We finally took all 3 points from a game and yet when that final whistle blew, I was shaking with anger.
From start to finish this game should have been all for Crystal Palace and if they was more composed up front, it would have been. I literally have no idea how they did not take the full points which they thoroughly deserved.
I’m going to start with the positives of the game to get them out of the way quickly…
- Benteke is back and he scored! It was a great individual effort that he set up himself and took superbly.
- Clark was on form and really is showing his inner Lion. The defence was not rock solid, but they should be applauded for holding their own.
Those are the positives and now for what I really thought.
The game was a disgrace and yet it will surely nudge Lambert that little bit closer to job safe. I despise the man. His one dimensional approach to the game has ruined a team that could be a fairly decent side if played and encouraged correctly but he always seems to do the polar opposite. Let’s break this down…
FORMATION
We started with a 4-3-3 and this alone was enough to make my blood boil because it seemed that Lambert was reverting back to his already proven ineffective tactic which on paper looks well and gone but on the pitch… well on the pitch it just doesn’t work. It literally is all about getting the ball upfront and hoping that either gabby or Wiemann can get the ball to Bentekes feet where he can do the rest. It is uninspiring, unchallenging and typical Lambert. The worst part about this is that we will probably play the exact same formation again next week.
LINE UP
We all predicted it and yet everyone of us wanted something different. For me personally, the most exciting part of the line up was getting to see Cole link up with Benteke but unfortunately, this came to a swift close in the very early minutes and Lambert’s one creative decision was ruled out.
Gabby and Wiemann may just have played their worst game yet, but again, they will probably be played again next week. We had 3 strikers on the pitch and yet we only recorded 3 shots. If players aren’t playing how they should be playing, better yet, if players aren’t playing how they are being paid to play, drop them and put in a new player that wants to prove themselves. I don’t think both will be dropped at the same time, but I do want to see one of them dropped and replaced by either Grealish or Robinson. It would be good to see how they start the game, and what does Lambert and all the nay sayers have to lose? Take out one none scoring player, and put in an enthusiastic and eager youngster sounds like a good idea and if it doesn’t work, then we’ve tried and tested it haven’t we.
The midfield literally did nothing all game and this cause too much pressure on the defence and no action up front; this needs to change! The midfield should be scoring goals, setting goals up and easing the pressure from the defence. Ours didn’t do any of that today.
SUBSTITUTIONS
This is probably the single thing that angered me the most. Lambert was determined to sit on a 1 nil in the hope that we could see the game out and take the points. We was playing awful all game and it was obvious, yet Lambert only made a ‘tactical'(if it can be called that) change in the remaining minutes of the game and that was for Richardson! You know what kind of a game you are in for when Lambert brings Richardson on!
I was expecting either a change at half time or 60 minutes in and if the man had any sense, he would have taken Westwood off for Grealish and Wiemann off for Robinson. But what do I know? I’m just a fan and Lambert scraped 3 points so he must have made the right decisions……
VERDICT
We took 3 points which have placed us 12th in the league and that is what counts, but the way we got those points was diabolical and surely will not happen again because other teams will not be as unlucky.
There is no point calling for Lambert to go because I can’t see it happening and that saddens me deeply. I want him to actually think about the team that we have and change the way we play to accommodate those players. Yes, Benteke is our only true goal scorer, but it is your job to ensure that others are scoring as well because we can not afford to become the one man team we already are. It is now time to drop some of the regulars and give the younger lads a shot.
Next game I would like to see a 4-4-2 formation
Guzan
Hutton-Okore-Clark-Cissohko
Bacuna-Cole-Sanchez-Grealish
Robinson-Benteke
Of course, this is provided that Cole is ok to play.
Spot on Mr Cheese, I keep saying we have an OK team but the tactics are woeful, we are stuck with Lambert for the foreseeable, so really don’t know what to think anymore… The football is as dour as his interviews, but where is the light at the end of the tunnel ?????
Totally agree that our squad is better than our tactics!
