Aston Villa v Leicester City

villabromsgrove wrote:Sanchez was the best player on the pitch. He tired in the last 15 minutes, but showed a lot of class especially before Westwood was injured. I thought he revelled in his more forward role, but he also did well when he dropped back into his more usual holding role.

My thoughts exactly VB .. thought he was class today... Richardson was weak, Benteke slightly of form i'd say as offside to often but still made the pass for the second goal and was still quality which says it all, Thought Grealish gave a the ball away cheaply a couple of times but he'll learn..Again back four were good, Cleverley needs to start doing something & missed a very good chance,, As for Nzogbia :shock: Does the guy actually ever do anything other than run round in circles and give the ball away cheaply?

I thought Cleverley had his best game by far (I presume he was injured to be substituted ) , I'm not convinced yet by Sanchez , yes he can break up the play , but his choice & execution of passing leave a lot to be desired !
Schmeichel was very good, we would of been comfortable if not for his heroics today, i thought we would blow it at the end , we even managed to score in front of the Holte !

Sanchez still has a way to go in this league as does Okore so it's good that they've been facing bottom of the league shit whilst they do it.

But they are improving game on game. There's no doubt about that. A few mistakes aside, both were excellent.

A big up also for Clark who not only played very very well but was in the ref's ear regarding the Hutton incident. It's about time Villa players started trying to influence things at Villa Park.

However, despite the 3 points, I'm not getting overly excited. How, with quite a few players out, 4-3-3 still happens to be the best system and even after Westwood and Cleverely go off, it's STILL the best system!!!???

This lack of tactical flexibility will hurt us when we face better teams and better manages.

Cissokho and Hutton were left exposed constantly and the shear amount of passes the went sideways or backward from midfield is outrageous. Martin Keown who was a rather good co-commentator stated at the second half that it'd be interesting to see if the halftime talk involved stepping up the pace a bit and being more adventurous going forward but noted that this appeared not to be the case as it was still a plodding, crab-like style.

N'Zog was shit. Everyone else played well I thought. They're just being held back by this God-awful 4-3-3.

Good to see Grealish get a chance although he does seem like he's been reminded that he's in the big leagues now and doesn't seem to have that initial confidence and cockiness that looked so good in his first appearances. When he laid Richardson on, I thought he should have cut back in and had a go himself but it's like he felt he had to give it up to a more senior player. Still, the more time on the pitch the better.

Was hoping to see Robinson for 5 minutes at the end but when we went down to ten men and had to defend like lions, he wouldn't have seen the ball*







* yes, that was sarcasm.

Court in the morning so a very quick post before I go to sleep.

I thought we played some great stuff in the first 25 minutes, slick passing football with Westwood magnificent.

However after that and even before Westwood's injury I felt we were starting to lose our way and reverting back to sideways football with little or no penetration.

In the second half I didn't think we were that great at all and only less worse than Leicester who were toothless and poor.

Nevertheless we got the points when less than convincing and unless Leicester spend and buy well in January then they will definitely take one of the relegation berths.

Good luck tomorrow.

I wonder what it is with Lambert that stops him from being flexible with the players he has, and the formation in which they play. He plays to Benteke's strengths but Guzan's long ball rarely works. Yesterday there was a lot more of Guzan rolling the ball out to a defender or to the midfield, I wonder if Okore and Clark (and to a certain extent Sanchez and Cleverley) are giving him the confidence to do this or if something has clicked with the manager? I bang on about the opposition knowing to close down Benteke and to keeping Hutton and Cissokho quiet but I do believe we have a good squad. No, they're unlikely to win the league but I look at the Southampton or West Ham squads and don't see much difference to what we have.

Exactly! You build a strong spine with a capable defence and a striker who can score.

Check.

Then your make sure that teams can't get at you down the flanks and, conversely, you can get at THEM down the flanks.

The rest comes down to the technical aspects that teams get well drilled at during training.

Easy innit? :)

But the important bits are ensuring you have the right players in the right shape. And we DO, by and large, have the right players (for now at least).

But 4-3-3 in my opinion is the WORST formation for Villa. We just don't have the athleticism and technical ability to dominate the midfield with just three players. Pep Guardiola's Barcelona we ain't.

We cannot continue to use Gabby and Weimann as winger-defender-strikers. Fuck me, everyone laughed at the concept of Heskey wing a defensive striker but those two are having a lot more asked of them and, eats face it, they're limited players. At best.

Away from home we should be playing Benteke up top with a properLying creative line of three behind him and overlapping him.

At home, use three at the back and stick two strikers up top and let's have a red hot go.

4-3-3 with our players (despite three of them being out and out strikers) says "I'm not really interested in winning but obviously don't want to lose either and entertainment value isn't my thing either"

So why, despite all the evidence that it's low scoring, hard graft, dull to watch and nail-biting when we're holding on, does Lambert stick with it???

Trotters wrote:At home, use three at the back and stick two strikers up top and let's have a red hot go.

Vlaar/Okore/Clark would make a great back three with Baker and Senderos as reserves.

