Villa's style of play

[Ghost of Pongo Waring]

We are doing fine on the budget we have ffs. Moan, moan bloody moan.
Stop moaning when we beat Hull on Saturday. You might just realise how far we have come in the last 18 months.

A near 40m transfer spend in two seasons budget?. Jesus, if this is considered fine for that kind of outlay i'm shocked at how low some of our supporters requirements are.

Personally i expect more quality on the pitch for that kind of outlay. As it is i'm literally bored shitless at the game 90% of the time. The first half against Liverpool and the Newcastle match were mind numbing in their uselessness on the pitch. The City performance probably ranked a brief step up from those but that's not saying a lot.

If the likes of Everton and even the Baggies can actually play good football then so can we. I just want to see us do it. We're getting by with so called lucky wins, other teams are stepping up and earning them by their actual footballing prowess, why do we have to be different ?

Going back to this again, Everton have had two 0-0 draws already this season. And one was against the baggies.

Bet that was scintillating stuff.

Also neither Everton or Albion have totally rebuilt their squads, on a budget, in the last twelve months.

I don't know where the "so called lucky wins" bit comes from either. Our points this season have been earned by hard work.

It wasn't lucky that Man City had hardly any clear cut chances on Saturday. That happened because our defense worked their socks off and while it wasn't always pretty it was pretty effective.

[brontebilly]

We are doing fine on the budget we have ffs. Moan, moan bloody moan.
Stop moaning when we beat Hull on Saturday. You might just realise how far we have come in the last 18 months.

A near 40m transfer spend in two seasons budget?. Jesus, if this is considered fine for that kind of outlay i'm shocked at how low some of our supporters requirements are.

Personally i expect more quality on the pitch for that kind of outlay. As it is i'm literally bored shitless at the game 90% of the time. The first half against Liverpool and the Newcastle match were mind numbing in their uselessness on the pitch. The City performance probably ranked a brief step up from those but that's not saying a lot.

If the likes of Everton and even the Baggies can actually play good football then so can we. I just want to see us do it. We're getting by with so called lucky wins, other teams are stepping up and earning them by their actual footballing prowess, why do we have to be different ?

If you watch when we play well it's from passing it on the deck. Lambert has had to clear out a lot of shit players who were also hoofball merchants. We are progressing, we're not instantly going to turn in Brazil but we are improving.

Some of the players Lambert has brought in (either signings or former academy players) are hoofball merchants too though. Baker is worse than Collins ever was for example.

Fair enough if your attitude is the result is all that matters but this thread is about style of play ain't it...

Think there is more chance of us picking up points if we keep the ball more.... That's likely to require Westwood coming back in

I can think of Baker and that's it, it's hardly loads.

Sylla, Bacuna, Kea from Lambert's signings, Guzan too if I'm being pedantic about it.....

Weimann and Clark from the academy give the ball away routinely. Clark is capable of bringing the ball down and passing it but far too often just volleys it first time out of play. Weimann's energy is great but his touch is poor and lets him down a lot.

Delph stood out so much from the rest of our players in the second half in that he didnt shit himself when an opposition player came close to him. He would feint to turn to the right and buy a bit of time and space on his left. He has a nice turn of pace that takes him away from a player too. To be honest using a Johnny Giles cliche, it just takes moral courage for the player to do the right thing, get in a position for a pass, demanding the ball to feet, quick kick outs and throw ins etc. Too many of our players seem scared stiff of making a mistake or losing the ball and just resort to hoofing it towards Gabby or Benteke. Its basic stuff that any reasonable player should have at 16 but is lacking in so many players at Villa at the moment. Swansea, Everton, West Brom are all at our level but play much better football.

In Lambert's first game at West Ham, it was clear we were trying to play from the back more. But whether he has admitted defeat on that or not, we are far too Wimbeldon like for my liking at the moment anyway. Our defenders and keeper take the easy option far too much in hoofing it long and it seems to be getting worse this season. For me, its up to the manager to ensure his philosophy is implemented by the players. But we now have a glut of 6ft 6 strikers, little guile in midfield which Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying (why were Helenius and Kozak both signed this summer?) and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood. It should improve us defensively but it sure aint going to be pretty especially if this 5-3-2 formation is maintained.

[not3bad]

Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying... and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood.

What a load of crap.  Westwood is injured and everyone has noticed Lowton's loss of form.  This is not "giving up" at all.

[pauliewalnuts]

Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying... and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood.

What a load of crap.  Westwood is injured and everyone has noticed Lowton's loss of form.  This is not "giving up" at all.

