Villa's style of play

[villa `cross the mersey]

We have conceded three goals from set pieces.

Is that 3 from 8 then? If so that`s 37% which is significant

Seriously though - if we can further improve our defending of set pieces , the defence and ultimately the whole team will benefit as confidence will grow. As for us being up against "larger players" then surely that is discussed in training and worked on to mitigate just that.
I thought we conceded too easily from set pieces when Given was between the sticks - Brad is more vocal however sometimes he can get too rooted to his line when the box is heavily populated. My biggest criticism is the failure to cover front and back posts - schoolboy stuff really.
If we are to see improvement this season I feel it has to come from the defence - the reduction in goals conceded at Stamford Bridge is an early positive sign of this. Conceding two "sloppy" goals from corners this weekend will have fans responding with "Oh no not again" which is understandable. Ultimately the aim should be to keep clean sheets in as many games as possible. Whilst the "you score three, we will score four" philosophy is admirable most successful sides are built around a solid defence. I think the true understanding of our level of improvement will be the Tottenham game where hopefully we will be more determined to get a result and put up more of a show against a talented side. - See I can be positive !!!   

[nick harper]

Lots of positive comments about our evolving style of play but I have still seen us lose 9 of our last 14 home games in the league. The second half on Saturday was a glimpse of what we can do if we get the ball down and we get our good ball players into space.

We tend struggle when a team closes us down quickly at Villa Park - that's when it goes longer and more aimless. City didn't do that as well as others and we looked a more threatening side as a result.

Nevertheless, there are positive signs. Be interesting how Spurs and Everton go.

[Mister E]

... We tend struggle when a team closes us down quickly at Villa Park - that's when it goes longer and more aimless ...

Yes; I put that down to our players perhaps not having the confidence and / or skill to beat their man and create their own space when presented with the ball whilst being closed down. Also, in the first half last Saturday and against the Barcodes there was a distinct lack of movement from the players around the man with the ball.
The effect of both being that the distribution and possession-retention are poor.

[old man villa fan]

Lots of positive comments about our evolving style of play but I have still seen us lose 9 of our last 14 home games in the league. The second half on Saturday was a glimpse of what we can do if we get the ball down and we get our good ball players into space.

We tend struggle when a team closes us down quickly at Villa Park - that's when it goes longer and more aimless. City didn't do that as well as others and we looked a more threatening side as a result.

Nevertheless, there are positive signs. Be interesting how Spurs and Everton go.

Losing 9 of the last 14 is true but a little misleading in that 4 of those defeats came immediately after the 8-0 hammering at Chelsea.  The last of those defeats against Newcastle was at the end of January and half time in that game saw the turn around in performances.  Those defeats were not helped with injuries crippling our defence.

There have been disappointments since that Newcastle game but if you disregard those 4 games, it becomes 5 from 10, having played Liverpool twice, Man City twice and Chelsea.  What that shows, I believe, is that we are improving, particularly in defence and midfield.

[PaulWinch again]

We are heading in the right direction, if you look at since Lambert took over our results are starting to improve, the squad has been overhauled and the players are gaining more experience. Lambert clearly wants to play attacking football, and we pass on the deck when we play at our best. Look at some of our goals last season, they are truly great. Obviously we're a work in progress and there will be some steps back before we move forward on occasion, but this club is moving in the right direction. All it takes now is investment to add some real quality to supplement the squad.

[Concrete John]

Lots of positive comments about our evolving style of play but I have still seen us lose 9 of our last 14 home games in the league. The second half on Saturday was a glimpse of what we can do if we get the ball down and we get our good ball players into space.

We tend struggle when a team closes us down quickly at Villa Park - that's when it goes longer and more aimless. City didn't do that as well as others and we looked a more threatening side as a result.

Nevertheless, there are positive signs. Be interesting how Spurs and Everton go.

Losing 9 of the last 14 is true but a little misleading in that 4 of those defeats came immediately after the 8-0 hammering at Chelsea.  The last of those defeats against Newcastle was at the end of January and half time in that game saw the turn around in performances.  Those defeats were not helped with injuries crippling our defence.

There have been disappointments since that Newcastle game but if you disregard those 4 games, it becomes 5 from 10, having played Liverpool twice, Man City twice and Chelsea.  What that shows, I believe, is that we are improving, particularly in defence and midfield.

