Is this what transition looks like?

[eastie]

Last season benteke was a newcomer -as was michu , defenders hadn't faced them before and found them difficult - now teams know his strengths and will try to combat him - he is still a class player and will score goals at the top level for sure but talk of selling him in January is pie in the sky .

I wouldn't be surprised to see him depart in the summer and I expect bigger clubs than spurs to be after him - lets get him back scoring and enjoy him while we can .

[brontebilly]

The biggest indictment of Lambert's reign is that the players look badly coached. Most players seem to have no idea what to do when they get the ball and as many have commented our movement off the ball is pathetic. I dont see a distinct style of play that Lambert is trying to employ. Yesterday particularly in the second half our back four and keeper took turns on who could kick the ball the longest. We also swap between formation on a game to game basis with little success.

I remember the game v Spurs under McLeish, where he played Hutton in midfield and we were a disgrace. Kevin Keegan was particularly scathing at half time of the Villa approach, saying Villa fans wouldnt accept such tactics or lack of ambition etc. We were actually 8th in the league at the time. If we werent going to accept such a crude approach then why are many supporters looking the other way now? That season turned to absolute sh*te only when Dunne, Bent and Petrov got injured but the correct decision to remove the manager was taken regardless. That style of football should still be seen as unacceptable.

I really dont think Lambert has improved things at all from McLeish. He may point to the lack of funds available but if there was money to give the likes of Benteke a big pay rise and 7m available for Kozak, then there was money to bring in the likes of Gareth Barry on loan. Everton's approach is far more sensible than ours. If they cant afford a player then some clever loans will do. Before a World Cup, there is umpteen experienced players who could have come in on a short term contract to improve us, yet Lambert has gone with a different approach. Watching Tonev yesterday it was scary how far out of his depth he is right now. QPR managed to get Assou Ekotto on loan, surely we could have bought him instead of buying Luna. The squad has far too many physically weak players who wouldnt break wind, surely this could have been rectified in the summer.

Really hoping in January that we can bring players in that can make us watchable again. Looks like Moyes will be sending a good few towards the exit door, Young would a great addition but the likes of Ferdinand might even be gettable on a short deal. Rodwell is going nowhere at City, Lescott is gettable. De Bruyne, Ba, Bertrand maybe at Chelsea. Kaboul, Naughton, Dawson, Sigurdsson at Spurs. Plenty of good players out there at the top clubs that need a change and we should be kicking down the door trying to get them in.

[dcdavecollett]

We do, in fact, have a better dead-ball taker than Ashley Westwood.

His name is Leandro Bacuna.

Quite mystifying!

[supertom]

It's been said before and probably will again, but I'd like to see some of our more talented youngsters get some game time. The likes of Johnson, Grealish, Robinson, Carruthers. I also wouldn't mind seeing Gardner get a go either. He's just getting back to fitness now. It's about time he showed what the fuss is about.

I'd fancy them to do better than players like Helenius and Bowery. I don't think one of our better youth prospects could come in and do much worse than KEA has at times either. We've got to do anything to inject a bit of flair, quality and creativity.

[supertom]

A worry at the moment is with all these games coming up and seemingly nothing happening to identify major problems we have. There's a shift in managers everywhere and a lot of teams have the propensity for improvement. Fulham looked a different side yesterday to Jol's. The new guy had them well drilled and not overrun with lazy, mercurial players (he just played the one in Berba and it worked).

Palace look better under Pulis.
Stoke are getting better now under Hughes. They're looking more and more solid.
Swansea will probably improve.
Norwich have improved a little of late, some of their signings are starting to bed in.
West Ham look shite at the moment but a decent front man could change that, or perhaps a new manager effect if Fat Sam gets booted.

If Lambert rests on his laurels and just continues blindly "going again" without sorting out our passing and movement and our tactics, then we will slip into trouble.
Jan is coming up too. What the teams do in every section in the league will largely define what happens in the tail end of the season. For us we're in that large group who are all fighting to get to 40 points asap. We might seem comfortable in 10th but we're on thin ice.
The fact is if we carry on like we are we're more likely to go and lose 6 on the spin, rather than win 6 in a row. We're asking for defeats playing like we are. As seen, lose a key player like Vlaar and we're a mess all over the pitch. Our defence had ground out some valuable points.

Lambert needs to seriously react to problems far quicker. It only takes 2-3 games to switch from being comfortable, to needing incontinence trousers. Whilst teams below us are gradually improving we can't afford to implode. Lambo is asking for trouble.

[andyh]

For ages I have thought we have needed someone in our team with a bit of guile, someone who can influence a game and make things happen.
Now, I'm not so sure that is our biggest problem.
I am now more concerned with our total lack of 'presence' in the middle of the pitch.
We have quite tidy, functional midfielders, who 'generally' can receive the ball, pass it (often sideways) and run around a lot.
But, not one of them can tackle, win a header and get stuck in, everyone one of our current midfield options is a lightweight.
Delph is by far the best of a bad bunch, but a whole lot of that is down to his incredible energy.
I think this is the main reason we sit back, sit off and allow teams to come onto us....because we don't have the players to play in any other way.
Scott Parker absolutely owned the midfield yesterday, thats the type of player we need.

[Concrete John]

For ages I have thought we have needed someone in our team with a bit of guile, someone who can influence a game and make things happen.
Now, I'm not so sure that is our biggest problem.
I am now more concerned with our total lack of 'presence' in the middle of the pitch.
We have quite tidy, functional midfielders, who 'generally' can receive the ball, pass it (often sideways) and run around a lot.
But, not one of them can tackle, win a header and get stuck in, everyone one of our current midfield options is a lightweight.
Delph is by far the best of a bad bunch, but a whole lot of that is down to his incredible energy.
I think this is the main reason we sit back, sit off and allow teams to come onto us....because we don't have the players to play in any other way.
Scott Parker absolutely owned the midfield yesterday, thats the type of player we need.

