Southampton v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[hawkeye]

Also I like KEA, but he was poor today and oddly I'm not sure if he's afraid of heading the ball but he really bottled it on a couple of occasions.

The jury still out for me with KEA, he does bottle it and gets pushed off the ball too easy.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

In response to the person who wrongly thought Ireland was brought off for being shit, a quite from PL: ""Losing Stephen was a blow because I thought he was playing really well.".

You was wrong, everyone else was right. So there.

[hawkeye]

In response to the person who wrongly thought Ireland was brought off for being shit, a quite from PL: ""Losing Stephen was a blow because I thought he was playing really well.".

You was wrong, everyone else was right. So there.

there were people on the match thread wanting him off through the first half- bananas

[PaulWinch again]

Just back. My first viewing of the new Villa and right now I couldn't care if it is my last. What a waste of a Saturday and about £50. Still, I suppose, as we have said, there are going to be days like these along the way to brighter ones ahead. Easier to say what was decent as it won't take very long. Vlaar was good, Ireland had an excellent first half after a sluggish start and Holman certainly gets around the pitch if often in headless chicken mode. The rest were awful and not worthy of wasting any more time than I have already today in commenting upon them...

Yeah wasn't good was it? I still think it stemmed from Clark and Bannan constantly trying to hoof it to Benteke, it made us really disjointed.

No Paul, thought of you in the other end today! You were probably better off there! Much too much hoof ball as you say after half time and we stopped pressing them. The midfield was far too lightweight and they were just carving us up at will second half with a huge hole behind our midfield and in front of the back four. Still, it will come I'm sure, just difficult to be philosophical when you go fairly infrequently as I do and then you have to watch that...

Indeed, I just think they got confused as to the system in the second half and it completely unraveled. I made it pretty far into the game until people around me started to clock I was a Villa fan, it got a bit uncomfortable after that!

[richard moore]

In response to the person who wrongly thought Ireland was brought off for being shit, a quite from PL: ""Losing Stephen was a blow because I thought he was playing really well.".

You was wrong, everyone else was right. So there.

there were people on the match thread wanting him off through the first half- bananas

He started badly and was off the pace for about ten minutes, but the last twenty minutes of the first half he was effectively running the show and looked the best player on the pitch. Southampton deserved it though, Puncheon looks a player and he similarly ran the second half for them

[arnie66]

Ok, watched the game on stream and here are my thoughts, like anyone cares 

1. That was our first game when from the fisrt whistle we started to look like a MON team with Carew or Heskey upfront trying to feed off long balls. Sorry but it never worked today.
2. Having a narrow midfield four with 2 young, inexperienced full backs to offer width isn't always going to work. Have the days of wingers really gone?
3. We lack a No.10 or someone who plays in between the lines. What attack we did muster was too easy for Southampton too defend. Ireland could be that but went off for some mysterious reason.
4. The back four of Lowton, Vlaar, Clark and Bennett need plenty of time to gel, including all cup games in my opinion. I did'nt see much of a unit for most of the game today.

Just got back from the game and this is a very good summary......I would also add that it was really difficult to understand why we started and continued to play so deep...made it impossible for the midfield to play and sustain a high work rate for 90 mins

We are a work in progress and there will be more bad weeks to come as well as good ones
5. A team in transistion that will take maybe 2 seasons to get the way PL wants them to play. I can see us being safe, winning a few great games, loosing a few stinkers....but it was the same under MON in his first season.

[arnie66]

Ok, watched the game on stream and here are my thoughts, like anyone cares 

1. That was our first game when from the fisrt whistle we started to look like a MON team with Carew or Heskey upfront trying to feed off long balls. Sorry but it never worked today.
2. Having a narrow midfield four with 2 young, inexperienced full backs to offer width isn't always going to work. Have the days of wingers really gone?
3. We lack a No.10 or someone who plays in between the lines. What attack we did muster was too easy for Southampton too defend. Ireland could be that but went off for some mysterious reason.
4. The back four of Lowton, Vlaar, Clark and Bennett need plenty of time to gel, including all cup games in my opinion. I did'nt see much of a unit for most of the game today.

Just got back from the game and this is a very good summary......I would also add that it was really difficult to understand why we started and continued to play so deep...made it impossible for the midfield to play and sustain a high work rate for 90 mins

We are a work in progress and there will be more bad weeks to come as well as good ones
5. A team in transistion that will take maybe 2 seasons to get the way PL wants them to play. I can see us being safe, winning a few great games, loosing a few stinkers....but it was the same under MON in his first season.

