I’ve often espoused the theory that Gabby should be dropped and Benteke pulled off, to be replaced by Gabby if things aren’t working, so we can use Gabby’s pace against a tiring defence.
Lambert tried it today, but got it totally the wrong way round, in dropping Benteke.
There’s been some debate about Benteke lately and it’s been about if he’s been getting adequate service as opposed to if he’s trying.
Either way, he’s been ineffective of late, so I can see where Lambert was coming from.
Staying with the substitutions, I also think we were too reliant on play down the right hand side, with very little going on down the left.
Lambert again made the right call, in bringing Sinclair on, to offer us something different. The fact that it didn’t work is a shame, but when I’ve slated Lambert plenty, I think it’s only fair to say when I think he called it correctly.
The Cole sub, for Weimann, made sense too.
Would it be correct to say we played a 4-5-1?
I certainly thought that was the formation we played mostly in the game, but I suppose you could call it a 4-3-3 , especially early on.
Whatever, I thought the first half was pretty poor.
We were being dominated by a Chelsea side that, let us not forget, are probably going to win the league.
Nothing unusual there and it was the same old story, where while we got some crosses in, they were mostly poor and the closest we came was an off-target header from Weimman.
Chelsea’s goal on 7 minutes was a poor one from our point of view.
We didn’t pick up Willian at all and Hutton failed to track Hazard’s run.
Fair play though, it was a well made and executed goal. Hence we went in one down at half time.
I don’t know, but I got the feeling Chelsea could easily have stepped up a gear.
Then I don’t know what was said at half time, but Villa came out a different side.
We looked confident from the off and created more chances in the first three or four minutes than we had in the whole first half.
The pressure paid off and after super work from Gil (who moved the ball so fast between his two feet that I’m still not sure what happened), Oscar was made to look a total mug and the ball was put in the box for Okore to head in.
Hoo bloody ray. We got the goal we’ve been waiting so long for.
And then, for a while, I thought we looked the better side, where we were creating and getting decent balls in the box.
It wasn’t to last though and I thought Chelsea stepped it up. No surprise again and it demonstrates the gulf in class, as they had the likes of Remy and Cuadrado to bring on.
At the same time, Lambert subbed Gabby and brought Benteke on.
And sod’s law, the balls going into the box ceased.
Their second goal came courtesy of some poor defending again, which I won’t go into, as I thought Clark especially and Okore weren’t terrible today.
And then after around eighty minutes, the game petered out, simple as.
A few points;
I thought Delph and Cleverley were shocking in the first half, but looked much better in the second.
I’m not sure what caused the difference?
Gil looks the real business. He’s the bloke who can get you off your seat, who we’ve been craving for, isn’t he?
That said, I believe he was at fault for their second, but I’m not going to hold that against him. He isn’t a defender.
It’s great that we scored, but it wasn’t a striker who ended our shocking run of no goals.
Still, losing 1-2 to Chelsea is by no means a disgrace and we shouldn’t be too downhearted.
Many expected a battering today, but the fact is it didn’t happen.
While I expected a loss and it’s always disappointing to lose at home, at least we didn’t look the total shambles we did last week.
Hull up next and I’m hoping the lads will have come out of today’s game at least encouraged.
Comments
177 responses to “Villa 1 – 2 Chelsea: Lambert so nearly got it right today.”
Badger you are a bigger fool than Lambert.
we lost AGAIN.
Still its a false narrative.
I didn’t watch the game, or even listen in, but apart from a 15 minute spell, it was all Chelski…Did you watch the same game?????
Gareth.
We lost to the best side in the league, with many expecting a complete battering.
What do you want me to say?
I still want Lambert and Lerner out, but I’m not going to call what happened today poor, just for the sake of it, sorry.
Today was a big improvement on last week and for me, that’s good.
First half Villa were crap and for 10mins in the second half they huffed and puffed but Chelsea stepped up the pace and knew they had enough in reserve.
Villa had 1 shot on target by the way.
Its yet another loss and thats what matters.
If we played as well as you and Lambert say and we still lost then what does that say?
We are doomed.
The players raised their game because it was Chelsea, lets see how they fair on Tuesday at Hull.
Just over 35,000 there today – can’t even fill it the visit of the Champions elect.
Congratulating the team when they lose just shows how far we have fallen.
With each passing review Badger, you are sounding more and more like Lambert.
“I thought we were excellent”.
I don’t believe that’s fair Gareth.
I’ve slated Lambert plenty, as you should well know.
While the facts about all the bad records are undeniable and I 100% don’t think Lambert is the man for us, you do have to give credit when it’s due.