It doesn’t matter one iona how we got the points, fact is we got them. The way some people go on is an embarrassment to themselves. Given a choice of playing shit, looking shit, being shit and getting 3 points or playing out of this world, looking like champions elect and having 90% possession yet coming away with nothing is a no brainer. Points win prizes not possession or playing well. It’s a results based game, we won. I guess it clearly upsets people on here that we have won so much that they have to search for negatives.
We won, that is the aim of the game, end of discussion, lets move on to Leicester at home.
agree with most of what you say and team for sunday but cole is a bigger fraud than lambert dont think we will see him starting for a long time what a waste of 2 million wages, but more crap from lambert cole never plays then starts him 2 matches 4 days okore not up to it 3 matches in 8days no grealish, richardson as sub what the fuck ,wiemen banned for sunday down to 3 bookings for petulance anything happen gabby benteke no back up bent on loan, robinson recalled doesnt get llook in
If I was Benteke I’d be on the phone to my agent non stop to get me the hell out of Dodge…
Think he probably is he deserves a sky 4 club however much that pains me to say but if I was a decent player villa is one if the last clubs I’d want to play for says it all
Villa win! Fantastic!
Then why do I feel so down? Oh of course it means that PL is probably a bit further away from the sack. More of the bloody same then.
Agree with most of what you say – particularly as regards the midfield; we seem to lack anyone who can actually retain the ball for longer than 5 seconds. I don’t know whether it’s a lack of individual ability or whether they’re being told to ‘pass’ [- i.e. just hoof it anywhere -] instantly , but it does lead to the ‘panic stations’ approach which puts the whole team on the desperate defensive back-foot.
Surely the likes of Bacuna and Sanchez [ in particular] have come from a background of actually playing the ball, rather than just getting rid of it as soon as possible? Cole might once have been in the same mould, but as JVillan says, I’ll be amazed if he is ‘fit’ again this side of the New Year!
From what I’ve seen of Grealish he might be great at going forward out of midfield, but I worry that he doesn’t manage to retain the ball long enough when the strikers are getting into position? So I’d suggest giving N’Zog another go, although he doesn’t seem to put too much ‘effort’ into games these days.
Or just buy a decent cm utv
He’s had 3 years to buy a decent cm and failed.
your team 442 simply wouldn’t stand a chance to be aggressive, because that team wouldn’t have the ball long enough, or get the ball to start with, lambert may not be the best manager, or a decent manager, but his jobs not at risk from mr cheese
some fans basically obsessed with 442 or formations, but how many teams actually play 442 ?? why don’t many teams play 442 ??? look around, chelsea have their pick of decent players world wide, why wouldn’t their manager choose 442, with all the attacking players he has at his disposal, answer cos it wouldn’t work. teams play 3 in midfield would outplay the 2 midfielders in a 442, like we did at burnley.
fantasy football all very well, but that’s all your team has a chance in.
You talk total and utter toilet Nath…..we play too narrow with the 3 we have in the middle…..that system Lambert plays is very easy to set up against for opposing teams which is why we have generally have bugger all possession………..4 across the middle enables the team to tuck one wide man in and combat that three, but also gives you the option where we can stretch the play……..villa offer no width….the argument that the ‘modern game’ we now play where full backs double up as wingers cannot apply to Villa as neither Hutton and Cissoko are in that mould……and as for the Chelsea system you quote…..Hazard, Oscar, Matic, Willian and Fabregas…..uuuummmm gee let me think……let’s compare them to Westwood, Cleverley, Delph and Sanchez…..
442 has passed it’s sell by date for sure, but 433 is never going to compete in the BPL. The top teams tend to play a 4231 which is much more flexible with the right players. Playing this formation would mean Villa would have to drop 2 from Benteke, Gabby and Andi (so Gabby and Andi). I believe Lambert has the players to make that formation work, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to change things up however bad performances and results are.
