Aston Villa v Newcastle United Post-Match Thread

[Rigadon]

Very poor yesterday.  Lets hope it was a 'bad day at the office' rather than the sign of things to come.  They've earned a break from too much hand-wringing with the first few performances. 

Too many if our lot weren't at the races and our fullbacks aren't convincing defensively.  Teams know it and exploit it. 

[Desontheholte]

we had to many under performing today! people are slating weimann who has been poor for a while now. but what we have to remember is he is a finisher not a winger! and the same goes for gabby but he gets away with it because of his pace away from home! what lambert needs to do is play weimann up with benteke for the home games at least and play four across the middle. i think that would make us a better team!

[eastie]

we had to many under performing today! people are slating weimann who has been poor for a while now. but what we have to remember is he is a finisher not a winger! and the same goes for gabby but he gets away with it because of his pace away from home! what lambert needs to do is play weimann up with benteke for the home games at least and play four across the middle. i think that would make us a better team!

I agree with a lot of this , but i would play Bennett as the wide left midfielder as he can provide width going forward , has a decent cross on him and would provide cover for luna at left back .

We have a few strikers to play from if he decides to play 2 up front - obviously benteke would be one of those two.

[silhillvilla]

The safety and calm of a season of mid-table obscurity looks a long way off this morning.
"hold onto your seats" it's going to be a bumpy 9 months.

[saunders_heroes]

Lambert should have signed that midfield playmaker we've been crying out for. Shocking display from the midfield yesterday (Delph aside).

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

4-3-3 Simply doesn't work at home. It's great away from home when teams come onto us and we can counter but when at home when the responsibility is on us to take the game to the opposition the formation is to easy to stop.
Lambert needs to give us some width, for two reasons. A) To give our full backs more support, we NEVER double up in wide positions as there is nobody there to double up and  B) To try and get some crosses into the box from better positions.
I also think we can't play Gabby, Benteke and Wiemann, if Lambert is to choose a formation with two up top he needs to leave out one of Gabby or Wiemann. If he went with 4-5-1 at home he could play Gabby wide left/right, but this leads to the problem already mention numerous times we don't have a Ben Arfa type player to play AM.
Shame that young Grealish has gone out on loan, maybe he could have been given some time to play on one wing with Gabby the other.

[Clampy]

Lambert was right yesterday, it was frustrating. I said the same thing walking out the ground.

Looking back, you could argue that Gabby's miss cost us the game. If he puts that away (which he should have done) and makes it 1-1, then Lambert probably would have left the team as it was and kept it's shape. Instead it was all a bit Bradford Part 2 in the end. There were too many poor perfomances to single any one person out but so far Lowton is not looking the same player he was last season.

As for next week, I wouldn't be making too many changes apart from maybe Sylla for KEA. I don't mind KEA that much but I think Westwood looks a better player with Sylla in the midfield. Besides, we're a better side away from home so i'd stick with the majority of the players and see how it goes.

[Ron Manager]

Its Sunday morning,its cold,the bad weather has hit the West Midlands,and Ive just watched our awful performance again.At the match I didnt realise that KEA had been fouled in the run up to their first goal neither did I notice how far Lowton was away from Ben Arfa before he crossed for their second.

Lambert has to tough this situation out . Wenger got a barrowload of abuse from the fans and the media when we beat them and then they moved up a few gears...we could follow their example.

Lowton and Westwood need to look at themselves closely. They are both good enough but need to step up their game and quickly. Why Lambert has bought another centre forward many of us dont understand. Helenius should have come in to take the weight off Benteke's considerable shoulders but our manager obviously doesnt think he is ready for the rigours of the top flight.

The defence has proved to be consistently unreliable for a considerable ammount of time. That is,like it or not, Lamberts fault. Not Martin O,Neills, Gerard Houlliers, or Alex McCleish's but Lambert's. If his mate's he brought in from Norwich to coach the team are not good enough.
get rid of them and get someone in who can organise a defence. But that would cost money and Randy (remember him?) wouldnt be too pleased to put more finance in.

I am seriously worried about the clubs future. Benteke will be off as soon as he can and when he moves on we will find ourselves in the same situation as we did in the mid 1960s when Tony Hateley left.....No one to score the goals we need to stay up.

I know its only mid September but without a midfielder with top flight skills and a defence that cannot defend we could be in big  trouble.

And as others have pointed out KEA and Westwood are basically the same player. It doesnt make any sense to play both of them in the same team. They dont create or look likely to score more than a couple of goals per season.

[eastie]

I'm hoping okore is not out too long , it looked maybe knee ligaments and if so could be a lengthy one - Clark has looked better this season but i wouldn't want to rely on him for more than the odd game.

[Meanwood Villa]

I'm depressed after that to be honest. I was worried we as fans were perhaps getting a bit over-confident but I really didn't see that coming. Newcastle are supposed to be a shambles and a joke, basaed on yesterday what does that make us? I'm not sure what the answer is but I agree that certain players who have appeared undroppable (Weimann, Westwood, Lowton) perhaps need to be left out to give them a kick up the backside.

[silhillvilla]

Sylla has to play next week in lieu of KEA who should be sold or go out on loan . Tonev and Bacuna on bench and on pitch at HT if things aren't working out.
I'd also consider Bennett ahead of Luna who looks shocking tbh.

[PaulWinch again]

I think the biggest concern is that other than Okore and maybe Luna, not one player that has been signed is an obvious upgrade on what we have already. We really need to add players who are definitely better than what we have already.

[silhillvilla]

Bennett was finding his feet at the end of last season , it will take Luna a season to reach that level.
Where is Helenius ? He looked decent pre season ? Did kozak even touch the ball yesterday .
Still the blame for this debacle sits with lambert.
I fear it's going to take him til February to figure his best team and tactics again.

[Ron Manager]

I think the biggest concern is that other than Okore and maybe Luna, not one player that has been signed is an obvious upgrade on what we have already. We really need to add players who are definitely better than what we have already.

Luna like Joe Bennet cannot defend properly. They both have a level of skill but thats about it.

As Ive said earlier in the thread  Luke Young was the last full back we had who could defend and attack convincingly.

[Stu]

and to make matters worse Gareth Barry having an outstanding game in midfield for Everton on his debut

because the man is fucking top quality

our team is packed with players who have little experience in the premiership.

There's a few that I don't think are all that good either, really.