Arsenal v Aston Villa Post-Match thread

[JD]

Pathetic, embarrassing and gutless. What a bunch of over paid and under performing a-holes. No pride whatsoever. As for Lambert, words do not express how I feel about his incompetence.

[Nastylee]

The analysis on MOTD2 brought up an interesting point.  It was pointed out that we had more possesion% than Arsenal, and is the obsession with stats ruining the game? Kevin Kilbane said that players would check out their own stats first thing on a Monday morning in training to see how well they played. So if as a player you try and find the killer pass or go forward and lose possession you are berated by clueless manager, but if you keep possession and play it backwards and sideways, your stats will look impressive. That definitely would ring true for Villa under Lambert. this "new" style of play is all about meaningless stats.

The same meaningless stats that were done to death on here. I prefer the days of 30% possession and the odd shit 1-0 or 1-1 to 55% and never scoring.

[andyh]

Lambert has 'cracked' what exactly?
Possession means absolutely fuck all if you don't do anything with the ball.

Possession? My arse.

The (rather obviously I thought) sarcastic tone of my post seems to have totally passed you by.

It did, by miles. Sorry!

[Loxton01]

Poor start! Rest of the first half yes we had some possession but with the exception of Gil lacked pace tempo and any cutting edge

We had one chance missed it then once the second went in folded like a pack of cards! Arsenal were coasting and they didn't have Sanchez playing!

The least the players can do is give some money back to the fans at a ground which is probably one of the most expensive to visit!

As for the players Sanchez was truely woeful I'm sick of watching a player get the ball slow down the game then play a sideways pass or give it a way! If he is going to be at the base of the midfield he has to add some tempo play forward crisp passes sometimes.

Benteke is totally immobile and low in confidence we have to get more out of him one way might Actualky be to use his height like we used to!!!!

Richardson is not a left back!

Cleverley is not good enough

Agbonhalor is a disgrace

The most unforgivable act of the whole game was the way Lambert just walked down the tunnel didn't applaud the fans or even make the players go over to the fans! Coward and gutless

I will not go again under this manager

[Witton Warrior]

The analysis on MOTD2 brought up an interesting point.  It was pointed out that we had more possesion% than Arsenal, and is the obsession with stats ruining the game? Kevin Kilbane said that players would check out their own stats first thing on a Monday morning in training to see how well they played. So if as a player you try and find the killer pass or go forward and lose possession you are berated by clueless manager, but if you keep possession and play it backwards and sideways, your stats will look impressive. That definitely would ring true for Villa under Lambert. this "new" style of play is all about meaningless stats.

The same meaningless stats that were done to death on here. I prefer the days of 30% possession and the odd shit 1-0 or 1-1 to 55% and never scoring.

I don't think it was ever the point that we just needed more possession - we needed possession with purpose - Lambert dropped kick and rush which occasionally gave a result for something indescribably awful and the worst of all worlds - nobody ever said possession by itself won games - having a mixture of tactics seems quite useful

[Villa in Denmark]

The (completely top 5/6 obsessed) commentators over here picked up on 3 things

1. Arsenal have ditched the possession at all costs philosophy that St Paul the Goalless is now trying to embrace in favour of possession when nothing else is on, but looking to be very direct at almost every opportunity, but with controlled passing to make it effective.  They look much better for it.

The very opposite of what we've done, although apart from 2½ golden months in 2013 at no point could you claim that we achieved anything more than direct hit and hope.

2. It looked very much like a team that really couldn't be arsed.  Definitely not playing for the manager.

3. With the players we've got on the pitch, there's no way we should be in the trouble we're in.  Instead the 5 games against other cannon fodder will have them rubbing their hands looking at getting after us.  "Aston Villa are QPR's best chance of getting an away win this season"!

[Monty]

Guardiola said much the same, surprisingly. He said that possession must always have a point, even if it's a defensive point (ie the old Clough line - if you have the ball in their half, they can't score). Stats are very useful, and a manager who ignores them is a Redknappish idiot, but stats on their own are meaningless - you need to combine them with the evidence of your own eyes.

[Villa in Denmark]

I read an interview with Guardiola where the journalist was asking him if he was going to turn Bayern München into a tika taka team like he'd done with Barcelona.

At read like he'd got really arsey with the journalist.  Tika taka was possession for the sake of it, Barcelona had kept possession well when they couldn't get a quick break, but it was always about to trying to cause the opposition to over commit to one side of the pitch to allow a quick switch to the opposite wing to allow the sort of quick attack they really wanted to carry out.

Just remembered another point they made over here yesterday.

When we did try to press them high up the pitch it went wrong because we weren't doing it as a unit, but as individuals doing the headless chicken routine which made it easy for Arsenal to by-pass us and find themselves in acres of space.

[Monty]

When we did try to press them high up the pitch it went wrong because we weren't doing it as a unit, but as individuals doing the headless chicken routine which made it easy for Arsenal to by-pass us and find themselves in acres of space.

Yep, this is another example of Lambert thinking he understands something, when he definitely doesn't. Pressing doesn't just mean, like, running at the opposition, man - you've got to do it in groups, it's got to be organised positionally, etc. It's actually quite complicated, and requires some work.

[Chico Hamilton III]

one thing stuck out was the lack of anger at the result and performance by manager, players and fans alike. Most fans just trudged out from the third goal onwards.

Yep. I understand the gallows humour and the "laughing at ourselves" reaction during the match but the team should have been booed back into the changing room at fulltime and Lambert should be getting merciless stick for what he's getting away with. I honestly think the time has come to start doing it during the game. I mean, we were utterly shit yesterday and how much worse would we have been if the fans had been telling the players a few home truths? I reckon the only time half of the team broke into a sweat was when they were running back to the tunnel at half time.

Says me, who was back in the pub in Finsbury Park when the 5th goal went in....   

[olaftab]

Chico you missed Westwood's shot on target how unlucky are you?

[olaftab]

When we did try to press them high up the pitch it went wrong because we weren't doing it as a unit, but as individuals doing the headless chicken routine which made it easy for Arsenal to by-pass us and find themselves in acres of space.

Yep, this is another example of Lambert thinking he understands something, when he definitely doesn't. Pressing doesn't just mean, like, running at the opposition, man - you've got to do it in groups, it's got to be organised positionally, etc. It's actually quite complicated, and requires some work.

At least four of their goals came the way you both have described our deficiencies. They attacked at pace and with confidence and we were too open and defending desperate Dan style.

[peter w]

Even the penal;ty decision wasn't bothered with. The players just stood on the edge of the box waiting for it to be taken.

[passport1]

Saved myself £170 by not going today I reckon. Hats off to all who did go. The owner , management , and players do not deserve such unwavering support .

I was thinking that as I watched it.Anyone who invests that amount of time and money following Villa currently deserves a medal

[ktvillan]

Lambert has 'cracked' what exactly?
Possession means absolutely fuck all if you don't do anything with the ball.

Possession? My arse.

The (rather obviously I thought) sarcastic tone of my post seems to have totally passed you by.

It did, by miles. Sorry!

No worries, seems you weren't the only one so maybe not that obvious after all.  What I was trying to convey is that Lambert is so thick that he seems to think achieving superior possession is an end in itself.  One barely needs a functioning brain cell to realise that it means absolutely nothing without it leading to goals and points, yet the clown Lambert can't seem to grasp it.