Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: Toronto Villa on February 07, 2015, 05:00:32 PM
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I'll kick it off. Played a lot better and still lost. Gifted them a second goal.
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Another excellent defeat.
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Milner and Mane may just have saved our season.
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We played a lot better today, finally scored a goal. But all that doesn't mean anything if you're not getting points on the board.
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We're headed down. OK performance but two wins from 20 is hardly inspiring.
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Better. No cigar
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It's a nothing result in the scheme of things. We were always going to lose. I suppose you have to give some credit for the score line but how much of that was Chelsea playing in third gear? I'm waiting for the 'excellent really restored their pride after last week' post match durge now.
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We play badly - we lose
We play reasonably well - we lose.
I'm worried. Apart from seeing a goal, the best thing about today - late equaliser for Man City.
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Better than I thought it would be. But changes should have been made at 1-1 rather than after Chelsea had retaken the lead.
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Much improved from our surrender last week, but 2 wins from 20 isn't good enough. Was really proud of our unbeaten record against the moaning one, but perhaps predictable that Lambert oversaw the end of that.
Gil looks a snip (though was ball watching for second goal).
Hopefully Hull are deflated after that, as thats such a big game for us now.
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Losing to Mourinho always pisses me off. Lambert can fuck off and take Cleverley with him. A dreadful player. I thought we played ok today. Low points were Cleverley, their jammy winner, Cleverley, seeing Lambert in the position of Villa manager, Lambert 's substitution timing, Cleverley and Cleverley. Fuck off Chelsea
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If we play like that against most teams we won't go down. Chelsea are built very well in all departments. If Benteke gets back to anything like the way he can play we'll be fine because Gabby ain't the answer up front. Gil is lovely to watch and stick Sinclair in from the start versus Hull for Cleverley. We'll have a chance of all 3 points if we do. They'll be gutted tonight conceding late versus Man City.
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We played okay. They were probably the better side but that's no discgrace. We could've got a draw had we purchased a forward in the transfer window.
We need Benteke to get to at least 70% of his best for the run in, starting on Tuesday.
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Their second goal convinced me were going down. Luckless
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Playing better but not taking any points isn't going to be though for us.
I know it was Chelsea but failing to do anything with almost all of our more winnable fixtures means we enter matches like this needing to get something.
I really don't care too much if we were slightly better despite losing, though, because it is just not good enough. We have heard it all before, frankly.
I remain of the belief that we are going down this season. Any improvements are usually not accompanied by points and we are running out of time now.
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We played okay. They were probably the better side but that's no discgrace. We could've got a draw had we purchased a forward in the transfer window.
We need Benteke to get to at least 70% of his best for the run in, starting on Tuesday.
Some service might help him. Benteke is this side is like owning a snowmobile in Birmingham. Pointless.
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Played better but still created barely anything, so no real sign anything will change. We must win at Hull.
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If we play like that against most teams we won't go down.
We don't, though, and that is what will do for us.
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Heavily into the habit of expecting to lose. Tuesday could go either way - we're obvioulsy capable of winning, but I've a feeling it'll be like following a decent performance with a shocker.
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If we play like that against most teams we won't go down.
Hull are probably telling themselves that tonight too. The thing is, practically all of the evidence so far this season suggests we won't play like that against most teams. Our record, form, stats are all miserable.
What we need to do from here on in is go full tilt for wins, especially at home. Get Sinclair, Benteke and Sanchez in ; fuck Gabby, Andi and Cleverley off and really go for it. Wins are what we need.
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Gave it a good lash but never threatened a second equaliser. Chelsea were far from great today but are able to dig out points.
Thought Clark was outstanding, Okore very good also. Just lack quality further up the pitch despite the best efforts of all the players.
Delph unfortunately for us had a nightmare and we cant afford to carry someone like him against Chelsea.
Thought Westwood, Gil and Weimann were all lively
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We were certainly good enough for a point, shame about the clusterfuck of bad luck that lead to their second goal. If we play like that we'll tonk Hull on Tuesday.
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Thing about these must win games is the nerves it puts into everyone. There was nothing to lose today and we were value for a draw. Now we're playing a team at "our level" we have to make the most of it.
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If we play like that against most teams we won't go down.
We don't, though, and that is what will do for us.
You can only look forward I suppose and hope that the glimpses of attacking intent shown today develops. We've had more false dawns and narratives than any team in football history. But all we can do is look to the next game.
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No shame in that performance. It was a match we were never likely to win in all honesty. They matched Chelsea for long periods of the game. Gil looks a real prospect and Sinclair was bright when he came on.
Still giving the ball away cheaply though and that is what cost us ultimately.
Ref was shit. Where do they find these clowns?
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Next six - Hull, Stoke, Newcastle, Albion, Sunderland Swansea. Six huge games. Everything else pretty much went our way again. Defeats for Leicester and QPR and even a great point for Hull must seem like a defeat to them in the circumstances.
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I said this last season too but I still think our players are mentally weak. I'm generalising here but we tend to get our best results and performances in games where little is expected of us and there's no pressure. When we're expected to win and there is a bit of pressure to perform invariably we don't. It would certainly explain why we have such a poor record against lower division opponents.
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No shame in that performance. It was a match we were never likely to win in all honesty. They matched Chelsea for long periods of the game. Gil looks a real prospect and Sinclair was bright when he came on.
Still giving the ball away cheaply though and that is what cost us ultimately.
Ref was shit. Where do they find these clowns?
Going on today, probably strolling down the King's Road.
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If we play like that against most teams we won't go down.
We don't, though, and that is what will do for us.
Also it's worth noting that Chelsea were never really out of second gear in this game.
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Delph was awful.
Apart from the goal I don't remember their keeper making any notable saves.......again. The football for me it too slow in the build-up, we always play the wrong pass even though there always seems to be someone waving their hands in miles of space.
I don't think we played well, for me they never needed to take it up a gear.
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Win the next 6, 38 points, take April off. Simple. Oh, forgot to insert sack Lambert this evening.
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What's left to say? We play slightly better than the usual dirge we serve up every week and three teams around us manage to more or less cock it up as well, making things seem not quite so bad. Week in, week out. This has become the limit of our ambition.
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The thing is for all of this talk of an improved performance we still produced virtually nothing and really that's been our problem all along.
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Usual home result and performance under this manager. Get back on level terms and straight away sit back and invite pressure.The idiot never learns
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Delph was awful.
Apart from the goal I don't remember their keeper making any notable saves.......again. The football for me it too slow in the build-up, we always play the wrong pass even though there always seems to be someone waving their hands in miles of space.
I don't think we played good, for me they never needed to take it up a gear.
One thing that's always baffled me is the reluctance to switch play. We'll be bunched up, playing those pointless little triangles near one touchline, and on the other, there will be a winger or full back completely free. The ball breaks loose and instead of playing a lofted ball over one defender, we'll just pass it into a crowded area again. The lack of awareness is very annoying.
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Gabby and Cleverley were left on far too long for me. Just after we equalised and we had our best spell of pressure and Courtois seemed very dodgy the game was crying out for Benteke and Sinclair. We're just so timid.
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Played better but as we have been rubbish it's not saying much. Can only remember their keeper having 1 save to make.
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Gabby and Cleverley were left on far too long for me. Just after we equalised and we had our best spell of pressure and Courtois seemed very dodgy the game was crying out for Benteke and Sinclair. We're just so timid.
But when Benteke did come on we effectively died as a force.
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Gabby and Cleverley were left on far too long for me. Just after we equalised and we had our best spell of pressure and Courtois seemed very dodgy the game was crying out for Benteke and Sinclair. We're just so timid.
But when Benteke did come on we effectively died as a force.
That's my point: by the time he did come on Chelsea were in cruise control and the moment had passed.
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Delph was awful.
Apart from the goal I don't remember their keeper making any notable saves.......again. The football for me it too slow in the build-up, we always play the wrong pass even though there always seems to be someone waving their hands in miles of space.
I don't think we played good, for me they never needed to take it up a gear.
One thing that's always baffled me is the reluctance to switch play. We'll be bunched up, playing those pointless little triangles near one touchline, and on the other, there will be a winger or full back completely free. The ball breaks loose and instead of playing a lofted ball over one defender, we'll just pass it into a crowded area again. The lack of awareness is very annoying.
This!
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He's just said we were excellent three times, thought we deserved to win the game. Repeated that we have been creating chances in games so unlucky regarding lack of goals. Easy decision to drop Benteke and gabby was excellent with his speed.
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Gabby and Cleverley were left on far too long for me. Just after we equalised and we had our best spell of pressure and Courtois seemed very dodgy the game was crying out for Benteke and Sinclair. We're just so timid.
But when Benteke did come on we effectively died as a force.
