Paul Lambert has confirmed that Christian Benteke will be out for 4-6 weeks due to hip injury sustained against Norwich.
“You are never quite sure until you hear from the professor [doctor], but thankfully it is not too serious,” said manager Paul Lambert.
“He is feeling a lot better.” – Paul Lambert
This means Benteke will miss games against Hull, Manchester City, Everton and Tottenham while also missing World Cup qualifiers for Belgium. Benteke has scored 5 goals in 6 games for Aston Villa and will be missed, no other player has scored more than 1 goal for Aston Villa so far this season.
Yesterday’s game taught us a little bit about our other forwards, Kozak, Helenius and Bowery. Out of the three, it’s too soon to call a clear candidate to ‘replace’ Benteke. But I think Helenius has great potential, same as Kozak, but he needs much more service whilst Helenius can create more on his own.
But I do wish Benteke a speedy recovery and I hope this injury won’t affect his future performance’s or hinder his career in the future.
And the football gods fart in our faces once again
loosing benteke is a massive loss to us, 5 goals in 6 games says it all, he really is the real deal.
kozack didn’t look like doing much last night but to be fair we were playing a team that has only conceded one goal all season and im guessing he was subbed because we needed to save something in the locker for the prem match at the weekend. things could have set up better for kozack, tekkers with a sidelining injury for a while and kozack comes on and scores straight away. now is his chance if ever there was one coz once tekkers is fit kozack will be back on the bench, time to shine libor.
bowery totally disappeared last night after the sub, I cant think of one significant contribution he made to the game in the 2nd half he may as well not have been there.
hellenius looked promising and creative with the ball at his feet, not a great showing but the potential is there for us to use him, perhaps as a cam behind gabby and wiemann. and at least he has clean underpants 😉
edit, sorry it should say *things couldn’t have set up better for kozack*
all his xmases have come at once.
We blamed O’Neil for walking out, then we blamed Houlier, we blamed McCleish we now blame Lambert….. They cant all be wrong…. Lerner and his his useless CEO Faulkner need to wake up and smell the roses, you cannot run a Premiership club like a Championship club or you get relegated……Anyone who doesnt think we will be in a relegation battle by Xmas is mad, its just we have Benteke injured so the club can make up some more bullshit spin and PR to try and cover their arses..
True but what have any if those managers done since except houllier if course
Bugger all, the same as they did at the Villa
I’m not calling on anyone’s head. I think Lerner and Lambert have a plan, there is simply no way that we’ve spent all our money this year. There was a major TV deal recently sponorship deal’s aren’t slowing down at Villa.
I think Villa will have one big spending season, when will this be? I don’t know, but in order to do that we need to have a foundation. Having a foundation of young players isn’t a bad idea, it will take time but these players will grow into something special (hopefully).
We need to be patient, the Benteke injury isn’t the end of the world. We can’t rely on one player, I’d like the likes of Weimann, Agbonlahor and perhaps a midfielder to step up and score a few goals.
If we don’t, Benteke will want to leave, I surely wouldn’t want to be the only super-star in our team. We also have a terrific academy, it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve been Norwich and if Lambert can fix his home tactics, Aston Villa can be a successful club.
The first step in the ‘Lambert blueprint’ is to build a team of his own and create a good foundation. As these players age, they will become stronger.
I for one want to see Lambert manage this team for the next few years. Heck, give him a 8-year deal, similar to Pardew. I want continuity, I’m afraid that Lambert is the best manager we can realistically pick up (apart from Di Matteo).
Agree that lambert is as good as we will ever get but to say he has a blue print and plan has to be a joke. He like Lerner is completely clueless
Well said Adam.
To expect these youngsters to hit the ground running in their first season in one of the toughest leagues in the world is an absolute joke, of course they are going to struggle whilst finding their feet, and of course some of them won’t make it, but i’m sure by the end of what will be another season of ups and downs, they will be better players and the improvement will be there to see.
The problem of course is the meantime, and Lambert/Lerner definitely made a huge mistake in not bringing in Barry and another center half. The experience we all know is needed.
Will this mistake cost us our place in the league? I very much doubt it, thankfully there are three worse teams than us, and before anybody throws the old “low expectations” remark in my face, yes, at the moment they are low, because we are in the process of rebuilding from the bottom up.
Why are we in the process of rebuilding? Because Lerner went double or quits at the beginning of his tenure, to get us into the Champions League, he put his money and faith in what turned out to be an inadequate manager, one that squandered millions of pounds, one that didn’t have the most common of common sense, i mean, who on earth chooses to buy Heskey over Falcao?
But to call Lerner clueless is an insult to the three top 6 finishes and millions entrusted to a manager so inadequate in the transfer market it beggars belief.
At the end of the day he’s a business man, wake up and smell the coffee, there is no billionaire Villa fan out there waiting in the wings to take over, and not every arab owner is a prince, we have to become a sustainable model again and stripping back seems to be the best way to accomplish this, and as Adam said, i’m sure we’ll spend again, be it in January or next season, when we get a better idea of what players bought in this season are going to make it and which aren’t.
