Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[Matt Collins]

Lambert got the tactics and the substitutions right. Let's give him some credit. He's got lots of faults but the claim so many make that he's incompetent tactically is bollocks

Exactly what were his tactics. Counter attacking? The only real credit Lambert deserves is he had every single player up for today and they collectively put a massive shift in. Finally against Man Utd our players looked like men instead of boys but I hardly think he deserves any medals for the team trying to pass the ball.

It's comments like this that drive me crazy.

He matched up against United's 352. It worked
this enabled gabby and BENTEKE to get lots of space down the sides of their back three
They struggled to create chances despite a set of attacking players that would cost about £200m to buy
We broke on them frequently and in the first half with better passing from gabby we'd have had a couple more great chances to score
We had a man sent off and were massively under the cosh. Lambert changed to a back four and from then on we had more of the play and better chances
He brought on bacuna who almost scored and almost set up a late winner
Weimann struggled a bit but his breaking from midfield against a United midfield that wasn't set up to hold was a recurrent threat
Our new found willingness to pass the ball with more composure meant we took the pressure off us at key points in the first and second half

Apart from that, nah his tactics didn't work at all
Give the guy a break when he deserves it

[Risso]

I didn't see the match so looking forward to seeing MOTD for a change.  I've seen a clip of the sending off though.  Absolutely scandalous decision, Gabby shouldn't even have been booked for that.

[Villa in Denmark]

Only saw bits of the second half, but Lowton committed a cardinal sin for Falcao's goal.  Not only did he get turned inside out by Young, but turned his back on him which is where he let Young get past him as he never recovered position.

[ROBBO]

Sending off was a disgrace but Lambert should have subbed Gabby before it happened, thought he and Weimann apart from running around a lot didn't give any support to Benteke. Defence really starting to look solid need one or two better forwards and we will be okay.

[BoskoDjembaSalifou]

Only saw bits of the second half, but Lowton committed a cardinal sin for Falcao's goal.  Not only did he get turned inside out by Young, but turned his back on him which is where he let Young get past him as he never recovered position.

Yup. I sit right by there and knew we were in trouble once he turned his back.

Thought the 3 centre backs were excellent today. Sanchez is too casual on the ball for me, but he did well. Delph was good, he can be much better though. Benteke proved again just how good he is.

[SoccerHQ]

We criticise him enough but dear me if you can't give Lambert a bit of credit tonight for not losing today against a team we routinely collapse against annually, and with 10 men for the last half hour, you need your head looking at.

A very good result and seemingly the performance was good aswell. It was credit to play 3 at the back as we need Ron's leadership when we're playing strikers of that quality and seems we limited United to few clear cut chances with that tactic.

Just seen a GIF of the red card...dear me. Maybe it looks worse at real speed but that is incredibly harsh, you see those collisions ten times in a game. Well worth an appeal imo.

[Tom_Mc9?]

I agree Matt. He has many faults, but when we play well and the players that Lambert signed did well, then it's ridiculous to say that he did shite. I still hope he can turn it around. I think he's made bad decisions, but he's also had bad luck. If he can start making some sensible ones, then the luck should even itself out. The shift in tactics since Keane's departure shows a hint of things changing for the better. Hopefully.

[Rudy65]

Lambert got the tactics and the substitutions right. Let's give him some credit. He's got lots of faults but the claim so many make that he's incompetent tactically is bollocks

Exactly what were his tactics. Counter attacking? The only real credit Lambert deserves is he had every single player up for today and they collectively put a massive shift in. Finally against Man Utd our players looked like men instead of boys but I hardly think he deserves any medals for the team trying to pass the ball.

It's comments like this that drive me crazy.

