Aston Villa v Wigan Athletic Post-Match Thread

[old man villa fan]

The majority of people on here bought in to the appointment of Lambert and his policy regarding replacing experienced players on the way down with inexperienced players with potential.

I don't think that's true; as I remember it, most people thought it was far too much of a gamble, and so it has proved. Which leads me on to my next point:

There was a gamble taken with the squad strength in that the thought was that it was good enough to get through the season and build off for the future.  The gamble has not come off, both due to injuries and some of the players brought in not being up to the task when things have started to go wrong.  The one error that I thought the manager made was not bringing in an extra experienced midfield player.

Why are we having to gamble with the clubs Premier League status? Just to save a few quid? If so, then it's ridiculously short sited from the board, considering the new Sky tv deal money would (and still will, hopefully) earn us loads more cash.

I have seen some poor Villa teams over the last 35 years but to say this team is the worst misses the point that a few players of quality and experience can lift the younger players to play at a far higher level than at present.

Get ready for this worrying news then; Lambert's already said he won't be buying Prem quality players - we'll be looking towards youth and players from the lower leagues.

To say that we need to replace the defence, midfield and forward line is an extreme comment which loses credibility of anything constructive that the poster may say.  It would be great to have a magic wand but football doesn't work like that.

I'm not having a go, but how should it work? The team is an absolute shambles from top to bottom, the defence is utterly and completely useless, they are cut through like butter and ball watch. Worst defence I've ever seen at Villa Park, this used to be one of the things we were good at.

Thanks for taking time to respond.

My take on it at the beginning of the season was that people did want to see the back of the old guard and even some of the players the previous manager brought in.  Also that Lambert was a forward thinker and building a young team was seen as a brighter future.  Obviously differing opinions, so could not have been clear cut.

We had dropped so far behind other teams both playing strength and financial strength that we almost had to clear the slate and start again to rebuild the strength of the club.  Top 6, let alone, top 4 was beyond us continuing the way we were going.  With only being able to bring players in twice a year, it is always a gamble to cover for injuries that may or may not happen.  The manager has been unlucky in that most injuries have been to the experienced players, thus exposing the young players more.

It is worrying if the comments about bringing in new players are true.  What we are in need of at the moment are a few sticking plasters and not replacement limbs (or replacement body) to get us through the season.  This need not cost a fortune and, in my opinion, be a good investment.  The club have to realise they took a gamble that did not come off but now they have the chance to rectify it.

The team, as you say, looks a shambles because of weaknesses in the defensive half of the field. We are down to the bare bones for defence and midfield and it is clearly not good enough.  The weakness of the midfield today put pressure on the defence all game.  Conceeding an early goal today through lack of concentration and poor marking put pressure on the whole team that took them 25 minutes to come to terms with.  The manager had very few alternatives today but hopefully he will see that from what is available he does not have 3 players of the necessary quality to play 3 at the back.

[Legion]

I feel worse tonight than after Chelsea or spurs- they were both quality teams but to lose like this to Wigan is a bitter blow.

Same here.

[andrew08]

I don't see that there is anything different the current 11 can do. They simply aren't good enough for this level, in fact they probably are a mid table Championship side right now. I don't fault Lambert's tactics, he can only work with what is available. I can't fault them for their collective commitment, which I think is why the crowd is still largely behind them. They do at least give 100% for the shirt.

Our hope is that the 5 or 6 who are injured make the difference when fit and that we add to the squad when the window opens. Then we'll get the other 18 or so points needed to survive.

[ACVilla]

Dont know if this has been mentioned before but PL had everyone in for training Xmas Day, even the injured players, he decided to take the day off and visit his family.

Shortly after an 8-0 defeat.

[Legion]

Dont know if this has been mentioned before but PL had everyone in for training Xmas Day, even the injured players, he decided to take the day off and visit his family.

Shortly after an 8-0 defeat.

Hearsay or can you back this up?

[VinnieChase84]

Dont know if this has been mentioned before but PL had everyone in for training Xmas Day, even the injured players, he decided to take the day off and visit his family.

Shortly after an 8-0 defeat.

If that's true and he didnt attend himself then that is very very worrying

[Ads]

The players would have trained whether we had won 8-0.

[eastie]

Where is clampy tonight with his mini- crisis and pro Lerner comments- maybe the rose tinted specs have cracked?

[ACVilla]

Dont know if this has been mentioned before but PL had everyone in for training Xmas Day, even the injured players, he decided to take the day off and visit his family.

Shortly after an 8-0 defeat.

Hearsay or can you back this up?

Check my previous postings ref Weimann injury and team v QPR and make your own mind up.

[Legion]

I'll give you the Weimann injury info definitely as sceptical as I was at the time. Hats off for that and apologies. You'll have to point me in the direction of the info regarding the team v QPR though.

[silhillvilla]

What if we get battered by Swans?

We go again ?

[Legion]

No, we get up and go again.

[ACVilla]

I'll give you the Weimann injury info definitely as sceptical as I was at the time. Hats off for that and apologies. You'll have to point me in the direction of the info regarding the team v QPR though.

Qpr v Villa pre match thread. A team not one person would have predicted. 5 at the back etc

[Ads]

Where is clampy tonight with his mini- crisis and pro Lerner comments- maybe the rose tinted specs have cracked?

Turn it in.

He is a Villa fan, same as you. Why take pleasure in our plight?

[brian green]

Just got home from the game.   I posted in the pre match thread that this game would show us if the Chelsea game broke our young side and the very painful truth is that clearly it did.

That is a very simplistic view because the manager and his staff should have taken every step open to them to get them through that humiliating beating at Stamford Bridge but if they did, it obviously did not work.   You could tell as soon as they came on he pitch for the Spurs game by their body language and the first minute or two of play they believed the next goal would make it  9-0 and the same again today. They began like a team of schoolboys and once the first goal went in they played as though the score was 13-0.   It looks clear to me that nobody has sat those players down and attempted to get the previous game out of their system.   

Lambert went for 5 across the back for the third game in a row having shipped twelve goals against and none for in the previous two games.

All of that is mere detail.   The dots which have to be joined up to make the picture.

The picture is now there for us all to see and it hurts.

Our young players are not as good as we believed them to be and Paul Lambert is not as good a manager as we (myself included) believed him to be.

In defence of our young players who have come through the academy the use McLeish made of them week after week last season has damaged them possibly beyond repair.   Good young players must be bedded into a team and learn their trade.   What we saw on the pitch against Chelsea, Spurs and today is that they have not learned the trade of being professional football players at the highest level.   They are like a classroom full of kids trying to educate themselves.

The club and Paul Lambert's career both stand at a crossroads.   If Lambert remains mulishly stubborn and as stupid as throwing everything into attack against Chelsea when we were three goals down the same will happen to him and the club as happened to the Light Brigade when they went for glory and charged the Russian guns.   He and we will be wiped out.

He has thrown away so many points this season that he now has no choice but to buy some strong, experienced players and hope to scrape enough points to survive in the Premiership.

It would all have been so much easier if the manager and his staff had got away with 4-0 at Chelsea and 2-0 against Spurs.   People like me could have clung to the ethos of youth and enthusiasm and team spirit over thud and blunder but that display today did not show that the confidence of the young team had been broken, it has been vapourized.

I have seen some falls from grace over my years of following Villa but I have never seen one like the last three games I have had the agony of being at.   Their collapse is total.

I shall be giving H and V a rest for the foreseeable future.   It is all too painful and tragic to read and write about.