Bradford City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Clark W Griswold]

Let off some steam, Bennett.

Seriously though, give the guy a break. He has been largely shit for us, but he still deserves more opportunities to get it right.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

"Agbonlahor: We'll rise to second leg challenge"
I see the o.s bollocks has started. Oh joy

  hes past his best.average championship player now

I thought he was the only one up front trying to change things, very much like Robbie Keane did for us last season, dropping deeper, cutting inside and trying to create space for the others. If he's an "average championship player now", we really are screwed.

[Villa in Denmark]

For all the "their keeper played a blinder" stuff - for me he did no more than not drop a bollock - for all of the saves he made, none of them were "how did he keep that out" stuff they were mostly at a reasonable height / distance for him.  Definitely more a case of poor finishing for me which is the one thing that still gives a bit of cause for optimism - we were undoubtedly awful for large chunks last night, but still managed to carve out 7/8 really good chances

[Monty]

For all the "their keeper played a blinder" stuff - for me he did no more than not drop a bollock - for all of the saves he made, none of them were "how did he keep that out" stuff they were mostly at a reasonable height / distance for him.  Definitely more a case of poor finishing for me which is the one thing that still gives a bit of cause for optimism - we were undoubtedly awful for large chunks last night, but still managed to carve out 7/8 really good chances

I agree. I actually thought he looked pretty dodgy - Benteke's first half shot from about 20 yards was straight at him but he palmed it for a corner, and for Bent's missed header a fairly straightforward shot bobbled up from him back into the danger area.

[Karl Bridges]

I still can't believe Bent missed that header. He didn't even need to jump, could of waited for it to drop and just nod it down.

[fredm]

The first bit of advice I'd give to Lambert right now is to stop calling O'Neill.

I am really puzzled by last night. There must be something of a siege mentality setting in at VP.

Lambert seemed to pick 7 players for one half of the pitch and 4 for the other, with the main means of joining the two together being a big boot of the ball in the general direction of Benteke.

It makes no sense at all. It's a waste of Benteke's talent and is probably the one tactic most easily dealt with by a div 4 outfit.

Add in the fact that several players put in less than sparkling performances meant that we really were asking for it.

The 4 up front meant there was very little space to run into, made it easy for Bradford to mark them and us completely confused as the 4 were all going for the same ball. Weimann, who's been in great form recently was stuck out wide, making him invisible. Gabby tried to mix it up by dropping deeper and moving inside which was a smart move and I couldn't understand why he and not N'Zogbia, who was playing for himself, was brought off. Bent came on to add to the confusion. Hoofing ala MON seemed to be our only tactic thereafter.

It was a complete mess. Why Lambert thought N'Zogbia was needed from the start, I've no idea. We completely lost our real attacking strength and made things so difficult for ourselves. Tactically, it was right up there with the worst days of MON, something I hoped we'd seen the last of.

When I heard the team read out I thought exactly the same.  Going with 4 attackers and 2 midfielders when we needed to keep it tight.  As you say, by switching Andi to play on the right negated his influence on the game in relation to his link up play with Benteke.  And then to compound it, he didn't even bother to take Herd or Holman (and I haven't seen anything to say they were unavailable) when one of them in midfield would have stopped Bradford picking up all the loose balls that Jones had a field day with.  As you say it was a major tactical cock up by PL from start to finish.

[bob rowe]

I know we're all feeling low about this game, but I had a good laugh at this. Summed up how I felt for a while! 

[JD]

I know we're all feeling low about this game, but I had a good laugh at this. Summed up how I felt for a while! 

Show this to the players. It made my fu*%ing blood boil and if it doesn't do the same to the players to rip Bradford to pieces in the second leg then they shouldn't play for Villa.