TO BE A VILLA FAN

imageHi everyone big UTV
It is a crazy time to be a Villa supporter at the moment.The hi points & low points are happening in tandem one after another.
The Norwich & Chelsea victories where fantastic.Bentekes overhead kick at Norwich & Delphs individually created goal bar the cross by super Mark made me feel ecstatic.
I really thought we where going to push on from these two victories but three on the bounce was just to much to ask for.That little bit of consistency we all crave down at Villa Park for our beloved team.
The Stoke game was probably the worst I’ve seen the Villa play in many years.It was a very poor show & I say that lightly.Barring the first 15-20 minutes where we looked really good and on the up the rest we where outplayed & outgunned by a mediocre Potters side.
So what does this say about the team?
Is it the fact that the players are just not good enough for the Prem?
Is the inconsistency due to coming from lower or foreign leagues I don’t know?
To be a Villa fan at the moment is hard as we all love the club beyond compare.
I expect to see some new faces in the summer hopefully of real quality to push on.I think we all hope for this.Some want Lambert out I’m not so sure as we are in a better league position than last season.
If we finish with a higher points tally & league position than last isn’t that progress?
UTV

81 Comments

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  1. saddened
    saddened March 26, 2014 at 11:23 am . Reply

    Many said it would be a roll coaster ride for a few seasons which it has been, sometimes painful, sometimes fantastically enjoyable….. Lambert has cleared most of the wage bill and bought in a cheaper team, but maybe its our Southampton time to bring in someone who can take us to the next level…… Take all the mumbling, clueless comments, stubborn and weird purchases (young and hungry-so no Barry, then loan in the hod carrier)…. I just don’t not think he has the footballing intelligence to take us forward and to change a game once the whistle has gone, is a good example of this…… BUT, the reality is we are stuck with him, because as long as we are in the Premier, without any expensive cup runs Lerner is a happy man..

    1. Bill Pearson.
      Bill Pearson. March 26, 2014 at 11:47 am . Reply

      Exactly Saddened, Lambert has done what Lerner ask of him time to move on, the man has no tactical idea as to play players to suite teams in the premier league, how many times have we been humiliated by lower teams and seeing our known player’s out of position, I believe he has to go now. Who to come in? any person with top management and coaching skills, not one that just guess who he should play.

  2. markdrapernumber8
    markdrapernumber8 March 26, 2014 at 11:24 am . Reply

    We are marginally better and it’s the worst PL season I’ve ever witnessed, we’ve had a lot of luck this season, which is nice don’t get me wrong, without it and the dross season it is, I think we’d be in a lot more trouble.

    Expect more Austrian division 3 top scorers this summer by mass and hopefully 1 of them will come good. Lerner is happy with what we have achieved this season so expect more of the same.

    Lerner and Lambert out

    1. BWS
      BWS March 26, 2014 at 2:36 pm . Reply

      “The worst PL season I’ve ever witnessed”
      What a load a bollox, so it’s a three horse race with the demise of Man U (and long may that continue). The norm of Fergy and the dirty Mancs moaning, whining and cheating their way to yet another undeserved title being resigned to the past and that’s no bad thing imo.
      Well apart from that it’s no different from another season, in fact it’s possibly a little more interesting.

      1. markdrapernumber8
        markdrapernumber8 March 26, 2014 at 3:04 pm . Reply

        the quality football is shared between 4 or 5 teams BWS, the rest of us are dross, yes, points wise at the top and bottom is has the impression of being more exciting (granted the title chase is better this season without man utd dominating) but the football on the field is horrible to watch. We are shit mate, but it’s hard to believe that there are 6-7 teams in the division shitter than us.

        1. BWS
          BWS March 26, 2014 at 3:39 pm . Reply

          It’s like a Self-perpetuating circle of deterioration, it can be broken as Liverpool have proven but you have to spend shed loads of cash and Randy ain’t going to do that any time soon so we are where we are.
          No good blaming Lambert because any manager would struggle to do anything beyond survival with the financial parameters he’s got to work within, so logically if there’s any shit flinging to be done it leaves Randy’s,for he ultimately is the one that’s dictating the model Lambert / AVFC is working to.