That's my point: by the time he did come on Chelsea were in cruise control and the moment had passed.
My point is Benteke wasn't the solution.Moving Gil 20 yards up the pitch was.
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Lambert saying we deserved to win is utter nonsense.
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Better performance and great to see a goal but.......
Lambert off the hook, NIL points and another step towards relegation.
Much improved performance by Hull worryingly.
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We lost. We didnt get whipped so that is a very very minor positive. But we lost. Thats all really.
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Clarke had a good game as did Gil. Gabby, Cleverley, Delph, Weimann poor. The rest average.
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We had a 15 minute spell and scored, then went back to being timid and panicking as soon as they put a bit of pressure. A decent manager would have changed things a lot quicker he didn't we lose again.
Cleverly and Weiman not good enough.
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Well at least we scored. It was always gonna be beyond us to beat Chelsea, but Hull on Tuesday is another matter.
We simply have to beat them. No excuses.
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Mourinho almost paid Villa a compliment, he did say the players we have are very good and shouldn't be in the same position they are in so he also more or less said the manager is a fool.
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Can someone put a link up to our goal so I don't have to watch MOTD, I only watch it when we win. Is Jimmy Hill still presenting it?
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The worry is not that he said we were excellent three times but that he actually believes its true.
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Mourinho almost paid Villa a compliment, he did say the players we have are very good and shouldn't be in the same position they are in so he also more or less said the manager is a fool.
everyone can see it, Chris ...
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Mourinho almost paid Villa a compliment, he did say the players we have are very good and shouldn't be in the same position they are in so he also more or less said the manager is a fool.
He's bang on the money.
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Can someone put a link up to our goal so I don't have to watch MOTD, I only watch it when we win. Is Jimmy Hill still presenting it?
Now that is funny. We won 2-1 because the kits are indistinguishable in black and white.
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Gabby and Cleverley were left on far too long for me. Just after we equalised and we had our best spell of pressure and Courtois seemed very dodgy the game was crying out for Benteke and Sinclair. We're just so timid.
But when Benteke did come on we effectively died as a force.
At 2-1 down with less than 20 minutes to play or it whatever it was, they have the players to effectively shut down a game. Add to that they played against a side who have almost confidence in creating chances and goals. It didn't bode well for us whether Benteke came on or not at that stage of the game.
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Can someone put a link up to our goal so I don't have to watch MOTD, I only watch it when we win. Is Jimmy Hill still presenting it?
A red button option with the views of Jimmy Hill and David Icke would be an interesting alternative.
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What was the home crowd reaction at the end? Any boos?
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Played better. Gabby and Delph were poor. TC started off poorly as well but did pretty well after that. Gil was excellent but he can't do it all on his own. I don't think Beneteke even touched the ball for the first 10 mins he was on. Needed to bring him on when we were on top after scoring.
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Our equaliser led to an inexplicable retreat as a unit.For the umpteenth time instead of pressing for a second we are 'instructed' to hold on to what we've got.Which then invariably leads to conceding a goal then catch-up.
Total tactical fuck up.
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What was the home crowd reaction at the end? Any boos?
Nah, they only sell watered down Carlsberg in the stands.
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What was the home crowd reaction at the end? Any boos?
Nothing of any note.
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Similar game to Liverpool for me, with the earth shattering event of us actually scoring which was nice.
Gil was excellent, he's what we've been missing in midfield but thought Delph was really poor, Cleverley was a bit better than him today which says it all.
Couldn't understand Benteke being benched at all, yes he isn't great but surely you want him linking up with Gil and getting on the end of his crosses/passes rather than Gabby or Weimann.
I also wanted him on at 1-1 as the crowd were right on it and we were getting some decent space. At 1-2 Chelsea were happy to sit back so less space and predictably we didn't have a clue what to do.
We need to transfer these unlucky performanes against top 6 teams to games against the bottom half as who knows we might actually win a game or two. Instead we get bogged down in midfield battles and can't do anything.
For example we need to come out flying first half at Hull like we did today in the second half but we all know what is likely to happen.
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Just back from the inevitable loss . Thought we looked better and quicker / crisper with the ball without Sanchez who slows it down to a snail pace. Westwood did well. Gil was very good. Correct decision to drop benteke and Sanchez.
Let's be honest though Chelsea didn't break sweat today they won at a canter .
Roll on Tuesday night and evening of inevitable regression , pain and frostbite .
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I hate losing to Chelsea. From their questionable owner, classless manager, captain that shags team mates wife's to the sizeable remnants of their 70& 80's football hooligans, they represent everything that's wrong with football. You won't find a more dispicable club in the country.
As for the game, we did OK, a 1-2 loss was probably as good as we were going to get. Benteke looks half the player he was, but might improve if he put in a bit more effort / movement.
Our squad is much better than a couple of years ago, where we had the likes of Silla / Dawkins as our backup or Lowton / Luna in the team.
We just need a break & I think we'll turn the corner, hopefully it will come on Tuesday.
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"I have mixed emotions because I thought we deserved something from the game, we played really well," Lambert told BBC Sport.
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"In the second half it looked like only one team was going to get a win, but we conceded a really unfortunate goal.
"Our season will not be defined with what happened against Arsenal and Chelsea, it is about from now on in."
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49th defeat in 100 games.
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I want to see Gil play centrally, off Benteke, to ensure that he plays a bigger role. If Gil and Benteke can get an understanding and play off of each other, it could be what keeps us up. The defence pretty much picks itself and the midfield can be changed according to the situation i.e. 4-4-1-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-1-3-2 etc.
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Yes, it was a better performance, but bloody hell, after coming off the back of 5-0 hammering, that was the very least we should have expected.
You walk away from the ground and listen to peoples reactions. You'd have thought we'd just beaten Chelsea 5-0!
I heard that we were brilliant, ace, excellent and fantastic.
It drives me absolutely bloody barmy, it is almost treated like a bloody victory.
A few years ago, that would have been classed as a poor performance.
There was lots of huff and puff, we battled well, but there was little quality or invention, and for all that huff and puff, not a single shot on target in the first half, and a goal and 'pass back' shot in the second, that was it.
And, no doubt the deluded one thinks we were excellent again!
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"I have mixed emotions because I thought we deserved something from the game, we played really well," Lambert told BBC Sport.
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"In the second half it looked like only one team was going to get a win, but we conceded a really unfortunate goal.
"Our season will not be defined with what happened against Arsenal and Chelsea, it is about from now on in."
I agree with the last bit but for the rest of it, how often is he going to say the same old crap before he realises that there's more to it. Chelsea stepped it up once we scored and their goal was coming for a good few minutes. Once they re-took the lead, we didn't have the creativity to get through their organisation.
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Most of the people close to us were looking forward to watching a bit of skill from Gil and that is what they got. Clark played very well as he has done for some time. The problem is if Benteke cannot rouse himself to challenge for the ball we have absolutely no chance of scoring. Gabby
hasn't got anything left and Weimann offers only effort.
I cannot see how we can expect to survive. Sinclair appears to be overweight to what I remember of him at Swansea I don't think he will make an iota of difference in the run in. Delph has had a poor season so far. He wasn't any different today.
I know its defeatism but I really do believe its already too late to stay up.
Lerner and Lambert are totally to blame for this sorry state of affairs. Totally!
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"I have mixed emotions because I thought we deserved something from the game, we played really well," Lambert told BBC Sport.
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"In the second half it looked like only one team was going to get a win, but we conceded a really unfortunate goal.
"Our season will not be defined with what happened against Arsenal and Chelsea, it is about from now on in."
That will mean we have had a mid season break from 13th September to the 10th of February.
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"I have mixed emotions because I thought we deserved something from the game, we played really well," Lambert told BBC Sport.
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"In the second half it looked like only one team was going to get a win, but we conceded a really unfortunate goal.
"Our season will not be defined with what happened against Arsenal and Chelsea, it is about from now on in."
Ok Paul so with that in mind should we not beat Hull can we then define you as being shite ?
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What was the home crowd reaction at the end? Any boos?
A few boos in the Holte End but that was it, most of the reaction at the final whistle from the Lower Holte was aimed at Terry who came up to the Holte and raised his fists in the air and celebrated like he had just won the league the classless wanker.
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Can someone put a link up to our goal so I don't have to watch MOTD, I only watch it when we win. Is Jimmy Hill still presenting it?
http://www.flashscores.co.uk/match/jaCjOrv9/#video (http://www.flashscores.co.uk/match/jaCjOrv9/#video)
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What was the home crowd reaction at the end? Any boos?
A few boos in the Holte End but that was it, most of the reaction at the final whistle from the Lower Holte was aimed at Terry who came up to the Holte and raised his fists in the air and celebrated like he had just won the league the classless wanker.
I hope his cock rots off.
