Well, I don’t know how the protest went as I unwillingly took part in it myself, because I missed the first ten minutes of the game due to me being collared to look at something on the way out of work.
From what I gather though, it was pretty ineffective, just as I thought it would be.
I’ll leave you to enlighten me on that, but I just hope it wasn’t so bad that it made us fans on the whole, look daft.
As for the important stuff, what to say?
Things looked like I pretty much expected they’d go before the game, in the first half.
Liverpool looked the total opposite of us, in that when they break forward, their attackers are all over the place and offer plenty of options, whereas we just don’t.
That said, I thought we sat back far too much and allowed them to come at us, which didn’t allow us to put any pressure on them. For me, that was a mistake, as Liverpool do look susceptible at the back.
Which co-incidentally, is something I noticed about us today.
I’m no defensive tactician. Indeed I don’t profess to know much about tactics at all, but I just hate the way we were lining up in defence in the first half. Watch the goal and there were three defenders all chasing the same player.
Surely that can’t be right?
We just looked totally out of shape at the back.
The long and short description of the first half is that we could easily have been 3 down, but only went in losing by a solitary Liverpool goal.
The second half started brighter, but not massively different from memory.
And then came the interesting part, where on the hour, Lambert took the utterly ineffective Cleverley and Westwood off to be replaced by Andi Weimann and our new signing, Carles Gil.
I see some complained that Delph stayed on, but for me it was a case of perm any two from three.
Gil’s introduction straight away massively raised the fan’s spirits and the difference was amazing, as the atmosphere and our play instantly improved, with Gil playing a great, actually threatening, “give and go” that stood out and immediately caught my eye. What a pleasant change that made.
It just goes to show, that if you give the fans something to hope for, they will strongly support the club and indeed get behind the players.
The worrying thing for me though, is that this was proof that the players are feeling the malaise that runs through the club just as strongly as we do. Even they’re hoping that Carles Gil can improve us.
And at first glance, it looks like he at least might.
The important part is that we truly put Liverpool under the cosh for a 15-20 minute period and probably could have had a couple of goals, if Benteke was in better form and we had a bit more luck.
Ricky Lambert ruined things though in getting a well taken second which took the wind out of our sails.
Yes, it’s a bad result, but not one that was unexpected really.
There are strong positives, in that Gil, (if it wasn’t a total fluke and I know it’s too early to really judge) looks a very good player who will give us options and put the likes of Cleverley and Richardson (who are far too average) under serious pressure.
And there was proof that if we can get at least another more attacking, wide player in, to give us and the players something to be encouraged about, we might still have something to cheer about this season.
I know we lost, but this was a more entertaining game today.
Man of the match?
Sanchez again, as I thought he broke up play brilliantly, even though he constantly sailed close to the wind with some of his tackles. He linked up very well with Hutton, who again was solid and often our most threatening player.
Hutton’s unlucky not to get the call, but there you go.
I’d even put Gil in with a shout, just for the impact he made.
I shouldn’t be happy and indeed I’m not, because we lost at home.
But after seeing Gil, I’m at least encouraged.
I forgot, I don’t know how to rate Guzan today????
Good or bad????
Awful is more like it, he’s consistently this bad and needs replacing. He is mostly at fault for most goals scored against us and is probably why the team play more defensively to make up for his shortcomings.
badger
lambert gets everyone back up by just playing clevely westwood delph gabby wiemen
firsthalf sanchez was pushed out wide god heis first dm we had since barry and lambert juggles it all around so he can play his pets
no grealish or robinson just wiemen one goal in 20 along with gabby record much same
bacuna looked good against man u not seen since
lambert couldnt manage piss up in brewery
I really can’t argue with that JVillan.
It winds me up too.
There’s no competition. But Gil hopefully changes things.
Get a wide left player in and we might look a different prospect.