4-2-3-1 of Guzan,Hutton,Vlaar,Okore,Cissoko,Sanchez,Westwood,Nzogbia,Cole,Gabby,Benteke would be ideal I think ……utv
Except Joe Cole is technically a cripple!!
Once we get players back from injury, I’d like to see the 3-5-2 that seemed to work but that means we trade attackers for backs. We simply can’t play 4-3-3 because the opposition pushes up the wings which constantly puts us on the back foot, ergo no pressure for us up front. Armchair footie manager but I’d love to see Grealish behind Benteke.
the formation jay has posted is the formation chelsea play and the same formation we are trying to play ALREADY, albeit chelsea have players able 2 adapt and flexible, so its asking gabby,weimann to track back, if they are the 2 of the 3 supporting the one upfront.
now is that too much to ask, well william & hazard both track back for their team, to be fair both weimann and gabby do track back, but they sometimes switch off like against soton
N’Zogbia is never ideal. He’s just not at the ability we definitely need and unlike Weimann and Gabby, doesn’t work near hard enough to help out defensively. Be one of the first I’d try to see offloaded in January for someone better.
well if you watch chelsea see for yourself, they lose the ball they hunt it back in packs, villa retreat back into their half, before pressing the ball, when they have a lead this goes further to the edge of box.
william oscar and hazard are the main playmakers, but these three work back just as much as working forwards.their fullbacks wingbacks are also important for this formation. villa just don’t have the players and work rate, also we are a bunch of individuals in compartment to chelsea they are a team in all they do. attack as one and defend as one
I agree, watch Chelsea often because they’re an awesome team to watch. Oscar’s been my favorite player of the season because he’s sacrificed a lot of his attacking ability to become one of the best all around players in the game. Hell even Drogba does more up front than Benteke does in tracking a player down. Does it more than Gabby does as well.
Being individuals is largely down to poor management though. It’s a bunch of players who have no understanding of each other and that should largely be fixed on the training ground. You can see it with Sanchez and the rest of the midfield, Sanchez has a quick mind, being from La Liga and how fast they pass and move, you have too. No one else on our team have that and that’s often why he loses the ball, because no one can read the game nearly as well as he does. Chelsea’s midfield is incredible, Fabregas has the experience of both leagues and both styles, and works very well with a large base of players who have been in and around teams before joining Chelsea that taught them really well in how reading a game and their teammates makes all the difference. Mourinho’s done incredibly well molding them all together to make it work.
In fact watching them now.
totally agree, i love how they hunt the ball back, this must take lots of work to get right and their stars buy into this, you have william hazard oscar pressing tracking back working their socks of for the team. work rates is definitely a big part of their success,
Huge part. Spurs players look dead in the 75th, Chelsea players are still hassling them, opening them up for fun.
look at possession stats for spurs 60 odd % means fook all, spurs are relying on chelsea generosity to ease up lmao
it’s not iam saying villa players don’t work cos they do, but chelsea work as one as soon as they lose the ball, were ever they lose it. wonder how the management get them to buy into this work rate. its not like all the teams are doing this only barcelona and bayern i av seen do it this good
Villa’s problem is mainly there’;s no movement up front, it’s all dropping back, working for the defense, but when Villa are on the ball, the forwards aren’t in space or Villa are farrrrrrrrr to slow to get forward.
Villa’s problem – as you say, they play like 11 strangers.
As I see it at least 8 or 9 of them also look stark- scared of the ball: don’t know what to do with it if it comes to them, get it away wherever, which is why we lose posession, miss passes, etc.
I’d really like to know though how much of this is down to poor training-ground work, poor direction, or just lack of ability?