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i fear that's the last time we will play Chavski in the league at Villa Park for a while. Gil worked hard but i thought tired toward the end of the game. a 26% win ratio for a manager speaks volumes, but you could see why once we equalised. we sat back an invited them on to us, never looked like scoring a second.
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A loss is a loss. Two wins in 20 .But Lambert's reassured me on SSN that we were excellent and should have won. What a knobhead.
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I suppose we have to take consolation from the few positives, we weren't hammered, we scored, we played better than normal. Not much to cling to though is it.
We seem to be once again adding comedy defending to our blunt attack, which does not augur well. Delph is a bit of a liability in the defensive third giving the ball away in very dangerous areas, and why Okore didn't clear for a corner on the second goal is anyone'guess.
So another point closer to the drop zone.
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I'm not going to join in with some of the silly comments on here. The performance was not bad considering the opposition but the season starts against Hull. There have been a few signs recently that we could trouble some of the poorer sides in the division and now that the goal record is off our backs we now have the chance to get going again. Lambert is going nowhere so we need to stop repeating the same shite after every match and hope we can muster enough points. For what it's worth, although it might be close I still don't see us going down. QPR and Leicester are goners and I think Hull and Burnley will bail us out but we need to start helping ourselves.
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Not as bad as I expected and we played quite well at times, especially in the second half. And a league goal in front of the Holte! On the one hand Benteke deserved to be dropped, but on the other hand what's the point of buying a winger to get the ball to Benteke, then not playing them together until the last 15 minutes. Cleverley being first name on the team sheet continues to be baffling. Delph had one of his poorer games. Gil is a real find. Chelsea's gamesmanship throughout the game is a reflection of the classless one's personality - constant feigning injury, time wasting, lying down as if limbs shattered etc. John Terry is nothing short of minge on a stick. And the traffic afterwards was horrendous.
Better performance but still a defeat and Hull getting a point today means Tuesday's game becomes even more important. Those games over the New Year against Swansea, Sunderland, Palace and Leicester could still see us going down.
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Would love Learner and Fox to come out some time and tell us exactly what Lambert brings to the club. Awful results,awful performances,no points and no goals.It is hard to see why they continue to back him
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There have now been as many winners on the half time challenge as there have been home league wins this season!
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Looked at the clock on 64 mins at 1-1 and made the mistake of getting my hopes up.After we scored they changed it a bit and raised their game ,scored and that was it.I think losing again to that dispicable bunch of time saying cynical thugs aided by a biased ref has left me feeling as low about us as I can remember.Lose to Hull and I think we are going down.
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We did our best and ruffled their feathers, happier with that performance than I have been on many occasions but we've got to turn that into wins.
MOM was tight between Westwood and Gil.
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Oh, and another thing, I'm not sure that id be happy for our players to behave like theirs did, even if we were top of the league and going for the European Cup,
I hope I wouldn't anyway
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Took youngest son today , train from new St to witton was full of gobby Chelsea fans ...chelsea aggro being chanted very ..classy .
Sat in the north stand lower , more Spanish around me that English ,atmosphere poor but can't expect much really .
As for game ..I thought Chelsea were more than looked after by the Ref early doors ,most of first half actually .okore and Clark did well , gabby poor , weiman works hard but not much product ,Gil is a breath of fresh air but we were always expecting more and more almost miracle like moments ,great balance though .hutton was ok ,Delph poor and a liability at times ,cleverly was certainly not the worst villa player on the pitch ,benteke ...can't remember him touching the ball.
My view wasn't the best looking from corner flag area so forgive me if my ratings don't reflect your game .
Son enjoyed it ,I just wonder what he would have been like in the good times , he's not old enough to witness those times .I was amazed at the queue for shirt printing too .Going to and from the game I'm amazed the amount of people I spoke to and then discover they were Chelsea fans .
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It was day tripper central today. That the Holte had the most areas of empty seats tells you how many tourists made up the 36K.
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Agree ,same in lower North , foreigners galore
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Not knocking anyone but reading through the thread its as though we are on the down after a trophy laden couple of decades, lets have some stiff upper lips, we've been shit for far more often than we've been good.
Atmosphere was great today I thought, really got behind them and it showed in the play, for a bit...
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I thought we did alright. We played football but partly I suspect because the opposition were prepared to allow it. As to relegation: we're not going down because again there are three or more teams worse than us.
We have the spine of a half-decent side - this time next year with a bit of luck and a following wind we might even start troubling the bigger boys. Lambert might yet make fools of us all.
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Paul Lambert was frustrated by the final result against Chelsea - but certainly not the performance.
Villa went down 2-1 to the Blues in B6 as Jores Okore's first goal for the club was cancelled out by efforts from Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic for the Barclays Premier League leaders.
Lambert was gutted to watch his team lose but he was heartened by the "creativity and tempo" on show from his claret and blues.
Now he hopes the display is the "catalyst" for a fine end to the term for his side.
He said: "There were a lot of good things come out of the game for us.
"I was really disappointed to lose because I didn't think we deserved to.
"There were some good play from us and really good tempo to the game.
"I thought it was a great goal. I thought Carles was fantastic on the byline and then Jores finished well. I thought it was no more than we deserved.
"Even in the matches before, we had some great chances. It wasn't about making chances it was about taking them.
"Today we took the chance. And I thought football-wise we played well.
"I thought the front three were excellent - Carles, Andi and Gabby.
"To get the goal was a big moment for us with the way things have been going. But I thought the performance was very good.
"Villa are going into a run of games where, if we play like that, hopefully we will pick up a lot more points.
"We set a standard there, if we do that, hopefully we will win more games than not.
"You want to go as high as you can possibly can. There are a lot of games still to go but if we do that in the coming weeks, we will pick up points, that's for sure.
"That's the standard they have set themselves. If they play like that and keep that creativity and tempo to their game, they will win more than not.
"We were up against a team who, in my view, will be close to winning the Champions League and will close to winning the Barclays Premier League.
"With the players they have got - and the squad they have got - it was a big performance by us to do what we have done.
"Hopefully that's the catalyst for the football club to go and pick up points."
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Lambert saying we deserved to win is utter nonsense.
I don't think us getting back to 1-1 was that undeserved but yeah as soon as we scored Chelsea up the tempo, start crossing into our box regularly and eventually got a mistake.
I've always assumed with Lambert he's like most managers in he'll give a positive spin in post match interviews but will be much harsher behind closed doors.
However given how continually rubbish we are under him, its possible he is giving these deluded opinions in the dressing room and the players are going along with him.
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I thought we matched them in the first half and maybe even just edged in overall play, although again we never really looked too threatening. It was encouraging and as others have said, if we can actually keep the forward intent, we might not do as badly. Second half we came out looking well up for it, Weimann had a chance that he didn't connect with where it looped over the bar, on another day he might have lashed it home. Then they made some changes, and just bossed the game from then on. Benteke, Cole and Sinclaire didn't do anything of note for me.
Gil is our only serious threat. I love how he beats people and our goal came as a result of him doing this, instead of what we normally do which is to pass it backwards and across the pitch.
If it clicks for us and we get some confidence from somewhere, I think we'll easily stay up. That's more hope than anything and as we know, the stats are piling up against us now.
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I've never seen so many half and half scalfs as I saw today, must be a growing phenomena .
Anyway 14 cup finals lie ahead now , 11 really as 3 are absolute write offs before a ball is kicked .
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"Great, fantastic, excellent".
I must have been at a different game.
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We're Gabby and Weimann excellent Paul ? Be a change if they were.
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We're Gabby and Weimann excellent Paul ? Be a change if they were.
Gabby looks finished at this level. Weimann worked hard as usual but never ultimately threatened the goal
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Weimann did okay, he does a lot of donkey work. Gabby was just a donkey.
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No shame in that performance. It was a match we were never likely to win in all honesty. They matched Chelsea for long periods of the game. Gil looks a real prospect and Sinclair was bright when he came on.
Still giving the ball away cheaply though and that is what cost us ultimately.
Ref was shit. Where do they find these clowns?
Agree with what you say apart from the Sinclair bit. All he did was sit in Ivanovic's pocket. Ivanovic had his measure immediately.
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Very poor attendance again today , almost 5k down on the coresponding fixture last year which was a 530pm TV game !
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And kudos to the folks with the arrows in the Lower North, it made me loff when I saw them.
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Very poor attendance again today , almost 5k down on the coresponding fixture last year which was a 530pm TV game !
Chelsea just aren't a big draw.
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And kudos to the folks with the arrows in the Lower North, it made me loff when I saw them.
Haha yes that was very very good .
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Attendance didn't look that low to me, North stand upper was full, lower had a few empty seats. Was in the Trinity upper which was reasonably full as was the Witton.
