Aston Villa v Crystal Palace post match thread

[ciggiesnbeer]

Maybe Sherwood is the new no.2

Bloody hell. Oh well, it could be worse I suppose.

[Toronto Villa]

Fox needs to somehow wrestle power away from Lambert. Lerner needs to back him. He didn't back Faulkner and he walked and we are still left with Lambert. At what point does Fox reach the tipping point?

[tomd2103]

Lambert's going nowhere until Lerner goes. He's keeping us in the PL, whilst spending stays restricted, as per Randy's remit.

Fox has been appointed to increase revenue. Quite how he's going to manage that, whilst we continue to confirm our status as the dullest team on the planet, I have no idea. Only mugs like me will their invest time or money in watching the shite being sold as entertainment.

We've had nearly 3 years of Lambert & suddenly, mis-season he has an epiphany to play possession football. That confirms to me that he is nothing more than a chancer, simply making it up as he goes along. In truth it doesn't matter how we play, we have no creativity, width or goal threat (other than Benteke) & until that is addressed nothing will change.

Being at the game today, it is obvious to see the way Lambert has them set up isn't going to work.  All we did was get the ball to Sanchez, who then played it sideways to Bacuna or Cleverley and then they passed it sideways to the full back.  The full backs are totally isolated and are forced to either pass sideways or back to the defenders.  While all this is happening, Weimann, Benteke and Agbonlahor are stood motionless up front just watching it all unfold.

It was clear that's all we were doing, yet Lambert waited over 20 minutes into the second half to make a change.  Even then he put a young kid on on the pitch out of position because he doesn't seem to have an idea of how to utilise him properly.  We've seen this script unfold at Villa Park so many times before under Lambert and the only surprise was that Palace didn't nick a goal at the end.  I guess that was down in part to the defence, who along with Sanchez were the only real ones to come out with any credit.  Okore (who was my MOTM) looks a real talent and it is an encouraging sign that the early departure of Porcelain Ron (who I think we might have seen for the last time in a Villa shirt) no longer results in a collective feeling of dread.

It's quite clear to me that Lambert has taken this team as far as he can and now should be the time to make a change.  I reckon we could well be looking at a sub 20,000 crowd on Sunday.             

[aj2k77]

just got back in terrible game again, anyone who thinks lambert can solve our problems is deluded is part of gthe problem, the man hasn't got a clue. It was a abysymal to watch, we are definitely on for a record lowest goals scored. He is a coward. I seriously hope he is sacked in the next couple of dys to give us hope. We have some really decent players. Delph, Sanchez, Vlaar, Hutton, Guzan okore, Benteke but apparently we arent' good enough to score a goal a game, Bullshitl its the coward of a manager who makes us play so inhibited. Im pissed off tonight.

Up the villa.

[pooligan]

Paulie and John2710 your both both spot on with what you say!

[Fabio Ferraresi]

One of Lambert's only valid points post-match was that if we had scored in the first half then it would have forced Palace to come out and play and opened the game up - so if Hutton's chance had gone in then I think we would have won by a couple.

But it's ridiculous to rely on that and the goal scoring record so far shows we have no idea how to break teams down. No width and no ability to get in behind them. It's so sad to see Gabby almost playing as a central midfielder, think back to when he was so effective playing off Carew and running into space where he could hurt defences, but now his strengths are being wasted. Benteke only got the ball where he got instantly crowded out (Palace consistently had 6 men behind the ball when we got near the area), and no one in the midfield was able to pass the ball through their back line. I don't think Benteke got the chance to head the ball once and neither of our other two 'strikers' had a hint of a chance.

Lambert defended himself by saying there were lots of attacking players on the pitch so we should be able to score, as if it's just up to them, but clearly the system is not allowing them to play to their strengths. There is no real pattern to the play and seemingly no ideas when we're in the opposition half.

Second half of Lambert's first season I thought we played some exciting, creative and direct football - sadly it's been downhill since then. I don't dislike the guy and I've been desperate for him to succeed, but I've seen few signs of improvement. Then again, the questin is, if he goes, who do we get in to improve us? Lerner's record of managerial appointments isn't exactly great...

[brian green]

Welcome Fabio. Good post.
I would go even further in my charge of Lambert being a chancer. Not only does he make it up as he goes along, he does not actually believe in the changes he makes.
He is like a wife who has put on a lot of weight and knows her husband's eye is roving. So she forces herself into clothes that make her look like a pig in Lycra instead of going on a diet.
The aspect of our current attempts to play a possession game that anger me most is that Lambert simply thinks it is like flicking a switch. To play possession football you must have the ability to turn a holding position into a goal threat. We can't do that because we have no creativity. We know the notes but we don't know the tune. At some point we have to play the killer through ball or get behind the defenders. If you can't do that you will not score goals. QED.