And how is Bacuna any less a ball player than Lowton?

It's almost as if he didn't play a delightful pass for KEA to score and then later on, score a fantastic free kick.

[brontebilly]

Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying... and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood.

What a load of crap.  Westwood is injured and everyone has noticed Lowton's loss of form.  This is not "giving up" at all.

by giving up I meant not signing a genuine creative midfielder this summer, a number ten that our side has been crying out for. An attacking midfielder that can create, get beyond the strikers and score goals. That player isnt Westwood

Instead he signs Helenius and Kozak. Seems to be making his intentions clear to me anyway

[dave.woodhall]

Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying... and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood.

What a load of crap.  Westwood is injured and everyone has noticed Lowton's loss of form.  This is not "giving up" at all.

by giving up I meant not signing a genuine creative midfielder this summer, a number ten that our side has been crying out for. An attacking midfielder that can create, get beyond the strikers and score goals. That player isnt Westwood

Instead he signs Helenius and Kozak. Seems to be making his intentions clear to me anyway

He wants to score goals. The anti-football bastard.

[LeeB]

Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying... and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood.

What a load of crap.  Westwood is injured and everyone has noticed Lowton's loss of form.  This is not "giving up" at all.

by giving up I meant not signing a genuine creative midfielder this summer, a number ten that our side has been crying out for. An attacking midfielder that can create, get beyond the strikers and score goals. That player isnt Westwood

Instead he signs Helenius and Kozak. Seems to be making his intentions clear to me anyway

That's because you've made your mind up despite the evidence.

[Chris Smith]

Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying... and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood.

What a load of crap.  Westwood is injured and everyone has noticed Lowton's loss of form.  This is not "giving up" at all.

by giving up I meant not signing a genuine creative midfielder this summer, a number ten that our side has been crying out for. An attacking midfielder that can create, get beyond the strikers and score goals. That player isnt Westwood

Instead he signs Helenius and Kozak. Seems to be making his intentions clear to me anyway

Sweeping statements this early in the season have a habit of biting people on the arse. Why not wait and see how the team develops instead of making your mind up in September?

[not3bad]

Despite their both being tall, aren't Helenius and Kozak very different players anyway?  I thought Kozak was a target man while Helenius was more of a No. 10?

[Virgil Caine]

I think we are just one player away from being a very, very good side. I would like a goal scoring midfielder that can get 10 to 15 goals in a season on a regular basis. It worries me that we rely so heavily on our forwards, and one of the great features of Saturdays game was seeing Al Hamedi score, the first midfielder to notch one up since, bizarrely, Al Hamedi against Everton August 2012 (EPL).

[saunders_heroes]

We're the 3rd highest scorers in the PL so far. Didn't realise that.

[brontebilly]

Lambert seems to have given up on rectifying... and have now put in physically stronger players for ball players e.g. Bacuna for Lowton and Sylla for Westwood.

What a load of crap.  Westwood is injured and everyone has noticed Lowton's loss of form.  This is not "giving up" at all.

by giving up I meant not signing a genuine creative midfielder this summer, a number ten that our side has been crying out for. An attacking midfielder that can create, get beyond the strikers and score goals. That player isnt Westwood

Instead he signs Helenius and Kozak. Seems to be making his intentions clear to me anyway

He wants to score goals. The anti-football bastard.

  I'm sure even McLeish wanted to score goals, Tony Pulis too

Sweeping statements this early in the season have a habit of biting people on the arse. Why not wait and see how the team develops instead of making your mind up in September?

sweeping statements early in the season is what makes football forum's great. its an opinion, bit like an arsehole everyone has one. I'll just about get by I reckon if I'm proven wrong 

[Ads]

We're the 3rd highest scorers in the PL so far. Didn't realise that.

It is as I said earlier, the argument against so to speak, appears to be based on perception rather than evidence.

“We concede lots from corners and set pieces” – Saturday was the first time we’ve conceded from a corner and we’ve only conceded three in comparison to the four Man City have.

“We’re anti-football/no attacking midfielder equals no goals” – We’ve scored more goals than all but two sides.

Again, to stress, we have played Arsenal and Chelsea away, with Liverpool and Man City at home.

[Concrete John]

If we're going to be balanced and fair, then the positives so far this season shouldn't be made too much of in the same way that negatives shouldn't.  6 games is the time to make observations, not draw conclusions.

[OCD]

6 games is the time to make observations, not draw conclusions.

Nice quote there.