  3. luckyvilla
    luckyvilla March 26, 2014 at 12:06 pm . Reply

    i thought i moaned, until became a regular visitor to this site. i wished you could relive mcliesh days again markdraper8. also we’ve had a lot of luck .lmao talk some shit ~ man utd have had loads of bad luck, next your gonna tell us life isn’t fair.

    we are bad and were lucky lmao u av brighten up my day somewot keep it up

    man utd 10 aston villa 11 lucky villa

    1. markdrapernumber8
      markdrapernumber8 March 26, 2014 at 1:35 pm . Reply

      life isn’t fair Luckyvilla

      1. saddened
        saddened March 26, 2014 at 1:54 pm . Reply

        Sorry LuckyVilla, we are still in McLeish days – as bugger all has changed, still hoof ball football with us relying on other teams being more shit than we are !!

        1. markdrapernumber8
          markdrapernumber8 March 26, 2014 at 2:11 pm . Reply

          in a nutshell saddened

  4. BWS
    BWS March 26, 2014 at 2:56 pm . Reply

    Good piece JD.

    If the players aren’t good enough for the Premiership well what does that say about Lambert as a manager?
    To assemble a team on a budget of cheap lower division players and foreign imports then to get them to hold their own and survive at this level, (something Rednapp a vastly experienced EPL manager couldn’t do while spending millions in the process at QPR) well it speaks it all for its self really.

    1. Bill Pearson.
      Bill Pearson. March 26, 2014 at 3:58 pm . Reply

      BWS, I don’t know if your sticking up for Lambert or not? like to ask you this, is it Lerner putting player’s in the wrong positions, is it Lerner making player looking as if they don’t know their leftfoot to their right foot, to me and everyone else we don’t have a clue, and I’m led to understand its Lambert that picks a team to play. Just my assumption.

      1. BWS
        BWS March 26, 2014 at 4:17 pm . Reply

        Well Bill yes, sort of, we just aint going to attract any quality player or manager with the financial restrictions Lerner’s imposing and I truly believe his (Lerner’s) only ambition is survival and to keep the SKY money rolling in.
        Regardless of how we see the Villa It’s simply a business to him, may as well be haulage firm in hie eyes and Lambert from that perspective is delivering, wages down survival /revenue stream more or less assured.

        1. Bill Pearson.
          Bill Pearson. March 26, 2014 at 4:39 pm . Reply

          I agree there BWS, so its going to be heartache all the way from now on, I’m not giving to a club that hurts me and my pride BWS, I’ve had enough going nowhere and humiliation giving it to close season and see what’s going to happen.

  5. GIDDYVILLAN
    GIDDYVILLAN March 26, 2014 at 4:09 pm . Reply

    It’s wonderful being a villa fan,i bet the pub & off license trade is booming.utv

  6. Bill Pearson.
    Bill Pearson. March 26, 2014 at 4:43 pm . Reply

    Sorry Jay Dee your dreaming , it ain’t going to happen,

  7. Vaze
    Vaze March 26, 2014 at 7:04 pm . Reply

    This is a seminal Summer for Randy.

    He has spent before, big, but his confidence was badly knocked.

    We have a squad of young players who can finish mid to lower table. Add quality in key areas and we can look at sixth or seventh.

    To get anywhere above that is beyond the finances available to the club. Fact.

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath March 26, 2014 at 7:14 pm . Reply

      Boring. Who wants to finish 7th. Either we go for top 4 or fight relegation at least there will be done excitement

      1. Vaze
        Vaze March 26, 2014 at 7:16 pm . Reply

        You slag the side when they’re in trouble Oohah.

        We don’t have the resources to fight for top four. Go to Kiddie and leave this site to Villans.

        1. GIDDYVILLAN
          GIDDYVILLAN March 26, 2014 at 7:27 pm . Reply

          Vaze do you mind,we’ve got enough idiots in this town as it is. 😀

        2. OohAhPaulMcGrath
          OohAhPaulMcGrath March 28, 2014 at 1:03 am . Reply

          So we should all pussy foot around when not only do we get out classed at to stoke we get out entertained as well. I wouldn’t mind so much if we playing great attacking football and lost 2.1 at least I would be entertained. Is that really asking too much?

