Sack the defensive coaches

[old man villa fan]

The number of times the ball has come in from corners and our players get underneath it with the opposition player coming in behind and having a free jump at the ball.  The players are misjudging the flight of the ball and then not reacting to it.  If you cannot get to ball you make sure that you do your utmost to put the opposition player off by backing into him or pushing him a little.  The trouble is that once our players are beaten, they give up.

[devilla]

The corner for Millwall's first goal is how you should take them. Bannan's are just too easy to defend.

Westwood is way better at corners than Bannan. The useless sod takes everything!

I've said this in a couple of other threads. I just don't see why Bannan is allowed to take all our corners when he's playing. I've watched bits of Stoke Man City and Oldham Liverpool this weekend and no other team takes these shitty ballooned corners. I don't know whether the thinking is that somebody can head the ball back across the area but I think its more likely that Bannan is just shit. Isn't it better to whip it in with pace for somebody to attack?

[saunders_heroes]

The corner for Millwall's first goal is how you should take them. Bannan's are just too easy to defend.

Westwood is way better at corners than Bannan. The useless sod takes everything!

I've said this in a couple of other threads. I just don't see why Bannan is allowed to take all our corners when he's playing. I've watched bits of Stoke Man City and Oldham Liverpool this weekend and no other team takes these shitty ballooned corners. I don't know whether the thinking is that somebody can head the ball back across the area but I think its more likely that Bannan is just shit. Isn't it better to whip it in with pace for somebody to attack?

Clearly Lambert thinks he's good at set pieces. I'd sack him for that alone.

[Pat McMahon]

Just watched the ITV FA Cup highlights show, they did at least show the Villa goals (first chance I've had to see them).
 
Milwall's first goal: corner comes in and Shittu, who looks like a 7 ft tall mountain, is marked by Lowton(?)! Why not Vlaar or even Bent? It's the simplest thing to put your biggest man on their biggest man.
 
2nd goal: a straightforward cross comes into the box and Clark completely lost his man who, in three yards of space, headed onto the bar and then in.
 
It's all so basic!

Desi,

From where I was standing it looked like Lichaj marking him. Your point is correct though.

[Pat McMahon]

And does anybody know what Glenn Roeder is up to these days?

[Rancid custard]

I'd bring in Laursen, because heaven knows I don't even think we have a defensive coach. I'd also make it compulsory for every defender we have to watch the entirety of God's back catalogue of games for us, 5 a day, every day for the rest of their contracts and tell them not to watch the pretty goals, just look at that colossus at the back for 90 minutes.

[Matt C]

And Lichaj didn't exactly bust a gut to stop him did he? Regardless of height we need to be braver defending corners too.

[curiousorange]

What do our coaches see in training when Bannan puts those corners in? Because if it's anything other than constantly finding the head of a striker or central defender on his side, they need to be put in front of an industrial tribunal for misrepresentation.

[ktvillan]

Not sure about the height issue.  Apart from  their centre backs Man Yoo are hardly a team of giants but they manage to defend set pieces pretty well.  Evra is, what, about 5'9" or 5'10" if that, and regularly gets on the end of the ball at both ends. 

I think our players have been coached to follow the man so intently that they forget to look for the ball.  If you are going to man mark you probably have to do it the Stoke way, stop the bloke from going anywhere.  If you chase him around, he knows where the ball is intended to go and it's easy for him to throw a feint to gain half a yard and lose the defender at the last second.  And that's exactly what's been happening.  It's amateurish, and whoever is coaching them this way is bloody clueless. 

I'm another who thinks you need a couple of players, preferably big units,  who will just watch the ball and go hell for leather for it, wherever it is directed, Laursen stylee.  And I agree, Bannan should be nowhere near set pieces and Clark is a pants defender.

[curiousorange]

Unfortunately, I feel that under Lambert this is what we'll have to get used to. He strikes me as a man who will stick with what he's got even if it's proven to be rubbish, because he chose it.