Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[sirlordbaltimore]

Well.

There were those that claimed we shouldn't express concern when we've played woeful but won, apparently it didn't matter. But it seemed clear to a fair few that those few favorable (but against the run of play) results have masked what is becoming glaringly obvious. We're a VERY poor football team.

Again today the defence was dire. Baker & Luna were comical on the left, but to give them some credit there was NOTHING in front of them in midfield to stem the flow from Man U's. Clark and Lowton were, ok at best.

The midfield 3 were once again playing ridiculously narrow, and mainly prefer to pass sidewards or backwards rather than forwards. You could throw a duvet over the three of them at times which to me is one of our most obvious problems, but Lambert obviously thinks differently.

Albrighton was a rare bright spot in 'attack' and looked well up for it. I'm sure he'd be better off in a straight midfield 4 though.

Gabby, ran around a bit and made some woeful decisions with the ball, Benteke struggled to get anything worthy yet again

Non of the subs really impressed.


To sum up. Yet again we were predictably dour, lifeless and willing to roll over and have our bellies tickled at United's begging. Hopefully we'll still be around to get a chance to do it all again next season

[SamTheMouse]

i.e. Westwood for the second goal.

Westwood has been failing to track midfield runners since he started playing for us. He has zero defensive instinct. Why Lambert keeps playing him in that position is a bit of a head-scratcher.

[aj2k77]

Lambert is clueless. Anything else is just going over old ground, this man isn't good enough to manage the Villa.

Hutton is the best leftback at the club btw, as bad as he is.

[Meanwood Villa]

I haven't seen every game this season and I stooped watching after the 3rd today so this is perhaps an unfair assessment but I have not seen us play well this season. I said after the Southampton match that Lambert and the players deserve credit for turning results round from a similar period last season. Sadly it looks as though those who were being wary after that match and predicting that positive results from those type of performances couldn't be sustained were right. A couple of positive results in the next 3 games and things look good again but we look awful at the moment, as bad as last season.

[olaftab]

Off out with the kids so I'll post early. The match and post match threads are the same every week now, and it's nothing to do with the opposition. We're being outplayed by all sides in the division not just the good ones. Yes, we've pulled out some really good results but the thought that possession of 35% or less per game was going to last as a method to success was never a good one.

We're now at the start of a worrying series of results where not only have we lost our best defender, we've lost our best forward for almost 3 months. The Benteke of last season is but a memory and the current version is a shadow of what was. The two situations combined with diminishing confidence could lead us to a December period similar to last season. It is very, very worrying. I'll support Lambert as much as can be but he needs to fix this quickly.

I regret that I have to fully agree with this but there we are.

[Smirker]

Far more embarrassing than the lack of quality, which is alarming and the lack of tactical nous which is ridiculous, is the seeming acceptance of "this is where we belong". Fuck off to that.

42,000 in to one of the finest grounds in the country, one of the proudest clubs in the history of the game. In the country's second city. Fuck right off. Show some ambition, invest in quality and do it now.

End the experiment now.

 

Agree by the way. We haven't been competing for far too long.

[Mortimer's Bear]

Fucking awful.

[Jockey Randall]

It's actually quite amazing when you think about it that we're still in the league and mid table with some of performances we've seen over the last few years. In terms of quality, the premier league has gone down the toilet. There are so many poor sides.

[ez]

Has nothing to do with the point I was making. I haven't said we weren't shit today, or that we haven't been for a while. I was pointing out that a team that has lost 2 of 15 before they play us aren't in absolutely shit form.

Obviously not but in terms of the press and their attitude to the Holy Utd. That constitutes shit form.

They were one place above us but you wouldn't have thought so today.

[ChrissyPrice]

I don't think a hungover parks player could have defended as badly as Baker did for their second. It was utterly abysmal.

I'm just bored of it now. For the first time I'm probably in the "Lambert Out" camp. I hope I'm just being over the top after a bad defeat but I really can't see where the improvements are going to come from.

[saunders_heroes]

Jesus Christ that was fuckin woeful. Just how long more do we have to put up with this crap?
We are a dreadful outfit from top to bottom. Lerner open your wallet or fuck off out of our club.

[eric woolban woolban]

Never mind lambert was proud of the way we kept going.
That's great Paul.  That's really great.

[Smirker]

Never mind lambert was proud of the way we kept going.
That's great Paul.  That's really great.

Did he actually say this?

[ktvillan]

I'm not sure how much comfort we should take from being mid-table at the moment. There was a point early in the McLeish season where we'd put decent points on the board early on and were "comfortably mid-table", but to many of us it was still clear that we were, actually, incredibly shit, massively dull, in something of a false position, and in for a relegation battle.   

I've rarely seen a team with so many players who look completely out of their depth.  Baker, Clark and Luna defend like schoolboys, they really are comically woeful.  Losing both Okore and Vlaar has left us incredibly exposed at CB, and Benteke's loss of form means we may not have to the source of goals that got us out of trouble last season.  It doesn't augur well. 

But what pisses me of is just how easy it was for Man Yoo today, compared to , say, their visit to Cardiff who could and should have beaten them.  They just turn up to VP expecting to stroll off with the points, and we inevitably accommodate them without too much of a fight.  Lambert needs to start earning his money PDQ.

[AVFCRob]

There's no shame in losing to Man Utd but you have to compete at the very least. A team can have average players, be on a bad run, lose confidence but at least battle if you're struggling, show some heart, some desire.

Villa are so easy to play against and for me this is primarily down to the midfield who, apart from Delph, simply stand off and allow opponents to play. Watching Rooney spraying 40-50 yard balls out to the wing without anyone trying to close him down is what I find most inexcusable.

El Ahmadi and Westwood do not compete. They do not apply pressure on the opposition midfield so we consequently lose in midfield and find ourselves dominated there. Watching Villa allowing teams to bring the ball forward from their own half into the centre circle and into our half without a challenge is shocking.

It wasn't just today, it was the same at home against Sunderland, against Cardiff. The midfield (and the forwards) just retreat. It is sheer capitulation.

We have to get midfielders with bite, that snap into challenges, harry, harass. Westwood and El Ahmadi either can't or won't do it. They are at the heart of our problem. The poor defending and lack of a goal threat doesn't help but this awful, awful midfield has to be changed otherwise nothing will change.