      2. BWS
        BWS March 26, 2014 at 7:38 pm . Reply

        7th would do nicely for me. Any club that produces a team that consistently finishes 7th wouldn’t be that far off having the quality to push for the top 4 and the Holy Grail of the Champions League.

        1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
          OohAhPaulMcGrath March 27, 2014 at 10:49 am . Reply

          The question is would we spend to push to fourth that’s where Ellis was poor he would never go that extra mile to get that one or two players that prob would of won us the league

          1. JD
            JD March 28, 2014 at 8:23 am . Reply

            We got really close to the holy grail again with O’neill but the cost of not getting there and not winning anything is the price we are paying now.Lerner knows he can’t compete with the spending of the likes of Abramochelski ect ect so he plays a game he can compete in.They are trying a new model,new method we are better than last year in parts but it’s consistency that we lack…..Those experienced players who consistently play a good game each week utv

    2. MOrgan Villa
      MOrgan Villa March 27, 2014 at 10:41 am . Reply

      I think with continued investment in the squad we could push higher. Everton are a prime example of where we should be if not higher. Our squad now needs flare and maybe some strength in the middle of the park.

      I think we need to slightly tweek the youth set up, it looks like it is nearly there but not quite, we are yet to reach the level Southampton have or unearth gems that Everton have.

  8. OriginalLondonLion
    OriginalLondonLion March 26, 2014 at 10:17 pm . Reply

    I’ve cooled down now. Time to analyse. Ok I would not expect posters on here to give Stoke and Mark Hughes much credit, so I will redress that oversight.

    Stoke under Pulis were the classic one dimensional team. Very tall and bruising, slow in the build up, almost waiting for a set piece to put any kind of threat on the opponents goal. They wasted even less time than Villa in poncing about passing amongst the back four and pinged it up to Crouch or Kenwyn to have a shy at goal or lose it. Now, be fair, weren’t they much better on Sunday? Speed on the flanks, accurate cross field balls, Crouch still using the inside of his head to good effect. Playing keep ball. Hughes has improved the team without spending much. He has also bought other peoples problem kids and made something of them.

    We took the field against Chelsea with a game plan. Absolutely pointless trying to match them at free flowing end to end football so we got 8 men behind the ball, kept two men snapping at Hazard every time he got the ball. When we did break out we mixed up the long ball to Benteke, wide right ball to Gabby and run out from Delph well – so Chelsea could not double cover first base. All the space on the field was behind Chelsea’s defence.

    Now for Stoke. No respect shown to a team level on points so by that reckoning equally good. Once we scored early we pushed the Villa back four up to the half way line and piled everything into grabbing a 2 goal lead. This with two full backs whose least impressive attribute is defending when they are chasing back towards their own goal. Vlaar and Baker were an unknown quantity themselves chasing back, the video of this horror show proves they cannot do it with 45 yards of space behind them either.

    In summary – woeful tactics which played to our weaknesses and Stoke’s strengths.

    Gabby is a liability at home trying to craft an opening in a packed defence, he is not clever enough, Silla OMG! Horsemeat in a pork pie is less out of place than this guy in our midfield and talking of horsemeat – Knackers van for Mr Holt! So as others have said clueless substitutions as well as tactical failure from Lambert. He is not up to the job.

    1. Bill Pearson.
      Bill Pearson. March 27, 2014 at 7:32 am . Reply

      Originallondonlion, that assumption spot on mate, in fact carn’t see nobody coming back on here to argue your point, I would infact say you know your football, we are very lucky club this year, if other teams wasn’t bad we would have dropped, keep it comming.

    2. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath March 27, 2014 at 10:43 am . Reply

      Great post Oll with the stoke game even before they equalised they were just playing themselves into it and starting to control midfield. It was like the Norwich game we won 4.1 in reverse

    3. villa4me
      villa4me March 27, 2014 at 1:00 pm . Reply

      OLL, the first part of your write up there I agree with but the 2nd half, sorry not for me.