Just the Holte that had decent empty spaces but didn't seem 7k empty seats to me.
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Had a great day today - lift off an old mate so reminiscing as we drove up - nice cheese and bacon burger - into the Holte to meet another couple of people for a nice chat and several beers - much laughter even if it was freezing today. Watched the match and laughed when Cleverly's name was booed again as they read the team out - I have never heard that for any other Villa player - watched game - sang - shouted -swore at referee - swore at John Terry - swore at various Villa players for giving the ball away - had another drink at half time - jumped around like a loon when we scored - had to sit down when they did - felt sad we couldn't score but not surprised - came home
I'm going again next week
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Attendance didn't look that low to me, North stand upper was full, lower had a few empty seats. Was in the Trinity upper which was reasonably full as was the Witton.
Just the Holte that had decent empty spaces but didn't seem 7k empty seats to me.
Lots of empties in Holte lower and Witton upper . I was trinity lower so couldn't see trinity upper but generally that's empty up there
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I've never seen so many half and half scalfs as I saw today, must be a growing phenomena .
I said the same after the fixture last season.
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I've never seen so many half and half scalfs as I saw today, must be a growing phenomena .
I said the same after the fixture last season.
Trinity lower seemed full of Eastern Europeans all wearing half / half scalfs . It was a bit surreal.
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Attendance didn't look that low to me, North stand upper was full, lower had a few empty seats. Was in the Trinity upper which was reasonably full as was the Witton.
Just the Holte that had decent empty spaces but didn't seem 7k empty seats to me.
Lots of empties in Holte lower and Witton upper . I was trinity lower so couldn't see trinity upper but generally that's empty up there
I was in A1, a fair few empty seats up there, and in Witton Lane. I mentioned earlier, the Holte seemed to have the most empty seats. I could only see part of the Upper Holte but there was a big block of empty seats, so assume it was the same for all of the UH.
4 plastics got thrown out of the UT after the second goal.
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I've never seen so many half and half scalfs as I saw today, must be a growing phenomena .
I said the same after the fixture last season.
Trinity lower seemed full of Eastern Europeans all wearing half / half scalfs . It was a bit surreal.
There were half a dozen French (I think) blokes behind us. UT was more UN today.
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It's a nothing result in the scheme of things. We were always going to lose. I suppose you have to give some credit for the score line but how much of that was Chelsea playing in third gear? I'm waiting for the 'excellent really restored their pride after last week' post match durge now.
In the same way hull were always going to lose away at City. Just sayin....
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What's a scalf?
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I've never seen so many half and half scalfs as I saw today, must be a growing phenomena .
I said the same after the fixture last season.
Trinity lower seemed full of Eastern Europeans all wearing half / half scalfs . It was a bit surreal.
There were half a dozen French (I think) blokes behind us. UT was more UN today.
TBAR understand that they are part of a new takeover contingent and will announce soon.
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I've never seen so many half and half scalfs as I saw today, must be a growing phenomena .
I said the same after the fixture last season.
Trinity lower seemed full of Eastern Europeans all wearing half / half scalfs . It was a bit surreal.
There were half a dozen French (I think) blokes behind us. UT was more UN today.
TBAR understand that they are part of a new takeover contingent and will announce soon.
Yep. Heard it from this guy in Lanzarote whose mate shovels shit at Bodymoor Heath
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I've never seen so many half and half scalfs as I saw today, must be a growing phenomena .
I said the same after the fixture last season.
Trinity lower seemed full of Eastern Europeans all wearing half / half scalfs . It was a bit surreal.
There were half a dozen French (I think) blokes behind us. UT was more UN today.
TBAR understand that they are part of a new takeover contingent and will announce soon.
Yep. Heard it from this guy in Lanzarote whose mate shovels shit at Bodymoor Heath
Friend of Lambert then?
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Much better. Fingers crossed we can perform this well against our counterparts for the rest of the season.
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Why was Gabby "Arnold Schwarzenegger" Agbonlahor captain?
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Why was Gabby "Arnold Schwarzenegger" Agbonlahor captain?
Because "he was back"
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Why was Gabby "Arnold Schwarzenegger" Agbonlahor captain?
Because "he was back"
(http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--39iJOUdM--/786745302171010730.gif)
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Attendance didn't look that low to me, North stand upper was full, lower had a few empty seats. Was in the Trinity upper which was reasonably full as was the Witton.
Just the Holte that had decent empty spaces but didn't seem 7k empty seats to me.
Lots of empties in Holte lower and Witton upper . I was trinity lower so couldn't see trinity upper but generally that's empty up there
Was going to go at the last minute, used to sit in lower holte when St holder so rang club today to see if any deals going.
Nothing ?! £70 for me and daughter so seats stay empty, idiots
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I paid £14 for my ticket. There were deals to be had.
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I paid £14 for my ticket. There were deals to be had.
how old are you Peter ....8? I paid 38 for me and my 9 year old
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45 in a month :'(
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A loss is a loss. Two wins in 20. But Lambert's reassured me on SSN that we were excellent and should have won. What a knobhead.
The man is a complete moron, the whole game he's on the touchline clapping his hands shouting c'mon for what purpose exactly.
He clearly doesn't understand what 'Excellent' means, coming away with zero points and the other guy finally getting his win wasn't from us playing excellent.
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Attendance didn't look that low to me, North stand upper was full, lower had a few empty seats. Was in the Trinity upper which was reasonably full as was the Witton.
Just the Holte that had decent empty spaces but didn't seem 7k empty seats to me.
Lots of empties in Holte lower and Witton upper . I was trinity lower so couldn't see trinity upper but generally that's empty up there
Was going to go at the last minute, used to sit in lower holte when St holder so rang club today to see if any deals going.
Nothing ?! £70 for me and daughter so seats stay empty, idiots
Same here.Me and my lad took in the Liverpool game, came home about £100 down.Visits to Villa Park are becoming as rare as hens teeth.
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45 in a month :'(
how did you get a ticket for 14 quid
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45 in a month :'(
how did you get a ticket for 14 quid
http://www.viagogo.co.uk/astonvilla?affiliateID=1721&PCID=AFFGBIAFF1721EEFF096FFE
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45 in a month :'(
how did you get a ticket for 14 quid
cheers Dave ,need look into this .daft question but is it an e ticket thingy and easy to get multiples together ...I know daft question
http://www.viagogo.co.uk/astonvilla?affiliateID=1721&PCID=AFFGBIAFF1721EEFF096FFE
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No, you get a paper ticket sent in the post. I assume if you buy more than one when there is more than one ticket on offer in one listing that they will be together. I've only ever bought singles though so don't know for sure.
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45 in a month :'(
how did you get a ticket for 14 quid
cheers Dave ,need look into this .daft question but is it an e ticket thingy and easy to get multiples together ...I know daft question
http://www.viagogo.co.uk/astonvilla?affiliateID=1721&PCID=AFFGBIAFF1721EEFF096FFE
And if you buy through that link we get a cut.
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Viagogo can be a little gem.
I've even see U2 tickets for the upcoming tour on there for as little as £18
Sorry.
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Viagogo go is like discovering a gem , my tickets were reasonably priced but shit view to be honest .
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Thankyou Mr Mills for pointing it out....."Cleverley, he doesn't look forward, it's a safe pass"
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9 pages? Where are we all ? Chin up Lads n lasses the manager couldn't have asked for more
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After a dodgy start Cleverley did ok today.
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I paid £14 for my ticket. There were deals to be had.
I've noticed when you buy Villa tickets from Viagogo they don't get registered on your patron code with the club (or whatever it's called).
Is that right?
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I paid £14 for my ticket. There were deals to be had.
I've noticed when you buy Villa tickets from Viagogo they don't get registered on your patron code with the club (or whatever it's called).
Is that right?
The don't have your client ref on the ticket but if you add your client ref to your Viagogo account they do go on your booking history. If you have a Villa Cash card you DON'T get any credit for Viagogo purchases.
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Good summery on MOTD
- No Creativity
-3 CM yet none of them are goalscorers
- Too many safe pass's
-Don't get enough men forward
-Aimless cross's hit into box where strikers are out numbered.
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45 in a month :'(
how did you get a ticket for 14 quid
cheers Dave ,need look into this .daft question but is it an e ticket thingy and easy to get multiples together ...I know daft question
http://www.viagogo.co.uk/astonvilla?affiliateID=1721&PCID=AFFGBIAFF1721EEFF096FFE
Look a month before the game and there's usually up to 6 tickets together for 15 quid although those go reasonably quickly.
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Those will be £15 each.
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And remember there are fees added to the prices, for one ticket that is normally £3.80. There is a booking fee and then a page or so later there is also a handling fee.
