Everton v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[ChicagoLion]

Like I said earlier, do people enjoy watching Villa desperately trying to hang on, hoofing the ball away and repelling wave after wave of attack? I don't I'd like to see us attack and play entertaining football. Everton should have comparative standing to us, but they are a long way ahead of us.

I think there are times when there is no choice but to play that way because the pressure some of the top teams can inflict. At  Old Trafford you would expect periods of the game where you are under the kosh. (Everton without a centre forward should not have caused a 5 at the back formation and 2 lumps up front). But to set up to play that way is asking for trouble.
He has got away with it (Southampton) and at various other times.

[olaftab]

Stats from champions league show that teams with greater possession always clock up more KMs running total. So the argument that having less possession makes you run around more  and tired is bunkum.

Ok fair enough, but do those sides tend to win or lose more often?

Yes ok (and I am sniggering now) same stats do show that teams with more possession winning the game.

[olaftab]

Stats from champions league show that teams with greater possession always clock up more KMs running total. So the argument that having less possession makes you run around more  and tired is bunkum.

  You have obviously not played the game, because it a lot more tiring chasing the ball than controlling it.

They had greater possession because we allowed them and because we were not chasing the ball.

[pauliewalnuts]

Stats from champions league show that teams with greater possession always clock up more KMs running total. So the argument that having less possession makes you run around more  and tired is bunkum.

  You have obviously not played the game, because it a lot more tiring chasing the ball than controlling it.

They had greater possession because we allowed them and because we were not chasing the ball.

One reason they had so much possession was because we kept giving the ball away, something we do pretty much every match without fail.

The failing to chase it down is another of our problems, but if you keep losing possession cheaply, you're up against it - you can't spend 90 minutes chasing the ball.

[ChicagoLion]

Stats from champions league show that teams with greater possession always clock up more KMs running total. So the argument that having less possession makes you run around more  and tired is bunkum.

  You have obviously not played the game, because it a lot more tiring chasing the ball than controlling it.

They had greater possession because we allowed them and because we were not chasing the ball.

What I saw was Everton moving the ball from player to player and each time a Villa player moving towards the player with the ball, sometimes Villa players had to run to fill space that Everton might have used, I dunno what they were chasing then.
Any way it worked really well. We lost.

[saunders_heroes]

Stats from champions league show that teams with greater possession always clock up more KMs running total. So the argument that having less possession makes you run around more  and tired is bunkum.

  You have obviously not played the game, because it a lot more tiring chasing the ball than controlling it.

They had greater possession because we allowed them and because we were not chasing the ball.

One reason they had so much possession was because we kept giving the ball away, something we do pretty much every match without fail.

The failing to chase it down is another of our problems, but if you keep losing possession cheaply, you're up against it - you can't spend 90 minutes chasing the ball.

I never seen a Villa team give the ball away as much as this one. Even from something as simple as a throw in we lose possession more than I've ever seen another team do. It's training ground stuff. If we can't get the basic stuff right what chance have we got?

[pauliewalnuts]

What I don't get is it has deteriorated from last year.

Don't get me wrong, I watched my first match in about 1975, so I have seen lots of shit Villa sides, but over that time the main overriding problem has been players not moving off the ball. This side isn't the worst overall, but in terms of movement, it is truly dreadful.

That scares me, when the problems are so fundamental.

[mattjpa]

Not read all of the forum but having watched the game Everton appeared to be half a yard sharper (excluding Delph).

Lambert like his incumbent is tactically a defensive manager. 3-5-2 or 4-3-1-2. The game is always set up to be 6/7 defence v 3/4 attack, no width - Charles Hughes would be proud! (younger readers ask for info!)

Certain players (wiemann) in particular are being asked to play 'defensive' positions against the grain to secure a starting spot.

Wouldn't you?

Wiemann is a striker, a goal scorer. Why against Swansea did he play up front, right and left wing back all in 90 minutes and lo! he gets abuse for being off his game... He is a natural finisher. Not a racehorse!

Albrighton - Silla is brought on v West Barca Albion. Why not Albrighton? Because Ridgewell did not pose a threat but Banies did.

Holt..... Even Al Hademi must be asking questions......

FYI this post is f'ing  ridiculous

[PaulWinch again]

What I don't get is it has deteriorated from last year.

