The Paul Lambert thread - poll reset after our capitulation to Hull

[andyh]

We've gone on an unbeaten run without Vlaar and Delph. They are definitely replaceable.

Yes, we have gone a little run, but factor in the quality of the opposition.

[WestleyArmsAV]

We've gone on an unbeaten run without Vlaar and Delph. They are definitely replaceable.

Yes, we have gone a little run, but factor in the quality of the opposition.

We played Soton unbeaten is 8 or 9, and West Ham in fine form, both without Benteke, and still missing influential Delph, Vlaar and Senderos.

When he has been given any money over 4m, he has spent it well.

[supertom]

We've gone on an unbeaten run without Vlaar and Delph. They are definitely replaceable.

Yes, we have gone a little run, but factor in the quality of the opposition.

We showed litte ambition to win some of those games either. Once Burnley equalised we were happy to sit on a point and almost lost. We defended for 80 minutes of the Palace game. We never looked like getting wins against Soton or the Hammers, we were merely happy to let them try and break us down in the knowledge they probably didn't have the quality of a Chelsea or Arsenal to unpick the lock too often, which proved to be the case.

That's got us four unbeaten. Brilliant. But it's fuck ugly to watch and un-ambitious and as we've seen before, will only lead to worse runs of form when the defence can't continue holding it together. You cannot keep sides out like this for 38. Not even the best defenders in the world could. It becomes mentally and physically exhausting. Mistakes will happen. Some players will have dips.

Our problem is seemingly a total lack of will to get back into a game if we go 1-2 down and we will in games. We lucked out against Burnley, Soton and Palace by going 1 up. It played to our game-plan. That said we only held onto one of those wins. Had we gone 1 down in any of them we'd have lost. That's 95% certain.

Carrying on playing like we are and I guarantee we'll see results turning shit again over the Christmas/Jan fixture pile-up. We've seen it all before. It's a carbon copy of last season as well as McLeish's, who had no coping strategy for the loss of Bent.

[passitsideways]

We've gone on an unbeaten run without Vlaar and Delph. They are definitely replaceable.

Yes, we have gone a little run, but factor in the quality of the opposition.

We played Soton unbeaten is 8 or 9, and West Ham in fine form, both without Benteke, and still missing influential Delph, Vlaar and Senderos.

When he has been given any money over 4m, he has spent it well.

Plenty of people would agree with you about that - the book hasn't been completely written with each of Sanchez, Okore and Kozak but they've all shown very encouraging signs. And plenty of people (me) were willing to defend him throughout his first season, especially by the end; and a fair few people (again, me) were still all right with him this time last year, when injuries to key players meant that we were in a bit of torpor. The problem is that we improved the squad noticeably (albeit not hugely) over the summer with Cissokho, Hutton, Sanchez, Richardson and Cleverley yet we've arguably regressed massively in terms of our ability to play football (not that we were any flash in the first place.) 8 goals, fewest in the league, in 15 games is abominable. 9.4 shots per game, two fewer than our average last season, is abominable. 2.4 shots on target per game, again, fewest in the league, abominable. 43.1% possession, down from 44.9%, abominable. Yeah, I know Benteke's been out a great deal of the season, but those stats inarguably reflect the massive shitshow which has somehow managed to outstrip last season's decrepit output. I'm not saying we should be scaling the heights given what we have, but there are enough decent footballers in this squad to do a lot better, yet he can't seem arsed to do that.

[Steve67]

We've gone on an unbeaten run without Vlaar and Delph. They are definitely replaceable.

Yes, we have gone a little run, but factor in the quality of the opposition.

We played Soton unbeaten is 8 or 9, and West Ham in fine form, both without Benteke, and still missing influential Delph, Vlaar and Senderos.

When he has been given any money over 4m, he has spent it well.

Are your two points connected? Lambert didn't sign Delph and certainly didn't pay £4m for Senderos, or Vlaar for that matter.

Wet Spam and Saints are in false positions, Burnley are shit, Palace not great. When we beat teams regularly, then I will believe we've turned a corner.

[VillaAlways]

I hate that phrase false position They are where they are due to winning games.

[Steve67]

Very true, but let's see where they end up! Just like Villa when we were second. Fair point you raise.

[supertom]

I hate that phrase false position They are where they are due to winning games.

Yeah and the week before we were hovering over the relegation zone.
Win and we could be sitting pretty. Lose tomorrow and it's squeeky bum time. If we're 12th and 10 points ahead of 13th then I'd be less worried.

[peter w]

http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?313701-Aston-Villa-are-truly-woeful/page7

Even random Brighton fans can see it just from watching a game. Nice words about the Holte End though,

Well I don't know about you but I really give a flying one what Brighton fans think of the Villa team. They should worry about their own club.

I feel sorry for a club without a real derby.

Ah leave them alone. They're just another club who think something about another club. Harmless.

[saunders_heroes]

http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?313701-Aston-Villa-are-truly-woeful/page7

Even random Brighton fans can see it just from watching a game. Nice words about the Holte End though,

Well I don't know about you but I really give a flying one what Brighton fans think of the Villa team. They should worry about their own club.

I feel sorry for a club without a real derby.

Well they're welcome to take Small Heath off our hands.

[peter w]

As a couple are we allowed to break-up with The Shit? Can't we just say that we've tried but we've moved on and no, it isn't us, it's you?

[brian green]

Small heath have only ever been the lodger in the cellar of the house owned jointly by the Villa and the Tesco Bags.   Small Heath are the ones without a local derby.   Us against them is not a football match it is forcible correction.

[peter w]

I think they've been having it off with The Albion.

[Gregorys Boy]

I think they've been having it off with The Albion.

What a charming image kind of like two pigs rolling about in the mud.

Think we are all agreed that we have not turned the corner yet, simply improved slightly, and that the win Tuesday gave Lambert a bit of breathing space.  The test was always can we string a couple of wins together on the bource and remain unbeaten for a longer spell than just a few games.  Lambert will be judged after the next couple of matches for me.

[Concrete John]

We've gone on an unbeaten run without Vlaar and Delph. They are definitely replaceable.

Yes, we have gone a little run, but factor in the quality of the opposition.

I don't remember the quality of the opposition being factored in much when we were on a big losing streak earlier in the season.