Well, what can you say about that?
Not much, apart from the usual reason, in that we defended atrociously yet again.
Which is a shame really, because I thought we mostly held our own against what is a very average Man Utd side and although the result is there in black and white, I don’t really think it was a 4-1 type of game (if you know what I mean).
Benteke could easily have had a hat-trick and his air kick that should have been a certainty, will probably haunt him for years. That part didn’t particularly worry me though. He continually gets in the right positions and leaps like the proverbial salmon. Did you see how high he got above Vidic for that header?
No, given his age, I think he’s going to be absolutely outstanding in time and his not scoring is only a temporary thing.
Of course, we wonder where he will be when he hits top form, but that’s something that’s been much discussed and an issue I won’t pursue.
Although it was nice and warm today, I was wondering if it was about 35 degrees C at Old Trafford, as the players seemed somewhat lethargic.
Indeed the first half lacked any pace or movement on both sides, something that Villa really ought to be using to their advantage, given the youthful average age of the team.
Both sides came out looking sharper in the second half and indeed Villa looked the better side in the first 10 minutes or so until some more atrocious defending let us down yet again.
I’m not going to harp on about it, as to be honest it’s just getting boring.
I don’t know what the answer to it is either, £50 million apart.
It just sickens me that we’ve always had a good defence on the whole over the time I’ve been supporting the Villa and this lot just don’t match up.
I was speaking to a Wolves fan today and he asked me what Lambert’s remit was at the Villa.
“Is it to get rid of the over-expensive deadwood, get in a load of cheap kids and just survive in the Prem?” he asked.
“It certainly seems like it, doesn’t it?” I replied.
“That’s not good enough for a club like the Villa. Lerner needs to go”
The words rung in my ears.
This is coming from a neutral and is exactly what many Villa fans seem to be thinking.
Man Utd were there for the taking today, but we just weren’t good enough. Again.
How we’re mid table, God only knows.
Please please would someone be so kind as to explain WHY the press still refuse/decline to give any coverage to how poor Lambert is or How Lerner is destroying the club? Why no articles calling for sackings Lerner out?why no articles publishing the frustrations of a Villa fans? What happened to a free objective press. If the club are being obstructive and censoring reports surely any journalist worth their professional ethics would exploit this to their own gains. Where are the journalist who want to report the fans views? And expose what’s happening?
Ted at least it seems John Lerwill has had the balls to come out and nail his colours to the mast – “But it’s Villa that is the biggest club yet is being treated like a lame pussycat by its owner”
ted as much as you want Lambert/Lerner gone as of most people on this site, your still a minority im afraid and news papers media only report what they have meddled with e.g. benteke to any team other than villa the so called bomb squad the p.r. at villa needs a massive overhaul as does everything else
Billy I think the majority voice now want Lerner and Lambert gone. No longer can cheap buys awful quality be addressed by the club response “transition period” it’s now obvious players aren’t good enough manager can’t motivate and lacks tactical awareness. More importantly an owner who is only interested in making money for himself at the clubs expense an owner who has no interest and no support for the club and no understanding of fans. Treats fans with contempt. An owner who measures success finishing 4th from bottom. An owner who employed Alex McLeish. Surely it’s an article journalists should print?
we have the under18s plating some really good skilful football with scouts coming from all over the globe to watch them then we have the ultra successful under 21s steamroller but hang on arn’t they playing a different style to the first team maybe this is why no one can step up and end up out on loan we keep hearing were in transition but this needs to start at the bottom up with a definite style of football that all grades of the club can identify with so no matter who is suspended/ injured a ready made replacement are within the ranks
Ted – write the article and submit it to wherever you’d like to read something like that.
ted im not saying everything is right mate but i think hounding Lerner out would be a major catastrophe with possible fatal results for Aston villa if you think Lerner in it for money then i think a tenner on euro millions would of been a better investment
Do you think for a minute Lerner (a hard nose Yank who started off as an an investment analyst) bought AVFC as a act of philanthropy?
Does anyone think anyone buys a football club as an act of philanthropy?