This plus...why did we start so deep and keep playing so deep....made it impossible to sustain a high tempo in the middle for 90 mins

[SamTheMouse]

Also I like KEA, but he was poor today and oddly I'm not sure if he's afraid of heading the ball but he really bottled it on a couple of occasions.

The jury still out for me with KEA, he does bottle it and gets pushed off the ball too easy.

I got slated in the match thread for saying he reminded me of NRC. I stand by what I said. He's a solid enough player, but he's got his limitations, and when he gets in the opposition half he panics like a girl. Don't get me wrong, he's got a job to do, and notwithstanding a shit performance today (like everyone else), I like him. But Cambiasso he ain't.

[VancouverLion]

I've watched all our games and I'm still trying to figure out what KEA brings to our midfield, I don't get the hype around him at all.

Oh well, we'll learn and hopefully be better after the second half tanking today. Hope Ireland's injury isn't too bad, we completely lost our shape in the second half.

Roll on the stripeyfilth!

UTV

[SamTheMouse]

For me, there were three big problems today, and none of them was the defence, which I thought was let down by the rest of the team. The big issues were
1) Bent and Benteke not providing clever enough movement up front, when in particular we needed one of them to drop off and make up the numbers in midfield

2) the midfield being non-existent, especially when Ireland went off, failing to either make sensible runs forward or track their men backwards. We badly need a dominant midfielder, a really hard bastard who bullies the crap out the opposition and makes 'em scared to go for 50-50 balls.

3) the presence of Benteke, which for some reason the rest of the team took as an invitation to boot 40 yard 'passes' up the pitch all afternoon long. I find it inexplicable, given the way little Brad has been bowling the ball out consistently in our previous matches, whereas today he hardly played anything on the ground. If we keep on with the long ball, we will lose. A lot. I assume Lambert knows this and will be trying to do something about it, so I ain't going to worry about it yet.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

"If you're not bang at it, that's what can happen,"

"It's hard to pin-point, but losing Stephen (Ireland) was a blow because I thought he was playing really well."

"I always think that one goal is never enough. First half was really good but the goals we lost were really poor."

Asked what he thought on the partnership between Darren Bent and Benteke, the Scot replied: "I think for Christian, which was his first start, I thought he was a handful. Darren is a goalscorer, which everybody knows, but I think it will take time.

"They (the young players) have to get it pretty quickly (playing in the Premier League) although they gave us plenty of effort. I can't fault that, but we have to keep cracking on now.

"It's important to try and keep a level head and keep going. It's a long, long season and there will be plenty of ups and downs to come."

http://www1.skysports.com/news/12040/8101831/

[Steve kirk]

l dont know what to think after today other than its going to be a very up and down season with many highs and lows, just got to look to bounce back against the Albion or it could get a bit feisty on here next Sunday night, I am sure Lambert will have them fired up for that game, I have kind of written off the Man City cup game. UTV   

[The Left Side]

A tale of two halves, i am interested to see our response on tuesday.

[gervilla]

In response to the person who wrongly thought Ireland was brought off for being shit, a quite from PL: ""Losing Stephen was a blow because I thought he was playing really well.".

You was wrong, everyone else was right. So there.

That would be me.
I thought he was poor, that was my opinion.
I also thought he was poor last week.
I was not alone in thinking he was poor.
Get off your high horse.
Was I ramming my opinion down any ones throat ?
It doesn't bother me if people don't agree with me, if that is their opinion,they are entitled to it.
Your childish carrying on however is quite pathetic. Grow up.
So there.

[mr woo]

Thought we lost in the midfield in the second half. For all our options, we still lack a marauding, striding, frightening, 'presence' in the middle of the park. Something to be addressed I think.

Vlaar, for all his class, needs to learn to not fuck about with it unnecessarily. I thought he was at fault for their equaliser too by not dealing with the ball that came across the face of the box positively enough.

Darren Bent...... well, he's getting close to being a 6 month wonder to me. I don't know whether he considers himself undroppable but I reckon a dose of the 'Givens' might give him the kick up the arse he needs. And if that doesn't work, I think he may be the very limited footballer I feared he was after all.

Anyway, while disappointed, I still reckon we're good for the top half and will get better with time. Lambert hasn't been an impact manager from what I recall and has usually taken 10-15 games to turn things round at most sides he's been at.