WBA v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[bertlambshank]

Oh well we are still on course for the nothing season I was hoping for.I see that has a little bit of progress.

[pauliewalnuts]

Is Lambert an idiot or a genius? Answers on an Irn Bru beer mat

Why does he have to be either?

[ozzjim]

Amusingly as well, they couldn't pull 25,000 for their cup final.

I did chuckle when I saw 24 odd thousand, and thought Lambert was bang on about the size of the 2 clubs.

I watched bits, and we were wretched at times, and decent at others. Kind of the way we have been all season. But then last season we were wretched more of the time, with less bottle.

Some of the comments are way OTT in my opinion, and the stats clearly show even at 2-0 we were still in the game. No manager is going to make 3 subs at half time, and bringing 3 on at once in the 57th minute is still a gamble. Sure Lowton should have started with Bacuna further up but he didn't, and the players and manager dug themselves out a hole they created together. 15 points. 25 more for safety. 30 more for mid table comfort. 35 more for a pretty good improvement on last season. On to Saturday.

[pauliewalnuts]

That crowd is awful.

Capacity: 27,000
Attendance: 24,900
Villa fans: 2,500

22,400 tickets sold to Albion fans. For their cup final

[silhillvilla]

Is Lambert an idiot or a genius? Answers on an Irn Bru beer mat

Why does he have to be either?

What ? Did you watch the game ? The guy is clueless
That opening line up and tactics were a disgrace. We were very lucky not to be 5 down by HT.

[SamTheMouse]

I guess it's encouraging that we seem to be picking up points despite producing some truly shit football for long periods of games. Though I still think Lambert picks some strange set-ups. Injuries force his hand, I suppose, but he should be addressing that in the transfer market, and Kozak wasn't the sort of signing we really needed in my opinion. We needed someone more mobile.

Because I stick to my belief that we are a poor side without Gabby. We can afford to lose anyone else to injury - even Benteke. But not Gabby. His running and movement is invaluable. If you don't have pace somewhere in your team in the Prem, you're buggered. Which is why Lambert's next attacking signing needs to be able to run like shit off a stick.

[silhillvilla]

That crowd is awful.

Capacity: 27,000
Attendance: 24,900
Villa fans: 2,500

22,400 tickets sold to Albion fans. For their cup final

Who cares. They are a Micky mouse club.

[ChicagoLion]

Agree with the point about the so called Best Albion team for decades and they could not put an abject Villa team to the sword. Second Half we were still not great but they offered very little.

[Toronto Villa]

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

Source: Opta

I thought this was quite interesting. One that we fall behind, but the main point being we have something about us to fight back. It's a good quality to have.

[Chris Smith]

Our best 11 is  just about OK, shows the signings of Kozak and Tonev were poor decisions.

I think those two players might turn out to be decent signings - let's not forget, Kozak was within an inch of scoring a very good goal tonight - but I'd like us to be in a situation where we had a strong enough squad to be able to blood them slowly.

I imagine that was the plan but a frustrating succession of injuries has meant that they have had to step up. It looks as though we're getting a few back now so hopefully we'll have some options.

[PeterWithesShin]

Is Lambert an idiot or a genius? Answers on an Irn Bru beer mat

Why does he have to be either?

What ? Did you watch the game ? The guy is clueless
That opening line up and tactics were a disgrace. We were very lucky not to be 5 down by HT.

So our chances don't count? Only Albion ones? Considering they had 4 shots on target in the game would have been some achievement to score 5 times in half a game.

[saunders_heroes]

Amusingly as well, they couldn't pull 25,000 for their cup final.

Just 22k home fans there. Absolutely pathetic.

[Irish villain]

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

Source: Opta

I thought this was quite interesting. One that we fall behind, but the main point being we have something about us to fight back. It's a good quality to have.

And what a contrast with last year...

[mr woo]

Incredibly naive team selection and strange tactics from Lambert, but I'm glad he had the guts to finally make the necessary changes. Until the subs we were utterly dire. I think the enthusiasm of Gabby, and his understanding of what a derby match really means, helped to galvanise us in the second half. I'm thankful for the draw, and full credit to the players for pulling it back. But the complacent attitude prior to the fight back still worries the hell out of me.

As it should, James. Tonight's result will no doubt paper over the cracks of what is a tactically clueless manager. At times it was embarrassing. Still, he lives to live another day and let's pray he starts to learn a few basics, passing would be a great place to start. Tonight he gets no credit from me, we drew despite him, not because of him.

Our squad is very limited and he shouldn't pretend otherwise.

Decent post.

They used to say the measure of a decent team was how many players you had would get into the Man Utd side. I look at our squad these days and struggle to find any. Benteke included.


Now the counter argument is, are you surprised.......considering we can no longer compete with half arsed clubs like West Brom financially.

So you could say Lambert is doing a good job keeping us on a par with them while spending less than Clarke.

[dave.woodhall]

Is Lambert an idiot or a genius? Answers on an Irn Bru beer mat

Why does he have to be either?

What ? Did you watch the game ? The guy is clueless
That opening line up and tactics were a disgrace. We were very lucky not to be 5 down by HT.

In that case what he did in the second half was the work of a genius.