OohAh, there is the ability to add videos and images to this site, why not use it, instead of just using as a platform to whinge on.
Give Lamberk an 8-year-contract? Christ NO! Another 8 years of ‘we pick ourselves up and go again’.
The bloke is totally out of his depth.
This I totally agree with. Pardew actually earned the 8 years due to getting a poor team to perform very well, now that 8 years is being questioned. Lambert’s done nothing to come close to earn even an extension, let alone a large contract.
Adam we.heard all this crap last season about young players give Lambert time and patience. Lambert is as good as we.can get with an owner like Randy the clown but time and patience is running out we cant go on like this.
i thought this was a thread about bentekes injury and how that is or will impact on the side?
my mistake it appears to be the ‘villa are shit’ brigade again.
guys if you want to open a thread about how shit you think the club is then open one but try n stay a little on topic.
Don’t worry nm your find out how crap lambert is as a manager with no benteke he can’t do hes only tatic long ball to benteke and hope for the best thats all he knows lambert shitting himself now we will lose the next 5 games for sure
and still it goes on………….
tell yers what why do I just leave you all some words and you can all spend time rearranging them all into sentences that will be most pleasing to yers all.
the words you may use are
‘lambert, learner, shite, out, disgrace, benteke, joke, rubbish, awful, vlarr, defence, shit, wank, useless, shit, shit, shit,’ and another handful of ‘learner’ and ‘lambert’ and ‘out’
night night chaps.
extra points for anyone who can insert the words ‘fanny batter’ into the fray.
Twat
what an excellent retort did you have to go somewhere special to learn such wit, such command of the English language?
I bow to thee, sir thou art a genius!
Naughtiusmaximus you have summed up Villa in just a few simple words but you missed out ‘selling club’ ‘cheap’ and ‘relegation’ put your head back in the sand and pretend all is well at Villa Park !
Oh dear, WBA & Swansea go out of the Cup too, with only Swansea a point ahead of us and WBA a point behind in the league, surely both managers are due for the chop now too???????
WBA lost to arsenal on pens they didn’t lose 4 fuckin 0 ffs. Swansea should be shot simply for losing to the scum
Arsenal actually used a B/C term, Spurs didn’t. We probably would have beaten them too.
Andrew, we beat their first team away in the first match of the season didn’t we?
I doubt it somehow and forget first game of season it was a fluke and ref was on our side for once plus they had a couple of decent players out and ozil hadn’t arrived. There’s no way on the planet we would beat them at emirates now we just caught them cold
Garbage, absolute garbage. The ref didn’t help us at all, 2 legit penalties, and they were getting away with multiple fouls while Villa players were constantly carded for the exact same fouls.
You don’t completely outplay Arsenal by a fluke. You also don’t outplay Chelsea and Liverpool in the 2nd half by a fluke, showing that Arsenal wasn’t a fluke.
We didn’t outplay Chelsea and arsenal and we lost both games anyway. Arsenal hammered us at times and we rode our luck as they could of been 3 up before we got first goal. But yes a good result but we wouldn’t beat them at emirates now
Of course we wouldn’t, they have Ozil now. He’d open us up like he’s done everyone else this season since he joined Arsenal. We were very fortunate to play them before they signed him.
We were better than Chelsea and most Chelsea fans admitted that during the game. We were terrible against Pool in the first half but should have won it in the 2nd and any Pool fan you talk to would admit that. We haven’t had luck (because it doesn’t exist) this season. Now if we drew/beat Newcastle the way we played, you might, might have an argument for this “luck” trash.
Problem is ur talking about the performance there are no positives from a good performance but there is in the result. For example Norwich we played shit and won and that’s good against Chelsea we played well in second half but lost which is bad. We will constantly be stuck with the unlucky loser tag if we are not careful like the minnows in the fa cup
Of course you can. See we can play well, it’s proven. And if the refs were ever correct, we’d have gotten points off Chelsea and gotten a goal against Spurs which ties the game and they no longer have the confidence or 11 men. We have City, Hull, Spurs and Everton, and obviously the only “should” win is Hull away, the rest are at home and possible for points, but taking those good performances into after the Everton game, we have 6 winnable games and 4 of those 6 are away. Make any of those good performances, and Villa win.
why does everyone believe I think everything is great at villa just because I try not to go ott and slag the club off at every opportunity?
villa get more respect from bluenoses than it does on this site at times.
Well we bought Kozak for this exact reason so now he gets his chance. Helenius deserves a start too, no point persisting with the dross that is letting is down.
We are hoofing it far too much atm, if this was Mcleish in charge he’d be getting crucified, but the lambert fans won’t dare criticise their hero.
