man. He'd offer more than Zogbia. Likewise Bent looks absolutely done for. We've also got potential bomb squad 3 in the likes of Cole and Richardson. Rico started okay in the first few games but has honestly been pretty shit in the last 2 months. Well past his best (which was average). I'd take KEA back at this point in all honesty.
Sylla was pretty bad but at least could run around a bit and show some desire. He was just as good at giving the ball away as Zogbia.
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Would have gladly taken the point before the game but I'm getting thoroughly fed up of watching us park the bus at home, sitting deeper and deeper until the inevitable happens. At one point in the second half Gabby was playing at left back, behind the midfield, so no forward outlet ball available. Lambert has systematically sucked all the creativity out of this team and the sooner he goes the better. Still haven't scored at the Holte End. And the low turn out was even lower than the official attendance - at least 4 ST holders near me didn't go but presume they were counted anyway.
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And the low turn out was even lower than the official attendance - at least 4 ST holders near me didn't go but presume they were counted anyway.
Announced attendance is always tickets sold, not clicks through the turnstiles.
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i don.t go with all this negativity, watched the game on TV here in Spain and thought Villa contained a ( previously) rampant Southampton side very well . With half a team missing it was a decent result , Clarke ,Okore & Hutton outstanding .
People asking why Okore has not played earlier ...but when ? .
Alright this is not a very good Villa Team but at the end of the day you play with the cards you are dealt and tonight Villa played their cards pretty well .
My cup may seem to be half full and perhaps its the pure relief that is talking but we did,nt get the hammering many expected .There were positives to be drawn from tonights performance and the Team will gain a lot of confidence from this performance .
I have no doubt that we will be active in the Transfer market this mid-season .well , its something to cling on to ! ..at least no sleepless night tonight .
UTV.........................Godzvilla !
There were a lot of positives tonight - but when you watch us play teams like Southampton and Spurs - you think we should be on a level or above teams like them - and we are not.
Could have beaten both but we didn't.
Defence played well tonight - the rest individually did OK but here is no real pattern or penetration. At least there were a few signs of passion at times - but too often it was like watching schoolboys losing their virginity - lots of eagerness when they get the opportunity but can't keep it going for more than a few seconds before premature loss of the ball. Their chosen conquests left frustrated like the 25,000 of us still willing to turn up on a cold night.
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Attendance 25,311. If nothing else, Lerner is a hard headed businessman who analyses figures. Isn't he?
Hard Headed yes.
Businessman, no
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And the low turn out was even lower than the official attendance - at least 4 ST holders near me didn't go but presume they were counted anyway.
Announced attendance is always tickets sold, not clicks through the turnstiles.
There were NOT 25000 people there tonight. Probably no more than 20K.
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Southampton were limited/shit, that we didn't show enough endevour to put them under any kind of pressure was telling.
I think it was another successful case of us dragging teams down to our level.
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A more than decent point against a team that is flying and sometimes you just need to stop the rot, which we might have done in the last 2 matches. Whether we really have or not will depend upon our next 4 games.
Thought we battled our hearts out against a side that played below par by their recent standards but we've absolutely nothing in the final third. Okore, Clark, Hutton and Cissoko did well as did Sanchez before fading.
No idea why PL thought replacing a knackered defensive midfielder with an immobile, impotent striker, at 1-0 up with 15 to go, sorry but that just baffles me. We needed fresh legs in the middle of the park FFS!. The ball was played into an area where that holding midfielder would have been for their goal but Gabby was ball watching and Bent was 20 years up field. Managerial 101 right there.
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And the low turn out was even lower than the official attendance - at least 4 ST holders near me didn't go but presume they were counted anyway.
Announced attendance is always tickets sold, not clicks through the turnstiles.
There were NOT 25000 people there tonight. Probably no more than 20K.
Agreed.
Hopefully the club have figures for actual bums on seats as well as tickets sold.
The bums on seats numbers SHOULD send shockwaves through the boardroom.
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The reality is that our opinion is of no relevance to the manager or chairman. In Lerner's eyes Lambert has delivered his objective of running the club on a shoestring, whilst keeping us afloat (just).
What is unforgivable, is Lambert continuing to ignore the blindingly obvious week after week after week & Lerner's continued support. Our only hope if that Benteke can somehow score the goals to keep us up, if he gets injured again we are dead. I can't fault the players, their just not good enough & Lambert's 'style' & 'tactics' only stifle the whole set up.
If I was Lerner I'd be embarrassed by how I'd overseen turning this once proud club into the shambles it now is.
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What was wrong with Dowd tonight - didn't try to hog the limelight by booking all and sundry - gave us some decisions - was actually even handed.
His only questionable decision was to wear a Yellow shirt - the same colour as Southampton's shorts and socks. (I nearly typed shits not shorts! Yellow Shits not worth thinking about).
Still looks overweight and can't keep up with play.
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Still looks overweight and can't keep up with play.
I know, I was amazed when he brought him on for Sanchez.
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And the low turn out was even lower than the official attendance - at least 4 ST holders near me didn't go but presume they were counted anyway.
Announced attendance is always tickets sold, not clicks through the turnstiles.
There were NOT 25000 people there tonight. Probably no more than 20K.
I never said there was. I was confirming the attendance is tickets sold not people in the ground.
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What was wrong with Dowd tonight - didn't try to hog the limelight by booking all and sundry - gave us some decisions - was actually even handed.
His only questionable decision was to wear a Yellow shirt - the same colour as Southampton's shorts and socks. (I nearly typed shits not shorts! Yellow Shits not worth thinking about).
Still looks overweight and can't keep up with play.
You could tell he was desperate to blow the final whistle. He looked done in. Almost as much as Bent within 2 minutes of coming on.
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We charged the Saints fans £41 apparently...
Should not have switched Gabby and Weimann in the second half, Gabby lost Clyne for their goal. Sánchez runs out of steam and it surely should have been Bacuna brought on? If you ever need to bring Bent on you need Cole to give him service otherwise Bent is a waste even on the bench. Back 4 did fine even if panicked at times but we really have no style as a team. A saints fan tweeted Collymore stating it was shocking what had happened to us and that we resembled a League 1 side hanging on for a replay.
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Just got back in after being at the game. I thought it was a typical home performance from us - showed some enterprise in the first half while creating little, get a goal and then just spend the rest of the game trying to hang on. We just invite pressure on ourselves, give stupid free kicks away around our own box and it is inevitable that the opposition will score at some point.
Some positives - Okore (where has he been?), Clark, Hutton and Cissokho defended well if not great on the ball. Cleverley worked hard and Gabby looked up for it.
Not so great - N'Zogbia in disinterested mode, Sanchez is a disaster waiting to happen when in possession, Lambert making head scratching substitutions.
Seeing all those great old players bringing trophies on to the pitch before the game was like applying salt in an open wound!!
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Frustrating,we could and should have beaten a Southampton team who looked a thing but top four material.Typically we defended deeper and deeper and gave it away instead of killing them off.Puzzling substitutions,Sanchez did seem to be running out of steam,but Bent on as a replacement? Having said all that I think we will gradually improve from a very low point and I am ever so slightly more optimistic.
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A bit disappointed that Martin Tyler hadn't done some fairly basic research to realise that the 21st minutes applause was for the victims of the Pub Bombings. I know I'm cynical but I cvouldn't help thinking that had that bomb gone off in Liverpool or Manchester he'd have known.
Well supported by the Saints fans too.
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I never said there was. I was confirming the attendance is tickets sold not people in the ground.
I didn't say you did. I thought I was confirming your statement actual v Tickets.
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We charged the Saints fans £41 apparently...
Should not have switched Gabby and Weimann in the second half, Gabby lost Clyne for their goal. Sánchez runs out of steam and it surely should have been Bacuna brought on? If you ever need to bring Bent on you need Cole to give him service otherwise Bent is a waste even on the bench. Back 4 did fine even if panicked at times but we really have no style as a team. A saints fan tweeted Collymore stating it was shocking what had happened to us and that we resembled a League 1 side hanging on for a replay.
I thought I saw Bacuna getting ready to come on at one point, though I think it was after the two subs had already been made.
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A bit disappointed that Martin Tyler hadn't done some fairly basic research to realise that the 21st minutes applause was for the victims of the Pub Bombings. I know I'm cynical but I cvouldn't help thinking that had that bomb gone off in Liverpool or Manchester he'd have known.
Well supported by the Saints fans too.
I've always had a lot of time for Martin Tyler as a commentator but that is pretty poor from him not to have done any research on that.
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Did Ryan Bertrand really ask for Gabby's shirt or was it other way round?
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Looks as though the commentator made an error but I hope he is not "twatted" with horrible abuse by Villa fans tonight.
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I never said there was. I was confirming the attendance is tickets sold not people in the ground.
I didn't say you did. I thought I was confirming your statement actual v Tickets.
My mistake. Sorry Affers.