I believe Lambert called things mostly right today and it was a breath of fresh air because his decisions usually have me totally perplexed. That has to be a plus.
Better teams than us will lose to Chelsea this season, is the point.
But, yes, your “just shows how far we have fallen.” comment is also correct.
I’ve said it lots of times and you know it.
I can’t work out what your actually praising him for?
Because he played the right way and got the subs about right, for once.
It’s all there in the post Gareth.
Don’t tell me, you expected us to win today, when most expected a total battering?
We have to be realistic and contrary to you, I look for plus points, even if they’re few and far between (which they have been).
We are so looking like the team to go down its unreal.All it takes now is Burnley to beat West Brom and Hull to beat us and we are going to be soon cut a drift with our shitty GD after our beheading at the Emirates.We are going to be relegated and if we hang on by the skin of our teeth(teeth,skin?)we will suffer the same next season.Pointless garbage from a shoddy outfit Lerner & co not fit to wear our crest.We had a nearly moment and I actually thought we might Nick it today but Chelsea ground out the win.Chelsea or Leicester it doesn’t matter we lost #LambertOut
JD,
Now that’s a more realistic reponse.
I think we’re in more danger of going down this season, than last, fwiw, even though I keep being told there are 3 worse sides.
The Hull game on Tuesday is massive for me, as if we don’t get something there, we’re going to be dragged into it, big time.
The difference is that if we’d been whupped, say 7-1 today, we’d be in a much worse position on Tuesday.
We did ok today and it leaves us in better stead, imo.
Yes, we lost, but it could have been miles worse.
Hulls performance at city is worrying,yes we performed better today but I have a feeling normal service will be resumed Tuesday night.I do as many have already mentioned a must win I’m still not convinced though.
Ps by the way badger & Gareth I can see where both of you are coming from,I’ll have to get these splinters out my arse.
Anyone know why midweek games arnt on weekend. Fa cup should be relegated to midweek imo
Giddy, maybe the headline post is just coming across wrong.
I haven’t said anywhere that today was good.
We lost. Again.
And with our record that can’t be good.
But I do think that at least Lambert probaby did what most of us fans would have done today.
That at least makes a change.
Fwiw, I don’t think we’ll beat Hull.
But if I was to concentrate on how we might lose every game from now on, we might as well shut the site down now.
Fortunately, I still think we can win a few games, so that isn’t going to happen.
Things are currently bleak, but I’m sure none of us expected much against Arse or Chelsea, so while the results don’t matter, the performance does.
Last week’s was awful, today was better.
Which is all I was trying to say.
today villa earned respect for their efforts, yes they ended empty handed, but performance was miles improved on recent games especially the last one. if villa can repeat this effort and quality over the remaining games, without dropping to last weeks standards. villa will survive i’am sure. loving the new aimgo, hes some player. if only we can get other players around, him hitting his standards or even on his wavelength
Ok so why do they not make an effort every week then. They had to make an effort today or they would of hammered us. Making an effort is the bare minimum fans should expect from their teams.
With you on that point. I’m sick to death of us going from one week whipping boys and laughing stock to this week being gallant loosers. Makes no difference. Nil points is nil points. All that performance does is take a little heat of the powers that be. Normal service will resume come Tuesday.
Agreed
I think what really worries me is that we were only after Lambert, and while Lambert’s no longer the Benteke type but better with the football at his feet, Lambert wants someone big up front, when that’s not what we need.
He also got it quite wrong by bringing Weimann and Gabby off. You can’t play Benteke up front alone and Sinclair did as per nothing and shouldn’t have come on. Weimann needs to play off Benteke. Or someone does because he looks hopeless alone.
Nice write up Badger, didn’t watch or hear the game but listening to final score they we’re singing our praises so maybe there’s some hope after all, Hull is the big one imo. That result will probably define our season one way or another.
One plus point we scored and got that monkey off our back so Sunderland, Hartlepool and most of all Coventry can keep that unwanted gong.
Woohoo get the bunt in out we scored!
We have no paddle boys that creek we are in is getting deeper & deeper.Im puzzled with Lamberts record so bad why hasn’t Lerner the balls to sack him.Does any one have a realistic reason why he’s still in a job at AVFC?Harrys free ide take him at AVFC hope Lamberts sacked by Monday Harrys in bee tuesdee utv
Really bored of the constant Lambert out posts now. As much as he should go, he’s not so please give it a rest.
Didn’t see today but listened to 2nd half, which commentary say we were much improved from last week (not sure how difficult that was). Still, 1 shot on target all game, even v Chelsea still isn’t very good.