Agree with all this mate, well said
Which Lambert fans are refraining from criticising the long balls? I’ve been banging on about them for a very long time (we started off so well last season actually trying to pass the ball around, and it’s something Steer is better at than Guzan). But then I just want Lambert to have a chance to show what he can do, and after the massive improvements in the second half of last season (when Vlaar came back) we need to give him more time this season.
What you seem to be mixing up are fans who are being realistic and dare I say it rational, and giving it more than just a few matches, and short sighted firebrands who want to slag off the club, owner, manager, team and fans who show even a glimmer of positivity or optimism.
Lerner stumped up for Bent when we needed him, and has provided money for new players and higher wages where necessary. Whether he’s in it for the money or whatever the club needs to be profitable and the more successful it is, the more money (or ability to make money) comes in. Lerner also sacked McLeish and Lambert is surely aware of how precarious his situation can become. It’s in no one’s interests for the club to do badly, or flirt with relegation.
Another thing, why are some people knocking Lambert’s post-match interviews and comments? What do people want to hear? How do you motivate a team, does it involve telling them how shit they are and encouraging them with boos? Is that how it works where people here work, do you go in and get told you’re shit all the time and that makes you more productive?
Problem is there isn’t a noticeable improvement. Last Xmas we were being thumped 4-0 at home by Spurs, 9 months on the same is happening. Lambert’s signings outside of Benteke are looking pretty poor/ unprepared for the PL and the football is regressing towards long ball, the very tactic that saw Mcleish vilified.
And regarding Lambert’s interviews, when he starts saying this player was excellent, that player was excellent. when we’ve just been thrashed at home its going to piss people off. Sometimes the less said the better.
Yes, nine months ago all we had of a first team was being thumped by Spurs. The other night it was essentially a b-team, complete with people starting for the first time and not necessarily in their usual positions and being picked apart by a vastly more expensive squad, all in a cup game that looked more like Lambert was trying out some new players.. Not a terribly good comparison. We beat Arsenal, we should have beaten or at least drawn with Chelsea, we kept a clean sheet and beat Norwich. The Liverpool first half was appalling, as was most of the Newcastle match. We still have a developing team.
yep, as I said for kozack bentekes injury is a god send as he will get his chance and some so he needs to step up. and id agree hellenius should get a start just to change it up abit maybe playing behind a front 2.
there is way too much hoofing going on, ive been very disappointed in this since the start of the season, I thought closed season would have seen us come up with something a bit more creative, I understand we have the big target men up front and that’s our strength in attack but there has to be a plan B doesn’t there? same as teams who play tippy tappy on the floor football need to occasionally change it up and play the ugly game and at least have an idea how to play the occasional long ball.
also our passing game needs to improve drastically, well not even the passing game just basic passing, far too many passes are going astray often under no pressure at all, point of fact spurs 3rd goal the other night was a direct result of a sloppy pass by albrighton I think, this needs to stop its just basic football.
Plan A is counter attack
Plan B is hoof it long to Benteke/ Kozak/ Helenius
And that is the Paul Lambert tactical handbook. No wonder we can’t break anyone down at home.
Plan c is to buy a striker whilst selling a proven one instead of a cm dm and ch
Plan d is I havnt got a clue so il put a couple of subs on and play 424. Ffs get this clown out now
well we play using lightning fast counter attacking so I guess lambert is just using our strengths as best he can, the sad fact is we have no hold up players who can pick out a pass and with only 3 across the middle no support any player trying to hold up will find themselves dispossessed very quickly, if we had a CM play maker decent enough im sure he would employ other tatics.
everyone was calling for wingers and a 4-4-2 and we used that the other night, it didn’t work out so good did it. for me people said albrighton had a good game and he did find some good space but failed to deliver proving for me with the best will in the world he’s just not quite good enough, I wish I could say otherwise I really do.
we are aiming for improvement this season and game on game we are 3 pts better off and +10 goals on the same fixtures last season, a mid table finish is not beyond us by any means, its early days guys.
We’re also 2 points better off than our first 5 games last season, much easier start last season and if going off last season, we’ll only win 2 of the next 10 games. We also conceded 9 in our first 5 games, and scored 5, unlike 6 and 6 this season with big losses to Everton and Southampton.
It’s virtually impossible to be any worse than last year big deal we will finish 8th from bottom then instead if 5-6th
It’s far from impossible. We could have lost all 5 games, could have have drawn Norwich or Arsenal. Could have gotten hammered. But no, that didn’t happen. So we finish 12th then… Isn’t that where most expected us to finish and claimed would be happy as that’s quite an upgrade as it’s far more comfortable?
A team like villa should be finishing in the top 8 at the very least. Historically we have always finished above the likes WBA Southampton Swansea etc these teams should not be finishing above us period!
Historically, we should be. But then history means very little to this team right now. Historically, we’re much bigger and more successful than Chelsea and Spurs as well. But then again, things change. Historically, Liverpool used to be the most successful club in England by far. Historically Leeds and Newcastle used to “challenge” for the title.