West Ham vs Aston Villa post match thread

[Rudy Can't Fail]

An example of how we were managed and manipulated as Krulak came on this and other sites.

That patronising tosser with his ''be there through the thick and thin'' bullshit and ''we know what we are doing''. Crazy as batshit the pair of them.

He sucked the majority of us in. That  ''we know what we are doing'' quote is actually very disturbing in hindsight, when it's apparently clear that none of them seem to have a Scooby Do

To be fair, the "we know what we are doing" was in reference to the finance, all said before the banks collapsed and no doubt Randy lost a large fortune.

On the footballing side I've never been convinced they had a clue what they were doing.

[peter w]

By the way I didn't think either penalty was. For the Cole one he didn't even go down it was just contact it definitely wasn't a free-kick our way but not sure where a penalty is even a consideration.

didn't see who the last one was against but the player went down looking for it. i think because of that the referee didn't give it because he couldn't be too sure of the contact, but the theatrical fall convinced him there couldn't have been too much. Too many pundits have forgotten that contact IS actually allowed.

[dave.woodhall]

the most depressing thing is nothing will change until we have a change of owner. I was clinging to the hope that seven or eight straight defeats would see this imposter off but I'm beginning to think that even relegation won't do it. The next four years will like listening to Leonard Cohen non-stop, on some continuous aural loop from hell whilst reading the Daily Mail.

An example of how we were managed and manipulated as Krulak came on this and other sites.

That patronising tosser with his ''be there through the thick and thin'' bullshit and ''we know what we are doing''. Crazy as batshit the pair of them.

He sucked the majority of us in. That  ''we know what we are doing'' quote is actually very disturbing in hindsight, when it's apparently clear that none of them seem to have a Scooby Do

Please stop reminding me guys how fucking gullible I was to be sucked in by this fraud. Jesus, how bloody naive was I to think this tosser had our best interests at heart when he was really just an ingratiating little shit

Can you please knock this level of debate on the head? Thank you.

[JUAN PABLO]

The problem comes from our method of attack coming from our full backs only. There is so much room in front of them that you would hope to see a wide player occupy. Lowton did well I thought considering he has nobody in front of him.

Couldn't agree more with this. Lambert's omission to even have a winger on the bench is just baffling. Especially when you think that his 2 biggest signings have been 6ft 3" strikers. In yesterday's team, Lowton was effectively our best chance of someone providing an assist, and therefore our 'playmaker'. Shocking.

Things are so bad, I've actually spend most of the last week yearning for Tony Pulis.

Lambert thinks the idea of having a winger is lost in the realms of time. He has said so.Thinks they are outdated.Mr Lambert is a hive of free thinking ideas.

Thou the only goal we have scored in the last seven games come from nzogbia on the wing.

[Matt Collins]

I remember that 'we know what we're doing' comment from Krulak. I think it was after we posted our second year of very significant losses and while we were busy signing the likes of sidwell, beye, luke Young, Warnock etc

Fair to say we were right and he was talking out of his bottom. Financial crisis or no financial crisis we were running a massive deficit and weren't even buying very good players for the most part

[supertom]

The problem comes from our method of attack coming from our full backs only. There is so much room in front of them that you would hope to see a wide player occupy. Lowton did well I thought considering he has nobody in front of him.

Couldn't agree more with this. Lambert's omission to even have a winger on the bench is just baffling. Especially when you think that his 2 biggest signings have been 6ft 3" strikers. In yesterday's team, Lowton was effectively our best chance of someone providing an assist, and therefore our 'playmaker'. Shocking.

Things are so bad, I've actually spend most of the last week yearning for Tony Pulis.

Lambert thinks the idea of having a winger is lost in the realms of time. He has said so.Thinks they are outdated.Mr Lambert is a hive of free thinking ideas.

Thou the only goal we have scored in the last seven games come from nzogbia on the wing.

And many of our few goals last season, whilst we were struggling for goals, came when we actually expanded our play and went wide.
Yet he can't see it.

[Ron Manager]

If you think about it Tony Morley would have hardly got a look in under our esteemed manager.

[sendô WHU]

Well in all honesty I'm not sure how West Ham didn't manage to win that. There were plenty of chances, but they were all either spurned, sent straight down the 'keeper's throat, or else were met by a world class save from Guzan.

I think credit to both sides is due. Credit to West Ham for keeping the good play from recent games going and carving plenty of chances out of a side resolute on keeping it tight, and full credit to Villa for working hard for the clean sheet.

Someone said on commentary that it isn't the mark of a good defence to have to make that many last ditch blocks, but nonetheless when you are struggling at the bottom and not scoring goals you have to make a change to the run of defeats any way you can - and when a team isn't playing well the very least you can demand is the players give their all and try their hardest. I think you lot got that from your players yesterday afternoon.