Relying on strikers like Weimann won’t help the cause, his passing and shooting is Sunday league-esque.
A long end of season coming up. Nothing more than 3 points midweek, can’t afford to give Hull the momentum.
Cmon Villa!!!
Means nothing we always play well v the bigger teams most of time as we can counter attack them and there is i pressure on us to get a result. Hull did even better than us today. Ok we played ok so what we still lost. At least the happy clappers like you can have a fest over the weekend!!
Shitting hell, you have a brand new insult. It actually made me chuckle, bravo that man **happy claps**
Lol
“Give it a rest”????
How about you give it a rest Helenius????
Yes, stop boring the world with the same crap post after post. We know your feeling towards Lambert, you’re not going to get your wish so ssshhhhh
Bluenose alert???
Here’s a comment that I’ve pulled from some other site;
“Villa pushed Chelsea all the way though, and Mourinho had to try and shut the game down in the final ten minutes.
The Blues boss was full of praise for Villa who he feels should be higher in the table than they are.
“It was a tough game,” Mourinho added. “A very difficult match and I knew it would be too it.
“I don’t analysis opponents by the number of points they have or other statistics, I analyse opponents by the quality of their players and Villa have very good players, a good bench with lots of solutions.
“It was difficult to prepare for them. They have a fantastic stadium and support.”
I’m not sure how much of that is just patronising and magnanimous, but that’s what he said.
Regardless, that same site thought we did ok too, as is indicated by the first line.
As did Tony Morley, if his thoughts mean anything.
Whatever, I’ve stated my case as I saw it 🙂
It’s patronising Badger FERGIE used to say similar about us. Easy to be magnanimous when you win notice he wasn’t as complimentary last year when they lost.
I think he’s very selective on compliments they normally come out when he’s won the game.
Defo patronising, oohaah said so. Mourinho on speed dial ya know
Correct my comment is Law lol
Did you pull those quotes off PaulLambert.com?
Couldn’t have cause the site’s always going down, going down, going down.
Couldn’t have. Their in English !
Actually, it’s “They’re in English”.
😉
your setting yourself up for a fall, you pulled bumbum up other day, allegedly for what you thought wasn’t his thoughts, now you post yourself from other sites opinions, to back up your case. not that it bothers me, for once i agree with you.
bitch all you want, when we’re shit. but credit um at least today, for the effort and fight they showed, against a top team and taking into account our form and crisis
Not really Nath.
I made it clear I’ve pulled it from another site and it’s not my words mate, where it wasn’t clear to me if those were Bum Bum’s thoughts or not.
I was probably a bit ott, fwiw, but there you go.
A long day at work combined with a beer or two perhaps.
A beer or two tut tut tut. Never catch me doing that 😉
No comment 🙂
Just face facts lads it’s over we won’t win another game this season were down hull will smash us mark my words villa are an old sheep dog waiting to be put out of its misery plus all them villa fans saying never expect to get anything from arsenal and Chelsea are fools look at Bradford City and Brighton plus hull went to man City and gave it there all Lerner and lambert have turned villa fans into losers
I think Hull will win 1,0 I agree but let’s face it we deserve to go down now. What’s the point in staying up just so we can have the same next season and RL can pocket even more Sky money. Totally pointkess
What’s the point in going down? We’ll lose our best players and be even worse (oh the thought), playing in sheds every other week with against some reeeeeally awful teams….for what….to possibly get promoted then struggle again and be back to square one?
I don’t see the point in that at all
We lose.our best players anyway Helenius. And who are our best players. Benteke who’s always injured and has wanted away for ages plus he’s not prolific anymore. Gill looks good granted. But other than I’m struggling. These so called good players are in the bottom 5 do they are not that good anyway.
i think the hull game can go either way, both sides are struggling, its one of those games where the first goal is really important, i think its between two poor sides on a poor run. if we lose then we really will struggle to survive, but i think villa will win and comfortably 3 1
Good job they never won up at man city today, they’d have been full of beens Tuesday hopefully Milners late equalizer will have deflated them.
Still gained a good point on us though
And truth be told I still fancy them to turn us over.
Sweet sweet booze takes the sting out a little bit of the mire the sweaty sock one has us in for a while.Then it’s back to realising the yank is skint & has his mate Tom to lick his ass lol utv
I feel another post coming on, but will leave it until tomorrow, to see how others think.
Suffice to say, I know the site has a rep for being negative, but this is completely ott for me.
Look at the facts people.
We lost to easily the best team in the EPL.
But we competed.