This has been plainly obvious for ages, but I have a bit of sympathy for Lambert at this current moment, because I suspect he’s been asking, but Lerner just won’t cough up, the tight bastard.
Difficult to know where you actually stand Badger. One week its “thats me done with Lambert”, then its all Lerner’s fault and now you have sympathy for Lambert.
Nevermind, we go again and we’ll give it a right good go I guess.
Let’s not get too excited over Gil. I know someone that follows Spanish football big time and he say Gil is a good player but gets shoved of the ball to easy and nowhere near strong enough. Sounds like against passing teams like arsenal he will have time and do well but Stoke away on a cold Monday night he won’t last 5 mins. We will see
Yawn.
I can understand why some people are upset, but today was actually a huge step in the right direction. The loss is disappointing, but our performance was certainly encouraging. Our next 2 games in the league are against Arsenal and Chelsea, and I worry we will be lucky to get a point from those games. But at least we’re getting them out of the way.
Carles Gil, I was excited about him the moment we were linked with him and now I’m even more excited! We looked a totally different side when he came on, and we looked a top half 10 team, simple. I said earlier today was a huge step in the right direction, and thanks to this man it was. For the first time in such a long while, we created chances ourselves rather than have them fall to us by luck. He wasn’t brought in to score, he was brought in to make a link from the midfield to the final third, and he did. If we keep creating those chances the goals will come, as will the results.
The defence however did worry me, the chances we conceived the last 2 games now is worrying, and Okore is starting to look off the pace to me.
wowowow your positive and nobody is asking you WHATS the SCORELINE ??? or how many goals did we score. how can you be encouraged ifyouruled we didn’t score ???? playing devils advocate last goal was 2880000,000,0000 seconds ago
Nath, the scoreline questions will come, don’t worry. They always do 🙂
My answer is that if Gil plays regularly like he did today, we will look more likely to score.
The scoreline will come!! Are you serious Badger
The scoreline QUESTIONS , Oohah.
As in we didn’t score again.
Are you eyes going mate? 😉
I think they are mate as proven by not reading your email earlier properly lol.
last week game showed me, we are one off three worst teams in premiership and today’s performance showed me, we have a chance. but its gonna be a squeaky bum time from ere to may. fans today were brilliant, they got behind the team all the way, and booed lambert at the ends of each half, which doesn’t affect the team. the new guy showed skills we can expect.
i was bitching last week, but 2day we were beaten and no shame in that, pool were better than us. if we can perform with same effort and defend better cos we were poor defending today. we can survive
“I was bitching last week”.
At least you admit to being two-faced.
Fair play Nath.
no i admit villa were really poor last week, passing ball around aimlessly. no threat on goal. this week they were mixing up the play, looked dangerous, unlucky in front of goal. so no need to bitch this week just like you do for the sake of bitching.
two faced is saying sumat to somebody and saying sumat different to somebody else which is different. you may be meaning contradicting myself, hard to know what ur points are really
Didn’t see the game but I heard on the radio on the way home Guzan was keeping us in it (0-1 at the time) ??
Immediately after seeing the 4 holding mids all starting I knew we were going to create f’all. Bit of a joke that. But at least we know one will be dropped for Gil next week……well, I hope anyway.
Firstly I hope Sanchez has some more mates he can convince to join us. Two good players with a defence that normally plays better is a good base. The most suprised person on the pitch was probably Benteke. He actually got some crosses he couldn’t hide from. It will be in his mind all week that if he doesn’t get his act together he will be exposed for the non tryer he has been in recent times. Gil managed to straighten out Hutton or at least stopped him running across the pitch when he is bloody dangerous down the line. Where is the goal going to come from, simple, more of the same skill that brought us so close in the second half. The second goal did kill us, when you can’t score one the thought of having to get two is the pits. Onwards and upwards, have your protests, its your right but some opposition real soon is going to get a hammering.
“Some opposition real soon is going to get a hammering”.
What are you basing that on – 11 goals in 22 league games?