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A bit disappointed that Martin Tyler hadn't done some fairly basic research to realise that the 21st minutes applause was for the victims of the Pub Bombings. I know I'm cynical but I cvouldn't help thinking that had that bomb gone off in Liverpool or Manchester he'd have known.
Well supported by the Saints fans too.
I've always had a lot of time for Martin Tyler as a commentator but that is pretty poor from him not to have done any research on that.
Whoever was commentating on my stream knew what it was for. Even mentioned the Justice campaign.
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Haha..you will never be eastie you know that PWS?
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These two draws are the tiniest of recoveries, not much but something to try and build on, I am hoping Delph and Benteke will stick around till the end of the season to see us safe but its going to be incredibly close, I just wont give up on us until were cut adrift and without hope, we feckin go again.
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Positives were Okore and Clark playing well together, as well as Hutton and Guzan solid as usual. Gabby I thought looked a threat.
Weimann should have done better. Cleverly looked good in bursts.
Cissokho can give the ball away too easily and adds pressure, Nzog was a passenger. Sanchez needs to work on his fitness.
The sit back and counter attack tactics only worked because of a mistake by their keeper. I'm sure the fans who decided not to go were glad, unfortunately the attendances will continue to fall. The chairman will not care, as the extra TV money is just under £2m per game, that is more than the £400,000 that 10,000 more fans would have generated.
This will continue until we relegated, or a buyer comes forward.
Villa you are slowly draining the love of football out of me.
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Haha..you will never be eastie you know that PWS?
Indeed.
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There was a sense that we were playing Sotons league position rather than the reality of what was in front of us, if we'd gone after them it might have been a little more interesting than that shite.
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What I learned tonight.
Sanchez can pass but he can't keep the ball with that silly little turn he does, usually into trouble.
Okore can defebned and he can pass.
Clark is a footballer, when he gets the chance - played well tonight.
Weimann is a headless chicken and completely lacks composure.
Gabby does give a shit but sometimes switches off.
N'Zogbia is ... well ... N'Zogbia.
Hutton kept the wide man in his pocket and still managed to attack.
Villa never practise passing in training.
Lambert must either be a tactical genius or a numpty - Bent for Sanchez - inspirational.
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There was a sense that we were playing Sotons league position rather than the reality of what was in front of us, if we'd gone after them it might have been a little more interesting than that shite.
Quite. Watch Southampton get beaten by all and sundry in the next few weeks.
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Decent game. Decent point. Some positives as mentioned:
Clark best game for Villa.
Okore very gpod too.
Hutton, Gabby and Sanchez put in big shifts. Westwood too.
Guzan fine game.
Negatives
CNZ
Lambert bringing on Bent.
Other positives
140 year selection of players wonderful.
21st minutes applause including Saints.
Rob_bridge's Old Man getting to meet Chris Nicholll and Gary Shaw on his first visit to Villa Park this century.
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Bent for Sanchez was a little strange, I will apologize here for my criticism of allowing Bent to go out on loan, he is embarrassingly out of shape.
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Nzog- pointless, Richardson came on and achieved bugger all.
The Bent substitution absolutely crazy. So we took off our only threat to give no threat at all.
We cant even retain possession from a throw in.
Our system relies on forwards playing out wide and being able to defend, well it does not work.
The sad thing is, at the final whistle people just trundled off, no complaints just the grim acceptance of aspiring to be just a bit better than shit. Woefull.
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If you look at the Burnleys and the Palaces and to an extent the Leicesters of this world, no matter who you put in front of them, they have a go, they get at the opposition, get the fans going, get stuck in and sometimes get a result. Is it below us to do that. This insistence on hoping for an early goal and then sitting on it drives me mad. It's not entertaining and more often than not it backfires. How many last-ten-minute goals have we conceded this season already? I despair.
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The Bent substitution absolutely crazy. So we took off our only threat to give no threat at all.
The Bent sub was mental, but it was Sanchez he came on for so don't get how we took off our only threat?
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Season 2010-11 Southampton were in the third tier of English football. During last summer they sold all of their best players and replaced them with players nobody had really heard of. Just goes to show if you have a decent manager or two and coaches that know what they're doing can do. Meanwhile at B6 we have N'Zogbia who is inept bordering on useless, Bent who is clearly not bothered, and then the tactical genius of Lambert who plays Cleverley down the left and N'Zogbia down the middle? Why not play Grealish he won't do no worse than what is already served up on the pitch, it least it might generate some excitement!In the first hour alone tonight I counted us giving the ball away no less than four times within 5 seconds of US having a throw in. What the fuck do they do all week at Bodymoor Heath?
The club stinks from the top to the bottom
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There was a sense that we were playing Sotons league position rather than the reality of what was in front of us, if we'd gone after them it might have been a little more interesting than that shite.
Quite. Watch Southampton get beaten by all and sundry in the next few weeks.
That may well happen, but if it does it will be because they are actually now entering a run where they will be playing all the top sides. Losing to them suddenly doesn't make Southampton a bad side, and certainly doesn't mean that they are not at least a level above us.
As for the low attendance, I think people are forgetting the factor of the kick-off time, the day, and of course our form, but I can't see too many attendances that low this season.
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Every time I've seen Bent playing this season (albeit briefly) he just looks like he's having a light jog in the local park. One of those jogs you tend to have when you haven't been on a run for 2 years and weigh 2 stone more than the last time you ran, and you bloody know it. You jog around without breaking sweat and think you've done a good job because you were outside for 20 minutes. You go home, have a pie, a pint and then realise you've put on another pound by the next morning.
There was one moment when someone threaded a ball forward into their box, and Bent had to move to his left to get to it - admittedly, he wasn't going to make it, but it was actually funny watching him, he looked like a Sunday league player.
It was funny in the same way that that clip of Gareth Barry chasing Mesut Ozil in the match in the 2010 WC was.
Ha that was the run i posted about. I just bursted out laughing. He made the 'run' about 10 minutes late aswell. Maybe if we painted the ball to look like a pie.
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We should stick a Greggs gift voucher on the ball, he'd soon be after it then.
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There won't be many Premier League matches this season with a ground only 55% full... Us and maybe Sunderland...
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Should have won that. But hey a point is a point. Only 7 off 4th spot. Not too upset.
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With the amount of tickets they give away Sunderland will never be half empty. Half empty of paying customers maybe.
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The Bent substitution absolutely crazy. So we took off our only threat to give no threat at all.
The Bent sub was mental, but it was Sanchez he came on for so don't get how we took off our only threat?
Sorry I meant took away our only threat by moving Gabby.
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Just home. Must get to bed, long day.
Makeshift defence did well. Sanchez was appallingly bad. I suspect he is another Ivo Stas where we bought a player without really knowing what we were getting. The "not up to Premiership pace" is a convenient cop out like the gastroenteritis bug. He looks rubbish and probably is rubbish.
All our problems since the onset of Stylian's illness flow from our paperweight and uncreative midfield. The defence gets over stretched because the midfield does not function and the strikers do not get goals because they get no midfield service.
The bringing on of Bent was as mad as anything Lambert has ever done. How many times has Lambert made 70th minute substitutions only to see a lead thrown away? I suspect he turns to the bench and points at somebody and mumbles incoherently. The subs all look at each other and one of them volunteers to get stripped and go on. I suspect in this instance he pointed at Joe Cole but nobody understood what he was saying. It is the only explanation I can come up with.
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The Bent substitution absolutely crazy. So we took off our only threat to give no threat at all.
The Bent sub was mental, but it was Sanchez he came on for so don't get how we took off our only threat?
Sorry I meant took away our only threat by moving Gabby.
Ah, got you.
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Must admit, can't disagree with much he says for once, apart from the excellent bit as usual. Although the bold bit is a bit worrying. How bad must Baker's injury be if it's a lot longer than a few weeks?
Paul Lambert admitted mixed feelings at the 1-1 draw with Southampton - but the boss was delighted with the solid performances of centre-back pairing Jores Okore and Ciaran Clark.
Lambert was frustrated that Villa didn't take a 2-0 lead when Andi Weimann fired over the bar.
He said the claret and blues would have won the tight contest if the forward had netted.
Overall Lambert spoke of "big pluses" - none more so that the displays of Okore and Clark, who came into the team due to the absence of trio Ron Vlaar, Philippe Senderos and Nathan Baker.
He said: "I thought we were excellent in spells of the game. I thought there were massive plus points.
"I thought Alan Hutton was excellent in his first game in a month. I thought the two young centre-backs were outstanding, I really did. I thought they were excellent.
"Jores Okore hasn't played for 14 months. And he was outstanding. Ciaran Clark took the lead and helped him. I thought Ciaran was excellent.
"We had two young guys at the heart of our defence. Ciaran has been in and out of the side but never lets you down every time he plays. Jores was outstanding.
"I thought Gabby Agbonlahor was a threat all night with his speed too.
"But we had six players out. If you look at the three centre-backs plus Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Libor Kozak.
"There were big pluses overall. It's a big point because they are a good side.
"But I thought we should have been 2-0 up. Andi should have scored.
"We had a good move, Gabby cut it back and Andi hit it over the bar. If that goes in, I think we win the game.