I tend to agree.  While I like our midfield players individually,  the blend between them doesn't seem to quite work.  And that fact they are a bit 'samey' gives the manager a lack of tactical options.  If we had one that was a cut the rest, either defensively or attacking wise, then that would immediately change the shape of the midfield as the other would slot around the more dominant player.

[supertom]

For ages I have thought we have needed someone in our team with a bit of guile, someone who can influence a game and make things happen.
Now, I'm not so sure that is our biggest problem.
I am now more concerned with our total lack of 'presence' in the middle of the pitch.
We have quite tidy, functional midfielders, who 'generally' can receive the ball, pass it (often sideways) and run around a lot.
But, not one of them can tackle, win a header and get stuck in, everyone one of our current midfield options is a lightweight.
Delph is by far the best of a bad bunch, but a whole lot of that is down to his incredible energy.
I think this is the main reason we sit back, sit off and allow teams to come onto us....because we don't have the players to play in any other way.
Scott Parker absolutely owned the midfield yesterday, thats the type of player we need.

I tend to agree.  While I like our midfield players individually,  the blend between them doesn't seem to quite work.  And that fact they are a bit 'samey' gives the manager a lack of tactical options.  If we had one that was a cut the rest, either defensively or attacking wise, then that would immediately change the shape of the midfield as the other would slot around the more dominant player.

I'd like to see Herd in midfield, he's all action and commited. He'll do the dirty work and allow others a bit more freedom. Then allow Delph a bit further forward. It's also perhaps time for Sylla to come back in. I'm just running out of patience with Westwood and KEA entirely.

[Concrete John]

Last season's good run came with Sylla and Delph playing slightly ahead of Westwood, left and right respectively, and that gave us more forward passing options.  With KEA in there he plays in the same areas of the pitch and Westwood, thereby turning a forward pass into a sideways or backwards one.  Also, Delph pulled left and Sylla right, which facilitated getting the ball out to Gabby and Westood.

It was an inverted triangle shape that worked well for us, so why haven't we seen it again this season?  You stick Bacuna in Sylla's place and you also add an extra bit of quality on the ball to it.     

[Dante Lavelli]

Agree with that Concrete.  KEA and Westwood both like to play with the game in front of them (i.e. deep) whereas we're crying out for a player who wants and is comfortable the ball in advanced positions between the line of the midfield and forwards. 

Delph can do it but KEA hasn't got the speed of thought or legs to operate in these areas resulting in him dropping deep and a lack of short forward pass options.

I'd also echo the comments that we need an upgrade for Weimann.  The guy has battled valiantly in an un-natural position but the club now, should have the funds to make a significant upgrade in this area.

[mike]

Watching the Hull Swansea score with interest. That is transition.

Dreaming of a side with Ugo and Southgate (or Olof, or Laursen, or...)in the back four. That is transition.

Fondly remembering the success we had under a manager now at Crawley, that is transition.

Thinking Doug was a bit fast and loose with the finances... Ok, I've gone too far.

[SoccerHQ]

Who was the last villa manager we had who produced a technically decent team. IMO you have to go back to Brian Little.

O'dreary started off o.k but the football soon declined, MON had famously a direct set piece plan A which wasn't too bad when it worked but no idea when it didn't, Houllier may have produced one long term but the side was in transition and I don't need to waste any time on McLeish's football philosophy.

So we've had on the face of it in the last 15 years some capable big name managers but the technical sides they've produced have been for clubs they've previously manage, not us.

At Norwich Lambert produced a high tempo, attacking team. Not amazing on the ball but good to watch. He reached that with us for the final three months of last season.

I'm happy to watch that tbh, it produces goals and good games even if it's not the sort to ever really crack the top 4, not that those days will be with us anytime soon. That's why I'm finding it really difficult to understand why things football worse have declined so much this season.

Another reason I think is we rarely signed any latin style players. We've never ever signed a Brazilian player have we nor do we ever look really into signing Argies, Spanish (o.k Luna but I mean further up the pitch) or French players. Even if we do sign one, he's usually the lone one in amongst a squad of british players so the football intelligence gets lost. I can't help looking enviously at the Spainish colony Swansea have and the French legion at Newcastle, these nations produce the most technically gifted players after all.

Just have to think back to the time we had Solano and JPA, there was some decent football played then. Looking at the Bundesliga, two South Americans, Diego from Wolfsburg who once cost Juventus 20m and Tomas Rincon from Hamburg who's been linked to prem clubs, are both on free transfers in 6 months.

These are the types of midfielders I want to see us signing to make the next step up the league but I'd imagine they'd want more than a fiver a week.

[supertom]

The sad thing is we've got one Spanish player, and three Dutch players (inc KEA, who's Dutch born). You'd think all of them would be able to open a tin of beans with their foot of choice, but (Vlaar excused as he's a center back) none of them have a decent touch and none seem to be able to pass the ball.

I'd worry about us signing South Americans. We'd be expecting the next Ronaldinho and end up with the Brazilian Robbie Savage.

[supertom]

Are we getting Juninho yet?

[pauliewalnuts]

The sad thing is we've got one Spanish player, and three Dutch players (inc KEA, who's Dutch born). You'd think all of them would be able to open a tin of beans with their foot of choice, but (Vlaar excused as he's a center back) none of them have a decent touch and none seem to be able to pass the ball.

Don't forget Cuellar, we'd already had what I think was, at the time, the only Spanish male on the planet with no ball skills.

it was like watching a puppy trying to pick up a balloon.