WBA v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[olaftab]

Those of you watching on TV  may have got a much better view than those of us in the ground but I find a lot of criticism on here a bit unfair. We got caught out by a long punt and a silly mistake  and 2-0 at 10 mins or so. A lot of teams would have sunk without trace after that but we didn't. I still thought we were the better team in the FIRST half. Had more chances and more shots on and off target.  We started the second very well without getting close to scoring and Lambert did exactly what was required with 3 subs. Once  those  3 were on we had more precision and better drive. The goals  were well deserved and yes well done to our midfielders for scoring when the forwards failed to do so. Lot of positives tonight.
Negatives were form of Benteke and Baker. Benteke appears clumsy and slow at the moment and Baker got caught out for both goals by not being close to long.
As someone said I was surprised that he stayed on and Kozak went off. Need to sort out Tonev. Whilst his shooting was not wild tonight it was weak  and wasteful. I think he will be more useful next season.

[Chris Smith]

I would flip it. How many of the west brom team would get into our side?

Olsson? Maybe. None of their attackers are as good as ours (including shane long). Their midfielders are solid but nothing beyond KEA level players imho.

Mulumbu, Morrisson, Long, Brunt. All would walk into our team.

Yes, of course. Ditch that no hopper Benteke and bring in Shane Long.

Considering they're so brilliant why, after the toughest start to a season I can remember and a number of significant injuries, are they ahead of us only by the slimmest possible margin?

The reality is we're at a similar level at the moment Considering what we've been through over the past few seasons I take as a sign of progress.

[silhillvilla]

I'm not buying this Lambert is ok cos of the 3 subs.
It was a monumental fuck up on his part leaving those guys out + Lowton.
The guy is very very naive.

[pauliewalnuts]

Let's not forget, too, poor defending was involved, but Shane Long also scored what will almost definitely be the two best goals he's ever going to score.

He's never struck me as very good - pretty much the sort of player you'd expect to see at a shit nothing club like Albion - but both his goals today were absolutely top drawer. If he had 1000 chances to score that Bergkampesque goal he scored today, I'd imagine he'd manage it once. At best.

[Dave Clark Five]

He should have changed it much earlier. He is also no better than Alex McLeish, who suffered dogs abuse.

Oh, please. Really?

At the very least, Lambert's base instinct is to go for the win. McLeish's is to go for a point, or to keep the score down if he can't get that.

Lambert is ten times the manager McLeish is, on the basis of that alone.

I can't imagine ever seeing Lambert fist pumping the air after leading 1-0 at home to Stoke, conceding on 80 mins and seeing the game out to take a point.

That first half was fucking pathetic. We needed players capable of dishing some stick out instead of the feeble performance they gave. Lambert is not the manager that he was made out to be. He has got away with murder.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm not buying this Lambert is ok cos of the 3 subs.
It was a monumental fuck up on his part leaving those guys out + Lowton.
The guy is very very naive.

Don't you think he did well with the substitutions?

Regardless of you don't think he should have started with that line up, don't you reckon he did well to get us a point out of that? Given that we were two goals down after 11 minutes?

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm not buying this Lambert is ok cos of the 3 subs.
It was a monumental fuck up on his part leaving those guys out + Lowton.
The guy is very very naive.

So he should have started 5 players, those 3 plus Benteke and Guzan, who have had recent injury problems. What if we'd lost a few them after half an hour. Would it have been the right thing to start them? Or was it wise to not have half your starting lineup not fully fit?

[olaftab]

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.

Incredible. Just tell me HOW they would have scored 5?

[pauliewalnuts]

He should have changed it much earlier. He is also no better than Alex McLeish, who suffered dogs abuse.

Oh, please. Really?

At the very least, Lambert's base instinct is to go for the win. McLeish's is to go for a point, or to keep the score down if he can't get that.

Lambert is ten times the manager McLeish is, on the basis of that alone.

I can't imagine ever seeing Lambert fist pumping the air after leading 1-0 at home to Stoke, conceding on 80 mins and seeing the game out to take a point.

That first half was fucking pathetic. We needed players capable of dishing some stick out instead of the feeble performance they gave. Lambert is not the manager that he was made out to be. He has got away with murder.

It's not so much the first half performance bit I was disagreeing with, it was the no better than McLeish bit.

Even if I accepted they were managers of equal capability, I'd take the one who tries to win games over the one who doesn't every single time. Lambert has got plenty of faults, but I struggle to imagine him managing to crush the spirit as much as McLeish did in one season.

It was horrible.

[Dave Clark Five]

we've just come back from two down against a team who, all joking aside, are more experienced than us and are at least two years further down the team-building path. Anyone who can criticise that should ask themselves what more we can do.

Not go two down in the first place would be a start.

[PeterWithesShin]

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.

Incredible. Just tell me HOW they would have scored 5?

I asked the same thing, got no answer surprisingly.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm not buying this Lambert is ok cos of the 3 subs.
It was a monumental fuck up on his part leaving those guys out + Lowton.
The guy is very very naive.

So he should have started 5 players, those 3 plus Benteke and Guzan, who have had recent injury problems. What if we'd lost a few them after half an hour. Would it have been the right thing to start them? Or was it wise to not have half your starting lineup not fully fit?

Like he said, those three players didn't return to training until Friday.

It was a big gamble putting them on at all - as Gary Neville pointed out, after. Any one of them could have suffered an injury recurrence, and we might have lost the game anyway.

[supertom]

We should have acted sooner to be honest. 2-3 subs at half time.
At this level though, we've just had an indication on how vital our best players will be. We took three players who arguably aren't good enough for this level (yet/possibly ever) and brought on Prem quality.
It got us back into it. That's not a smart tactical substitution either, it was one desperately obvious that should have been identified sooner, or we should have started with.

Who knows we may have started with those 3, been more effective and it could have been a different game. Maybe 3 points in the bag on 70 mins, then take any of the flagging players off if needs be. Honestly I think you put our front 3 out, and Delph in the mid and we're a better side than WBA. Their backline struggled once we put a bit of pace and drive on.

My major worry isn't Lambo's tactical naivity though. Right now it's Bentekes form. I didn't think he was up to his best before his injuries. But you could let that slide given he still netted 5 goals. But since the injuries he's been even more off the pace and off the boil. He's look a little lackadaisical too which is as worrying as his fitness.

[SheffieldVillain]

I'm not buying this Lambert is ok cos of the 3 subs.
It was a monumental fuck up on his part leaving those guys out + Lowton.
The guy is very very naive.

Yes, ridiculously naive to leave out three players just back from injury. They should have played from the start, the full 90 in fact, be it running, walking or crawling. Who cares if they break down and miss the rest of the season through injury?

[Dave Clark Five]

I'm not buying this Lambert is ok cos of the 3 subs.
It was a monumental fuck up on his part leaving those guys out + Lowton.
The guy is very very naive.

Correct. Then he did the stroppy three player sub which always means 'you lot are crap'. It was not tactical at all. The bloke had fucked up again and is another O'Neill with his stubborness.