Don't get me wrong, I watched my first match in about 1975, so I have seen lots of shit Villa sides, but over that time the main overriding problem has been players not moving off the ball. This side isn't the worst overall, but in terms of movement, it is truly dreadful.

That scares me, when the problems are so fundamental.

Yep and that's my concern, it's not a short term thing in that I think we'll be ok this year. But where are we going? there's no sense of progression as regards ball retention or movement, if anything there's a regression. In the long term the way we are playing will end up in losing the majority of games.

[robbo1874]

Watched it on TV. I thought we were ok first half and just about deserved the lead. We also started the second half ok and the defending was pretty good for the most part though lucky at times and Everton squandered some chances. Once they started pressing more and we began to tire, you sensed Everton would score a couple though and obviously they did.

We do give the ball away far too easily at times and put ourselves under pressure needlessly. I thought the match against Albion on weds may have had a bearing on it as we looked knackered after about an hour. Everton are a good side though too - I can't rember the stat of how many they have lost- I think it was something like 1 in 32. Whatever it is, they're clearly very solid at Goodison . I don't agree with some of the more hysterical posters that we were shite. We just lost to a better side.

we're not shite, but we are mediocre, as befits our league position.

We were shite. Nothing hysterical about that.

We've been shit for most of this season, and last season, and the season before that, and yet fans are classed as hysterical for pointing it out?
At least we're not deluded.

[villan from luton]

We did looked tired in the last 20 mins or so. May be that was due to Everton having had an extra 24 hours rest as they payed on Tuesday.

Havw to say that is a lame excuse, we hadnt played for 11 days and they had played the shite that is Stevenage

[Irish villain]

Like I said earlier, do people enjoy watching Villa desperately trying to hang on, hoofing the ball away and repelling wave after wave of attack? I don't I'd like to see us attack and play entertaining football. Everton should have comparative standing to us, but they are a long way ahead of us.

I fucking hate it and I have been digging out a lot of old villa games from my youth, including some supposedly poor villa sides, and we were NEVER this bad. Even go look up some of those games on youtube, even the 2-0 win against Chelsea in 2007 which was also a classic smash and grab, and we just look so much better than we do now. Yeah we were clinging on a bit but we made really good use of the ball when we had and our defence/spine looked strong, composed and determined in a way that ours doesn't today.

Our defence is one of our weakest elements (I'll come to it) yet we repeatedly play a style that invites pressure on it. That is the most bizarre thing about the Lambert era. If he wants to play that way he should have sorted out a better defence. Otherwise, in my view, you counter a weak defence by both protecting it and making good use of the ball ahead of it. Which brings me to my second point.

With MON we always had an incredible midfield. Petrov, Barry, Milner, Downing and yes NRC. They were players who, between them, were strong, physical,decent with the ball and dangerous going forward. Today you could drive a lorry through our midfield and we are so poor on the ball there that our goalkeeper/(manager?) think it best to bypass them and go route one to the forwards. Delph is a great player in the making, Westwood may well be eventually. KEA, in my view, isn't going to make it at this level while Bacuna is still trying to work out his best position.

Long story short, why didn't we sign a quality midfielder to go in and improve us. I genuinely think we would be such a better side with an experienced midfielder in the team.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Long story short, why didn't we sign a quality midfielder to go in and improve us. I genuinely think we would be such a better side with an experienced midfielder in the team.

Amen to that.

Even more annoying when you look at how much money we have saved the past couple of years. I expected a midfielder the first week of January, it is maddening we decided "nah, dont need one" when our midfield crisis is obvious and has been for a long time.

[mike]

Stats from champions league show that teams with greater possession always clock up more KMs running total. So the argument that having less possession makes you run around more  and tired is bunkum.

  You have obviously not played the game, because it a lot more tiring chasing the ball than controlling it.

Yes, how far you run is only one factor. If you're turning, sprinting etc you will get tired more often than if you're jogging steadily. I can walk all day up mountains but I can't run all day long.

[Chris Smith]

I thought it was the sort of performance we often saw from mid table opposition at VP when we were a top 6 side. Everton have a really good home record but we were organised and hard working. We scored a good goal and I thought we'd be good for a point until that free kick. It's not much fun to watch but it is what so many teams try to do that I am surprised it is causing such a fuss.