I think they buy them for status, or to as a reason to stop in the country (if you’re a dodgy Russian that scammed thousands of people out their oil shares (allegedly)) but that was in reply to Billy’s assumption the RL didn’t buy it for the money.
If you hold with Billy’s view then would you care to share with us the reason(s) you believe RL purchased AVFC?
Haven’t got a clue and I’m not having a go at you. I also haven’t got a clue if Lerner is going to keep Lambert, if he’ll get money in the summer, if he’ll ever invest again in Aston Villa, if he’s going to move the club to a nice field he owns near Burton and turn Villa Park into a giant water park or what colour socks he put on this morning.
I do know, however, that Lerner isn’t screwing up the club, he has invested in the academy, he hasn’t sold the club to a bunch of chancers or asset strippers (which, frankly, he has every right to do whether anyone likes it or not), we haven’t been relegated, there’s no evidence to suggest he is going to asset strip the club himself and the world isn’t going to end tomorrow.
Yes, some matches in the last three years have been dire beyond belief and we’re only going to know what’s going on in hindsight in five years time. There are going to be much much worse owners out there although I don’t believe there are many PL managers past or future out there worse than Lambert.
Maybe debt is being cancelled out and finances are being sorted. Perhaps the academy received investment and we’ll be buying in more interesting new young talent aged 16 or 17 because the penny pinching has been planned for a few years and we’re going to be relying much more heavily on the likes of Grealish and co. I don’t know, I don’t think many on here know. I still believe we have a basis on which to add two or three £10million players every season, mixed in with the best of the academy players.
I don’t go to many matches because I can’t afford to go and invariably am on my own when I do. I’m trying to get to away matches when I can get tickets and I’m close to London and when I have tried to come to VP this year TV schedules have twice screwed it up so I’m in Birmingham but there’s no bloody match on. If I was paying to go every week I suspect I’d be even more pissed off than I already am. I think though that the summer will give us a very good idea of what’s going on, and I think if there isn’t some decent investment there are going to be a lot fewer bums on seats next season. That’s going to determine Lerner’s direction, if attendances and shirt sales drop that’s when he’ll pay attention. Probably.
Foxy I didn’t think you were.
Invest in the academy? Just how do that? Run trials , give kids a chance if they’re good f**k em off, hows that equate to investment? Kids that you mention aren’t getting look in.
Asset stripping definition – The activity in which a company buys an unsuccessful company cheaply and sells its assets separately at a profit.
Barry – Miner – Young – Downing – Benteke?
Proof of the pudding in the eating and all that?
*No Good*
or buys expensive assets to give away bent-hutton -ireland-warnock-given
whats Aston villa got to do with stamps
Billy simply to get the high earners off the payroll nothing more nothing less.
nobody buys something to lose money, but i don’t think making a fortune was either he has a fortune already there are more safer options to invest in than a football club hes lost direction and hes not getting the right advice on the football culture prevalent in this country we are not the browns!
You’re answering your own question, he paid £60m then threw millions on a gambling on getting into get into the Champions League then jumping on the tv money gravy train, the plan failed.
Next thing Man C came over the horizon with their oil gazillions he knew he was out the game financially and scaled back to the point where we are now (Rag Ass Rovers).
There’s no love affair with the club, no affinity with the fans just a foreign speculator that judged it wrong.
then why the investment in bent?after houlier was poorly he had to consolidate this was where the piss poor advice was in appointing the worst guy possible which is all down to our chief executive i hope the day of reckoning comes soon for this non- footballing passenger who has now sold the lambert dream to him
An investment yes in order to gain profitable return i.e. A quick fix to keep us up and the SKY money rolling in.
but if houlier had not been stricken with his illness do you agree that Lerner would of continued to back him financialy
And if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle.
by the way excellent post foxy
BWS I agree entirely with your observations. Sorry to say the clubs lost with views like foxy. I’m astonished at his refusal to see the obvious. The only possible reason for his views is he is in fact a PR rep from Villa Park who signs up to social sites to cause disaffection and promote a false picture. Astonished people can still defend Lerner.