Personally gonna have to go with management. 2012-2013 season we attacked. Looking at Westwood’s stats, he averaged 3.7 passes per game less in 2012-2013 than 2014-2015 season so far, but had a 5% better passing rate at 84.7%. It’s only gotten worse for him, but he’s also averaging more long balls than he did his first season, when we were a passing side. Fabian Delph, he played 19 games for Villa in Lambert’s first season, averaged a 87.9% pass rate, this season before his injury, 83.5% rate. Weimann as a right forward averaged a 2.1 shots per game 2 seasons ago, averages a 1.6 so far. He was dispossessed more often, offside more often and fouled more often, meaning he was on the ball far more often as his rating has only gone down. He had a better passing rate, more crosses, less long balls played. 2 seasons ago we were an attacking team that looked like we had a future, I don’t know what happened, be it Lambert was scared of going that way but this defensive style has ruined a lot of our players.
Apples and pears you are comparing our shower of shit with a team that has had 100s of millions spent on it and has an embarrasment of top class superstars who have more talent in their little toe than the whole of our team put together. Add to that the strength in depth, an owner who spends what it takes to be successful and a world class manager you are looking at a team that is on a different planet to us im afraid.
CNz has bags of ability just needs a kick up the arse.
Once had, like 4 years ago. He hasn’t been good at all for us, in fact he’s only gotten worse. Has lost the ball a fair bit more than his last 2 seasons, has had more bad controls per game, less shots, less key passes, and he doesn’t work near hard enough. He’s 28 and isn’t going to get back to his Wigan days and a kick up the arse doesn’t work, that’s what Keane was for and that failed big time.
I suppose cleverly could be the CAM push up & come back and defend our next 8 games are winnable utv
Beat Leicester we could end up 12th by Monday
And last week you said ‘we are down’.
O’Leary was right, you are fickle.
And in that, where did JD say we are staying up?? All I see is a factual statement……..
We could still go down this season but the facts are we could be 11 or 12 by Monday those are the facts my friend we are 4 points off the bottom 3 utv
Who gives a fuck about being 12th we should be where teams live saints and West Ham are at the moment and you are jumping for joy that we could be 12th after beating the worst team in the league on Leicester. Yes this is one game that will be a formality for us just come at the right time with Benteke back and gives Lamberk a stay of execution ffs
According to the table we’re already 12th [OK, I know there are a few games tonight, but Sunderland will have to beat Mancs to make us drop a place…]
Why is every one obessed with young players who have no PL experience, i,e., Gary Gardner, Robinson, WTF do you lot think will happen, the next Rooney these players come along very rarely, I have seen both GG and Robinson and nothing suggests they are capable of stepping up to PL, Name me one side in the Prem that puts these type of young players ahead of seasoned pros and who plays regularly UTV
Also, without Gabby and Wiemann, we would have no wins and no goals upto Burnley away, I am all for some creativity but as mentioned above Joe cole is not the answer nor grealish yet, I am dissappointed with Cleverley and would not sign him for anything like 7m, we need a merson / cowans type player but also few and far between, we all want the academy to produce these type of player but as stated above this does not happen overnight, if Grealish, Robinson gardner, johnson, burke, drennan were good enough bigger teams that AVFC would have snapped them up. UTV
“Playing this formation would mean Villa would have to drop 2 from Benteke, Gabby and Andi (so Gabby and Andi).”
Pretty much what I said last night. Both aren’t doing enough for me and doing this should at least be an option.
Yes, we might lose some of our attacking ability, but they aren’t scoring anyway.
Benteke, plays the “1”, which still leaves Lambert his out of lumping it long, but you beef up the midfield, which has frankly been poor, as Mr C suggests.
The problem is all in the middle and playing our strikers as backup fullbacks will never achieve anything, as they’re not good enough. It’s being proven by the lack of goals from Gabby and Weimann.
Lambert tried the same with Albrighton and ruined him, imo.
Rubbish tactics, combined with players who aren’t good enough to play two roles is the reason we’re so poor, imo.
And it’s why Lambert has to go.
He’s set on a pragmatic solution and won’t change things up.
Which makes us far too readable for the opposition.
I stand by what I said last night.
Pretty much any other team in the Prem would have beaten us easily.
And it just isn’t good enough after 3 years.
What a state.
A win against Leicester might put us midtable.