"But Andi has scored important goals for this football club so I'm not going to let one chance blow anything in terms of what I think of him."
Lambert could well rely on the pairing of Okore and Clark in the foreseeable future with no dates set on the return of our injured centre-back trio.
He added: "Nobody will be back. Ron and Philippe will be out for a few weeks and Nathan will be out for a lot longer."
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The sooner we get rid of Ron Vlaar the better. His injury record (for us) makes him a total liability.
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To answer my own question, just found this from a few days ago in the Mail. Missed it and not seen it mentioned on here.
Just when will Aston Villa’s injury list relent?
Today we can reveal the news that Nathan Baker will be out for at least two months with a knee injury.
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Decent point, but our lack of attacking nouse is so poor. Okore's display shows how stupid it was to keep leaving him out in favour of the woeful Clark.
Really disappointing crowd considering a big effort went into trying to celebrate the 140 years, but the Monday kick off, freezing weather and our form recently didn't help.
A run of games now where we simply have to pick up points
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Okore's display shows how stupid it was to keep leaving him out in favour of the woeful Clark.
That's a tad harsh as Clark has only started twice before tonight and was also very good tonight.
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Decent point, but our lack of attacking nouse is so poor. Okore's display shows how stupid it was to keep leaving him out in favour of the woeful Clark.
Really disappointing crowd considering a big effort went into trying to celebrate the 140 years, but the Monday kick off, freezing weather and our form recently didn't help.
A run of games now where we simply have to pick up points
You sound surprised with the size of the crowd. Fans are voting with their feet. What do you expect after more than 4 years of utter dross?
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A decent point I suppose but Christ, we're stinking this league out; there's got to be more to the game than this utterly dreary nonsense isn't there?
Okore looked good which begs the question why he's not been involved sooner and Clark had one of better games. Sanchez looked a bit shaky at times but must be difficult when you've never got anyone in front of you to pass to. The midfield as a complete unit though remains disfunctional and they're all Lambert signings.
Bertrand looked like a decent left back too, strange that.
We haven't won since mid-September and scored six goals all season. Absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt not good enough. He's got to go.
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A point more than what I thought we would get, cannot comment on the performance, I stated before hand that the game was not shown in Oman till midnight, work this morning and for the first time ever, I decided to go to bed rather than watch the Villa, thank you Mr. Lambert and Mr. Lerner.
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A point more than what I thought we would get, cannot comment on the performance, I stated before hand that the game was not shown in Oman till midnight, work this morning and for the first time ever, I decided to go to bed rather than watch the Villa, thank you Mr. Lambert and Mr. Lerner.
The kick off time in Oz is 1am for a 3pm Saturday kick off.
Suffice to say I pick my live games these days.
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I actually didn't think Sanchez played too badly. Or is my footballing compass broken.
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Did we even 'force' a corner last night ?
I known Southamptom had loads, but I genuinely don't recall us having a single corner.
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Lowest league crowd since 1999.
Another milestone for Lambert.
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Would have settled for a point before the game,as i feared the worst with the run the saints had been on.However yet another dreary and dour home performance under the clueless one.What was it,one shot on target and something like 23% of the ball .As someone said,i don't we had a corner did we?
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I know they strung about 500 passes together vs our 250 (approx).
It really is pathetic.
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I actually didn't think Sanchez played too badly. Or is my footballing compass broken.
I agree, I thought he broke things up quite well in a defensive role, he's never going to spray the ball around and his fitness isn't up to speed but I thought he shielded the back four quite well.
Their goal came right across the edge of our box from the left for their right back to run on to - I know Gabby was asleep but that's just the space Sanchez would have taken up. Instead he put Bent on and asked Wiemann to drop off - why not Grealish for his energy or Cole to have kept some possession?
Management School 101 that one I'm afraid and it cost us.
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OKORE and clark did really well. But it will be a different game at burnley so it's still a test
Sanchez really struggled, though not helped by our lack of shape when he picked up the ball
I wouldn't criticise anyone who went at all. But the atmosphere was mostly like watching a reserve game
There's no real chink of light. That'll broadly be the team that plays next year too - probably minus cleverley who started well for us but doesn't look worth the money. Southampton had 11 internationals last night and the gulf in quality was embarassing
I know we got a good point, but we were so much better v Spurs. I found the whole thing really depressing
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A point is a point I suppose, especially against a team on a roll at the moment.
But for christ's sake, how much more do we have to suffer this banal shite that Lambert serves up.
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Lowest league crowd since 1999.
Another milestone for Lambert.
Amazed anyone went and hats off to those who did, they are better supporters than me. Most of them looked like young children on the TV, perhaps they don't know any better. Fancy growing up watching this shit, I was watching Ray Graydon and Brian Little at their age.
Utterly stupendous decision to bring on Bent, the very epitomy of all that sucks about the modern day footballer. Could anyone look as if they couldn't give a shit more than him?
We stank the pub out where I watched the game with a fellow Villa fan, you really get to see how much of an irrelevance we are
The only bright sparks were Hutton, Clark and Okore and you could just about get a glimmer after a pint or two of how we might be quite good with Benteke, Vlaar and Delph back. But then you remember who the incompetent twat in charge is (actually, make that two, to include the dimwit over the pond) and you soon come to your senses
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Decent point, but our lack of attacking nouse is so poor. Okore's display shows how stupid it was to keep leaving him out in favour of the woeful Clark.
Really disappointing crowd considering a big effort went into trying to celebrate the 140 years, but the Monday kick off, freezing weather and our form recently didn't help.
A run of games now where we simply have to pick up points
I thought the crowd was amazing given that we have served up football that makes Stoke look like Barcelona for what seems like years now
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Contextually this is a good result? Five and half seasons ago, when Villa had their third successive top six finish, with two trips to Wembley thrown in for good measure, Southampton started on minus ten points in League One. Just let that sink in for a second.
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Sanchez gave the ball away half a dozen times so in that respect he was woeful, but I thought last night he actually looked a bit more up to speed and provided a physical presence in the middle that caused Southampton problems.
When he went off, there was a gaping hole between Westwood and Cleverley that Clyne just waltzed into for their goal. Fair enough if Lambert thought his legs had gone by that stage, but it was plain to see we needed another midfielder in there to maintain the balance and protect the centre backs.
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Weimann missed Bertrand's run; Gabby missed Byrne's run. That's the cost of the tactical set-up we had: they'd worked their nuts off chasing hopeful balls hoofed upfield, and defending from the front. In the 81st minute they were caught napping; no great surprise.
If Lambert wanted Sanchez off, he'd have better bringing on Richardson as holding midfielder and Grealish as the auxiliary attacking force.
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Sorry but for me if Sanchez stays on we see that game out. It was a truly colossal mistake of a substitution to swap our DCM for Darrent Bent.
Annoyed.
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Weimann missed that sitter, then argued with the linesman about the throwing instead of turning to face play, mark up and chase the ball down.Southampton then go up the other end and score.
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Sorry but for me if Sanchez stays on we see that game out. It was a truly colossal mistake of a substitution to swap our DCM for Darrent Bent.
Annoyed.
Although Sanchez was beginning to look a bit ropey at that point, if he'd have been on the pitch it would have been Richardson who was covering the runner rather than Weimann.
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Sorry but for me if Sanchez stays on we see that game out. It was a truly colossal mistake of a substitution to swap our DCM for Darrent Bent.
Annoyed.
In other games lately Sanchez has run out of steam and given free kicks/the ball away in costly ways. I don't think the problem was taking him off, necessarily - it is just that Bent wasn't the sensible replacement.
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Albeit that Southampton didn't play well last night, the game had the flow of 11 men against 10, with us set up to hang on and hope. How can you expect people to shell out large sums of money to go and watch that?
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It was an OK performance but only in the context of the how unambitious we are on the pitch these days.
I thought it was a pretty poor game all round in the first half. The second half had a bit more life to it.
Gabby looked as though he carried a threat. Considering how many we had out the defence did well and Clark and Okore can hold their heads up. Nzogbia was awful. We don't have enough width and there isn't enough zip on our delivery into the box from wide areas.
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The big worry again is 1 shot on target all game . We simply need more threat at burnley palace Leicester which is such a big 3 games for us.
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Nothing wrong with the decision to replace Sanchez. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong with the decision to bring on Bent as his replacement.
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In the context of our position, a point is a point.
But it is mind numbing to see us in action.
30% possesion at home in the second half, the commentator said we have not scored a second half goal in the last 17 games. Apparently last one against Stoke.
No one looks for the ball, throw ins lost. Goal kicks high and hopefull, I counted three times last night that the ball went out from a kick.
And we know that with Lambert it will probably not get any better.
For fucks sake, someone come up with the money and buy us out.
Groundhog day
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Nothing wrong with the decision to replace Sanchez. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong with the decision to bring on Bent as his replacement.
The new lamppost would have been more effective up top.
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The problem with the Bent sub is Lambert after the game adminted the game plan was to hit it over the top to Gabby, that tactic with Bent was not going to work so move Gabby wide and Bent upfront ?
