Aston Villa vs Southampton post match thread

[saunders_heroes]

I will never, never understand the thinking behind that sub.
Never.

Sums lambert up. Fecking clueless .

I can only think he wanted him to hold the ball up like Benteke does to ease the pressure.

Bent in his prime wasn't that good at doing that. Modern Bent is absolutely useless at it. A truly mystifying substitution.

Ever since Lambert arrived his substitutions have been the stuff of nightmares. Closely followed by his team's throw ins.

[Colhint]

All teams lose first choice players. If they didn't, they wouldn't need a squad. Lambert's no more unlucky than any other manager, and Southampton had cause to gripe in the summer when most of their first team got sold. They got on with it and found a new team, adapted their style and will finish comfortably, albeit well below their current position.

Quite.  And they've got a manager not only new to the club but new to the Premier League.

That's not quite true though. I have just checked on a combination of sites, from sporting intelligence, sporting life, physioroom and it seems in a league table for the last 3 years , with the least affected team being top of the league and the worst being bottom.

We have been
12-13 relegated 3rd bottom
Last season relegated 3rd bottom
This season doing quite well 6th bottom

No team outside the regular top 6 is anywhere  us. Infact the only teams close to  us,  have been been Fulham and QPR in the 3 years, and 2 have been relegated

And their is a world of difference between not having your players like us, and not having your players and then getting a £70m transfer kitty instead

[Des Little]

We'd better get used to a half empty VP. There'll be plenty of them next season.

[PeterWithesShin]

I couldn't care less. It seems like when someone has a pop at someone on here (out of the blue) it's ''Both of you''

That's because you insulted each other. if you hadn't responded in kind it would have been one warning. Seems pretty obvious to me.

[silhillvilla]

We simply must avoid a loss at burnley then get benteke back and hope for wins v palace and Leicester .

[PeterWithesShin]

We simply must avoid a loss at burnley then get benteke back and hope for wins v palace and Leicester .

We'll draw at Burnley. We haven't won there in something like 30 visits since 1936. To counterbalance that I am going and we never lose on my infrequent away games. Probably 0-0.

[supertom]

A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.

Sigh.

I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.

You seem stuck in the past my friend.  You know Man City were once a team a club like ours should be have hoped to have beaten.  Football changes.  Southampton right now are a good side, not just that, but their much better than us.  Deal with it.

It's more the fact we could have it in our hands to improve if Randy showed a bit more nous and enthusiasm, and we had a better manager. Granted they're injured or suspended right now, but with Vlaar, Delph and Benteke in our side, we're not too far off Southampton on paper. They're batting above their average and it won't last, but we're underperforming. We should be getting more from this squad.

Randolph seems content to let us drift aimlessly under a clueless manager while our better players just drift away for nothing. That we're letting this happen so easily is our own doing unfortunately.

Run a club well and generally it'll transfer to the pitch. I don't buy the budget excuse any more, we should still be doing better than hoping for 15th place.

[SoccerHQ]

It's ironic we'll probably scrape survival this season on the basis of a decent defence. Tonight we had our first three choice CBs out but looked fairly comfortably at the back, helped by having full backs who can actually defend for once.

We've gone from the extreme in the first Lambert season of not having a clue how to defend but at least having a go in most games and in the end scoring a decent amount of goals in the run in to know barely creating or scoring.

Tonight what did we create? Kudos to Gabby for chasing but the goal came from a long punt downfield and Forster messing up. And the Weimann chance was from a breakaway from a corner. I think that was it.

Individually I don't think the players are too bad in midfield, we miss Delph but I thought Westwood, Cleverley and Sanchez were all fine. It's just collectively where it all falls apart, not helped with the front trio weak in possession so we can only play launching long balls up to them which needs we'll lose it more often than not.

I defy even the most optimistic fan to have watched that tonight and think in a few months time we'll be playing teams off the pitch, it simply isn't going to happen, we just don't have the quality so it will be another season of just scraping enough points to stay up.