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Good summery on MOTD
- No Creativity
-3 CM yet none of them are goalscorers
- Too many safe pass's
-Don't get enough men forward
-Aimless cross's hit into box where strikers are out numbered.
Someone should tell Tom Fox
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I paid £14 for my ticket. There were deals to be had.
I've noticed when you buy Villa tickets from Viagogo they don't get registered on your patron code with the club (or whatever it's called).
Is that right?
The don't have your client ref on the ticket but if you add your client ref to your Viagogo account they do go on your booking history. If you have a Villa Cash card you DON'T get any credit for Viagogo purchases.
Oh right cheers. Mine isn't linked, but I'll try and do it.
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Two efforts on goal from Cleverly, things are looking up. I went today for the first time this season. £87 for me and my 16 year old, plus a 120 mile round journey. Not a great change to the usual matchday experience! It was a nothing performance from both sides. Chelsea weren't great, didn't need to be. Villa were ok but never expected to win so it was a freebie for the players because we didn't expect to get a lot. Wiemann is still crap and runs a lot but generally gets in the way. Gabby should have done better with his header, Lambert stopped our progress with the substitutions, particularly by bringing Gil inside when I thought he had the better of the Chelsea left back. Lots of empty seats.
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And remember there are fees added to the prices, for one ticket that is normally £3.80. There is a booking fee and then a page or so later there is also a handling fee.
Still a relative bargain for the rubbish we watch week in week out.
Under 20 quid to watch a premier league game of any quality is a pretty good deal these days.
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Good summery on MOTD
- No Creativity
-3 CM yet none of them are goalscorers
- Too many safe pass's
-Don't get enough men forward
-Aimless cross's hit into box where strikers are out numbered.
Someone should tell Tom Fox
I can imagine the conversation
"Randy, we've lost again "
Lerner "Bibble"
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Forgot to say, the antics of the Chelsea players boils my piss. Diving around, lying on the floor to waste time. Pathetic.
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Good summery on MOTD
- No Creativity
-3 CM yet none of them are goalscorers
- Too many safe pass's
-Don't get enough men forward
-Aimless cross's hit into box where strikers are out numbered.
Also, lambert said front 3 were excellent, they weren't!
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I read our goal came 659 minutes after the previous one. If only they'd waited a further 7 minutes *cue Carmina Burana*
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And remember there are fees added to the prices, for one ticket that is normally £3.80. There is a booking fee and then a page or so later there is also a handling fee.
Still a relative bargain for the rubbish we watch week in week out.
Under 20 quid to watch a premier league game of any quality is a pretty good deal these days.
I paid less today, and to have a great view in the UT, for less than a lot will have paid to stand at games in the Conference.
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I read our goal came 659 minutes after the previous one. If only they'd waited a further 7 minutes *cue Carmina Burana*
What's a Brazilian singer with bananas in her hair got to do with it?
*One for the oldies out there*
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Viagogo doesn't list the seat number anymore which is really annoying. I did complain to them and they responded with some generic email which got on my nerves even more.
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Chelsea were not very impressive, unless you count the cynical way they closed the game out with about 20-15 minutes to go with endless time wasting, play acting and putting a lot of men behind the ball. It's effective, but you can see why they hated Mourinho in Spain; a team that cost an African nations GDP, playing a very poor side and they resort to that? Mourinho's legacy on the game will not be fondly remembered save by some vile chav club.
Anyway, we were rubbish, again, only not quite as rubbish as Arsenal, which really isn't hard.
We had a decent 20 minutes where we moved the ball forwards a lot quicker, Delph became more direct with his running and drove at what is a thoroughly one paced back line. Gabby actually did ok and the pressure actually lead to a goal. We really should have popped cards with pictures of what to do on the back of the chair in front, as you have on a plane, as I had completely forgot how to celebrate, so effective has Lambert's strangling of any enjoyment been.
Bad defending for the second goal, matched only by the first and that was that.
We created nothing, again, and I cannot recall their keeper making a single save. No doubt Lambert considered out performance excellent.
He really showed his tactical prowess by making subs that changed the game. From being sort of in the match, the switches lead us to being completely out of it. We all remember Cahill getting terrorised year in year our by Carew running at him and bullying him. He has no pace, like Terry, so Benteke's omission actually made sense seeing as he can no longer be bothered to shake a leg, how we give Terry and Cahill a chance by knocking it up to him and how we get nobody close to him.
Yet again we play the awful Cleverley with his Westwood clone and Delph, forcing the impressive Gil to be shunted out wide, when he should play centrally to get him on the ball as much as possible. Oh well.
Our manager is tactically inept and singularly incapable of putting a team out that can create and score. For my next insight I will tell you that water is wet.
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Confession alert. As promised my son and I stayed away in protest. We went to see his local team Dulwich Hamlet play Canvey Island. My son is very involved in local politics and is widely regarded as the best player Hamlet never got into their team so he spent the game in a ruck of ultras being bollocked about local issues. I was inadequately dressed and frozen so I followed the Villa game in the bar. Sub text - Canvey have a red hot in the hole player who scored twice and has scored six in his three games for them. There is talent out there.
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Despite the negative line up we played well. But dropping benteke was madness.
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I have, to my knowledge, only castigated two Villa players on this esteemed forum, namely Steven Warnock and Al Hamedi. May I add another to this rather short litany of failure and ask the following simple question-' Tom Cleverley- Why?'
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I was going to post about Chelsea's cynicism but Ads has eloquently covered that above.
I thought we were OK with Gil being the stand out for me. The game on Tuesday is far more important to us so I am hoping that Benteke has benefited from the rest, however I little confidence in him at the moment. Just watched MOTD and heard all the praise for Kane and thought that is exactly what he was getting 2 years ago.
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We played better but still didn't test the keeper enough. Gil was very good. Cleverley didn't do anything again. He needs to be left out.
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I read our goal came 659 minutes after the previous one. If only they'd waited a further 7 minutes *cue Carmina Burana*
Our next goal is due on the 4 April at Old Trafford is the 64th minute .
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Some have covered the Chelski cynacism on here very well. For me the icing on their cake was the full one minute they took on a throw in in injury time. An absolute horrific team coached by a tedious man representing a classless club owned by a gangster.
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I read our goal came 659 minutes after the previous one. If only they'd waited a further 7 minutes *cue Carmina Burana*
What's a Brazilian singer with bananas in her hair got to do with it?
*One for the oldies out there*
Ay! Ay! Ay!
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Some have covered the Chelski cynacism on here very well. For me the icing on their cake was the full one minute they took on a throw in in injury time. An absolute horrific team coached by a tedious man representing a classless club owned by a gangster.
Don't hold back my friend. Say what you feel!!
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I really don't like Tom Cleverley and wish he'd never signed but he was better yesterday than he's been most of the time. I'd still drop him for the rest of the season though and thank fuck Everton want him and he wants them.
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I was going to post about Chelsea's cynicism but Ads has eloquently covered that above.
I thought we were OK with Gil being the stand out for me. The game on Tuesday is far more important to us so I am hoping that Benteke has benefited from the rest, however I little confidence in him at the moment. Just watched MOTD and heard all the praise for Kane and thought that is exactly what he was getting 2 years ago.
That's exactly what I thought watching Kane. Benteke was scoring headers like that too. It can all go wrong very quickly in football.
Benteke needs his mojo back, consistent service would help. It must be a burden thinking if you've just missed a chance and it could be the only chance you get for another couple of weeks. Hopefully starting Gil and Trev will give him the chance to thrive. I just hope Lambert is brave enough to try it for a few matches.
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I was going to post about Chelsea's cynicism but Ads has eloquently covered that above.
I thought we were OK with Gil being the stand out for me. The game on Tuesday is far more important to us so I am hoping that Benteke has benefited from the rest, however I little confidence in him at the moment. Just watched MOTD and heard all the praise for Kane and thought that is exactly what he was getting 2 years ago.
That's exactly what I thought watching Kane. Benteke was scoring headers like that too. It can all go wrong very quickly in football.
Benteke needs his mojo back, consistent service would help. It must be a burden thinking if you've just missed a chance and it could be the only chance you get for another couple of weeks. Hopefully starting Gil and Trev will give him the chance to thrive. I just hope Lambert is brave enough to try it for a few matches.
I don't really see the similarity, Kane is a far better player works harder doesn't look like he will hide and wont be asking for a transfer at the first sign of trouble.
I like Benteke and he can be magic at times but his first touch is horrible.
Look where spuds are compared to us, look at the manager they have compared to us and look at the team they have compared to us.
When Kanes form does dip it wont be on such a level as Benteke as Kane is so much harder to play against. I remember seeing him destroy us at Villa park a few season ago in the cup and I thought then he would be a top player.
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No, Kane is not 'a far better player'. He's in far better form.