Bringing on Grealish to hold the ball draw some fouls or Bacuna to add energy to midfield or play wide to cover Hutton would of been better.Bent offer's nothing unless you are putting balls in the box ..which we arn't.
There is no team play in us every section defence /midfield /Attack plays seperatly , what exactly do we do in training ?The midfield worked hard but have no attacking threat what so ever.We played last night like a lower league club in the cup who know they have a pacy striker so just hit them at every opportunity.Obviously Lambert learned this tactic from Bradford and Naki Wells.
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Nothing wrong with the decision to replace Sanchez. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong with the decision to bring on Bent as his replacement.
I thought Sanchez was blowing out of his arse a bit yes but for me he was holding our shape in the middle and was a nice buffer in front of the impressive Clark / Okore partnership. Once he went off you visibly saw Schneidelin grow in stature.
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Nothing wrong with the decision to replace Sanchez. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong with the decision to bring on Bent as his replacement.
I thought Sanchez was blowing out of his arse a bit yes but for me he was holding our shape in the middle and was a nice buffer in front of the impressive Clark / Okore partnership. Once he went off you visibly saw Schneidelin grow in stature.
The natural sub would have been initially to bring Richardson on for Sanchez and have Rico holding. He playing that position in the earlier games, and in actuality it's the only role he's done thus far for us with any competence.
But yeah, Sanchez is still struggling with the rigors of Prem football. It's gonna take him a good few months to get fully up to speed. Or possibly like Stan, we might not see his best till next season.
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I was pleased with the result but disappointed with the performance.
On paper we have just had two good results all told against sides in good form, with us, again, suffering from a lot of injuries. There were some nonsensical predictions again prior to this one of cricket scores as there had been prior to West Ham, so you think you’d be happy, but I’m not. We’re so negative its beyond frustration. We created very little again and that is down to the manager and we ended up playing like an away side at home, again.
We have a midfield three who play so flat it’s untrue. We only have the option of shifting the ball sideways because they’re strung out in a line. It goes wide, wide, wide to eventually find a full back forty yards from the opposition box. Its predictable and avoidable.
We’re also so deep that it makes it impossible to retain possession and we’re asking our full backs to do something special and carry the ball forty or fifty yards to put a cross in, every time.
We isolate our forwards, nobody from the midfield, despite having an extra man, got forward and hit the box. We’re asking Gabby to pick the ball up and do something special, because we’re so deep that he is getting the ball in inside his own half and we show so little inclination to get forward that we recycle it cheaply because our front men get surrounded.
That was the first time I have seen Southampton this season and its clear they’re a decent enough side, but no better than upper midtable. They keep the ball quite nicely, but seem incapable of penetrating you down the middle. Maybe that’s because Pelle didn’t look mobile and Long was equally as poor. They attack with one real purpose; isolate the full back. Time and time again they would knock a long diagonal into the channel looking to get widemen onto it. They then have their full backs pushed 60 to 70 yards up the pitch. We consistently failed to put pressure on Schneiderlin because we were so deep, despite having another man in there. We consistently failed to push their full backs the other way because N’Zogbia and the out of position (again) Andi were sat so deep covering a full back. Our first instinct was to defend and eventually that will cost you.
We’re not building anything here. There is no pattern of play that has developed no means of breaking the opposition down, nothing that we are building towards but just not quite executing. We look really, really poor and I am thoroughly fed up with how we will continue to bumble along with this McLiesh brand of football.
It’s a case of hoping Benteke comes back and does something special, which he might, because is a very good player. But its yet another season of 16th/15th tedious rubbish and it is entirely unacceptable and what makes it worse, with this squad of players, it is entirely avoidable.
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We lost a lot with Gabby going back to the wing, as well. They were always worried that a clearance could turn into through-ball again while Gabby was waiting in the centre-circle, but with him well back in our half and Bent lolling about like a seal they could push their line up really high and pen us in.
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Why dont we ever leave Gabby up top on corners? If he is on the halfway line and Andi is left 5-10 yards from the edge of our box to pick up a clearance, thats 3, potentially 4 people they wont be able to load into the box . we would still have 8 defenders in our area. As it stands, every corner that comes in is aimed at 7 people waiting to attack it. When we clear it, it ends up back with them as we have nobody outside the box so they virtually get two corners for every one they win.
If its some weird tactic to lull them into loading more people forward its unnecessary - they proved last night that they can take the ball from our area, through 3-4 defenders and fashion a good chance at the end of it.
I know its only a small point but it would make a difference to pushing the opposition back
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Nothing wrong with the decision to replace Sanchez. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong with the decision to bring on Bent as his replacement.
I thought Sanchez was blowing out of his arse a bit yes but for me he was holding our shape in the middle and was a nice buffer in front of the impressive Clark / Okore partnership. Once he went off you visibly saw Schneidelin grow in stature.
He certainly has the physical and athletic attributes to compete in the Premier League, but it really is heart in mouth stuff when he is on the ball, especially in our own half. Hopefully that will come though.
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Nothing wrong with the decision to replace Sanchez. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong with the decision to bring on Bent as his replacement.
I thought Sanchez was blowing out of his arse a bit yes but for me he was holding our shape in the middle and was a nice buffer in front of the impressive Clark / Okore partnership. Once he went off you visibly saw Schneidelin grow in stature.
He certainly has the physical and athletic attributes to compete in the Premier League, but it really is heart in mouth stuff when he is on the ball, especially in our own half. Hopefully that will come though.
With Sanchez any time he's on the ball for more than 2-3 seconds in one go he loses it, almost without fail. When he plays quickly, first time he looks a lot better. But he's got to be sharper with the ball all the time. Sometimes you don't get much time at all in a high intensity game.
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Why dont we ever leave Gabby up top on corners? If he is on the halfway line and Andi is left 5-10 yards from the edge of our box to pick up a clearance, thats 3, potentially 4 people they wont be able to load into the box . we would still have 8 defenders in our area. As it stands, every corner that comes in is aimed at 7 people waiting to attack it. When we clear it, it ends up back with them as we have nobody outside the box so they virtually get two corners for every one they win.
If its some weird tactic to lull them into loading more people forward its unnecessary - they proved last night that they can take the ball from our area, through 3-4 defenders and fashion a good chance at the end of it.
I know its only a small point but it would make a difference to pushing the opposition back
It's kind of blindingly obvious really, but Lambert doesn't often see blindingly obvious unfortunately. Which is why we're in such a mess. Gabby shouldn't have been any deeper than their last man in the entire game. By the time he scored he was brought deeper and deeper back into our half to defend more and more, and ultimately the threat he possessed in the first half, wasn't there in the second when we parked the bus.
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Cleverley although strictly limited skillwise puts in a shift each game .That is guaranteed. I would sign him in Jan for about half of what Man U will ask. About 4mil. How long has N'Zogbia got left on his contract? We really need him and Darren Bent out of the club. Westwood as we all know is a replica of Cleverley but of a lower standard. He is a squad player at best but a squad player who plays every game. Weimann is Weimann.
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No time to go through the 17 pages but Sanchez getting caught in possession is not good. I like his battling and he seems to be able to pick a pass but way too slow on the ball.
*edit* just saw you talking about it 3 posts up^
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Albeit that Southampton didn't play well last night, the game had the flow of 11 men against 10, with us set up to hang on and hope. How can you expect people to shell out large sums of money to go and watch that?
Almost all of our games have turned into Fa Cup rnd 3 ties with us as minnows against a Premier League club. Draws are met by the management with celebration and should we perform a giant killing the manager talks about it for the next 6-8 weeks.
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Albeit that Southampton didn't play well last night, the game had the flow of 11 men against 10, with us set up to hang on and hope. How can you expect people to shell out large sums of money to go and watch that?
Almost all of our games have turned into Fa Cup rnd 3 ties with us as minnows against a Premier League club. Draws are met by the management with celebration and should we perform a giant killing the manager talks about it for the next 6-8 weeks.
As I suspect shall we, it has got that bad. Victories over teams we would have formerly thought as perfunctory are now greeted by all of us a turning point in the season and a charge up the table
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Nothing wrong with the decision to replace Sanchez. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong with the decision to bring on Bent as his replacement.
I thought Sanchez was blowing out of his arse a bit yes but for me he was holding our shape in the middle and was a nice buffer in front of the impressive Clark / Okore partnership. Once he went off you visibly saw Schneidelin grow in stature.
He certainly has the physical and athletic attributes to compete in the Premier League, but it really is heart in mouth stuff when he is on the ball, especially in our own half. Hopefully that will come though.
With Sanchez any time he's on the ball for more than 2-3 seconds in one go he loses it, almost without fail. When he plays quickly, first time he looks a lot better. But he's got to be sharper with the ball all the time. Sometimes you don't get much time at all in a high intensity game.
What are these high intensity games you speak of, me a Villa fan, me no understand the phrase?
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When the home team starts time wasting after 33 mins, you know things aren't good.