So why do I feel so downbeat?
what formation are you talking about, what tactics are you talking about ?? how has albrighton comeinto this hows he doing at his new club with a bigger wage, getting many games ????
Because we’ve been playing terribly, and if we played to our potential under someone intelligent we could probably be 5th-7th because the state of the EPL is terrible right now. Even under one of the worst manager’s I’ve ever seen, we’re still 12th, we look somewhat safe somehow and the lowest we can go after tonight’s results is 13th. It’s really not surprising West Ham, Southampton and Swansea are doing so well, even though in terms of talent only Southampton are probably that much better than us. Maybe that’s why I’m downbeat I guess. Because if we can be 12th with garbage tactics and absolutely clueless management, imagine a Koeman type manager. Performances have been pathetic and that won’t change.
I’m just relieved to get the 3 pts,Leicester next then I feel the honeymoon period is over.yes I’m pessimistic atm it’s going to take a lot more to change my outlook on things.still UTV
Tremendous effort by the defence! Palace are the EPL team I like the least by a long way, so I am really chuffed by this smash and grab raid.
No Weimann next game – suspended – so Lambert really will have to fill the slot. Formations are OK until you arrive at the Lampard Gerrard problem, they could never play well together because they both found themselves without thinking in exactly the same place.
Villa have the same problem with Gabby and Benteke, both are left sided forwards who do not play off the shoulder of the centre half but a little deeper. There is no cure for it – if both players are playing up front. You could tell Gabby to play right wing but he would not stay there for long. If both are on the field together Gabby needs to play at left-back. Perfectly possible, he has filled in there when we have used the subs and lost a LB before, and if Ashley Young can do it quite well for United, then Gabby certainly can.
It’s an interesting idea, but I do remember watching Agbonlahor trying to play in a defensive role a few years back – and each time he went into a tackle he ended-up giving away a free-kick, usually just outside the box. It was the same with Albrighton – each time he came back to defend, everyone was waiting for him to give away a penalty.
With wiemann not playable i fear we will see Richardson start the game. It’s not his fault, but I dislike him because he has come to be associated with settling for any scrap of a point.
Perhaps 4-5-1,
Benteke
Gabby, grealish, cole, Sanchez, bacuna
Cissokho, Clark, Okore, Hutton
Now that I like the look of. I still want to see goals from midfield and a team not fully reliant on benteke.
guzan
hutton clark okore cissokho
sanchez westwood
gabby grealish cleverly
benteke
this is the team, i think he’ll play or i hope he does, cleverly and gabby would need to graft and grealish in his position needs 2 support and link up the play to benteke, cole played this against burnley and started their against palace, cleverly/ nzog didn’t play this role good, but cole did and i hope grealish gets his chance.
Well, I would take a win like that any day! During our miserable run we put in plenty of good performances and never got the result! There were some positives from the Palace game, BENTEKE IS BACK!! I think Clark and Okore have been immense together, I was all wrong about Clark.. he’s really come back in from the cold! I think our whole back 4 has actually been strong this season, but Clark and Okore have really saved us these last 3 games for me. With Vlaar Senderos and Baker all missing, who thought our defence would still be relatively good? Now just a couple of things..
1- If we are around mid-table in January and Palace are near the bottom.. could we PLEASE make a cheeky bid for Bolasie? Really rate this player and he’s still pretty young in football terms. (Offer N’Zogbia??)
2- Would we really miss Vlaar? With Okore clearly proving he is more than capable of playing in the Premier league and the re-emergence of Clark, along with Senderos and Baker.. would selling Vlaar in January be the worst thing when we can use that money to re-invest elsewhere in the team?
