Aston Villa v Newcastle United Post-Match Thread

[SoccerHQ]

Luna was Bennettssque today . Just awful.

In defence the team formation means our fullbacks are regularly exposed to one on one duels and it wasn't pretty watching seeing Remy easily get past Lowton for the first goal and Ben Arfa giving Luna a torrid time today.

We'll get away with it with other teams who play narrow like Arsenal but today it might've made more sense to actually put Bacuna (or Sylla) in rather than doing that against Liverpool.

[KevinGage]

I must say the oft trotted out comparisons with the Dortmund way of doing things baffle me though.  Day 1 Lesson 1 in any German blueprint for success would include the importance of structure: sound defence and organization. 

He spent one year of his life there, one season out of a 20 + season career.  I don't doubt that Hitzfeld would have been a positive influence to learn from- even for that relatively short window in time.  Maybe he was out of the room whenever defensive planning was being discussed.  That, and the approach to going after sides at home with a bit of nous and creativity.

It's not Klopp's Day 1 Lesson 1 - that would be 'always press the ball wherever you are whatever minute of the game.' And Lambert wants us to do that, but they're not fit enough yet. He also did his badges in Germany, alongside Klopp as it happens, and the amount of importance he places on his German education is enormous.

One thing I wish he hadn't picked up from Hitzfeld is the 'big man is better than playmaker' ideology of 1990s German football. It's outdated and it's what made us look abysmal today.

Any yet as radical as Klopp's approach may be in some respects, he still understood the importance of a solid defence and a solid midfield.  He would do, as an ex defender. 

Subotic was with him at Mainz, and was one of his first signings at Dortmund.   Sven Bender and Hummels were signed within his first 12 months and he inherited Kehl, so the importance of the spine was there to see.   You build the rest from that point onwards. 

No teams -even good ones- can ignore the importance of defending, or achieve any agree of success with a gung-ho "You score 2 we'll score 3" approach.   And we are light years away from being a good side. 

Being more organized doesn't mean adopting McLeish's turgid brand of football either.   

But we currently have on the books some of the worst defenders at the club in 20 years (most of them signed by Lambert, at this point) and that more than anything contributes to this constant need to play catch up. 

In my lifetime, Villa Park has rarely been a venue where you'd expect to see free flowing entertaining football.  But any two from a McGrath, Teale, Southgate, Ugo, Mellberg, Laursen or even an Alpay in that side this afternoon might have been enough to get away with a below average performance and sneak an uninspiring 1-0 win.  This side can't do that.  If we turn in below average performances, we lose. 

[olaftab]

As someone else has said, its a reality check. We won the first match, very unlucky in the second, distinctly average in the third and awful today. We have all these attacking options but no plan b. And it depresses me how many teams go home with 3 points from Villa Park. Compare Everton's performance today to ours. Different gravy.

Yes Everton were good today however please don't disregard our performance at SB a few weeks ago.

[Steve kirk]

Very down, was excited about my first visit to VP this season but soon had the wind knocked out of my sails, most of the time it's a torture at home games and god help season ticket holders, changes must be made for the Norwich game, KEA out Sylla in, Weimann out Tonev in, only plus point for me is Delph who looks a proper player, my sons and I don't go to many home league games maybe 7/8 a season, the last home win we saw was Blackburn at home in the McLeish season, JESUS.

[dekko]

Not denying that this was a very poor perfomance, but its early in the season.

Swinging from optimism to pessimism with every single game is bad for your health.  Lets see how we are in another 3 or 4 games before we start breaking out the orange dots and lucky pies.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I also thought our support today was non-existent, as is often the case when playing the "lesser" teams. The team needs support against all teams, no matter how we're playing.

[cheltenhamlion]

Load of shite.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

on a positive note we had 55% of the ball at home!

and scored from a corner!
and didn't concede from a corner!


and were really quite shit!
Bugger!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Very down, was excited about my first visit to VP this season but soon had the wind knocked out of my sails, most of the time it's a torture at home games and god help season ticket holders, changes must be made for the Norwich game, KEA out Sylla in, Weimann out Tonev in, only plus point for me is Delph who looks a proper player, my sons and I don't go to many home league games maybe 7/8 a season, the last home win we saw was Blackburn at home in the McLeish season, JESUS.

Great idea Steve!
Get Jesus in!

On loan would be fine by me!

[PaulWinch again]

I think my biggest concern would be around Weimann and Lowton. Lowton in particular had issues with positioning last year, but I put it down to lack of experience. However he still seems to have exactly the same issues and he hasn't learnt. Likewise Weimann still loses concentration and it affects his game badly. This are issues that should be disappearing from both of their games.

[Legion]

He's used to crosses...

[eric woolban woolban]

How many league games is that now without a clean sheet.

A record number I believe for the Premier league.

[Legion]

26

[eastie]

If we haven't improved after this season ie. 16/17th again where does that leave the club ? Lambert? The fans ? I don't think I can do another season of fighting relegation. It affects me too much .

Why do we deserve/expect more than 16th/17th?

Because we are Aston Villa and a big club with  tradition, history, pride, and a huge fan base and are one of the biggest 10 clubs in the country at the very least - there is no way clubs like stoke, west brom, Swansea , etc should be expected to achieve more than us.

Fair enough , top 6 is beyond us but we should be aiming higher than 16th!

[Rudy65]

Why when we are attacking on the halfway line do all the players run off toward the goal and away from our player in possession? What about making runs down the channels or out wide to some support