Unless our march up the table continues unabated and Lerner splashes some serious cash that Lambert spends prudently and changes his attitude toward rigid tactics, then we need to start leaving Vlaar off any fantasy team sheet.

Do we need Vlaar really ? I don't think so. Let him go in January for a few quid and take his injuries with him. He will be going in the summer on a free anyway.

NARLA24 wrote:Do we need Vlaar really ? I don't think so. Let him go in January for a few quid and take his injuries with him. He will be going in the summer on a free anyway.

Agreed, I would rather a committed Okore and Senderos partnership than Vlaar with 1 eye on the exit door.

My only problem is the captaincy. Gabby is just too stupid to be captain. I'd like to see someone like Westwood with the armband but he's injured. Hutton?

NARLA24 wrote:Do we need Vlaar really ? I don't think so. Let him go in January for a few quid and take his injuries with him. He will be going in the summer on a free anyway.

Completely agree. Delph, Benteke - I would like to keep for the rest of the season and see where the land lies then but Vlaar, I say let him go in Jan; may as well get some compensation for all his time out!

Clark as captain. I'm a big fan of Westwood but he doesn't seem to be that vocal.

Vlaar isn't necessarily off and he's been great for Villa while fit so please let's not write him off yet. Besides all it would take would be for Okore to get injured and Baker fit and we're back to the central pairing we had when Chelsea beat us 8-0, and everyone will be clamouring for Vlaar to come back ASAP.

Knowing our luck Lambert will give the captaincy to N'Zogbia!

Lambert was lucky with his CB injuries, because it made him use Okore and the guy is a diamond.

Westwood's injury may also be lucky for Lambert, because he wasn't about to leave Westy out of his team. I'm not saying Westwood isn't a decent player, but imo you can't play him with Cleverly and have any creativity. Sanchez had a cracking first half because he was used as a more creative playmaker and it was noticeable that his running off the ball always saw him with a couple of yards of space. You never get this with Westwood.

When Cleverly went off, Sanchez dropped to his more usual holding role and still looked sharp while Grealish looked to find space quite effectively. Jack needs to speed up his distribution slightly and when he does a midfield of Delph (if we keep him) Sanchez, Grealish and Cleverly will have a balance and creativity that we've been crying out for.

We would never have seen Lambert select this kind of midfield by choice which is why I said that Westy's injury although unlucky for him could be another "Okore" moment.

FoxyAV wrote:Clark as captain. I'm a big fan of Westwood but he doesn't seem to be that vocal.

Vlaar isn't necessarily off and he's been great for Villa while fit so please let's not write him off yet. Besides all it would take would be for Okore to get injured and Baker fit and we're back to the central pairing we had when Chelsea beat us 8-0, and everyone will be clamouring for Vlaar to come back ASAP.

Knowing our luck Lambert will give the captaincy to N'Zogbia!

Clark is a really vocal organiser, and that would affect his performance if he were made captain again. His total focus has been important in his pairing with Okore because he seem's to be avoiding the lapses of concentration which cost goals previously.

Alan Hutton has shown a new maturity this season, and could be an interesting candidate.

He plays every game and he leads by example, plus I'd love to see him a metre in front of the referee wearing the captain's armband every time there's a bit of possible card waving going on!

There's no denying Hutton would be straight in the refs ear at every challenge on a Villa player. He's a tenacious little jock who wouldn't let things go. I have given the man dog's abuse the last few seasons but ever since the Stoke game I have been right on his bandwagon, he's (IMO) the most in-form RB in the league right now, defends well and is a good attacking outlet. Who can score a decent goal too it seems!

My thoughts exactly NARLA24, Baker is improving, Okore has looked fine, Sendeross has surprised me, even Clarke has looked better recently, cash in on Vlaar , buy some creativity for the middle of the park !

Villa_Dan wrote:

NARLA24 wrote:Do we need Vlaar really ? I don't think so. Let him go in January for a few quid and take his injuries with him. He will be going in the summer on a free anyway.

Agreed, I would rather a committed Okore and Senderos partnership than Vlaar with 1 eye on the exit door.

My only problem is the captaincy. Gabby is just too stupid to be captain. I'd like to see someone like Westwood with the armband but he's injured. Hutton?

Hutton is a good shout mate.

Trotters wrote:Good luck tomorrow.

Thanks mate.

The case was adjourned again until January because the judge didn't have enough time to hear my case. Too many criminal and crown court cases which took preference over mine. :x

However the present order on the neighbour has been extended until the next date so I can at least watch the footy in peace.

Hope the case falls your way in the end fella

I have to say Hutton was a bag of cack in his first 2 seasons at Villa, but fair play to him hes been given another chance and hes grabbed it with both hands. Mr dependable now he is, I have to eat humble pie and say it, good on yer mate playing for the shirt.

I'd say, get Delph to sign a new contract and give him the Armband, as much as teams are sniffing, its only the teams in and around us, i.e Spurs, Everton's.

Maybe the offer of being captain maybe the sway that's needed.

Regardless if Vlaar stays or not i'd still offer Delph the armband as Vlaar is out to often.

Villa_Dan wrote:Hope the case falls your way in the end fella

Thanks mate.