Aston Villa vs Southampton post match thread

[silhillvilla]

On a more positive note,did anyone see Hutton's dive near the end .

[Jimbo]

Bent?

[aj2k77]

Bent?

Is probably in Wetherspoons tucking in to his 4th breakfast this morning.

[paul_e]

OKORE and clark did really well. But it will be a different game at burnley so it's still a test

Sanchez really struggled, though not helped by our lack of shape when he picked up the ball

I wouldn't criticise anyone who went at all. But the atmosphere was mostly like watching a reserve game

There's no real chink of light. That'll broadly be the team that plays next year too - probably minus cleverley who started well for us but doesn't look worth the money. Southampton had 11 internationals last night and the gulf in quality was embarassing

I know we got a good point, but we were so much better v Spurs. I found the whole thing really depressing

The only villa player who was invovled last night who hasn't been capped is Westwood.

[aj2k77]

Contextually this is a good result?  Five and half seasons ago, when Villa had their third successive top six finish, with two trips to Wembley thrown in for good measure, Southampton started on minus ten points in League One. Just let that sink in for a second.

depends on the context you're talking about obviously. If we're talking about this season as a context (which I was) then yes it was a decent result. If you want to go back 5, 10, 30 seasons then clearly no it wasn't

I didn't think Southampton looked any cop at all. A nice enough midtable Premier league side but we are so scared of committing anyone forward we never find out how vulnerable teams are. These are home games that we are capable of winning but show no intent to. Scared of league tables.

The top 6 are the top 6, we expect to get beat by them so will play on the counter hoping to giant kill them.
Then theres Everton and Tottenham. They will be there or there abouts so we will play on the counter hoping to sneak something.
Then theres Southampton and Swansea. They are good footballing sides we cant compete with, so we will play on the counter hoping to sneak something.
Then there's West Ham and Newcastle. They're in really good form, so we will play on the counter hoping to sneak something.

That leaves Qpr, Burnley, Crystal P, West Brom, Leicester, Hull and Sunderland.

Away against any of them we will play on the counter and hope to sneak something. If we play against any of them at home and they're on a good run then we will play on the counter and hope to win.

By my reckoning that leaves roughly 5 games in a 38 game season where Lambore might actually attack a side and look to play something resembling football.

I say it again, letting the opposition have the ball and only hitting on the break is not a tactic, it's a by product of Lambert not having schooled the team in a way of playing, it's lazy, the onus is on the other side and we look to pick up on errors.

[PeterWithe]

I said similar in the pub last night to someone who said 'We cant really expect to beat Soton, they are 2nd you know' I replied in much the same manner, 'Who can we expect to beat at home then?'

[Chris Smith]

There are probably only 2 or 3 clubs in the country who could shrug off being without their best centre half, their best central midfilder and their best centre forward plus 3 or 4 other injuries to important players. Those downplaying the significance are being unreasonable.

Last night saw us look competent in the most part against a form side. Taken in isolation it is a good point but it is so dispiriting to sit in the freezing cold in a half empty stadium and watch a side that is so limited in ambition. I am clinging to the hope that when we get Benteke back it allows us to play a different way by having somebody who can hold the ball up.

[aj2k77]

How do you explain that we look shit with Benteke in the side?

Just had a look and our last competitive 38 games has seen us

Win 8
Draw 7
Lose 23
Goals 30
Against 66
Pts 31

31pts a goal difference of -36, that will put us firmly bottom of the league. We've played all manner of sides, had Benteke in the side, had Vlarr in the side, had Delph in the side. Having them all injured right now doesn't take away from the fact we've been terrible for an extended period of time and look to be getting worse, not better.

He's got to go.

[brian green]

Don't hold your breath Chris. I fear that even your patience will be sorely tested this season.

[JUAN PABLO]

What worries me , I think the likes of palace and Burnley would have won that game last night .

[Ads]

Last night saw us look competent in the most part against a form side.

Only at defending.

We looked terrible as ever at attacking or keeping the ball because the manager chooses to have us sit so deep and chooses to have such a flat midfield. We had a spare man in the midfield for the most part yet the manager is so negative that he has them flat as a screening force and people wonder why Sanchez loses the ball when he has nobody infront of him to pass it too?

There are lots of small organisational matters that Lambert could address to make us look a lot better and actually pose a threat of winning games, but he cannot and there is no evidence that we will ever improve under him. I am sick and tired and believe he should be sacked, but I know it wont happen.

[aj2k77]

They would have given it a go. At no point did we sense they we off their game and take it to them, we pinched a lead and then sat back and let them try to score.

Bullshit talk like we've been working on long balls to put Gabby through in training...... give it a rest Paul it was an aimless punt by Clark and the keeper fucked up. If that's what we work on in training it explains why we bladder the ball around like it's a neutron bomb.

[Ads]

Southampton were there for the taking. That's probably the worse they'd played all season.

[rob_bridge]

We lost a lot with Gabby going back to the wing, as well. They were always worried that a clearance could turn into through-ball again while Gabby was waiting in the centre-circle, but with him well back in our half and Bent lolling about like a seal they could push their line up really high and pen us in.

Spot on

[Chris Smith]

Don't hold your breath Chris. I fear that even your patience will be sorely tested this season.

You could be right Brian but I have highly developed coping mechanisms born from experience. I can go from "fuckin' hell that was shit" to " there's always next week" in the time it takes to walk from the Holte to the pub. I do walk a lot slower these days though.