It is totally irellevant when people say we played well, at the end of the day (god I sound like Lambert) its in the book as yet another defeat.
Remember, many teams have gone down “playing well”.
I agree Blackpool springs to mind,a tough nut to crack.very unfortunate imo to be relegated,came down to the last game at UTD.
Gerry, that’s an interesting comment.
I thought Benteke saw something along with the rest of the players when Gil came on.
I don’t think he doesn’t want it and don’t think he’s hiding either. He’s probably wondering what the tactics are and questioning the utterly average players around him.
I suspect he’s thinking “give me chances and I’ll score”.
And if Gil keeps that up, I’ll bet Benteke does indeed score.
At the same time, the service he’s been given lately has been abysmal, which would make any striker switch off.
Feed him properly and once he gets a couple, you just watch 😉
All imo.
My take?
Benteke, Sanchez and maybe Gil are different gravy to the rest of the side.
Benteke has had quite a few chances today and in other games and not taken them. He’s a good player but not prolific enough for my liking.
Benteke is short of confidence and it shows in his play. We need another striker to play alongside him, a couple of wingers and a new goalkeeper. Get these and we’ll seem things change.
I can’t completely blame Lambert for the loss. Baker and Okore are similar defenders in that they like drifting somewhat wide as they usually have cover, but since they’ve haven’t played together, it basically killed us at the start. I do think if we had Clark or Vlaar over either one of them, we’d have stopped both goals.
Cleverley was useless but then again, I don’t see how a natural CM is supposed to play out wide. The fact Lambert tries to play 4 CM’s and two of them be wider is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
Delph was again awful, not for the first time this season. Wasn’t the only time he gave the ball away needlessly, did it at least 3 times today, his passing and dribbling are mediocre. Maybe it’s that we now have more technical players that Delph’s hard working stature is showing to be useless.
Westwood shouldn’t have come off, Delph should’ve.
Sanchez was decent, although had a couple chances to get booked.
Hutton a few times had defensive lapses where he trotted back instead of hurried back which is a problem he has, but when he is back he’s solid.
Cissokho… Can defend, can’t attack. I think that sums him up.
Benteke, a statue again if there ever has been one. Fortunately Pool’s defense is poor so we got forward more than usual and he got into the box, only place he’s actually of use.
Gabby was meh. His first touch is still awful but he did work harder today.
Guzan was alright. Can’t blame him for much, needed to be a bit more vocal to Baker and Okore, either that or they weren’t listening.
Weimann came on and didn’t look the part, but again what is he supposed to do on the wing. Gabby’s playing the exact role Weimann needs to play.
Gil was definitely impressive. His willingness to be on the ball, he can actually beat players unlike anyone we have, his passing is tidy and unlike any player we have, wants to get to the end line before crossing. Unlike Hutton, Delph and Cissokho who prefer these awful, long, slow crosses any defender can defend against.
Oh and Delph should never, ever, ever take our corners again.
I take it you wouldn’t mind seeing Delph sold…
Andrew hates Delph.
I don’t.
Look how he plays for England, is my thought.
Badger you’ve also commented how poor England have become if they pick the likes of delph.have you not????
I don’t hate him, I just think he’s MASSIVELY overrated. Can’t really hate someone I don’t know personally.
And yes I’d be happy if he was sold. Though I think he’s decent and wouldn’t be hurt if he stayed. We could do much better than him.
True, Giddy.
That’s the point.
England’s midfield choices are poor these days.
But that said, Delph has looked very good for England.
Which proves he isn’t as bad as some of us make out.
Considering I thought Delph was supposed to be a box to box mid who could score speculative goals(and indeed did at Leeds), I wonder which of our managers knocked that out of him?
This is the problem.
We sign or raise what seems to be a decent player and then proceed to ruin him.
