Aston Villa v Newcastle United Post-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Here's a simple lesson for Lambert, you need your midfield to create opportunities for your attackers. It sounds simple, but since we seem to adopt a tactic where we empty the midfield and just go straight from defence to attack and it fails each time, it may not be clear to him. The midfield has to produce our chances and the attackers finish them off.

[PeterWithesShin]

Delph is the only positive.

and he was only good for a half. I think Okore will be excellent but we need him fit.

He was good the whole game.

[SoccerHQ]

Diabolical to lose that after working hard to get back to 1-1.

Yet again a home performance that wasn't good enough for the 3 points, it was very similar to the Liverpool game bar the miracle of actually scoring from a corner.

I think a problem is a lot of our players like playing the game at 100mph, good when the momentum is with us (as we saw the 15 minute spell around the goal when we were making some good moves) but when we're behind and the pressure is on us you see some really basic errors like foul throws and sloppy passing.

No idea what Luna was doing when he had a chance of shooting at Krul and squared it across the goal which Weimann should've done in the 1st half. Gabby aswell for that sitter, would it have been that bad to actually take a touch and control yourself?

Our tactics aswell, having Ben Arfa up against Luna 1-1 and Remy against Lowton was not a good idea at all and cost us two goals. Very often when teams attack us, you'll see Gabby and Weimann standing either side of Benteke on the halfway line just watching play. Sometimes that pays off away from home when we can spring quick breaks but I think we need to modify that at home and play a bit more conservatively e.g. actually once in a while making sure we have a player to help out the full back.

Looks like Newcastle just watched a video of the Liverpool game and played in the exact same manner and it payed off. For all the circus that surrounds the club, they have some excellent players, Sissoko was quality first half and oh for a player like Ben Arfa in our squad as I was saying pre match. We saw today those players can be quite useful on occasions.

[andyh]

Absolutely, utterly, thoroughly pissed off after watching that.
No ideas, no threat,no composure, no plan b and a questionable plan a.
I have wanted to defend Vlaar since he has been with us, but he really is shit, although no quite so shit if okore is playing.
4 games, 3 defeats on the bounce....are things that much better than last year?
It's going to be a long season.

[Billy Walker]

We need Sylla back in the team.  KEA is great for away games and biting at the opposition's midfield but I think I'd rather see big Sylla when we are looking to dominate games and win at home. 

Today's result did not totally surprise me and it's definitely a wake up call but I still feel we are more than  capable of getting into the top half once more.  It's early days yet.

[steffo]

Width required.

[Brian Taylor]

Miserable..apply it all round. I am, they were and the world is...

[djbone]

Could have nicked it how? We created fuck all. We had two efforts on goal and one was a shite cross from Lowton.

We have created fuck all in two home games, at least we had an excuse of playing a good team in Liverpool, but today we played mid-table bilge.

In the sense that despite being so poor, when it went to 1-1 we could and should have kicked on and won it. Our inability to do so due to defensive frailties and lack of variety going forward is what's worrying.

[Fin Feds Dad]

Lowton - nowhere near last years levels . Needs a kick up the arse do I'd bring in Bacuna.
El Ahmadi - garbage - always will be.
Wiemann - pieman . Needs to lay off the lager
Gabby - can't afford to miss sitters
Benteke - apart from goal - nothing - again.

Lambert - made changes too late and inexplicable. Bit like Bradford at home.

We needed width and we needed a decent midfielder in the transfer window.

That's a poor effort - and I hate pardew with a passion . Twat .

[andyh]

I wouldn't be surprised if we win less than 3 games at home all season. Utterly clueless on the ball and still possess the worst defense in the league

Steady on fella there are 5/6 teams worse than us.

Oh fuck, we're not banking on that already are we.

[Toronto Villa]

I am so sick and tired of reading in the papers something along the lines of "defensive mistakes cost Villa...". It's such a shit Groundhog Day joke. Please make it end.

[Fin Feds Dad]

Some random thoughts:

1. Newcastle were first to every 50/50 and their players were always first to react
2. The number of times we gave the ball away from restarts (free kicks, throw ins) was unacceptable
3. The number of times we gave the ball away from simple passes, when the passer had time on the ball, was unacceptable

(1-3 suggests our players were not concentrating 100% - maybe they also saw this as an easy win?)

4. The number of times our players made bone-headed decisions (Luna not shooting, Gabby cutting in and running straight into a group of players, allowing Ben-Arfa to cut inside...) was unacceptable.

(4 suggests we lack "football brains" on the pitch)

5. Despite their league position last year, Newcastle have better players than us in most positions.

Nail.on.head

[ez]

The 4th game running that we go out to play counter attack. Looks like a theme for the season.

[The Moose]

We're soft all over the pitch. No bottle, no brains in the team, and again, no leadership on the pitch. Years sin e we had someone to bollock people when they f**k up. So predictable. Another relegation battle? Not what was expected Mr Lambert. Get it sorted.

[PeterWithesShin]

That is all 5 games this season, including Rotherham, where we have started crap. Be nice to start a game well for once. Not going 1-0 down in a league game would be a bonus as well.

The slow starts are leaving us too much to do.