Aston Villa v Bradford City Post-Match Thread

[D.boy]

I got home at 5.15am having driven through several blizzards on the M5. Last night was my first trip to Villa Park since Houllier was in charge. I have stayed away as I refuse to fork out large sums of money on travel (550 mile round trip, match ticket, programme etc) to watch a bunch of overpaid footballers deliver such abject half arsed performances. Under TSM the football was negative and piss poor and I thought things would improve under Paul Lambert.
I have watched several games (on tv/streams etc) this season and here is my take on it....... we have no confidence at present and seem to have very little game plan apart from hoof it towards Benteke in the hope he can create something. When we do score we (the fans) have little faith that we can hold onto the lead and we are usually right.

Defence - It is screamingly obvious that we are weak at the back, cannot deal with crosses and are vulnerable to attacks down the flanks.

Midfield - Lighweight, no leader and no creative playmaker. Time and time again opposition teams play straight through us with ease and we end up defending way too deep.

Forwards - Benteke tries hard and will create chances for himself but is getting poor service.
                  Weimann is developing well when he gets the opportunity.
                  Bent (when fit) needs better service as wont create many chances himself.
                  Gabby has suffered with injuries but is always a threat.

The main problem up front is the lack of service. We have no-one who can get to the byline and put crosses in which was screamingly obvious last night and what most folk around me were screaming.
Last night Bradford did to us what we did to Manure Ure in 94. Let us pass it around along our back four in our half but as soon as we pushed forward they closed us down forcing us back or sideways. The flanks were where we needed to exploit them but there was no urgency from us, no crisp passing, no wingers running at them. Bradford had a game plan and stuck to it well knowing that any corners or free kicks around our penalty box would give them a chance of scoring. Once they scored we lost what little shape we had and PL's only answer was chuck on all the strikers (who seemed to line up in the same 10 sq yards of the pitch) and hope. I am concerned about PLs tactical nouse as it seems to be very limited so far.

These are very dark times at the club and it needs addressing now as relegation is a real possibility. The fans are becoming frustrated and I can't blame them one bit. It may be a while before I venture to VP again as I'm not forking out my hard earned to watch a bunch of overpaid players/manager deliver such poor football and then swan off to their mansions in their flash motors.

Well to done to Bradford as they deserve their place at Wembley.

[LeeB]

Complete humiliation. Worst result of the club's history. What more can be said? We go again

Doncaster?

That was a one off game away from home and it can happen. To lose over 2 legs is worse.

By far the worst thing about last night was what happened when they scored.

The subsequent period till the end of the match was our season in a nutshell.

We're a combination of younger players of fragile (and increasingly non existent) confidence, lower league players who simply aren't good enough, players who flatter to deceive, and a manager who has never had to deal with a juggernaut of decline like this.

It was quite unbelievable watching that last 30 minutes last night. Genuinely, I could not believe what we were doing.

We are a club in a state of increasing decline, and the worst thing is, the people in a position to do something about it aren't doing anything.

That last 30 minutes is what I believe is the root cause of all of our ills.As soon as we get a set back, any semblance of order goes out the window.

Tactics and coaching go straight out the window at this point, as it's the mentality of the players that comes into question and boy is it found lacking.

The managers made mistakes,  but we've watched it through three different managers now and the truth is the players are not good enough, and they're far too used to losing.

[NeilH]

Shaun Teale says we play tippy tappy football to eventually lose it and we are not good enough to play that style.

He says he will go and help for nothing how to defend a corner.  When are they going to learn.

He said we wont sign no one.     

Hes not a fan of Ron Vlaar .       

Certainly Villa can go down.    Its a downward spiral.

 And of course he's not the first ex-player to offer their help for free. If the club are wantonly choosing to ignore these offers of help from players like Teale who would not have stood for what happened last night, then we deserve all we get.
I am getting seriously exasperated with the 'lala Lala' fingers in their ears 'we can't hear what you're saying' attitude displayed by those running the club. They are coming over as arrogant, ignorant pricks.

[Mortimer's Bear]

Shaun Teale says we play tippy tappy football to eventually lose it and we are not good enough to play that style.

He says he will go and help for nothing how to defend a corner.  When are they going to learn.

He said we wont sign no one.     

Hes not a fan of Ron Vlaar .       

Certainly Villa can go down.    Its a downward spiral.

 And of course he's not the first ex-player to offer their help for free. If the club are wantonly choosing to ignore these offers of help from players like Teale who would not have stood for what happened last night, then we deserve all we get.
I am getting seriously exasperated with the 'lala Lala' fingers in their ears 'we can't hear what you're saying' attitude displayed by those running the club. They are coming over as arrogant, ignorant pricks.

I always got the impression Shaun Teale would run head first through a brick wall to win the ball (as with Martin Laursen and Olof Mellberg), I can honestly say not one of the current squad would even come close to his level of commitment to AVFC.

[hilts_coolerking]

By far the worst thing about last night was what happened when they scored.

The subsequent period till the end of the match was our season in a nutshell.

We're a combination of younger players of fragile (and increasingly non existent) confidence, lower league players who simply aren't good enough, players who flatter to deceive, and a manager who has never had to deal with a juggernaut of decline like this.