      Now ive only watched the game from my arm chair and live, ive not re-watched it or anything like that but from what I can remember I wash shouting at the TV time and time again!

      For me right from the start we were poor.. our goal, was from a slow tempo passing sideways phase of play which until delph dropped his shoulder and rounded that defender (WAY TO EASILY) wasn’t great, although it was a lovely touch and finish from Benteke

      To me, what we done following that was footballing suicide, now it was still very early in the game so it might of been the plan anyway (usually is) but from where I was sitting we then sat deep! deep deep deep,. we didn’t press then in midfield, we never got tight to autonivich or what ever his name was and we could not handled peter owdenwinghy. because we sat so deep we played into there hands, yes Crouch is a lanky player but what great feet he has and also a very good footballin brain.. I felt like I was watching the Wimbledon of the 90s where every long pass up to him Baker was basically asking for a piggy back.. not once did he look in any trouble against our team and he looked a world beater against us

      If we had pressed higher up, crouches presence would of been less an impact in my opinion, sure if they threw it to him on the half way line, so what? let him win it don’t bloody sell yourself, pick up the runners man mark his partner..

      Yes they have pace, so what? 99% of the premier league does!! we are at home

      We press the ball, pin teams into corners, hassle central midfiled playmakers that stops them having time to play lovely balls over the top or through gaps. off the ball running, Delph, yea ok, who else?

      It was so so easy for them it was scary, Lambert looked like a lost sheep there, it was awfull to see his face.. he looked clueless, ive never seen him sat in his chair so much

      Bacuna should never play for our club again!! weinmann aint good enough, neither is Gabby,el hamedi, baker, westwood, bowery, luna, tonev, I could go on!!

      Don’t get me started on why he brought sylla on at home and then Albrighton in a central role, every time he dribbled he dribbled it over to the right hand side to try and get a cross in, why??????????????

      We had a young lad on the bench that day in robinson, but he chose to bring on Holt? I mean, why? lol.. what a day for the boy to make a name for himself.

      I was a believer in Lambert, I am passionate about AVFC, but the more I read through these blogs the more people comments I see about whats the point?

      Football is dead!! its a rich mans play pen now, theres no loyalty, no heart!!

  9. saddened
    saddened March 27, 2014 at 8:40 am . Reply

    Great assessment OriginalLondonlion, I am with both you and Bill – another season of us relying on other teams being more shit than we are !!

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath March 27, 2014 at 11:53 am . Reply

      Looks like utd are going to protest against moyes on unlike us they won’t settle for dross. We ought to take note and force Lerner and lamberk out

  10. belcs
    belcs March 27, 2014 at 1:01 pm . Reply

    Couple of things from the main post:
    1) I wouldn’t call our season full of highs and lows- for every high, there are 10 lows. Not quite a rollercoaster ride, more like the odd fluky result paper over the gaping cracks in Lamberk’s non existant plan.
    2) The Norwich victory wasn’t fantastic, we played well for a 15-20 minute period, the rest was the usual Lamberk shite.
    3) Stop calling Albrighton “Super Mark”, there is nothing super about him, same old lamberk sheep sucking up to him just because he’s a villa fan, he’s a useless headless chicken who ought to be playing in league 1 at best.
    As for quality signings in the summer, don’t make me laugh, it’ll be more Tonev’s and Sylla’s, bargain buys who don’t even shine in their own shite leagues and then surprise, surprise look like the useless turds they are in our starting line up.

  11. realistic
    realistic March 27, 2014 at 1:49 pm . Reply

    nobody on here can realistically second guess, what randy will do next with our villa. people forcing their views down other peoples throats is laughable. (7th isn’t good enough )
    shit like this is also laughable. if we got 7th nxt year this would be success.

    you have 2b careful what you wish for. west ham utd , booing their team off having won against hull. they forget without big sam getting promotion in first attempt and keeping um up.arent they are getting too big for one’s britches??? cos i believe so

    aston villa are not a force, squad is molding season by season.we improve each year thats the aim . this summer is vital for me, sacking lambert now. cos we think hes clueless, when in my opinion lambert keeping this squad up makes him a genius.