Where many said we wouldn’t.
I’m out of here for tonight 🙁
Many fans are negative on the site because the club we love and. Support are on a downward slope . Many fans are not negative just been realistic. As for today’s game yes we lost, but not disgraced. I taught we would get a hammering. Tuesday s game must win I think if we loose this we are fucked.
So just because we wernt disgraced it’s ok to lose then
Oohah I was expecting us to get hammered today. Yes we lost again and its not good enough . I wasn’t expecting us to get anything today. I did nt think we would even score.
I thought we’d draw o knew we wouldn’t get hammered it dosnt work like that. Plus they were without their best 2 players
Bradford City scored 4 goals against Chelsea no excuse you play to win not lose
listening to radio 5 tearing arse out lerner we are 22 biggest club and lerner taking us for ride
when he fell out with mon he had 2 years of disasters of his own doing appointing houiller when he had history with warnock and carew was not going to end well then mcleish in meantime buys ireland 8m bent 18m makoun 6 given 3.5 m 5year contract zog 9.5 m 5 year contract hutton 4.5 m not play then for 2 years soon as couple good games new contract jenas farce over 50 m not penny back on them not many games either
we are heading for 5year relegation battle even bad days never as bad as this
we lose 2/1 chelsea happy clappers we played well we had one shot on target bradford scored 42 weeks ago spurs 5
sticks with gabby wiemen cleverly week in week out
42? F**k me they’re some side that Bradford.
MOTD got it right tonight. We simply do not get enough people in the box. Westwood and delph play way too deep.
HOw many shots on target did we have.
Nothing has changed for me i’m afraid.
huffed and puffed thats all.
I agree. Gabby and Weimanns movement was attrocious. Thats something you learn from young…To me it proves they’re not strikers.
And that header from Gabby……!!!!
I feel sorry for weimann. He needs to be playing centre forward alongside benteke or not at all. He isn’t half the player out wide.
Lambert has ruined a natural finisher over the last 2 seasons.
Gabby is a disgrace considering he is supposed to be villa through and through. He is content just picking up his money
Yes the MOTD boys are pretty sharp with the analysis this season and Villa’s unwillingness to make runs into the box was picked up. But, when two of them do make a run, gain a yard on their markers and with a decent pass will be able to replicate Hazards goal – what happens? Cleverly plays a 10 yard pass sideways instead of forward.
We will be relying on Hull’s errors for any points we get next, we are still not creating enough to win a game.
Lambert got it wrong again. The team he sent out had no chance of beating Chelsea and werent even in the game first half. We caught them cold second half and you cant fault the effort the players put in today-much better than that embarassment last week.
He still plays the same tired formation with Weimann out wide. Cleverley starts although he produces absolutely nothing apart from the odd 5 yard pass. I understand why he dropped Benteke today, but Gabby up front on his own is just pointless.
Gil looks a great signing and if Lamberk insists on not playing two up front then maybe he should play him the number 10 role behind CB? Play Sinclair and Bacuna (or even Grealish) out wide. That way at least we would have some creativity.
But I would put money on the same team starting at Hull and if they play like they did today, its gonna be a tough game.
Against Hull
my preferred team
4 3 1 2
Guzan
Huton Clark Okora Cisso
Westwood Sanchez Delph
Gil
Benteke Weimann
Predicated team
same as against Chelsea
c leverley (must be in contract) and gabby will play.
If you do what youve always done, you’ll get what youve always got.
Same old team, same old problems. What is it with Lamberts faith in Cleverley? Is he bumming him in the showers afterwards or something?
What is it with Lamberts transfer dealings? He buys Sinclair to provide for Benteke, yet doesn’t play either of them?
What happened to Bacuna? What happened to Grealish?
We continue playing this same set of players in this same formation, we will finish BOTTOM of the league, I have no doubt. I cannot see us getting to 30 points, let alone 40.
I’m just imaging Lamberts press conference on confirmation of relegation.
“I thought we were excellent this season. I couldn’t ask any more of the lads. Next season, we pick ourselves up, and go again.”
Delph. Westwood, Sanchez, Cleverly are all deep lying players they dont get forward enough, and when they rarely do they panic and turn to pass back, we should only play two – for me Sanchez and Delph. One deep and the other 15 yards from Benteke at all times. For me also we need more flair and that player is Grealish. Yes he has a lot to learn but he has raw ability and likes to run with the ball and get to the byline. Very much like Gil who has been a breath of fresh air to be honest. Grealish should be starting every single game and we should go out to WIN every game, i dont mean playing the high line like at Arsenal but play the players that can turn defence in to Attack very quickly. We will at least go down fighting then!
