Chelsea v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[SoccerHQ]

Mata is fantastic, I think he's underrated as I'd have him as one of the best playmakers in the league. Same for Ivanovic at the back.

Anyone looking forward to playing them at Wembley?!!! Come on Swansea.

[eastie]

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has made no excuses following his side's 8-0 hammering at Chelsea on Sunday.

The Villans, who are three points above the relegation zone, were humiliated at Stamford Bridge with the biggest defeat in the club's history.

"We were second best all over the pitch," Lambert told BBC Sport. "I am not going to stand here and make excuses.

"We were beaten up pretty badly. The lads know that was not acceptable.

"Everything that could have gone wrong did, but you cannot let one game blight a whole season. We have been on a good run, but I wasn't getting carried away and it is the same again now."

Villa return to Premier League action on Boxing Day when they entertain Tottenham Hotspur.

[Ads]

From where I was stood, I saw Moses get at us time and time again.

Incredibly Lambert made us even more open and stretched the game at 3-0.

Glad to hear Gary Neville agrees with me.

[TonyD]

Well that wasn't pretty.   Didn't see it coming.  Wasn't expecting too much but not that.   Need to brush themselves down and go out and beat Spurs.  If that happens all will be forgiven and forgotten.

[mal]

From where I was stood, I saw Moses get at us time and time again.

Incredibly Lambert made us even more open and stretched the game at 3-0.

Glad to hear Gary Neville agrees with me.

Oh well it must be true then. How many assists for Moses?

[paul_e]

To put things in context 5 players destroyed us today:

Torres - £50m
Hazard - £32m
Mata - £23.5m
Luiz - £20m
Moses - £10m

that's £135m of attack, if they all have a good game (I'd give all 5 10 out of 10 for today, they were exceptional) not many sides would cope with them.

What we did wrong was not go to damage limitation after the 3rd.

[brian green]

I am sorry but old people repeat themselves and I am an old person.

I said it after the Everton game, after the Southampton game, after the Man U game, after the City game and I will say it again.

Our team lacks mental strength.   Our team is mentally fragile.

It is nothing to do with physical strength or physical fitness neither is it something which can be coached into players on the training ground.

Our players need to be talked to long and hard, by professional sports psychologists if necessary about developing a mind set which in effect says "I am an Aston Villa player, I wear the glorious colours which have faced and withstood the best players in the game over 138 years.   I am not going to cave in.   I will stop you, whoever you are."  Our young players need to learn to strut and swagger and to walk the turf of Villa Park and everywhere else as though they own it.

[eastie]

Well that wasn't pretty.   Didn't see it coming.  Wasn't expecting too much but not that.   Need to brush themselves down and go out and beat Spurs.  If that happens all will be forgiven and forgotten.

Forgiven yes but not forgotten, it will go down in history as the biggest defeat the club have ever had .

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Ratings

Guzan - Vat of liquid Iburofen required for his back

Lowton - Shitson
Baker - Ma baker, she taught her four sons (about everything except fucking defending)
Clark - 'Oh no, Dave scored an udder goal!'
Herd - Turd
Lichaj - I'm afraid of Americans, he's afraid of the ball

Westwood  - West wouldn't
Bannan - Hoplessley inept Oompa Loompa
Holman - Throw another shrimp (and this twat) on the barbie

Weimann - The name says it all
Benteke - On the phone to his agent as we speak

[Legion]

Our players need to be talked to long and hard, by professional sports psychologists if necessary about developing a mind set which in effect says "I am an Aston Villa player, I wear the glorious colours which have faced and withstood the best players in the game over 138 years.   I am not going to cave in.   I will stop you, whoever you are."  Our young players need to learn to strut and swagger and to walk the turf of Villa Park and everywhere else as though they own it.

Well said, Brian.

[TonyD]

Well that wasn't pretty.   Didn't see it coming.  Wasn't expecting too much but not that.   Need to brush themselves down and go out and beat Spurs.  If that happens all will be forgiven and forgotten.

Forgiven yes but not forgotten, it will go down in history as the biggest defeat the club have ever had .

Only in pub quizzes

[Brend'Watkins]

I put the blame on the manner of this defeat firmly at Lambert's door.

We shouldn't be going into a game of this quality thinking because it worked against a poor Liverpool team it will work against the quality of Chelsea.  We should have contained them and frustrated them and then introduced our style of play.  Even that may not have worked and we still might have been tonked, but to let in 8 (eight) fucking goals in the manner we did, and, let's not kid ourselves, it could have been far worse, is completely and totally unacceptable for Aston Villa. 

A huge dose of realism is what we got today.

[Ads]

Perhaps you saw a different game from me Mal?

The one I saw, they got at us every which way, but with a definite plan to target us down the left. It worked inside two minutes.

[rob_bridge]

Nothing really to add to it, have our moan now then tomorrow, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves up and we go again
Villa til I die

Well said - a very measured response. Are you sure you are only 20? A maturity beyond a number on here.

[curiousorange]

I am sorry but old people repeat themselves and I am an old person.

I said it after the Everton game, after the Southampton game, after the Man U game, after the City game and I will say it again.

Our team lacks mental strength.   Our team is mentally fragile.

It is nothing to do with physical strength or physical fitness neither is it something which can be coached into players on the training ground.

Our players need to be talked to long and hard, by professional sports psychologists if necessary about developing a mind set which in effect says "I am an Aston Villa player, I wear the glorious colours which have faced and withstood the best players in the game over 138 years.   I am not going to cave in.   I will stop you, whoever you are."  Our young players need to learn to strut and swagger and to walk the turf of Villa Park and everywhere else as though they own it.

To be fair, I don't think Ashley Westwood, Joe Bennett or Matt Lowton thought this time last year they'd be expected to match players like Torres, Hazard and Mata on a regular basis. For most of our first team, they would have been expecting to make incremental steps up to a higher level rather than given total responsibility. So I cut them quite a lot of slack because of that.

However, they need to take the brickbats as well as the plaudits. Because there will probably be more of the former than the latter. It needs to be drummed into them that their youth is due to circumstance, it's not an excuse. Paul Lambert plays them because he feels they're good enough, not because he wants to blood youngsters.