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No, Kane is not 'a far better player'. He's in far better form.
Yep, an on form Benteke didn't only rely on chances being made for him he created things for himself.
Just as an aside, Kane's second goal yesterday reminded me of Peter Withe, the way he was able to place it and with enough power to make it impossible to save.
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Did you hear lambert
We have top top players , were be ok.
So basically he's saying , the squad is good enough but hes rubbish at his job.
Top top players who took 11 hours to score and two wins in how many games is it .
Lambert , you're admitting ,youre not good enough.
He can't produce a decent performance with top top players , he's out of depth .
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I like Kane, he is a bit like Withe in that he's quite an old fashioned striker, he can play on his own or with another forward, he can actually play and isn't just a Darren Bent, but he also scores (ie not just an Emile Heskey). He's a terrific player. However, like you say Chris, Benteke makes goals on his own - Kane wouldn't score a goal like Benteke's at the Bitters, for instance.
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No, Kane is not 'a far better player'. He's in far better form.
I guess time will tell but Kane is a far more intelligent player finding pockets of space playing on the shoulders of a defender or dropping off he can do either. Benteke is a beast and at time's unplayable but he can be just as frustrating.
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That's interesting, because Benteke is very annoying for being offside or not attacking the near post. However, you might say the same (on a different level) about Zlatan and Michael Owen: Zlatan might not be as good at movement inside the box and so forth, but he could never dream of the things Zlatan does. The same, though not as good, applies to Benteke. It's a trade-off, but I think Benteke is more special.
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Its probably too early to compare players to other players but inevitably we do.
I would compare Kane to a combination of Sheringham and Shearer but I wouldn't compare Benteke to ibrahimovic apart from the sulking.
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Obviously he's not as good, but you know what I mean in that he does the unexpected, he's very strong on the ball, real skill as well. I think a combination of Sheringham and Shearer is being quite generous!
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Obviously he's not as good, but you know what I mean in that he does the unexpected, he's very strong on the ball, real skill as well. I think a combination of Sheringham and Shearer is being quite generous!
Yeah you're probably right, i was going to compare Benteke to Heskey imagine that......You do feel though that if Benteke felt like it he could just go and score. I just wish he would feel more like it.
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How many chances has Benteke had and missed over the previous six games? Four at a stretch?
Spurs create chances and get players close to Kane. Benteke is a very good player, but if you refuse to support him by setting up a negative side with three or four non-creative central players, then he is going to score and his confidence will ebb.
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Benteke has it in him to be one of the best in Europe but you can't help but doubt his attitude and application at the moment. Is that the cause or the symptom of poor form? Who knows.
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That is true, Ads, but he also contributes to those problems because he's one of our most important players in the build-up, so he is partially responsible for his own lack of chances by his poor play all-round at the moment.
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That is true, Ads, but he also contributes to those problems because he's one of our most important players in the build-up, so he is partially responsible for his own lack of chances by his poor play all-round at the moment.
Which is why Lambert decided to drop him unfortunately the replacement was Gabby.....
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How many chances has Benteke had and missed over the previous six games? Four at a stretch?
Spurs create chances and get players close to Kane. Benteke is a very good player, but if you refuse to support him by setting up a negative side with three or four non-creative central players, then he is going to score and his confidence will ebb.
Obviously we are not supplying him much to work with but Benteke, on form, makes and finishes chances himself. There was an occasion yesterday when he was fed the ball a couple of yards outside their box and had space to turn into but he just knocked it back, to me that is a sign of a player on poor form and struggling for confidence. I mentioned this in the pub last night, that he is a young man and this probably hasn't happened to him before so does not have any experience to draw on.
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It's down to coaching as well. We're not encouraged to shoot, so we don't.
I don't see what Westwood and Cleverely add to our central midfield that Sanchez and Delph can't do between them. That frees up space for Gil, who can shoot, can find space and can create, to play centrally and get closer to Benteke.
Why Lambert is so negative, I have no idea.
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I think that's right Chris & Ads. There's clearly a lack of confidence, and perhaps there's also a lack of structure there. I remember when people would look at Barca players making these amazing runs and say 'how did they know where to run?', and some of it was individual inspiration but a lot of it was planned. I watched the Keown analysis of our rubbishness v. Arsenal, and it looked like there was absolutely no plan in attack, no understanding that in certain situations player X will go over there, player Y will make a dummy run, any of that.
Lambert appears to think that 'passing football' literally just means, like, passing it around and then something will happen by magic.
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It's down to coaching as well. We're not encouraged to shoot, so we don't.
That's what Merson was saying before the game yesterday. As far as he could see we have a goalkeeper, a midfielder and a defender (Marshall, Marshall and Lambert) on the coaching staff and questioned what a striker would get from them. He suggested that Lambert should be able to see that and get a forward coach in until the end of the season as West Ham did with Sheringham. Off the top of his head he suggested Dion, as he's a similar type of player to Benteke or Gary Shaw.
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I'm not sure if Shaw's knees would enable him to coach. He can't even turn out for a few minutes for the old stars can he? Henceforth known as 'Harry's Syndrome.'
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It's definitely down to coaching, structure and planning. Our silly habit of foul throws could be put down to a lack of discipline, or just plain stupidity. But teams that study things like Prozone know exactly where they're going to put a throw in before they've even won it. From any given area of the pitch, you should know where to put that ball, where there's a greater probability of gaining an advantage. It's just one aspect of our game where we seem to be reactive rather than proactive. We don't seem to have anything thought out in advance, other than playing keeps in our own half and sitting back after we score.
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We need a coach in the Dave Brailsford mould who demands attention to detail and won back to back Tours de France much on the strength of it. As Mont says correctly Lambert thinks the passing game is like a magic incantation. You pass the ball a few times and something happens by magic. No it does not. The players have to be coached into comprehending the patterns of play. The ball goes there, I go here, he goes there. If they do it often enough they do not even have to think about it. It become automatic. Besides I don't think you have to play either or passing or direct football. The players should be capable of both. Mix it up. It is so naive to switch from one system to another like the flip of a coin as somebody once said. Do whatever entertains the supporters and wins games.
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It's definitely down to coaching, structure and planning. Our silly habit of foul throws could be put down to a lack of discipline, or just plain stupidity. But teams that study things like Prozone know exactly where they're going to put a throw in before they've even won it. From any given area of the pitch, you should know where to put that ball, where there's a greater probability of gaining an advantage. It's just one aspect of our game where we seem to be reactive rather than proactive. We don't seem to have anything thought out in advance, other than playing keeps in our own half and sitting back after we score.
I've never understood how a professional footballer, semi professional footballer or even a half sober pub player gives away a foul throw. You would have thought that it was a pretty straight forward, basic and fundamental part of the game.
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I have, to my knowledge, only castigated two Villa players on this esteemed forum, namely Steven Warnock and Al Hamedi. May I add another to this rather short litany of failure and ask the following simple question-' Tom Cleverley- Why?'
Based on what I've seen, El-Ahamdi was twice the player Cleverley has been even if he himself was pretty mediocre.
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The thing which concerns me most about Lambert is this "I'm not worried, the goals will come" routine he has, which doesn't look likely if you look at the first 24 games of the season.
It is right up there with that absurd "buy kids, play them a lot and in time they'll become good enough" mantra
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The thing which concerns me most about Lambert is this "I'm not worried, the goals will come" routine he has, which doesn't look likely if you look at the first 24 games of the season.
It is right up there with that absurd "buy kids, play them a lot and in time they'll become good enough" mantra
Well this is it, there seems to be no coherent plan at all. Just the 'I'm not worried it'll be alright', which frankly is bizarre. We're dropping like a stone and are showing no signs of stopping that slide.
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Well he was right when he was asked if we'd stay up a couple of years ago and when questioned further as to why he thought that, he said "I just do." Genius.
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He looked rather gaunt and unwell on telly last night. He has had a tough couple of years personally and professionally.
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He looked rather gaunt and unwell on telly last night. He has had a tough couple of years personally and professionally.
He looked like he has lost a lot of weight. Despite the mega salary he is getting he cannot be enjoying this appointment .
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He looked rather gaunt and unwell on telly last night. He has had a tough couple of years personally and professionally.
He looked like he has lost a lot of weight. Despite the mega salary he is getting he cannot be enjoying this appointment .
He ain't the only one!
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It's definitely down to coaching, structure and planning. Our silly habit of foul throws could be put down to a lack of discipline, or just plain stupidity. But teams that study things like Prozone know exactly where they're going to put a throw in before they've even won it. From any given area of the pitch, you should know where to put that ball, where there's a greater probability of gaining an advantage. It's just one aspect of our game where we seem to be reactive rather than proactive. We don't seem to have anything thought out in advance, other than playing keeps in our own half and sitting back after we score.