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Contextually this is a good result? Five and half seasons ago, when Villa had their third successive top six finish, with two trips to Wembley thrown in for good measure, Southampton started on minus ten points in League One. Just let that sink in for a second.
depends on the context you're talking about obviously. If we're talking about this season as a context (which I was) then yes it was a decent result. If you want to go back 5, 10, 30 seasons then clearly no it wasn't
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On a more positive note,did anyone see Hutton's dive near the end .
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Bent?
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Bent?
Is probably in Wetherspoons tucking in to his 4th breakfast this morning.
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OKORE and clark did really well. But it will be a different game at burnley so it's still a test
Sanchez really struggled, though not helped by our lack of shape when he picked up the ball
I wouldn't criticise anyone who went at all. But the atmosphere was mostly like watching a reserve game
There's no real chink of light. That'll broadly be the team that plays next year too - probably minus cleverley who started well for us but doesn't look worth the money. Southampton had 11 internationals last night and the gulf in quality was embarassing
I know we got a good point, but we were so much better v Spurs. I found the whole thing really depressing
The only villa player who was invovled last night who hasn't been capped is Westwood.
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Contextually this is a good result? Five and half seasons ago, when Villa had their third successive top six finish, with two trips to Wembley thrown in for good measure, Southampton started on minus ten points in League One. Just let that sink in for a second.
depends on the context you're talking about obviously. If we're talking about this season as a context (which I was) then yes it was a decent result. If you want to go back 5, 10, 30 seasons then clearly no it wasn't
I didn't think Southampton looked any cop at all. A nice enough midtable Premier league side but we are so scared of committing anyone forward we never find out how vulnerable teams are. These are home games that we are capable of winning but show no intent to. Scared of league tables.
The top 6 are the top 6, we expect to get beat by them so will play on the counter hoping to giant kill them.
Then theres Everton and Tottenham. They will be there or there abouts so we will play on the counter hoping to sneak something.
Then theres Southampton and Swansea. They are good footballing sides we cant compete with, so we will play on the counter hoping to sneak something.
Then there's West Ham and Newcastle. They're in really good form, so we will play on the counter hoping to sneak something.
That leaves Qpr, Burnley, Crystal P, West Brom, Leicester, Hull and Sunderland.
Away against any of them we will play on the counter and hope to sneak something. If we play against any of them at home and they're on a good run then we will play on the counter and hope to win.
By my reckoning that leaves roughly 5 games in a 38 game season where Lambore might actually attack a side and look to play something resembling football.
I say it again, letting the opposition have the ball and only hitting on the break is not a tactic, it's a by product of Lambert not having schooled the team in a way of playing, it's lazy, the onus is on the other side and we look to pick up on errors.
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I said similar in the pub last night to someone who said 'We cant really expect to beat Soton, they are 2nd you know' I replied in much the same manner, 'Who can we expect to beat at home then?'
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There are probably only 2 or 3 clubs in the country who could shrug off being without their best centre half, their best central midfilder and their best centre forward plus 3 or 4 other injuries to important players. Those downplaying the significance are being unreasonable.
Last night saw us look competent in the most part against a form side. Taken in isolation it is a good point but it is so dispiriting to sit in the freezing cold in a half empty stadium and watch a side that is so limited in ambition. I am clinging to the hope that when we get Benteke back it allows us to play a different way by having somebody who can hold the ball up.
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How do you explain that we look shit with Benteke in the side?
Just had a look and our last competitive 38 games has seen us
Win 8
Draw 7
Lose 23
Goals 30
Against 66
Pts 31
31pts a goal difference of -36, that will put us firmly bottom of the league. We've played all manner of sides, had Benteke in the side, had Vlarr in the side, had Delph in the side. Having them all injured right now doesn't take away from the fact we've been terrible for an extended period of time and look to be getting worse, not better.
He's got to go.
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Don't hold your breath Chris. I fear that even your patience will be sorely tested this season.
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What worries me , I think the likes of palace and Burnley would have won that game last night .
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Last night saw us look competent in the most part against a form side.
Only at defending.
We looked terrible as ever at attacking or keeping the ball because the manager chooses to have us sit so deep and chooses to have such a flat midfield. We had a spare man in the midfield for the most part yet the manager is so negative that he has them flat as a screening force and people wonder why Sanchez loses the ball when he has nobody infront of him to pass it too?
There are lots of small organisational matters that Lambert could address to make us look a lot better and actually pose a threat of winning games, but he cannot and there is no evidence that we will ever improve under him. I am sick and tired and believe he should be sacked, but I know it wont happen.
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They would have given it a go. At no point did we sense they we off their game and take it to them, we pinched a lead and then sat back and let them try to score.
Bullshit talk like we've been working on long balls to put Gabby through in training...... give it a rest Paul it was an aimless punt by Clark and the keeper fucked up. If that's what we work on in training it explains why we bladder the ball around like it's a neutron bomb.
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Southampton were there for the taking. That's probably the worse they'd played all season.
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We lost a lot with Gabby going back to the wing, as well. They were always worried that a clearance could turn into through-ball again while Gabby was waiting in the centre-circle, but with him well back in our half and Bent lolling about like a seal they could push their line up really high and pen us in.
Spot on
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Don't hold your breath Chris. I fear that even your patience will be sorely tested this season.
You could be right Brian but I have highly developed coping mechanisms born from experience. I can go from "fuckin' hell that was shit" to " there's always next week" in the time it takes to walk from the Holte to the pub. I do walk a lot slower these days though.
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We lost a lot with Gabby going back to the wing, as well. They were always worried that a clearance could turn into through-ball again while Gabby was waiting in the centre-circle, but with him well back in our half and Bent lolling about like a seal they could push their line up really high and pen us in.
Spot on
Bacuna rather than Bent - and have him pick up Clyne and leave Gabby in the middle. Might have got a late breakaway to win 2-0 rather than 1-1.
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There are probably only 2 or 3 clubs in the country who could shrug off being without their best centre half, their best central midfilder and their best centre forward plus 3 or 4 other injuries to important players. Those downplaying the significance are being unreasonable.
Last night saw us look competent in the most part against a form side. Taken in isolation it is a good point but it is so dispiriting to sit in the freezing cold in a half empty stadium and watch a side that is so limited in ambition. I am clinging to the hope that when we get Benteke back it allows us to play a different way by having somebody who can hold the ball up.
I hate to break this to you, but even with a full strength team we don't look much different to last night. Lambert ran out of excuses a long time ago.
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Sorry Chris I salute your optimism, but the standard of performance we put in on a weekly basis is not acceptable. We've scored 6 goals all season and that's not just because Benteke has missed most of it. We are set up incredibly negatively. You could put Messi in our side and he probably wouldn't do much.
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Agreed SH. Benteke comes back we play hoofball because we have no width. Delph is far more important to our output because our palpable weakness is across the middle of the park. Sanchez, Cleverley and Westwood are just not good enough. We are devoid of brain, guile, savvy, imagination, creativity and simple football intelligence in the midfield.
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There are probably only 2 or 3 clubs in the country who could shrug off being without their best centre half, their best central midfilder and their best centre forward plus 3 or 4 other injuries to important players. Those downplaying the significance are being unreasonable.
Last night saw us look competent in the most part against a form side. Taken in isolation it is a good point but it is so dispiriting to sit in the freezing cold in a half empty stadium and watch a side that is so limited in ambition. I am clinging to the hope that when we get Benteke back it allows us to play a different way by having somebody who can hold the ball up.
I hate to break this to you, but even with a full strength team we don't look much different to last night. Lambert ran out of excuses a long time ago.
Given our injury record of the last couple of years I don't think we have put out a full strength side since the last few months of Lambert's first season. It's by no means the whole story but they have severely hampered us.
For the first few games of this season we looked organised and hard to beat and while it wasn't particularly pretty to watch it was effective. Then we seemed to totally lose that sense of organisation during that tough run of games. I hope (and it is a hope rather than an expectation) that the last couple of results is a sign of us returning to that previous level.
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Every club in the land has tales of injury woes and we're no different. I haven't seen anything from any of Lambert's teams (injury hit or not) to suggest he's buiilding anything other than a team fit for a relegation dog fight.
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There are probably only 2 or 3 clubs in the country who could shrug off being without their best centre half, their best central midfilder and their best centre forward plus 3 or 4 other injuries to important players. Those downplaying the significance are being unreasonable.
Last night saw us look competent in the most part against a form side. Taken in isolation it is a good point but it is so dispiriting to sit in the freezing cold in a half empty stadium and watch a side that is so limited in ambition. I am clinging to the hope that when we get Benteke back it allows us to play a different way by having somebody who can hold the ball up.
I admire you for going Chris tremendously, but I really can't agree with your comments. We've looked no better when 2 out of those 3 players have been present. Get a new manager and things might be a bit better
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At one stage in the 2nd half the tv showed a shot from the very top of the Witton Lane Stand. We had a goal kick and every single player was within a zone from the edge of the centre circle, not one player was occupying a wider position.