[JUAN PABLO]

One of Lambert's only valid points post-match was that if we had scored in the first half then it would have forced Palace to come out and play and opened the game up - so if Hutton's chance had gone in then I think we would have won by a couple.

But it's ridiculous to rely on that and the goal scoring record so far shows we have no idea how to break teams down.

Yes its ridiculous

What would have happened if bolaise hadn't had his Rosenthal moment .

We haven't been able to break down teams in years we have been crying out for some creativity for years but this muppet keeps playing andi and gabby while
Cleverly is just Westwood , he's about creative as a tortoise.

He's had enough  transfer windows to sort this out .

[Jimbo]

It's very simple with Lambert. His brief is to keep us in the Premier League. Whatever drab, tedious, soul-crushing method he can stumble upon to do that, then that's what we'll continue with. At the moment he thinks he's found a way of not losing. That's like winning the Euromillions jackpot to Lambert. He doesn't want any assistant coming in and interfering with that. But just wait until we have to play someone good again.

The words 'entertainment' and 'Aston Villa' don't belong in the same library. It's all about protecting Lerner's investment until he can get the hell out. But he can't, because nobody wants to buy the world's most boring and pointless top-flight football club - which he himself created.

Lambert is the safest manager in the league, because Lerner is the stupidest owner in the league. He bought us on a whim like an excercise bike in the January sales. First he installed it in the living room in front of the telly, used it every day, but now he can't arsed and it's out in the garden getting rusty and falling apart.

The only way it's going to get better in the long term is if it gets worse in the short term. That's what I'm dreading. Because it's either going to take some of the worst results in our history to get Lambert sacked, or the fans are going to have to take action. Knowing our current apathetic state, it's going to have to be the former before we can see Lambert gone. And Christ, I want him gone. It's a nightmare scenario.

[Ads]

About twenty minutes into the first half I had a feeling that I had seen this home game before and not just under Lambert.

I like that we try and keep the ball, but Lambert seems to be proving last seasons argument about possession being a largely irrelevant statistic. We had 74% of the ball first half and fashioned two chances, the best one from our most direct and dynamic player, who is a full back, which says a lot.

Second half we had 69% of it and I can't really recall a nailed on chance.

The problems, as far as I see it, are two fold; shape and personnel. Time and again we play a flat three across the middle and it does not work from an attacking perspective. When somebody is sitting as deep as Palace, you need to be able to move he ball quickly so as to create space and you won't do that with three midfielders strung in a line. Why wasn't Bacuna pushed in front of Cleverley and Sanchez? Where he could get closer to the box and the forwards? Where he could utilise the space behind the massed Palace midfield, instead of being stuck out in a line in front of them.

Gabby and Weimann are the other problems. They don't create, they don't move and they don't offer anything. I have been struggling for a long time to understand where Gabby is supposed to be playing or what he is supposed to be doing. Weimann is a striker in the traditional sense. He has no business being anywhere but the 18 yard box and offers nothing. Why we persist with these two or on occasions three with N'Zogbia, goes a long way to explaining the 11/20 statistic.

We won't improve going forwards till we add some risk offensively to our play.

[andyh]

When was the last time we saw even one of our midfielders bomb on in advance of the forwards?

Its all in the coaching.

[Walmley_Villa]

It's pretty obvious that the 'STYLE' offensive is trying to take a page out of West Ham's book this season. The one obvious flaw being that they bought players to contribute to the system and also employed an attacking coach. Lambert is a chancer and out of his depth. I feel for Callum Robinson, brought back for nothing and even cup-tied for Sunday. He must bevan frustrated as f##k.

[PeterWithe]

The possession was nice to see but we were so lacking in ambition it was untrue, we didnt get players forward anything like quickly enough and the movement ahead of the ball was never troubling to a well organised, dull, Palace side. It seemed obvious to all around that we needed to commit midfielders to support the full backs high up the field and get crosses in from beyond  the eighteen yard box but it just never happened. For all the possession, Palace were just as likely winners.

[brian green]

You can see that Ads, I can see that, we all can see that. The one who matters can't or won't see it and he is as safe as a bed bug on a London bus.

[Pete3206]

2 years on from that Bradford City shambles and no sign of any progress.