I've never understood how a professional footballer, semi professional footballer or even a half sober pub player gives away a foul throw. You would have thought that it was a pretty straight forward, basic and fundamental part of the game.
For me it's a little clue as to the off-the-field approach. Lambert doesn't strike me as the analytical type, but studying the stats and probabilities can boost performance, even if it's only by a few percent. And that extra percent might be crucial. There's a science to football now, and while Lambert might dress like a schoolboy on the touchline, I doubt if he's applying himself to his studies.
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Wise old heads like Jim Smith and Siralex both appointed Steve McCLaren as their number two due to his knowledge of the things Jimbo mentioned.
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There were a couple of times where Gil won a throw-in and just took it instantly, and it was like watching another team. Usually - and for years - wherever the throw-in is won we'd wait for the full-back to lumber forward, and by then everyone is in place and marked and the full-back takes thirty seconds to throw the ball straight to the opposition. It's unbelievably stupid.
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There were a couple of times where Gil won a throw-in and just took it instantly, and it was like watching another team. Usually - and for years - wherever the throw-in is won we'd wait for the full-back to lumber forward, and by then everyone is in place and marked and the full-back takes thirty seconds to throw the ball straight to the opposition. It's unbelievably stupid.
So, that'll be the first thing that gets 'coached' out of him.
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There were a couple of times where Gil won a throw-in and just took it instantly, and it was like watching another team. Usually - and for years - wherever the throw-in is won we'd wait for the full-back to lumber forward, and by then everyone is in place and marked and the full-back takes thirty seconds to throw the ball straight to the opposition. It's unbelievably stupid.
So, that'll be the first thing that gets 'coached' out of him.
I've never been to one of these "open day training" days, has anyone here? Curious to actually know how much ball work goes on or is it full of running drills up and down cones.
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For me it's a little clue as to the off-the-field approach. Lambert doesn't strike me as the analytical type, but studying the stats and probabilities can boost performance, even if it's only by a few percent. And that extra percent might be crucial. There's a science to football now, and while Lambert might dress like a schoolboy on the touchline, I doubt if he's applying himself to his studies.
Didn't Lambert actually say in an interview that he pays little or no attention to stats?
The smart managers have been using sports science and psychology for years. I don't get the impression that we've seen the benefits of this approach from any of our managers.
Those that certainly have been using it are McLaren, Alladyce and Clive Woodward (at Sourhampton).
Lambert is just not the type of manager we need. End of.
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Whilst I'm no fan of Cleverley; at best you could say he's been underwhelming; some of the criticism of him is way over the top. Our limitations existed long before he joined us.
Personally, I'd keep my criticism for the likes of Benteke who seems unwilling to put in a shift .
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Whilst I'm no fan of Cleverley; at best you could say he's been underwhelming; some of the criticism of him is way over the top. Our limitations existed long before he joined us.
Personally, I'd keep my criticism for the likes of Benteke who seems unwilling to put in a shift .
As poor as he has been I'd always have Benteke in the side because he's one of our two players who has the ability to do something special. Cleverley can buzz around as much as he likes but even if he has a good game he's unlikely to have had much impact on it.
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Whilst I'm no fan of Cleverley; at best you could say he's been underwhelming; some of the criticism of him is way over the top. Our limitations existed long before he joined us.
Personally, I'd keep my criticism for the likes of Benteke who seems unwilling to put in a shift .
I think we were expecting a little more from a so called £7M England player.
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the game plan for the rest of the season has to be 'get the ball to Gil', he's the only player that can make something happen positively.
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There were a couple of times where Gil won a throw-in and just took it instantly, and it was like watching another team. Usually - and for years - wherever the throw-in is won we'd wait for the full-back to lumber forward, and by then everyone is in place and marked and the full-back takes thirty seconds to throw the ball straight to the opposition. It's unbelievably stupid.
See point 6 in http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/02/25-johan-cruyff-quotes.html (http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/02/25-johan-cruyff-quotes.html)
One of the best football brains ever to play this game.
It is not surprising that many things mentioned in this post match thread are covered by Cruyff's quotes. It is after all, a simple game.
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Very nice. My favourite was 'Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.'
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Very nice. My favourite was 'Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.'
He was about to go on and describe the Villa but the press conference ended.
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Haha, yep. 'Boring and pointless' is a pretty good description of us right now.
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To compare Kane with Benteke is like comparing Sammy Morgan with Andy Gray. Like comparing Ricky Lambert with Diego Costa. Bobby Zamora with Stan Collymore. Benteke is an amazing footballer not applying himself to the task Kane is an average footballer applying himself amazingly to the task at the moment.
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Kane has a very punchable face but I think he's going to be much better than average. Unfortunately.
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We were discussing in the pub the performance of Gil, hes fantastic, even when dribbling around players in our own third it relieves the monotony for a short time, the head says 'just keep it simple and get up the field' but hes great to watch. A real find, well done to the scouts.
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It's a pleasure to see a footballer not play the expected angled pass but play the unexpected turn and waltz past players like Gil did with Oscar. Almost worth the entry fee!
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To compare Kane with Benteke is like comparing Sammy Morgan with Andy Gray. Like comparing Ricky Lambert with Diego Costa. Bobby Zamora with Stan Collymore. Benteke is an amazing footballer not applying himself to the task Kane is an average footballer applying himself amazingly to the task at the moment.
If Kane was playing for us and doing what he's currently doing at Spurs you, me and everybody else on here would be praising him to the heavens and congratulating ourselves on what a gem we'd got.
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Kane's the real thing, and looks like he could be every bit as good as someone like Mandzukic - and that's very very good. The thing about Benteke is that he could be even better than that, but at the moment an awful lot is going wrong for him.
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When did we last have someone with 22 goals for the season when it's still early Feb?
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To compare Kane with Benteke is like comparing Sammy Morgan with Andy Gray. Like comparing Ricky Lambert with Diego Costa. Bobby Zamora with Stan Collymore. Benteke is an amazing footballer not applying himself to the task Kane is an average footballer applying himself amazingly to the task at the moment.
No, I don't think so. Kane is going to be a great footballer. At 21 he looks like a young Alan Shearer to me.
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There were a couple of times where Gil won a throw-in and just took it instantly, and it was like watching another team. Usually - and for years - wherever the throw-in is won we'd wait for the full-back to lumber forward, and by then everyone is in place and marked and the full-back takes thirty seconds to throw the ball straight to the opposition. It's unbelievably stupid.
I made the same observation when Gil made his debut. At times we really are our own worst enemy which all goes back to to lack of coaching. The same can me said for corners, remember back to the MON days where we only scored from corners or set pieces? One thing we do manage now is winning plenty of corners but then you see how the players line up for them and you know we don't have a plan other than to confuse the opposition and ourselves.
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And always bringing back everyone to defend a corner. And despite that still often getting caught out with short corners. Leave Gil or Gabby up so as the opposition have something to worry about and have to leave men back.
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And always bringing back everyone to defend a corner. And despite that still often getting caught out with short corners. Leave Gil or Gabby up so as the opposition have something to worry about and have to leave men back.
This is the one simple change in tactics that would show a change of intent. It would reduce the number of opponents allowed to come forward and attack at corners so it really is a no brainer. It would relieve so much pressure by allowing an option to clear the ball out of defense.
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And always bringing back everyone to defend a corner. And despite that still often getting caught out with short corners. Leave Gil or Gabby up so as the opposition have something to worry about and have to leave men back.
That is possibly the thing which annoys me most about current tactics - and it's not just Villa - leaving a player up takes another attacking player out of the box and gives an outlet for a counter. Yesterday Chelsea did leave a player forward as did Villa in Lambert's first few fsmes in the job.
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And always bringing back everyone to defend a corner. And despite that still often getting caught out with short corners. Leave Gil or Gabby up so as the opposition have something to worry about and have to leave men back.
This is the one simple change in tactics that would show a change of intent. It would reduce the number of opponents allowed to come forward and attack at corners so it really is a no brainer. It would relieve so much pressure by allowing an option to clear the ball out of defense.
This.Been banging my head on the seat in front of me every time we concede a corner.LEAVE SOMEONE ON THE HALF WAY LINE.Even two, or three.Maybe four.
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Gil would be the one i'd leave up. I can't imagine he's much use as a defender at corners, you can at least say Andi/Gabby/Benteke are some use in the air defensively, plus he has the skill to go on his own if it's lumped/passed out of defence.
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Seems we are all in agreement about this - leave at least one player on the half way line - it will make the other team keep 2 players back to cover, plus their keeper, one of theirs is taking the corner, so that leaves 7 of them against 10 of our players.
If we can't work out these simple sums - somebody needs to do some extra homework
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He's not the only manager to do it - even BFR did and no-one could ever accuse him of being defensive.