He matched up against United's 352. It worked
this enabled gabby and BENTEKE to get lots of space down the sides of their back three
They struggled to create chances despite a set of attacking players that would cost about £200m to buy
We broke on them frequently and in the first half with better passing from gabby we'd have had a couple more great chances to score
We had a man sent off and were massively under the cosh. Lambert changed to a back four and from then on we had more of the play and better chances
He brought on bacuna who almost scored and almost set up a late winner
Weimann struggled a bit but his breaking from midfield against a United midfield that wasn't set up to hold was a recurrent threat
Our new found willingness to pass the ball with more composure meant we took the pressure off us at key points in the first and second half

Apart from that, nah his tactics didn't work at all
Give the guy a break when he deserves it

I sort of agree with you.

Lambert got his tactics right today, but one Swallow and all that...

I think that the point is that we have a half decent squad and Lambert has failed to get the best out of them......until now. He now has the chance to build on this and take us forward. He has been unlucky with injuries, but assuming Delph and Vlaar dont leave in Jan, he has a decent mid table squad to work with. Last chance saloon?

Lambert needs to be more positive and FFS NOT, I repeat, NOT play Weiman AND Gabby together with Benteke. It doesnt work and apart from the odd game has never done so.

Good point today

Onwards and upwards.....hopefully.

[Ron Manager]

I didn't see the match so looking forward to seeing MOTD for a change.  I've seen a clip of the sending off though.  Absolutely scandalous decision, Gabby shouldn't even have been booked for that.

Just seen the sending off . Absolutely a wrong decision. Seems more likely that Ash would have been sent off for showing his studs. Its about time video evidence was introduced in real time . It seems tackling is being eradicated by a new breed of referee.

[SamTheMouse]

The players did well with what they were asked to do, but realistically even before the sending-off, we had to rely on a moment of brilliance from Benteke to look like scoring. We tried to pass it out from the back, which is really laudable, but the problem was there was a gaping chasm in the midfield most of the time. And when we did go long to Benteke, Gabby and Weimann still fail, far too often, to get close enough to the big man to capitalise and retain possession. If they'd been covering the flanks and protecting the full-backs, I'd say that's understandable, but they weren't really.

It's not like we were carving out chances with any regularity. I still think we should have looked to impose ourselves more on them, because even though they have quality going forward, they were in total panic every time the ball went into their area.

Having said all that, Lambert was obviously looking to contain them and snatch a goal, and we did that, so fair enough. It's a good point against a top-four side, especially with the personnel we had missing. And we did look solid at the back, with the exception of Lowton who looks like a rabbit in the headlights every single time a winger runs at him. Plus, when you consider the three centre-halves out there are now playing really well, and we have Baker and Senderos too, we are pretty spoilt in that position now. Clark, Baker and Okore deserve a lot of credit.

[brian green]

Just home.   Very proud of them, especially so because at the death we looked the more likely to win it with ten men.  At long last our defence is looking rugged and it will be even more so with the return of Alan Hutton.   Jores Okore looks better and better with each game, Clark is showing signs of becoming the player we once hoped he could be and Christian Benteke is sheer class.   If it was a positive decision by Lambert to defend by counter attacking with his subs, why has it taken two and a half seasons for that penny to drop?   We sure wrecked Ashley Young's confidence.   Little diving rat.

[nigel]

Congratulations to anyone who had 'innocuous 50-50 challenge' in this week's How Will The Ref Find A Bemusing Way To Reduce Villa To Ten Men Raffle.

Young even admitted to Brad, after the game, that it wasn't a foul.
Maybe if he hadn't rolled around like he'd had both legs shattered it probably wouldn't have happened. Then 10 seconds later he was sprinting down the line.

The ref was much to quick in his decision. I looked at the reaction of both sets of players, there was no reaction. That, in it's self, spoke volumes.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Find Van Gaal's comments pretty disrespectful to us too...
...saying Utd gave away 2 points with no reference to the influence of the sending off or the fact that there was another team on the pitch.
Twaat!

[Ads]

The Yanited fans seem most concerned about why only 3 minutes was added on. Utter twats.

[andyh]

Yet again Okore was top,top drawer.
We really have a gem there and need to remember he has barely reached double figures in playing at this level.
Absolutely superb.