Delph, now I played footy for f##k knows how many years (not at the top level admittedly) but trust me I’d have bubbled him within minutes, silly attempted foot changes and dummies in the wrong part of the field and I’d have been on him like a ton of shit, hence why I don’t rate him. He ain’t got a footy head on him.
This is so true! We play most of our players out of their natural position and then wonder why they are awful! And we play four central midfielders and ask two to push out wide when we’ve got wide men on the bench! I don’t get it!
Clutching at straws springs to mind. I’ve resolutely tried to stay positive but I’m now 4square in Oohah’s camp. We are, without doubt, the worst dude in the Prem and our last 18 results just go to prove that point. This is the second time in a single season we’ve gone more than 5 games without scoring. Sorry guys it will take a miracle (of the sort they only wrote for films) that will keep us in the Prem.
Today I enjoyed a great lunch with friends and didn’t think about the Villa at all – what an enjoyable afternoon I had – for a change!
Worst side! But dude will probably do LOL
Well I hate to say I told you all so but……..
Aston Villa Talk on twitter claims there is going to be an urgent board meeting over Lambert’s future.
I have my doubts… But who knows? Possibly a contract extension and a million a season raise?
Twitter = shitter, imo.
An urgent board meeting will probably involve the question of “how do you look to us wininng some games?”
To which the answer will be “I’m fucked if I know, you’re supposed to tell me, given the pennies I have to spend” 😉
There aren’t going to be questions asked over a defeat to Liverpool, simple, as we’ve never beaten them overall from Lerner’s perspective; same as the next few games.
Only when we’ve lost to all the lesser clubs, where it will be too late, will the questions come.
Which sums up the club atm, imo.
Oh I don’t believe a word of it.
Does it really matter anymore if its Lambert or some other poor soul. If he is in charge after a run of 10 wins it will be the first loss that will bring a comment about his ability. Some girls want a new colour nail varnish, some Villa fans want a new manager. Delph does look ok in an english shirt but England are not on a losing run and england have been scoring goals. Imagine playing for England as a break from pressure. Badger mate, the guys you mention maybe are the future and they could certainly carry young Grealish to regular time on the field.
Gerry, you need to cut to the quick mate.
What are you saying?
It doesn’t matter who the manager is?
In which case, I totally agree.
badger
how did we do against leicster swansea west brom qpr lost
burnley palace sunderland drew
where thelesser teams bar one effort from benteke nothing troubled pool keeper 1 half they could been 4 up and even when we where on top guzan made 2 good saves more than pool keeper whole match
JVillan, all fair points.
And I’ve been the first in criticising all those games, I think.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think all is rosey.
Indeed, I think we’re in big trouble.
But at the same time, you have to hope.
Regardless of the game overall, Gil looked pukka.
I appreciate that and take it as a positive.
If we get another one of those sort in, we might get some goals.
Which would at least give us a chance.
The point is, contrary to some that seem to want us to go down, I quite simply don’t.
I want us to survive and MOVE UPWARDS.
At the same time, I don’t believe Lerner OR Lambert are the answer.
Did you hear Jeff Sterling earlier when one of the panel on SS said that Lambert can only afford 3 million players and hasn’t much to spend? He said Sean Dyche etc only buys players of 3m and buys much better quality for the money. Says it all really.
And burnely are just as shit as us!
badger
agree with that but lambert has to go and more effort with the media to highlight how bad it is at villa
more coverage this week than last 4/5 years put together stelling merson very good today sky nicolas and rambo that farup lamberts ass unreal
Did u hear sterling put the, down when making excuses for him.
100% the second half performance was more than decent, now let’s face facts, we didn’t score, we could have conceded 5, the Holte held back on any serious protest, we are 3 points from the drop zone, with two league games to come that could really damage us, Lerner may well have lost interest, but this squad can do a lot better. This manager has to go, and someone with genuine knowledge needs to be put in quick, Hoddle would be my choice, because he knows how to play football. It really is elementary now, if Lambert stays, we will go, and there really will be no coming back.