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And always bringing back everyone to defend a corner. And despite that still often getting caught out with short corners.
Worse than that, yesterday I saw us line up to defend a corner and Delph was man marking Drogba (or Ivanovic) in the 6 yard box who was at least a foot taller. Maybe we have a lottery before games to decide who will mark who.
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Bringing everyone back for the corner is the classic tactics for playing counter attacking football. 2 or 3 of your players have no intention of defending but are in position to start a breakaway attack. However our opponents can easily work this out and we are never quick enough to do it properly. BFR's team was very good at it.
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To compare Kane with Benteke is like comparing Sammy Morgan with Andy Gray. Like comparing Ricky Lambert with Diego Costa. Bobby Zamora with Stan Collymore. Benteke is an amazing footballer not applying himself to the task Kane is an average footballer applying himself amazingly to the task at the moment.
I think that's very far from certain quite frankly
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Kane looks the more complete player to me on the evidence so far.
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Kane is definitely a better player at 21 than Benteke was at 21.
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As with any young player that suddenly appears on the scene, let's see him do it next season. A summer of increased profile and expectation might bring him crashing down to earth. That and teams will now plan to mark him better and he won't have the surprise element anymore. He's clearly a very good player but to get to the next level and perform at this standard consistency takes a lot more than just talent. He'll need to be focused and mentally strong.
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Our subs didnt really have any impact when they came on. Granted Lambert should have made a change earlier as Chelsea were on top but in truth Gabby was better with his back to goal than Benteke, Ivanovic owned Sinclair while Cole just seemed to be getting in Gil's way. In hindsight, Sanchez should have come in earlier when we were getting overrun at 1-1. Would have been a very unpopular change though at the time.
In fairness to Lambert, the decision to bring Cissokho back in and continue the Okore/Clark partnership was justified. Clark in particular was outstanding. Okore should have done better for both goals although the second was a lucky one really for Chelsea. Gil was primarily at fault for the second while the majority of blame for the first should go to Hutton. His form defensively has really been poor of late. Totally switched off for Hazard's run to the front post yesterday.
For Tuesday night, Benteke will probably come back in. Gil will stay on the right so the question will be who will be on the left. Gabby, Weimann or Sinclair? Id expect Sanchez to come back in for Cleverley to combat the physically strong Hull trio. Arguably Bacuna would be the better call to protect Hutton and also enable Gil to play further up the pitch.
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After 22 goals I imagine teams are already making plans to mark him better etc. Doesn't seem to be doing them much good.
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I don't think there's much evidence, and I certainly don't think it's clear-cut between the two of them. Kane gets goals which Benteke doesn't appear to have the movement to get, but Kane has never done something like the Norwich overhead kick, or the goal against Baggies, or the times where he can swagger through defences. They are many differences between them.
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We can all assess Kane better next season once defenders have had a chance to suss him out.
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There is zero doubt that Kane is better at 21. They are different style players, doesn't mean they can't be compared though, we do it all the time with players.
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'Zero doubt'? Benteke was playing in Belgium when he was 21. Had he not been, who knows how he would have compared. And before anyone says 'well, if he were that good he wouldn't still have been in Belgium', who's to say that if Kane were Belgian he'd have played well enough to leave there yet? It's all very speculative.
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Grass is always greenest....
If Kane keeps doing it for the rest of the season and does it again next season I will proclaim him as the new messiah but until than no I don't see what's great about him as a footballer.
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'Zero doubt'? Benteke was playing in Belgium when he was 21. Had he not been, who knows how he would have compared. And before anyone says 'well, if he were that good he wouldn't still have been in Belgium', who's to say that if Kane were Belgian he'd have played well enough to leave there yet? It's all very speculative.
Yes zero doubt imo. At 21 Benteke was scoring 1 in 4 in a weaker league, Kane is scoring more than 1 in 2.
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My front 6 for Hull:-
Westwood Delph
Agbonlahor Gil Sinclair
Benteke
4-2-3-1. We need more movement and pace - and get Gil playing in the centre between the lines. Take the game to them and stop playing in straight lines.
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I think he's playing with players who are a bit better than Benteke had at Genk. Lukaku was knocking them in for fun in Belgium when he still couldn't legally drive, but a few nice moments notwithstanding he's found it tougher in England. Benteke, by contrast, scored more in England than in Belgium. Yes England is a stronger league, but there are lots of factors around individual players which make direct comparisons complicated IMO.
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I'm disappointed with the defeat but we score at last we need to beat Hull that's a massive game for us.
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I know it`s already been said but the arrows were brilliant. It obviously worked so lets have lots more of them for the Leicester game
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I never even noticed the arrows. Does anyone have pics ?
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Quite a few in the Lower North.
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but until than no I don't see what's great about him as a footballer.
He's got 22 goals in 34 games. If you don't recognise that as a very, very good return, then I suggest you're watching the wrong sport. He scores a good mix of goals as well, from a poacher's effort for his first on Saturday, to a brilliantly taken header. In what was after all, a highly pressurised local derby, and one they were losing. Yes, he might go on to be the next Michael Ricketts (or, cough, Benteke, cough), but you absolutely cannot argue that he hasn't been superb this year.
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If a Villa player had 22 in 34 before Valentine's Day we'd be creaming ourselves. And rightly so.
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Let's be honest, I get a bit of a semi at the thought of a Villa player getting 22 in 34 months.
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After 22 goals I imagine teams are already making plans to mark him better etc. Doesn't seem to be doing them much good.
No, he's done really well this season and he's full of confidence as is the team in getting him the ball. A bit like Benteke in year one with us. However teams find ways to mark and account for players. Kane won't keep up this pace unless he is the next Ronaldo or Messi which I don't think anyone believes he is. It's when he starts to have a dip in form we'll see how good he really is and how quickly he bounces back. We're seeing it ourselves right now with Benteke that however good a player is he can be negatively affected by a number of factors. Hopefully in our case Benteke will have a lot to say between now and the end of the season.
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Let's be honest, I get a bit of a semi at the thought of a Villa player getting 22 in 34 months games.
Fixed.
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Kane seems to have a goal scoring nouse; the ability to hit the 6 yard box and score tap ins; the ability to no where to position himself.
Beneteke maybe, just maybe, be more capable but he, like all the Villa strikers have no goal scoring nouse. Nobody ever score a tap in.
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I never even noticed the arrows. Does anyone have pics ?
http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/07/aston-villa-fans-hold-up-giant-arrows-to-point-misfiring-strikers-in-direction-of-the-goal-against-chelsea-5053424/
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but you absolutely cannot argue that he hasn't been superb this year.
And I have not argued that.
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Kane looks a superb player.
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I think in the summer we should offer Spurs Agbonlahor and the North Stand in exchange for Kane. I think he's ace.
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Kane seems to have a goal scoring nouse; the ability to hit the 6 yard box and score tap ins; the ability to no where to position himself.
Beneteke maybe, just maybe, be more capable but he, like all the Villa strikers have no goal scoring nouse. Nobody ever score a tap in.
The okore goal against Chelsea was a bit of a tap in- just with his head. Completely unmarked in the 6 yard box really.
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Kozak is a clever striker in terms of runs and positioning he scored a few tap ins before he got injured.
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They did a bit of analysis on Okore's goal of here (naturally being Danish), and the run he makes to find the space after the clash at the near post is really good, the way he drifts away from the defender. That's why he was unmarked.
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They did a bit of analysis on Okore's goal of here (naturally being Danish), and the run he makes to find the space after the clash at the near post is really good, the way he drifts away from the defender. That's why he was unmarked.
Fuck right off. Are you telling me that a Villa player, an actual real-life Aston Villa player, lost his marker and anticipated where the ball had a good chance of going? Seriously? Now I've heard everything!
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In fairness, he does come back over here every now and again to train with the national squad, so he gets a chance to unlearn everything he's taught at Bodymore ;)
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They did a bit of analysis on Okore's goal of here (naturally being Danish), and the run he makes to find the space after the clash at the near post is really good, the way he drifts away from the defender. That's why he was unmarked.
Fuck right off. Are you telling me that a Villa player, an actual real-life Aston Villa player, lost his marker and anticipated where the ball had a good chance of going? Seriously? Now I've heard everything!
Yes, but it took a defender to show how.
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If we lose today then for the first time I'm going to be joining the Lambert out brigade. I've backed him and backed him but if we don't turn it around now against Hull then I fear we won't at all.
A win today and a win in the cup will do very nicely indeed.
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And it's just taken me 15 odd years to realise the 'next' button in the bottom right corner takes you to the next thread and not the next page haha
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And it's just taken me 15 odd years to realise the 'next' button in the bottom right corner takes you to the next thread and not the next page haha
if it makes feel any better... You found that out before me