It was quite unbelievable watching that last 30 minutes last night. Genuinely, I could not believe what we were doing.

We are a club in a state of increasing decline, and the worst thing is, the people in a position to do something about it aren't doing anything.

This is precisely what leads me to the conclusion that Lambert is out of his depth.  The chips were down, the pressure was on, and he reverted to tactics that wouldn't be out of place in the playground.  I genuinely think the combination of circumstances at the club and our almost unbelievably appalling form has got to him to the extent that he's not thinking clearly.  The meaningless, sub-David Brent drivel he came out with in the post-match interview would tend to bear that out.

[London Villan]

What I don't get was there was no plan B. It wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that they would score last night, taking into account how crap we are, so where was the plan to combat this.

Playing 5 strikers on the edge of the penalty area is something that even a ten year old wouldn't do on Champ Manager, let alone a seasoned manager paid millions a year.

It really was the most clueless piece of management I think I have ever seen.

[jonzy85]

Complete humiliation. Worst result of the club's history. What more can be said? We go again

Doncaster?

That was a one off game away from home and it can happen. To lose over 2 legs is worse.

By far the worst thing about last night was what happened when they scored.

The subsequent period till the end of the match was our season in a nutshell.

We're a combination of younger players of fragile (and increasingly non existent) confidence, lower league players who simply aren't good enough, players who flatter to deceive, and a manager who has never had to deal with a juggernaut of decline like this.

It was quite unbelievable watching that last 30 minutes last night. Genuinely, I could not believe what we were doing.

We are a club in a state of increasing decline, and the worst thing is, the people in a position to do something about it aren't doing anything.

That last 30 minutes is what I believe is the root cause of all of our ills.As soon as we get a set back, any semblance of order goes out the window.

Tactics and coaching go straight out the window at this point, as it's the mentality of the players that comes into question and boy is it found lacking.

The managers made mistakes,  but we've watched it through three different managers now and the truth is the players are not good enough, and they're far too used to losing.

Completely agree about the last 30 minutes, absolute panic stations. What I couldn't understand was that we didn't need to panic. We just needed to take 5 minutes calm things down and get back to how we played in the first half. You might be able to understand the panic in some of the players, as they have never been in a semi final before (most of them), but it was inexcusable from the manager. Aimlessly throwing on 2 strikers without a second thought as to what system there was, was utterly and unforgivably amateur.

Last 2 things I will say on it are:
1. Congratulations to Bradford.
2. If we had managed to scrape through, there would never have been a team so undeserving of playing in a cup final.

[pauliewalnuts]

What I don't get was there was no plan B. It wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that they would score last night, taking into account how crap we are, so where was the plan to combat this.

Was there anyone in the home seats last night who didn't think, after Bradford scored, that we were going to fall apart and fail?

It was so glaringly obvious.

We needed to keep our heads and play like we did in the first half - that wasn't perfect, but it was always going to be much more likely to get results than acting like a 12 year old playing FIFA

[Brian Taylor]

It was only in the last minutes that the midfield/defence thought to get the ball upfront! Most of second half they played it along the midfield line and/or back. Horrific and tortuous to watch. Once Bent came on I knew we were doomed.
Need a capable midfielder and quick. A good nippy winger too!

[London Villan]

We needed to keep our heads and play like we did in the first half - that wasn't perfect, but it was always going to be much more likely to get results than acting like a 12 year old playing FIFA

Exactly, playing the modern day version of a W-M formation was just stupid beyond belief.

[nick harper]

What I don't get was there was no plan B. It wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that they would score last night, taking into account how crap we are, so where was the plan to combat this.

Was there anyone in the home seats last night who didn't think, after Bradford scored, that we were going to fall apart and fail?

It was so glaringly obvious.

We needed to keep our heads and play like we did in the first half - that wasn't perfect, but it was always going to be much more likely to get results than acting like a 12 year old playing FIFA

I thought the tie was lost the moment they scored - it was my big fear. Everyone of their handful of crosses in the game had goal written onthem to me. However, I didn't think we would create barely a chance in the 35 minutes that remained. Was Weiman's goal the only effort on target in that time?

[Bottom Right 89]

Complete humiliation. Worst result of the club's history. What more can be said? We go again

Doncaster?

That was a one off game away from home and it can happen. To lose over 2 legs is worse.

I can only recall a UEFA Cup tie in the mid 90s where we lost over 2 legs to the Butcher, Baker and Candlestickmaker from Sweden as coming close to last nights humiliation. As one off's go then Doncaster is the previous worst.

[VinnieChase84]

Furious today.

[Chris Smith]

I can't bring myself to read the thread, having shivering my way through the second half last night I'm in no mood to relive it.

First half I thought we were decent, we stayed composed and made chances and going in one up it should have all been set up to squeeze the life out of them. Instead, we shit ourselves when they didn't just roll over. We lack leadership on the pitch, players with the character to lift others either by word or example.

[onje_villa]

Lambert has to carry the can for the way the team performs week-in week-out. I don't think our squad is any weaker than any mid-table side.

That said, I really like the guy. I know he mumbles a lot but I just like him. I liked the plan at the beginning of the season but bloody hell, results have been bad.