    benteke may leave ?? i can’t believe he would want 2 stay. this season will be the last for sure. he never wanted to stay first place. , he could well retire before we reach the heights of his goals, we usually get top price for outgoings, 30mill with a good world cup 20mill if hes crap WE COULD ALWAYS SAVE THE MONEY i seen posts saving bring back bent ealier

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath March 27, 2014 at 4:42 pm . Reply

      for the old generation like myself who have experienced the lows of the old division 3 but rose all the way to european champions then 7th is not good enough imo. For the young generation that have only really experienced dross football and 6th place football then that would be like winning the league to them. Depends on how you look at it

      1. CA Villan
        CA Villan March 27, 2014 at 6:34 pm . Reply

        The days when we played in the old 3rd division were fantastic, but it was a different game then. My Dad took me to Villa games from the age of 6 I think (I’m 52 this years since the year, so that’s a long time ago). If you look at stat’s over the years since the second world war our average position in the top flight has been 8th.

        Personally I want to see a club that wants to try to progress. Sturridge was in the Villa academy before moving to Chelsea. He was born in Brum, how did we let him go? Oh yes we had the Moores brothers, who did what exactly. Did our coaching staff kill their careers?

        At some point we need to agree we are a mid table team, or we invest in some quality.

        Still love the Villa though and always will.

  12. Bill Pearson.
    Bill Pearson. March 27, 2014 at 4:45 pm . Reply

    Realistic (Nath) so what are we saying? Let the club dish up crap games and we pay and wait? I’m not in agreement with that I like to get value for money, OK I’ll buy a season ticket in 4 years from now because I’m told they will get better, not going to happen I wish it would, up till now we are going backwards not forwards, until I can see the club giving me entertainment I am going to be an armchair supporter as from the new season, unless I can see that he understands our needs as Villa fans.

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath March 27, 2014 at 5:39 pm . Reply

      thats a fair point Bill if the club say there is a 5 yr plan or other bollox they spout out we ought to take the view that we will be dross for next 5 years so why not save up and get a class seat in 5 years. they cant have their cake and eat it. BTW Bentekes agent is spouting his big trap of again saying he (not benteke) will decide if they want to stay after wc. In other words if loads of bids come in for him off he goes if not then he will stay with us as his fall back club and say that he is up for another season with us and that he is expecting better things bollox. We all Know he will fuck off if someone comes in for him we dont need his agent to keep fuckin telling us.

    2. OriginalLondonLion
      OriginalLondonLion March 27, 2014 at 6:28 pm . Reply

      I take issue with Realistic also. “Improve year by year, that is the plan” is your comment, but where is this steady improvement? It certainly is not in the standard of play at home, where the trend is strongly negative. It is not in the tactical substitutions either. Finally Villa are a team who have no plan whatsoever to counter opponents who are content to sit back on a lead.

      1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
        OohAhPaulMcGrath March 28, 2014 at 12:57 am . Reply

        Spot on OLL. I don’t see any improvement this year other than in defence and let’s face it it couldn’t be any worse.

  13. iam a believer
    iam a believer March 27, 2014 at 9:28 pm . Reply

    all iam saying is be realistic !!!!!!!! i av endured bad times, its not about were we av been, as to were we are, 2day as we speak we are not great, we improve season on season, or we invest. i don’t have the money to invest so i grin and bear it. hoping some1 else does. randy lerner is 2 blame. hes the one who dictates the finances. not many managers could av done better with the squad and finances endured over the last seasons.

    i am disillusioned as all but i am aston villa and i believe we will again reach the top ~ not over nite

    i slapped a tenner on villa to beat utd 7,1 🙂 i dream

    1. Andrew
      Andrew March 27, 2014 at 10:30 pm . Reply

      You’re right, Lerner dictates the finances. He screwed up with O’Neill, tried to make it better with Houllier, that failed, and now he’s had to turn it around.