[andyh]

We simply must avoid a loss at burnley then get benteke back and hope for wins v palace and Leicester .

That is has come to sentences like this!

You are right, by the way.

[Villa in Denmark]

Somewhere else tonight the Atkinson quote about most games it was as if McGrath had been given the script before the game was used to explain just how good McGrath was.

Well you don't divine powers to know the script for every single one of our games.

The only 2 unkowns in every game are.
1. Will we fluke a goal?
Honestly how many of the imperious six this season haven't had a hefty slice of luck involved.  The 2 against Hull?
2. When will the incessant backs to the wall defending lead to the inevitable?

Just before the equaliser, even the commentators over here were pleading for us to move 10-15 metres up the pitch.  It wasn't as though they'd got the sort of pace to really hurt us by defending a bit higher up the pitch.

If we can see how terribly predictable we are. If rent a quote commentators can see the inevitability of how we play the last 20 minutes every game, then why the hell can't he?
Because if he can't he shouldn't be in the job.
And if he can see it, why doesn't he do something about it? Because if he doesn't know how to he shouldn't be in the job.
And if he doesn't think he can do anything about it he shouldn't be in the job.

Conclusion. He shouldn't be in the job.

The only possible argument for keeping him is the weakest one of all.  God knows who Randolph might appoint next. For Randy that's no argument at all.

[ciggiesnbeer]

I've just bemused people in a bar in Key West (sorry but it's our long overdue holiday) shouting at a screen at a game nobody else cared about.
"But no one won" I heard someone say. I'd have bitten your hand off for a draw beforehand especially after witnessing the West Ham draw.
Whoooooooooo go EPL socccccccer!
They know UTV now down here

Coverage is better over here in the USA than in the UK in my opinion. All games are on TV and many of the big ones are on free TV.

[Walmley_Villa]

Great night, Holte Suite was free to get in and got back in record time. No idea what your all moaning about. Great lighting now outside the entrance to the Holte, shame the walk through Aston Park is in the pitch black.

Decent result, a poor performance with 1980s tactics from the gaffer. Bizarre substitution. Still we are a day closer to a change.

[Des Little]

by the way, did we really charge Saints fans £43? If we did its a bloody disgrace.

[PeterWithesShin]

A heroic, backs to the wall home draw against mighty South-fucking-hampton.

Sigh.

I honestly refuse to be happy about it in any way shape or form. Under current circumstances I probably should, but I'm not.

You seem stuck in the past my friend.  You know Man City were once a team a club like ours should be have hoped to have beaten.  Football changes.  Southampton right now are a good side, not just that, but their much better than us.  Deal with it.

It's more the fact we could have it in our hands to improve if Randy showed a bit more nous and enthusiasm, and we had a better manager. Granted they're injured or suspended right now, but with Vlaar, Delph and Benteke in our side, we're not too far off Southampton on paper. They're batting above their average and it won't last, but we're underperforming. We should be getting more from this squad.

Randolph seems content to let us drift aimlessly under a clueless managers while our better players just drift away for nothing. That we're letting this happen so easily is our own doing unfortunately.

Run a club well and generally it'll transfer to the pitch. I don't buy the budget excuse any more, we should still be doing better than hoping for 15th place.

I agree with most of that, but before tonight Saints had won 11 of 12 and most on here thought they'd batter us. So while drawing with them is hardly the stuff of orgasms, an in-form side is an in-form side regardless of who they are, so a point is pretty decent imo.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't even necessarily want Randy to start throwing stupid money at it again.

I want him to realise he's made a mistake with Lambert, to get shot of him ASAP, to appoint someone who knows what they are doing and support them in doing it.

For three years plus now we've been an absolute embarassment. By our own standards, it just isn't good enough.

I just want the owner to react to what is going on, and to start showing some leadership before it is too late.

A home match against Southampton where it was considered a massive result to get a point. Southampton FFS. In front of our lowest crowd in 15 years, having 35% of the ball, and managing one shot on target all match, and even that came from a goalkeeping error.

It is just so far off being acceptable, it is untrue.