It just looked horrible, reminded me of an under 10's match tbh.
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At one stage in the 2nd half the tv showed a shot from the very top of the Witton Lane Stand. We had a goal kick and every single player was within a zone from the edge of the centre circle, not one player was occupying a wider position.
It just looked horrible, reminded me of an under 10's match tbh.
Stop Bunching!!!!
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Every club in the land has tales of injury woes and we're no different. I haven't seen anything from any of Lambert's teams (injury hit or not) to suggest he's buiilding anything other than a team fit for a relegation dog fight.
I think you are wrong, the number of long term injuries we have had to key players is not run of the mill. It's not the whole story but it cannot just be brushed aside.
There are plenty of other problems such as team selection, approach to games and bad substitions to criticise but it seems fairly obvious that we are a better side when Benteke, Delph and Vlaar are available.
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Every club in the land has tales of injury woes and we're no different. I haven't seen anything from any of Lambert's teams (injury hit or not) to suggest he's buiilding anything other than a team fit for a relegation dog fight.
I think you are wrong, the number of long term injuries we have had to key players is not run of the mill. It's not the whole story but it cannot just be brushed aside.
There are plenty of other problems such as team selection, approach to games and bad substitions to criticise but it seems fairly obvious that we are a better side when Benteke, Delph and Vlaar are available.
But still only fit for a relegation dog fight.
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Anyway I will be supporting my team at Burnley what will you be doing keyboard warriors?! Oops wrong thread.
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You really are sanguinity personified Chris. I don't walk to the pub from the Holte any more but I metamorphose from Mr Really Really Angry to looking forward to the cricket before I hit Charlies Chip Shop.
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Agreed SH. Benteke comes back we play hoofball because we have no width. Delph is far more important to our output because our palpable weakness is across the middle of the park. Sanchez, Cleverley and Westwood are just not good enough. We are devoid of brain, guile, savvy, imagination, creativity and simple football intelligence in the midfield.
Quiz question, which is the weakest, our front 3 minus Benteke (Gabby, Weimann and N'Zogbia) or our midfield 3 without Delph (Cleverley, Westwood and Sanchez)? There can't be much in it, they are both dreadful. If we could get 5/6 mill for Vlaar in Jan I'd try and improve the front 6 before I thought about a new centre half as Okore, Senderos, Baker and Clark is a better pool of players than we have available for the midfield and forward areas.
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The front three and midfield 3 look poorer than they are because of how they are set up.
Its like a table football team with the midfield at times.
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Every club in the land has tales of injury woes and we're no different. I haven't seen anything from any of Lambert's teams (injury hit or not) to suggest he's buiilding anything other than a team fit for a relegation dog fight.
I think you are wrong, the number of long term injuries we have had to key players is not run of the mill. It's not the whole story but it cannot just be brushed aside.
There are plenty of other problems such as team selection, approach to games and bad substitions to criticise but it seems fairly obvious that we are a better side when Benteke, Delph and Vlaar are available.
But still only fit for a relegation dog fight.
The injuries haven't helped and our long term injuries are not the norm. Lambert has been really unlucky in that regard and obviously affects his plans. When your resources are limited, losing the best players you have for any length of time is really going to hurt. That said his approach to games, going from the overly expressive to the overly reclusive has contributed to our form of th last 12 months. We are no longer positive and we rarely try and win games, rather just get out alive with anything we can get.
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The point being made that it does not seem to matter what personnel are on the pitch we always play exactly the same, I noticed Hutton took on the role of Benteke in the Guzan hoofs to A N Other last night.
It is like a script. First half we compete within our obvious technical limitations - amazingly score - and then set up to be slowly, inexorably pegged back into 30 yards of pitch from our goal in the second half.
I actually don't blame Andy for his blaze over the bar, the lad hasn't had much practice has he!
Didn't think Sanchez was as bad as others thought and reckon he will be OK next season.
Hutton was top - terrific professional and we are lucky to still have him.
Great to see Okore back and an assured performance - well done son
Respect and apologies to Ciaran - I thought you would get turned over but you did very well
What was the matter with Ally? Seemed to have a hissy strop on second half.
TC and Westie - working away - solid - OK
Thank you for being you Brad Guzan
Good to see they let the real Gabby out of the cupboard last night - very good until he was shifted out wide
The Bent substitution will go down as one of life's great mysteries
Were the Saints fans the quietest ever? Only sang about having to pay £43 to sit in a top stadium and a bit when they scored. Fancy coming all this way and then just sitting there!
Onward Villans!
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Ally had an embarrassing TV moment with his snot control and was never the same after that
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Bit like the manager I don't seem bothered any more!
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As much as I enjoy watching Ali's "Rumble in the Jungle" tactics against Foreman, I think if he'd have employed them in every fight he would have been a lot less popular, and probably finished by the age of 25.
So with that in mind, can we please look at an alternative to playing on the counter attack?
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Did Bent actually touch the ball ? I do not think so. What a crap substitution ! I cannot really believe that. If Sanchez was tired, then bring on Bacuna or Grealish. Hell, even Cole ! Bringing Bent on for a defensive midfielder when 1-0 up...
I haven't read all 20 pages, so apologies if already covered. The Bent substitution may seem odd, but the point was to take off a tiring player (Sanchez was starting to make mistakes)and keep a similar shape - Richardson moving central and Gabby wide. I understand the idea and it's a bit hysterical to scream 'why put on a striker for a defensive midfielder' when that wasn't the net effect of the substitution.
With that said, I thought Bent was poor and could have worked a lot harder. I was particularly dissapointed that he hadn't bust a gut to support on the late Weiman chance. I also think a better reshuffle may have included Bacuna. But saying a striker for a defensive midfielder is a bit simplistic and doesn't really reflect what happened.
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Gabby was already getting isolated upfront and being reduced to chasing after back pass's to the keeper.Replacing him with a less mobile slower Bent was pointless.He was going to neither run the wings or hold up the ball so I simply can no see the sense in bringing him on.
If your on top in a game and attacking and need someone to get on the end of a chance your bring on Bent , if you are defending a lead and dropping deep you don't.
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I don't think it was about getting bent on, it was about freeing up Gabby to play the more defensive wide role, whilst still keeping (in theory) some threat up front.
I agree Bent was poor and I would have done things differently. But it is not as clueless or simple as Bent replaced a defensive midfielder is the point I am trying to make
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Disgraceful, half the team out, playing an inform team. No passion, nothing.
Lambert out.
UTV
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if only you were being sincere instead of some half baked attempt at irony
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See prediction thread for ultimate irony.
Utv
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It occurred to me that one picture that would fit well into "Sum Watching Villa in One Picture" thread would be the one of Weimann looking up helplessly after that horrible miss he made made just before they scored.
On a different note, sorry if this sounds a thick question but what was the minute's applause during the 21st/22nd minute for?
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It occurred to me that one picture that would fit well into "Sum Watching Villa in One Picture" thread would be the one of Weimann looking up helplessly after that horrible miss he made made just before they scored.
On a different note, sorry if this sounds a thick question but what was the minute's applause during the 21st/22nd minute for?
Anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings. 21st minute to remember the 21 who died.
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I don't think it was about getting bent on, it was about freeing up Gabby to play the more defensive wide role, whilst still keeping (in theory) some threat up front.
I agree Bent was poor and I would have done things differently. But it is not as clueless or simple as Bent replaced a defensive midfielder is the point I am trying to make
Bacuna on and put Weimann through the middle would have been a better solution.
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It occurred to me that one picture that would fit well into "Sum Watching Villa in One Picture" thread would be the one of Weimann looking up helplessly after that horrible miss he made made just before they scored.
On a different note, sorry if this sounds a thick question but what was the minute's applause during the 21st/22nd minute for?
Anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings. 21st minute to remember the 21 who died.
Ah, thanks.
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Disgraceful, half the team out, playing an inform team. No passion, nothing.
Lambert out.
UTV
Genuine question, so when do you think the next win will arrive and why? Because a lot of us, and I consider myself on the generally positive side of the ledger, are struggling to see under what circumstances this happening any time soon. I have seen little in the past few weeks, maybe a glimmer at home to Spurs that suggested we could put 90 minutes together to see out a game and get 3 points. I'd like to hear your side of things that can justify your faith in the manager and his ability to motivate and coach this team to our next victory.
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I accept that there are injuries and this will affect our performances to an extent, but frankly Lambert should be able to coach even the squad players to take up better positions on the pitch.
The side he put out last night was by no means terrible. It should have been able to mount more meaningful attacks than it did and show more initiative, without leaving itself wide open at the back. I think the pastings we have taken under Lambert, and especially that nightmare run of games in December 2012, have left the manager with a sort of football PTSD. He's scared witless of conceding goals, and so he's plumped for the default McLeish mode: keep it tight at the back and try and nick something. And for a while now, that's been the default approach no matter who's on the pitch.
The problem isn't with the personnel, it's with the way they are instructed to play.
