Aston Villa vs Leicester City Post-Match Thread

[rob_bridge]

We won, we played pretty well and we actually took the game to them and attacked. Benteke is fired up and to a large extent he encourages the midfield up and encourages a little more movement around him by what he does. I thought Gab worked the channels quite well at times and really used his best.
Tekkers gives us options though because not only is he good facing goal and with his back to goal, but he's got at dropping deep and orchestrating things. He showed good vision with his assist for Hutton. Had it been Gabby or Weimann on the ball for example, the pass would have been overshot if they'd even attempted it. Chances are they'd scuff a shot into the defenders.

Benteke will keep us well clear if he stays fit.

That said we've a long way to go. Two wins on the bounce, 5 unbeaten. You can almost sense the implosion coming, but this time we really need to consolidate. I think we showed yesterday, albeit against the worst side in the league, that we are better when we attack in games than spend 70-80 minutes of a game defending. It's no good just reserving it for a side as shit as Leicester. We need to take the game to the majority of sides in the league. And as for the Chelseas and Arsenals etc, we might as well have a go and lose 3-0 rather than just park the bus and still get hammered.

We were good yesterday but if Lambert approaches the West Brom game negatively, or the Utd game (fucking get at them and their shitty backline) then he really is clueless.

Our best performances this season have been a half against Hull, a half against Liverpool, a half against Burnley and the Leicester game. Why? Because we showed attacking intent. The rest has been mostly dross. We're also not nearly good enough to sit back and soak it up for so long. We've got the best striker outside the top six so we may as well get players round him and work off him.

And that is as accurate a summary of our recent lack of attacking intent situation as you'll garner, here or elsewhere.

[Lky]

Was the "new" thing ;

In open play :
A defender hitting the box ala Hutton for the goal ?
A midfielder hitting the box ala Cleverly just missing a cross early doors 1st half and blazing it over the bar 2nd half ?

It may have taken a long while for the penny to drop but getting players in goal scoring positions will help you score goals !

[Chris Smith]

I think our problems in the last few minutes were in a large part down to losing Cleverley to injury. With Westwood already off we seemed to lose our shape so reverted to camping in our own half and had no leader there to rectify it. I guess it comes of not having the winning habit but it is something that we need to cure ourselves of.

[Clampy]

One small gripe about yesterday was hearing one or two boos when Albrighton came on. Some people are so idiotic.

[rob_bridge]

One small gripe about yesterday was hearing one or two boos when Albrighton came on. Some people are so idiotic.

There are a small number of ex players who have been worthy of booing over the years.

Albrighton is definitely not one of them.

[London Villan]

I'm not sure Hutton is making us eat our words, in his first spell he was both poor and reckless and rightly dropped,. Then with the calamities of the Lambert's first Christmas and much of his second season he could have come in and been given a chance. Perhaps his time in Spain educated him...

But to his credit he's never moaned, just got on with it.

I'd love to find out the reasons why one day.

[Dr Butler]

Happy and when was the last time we dominated such a game ? very happy with the whole team but Charlie needs to up his game as Grealish did more in 20 odd minutes than he did in the time he was on the park.

now for those stripey fuckers
UTV
The Doc

[Drummond]

I still don't get Jack Grealish.   I see the languid floatiness of his game and it appears to be something special but he looks so boyish in everything he does.   Fingers crossed

I remember thinking similar of Raheem Sterling when he first started appearing for Liverpool.

Fingers crossed we get a similar player.

[Ads]

See I dony 't get this. We're doing badly and we say we need to change. Lambert changes it and we win, so we complain that we only changed on Friday? He's in a lose-lose situation.

I know what you mean.

There was clearly an empthasis on keeping the ball. Clark knocked less long balls and the centre halves came short for goal kicks. Before Westwood got injured, Sanchez and Cleverley were pushing further on, with Westwood in turn dropping deeper. Ultimately we did keep the ball a lot better and I don't think its enough to say "oh but it was only Leicester", as we have faced plenty of sides at Villa Park over the past 8 years who have sat deep and we haven't used the ball to any great effect.

[Chris Smith]

I still don't get Jack Grealish.   I see the languid floatiness of his game and it appears to be something special but he looks so boyish in everything he does.   Fingers crossed

I remember thinking similar of Raheem Sterling when he first started appearing for Liverpool.

Fingers crossed we get a similar player.

I think he looks boyish because that is exactly what he is and he has got some filling out to do if he is going to withstand the rigours of this league. One thing he doesn't lack, however, is confidence. Always looking to get on the ball and comfortable in possession. Early days of course but he could be something very special.

[pauliewalnuts]

Not meant to say anything about the worthiness of our victory, but Christ, Leicester are awful.

Cambiasso can still pick a pass, mind.

[Ads]

Not meant to say anything about the worthiness of our victory, but Christ, Leicester are awful.

Cambiasso can still pick a pass, mind.

They were, but how many teams have rocked up at Villa Park and managed to turn us over while we huff and puff? Fulham and Palace are two awful teams from last season who spring to mind. I thought we were very composed in the main yesterday. We got too deep in the last ten minutes again, but we created good chances.

[saunders_heroes]

I actually enjoyed yesterday's performance, and I don't say that very often. Great to see us creating chances against anyone, and even better to see Benteke getting better by the week. We look a different team with him in it.
Hopefully we'll shut the Baggies up next week and look forward to a decent christmas period.

[PeterWithe]

Cambiasso can still pick a pass, mind.

Yup, he really is a class act and its to a few of our players credit that they didn't look out of place up against him.

[Matt Collins]

We won, we played pretty well and we actually took the game to them and attacked. Benteke is fired up and to a large extent he encourages the midfield up and encourages a little more movement around him by what he does. I thought Gab worked the channels quite well at times and really used his best.
Tekkers gives us options though because not only is he good facing goal and with his back to goal, but he's got at dropping deep and orchestrating things. He showed good vision with his assist for Hutton. Had it been Gabby or Weimann on the ball for example, the pass would have been overshot if they'd even attempted it. Chances are they'd scuff a shot into the defenders.

Benteke will keep us well clear if he stays fit.

That said we've a long way to go. Two wins on the bounce, 5 unbeaten. You can almost sense the implosion coming, but this time we really need to consolidate. I think we showed yesterday, albeit against the worst side in the league, that we are better when we attack in games than spend 70-80 minutes of a game defending. It's no good just reserving it for a side as shit as Leicester. We need to take the game to the majority of sides in the league. And as for the Chelseas and Arsenals etc, we might as well have a go and lose 3-0 rather than just park the bus and still get hammered.

We were good yesterday but if Lambert approaches the West Brom game negatively, or the Utd game (fucking get at them and their shitty backline) then he really is clueless.

Our best performances this season have been a half against Hull, a half against Liverpool, a half against Burnley and the Leicester game. Why? Because we showed attacking intent. The rest has been mostly dross. We're also not nearly good enough to sit back and soak it up for so long. We've got the best striker outside the top six so we may as well get players round him and work off him.

And that is as accurate a summary of our recent lack of attacking intent situation as you'll garner, here or elsewhere.

Excellent post with one caveat. On a strict results basis I think our most impressive (ie unexpected) were stoke, palace and Liverpool away

All three involved hefty spells of just parking the bus. All three involved a clean sheet. We have more away clean sheets than anyone else

With benteke's return making us more potent I think we'll continue to see this tactic. It's horrible to watch but it's delivered results on the road against mid ranking clubs