Aston Villa vs Leyton Orient Post Match Thread

[RussellC]

I can't believe Gabby wasn't brought on. It was crying out for some pace to stretch the game, push their defence back and free up some more space in midfield and he chose to bring on Weimann, the most impotent of our striking options.

Is planless a word? If it's not it should be because that's exactly what we are, constantly.

[Gareth]

Bent / Bacuna & Cole made absolutely no case to be included at the weekend.
Bent used to have that yard of pace to get away from a defender, now he has lost that yard he is shown up for a lack of technical ability.
Bacuna might be good if they introduce 'special teams' to take free kicks, watching a professional player who plays with his head permanently down makes me angrier every time I have to watch him.
Cole was ok for 10-15 mins then disappeared.

When you go 1 nil down with 5/6 minutes to go including injury time why the hell did he not throw Gabby or N'Zogbia or Delph on....strikes me as he was quite happy to lose while appearing to pick a good side.

I'm another who would love to see this 433 (451-tomato tomaytoe) given the heave ho - Heskey would be a huge improvement on Bent or Gabby at the moment because he a) challenges for headers b) can control a ball c) can hold a ball up and d) can pass properly to a team mate - if the useless one insists on a game that is 90% hit a target man he might want to get a target man to tide us over until Benteke / Kozak are fit.

The big positive was Grealish, he started much like his 20 mins v Stoke getting the ball and instantly looking for a team mate, as he grew into the game it was refreshing to watch him actually take players on....by no means the end product but plenty to work with.

Whilst I don't think we were terrible tonight I do think we were complacent 

[BoskoDjembaSalifou]

Frustrating. Will I ever get to see us lift a trophy?

Unless you're about six months old, probably not, no.

Ha!

Well, I'm only 20, so I've got quite a few years left hopefully. It can't be like this forever, can it?

[tomd2103]

Went to the game earlier, but only just now felt like going over it again.  It just felt inevitable that they were going to score at some point and they had great chances before they actually did.  They had a clear header inside our box in both halves which should have been goals (Given made a great save off the one in the 2nd half) and had a goal disallowed.  I really can't complain about the result as we didn't do enough to win the game.

Paul Lambert has got to hold his hand up and admit he got it tactically wrong against a lower league side yet again.  Surely he can see that lower league teams struggle when they are stretched wide and struggle against pace, yet he left arguably our best wide player and our quickest forward on the bench.  It was clear it needed changing quite early in the second half, but he seemed reluctant to alter things.  The difference Weimann made when he came on was telling as at least he added a bit of energy.  We created very few clear chances (Bent was put through at an angle twice and Baker had a headed chance off a set piece) and we produced very little quality in the final third.

As for the players, I thought Hutton did OK, as did Senderos and Richardson.  Is it coincidence that the return of Given results in us looking suspect defending set pieces again and the return of Baker results us in looking far less solid at the back?  Westwood and Sanchez did OK, but they were pretty much playing the same role throughout and I can only really see one of them playing going forward.  Bacuna looked sharp in the first half, but his final ball was poor throughout, and Cole and Bent just looked way off the pace.  Bent at least made a few decent runs, but Cole offered very little and looked very slow and ponderous (I accept that he's not had much of a pre season). 

That just leaves Grealish, who had a bit of a mixed night, but definitely more good than bad.  He had some really nice touches at times and looked far more threatening in a central role than out wide.  Cole should have been brought off earlier in the second half, with Grealish moving inside and N'Zogbia or Gabby coming on out wide.  I don't see him as a wide player going forward, his natural position is in the "hole" where he can make things happen.         

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Is there anybody out there that still doesn't believe Lambert (nice chap that he may be) is tactically inept?

[olaftab]

.strikes me as he was quite happy to lose while appearing to pick a good side.

Just recall his comments re cup games in the week before the Sheffield United game?

[David_Nab]

Didn't see the game but Milwall / Shef United /Bradford / Orient ...it's just not acceptable and the lack of funds argument simply doesn't work in these situations.

4 points from the first 2 games had given us something to be positive about given last season's shambles and the club being for sale , that has been swiftly wiped out.We now go into the Hull game and go behind there and the crowd will turn ..and we are only in August FFS.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Lest we forget, this was against a team that could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to bloody Walsall at the weekend.

[steffo]

Lambert will not change. He is a son of Hitzfeld, who he played for whist at Dortmund and won the European Cup. Hitzfeld was the Swiss manager in the last world cup.

His style is narrow, defensive football (look at the Swiss ranking) based on full backs providing width. Take for example Lamberts quest to find the perfect full-back. We are on our fourth left back and third right back in as many seasons.

He won the European Cup with Dortmund - it worked why should he change it at Villa?

[tomd2103]

Lest we forget, this was against a team that could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to bloody Walsall at the weekend.

To be fair to them, they were a solid, well organised outfit.  They didn't really possess any pace up front or out wide, but they defended well and had the better chances on the night.

[tomd2103]

Lambert will not change. He is a son of Hitzfeld, who he played for whist at Dortmund and won the European Cup. Hitzfeld was the Swiss manager in the last world cup.

His style is narrow, defensive football (look at the Swiss ranking) based on full backs providing width. Take for example Lamberts quest to find the perfect full-back. We are on our fourth left back and third right back in as many seasons.

He won the European Cup with Dortmund - it worked why should he change it at Villa?

That was nearly 20 years ago!!

[Toronto Villa]

Two years on and we are still absolutely dire at home and unable to take the game to opponents and create/convert chances. It's like a fucking X-File that never gets resolved.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Lest we forget, this was against a team that could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to bloody Walsall at the weekend.

To be fair to them, they were a solid, well organised outfit.  They didn't really possess any pace up front or out wide, but they defended well and had the better chances on the night.

To be fair to us, they shouldn't have been any where near our goal.

Lambert is a clueless twat and giving him more money to spend is pissing in the wind.

[OzVilla]

The saddest part is that I'm really not surprised by this result in the slightest.

Its what we do now, our recent records in cups is embarrassing. Nothing will change though and I fully expect we'll be right back here first week of January.

Actually i hope we draw a top side away as at least that won't be the usual embarrassment we've become accustomed to. Thanks Paul.

[Clampy]

We had so much possession and still didn't look like scoring. Disappointed more than annoyed in truth.