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I don't think it was about getting bent on, it was about freeing up Gabby to play the more defensive wide role, whilst still keeping (in theory) some threat up front.
I agree Bent was poor and I would have done things differently. But it is not as clueless or simple as Bent replaced a defensive midfielder is the point I am trying to make
Bacuna on and put Weimann through the middle would have been a better solution.
Bacuna, Richardson and Grealish on for Nzog, sanchez and Weimann - in that order and spread over a few minutes to pass instructions, and break the game up, changes handled as "like-for-like" for the first 2 and then go to 4411 with Grealish in behind Gabby, Bacuna right and Richardson left. Once everyone is on you use the latter 2 to mark/pin back their fullbacks who were their only threat for much of the game. Grealish in 'the hole' closes the gap between midfield and attack and, more importantly, forces Wanyama or Schneiderlin to be a bit more cautious. On top of that it means we could close down Fonte who was becoming more and more of an influence.
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See prediction thread for ultimate irony.
Utv
I'd count the number of people who have commented in a negative way towards your posts, any self-awareness in there?
If you had a bit of honesty, you'd admit it has nothing to do with your support of the manager either.
Its all about the reaction isn't it? Troll on.
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But only when you have finished your homework.
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Disgraceful, half the team out, playing an inform team. No passion, nothing.
Lambert out.
UTV
WLT ?
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I'll give Lambert this; he called Bent absolutely spot on. What a remarkable and rapid deterioration - doesn't look remotely Premier League any more.
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He's morphed into Grant Holt. In fact I'd rather have Grant Holt. Married life clearly has been kind to him.
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I wonder what our chairman thinks when he looks at bent & n'zogbia.
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Biggest positive last night is okore and I'm clinging to that. I've not properly seen him play before and considering how rusty he must be I thought he was superb.
As was Clark.
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I'll give Lambert this; he called Bent absolutely spot on. What a remarkable and rapid deterioration - doesn't look remotely Premier League any more.
Yes although I feel that if he had been on the end of that chance that fell to Weimann he'd have kept it on target.
But then he was too lazy to even get in position.
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I'll give Lambert this; he called Bent absolutely spot on. What a remarkable and rapid deterioration - doesn't look remotely Premier League any more.
Yes although I feel that if he had been on the end of that chance that fell to Weimann he'd have kept it on target.
But then he was too lazy to even get in position.
I let andi off with that chance, he created the move and it was pretty fast. Obviously a bad miss.
He does, however, need to learn to control himself. If he had kept his discipline, we might not have conceded the equaliser
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Troll is another disgraceful accusation. Speak to Dave.
Sorry Dave.
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Troll is another disgraceful accusation. Speak to Dave.
Sorry Dave.
Serious question for you Westley.
Did you think taking off Sanchez for Bent was a mistake?
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Troll is another disgraceful accusation. Speak to Dave.
Sorry Dave.
I will not interact with you after this post. I don't have a gripe or a allegiance with anybody on here. Your posts have one aim and many have noticed. Its a little sad.
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And sorry Dave, no more from me on this.
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I know many people here will be unhappy until Lambert leaves, but that doesn't look like happening, so the best we can hope for is for Lambert so turn it around somehow. Last night wasn't bad in that respect. Comparing the form of ourselves and Southampton going into the match, the result should have been a given. I thought the cautious tactics from Lambert was sensible given; our confidence is so fragile that safety first is reasonable: the odds on us losing if we had conceded first wouldn't have been particularly high. Though I hope it will be long before next time I'm so pleased with a point home against Soton.
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Speak to Dave . I'm none of the above.
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Well your posts have been noticed. so i'm.over the Moon not to interact.
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Okore was good. So why have we been left agonizing why his return has been so downbeat? He is a bloody good player, give us something to pierce the pervading gloom. I thought he had done a Helenius/Herd/Ireland/Bent and was doomed for outer darkness via Bomb Squad 2.
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I know many people here will be unhappy until Lambert leaves, but that doesn't look like happening, so the best we can hope for is for Lambert so turn it around somehow. Last night wasn't bad in that respect. Comparing the form of ourselves and Southampton going into the match, the result should have been a given. I thought the cautious tactics from Lambert was sensible given; our confidence is so fragile that safety first is reasonable: the odds on us losing if we had conceded first wouldn't have been particularly high. Though I hope it will be long before next time I'm so pleased with a point home against Soton.
The only problem is we are nearly always in poor form and low on confidence and playing someone who is higher in the league than us. So when is it ok to expect us to try and win a game and not be so cautious we barely leave our own half in the second half of games. 1 goal in 18 matches in the 2nd half.
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I'll give Lambert this; he called Bent absolutely spot on. What a remarkable and rapid deterioration - doesn't look remotely Premier League any more.
Yes although I feel that if he had been on the end of that chance that fell to Weimann he'd have kept it on target.
But then he was too lazy to even get in position.
I let andi off with that chance, he created the move and it was pretty fast. Obviously a bad miss.
He does, however, need to learn to control himself. If he had kept his discipline, we might not have conceded the equaliser
The worry I have with Weimann is he tries to bladder everything, at times there's very little composure with his finishing.
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My tediously repetitive comment about Weimann - no composure!
He first-hits it every time...with almost always the same result of Tonevesque influence.
He should have done a better job on Bertrand who crossed for their goal...perhaps he was still upset over the linesman not giving the throw-in he thought we should have had at the start of the move...he DID kick it out of play, so why he was complaining is strange!
Yes, I am blaming him for everything!
Clark and Okore were excellent, Gabby much better than recent games, Sanchez is getting there...and quite weirdly, all things considered, I found myself thinking that I wished we had more players like Hutton - cool, calm, professional with that little bit of flair that can take the opposition by surprise from time to time.
Soton played some pretty stuff at times but nowhere near as effective as I expected...and for that I give credit to our players.
Bent?
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Does anyone have a gif of the Weimann miss and/or the Gabby goal?
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Any gif's of huttons dive on 90 mins. Hilarious .
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I'll give Lambert this; he called Bent absolutely spot on. What a remarkable and rapid deterioration - doesn't look remotely Premier League any more.
Yes although I feel that if he had been on the end of that chance that fell to Weimann he'd have kept it on target.
But then he was too lazy to even get in position.
I let andi off with that chance, he created the move and it was pretty fast. Obviously a bad miss.
He does, however, need to learn to control himself. If he had kept his discipline, we might not have conceded the equaliser
The worry I have with Weimann is he tries to bladder everything, at times there's very little composure with his finishing.
He spends the whole game with his head down running into brick walls and then when he gets a great chance he lifts his bloody head up and balloons it ridiculously over the bar. I've seen him do this countless times now
Very odd player
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There a number who have been quite dismissive of injuries. We have few quality players in the squad and when those players get injuries you have problems. We struggle to score goals but I would think most would agree that we play our best football when Benteke, Gabby and Weimann are playing together. It is interesting to note that since Benteke was injured at Norwich last year, they have only played together 12 out of 43 games and have only had one run of more than one match. We score so few goals that we rely on Benteke now and have to play a more attacking game when he is in the side. Otherwise he will get frustrated, his play will drop with the result that we end up losing him to suspensions.
Having said that, there is much more wrong with our game. We lack energy and trying to perm any 6 from the same 8 or 9 players in front of the defence will not change that. We need to try and shake things up a bit and sometimes a young inexperienced player can do that because they do the unexpected.
I was pleased with the back four last night but the defending in front of them when we did not have the ball was very poor. We look as though we are content to just defend space rather than space and closing players down. At this level, if you give opposition players time on the ball to move forward unopposed, they will eventually work their way through.
Others have mentioned the midfield being very flat which means you cannot play 'give and go' to move the ball forward. Two deep midfield players together does not work as inevitably restricts space for the fullbacks to move into as the opposition string an extra player across the pitch.
Weimann runs around a lot but unless he is played as a goal scorer or goal maker, you are better playing a stronger player with better control.
Gabby played very well first half but switched off for their goal and was caught ball watching.
I thought that earlier in the season that N'Zogbia was just lacking match fitness but it is clear that he is not up to it and it will take him a long time to get back to a level we need. I would bring Grealish in to replace him against Burnley.
I am getting a bit concerned that we are not hearing about any good prospects coming through from the youth team as this does not bode well for the next few years.
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The good prospects from the youth team ARE Grealish and Robinson...if we had a more stable team I'm sure they'd be playing more.
However...in the circumstances things ain't working...so, change them! We should bring in Grealish...and Robinson...if only to give the oppo something to think about and have to work on.
We have become incredibly predictable...happy to let the oppo have the ball, counter attacking, shite at keeping possession ourselves and hanging on grimly by fingertips only to succumb to the inevitable.
It's shite and it needs Lambert to show the tiniest bit of imagination to change it!
I ain't holding my breath!
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How many games have we won when Benteke, Delph Vlaar and gabby have been fit?
Injuries, sminjuries!
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How many games have we won when Benteke, Delph Vlaar and gabby have been fit?
Injuries, sminjuries!
More than when they've been out injured.
