Aston Villa v West Ham United Post-Match Thread

[SoccerHQ]

Aye, last season was 5 wins and 5 draws at home so 20, just 1 more point than the McLeish season.

[darren woolley]

I'm disappointed with yesterday's result we really need to beat Cardiff now and it was freezing yesterday at the match.

[Tony Erdington]

PL is getting an easy ride from the fans, because falconer appointing Alex Mccleish

Where exactly did falconer come from what are his credentials within football?

PL again like mccleish was lured by the bigger club, but most his signings aren't good enough to wear the shirt. Mccleish had no chance from the start coming from the blues, stupid appointment, appoint a bloke tell him to get the wage bill down sell players. how naïve of falconer to advise lerner of this proposition.

The only way Lerner will do anything, is when the season tickets fall through the floor.

[Brian Taylor]

Fergetit..Concentrate on whippin Cardiff!! Maybe?

[LeeB]

One final point. I now Gabby is Villa through and through but everytime we give him the armband he has a shit game. We so badly needed an experienced leader out there yesterday it was excrutiating to watch. Give it to Delph, give it to Guzan, fuck give it to Clark but not Gabby just becuase he's the most senior.

When Vlaar's out, Delph or Guzan should be captain.

I don't think it makes any difference who the captain is in football. It means very little in reality.

I agree wholeheartedly with that.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Couldn't understand why Gabby played so far forward.
He's dangerous with the ball at his feet (if his first "touch of an elephant" lets him control it at all!) so we need to play him deeper so he can attack their midfield/defence, like he did at Lpool and Arse, first game of the season, Norwich away last season.
Opposition defences show a real fear of him but yesterday he played with his back to them most of the time, waiting for the ball to his feet, so it was easy for them to contain a potential threat that never materialised.
Not Gabby's fault, but clueless tactics from the KO.
Albrighton completely changed the run of the game almost single-handedly from the moment he came on.
Using the width of the pitch, getting crosses in and attacking a team intent on defending - with a bit more nous/luck we could have had 3 or 4 after Marc came on.

And an Albrighton fan I am not!

And why is Baker so intent on intimidating/clattering the striker, rather that just winning the ball and getting on with clearing the danger?

I used to do that when I played on a Sunday morning. The EPL it wasn't! 

[eamonn]

And an Albrighton fan I am not!

And why is Baker so intent on intimidating/clattering the striker, rather that just winning the ball and getting on with clearing the danger?

I used to do that when I played on a Sunday morning. The EPL it wasn't! 

Yoda, be more patient with young master like Marc he must. Especially for a teacher yourself you are, are you not?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

And an Albrighton fan I am not!

And why is Baker so intent on intimidating/clattering the striker, rather that just winning the ball and getting on with clearing the danger?

I used to do that when I played on a Sunday morning. The EPL it wasn't! 

Yoda, be more patient with young master like Marc he must. Especially for a teacher yourself you are, are you not?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

And an Albrighton fan I am not!

And why is Baker so intent on intimidating/clattering the striker, rather that just winning the ball and getting on with clearing the danger?

I used to do that when I played on a Sunday morning. The EPL it wasn't! 

Yoda, be more patient with young master like Marc he must. Especially for a teacher yourself you are, are you not?

Day off it is. ;-)

Just trying to hit the GCSE Creative Writing criteria for Band 3 and above.
Although really a D grade student if I keep ticking all these shitty little boxes I can squeeze a C.
(and that's not a euphemism!)

[old man villa fan]

I have not read what others have said so these are my views without being clouded by others' comments.  Very disappointed by the result but more so by the performance.  There look to be too many players going through the motions when we are level and only come to life when we go behind.  Perhaps this is why he has brought Holt in so as to try and get some passion into their game.  Sometimes players (especially young players) can relate better to an experienced player giving them a b********* rather than a coach or manager.

Both goals were down to defensive mistakes.  The first with Baker being drawn to the ball and leaving Nolan unmarked.  This was a basic stupid mistake as he had tracked Nolan into the area as the attack developed and then left him free for a simple tap in.  He had to leave the two Villa defenders who the West Ham player beat to try and recover as Guzan would have covered a shot from a tight angle.  This is one of Baker's biggest failings and being dragged away out of position inevitably leaves unmarked players in very dangerous positions.  Delph's mistake was something that the coach's have to get on top of.  He is getting caught too many times trying to turn with the ball in dangerous positions.  He had two simple balls to play in that position, a lay off to Lowton or a pass back to Guzan for either to clear.

We seem to be passing the ball around at the back for the sake of passing, rather than doing it for constructive reasons.  What gets me mad (and this has gone on for as long as I can remember) is players passing square but rather than playing the ball in front of the receiver, they play it behind them.  This means that by the time they have controlled the ball and turned, there is a player on them and they either pass it back to Guzan or pass the ball back to where it has come from.

I think if we are going to play 4-3-3 (or slight variation of) at home we need to play it with width and that means having a natural wide player or a player with pace.  If Gabby does not want to play this position or Lambert does not want to play him in this position, Weimann has to be the one who is sacrificed.  In the short term, Albrighton (somebody I do not rate for a number of reasons) could come in.  At least his urgency lifts the pace of the game.  We do not have players with sufficient skill to play a slow paced game.  Weimann can then be brought on later in the game and play a variety of roles as the game requires.  I have no issue with him playing in a 4-3-3 away from home.  Alternatively, you could leave Gabby.  If he was not still carrying and injury yesterday, I would drop him for the next home game as his performance was well below what is required.  He does not have the best football brain but he looked as though he couldn't be ar***.

Rotation of the same faces is not doing it.  We need some urgency and freshness in the team.  Sometime you can do this by eith bringing in an enthusiastic youngster or playing a player out of his normal position e.g. a defender in midfield who gets stuck in.  Having seen Bennett come on yesterday and if he is fully fit, playing him on the left of the midfield could give the side something different.

The stupid thing about yesterday was that as poor as we were 1st half and having conceded two goals early in the second half, we could have pulled a result out of the game with a bit of good fortune.  If the Albrighton shot had gone in, the result could have been so different.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

old man, Lambert played Bennett left midfield at Swansea last season and he was a disaster - not necessarily the lad's fault - he seemed to have no idea where he was playing/why/to do what?
Agree with a good deal of what you say though.
Things ain't working and we need to change something - Gabby/Albrighton wide? To create some kind of threat which we simply don't do trying to go through the middle.

[steffo]

Old man you raise some valid points but he plays 4-3-1-2 at home with no width. He doesn't believe in wingers and believes the full backs should provide width. Lowton is no Walker as Bennett / Luna is no Ashley Cole (you have to pay for quality). I have said it before Wiemann is a natural striker, being asked to play in a rigid system.

The only reason he changed it yesterday was because he knew Benteke could not win every ball against a huge west ham defence. It was the typical 60/70 mins. change.

West Ham the team of hoof ball played with two wingers. God forbid if Carroll played.

He will not change his belief at full backs supply the ammo.