      However is it too unrealistic to ask for a Manager smart enough to come up with something different to “lets go again”?
      Is it unrealistic to ask for a Manager to keep up with the tactics of Mark Hughes, Ponchettino, Pardew or even Allardyce?
      Is it unrealistic to ask for a Manager who doesn’t drastically go from entertaining, pass and move football, to kick and hope?
      Is it unrealistic to ask for a Manager who bought technical players that are better suited to last seasons style to actually play like they should be?
      Is it unrealistic to ask for a Manager who buys players and tries not to change them for the worse like he wants to do with Helenius?
      How about a Manager who’s willing to try out some of the youth Villa have? Martinez would, Ponchettino would. Sure Hughes would if Stoke produced any.

      Lambert hasn’t been left to die at Villa, he’s been financially backed with the amount he’s spent, the amount of players he’s bought. No we’re not offering O’Neill wages, but half the players O’Neill bought should’ve been on the wages Lambert bought.

      But Lambert has a hell of a lot of shortcomings and is it not realistic to ask for someone who’s… Better? A hell of a lot of clubs get less than Lambert, on around the same wages and do better, so why can’t we ask for someone else “realistically”?

      1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
        OohAhPaulMcGrath March 28, 2014 at 12:59 am . Reply

        For once Andrew I agree with you spot on mate

  14. shit4brains
    shit4brains March 28, 2014 at 10:28 am . Reply

    ok better!!! you say WHO the fuck wants the job ~ ur crazy to think someone would come to mighty villa and spend a whopping 20 mill. not be able 2 pay footballer wages. and appease the fans who want sexy football, not forget 2 finish above the like of which pay top wages and fees for class players.

    football under lambert isn’t the best but given the restraints,hes done a good job iam happy we survived two seasons if we manage this one. cos i av seen first hand the shit we av in players. noway should we have survived last season .

    yes he bought the shit but you shop at pound saver, you pay with monkey nuts ~ you aren’t gonna get any finished article

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath March 28, 2014 at 3:39 pm . Reply

      lamberts football is no better than mcclowns in not just my opinion but a lot of fans i know. Mcleish could of won us the league but we still would of hounded him out whereas lambert has not improved the squad at all, plays dire football and to add insult to injury gets out entertained t home to Stoke fuckin City. Fuck the fact wev got no money that is total bullshit if lerner had another billion to spend he would still only spend around 10m to survive

    2. Andrew
      Andrew March 29, 2014 at 1:19 am . Reply

      “yes he bought the shit but you shop at pound saver, you pay with monkey nuts ~ you aren’t gonna get any finished article”

      Ayiyi… McLeish was also given 20m+ to spend, guess what… HE DIDN’T SPEND 45M ON 14-15 PLAYERS… He spent it on far fewer and guess what? He was able to spend it on more expensive players on higher wages. Lambert could’ve done the same, he didn’t. He went the cheap quantity way. This BS about his lack of money is garbage. He spent 8m pounds on Benteke, 7m Euros on Kozak (Italian sources, not the 7m pounds English sources claimed). Going on Euros and Soccerway as the source, almost 5m on Okore, 3m on Tonev, 4m on Vlaar, near 4m on Lowton (again in Euros). Yes there have been a few really cheap players, but instead of psending 7m on Lowton and Tonev, could’ve bought 1 RB for 7m and Lerner would’ve signed off on that.

      48m Euros spent, 8.6m received. So we’re again spending a relatively strong net spend and people are still unhappy.

      1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
        OohAhPaulMcGrath March 29, 2014 at 9:56 am . Reply

        That’s probably because he has wasted money on total dross. Other than benteke who can’t wait to fuvk off, Guzan who was known to us anyway, and to a lesser extent vlaar who goes missing for long periods thru injury.

  15. markdrapernumber8
    markdrapernumber8 March 29, 2014 at 10:39 am . Reply

    No Manure preview post?

    Really can’t see us bagging anything out of this game, we suffer from probably the worst inferiority coplex against them from all the teams in the PL. I can’t even see us scoring today.

    Steady 2/3-0 to Utd for me. utv

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath March 29, 2014 at 10:43 am . Reply

      Think it will be 2.2. Bound to get a few big decisions go against us

      1. markdrapernumber8
        markdrapernumber8 March 29, 2014 at 10:47 am . Reply

        like the optimism oohah!

        Got a feeling we’ll we won’t show up today

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