3- I can’t see us selling Benteke in January, that’d be crazy..
i have seen quite a lot Bolasie, i think he would impress in a villa shirt and improve us, watch when he goes to Africa cup thingy in jan. palace will definitely miss his attacking threat. so i agree with you, but i doubt palace would allow him to go. couldn’t we offer to swap nzog for him straight swap. sounds like a cheeky deal
we definitely need strengthening this nxt window, whether or not vlaar and delph stay or go. we must have the smallest crappiest squad in premiership
Even just watching him in recent games, against Liverpool he terrified their back all 90 mins and he is just a joy to watch. He’d also fill a position which we are desperately lacking!
totally agree i watch that pool game and he alone terrified um and that performance wasn’t a one off, the game against us he had a off day but still he was good just his final cross or shots were off it a little compared to his usual high standards.
do you think a deal could happen, i doubt we could afford him, rumors around late on summer deadline day was villa inquired about him, so if true he must still be on the list of maybes, ur suggestion of offloading nzog is a smart one also
I didn’t know about the rumours of an enquiry being made late on deadline day until you just said it! Would love if they were true, if was on our list then he must surely be on it now.
I agree completely, he wasn’t at his best against us but he still gave our defence a hard time, all he was missing was a good cross and some finishing, maybe we could work on that with him!! (I wish)
I really think we need to rush in with some offer anyway before some other club comes in for him, I think if we are stable come January and Palace continue to struggle he could very well be tempted, he could easily force Palace’s hand, we all know it’s hard to keep a player who wants to leave! Would love to see him put on the Villa jersey, and I do feel he is much more realistic than other options..
villa do struggle with the 3 behind benteke the wide slots usually filled by gabby and weimann need filling and this guy does tick awful lot of boxes needed. gabby and weimann both get drawn inwards because they are strikers, this leaves us narrow 🙁 lets hope this guy is on the shopping list
Why would bolasie come to us when he is wanted by top 5 clubs ffs.
What top 5 club wants him? Southampton maybe? I have my doubts as they are no doubt scouting better. I’d say we have a good chance at getting him if he ever leaves. If we want him, I have my doubts we’ll actually even try for someone like him.
So I’m gonna say this now then, did anyone see Bolasie yesterday? UNBELIEVABLE! Such a talent, if only..
And for everyone calling Cissokho rubbish, who knows..
http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2014/12/napoli-turn-to-aston-villa-fullback-cissokho/?
Would LERNER reinvest the funds???? I’ve even forgot about vlaar now,clearly an acute crock imo.as BWS stated a while back getting near Christmas, time for a festive break be back mid January I expect.good on okore & Clarke keep up the good work.
Hi all – back to the cold tomorrow. Interesting though on Vlaar for you. Memories of his world cup performance are fading and realities about his injury problems are becoming very obvious (he seems to get injured playing for Holland pretty requested). Why would any top team come on for him in January when Villa will depend an unrealistically high fee. IMHO I can’t see him going anywhere until the summer and a lot can change before then UTV
GUZAN
HUTTON.. OKORE.. CLARK.. CISSY
SANCHEZ..CLEVERELY..
WINGER.. AM… GABBY
BENTEKE..
Delph and Vlaar most likely off.. if Vlaar goes Man U.. we should get Ash Young in.. if not ask Chelsea to loan us Salah..
If Delph goes Spuds.. ask them for Dembele or Holtby in exchange..
Add let’s say Young and Holtby to the team and that team looks very decent..
IF PL had any balls he would attack in our next two games.. Lesta (H) & West Brom (A).. Bag six points.. have us sitting in a tidy place just before the window opens..
Will be do it.. doubt it very much from past eveidence..!!
Can’t deny that Young and Holtby would improve our current team hugely!
With Young covering Left Back/Left Wing/Left WingBack and being one of United’s best performers the last month or so, I’d be surprised if they let him come back, nor would he probably want too. Although would never say no, obviously.
Also Holtby’s out on loan, I have my doubts Hamburger SV are going to allow him to leave them
I don’t see United being interested in Vlaar; too much time out injured, not exactly in the first flush of youth, etc. While I think he’s quality, suspect they’re after younger and bigger names.
