Are we a boring outfit?

[supertom]

The true test of the original question is at how many games would you sooner they be decided by the toss of a coin after about 10 minutes of crap?

Funny you should say that Dave - after 10 minutes at Upton Park Chico turned to me and said it had an inept 0-0 written all over it. I think they had lost their last 3 home games and were low on confidence and we were unable to exploit this. A coin toss would have been the humane solution.

I think many of us thought going into the WH game that it had 0-0 written all over it before a ball had been kicked to be fair.

[SoccerHQ]

Sadly too many games like that this season.

What still baffles me were how exciting the games were from February onwards (in the middle of an excuriating relegation battle), how decent the first 3 games this season looked and how downhill it has all gone since.

[paul_e]

For me there's a bit of a case of "we need to keep clean sheets, we shouldn't have to score 2-3 to win a game" leading to "why are we playing for clean sheets, we won't win anything unless we score".  We know this squad can do both, we just need to trust them to bring it together and do both at the same time.  In the meantime I'm happy to go result by result and keep ourselves in a decent spot.  If I thought where we are was the end of the process I'd be worried but it clearly isn't.

[supertom]

He'd found midfield balance with Delph, Sylla and Westwood last season but he seems reluctant to go back to that for some reason. Westy's form hasn't helped, but also continually playing Westwood and KEA in the same midfield doesn't help matters because it doesn't, and probably will never, work. The two together make us too immobile.

[not3bad]

He'd found midfield balance with Delph, Sylla and Westwood last season but he seems reluctant to go back to that for some reason. Westy's form hasn't helped, but also continually playing Westwood and KEA in the same midfield doesn't help matters because it doesn't, and probably will never, work. The two together make us too immobile.

Very much agree.  Sylla is starting to get back into the side again and after the improvement shown when Lowton and Bacuna were both in the same side I'm hoping we won't see the Westwood/KEA combo again for a while.

[not3bad]

"Are we a boring outfit?"

On the evidence of last night, no.

[SoccerHQ]

We are a work in progess and midtable team that lacks consistancy. The results this season indicate this as does now probably where we'll start winning some home games and go winless away for a bit.

Good thing for me is we're picking up points regularly with Benteke injured/off form.

I liken us a bit to Newcastle who have like us had some random results this season, beating Chelsea and Newcastle yet losing at home to Hull and at Sunderland. They have a better first 11 quality of player than us particularly in the midfield area so that's why they're nestling in 7th as opposed to bottom half so really that's the next step for us, getting some creativity in central midfield.

[not3bad]

A team that lacks consistency, by definition, is not dull, because you don't what they're going to do next.

[Concrete John]

Not sure where to put this, so this seems as good a place as any.

I was just reading the match report from last night on the BBC website, and they had this stat from Opta:-

Aston Villa have won seven points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other side.

To me that's a stark contrast to last season, when heads seemed to drop if we went behind and we often ended up getting a hiding.  A clear sign of this young side maturing.

[usav]

Or are we just shite in the first half?

[Concrete John]

Or are we just shite in the first half?

Beats being shite in both half like last season.

[aj2k77]

At least we've answered 4 questions so far this season.

Can we stop conceding in almost every single game? Yes
Can we stop looking like a joke at Corners? Yes
Can we come back from losing positions? Yes
Can we survive when Benteke is off form or injured? Yes

[not3bad]

Or are we just shite in the first half?

Beats being shite in both half like last season.

Shit in one half and good in another is not boring.

[SoccerHQ]

At least we've answered 4 questions so far this season.

Can we stop conceding in almost every single game? Yes
Can we stop looking like a joke at Corners? Yes
Can we come back from losing positions? Yes
Can we survive when Benteke is off form or injured? Yes

Great thing for me is we're regularly picking up points now with Benteke injured/off form. So eventually he will start scoring regularly again so that gives us the basis to start winning some games.

Still going to be a problem when he leaves though.

[Clampy]

I think of one of the main problems this season so far is Weimann, Benteke and Gabby picking up injuries at various times and not having a run of games together as a front three.  Hopefully now they'll stay fit for a while and we'll see a difference, which in turn should help Benteke out of his current dip in form.