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How many games have we won when Benteke, Delph Vlaar and gabby have been fit?
Injuries, sminjuries!
More than when they've been out injured.
We're not much better.
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Just been a statto and looked it up. We've won 10 games when Delph, Benteke and Vlaar have all played. Not many is the answer then.
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They probably haven't played that many together ? So 10 may be quite a high % ??
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They probably haven't played that many together ? So 10 may be quite a high % ??
I'd guess about 30 probably. Maybe more. But I don't want to look it up. ha ha.
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Just been a statto and looked it up. We've won 10 games when Delph, Benteke and Vlaar have all played. Not many is the answer then.
That's the frustrating thing. A team of Guzan, Hutton, Vlaar, Senderos, Cissokho, Westwood, Cleverley, Delph, Weimann, Agbonlahor and Benteke is comfortably a top half team in this league on paper (might need to one of change Weimann and Gabby), but how many times have we been able to field it?
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The good prospects from the youth team ARE Grealish and Robinson...if we had a more stable team I'm sure they'd be playing more.
However...in the circumstances things ain't working...so, change them! We should bring in Grealish...and Robinson...if only to give the oppo something to think about and have to work on.
We have become incredibly predictable...happy to let the oppo have the ball, counter attacking, shite at keeping possession ourselves and hanging on grimly by fingertips only to succumb to the inevitable.
It's shite and it needs Lambert to show the tiniest bit of imagination to change it!
I ain't holding my breath!
Glad you,re not holding your breath , frankmosswasmyuncle. Robinson just been recalled from Preston and Bent on his way to Brighton , allegedly.
First positive news of the week , IMO ..................Godzvilla!
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The good prospects from the youth team ARE Grealish and Robinson...if we had a more stable team I'm sure they'd be playing more.
However...in the circumstances things ain't working...so, change them! We should bring in Grealish...and Robinson...if only to give the oppo something to think about and have to work on.
We have become incredibly predictable...happy to let the oppo have the ball, counter attacking, shite at keeping possession ourselves and hanging on grimly by fingertips only to succumb to the inevitable.
It's shite and it needs Lambert to show the tiniest bit of imagination to change it!
I ain't holding my breath!
Glad you,re not holding your breath , frankmosswasmyuncle. Robinson just been recalled from Preston and Bent on his way to Brighton , allegedly.
First positive news of the week , IMO ..................Godzvilla!
Playing Robinson can't be any worse than who we're currently playing, but goals in the lower leagues aren't much of a comparison with the Premiership, it's worth a punt however, although Lambert will probably bring him on with 5 minutes to go when we're already losing 2-0
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The good prospects from the youth team ARE Grealish and Robinson...if we had a more stable team I'm sure they'd be playing more.
However...in the circumstances things ain't working...so, change them! We should bring in Grealish...and Robinson...if only to give the oppo something to think about and have to work on.
We have become incredibly predictable...happy to let the oppo have the ball, counter attacking, shite at keeping possession ourselves and hanging on grimly by fingertips only to succumb to the inevitable.
It's shite and it needs Lambert to show the tiniest bit of imagination to change it!
I ain't holding my breath!
Glad you,re not holding your breath , frankmosswasmyuncle. Robinson just been recalled from Preston and Bent on his way to Brighton , allegedly.
First positive news of the week , IMO ..................Godzvilla!
Playing Robinson can't be any worse than who we're currently playing, but goals in the lower leagues aren't much of a comparison with the Premiership, it's worth a punt however, although Lambert will probably bring him on with 5 minutes to go when we're already losing 2-0
We could do with another pacey option, so there's that at least. He'll hopefully be confident as I think it's 5 in 5 for him now.
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The good prospects from the youth team ARE Grealish and Robinson...if we had a more stable team I'm sure they'd be playing more.
However...in the circumstances things ain't working...so, change them! We should bring in Grealish...and Robinson...if only to give the oppo something to think about and have to work on.
We have become incredibly predictable...happy to let the oppo have the ball, counter attacking, shite at keeping possession ourselves and hanging on grimly by fingertips only to succumb to the inevitable.
It's shite and it needs Lambert to show the tiniest bit of imagination to change it!
I ain't holding my breath!
Glad you,re not holding your breath , frankmosswasmyuncle. Robinson just been recalled from Preston and Bent on his way to Brighton , allegedly.
First positive news of the week , IMO ..................Godzvilla!
Playing Robinson can't be any worse than who we're currently playing, but goals in the lower leagues aren't much of a comparison with the Premiership, it's worth a punt however, although Lambert will probably bring him on with 5 minutes to go when we're already losing 2-0
Our kids are not as good as they've been made out to be. Throwing the kids in sounds desperate to me
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2 points from the last two games vs teams at the top end of the table, confident and also in form....I would of took that before the Wet Sham game as we are in such a rut of poor play, confidence, form and bad luck.
Southampton ? looked pretty but overall they really did not do a lot vs our back 4, Sanchez, Okore, Clark and Hutton all played better than they have recently(obv with the exception of Okore)
apart from the stupid Benteke incident and some bad luck we should of beat Spurs and that would of given us 5 points from 3 tough games, which I think would of been acceptable in the circumstances.
UTV
The Doc
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Have to agree Saunders. Not their fault but it all feels a bit desperate for them to succeed (which I would love).
The Premiership is an unforgiving arena and I just wonder how they will cope
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The good prospects from the youth team ARE Grealish and Robinson...if we had a more stable team I'm sure they'd be playing more.
However...in the circumstances things ain't working...so, change them! We should bring in Grealish...and Robinson...if only to give the oppo something to think about and have to work on.
We have become incredibly predictable...happy to let the oppo have the ball, counter attacking, shite at keeping possession ourselves and hanging on grimly by fingertips only to succumb to the inevitable.
It's shite and it needs Lambert to show the tiniest bit of imagination to change it!
I ain't holding my breath!
Glad you,re not holding your breath , frankmosswasmyuncle. Robinson just been recalled from Preston and Bent on his way to Brighton , allegedly.
First positive news of the week , IMO ..................Godzvilla!
Playing Robinson can't be any worse than who we're currently playing, but goals in the lower leagues aren't much of a comparison with the Premiership, it's worth a punt however, although Lambert will probably bring him on with 5 minutes to go when we're already losing 2-0
Our kids are not as good as they've been made out to be. Throwing the kids in sounds desperate to me
When do we decide we're in desperate times? No wins from the last 8.
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Thanks goodness for the sycophantic Birmingham Mail and Paul Lambert, letting us know that the lowest attendance at Villa Park since 1999 was due to November having Novembery weather and the match being on Sky. And we all thought it was because our team is shit, our coaches are shitter and the football is shitterer. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villas-paul-lambert-pays-8173586
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If the kids can't handle the pressure they'll probably never be able to at this level. Grealish always looks unfazed when he plays, so I'd like to have seen him a little more. Robinson will be buzzing. There's not that much pressure on them to turn us around. Certainly not as much as you'd put on 30 million quids worth of Zogbia and Bent to do something.
I think it's a no lose scenario. They come in and struggle a little we give them the benefit of doubt that it's the side as a whole. Maybe though, as Davis did in O Leary's shit season, they might thrive.
I certainly fancy Grealish to do well. Robinson is more raw but he's got ability too and pace.
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The lack of game time for Grealish is a little puzzling, maybe a few minutes here and there from him can lift the malaise at home games.
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Not much any forward can do without the ball.
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Well maybe he can warm up in a jaunty manner.
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The lack of game time for Grealish is a little puzzling, maybe a few minutes here and there from him can lift the malaise at home games.
That's a very valid point, hopefully we'll see more from him in the coming weeks and months. Looking back over the years it's surprising how many of our kids have been thrown in against top teams and actually done well. Grealish certainly has the talent and the more game time he gets, the higher the probability is he'll actually deliver.
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I'd start Grealish at burnley. It's the sort of game he can unlock for 60 mins and then get him off.
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The way Villa have handled Grealish is another one of those "What the fuck are they doing?" situations. Everyone and Uncle Tom Cobleigh gets loaned out to all and sundry until the club is reduced to a level that cannot cope with league and league cup matches and ends up 4th from bottom.
But players likes Grealish are sat on the bench doing sweet FA - and then it is a surprise when they A) request a transfer and B) want to play for Ireland.
GET A FUCKING CLUE, SOMEONE.
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If the kids can't handle the pressure they'll probably never be able to at this level. Grealish always looks unfazed when he plays, so I'd like to have seen him a little more. Robinson will be buzzing. There's not that much pressure on them to turn us around. Certainly not as much as you'd put on 30 million quids worth of Zogbia and Bent to do something.
I think it's a no lose scenario. They come in and struggle a little we give them the benefit of doubt that it's the side as a whole. Maybe though, as Davis did in O Leary's shit season, they might thrive.
I certainly fancy Grealish to do well. Robinson is more raw but he's got ability too and pace.
The other thing is that the fans will get behind Grealish & Robinson (if they get a chance) and give them more support. Bent & N'Zog understandably will and do not get the same support.