Aston Villa v Reading Post-Match Thread

[PeterWithesShin]

It's quite sad seeing how backwards Albrighton has gone. I'm beginning to seriously doubt whether he has a future at this level. A shame considering how he looked for those few months a couple of years ago.

[Small Rodent]

I won't be harsh on Weimann. Sometimes a young striker gets too long think in front of goal. It may be a split second, but...

[SoccerHQ]

Brilliant to get the win, but by Christ that was another awful performance. We need experience in the team. No more kids!

What do you mean by that though?

Recall Hutton and Warnock?

Sign half the QPR team?

Must say I'm happy with the Lambert signings, Vlaar, Lowton, Guzan, Westwood have all been good recently.

[Grande Pablo]

The howls of frustration when Albrighton hoiked a cross miles too long were a sad reflection of how badly he's gone backwards.  It's a real shame because for a few months he was outstanding.

That was damn awful.  There's no evidence Albrighton is anywhere near Premership class. 

[PeterWithesShin]

The howls of frustration when Albrighton hoiked a cross miles too long were a sad reflection of how badly he's gone backwards.  It's a real shame because for a few months he was outstanding.

That was damn awful.  There's no evidence Albrighton is anywhere near Premership class. 

There is, but the evidence is 2 years old now.

[Matt Collins]

Lots of empty seats (m'lord) anyone know the official attendance - didn't hear it announced tonight. Very poor game - looked like 2 Championship sides, but we desperately needed those points and from that point of view job done (just). And we scored from a corner! Our midfield will get heavily dominated by QPR and Sterk, and we really need to get some experience in there in January.

28,692

Pre Xmas
Midweek
On telly
Weather
Poor form
Reading
Economy
Masterchef semis on telly
I'm a celeb as above
Hardly a surprise

Except for the telly bit, and swap reading for qpr, and the same applied to Sunderland. They got 36,000.

[SoccerHQ]

I also thought our defence looked considerably happier once Jason Roberts had gone off. He gave them a bit of a Bentekeing.

Roberts went into Clark every single time on high balls, Clark struggles against the physical forwards really.

We need Vlaar back for Stoke really as they will really target us, if not hope Herd is fit and I'd pair him with Baker.

[silhillvilla]

Yeah but they're football mentalists up there.

[SoccerHQ]

Newcastle only got 21k for the europa league game last week.

[Gareth]

Wouldnt swap Guzan for any keeper in the league at the moment.

Lowton, Baker & Westwood did well...Benteke ok....Ireland livened them up a bit....

Was all about the 3 points, well done lads.

Bannan / Holman & Weimann werent great

[Somniloquism]

Lots of empty seats (m'lord) anyone know the official attendance - didn't hear it announced tonight. Very poor game - looked like 2 Championship sides, but we desperately needed those points and from that point of view job done (just). And we scored from a corner! Our midfield will get heavily dominated by QPR and Sterk, and we really need to get some experience in there in January.

28,692

Pre Xmas
Midweek
On telly
Weather
Poor form
Reading
Economy
Masterchef semis on telly
I'm a celeb as above
Hardly a surprise

Except for the telly bit, and swap reading for qpr, and the same applied to Sunderland. They got 36,000.

And the capacity for the SoL is 49000, so the Stadiums were comparatively empty.

[ktvillan]

Just grateful for 3 points but a generally woeful performance against a very poor opponent.  I'm afraid we looked as poor as our position suggests tonight.

I have to say my support for Lambert and his approach is waning slightly.  He seemed to have hit on a good formation and then decides to mess about with it.  Ireland is just about our only genuinely creative player in the final third and has to play in the home games at least.  I'm getting a bit fed up with the lack of width, the full backs aren't really up to providing it.  As for his passing based game, it seems to have been largely replaced with the long punt up to big Benteke, who continues to be very impressive, especially for his age.  The Bent situation is also frustrating but it's hard to see where even he would get goals with very little being created.  Still a long way to go and a lot of improvement required.  Some experienced signings in Jan are a must.

[brontebilly]

We were woeful I thought. Guzan was solid as was Baker but the rest were poor. The football played was absolutely shocking too. Route one Wimbeldon style tactics, hard to watch. Bannan wasnt great to still think he offered more than Westwood. Cant see why he is getting good reviews. Think he has been anonymous the last 3 games. Gabby is turning into another Heskey. Thought Benteke despite his goal was poor enough again. But its midfield where the problems are. Difficult for any forward considering the lack of quality we have in midfield.
Ireland was good when he came on alright. These are the kind of games we need the likes of him, Bent and Nzogbia on the pitch for. Albrighton on the other hand..... Feel for the lad at the moment as he looks so far out of his depth its frightening

Scarcely deserved 3 points in a half empty Villa Park but we will take it. Lambert needed that as the way he has handled the Bent situation, the way the team is set up and the football he has us playing all warrant huge criticism imo

[Archie]

I reckon the performance was poor, but I think that P.L. is doing what he can with young, inexperienced (and probably also overrated) players.
I think the starting XI was correct. Weimann had done very well with Man Utd. why shouldn't he do the same with Reading?
Plus, Bent can't play in Lambert's system (4-2-3-1) because Lambert obviously choose Benteke as a central forward, and Bent hasn' the charateristics to run up and down the flanks like Weimann and Gabby do, working and sacrificing themselves for the team.
Banann and Westwood were the best of the midfield with Arsenal, so why should they be dropped for Steven "Lack of consistency" Ireland?
El Ahmadi was awful and was rightly  dropped for Holman.

[Keeno]

I don't understand where the "we weren't creating chances" argument is coming from at all. Our problem is consistently putting them away (and the shocking reaction of the crowd at times tonight, esp in the 2nd half). In the 1st we played some OK stuff - Westwood and Bannan excellent, and there were at least three great chances that should have resulted in goals - Weimann's panicky shot over the bar, Benteke's poor effort after Holman's excellent run and pull-back, and Baker's header into the ground off a Bannan corner. All three of those came from fairly young and inexperienced players, and the "Pro-Bent argument" certainly holds weight here. If one of those had gone in then it would hopefully have resulted in a less nervier second half.

But they didn't, and then throughout the second period the crowd began to get itchy, particularly where I was in the Trinity, and Nathan Baker began to put on his best James Collins impression. We started to go longer and more direct and the game became a lot scrappier, which was exactly what Reading wanted (who really were terrible). I think we, the fans, have to take some of the blame - it's a very young side out there, and getting angry at them isn't going to help whatsoever. If we want to have any hope of challenging higher up the table in the next 5 years a change in style is going to have to happen, and if that means we only put 1 past Reading instead of 3 then it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make. I mean, it's hardly the Scottish Manager's football. (I do agree that Albrighton was dreadful though-really not sure if he's got what it takes...)

So I don't think it was as bad a performance as people are making out - the second half became scrappy as we all began to get impatient, and if we'd taken one of the many chances we created earlier on in the game hopefully we wouldn't have HAD to resort to the Guzan ---> Benteke route. Westwood, Guzan, and Benteke top notch tonight. Bannan mercurial and frustrating as ever - but the Westwood-Bannan partnership in the CM looks to be really useful. Worrying from Albrighton, and Baker/Holman didn't have their best nights (although i'm fans of both). The Darren Bent affair is a debate for another time - although it's true that Benteke certainly offers more than Bent in a 1-striker formation, which I think we look most fluid in. We certainly have to get less impatient with them, and accept that nights like this are going to happen - it's a change for the better and it will take time (as we've said many times before). UTV