Ted I think I’m bashing my head against a brick wall some appear to be indoctrinated by the AVFC PR bullshit and have swallowed it hook line and sinker.
Im certainly one who doesn’t buy the constant shite that comes out of villa park’s pr machine.fuck alls improving,whats fucking lerners vision?cl footy, european footy?trouble is nobody knows.instead of him being a fucking hermit come out & give us even an inkling what his vision is.fucked well off.
Giddy mate what’s going on down at VP is just not acceptable and yes wouldn’t it be something if he (Lerner) came out and told us what is vision / plans were for the club are.
It makes me laff when some on here are picking figures out the air,how much will he give the gaffer this window to spend?as little as he can fucking get away with,& with that money i expect prem quality players who will expect to be paid peanuts.where’s his fucking mindset?i ask myself,it’s certainly not at vp.
Giddy this part of a great post by Ree Khalidon AV Life –
This is more than about Lambert and Lerner etc its the club itself. Maybe we have delusions of grandeur but surely we do not deserve to accept this mediocrity? Lerner is the captain of some ship but he doesnt know which direction he is heading, all he is doing is trying to stay afloat. Lambert is like the captains mate but what Matt said is right he is only trying to preserve his job.
Read the rest at
http://www.astonvillalife.com/aston-villa-blog/continuity-or-no-continuity-without-the-long-term-fixes-its-all-irrelevant-right/
Spot on mate,cheers for that.interesting reading.
Ted, continue to be astonished if that’s as far as your limited brain capacity goes and feel free to continue talking bullshit about the club being lost with views like mine. Your opinion on social media is as irrelevant as mine but continue trying to spread discord, I don’t care. The only way you and anyone else can get rid of Lerner – aside from buying him out – or forcing his hand with regard to Lambert or the way the club is run, is to stop supporting the club financially. By all means go and sit in the pub watching matches with OOHAH but spend your money on beer (if you’re old enough) and not on match tickets or merchandise. No, it won’t help the players out but then Villa Park is usually pretty quiet unless we’re thumping someone. People stopped going to watch matches under McLeish, and then the TV cameras and pundits picked up on what’s going on and it becomes news.
Sure, Lerner has made some big mistakes and hopefully isn’t going to make the biggest one yet by giving Lambert a contract extension (or please help us, a new contract) but the underlying fact is that we’re mid-table and likely to stay there for the rest of the season, with a few dire performances to come and probably one or two cracking matches where all the players click and do crazy stuff like pass the ball to each other and actually entertain more than just Terry’s beloved Lemmings and Belcs’ sheep.
No, Villa aren’t winning leagues and playing CL football but we’re what, 12th out of 92. I like to think of my pint being half-full, and am still optimistic the team can improve with some new additions, some form of tactics and decent game plans and some sound investment. And, most importantly of all, a decent manager.
i think this is the enigma that aston villa are at the moment everybody has different views as to what the problem is and various cures all i can say is keep the faith and thanks for the banter this afternoon its time for my medication now so i will probably be out of it for a few hours
Several years ago I ran a good Sunday League side which played in 4-2-4 formation with predictable results. Played 28, goals scored 124, goals against 72. The coach of one of the few teams to beat us asked if I knew playing just 2 in midfield cost us the points. I said “Sure but this isn’t the Premier League. I have only got 2 midfield players – but I have got 2 wingers and 2 strikers, so I have to play a formation the team can handle.”
I meant then, that no Premier League team would turn out with such a daft formation because they have Reserves and Youth teams to supply more midfield talent if the regular first team midfield is light. How wrong can you be? There on Saturday at Old Trafford was a team with 2 in midfield, 2 wingers and 2 strikers.
So KEA is injured – only a complete clot would go to United without picking a couple of midfielders from the reserves. But then the definition of an idiot is someone who keeps making the same errors and expecting a different outcome. 1-4 against Stoke, 1-4 against United. Got it Lambert? You are an Idiot.
United goals.