Lambert is too defensive for that and bad at it. Even though you are right. He just will not pick grealish over anybody he has signed.
That’s the problem our defence is much improved than previous years and Sanchez is a quality def mid who actually likes to defend. So really there isn’t as much a need to be so defensive. Now lets revert to his first season tactics where we scored a fair few goals but conceded loads more and with our defence now I’m sure we would pick up plenty of points and entertain the fans too.
I’m glad we didn’t get stuffed. Nice not to be an embarrassment for a week! I’m also glad Benteke was dropped, as it shows that Lambert may be prepared to try something different. The approach is too cautious though. The midfield doesn’t get forward as it is composed of players who don’t make those runs. The best teams often score their goals by flooding the box, so the odds on them creating chances are much improved.
Villa are set out to contain the opposition. That tactic is the same whether we are playing Leicester or Chelsea. Hull are a very poor team who got lucky yesterday. We will sit back and let them come at us, instead of going at them. They are there to be beaten, but unfortunately so are we.
I think we will lose and that will set the tone for the rest of the season.
On the upside, my predictions are usually wrong so maybe I’ve just done us a big favour!!
Sometimes you just have to try and look at the positives otherwise so good on Helenius. I’m surprised there hasn’t be more on here about how we might build around Gil who is a real player who uses both feet, moves the ball quickly which is what we are lacking. Also surprised that Sinclair is being criticised quite so quickly – give the lad a chance he’s hardly played any football for the last two years.
On Delph; didn’t he play a more attacking mid role with Leeds. I seem to remember one of his strengths was the number of goals he scored from mid field; Lambert again?
Finally, Jose’s comments are interesting. Are they a veiled criticism of Lambert?
As much as Lambert has failings Lambert doesn’t kick the ball.
reading some of these comments, its a shame none of us passed our badges lmao basically before the game yesterday. villa had been thumped 5 nil and players quitting during the second half. so chelsea arrive and with the firepower they have, its understandable, how the team didn’t pour forwards in numbers. but as some think happy clappers lmao must be another lambert sheep slate. villa made a contest of it, they scored. chelsea were always in control, but they have in all but a few this season. top team
i think yesterday was, go out there and regain some self belief. couldn’t lose again by a cricket score and then expect to be full of belief against hull TIGERS. so we at least achieved this, iam sure both hull and villa, will see this game as a must win and both are poor team on poor run. its a game we can win. that’s why some could forgive another lose to a team full of top quality players on top form,
guzan
hutton vlaar okore sissohko
westwood
cole delph
wiemann gil
benteke
Bill Shankly
” I didn’t think it was necessary to take an FA coaching course. I didn’t think it was going to make me any better. If I take a course am I going to be a better man six days later because I’ve got a piece of paper? That’s nonsense. Chamberlain came back from Germany with a piece of paper.. . the worst fucking piece of paper we’ve ever had!! ”
Nath we may not be Shankly’s but playing, watching, eating and shiting football for 40 years and you have some sorta clue how the game should be played.
my points were over committing men, against class of chelsea would have ended badly for all concerned, at least for the claret and blue
Yea you’re right about over committing but the thing that gets me is how slow we break when we have teams stretched (and it’s not like we lack pace).
We break far too slow and let teams get 11 behind the ball making it extremely difficult to break them down, well that unless you have some very technically gifted players to retain possession, make the run and find the pass but Barcelona we aint.
Another thing that always stands out with our play – when the ball breaks on the edge of oppositions box or the ball is cleared, we never seem to have a player coming in late on the lose ball, our lot are admiring from afar somewhere on the halfway line.
teams like bayern Munich and barcelona work so hard out of possession, their aim is to regain possession deep into the opposition half, or quickly, starve the opposition of easy balls they wear um down. i watched spuds do a number on arsenal, they pressed um high, stopped arsenal from playing their triangles patterns they like to. villa tried to do something similar against gunners, but they broke on us, because we don’t press as a team.
i agree with what you said, we are in possession far to slow moving the ball around, in lamberts new tactic of passing the ball, we are ignoring our main strength over the last 5 years, breaking with pace. its a case of mixing up play and against chelsea they did this better.
anyways games against hull and other poor teams like us will determine our fate
Bayern are the best I’ve seen at retaining possession in the oppositions last third, the way they probe and probe teams till they find an opening. The skill level is incredible and a joy to watch.
i think lambert needs to return back to germany, cos he hasn’t perfected the way pep guardiola executes his tactics. also changing mid season was a big mistake