Aston Villa v Bradford City Post-Match Thread

[russon]

Any chance of buying the Bradford Captain? he can motivate his team on the pitch, it seems.

i wouldn't wish us on the poor chap. Why would a whole-hearted, committed footballer want to share a dressing room with wasters like Ireland, Bannan, [insert name of your choice here]

[avfc1966]

Absolute disgrace. Can any one tell me why Lambert and Lerner are still here.COME BACK DOUG and SAVE US...

[ktvillan]

First of all  well done Bradford, I thought they were superb in both legs, sussed out our (many) weaknesses and exploited them effectively.  Good luck to them at Wembley.

As for us, the bright side is we've probably saved ourselves from a bigger Wembley humiliation than the Gregory FA Cup Final non-performance.

I wasn't entirely convinced by the choice of Lambert, but have supported him since he came in.   However, when your answer to chasing a game is to remove the midfield and any width you had,  and stick on every striker on the books and shout "charge" (not the first time he's done it either) then the only possible conclusion is that you are showing yourself up as a clueless fuckwit.  Oh to be offered a job paying x million a year to do that.  I'm struggling to see how tactical thinking like that is going to dig us out of the hole he's put us in, regardless of any signings.

Oh and three years, three managers,  and counting and we still haven't worked out how to defend a set piece.  When will we learn to block the runners?

[johncvilla88]

Really missed Westwood tonight!

[manic-road]

7.5k this is what the Bradford team cost in transfers..

Gonna be a long wait for this bright future we were promised by Lerner.

[Reuben]

Edited due to Idiocy

[Vegas]

Lerner: As has been said before, there's not a whole queue of billionaires waiting to invest tens of millions as far as I can see.  Bit pointless saying "Lerner out" really. Even if he listened, and sold, we wouldn't be better off unless we stumbled on a very rich sheik. And he's invested a hell of a lot of his own money for very little gain.  What we do need is continuity of player acquisition strategy probably via a director of football with clout.

Semi (both legs): Gutted, but not humiliated. Would rather it this way than we lost to Man City in round 3 or whatever it was. Fair play to Bradford. They did for Arsenal and Wigan. Shit happens.  We could have won both games and did win today's - actually we played really well in the first half today.  Yep they're league 2 but cup upsets happen to better teams than us.

Bad things were: Defence really poor, particularly Vlaar and set pieces, but positioning generally. Heads go down far too easily and our tendency to get hammered in the second half is very worrying.  Lambert's subs were woeful again, and took away any chance of us making the final. 

[Villatillidie25]

I don't know if it's me but I actually don't think we played that badly and actually quite well in the first half.

HOWEVER,

Although, we played the way we should have done in the first half, patient but attacking we probably lacked a bit of creative nouse to really cut them apart but I still began to believe that we might actually win. The second half started in a similar vain to be honest but if we continue to be that awful at defending corners we will be never win a match. I'd rather us be more defensively frail but strong from corners to be honest because at the end of the day, anyone - even a match you are dominating as per tonight - can get a cheap corner and then score from it. It totally changed the game and took us 20mins to recover. Just as we began to regain some composure Lambert decided to gut the defence and midfield and stick everyone up front. Not only did this give them the opportunity to break and hold the ball up but it actually stunted our own attacks. I quite like Lambert but I really don't know why as he has made quite a few really weird tactical decisions. Having said that, i genuinely think that if we had 3 extra players - a centre back, centre mid and creative player we would be mid table easily.

Anyway, I think - for once - i am probably a lot less appalled than most (fuck knows why as it's a shocking result!!) but this result will crush them, we will lose on Friday and again on Newcastle. Do that and we are down I think.

Given - 6. Didn't do anything wrong to be honest
Lowton - 6. Decent first half. Nothing special
Vlaar - 5. Decent but at the end of the day he was at fault for the goal.
Clark - 6. Didn't do much wrong really. Still looks a bit weak.
Bennett - 5. Lets just play him in midfield as he actually looks good going forward. At fault for the cheap corner
Delph - 7. Probably the best player in a Villa shirt
Bannan - 4. Seriously, what exactly does this guy do?
N'Zogbia - 7. One of our brighter players
Ireland - 6. Didn't do much but then didnt do much wrong
Benteke - 6. Did ok and scored.
Agbonlahor - 5. Offers very little really doesn't he?

Bent - 4. Made zero impact bar one cross. Shame as I think Benteke, Bent could be an ok partnership
Weimann - 5. Ran around a bit I suppose

Not really good enough to be honest but I think on a different, day (the same with the first leg tbh), if we could defend corners we would have one both ties at a canter.

All very worrying though!!

[JUAN PABLO]

Millwall and Newcastle wins or he's gone...if not before.

 

obviously .....   

[Uknowthescore]

Lamberts got to go I'd love to know what he says to the players at half time fuk me the blokes clueless. Prick

[NeilH]

YES! FINALLY A WIN AT HOME!!!!...... Oh wait.....

That's a bloody good point. Its the confidence boost the team needed and we actually managed to defend a couple of corner too... I think we've turned a corner you know.

Corner should be a banned word on here.

Or simply replace it with ''capitulate''

[Rigadon]

Millwall and Newcastle wins or he's gone...if not before.

 

obviously .....   

If we wait until then it'll be too late. 

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We're in for a right round of fucks when Hoppo returns and reads all this.

[KKAVFC]

We never learn, what is it with us & Scottish managers, Docherty, McNeill, McSpud and now Lambert ? Just a catalogue of disaster, 2 took us down, 1 almost took us down & the last one is taking us down !! Hard to believe that the founding fathers were Scottish, Frederick Rinder & William McGregor, they must be spinning below ground ! Anyway well done to Bradford you were superb in both games, now go & win the final, I will be cheering for you....AVFC4Ever

[AvFc4eVeR]

We never learn, what is it with us & Scottish managers, Docherty, McNeill, McSpud and now Lambert ? Just a catalogue of disaster, 2 took us down, 1 almost took us down & the last one is taking us down !! Hard to believe that the founding fathers were Scottish, Frederick Rinder & William McGregor, they must be spinning below ground ! Anyway well done to Bradford you were superb in both games, now go & win the final, I will be cheering for you....AVFC4Ever

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