I've always viewed last season in 3 specific junks.  There was the games up until Chelsea away.  Chelsea away until Newcastle at home.  And then Everton away onwards.

We were poor but improving in the first lot.  Utter garbage in the middle.  And then showed midtable form at the end.  That final junk of 14 games we actually had a points per game ratio of 1.5, which is eaxctly what we've got during the first 6 this season.  If we can maintain that form, we'll be upper midtable come May.

[Matt Collins]

It's funny. On the one hand we've continued the form from the back end of last season.

But there are actually lots of differences.

Even in our good form last year we lost against all the top sides. We've beaten two already this season.

We were much too good for everyone else. Whereas I don't think we played that well v Newcastle or Norwich this year.

We've been more resilient this year but passed the ball much less well

Hopefully we can package all of these things together. I know I keep on banging on about it but it we can get through the Everton and spurs games with a point or two, plus beat hull, I think we are well set to rack up quite a few points over November and December. We'll need a pretty for squad to choose from and some of our better players to find their feet this season

I'm not expecting top eight form but I do think top ten is realistic. They're much of a muchness after Everton. But the top seven seem to be streets ahead

[eamonn]

"Junk?" The only way I've seen that word being malleable is in its use for peope's private parts.

[supertom]

"Junk?" The only way I've seen that word being malleable is in its use for peope's private parts.

What he meant was, we were bollocks.

[Clampy]

It's funny. On the one hand we've continued the form from the back end of last season.

But there are actually lots of differences.

Even in our good form last year we lost against all the top sides. We've beaten two already this season.

We were much too good for everyone else. Whereas I don't think we played that well v Newcastle or Norwich this year.

We've been more resilient this year but passed the ball much less well

Hopefully we can package all of these things together. I know I keep on banging on about it but it we can get through the Everton and spurs games with a point or two, plus beat hull, I think we are well set to rack up quite a few points over November and December. We'll need a pretty for squad to choose from and some of our better players to find their feet this season

I'm not expecting top eight form but I do think top ten is realistic. They're much of a muchness after Everton. But the top seven seem to be streets ahead

I personally think we'd have beaten Norwich more comfortably had Gabby and Benteke stayed on the pitch. You can't really play a counter attacking game with Weimann and Kozak up front so it was case of having to dig in and take any other chances that came our way. In that respect it was a great result even if the performance didn't match.

[eastie]

It will interesting to see how we line up at hull if as expected both gabby and Westwood are available .
I would expect we go back to the 433 system which has profited in away games with , gabby , andi and Kozak up front , but I would hope hat lambert sticks with the same midfield of sylla, kea and Delph for this one .
A month ago I could never have imagined that I would be advocating both Westwood and Lowton to be on the bench but kea and bacuna deserve the shirts at the moment.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Anyone else notice we played more like 4-3-1-2 with Weimann dropping deep almost midfield and tekkers as the big man linking with gabby? Was yet another change for Lambert. It worked well.

[Monty]

Anyone else notice we played more like 4-3-1-2 with Weimann dropping deep almost midfield and tekkers as the big man linking with gabby? Was yet another change for Lambert. It worked well.

I thought it worked poorly. We lost all the width which stretched Liverpool in the first half and bypassed all 4 1/2 midfielders, bunting it long to two Big Men and promptly losing it.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Anyone else notice we played more like 4-3-1-2 with Weimann dropping deep almost midfield and tekkers as the big man linking with gabby? Was yet another change for Lambert. It worked well.

I thought it worked poorly. We lost all the width which stretched Liverpool in the first half and bypassed all 4 1/2 midfielders, bunting it long to two Big Men and promptly losing it.

I think we tend to play better when we are narrow to be honest. When we swamp the central midfield I think we do best. Also we get width "for free" when we have Gabby & Weimanns pace on the pitch even of they are playing centrally, if that makes sense.

I agree we definitely lost something when Holt played in Gabby's position though. he isnt that kind of player. As you say he was too similar to Tekkers really. Might have been better to bring on Helenius and have him take Weimmans role  with Weimann moving into Gabby's maybe?

[Monty]

I feel that would have been too much of the same. For all his much-debated faults, I would've had Albrighton staying wide on the right and keeping the pitch big. As it was, Liverpool found it too easy to cram the centre and crowd us off the ball.