We are on a fast track to obscurity and it really is upsetting. AVFC.
Sorry Badger that must have sounded like an original comment, and there havn’t been many of them recently. I was referring to the hot news from twitter(shitter) of an announcement. I think there is to an announcement of similar importance at New St Station in the next few hours. Back to the game did we just outplay Liverpool for that period in the second half or did Liverpool switch off. I have to say that they looked pretty desperate to me. We need to believe that that good bit is how we play. Lambert needs to get them looking at the video and telling them “Thats you, thats you passing, thats you crossing, thats what you are capable off now go out and do it for 90 feckin minutes. That probably sounds stupid but hopefully you know what I mean. I live in hope, with a glass of jameson.
I hate that retard word but somehow when used by someone saying that something is exactly the same only different, it seems almost mellow..
And the merry go round continues No Goals and the press are shaming us.Im sick and tired of being the butt of the tird brain 20 toed yam yam armays jokes at work.Why has Lambert turned out so useless is beyond me and Lerner needs a kickin.Ive had enough of it go again crap go again well have a right good go.Go at what not scoring and losing.Useless pile of crap we are UTV
Only plus points for me were that Sanchez continued to impress and Gil, he had a touch of class about him. You can tell straight away he has that close touch that so many top players have and can actually play that killer pass. Really looking forward to watching him play. Seriously hope we add some more new faces asap. In particular a striker!!
Let’s hope he’s (Gil) is what we’ve been looking for I heard Benteke missed a hatful.
About time soneone picked up on Brnteke hes seems to get cut a lot more skack than most with apologists saying he dosnt get chances. Well hes had a few lately and no less than he used to when he had good season with us. Is he a one season wonder? Probably not but certainly not as prolific as we all thought.
So Hutton claims that Villa players can tune out the chants against Paul Lambert when playing. “You don’t really hear it when you’re playing”. So what’s the next excuse Lambert’s going to use in a desperate cry to stop fans from chanting for him to leave? As clearly chanting Lambert out doesn’t affect the players, according to a player.
The first half today was exactly the same as the last few months totally uninspiring. Westwood cleverly delph and Sanchez all across the middle was just samo samo. Let’s face it in the 2nd half Lambert had no choice but to attack and Gil did well. But the stats don’t lie we are in the shit. Cabby again does not warrant a place in the team.
Neither does Benteke if we’re going off performances. The guy is a complete statue unless in the box. Not good enough for a side who wants to pass it around. Pelle adds far more to Southampton because he’s got the overall ability. So does Benteke but he doesn’t seem interested in using it. Our biggest problem currently is when we put balls into the box, we’re so deep that they’re just lofted. Gil tried changing that a few times, even made a run down the line but Hutton decided just to cross it from 10 yards out and it was easy controlled. Absolutely has to change.
Lambert also claims Gil’s cameo/debut was the best he’s seen… He was good but the best? Either he’s purposefully trying to tell Gil he was great/excellent, or he’s clueless. Or both.
I remember Nigel Callaghan making a great debut for us and we all no what happened there!
Like I said earlier Bentenke seems to be getting away with things. Just saw motd and he could and should of banged a couple in yet Benteke apologists say he gets no service. Complete bollox. And don’t get me started on his first touch and always being offside
The lads quality he’s just being dragged down to our level, if I was him I’d f#@off ASAP.
But hes playing with exactky the same players and same level so no excuses. He missed skme good chances recentky that ms not the itger players faukt
F*** me but we lose 2-0 at home to a Pool that are shadows of last seasons team and there are plus points!!!!!
Palace are in the shit and they change mangers and lo – 3 wins on the spin.
SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE NOTE
LAMBERT OUT – NOW!!!!
PW it don’t matter a f##k who’s the manager, his hands are tied. No mate vent your anger at the geezer who is the cancer eating away at this once glorious club… Lerner Out!