West Ham v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Monty]

I agree with you Brian, but I feel that tiny burst of pace would be better used in attacking midfield, where he can find little pockets of space and start to pull opposition defenders out of position.

[KRS]

The main conundrum is Bent...if we dont play to his strengths and provide him with service then we might as well sell him as he's just a waste of space otherwise. We need to compliment him with a couple of wingers, a big hold up guy to play alongside him...or both. Bent is never going to be that striker who can control the ball, look up and hit a powerful shot into the top corner from outside the box, so unless we play to his strengths which is playing the ball over the shoulder of the last defender or into the box, then we're going tp have many games where he hardly touches the ball let alone have any shots on goal.

[brian green]

You are probably right bert.   I was only musing.   He does have a mini burst of pace but he always seems to want to use it sideways or obliquely then having used it to be fifteen yards somewhere else on the pitch make a pass he could have made from the original place he was.   At least with a touchline to limit him he would have to either go forwards or backwards.   Bit like having a greyhound in trap 1.

[Legion]

The main conundrum is Bent...if we dont play to his strengths and provide him with service then we might as well sell him as he's just a waste of space otherwise. We need to compliment him with a couple of wingers, a big hold up guy to play alongside him...or both. Bent is never going to be that striker who can control the ball, look up and hit a powerful shot into the top corner from outside the box, so unless we play to his strengths which is playing the ball over the shoulder of the last defender or into the box, then we're going tp have many games where he hardly touches the ball let alone have any shots on goal.

Very well put.

[Monty]

Haha, very true Brian, but I actually think he'd suit the way we play now, with freedom of movement. He always looked like the only one wanting to make things happen last season, hopefully with like-minded players around him this season he could actually succeed!

[Dante Lavelli]

It amazes me how little stick Lerner gets on these forums. He's the one who's appointed the managers in the last two years which has caused this situation. PL is a step in the right direction but he needs substantial funds to work with - how about the £35M in your back pocket Randy from the Young and Downing sales? What happened to the Proud History, Bright Future slogan and the master 5 year plan?

All this has been said and more, ad nauseum.

In the last three sets of accounts Randy has - through loans admittedly - pumped in over 130m into the club to cover the losses we make.  He’s made mistakes but to say he’s pocketed the Downing/young money is a tad harsh.

[Mister E]

You are probably right bert.   I was only musing.   He does have a mini burst of pace but he always seems to want to use it sideways or obliquely then having used it to be fifteen yards somewhere else on the pitch make a pass he could have made from the original place he was.   At least with a touchline to limit him he would have to either go forwards or backwards.   Bit like having a greyhound in trap 1.

I'd like to see Carruthers play the wide role: from the little I've seen of him, he seems to have the turn of pace, the skills and the tenacity to deliver from wide.

[Monty]

You are probably right bert.   I was only musing.   He does have a mini burst of pace but he always seems to want to use it sideways or obliquely then having used it to be fifteen yards somewhere else on the pitch make a pass he could have made from the original place he was.   At least with a touchline to limit him he would have to either go forwards or backwards.   Bit like having a greyhound in trap 1.

I'd like to see Carruthers play the wide role: from the little I've seen of him, he seems to have the turn of pace, the skills and the tenacity to deliver from wide.

Good idea. Bannan in for N'Zogbia looks obvious to me, but Carruthers as an impact sub for Holman certainly makes sense.

[Mister E]

The main conundrum is Bent...if we dont play to his strengths and provide him with service then we might as well sell him as he's just a waste of space otherwise. We need to compliment him with a couple of wingers, a big hold up guy to play alongside him...or both. Bent is never going to be that striker who can control the ball, look up and hit a powerful shot into the top corner from outside the box, so unless we play to his strengths which is playing the ball over the shoulder of the last defender or into the box, then we're going tp have many games where he hardly touches the ball let alone have any shots on goal.

You've captured the Bent problem exactly, but if we play two wingers and a big guy alongside, we suffer the problem we had with MON: we become soft through central MF.

I think that out-and-out wingers on each side is a luxury we cannot afford: the conundrum for me is who plays in the middle and who plays up front! (sorry about the statement of the bleedin' obvious).

Bent will deliver for us if we have a dynamic attacking midfielder 'in the hole': Ireland could be that player but - as Brian says  - he's a bit too in-and-out; GG could play there but his development seems to have slowed at the moment; Johnson might be the man but lacks experience; Holman might be that player once he's got the pace of the EPL sussed.

Width has to come from the FB, IMO; and from the striker's movement.

I can see Gabby playing much better than Bent in the set-up we saw yesterday.

[Chris Smith]

Another problem that yesterday exposed was that without Gabby we're very one paced which tends to make us very easy to defend against, particularly when the passing from midfield becomes predictable as it did after a bright opening.

As I keep saying it's going to take time; both in terms of the players getting used to the managers ideas and he in turn getting to understand the strengths of those at his disposal.

[McGraths Dry Cleaning]

Paul Lambert is a good manager but the old saying you cant shine shit comes to mind.

That's true but I wish someone at Villa would roll it in glitter before the Everton game.

[KevinGage]

Haha, very true Brian, but I actually think he'd suit the way we play now, with freedom of movement. He always looked like the only one wanting to make things happen last season, hopefully with like-minded players around him this season he could actually succeed!

Some of his link up play last season with Ireland was excellent. 

Just about the only two players in the team on the same wavelength, could read each others give and go's. 

Not sure how we'd shoe-horn both into the starting line up on a regular basis, but it's something we should definitely look at.   Start with intelligent players who want to get on the ball and build from there would be my wish.

[Monty]

Some of his link up play last season with Ireland was excellent. 

Just about the only two players in the team on the same wavelength, could read each others give and go's. 

Not sure how we'd shoe-horn both into the starting line up on a regular basis, but it's something we should definitely look at.   Start with intelligent players who want to get on the ball and build from there would be my wish.

I'd get him in ahead of N'Zogbia. Looking at the role Zog was asked to play - not an out-and-out winger, as Lambert doesn't particularly like that, but an attacking midfielder switching and interchanging - I think it's better suited to Bannan, and would allow him to link up with Ireland, like you say.

[The Situation]

I agree with some of the things said about Bannan

I was annoyed when McLeish shunned him out the team halfway through the season because despite how poor we were we didn't have that creative spark in midfield who looks to have a "football brain". He can read situations and how they would develop, we need thst fast forward thinking in our team. He can also be quite versatile flowing in from midfield out wide and vice versa.

We will see what Lambert does with him though but I'm sure he wants to prove he's good enough to play for us.

I still feel we need a midfield leader like Milner and Petrov was for the team - its all about figuring out what we need and where to use it to get the best from the team.

[Walmley_Villa]

Watched the game on the net yesterday and we did look very limp in the last third. I said before Ireland is a tid footballer but can he deliver the killer pass? We are incredibly reliant on him doing this. N'zog has been a massive disappointment for me and I was chuffed when we signed him. Bannan in on Saturday for me.

Left back is a worry as the only time we pushed forward from a wide position was with Lowton pushing forward. The new signings looked ok and it will take time for things to settle down. PL can only really judge what he has in real matches and yesterday will I'm sure have given him food for thought.