Hope vlaar does go to utd he is no loss and Clarke and Okore seem to be coping better without him
I agree, they have a defensive injury list as bad as ours. I can’t see them wanting Vlaar either. Do think Van Gaal might want someone experienced though, so De Gea might be confident of the crap defense he has in front of him. Based on performances though, wouldn’t mind Smalling coming our way. Not a chance but he’s been their best defender this season bar… Young.
Utd defence seems ok now though so they might not bother. Apparantly theyve another 200 m to spend next summer complete that they can just go out and buy their way back into winning honours.
Largely what happens when they get said revenues. However if they don’t get CL again, they could be screwed on finding the right players, unless of course there’s some real hot shot that’s no longer wanted at one of the bigger clubs.
Their defense is fine largely because of De Gea. He’s in incredible form, although they could lose him next summer to Madrid. They often times get a lot of injuries and Young and Smalling have been incredible. They still largely need at least 1 CB and 1 RB.
I honestly have my doubts on this whole Vlaar to United garbage, if he goes, I have my doubts he’ll still be in the Prem unless Southampton feel like splitting up their defense that’s been on a large scale very good.
hmm make of this what you will http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/lambert-banking-on-bayern-boost-30803979.html
He’s trying to get Guardiola as his number 2. 🙂
Pretty obvious why he met pep guardiola hes offered him villa assistant role where Pep can learn “how to play shite football and break unwanted records and earn himself a new 4 year deal whilst doing so”!! Lamberk out
I’ve just looked at the fixtures with Benteke back if he’s hit a bit of form could lift us free of the bottom scrap.The next 8 we should get points from….utv
I think we’ll win all 8 and that Lambert is a better manager than Ron Saunders.
Can I have some of what you are drinking?
He drinks his own piss. Are you sure you want some???
I’ll be surprised if Cole starts the next game. He’s not getting any younger and his recovery time is getting longer! If he is fit, I’m not sure about starting him in central midfield as he’s all about creativity and not really an all round midfielder. Good shout on giving Bacuna another shot. I’d almost forgotten he existed! What exactly has happened with him, as he was almost a nailed on started every game last season?! I’d definitely be excited to see how your suggested lineup got on though. More so than seeing the same old same old with Gabby and Weimann!
Thinks you;re right on both counts:
Cole’s history injury-wise has always been pretty poor, that’s one big reason why he never lived up to the early hype ten or more years ago. One of those players who plays one or two games then sidelined for the next six.
Bacuna was a bit raw at times last season, but showed some real promise – a decent run in the starting line up could show just how good he can be.
Ardent, every time you post on here you make common sense, the thing with Cole though is that he is a very decent footballer who appears to want to play, I agree about the injuries, but if and when fit, for me, he offers so much more than Bacuna, in the case of Bacuna, he might be good, in the case of Cole, he is, without doubt, very good.
Hi Sasa, long time no hear!
I have no doubts about Cole’s ability – just that he’s one of those players [Trevor Francis springs to my mind…] who could/should have been a true ‘great’, but seems to have spent at least half of his career on the treatment table.
If he’s fit, then sure, play him; but I think we’ll only get one full game a month out of him, and when he’s not there, we should give Bacuna a run out.
no dispute at all mate, it is such a shame really that his body is shot, as he never feigns injury, but against Burnley he gave that something that we have lacked since Parker held that position some 20 years ago, different era i know, but our club deserves that type of player. all the best sir.
Btw why has Bacuna not figured this season he was arguably one of our best players last year. Rather have him than cleverly, Westwood and Richardson ffs
Has anyone read that article in the Birmingham Mail by Gregg Evans (who?) telling us to lay off Lambert.
Its a terrible read.
Seriously has he been paid of ffs?
Have you seen the comments lambasting the journalist and said article? Everyone’s ripped it apart…
It’s the usual thoughtless piece by a writer trying to get a paper views. Nothing was even remotely argued as to why anyone should lay off him. It really was a terrible read.
lamberk
gregg evans must be another lerner employee to write that crap