If the desire is there each game, eventually the results will come. Clean sheets are vital when you're struggling for goals, and at the least this Villa team has clean sheets in it.

[supertom]

If you think about it Tony Morley would have hardly got a look in under our esteemed manager.

It also makes me wonder just why on McGrath's green earth he decided to sign Tonev? I don't wonder just because Tonev is bobbins, but because he's a pure winger. A real head scratcher.

[kipeye]

Krulak lost all my respect when he jumped ship.

[supertom]

Well in all honesty I'm not sure how West Ham didn't manage to win that. There were plenty of chances, but they were all either spurned, sent straight down the 'keeper's throat, or else were met by a world class save from Guzan.

I think credit to both sides is due. Credit to West Ham for keeping the good play from recent games going and carving plenty of chances out of a side resolute on keeping it tight, and full credit to Villa for working hard for the clean sheet.

Someone said on commentary that it isn't the mark of a good defence to have to make that many last ditch blocks, but nonetheless when you are struggling at the bottom and not scoring goals you have to make a change to the run of defeats any way you can - and when a team isn't playing well the very least you can demand is the players give their all and try their hardest. I think you lot got that from your players yesterday afternoon.

If the desire is there each game, eventually the results will come. Clean sheets are vital when you're struggling for goals, and at the least this Villa team has clean sheets in it.

I agree with the point on defending. I've felt that all season in certain games. Even when we weren't conceding goals it wasn't particularly down to fantastic organisation or disciplined defenders, it was more a case of strength by numbers. To me that doesn't equate to good organisation. That to me suggests not having an idea of how to organise and trying to drown the opposition out with numbers.
Inviting a constant stream of pressure on your defence is also tactically inept too. We came very much unstuck for 6 games, and but for Guzan, it would have been 7.

West Ham should have won yesterday to be honest. I actually think they were below par. Just a little rushed in the final ball and a little sloppy at times. Had they been up to the standard of recent weeks, Sakho in particular, they'd have scored.

It was good for us to get a point but we rode our luck, not just because West Ham created a lot more, but because we caught them on a day they were a little lacklustre up top.

I'm glad Carroll didn't get more than 3 minutes too. He had the beating of us in the air. Quite easily.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Missed the kick off by 10 minutes because of tube trouble at Mile End and there being just 1 turnstyle open in the Villa end. Queued up for an hour in the pissing rain outside Upton Park tube afterwards. We might have ended a shit run of 6 defeats but I'm fucked if I'm celebrating a nil nil at West Ham.

Good pub in Mile End though. Very strange boozer. Bumped into Darren Woolley too, which is always a bonus.

[pauliewalnuts]

I remember that 'we know what we're doing' comment from Krulak. I think it was after we posted our second year of very significant losses and while we were busy signing the likes of sidwell, beye, luke Young, Warnock etc

Fair to say we were right and he was talking out of his bottom. Financial crisis or no financial crisis we were running a massive deficit and weren't even buying very good players for the most part

That's a point I have raised a few times in recent years, that whole attitude that we shouldn't worry our little heads about the finances and they knew fully what they were doing.

In fact, people weren't just discussing the money spent on fees with him, but also mentioned the wage bill.

Then overnight, he disappears.

I never really liked the Krulak thread. I think he's clearly a good man who was trying to help, but I don't think it really did help. However, having said that, the way they abruptly disengaged overnight without so much as a two line note saying he was off was very, very poor.

It made me think two things. One was that, despite telling us they'd be here through thick and thin, they were off at the first hint of "thin". Two, that given the "who cares" manner of his disappearance from here, the minute that whole "engaging with the fans" thing became more about us than them, they knocked it right on the head in a manner which suggested they didn't really give much of a shit what we thought about it.

It's a shame.

It isn't, and shouldn't all be about just throwing money at it. Randy can point to the huge sums he has spent. The problem is, it is also about having some real nous and making sure it gets spent properly, and that is the reason why he's never going to get that money back, and is a contributing factor to our transformation into a more glamorous Wigan in the last three or four years.

[brian green]

Is there really such a person as Darren Woolley?   I thought he must be a made up character to be so clever and minimalist.

[eamonn]

I think the most worrying part about Villa under Lerner/Lambert is that we go into games without a single intention of trying to win. Instead we surrender possesion from the off, sit back and defend for our lives and hope we hit them on the break at some point. That's why whenever we're not losing a game we're on tenterhooks waiting for the final whistle.
It's absolutely dreadful to watch and depressing to think this is Aston Villa under Randy Lerner and Paul Lambert. It can't end quick enough for me.

Couldn't agree more.

We're sub-McLeisian in our lack of ambition.

Had to laugh at Lambert saying we started on the front-foot defending strongly. Sone front foot is that.