1/ Delph, who is such a liability in his own box he is probably banned from entry, tracks Mata to the 18 yd line and stops, Clark follows Mata. Leaving Rooney so unmarked he is able to head the ball with both feet on the ground.
2/ Villa’s defence which is always vulnerable when turned, do it again. Bacuna goes to ground so early Mata just has to stick a leg between Bacuna’s boot and the ball, take the hit, fall over, penalty.
3/ Turned and chasing back again, Bacuna plays 2 United men onside, the ball bounces of Vlaar’s heel and sets Mata up.
4/ Delph defending again, goes to ground as Janusaj waltzes round him, and Hernandez makes the sort of run the Villa strikers failed to do, Weimann in particular, to bag a tap in.
“But then the definition of an idiot is someone who keeps making the same errors and expecting a different outcome.”
What like blaming manager after manager instead of the head honcho?
Lerner has zero knowledge of the game,in interviews he chooses the manager who asks for the least demands ie funds to strengthen the team.that’s why we’ll never attract a decent manager.that’s my theory anyway.
I’d even go as far as saying he’s got fuckall knowledge of the american version aswell.lol
OLL I’ve said it for months Lambert has no tacticle knowledge what so ever it stands out in 90% of our games we’ve played. I’ve given up people on here think he’s acceptable to the game , he will in his stay at Villa go down as one of our worst managers ever. I’m taking my 7 year old grandson Saturday to the match his second time, reason, to keep him interested because the way Villa have been of late we must be losing fans by the hundreds.
The clock on here is 1 hour behind. Badger have you noticed mate.?
Noted and corrected mate, thanks.
BWS and Bill. The owner should appoint a manager, stand back, and let him manage. Blackburn and to an extent Chelsea are examples of what happens if the owner interferes.
If the Manager fails then you fire him.
Obviously when choosing a manager you have to judge him on his record elsewhere. I would not have chosen McLeish on that basis but I was quite hopeful Lambert would succeed.
I expected a more attacking style based on the Norwich performance under Lambert, I expected high work rate from his players. For that last reason I expected the lazy Bent to be kicked out and now I cannot see why Gabby is not on the bench after his recent shows. I expected the Manager to realise his midfield was weak, with all 3 of his main options better going forward and a liability when defending, so one or perhaps 2 defensive midfield players in the Barry role were needed. He did not buy or exchange one, so I assume we have a couple in reserve. Where are they?
I am coming round to Bill’s conclusion, Lambert cannot adapt his tactics to (a) the opponents, (b) his available players.
OLL – Sir Ron, Mat Busby, Brian Clough, Alf Ramsey, Herbert Chapman and Bill Shankly rolled into one couldn’t do much more within the financial parameters imposed by Lerner. And although I don’t suggest for one minute Lambert should be mentioned in the same breath as any of those with the players he’s able to bring in considering wages, transfer etc. the phrase that springs to mind is ‘you can’t polish a turd!’
I think Gabby has a lot to do with villas demise.
He is seen as the local lad, villa through and through and a one club player and for that reason managers are afraid to leave him out.
To me he is the senior player in our young squad and should step up to the plate all the time.
I am fed up with him putting in 2 or 3 brilliant performances a season and thinking that is enough. his work rate, ball retention and goals return are pethetic.
Offering him a new contract is a joke. Has he earned one. Get rid.
Ps Lambert is tactically inept.
Players should be picked based on their current form not their possible capabilities or reputation.
bit like england players like rooney who is great for his club but shite for england and never scores when it really matters
Agreed mate,i hope bayern really stick it up em tonite.
Robinson scored two more last night for the U21’s – Get him in this week and start blooding him for next season, I believe he will be a quality player.
The same can be said for a lot of our youth players Adam. Probably better than the youth we’re buying from abroad considering we have one of the best academies going.
Hard to pinpoint where it’s going wrong. But if the senior pros were really being pushed by the understudies you’d imagine they wouldn’t give so many abject performances. After all we won the equivalent of the youth champions league last year.
Surely blooding some of these youngsters will be more beneficial than persisting with mediocre players. You’d expect the odd tonking due to inexperience, but we have those anyway.