Paul Lambert

[Keyblade]

 

Clearly could do with more goals, but a definite improvement all round recently for me.

 

Can a Lambert change his spots?

 

We played away against a side known for their passing game in atrocious conditions and outplayed them at their own game. That's something I would never expect from a Lambert side. Something has definitely changed - and long may it continue.

 

Yes, we still lost, we lack creativity and composure in the final third - but I can forgive that so long as I see some sort of progress.....

 

... and I saw that today. 

 

 

I think this is a very balanced view of things. Some of the people who were not satisfied when our results were decent/satisfactory because they didn't like the football and that it would eventually lead to bad results, are still unsatisfied with Lambert. You would think that now that the opposite rings true, in that we're playing "good football™", they would be patient because even though we lost, they expect the results to come eventually.

[Butterfingers]

Think there has been steady improvement each of the 3 seasons that Lamberts been here. The points tally improving slightly but also the league position improving each season. We've come a long way from that awful 1st season where I believe that if Wigan hadn't had that cup run then we'd have been relegated. As it was, it took us to the last week of the season to be safe.

 

I believe the obsession with the bomb squad is partly to blame for our struggles. How can anyone be expected to freeze out so many experienced players and replace them with untried kids or unheard of players from the bargain basement. Even this summer, we were amongst the lowest spenders in the league (Cleverley money not included)

 

I wonder how far peoples aspirations are given the lack of investment (& lack of interest) from Lerner?

 

For me, the 14th-8th spots are as high as we can realistically expect. The biggest gripe from fans is the lack of entertainment and it has been dire, save for a few months at the end of the first season when our 3 pronged attack was on form. To go away from a game having seen the team loose but play well & have entertained is less of a bitter pill for me than to go away having watched 90 mins of pure garbage.

 

The new passing philosophy is encouraging and lets see what happens between now & May? My worry is that we could potentially loose the spine of the side in Benteke, Delph & Vlaar, none of whom could be replaced like for like. I'm on the side of those who think we can manage without Vlaar but how many would be upset if he signed for another 3 years?

 

The criticism regarding how Gabby & Weiman are played is also a tad unjust. Many teams play this way now and with a tight 3 in the centre of midfield, it is normal to expect the wide players to track back, just as we expect the full backs to bomb forward. Hutton in particular does this very well to our advantage. Weiman & Gabby do untold work going backwards but it is not pretty so often goes overlooked.

 

Lambert signed a new deal recently. He is not going anywhere. If we continue to play passing football then I think that under the circumstances, we are about as far as we could reasonably expect to be. 10th would be fantastic this season, We have a squad of Premier league players which I don't believe was the case in our previous 2 seasons. Top half next season should not be an unrealistic target as we are not a million miles away from the likes of West Ham & Southampton. If we can achieve that then it would hard to argue against the fact that Lambert has done OK.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Butterfingers

[Keyblade]

^ Excellent post.

One thing that stuck out from yesterday is that we played something like 620 passes with an 89% success rate. I couldn't believe I was actuallyactually watching Aston Villa. We were so comfortable in possession and looked like Swansea against...Swansea. Very refreshing, I can't even remember the last time we played that way. We usually weren't even able to string a few passes together but yesterday our average passing sequence was 6 passes. I just hope we find our way in front of goal, if we do I think we'll be in for an enjoyable second half of the season.

[AVTuco]

The more games we play possession football like yesterday, the more confident we'll be with it. It's one thing to do it in training, another to execute it in matches. We need more experience from matches. If we manage to control matches with our passing game without major blunders in the next few matches, it should bode well for the rest of the season.

[DCJonah]

Its much nicer to watch and it can only lead to better things. I do wonder what we'd be if it hadn't taken so long to start working on something like this.

[foreveryoung]

Watch the games lads.......? Possession football is easy if the team you are against allow it!!! Managers study other teams and at the moment they can see we have no impact in the final third, so they are allowing us most of the possession knowing we can hardly get it forward and create anything. I would love to see the possession stats played in our half, 80% maybe. Yes Lambert has changed it, showing much more possession but now with no impact, he is hardly a tactical genius doing this, I imagine we were scoring more with hoof football.

As I keep saying, the way Lambert sets the team up with everyone having to prioritise the defensive line, its no wonder we are struggling to score. Defending is Lamberts number 1 priority since shipping in so many goals last season, so its no wonder we are having problems scoring when all barr Benteke, have one eye on defending. If he goes for a creative mid in Jan or in the summer he will have to change our tactics completely to fit him in, with much more envisis on attacking, which really is not Lamberts game.

[Guest]

 

 

Clearly could do with more goals, but a definite improvement all round recently for me.

 

Can a Lambert change his spots?

 

We played away against a side known for their passing game in atrocious conditions and outplayed them at their own game. That's something I would never expect from a Lambert side. Something has definitely changed - and long may it continue.

 

Yes, we still lost, we lack creativity and composure in the final third - but I can forgive that so long as I see some sort of progress.....

 

... and I saw that today. 

 

 

I think this is a very balanced view of things. Some of the people who were not satisfied when our results were decent/satisfactory because they didn't like the football and that it would eventually lead to bad results, are still unsatisfied with Lambert. You would think that now that the opposite rings true, in that we're playing "good football™", they would be patient because even though we lost, they expect the results to come eventually.

 

 

Agree.

 

We were really good yesterday. I think if we had a Sigurdsson, we would have won. I really hope we do not sign Cleverley, he is doing exactly what I said he would do and offers nothing. Westwood is a much better player.

 

Anyway, we should have won. We were very unlucky.

[Stevo985]

Watch the games lads.......? Possession football is easy if the team you are against allow it!!! Managers study other teams and at the moment they can see we have no impact in the final third, so they are allowing us most of the possession knowing we can hardly get it forward and create anything. I would love to see the possession stats played in our half, 80% maybe. Yes Lambert has changed it, showing much more possession but now with no impact, he is hardly a tactical genius doing this, I imagine we were scoring more with hoof football.

As I keep saying, the way Lambert sets the team up with everyone having to prioritise the defensive line, its no wonder we are struggling to score. Defending is Lamberts number 1 priority since shipping in so many goals last season, so its no wonder we are having problems scoring when all barr Benteke, have one eye on defending. If he goes for a creative mid in Jan or in the summer he will have to change our tactics completely to fit him in, with much more envisis on attacking, which really is not Lamberts game.

Nice partonising "watch the games lads?"

I can do that too. "envisis"?!

 

 

Anyway, yesterday we played 118 passes in our defensive third, 354 in the middle third and 160 in the final third.

That's 19% in our defensive third, 56% in the middle third and 25% in the final third.

 

 

In comparison, Swansea made 85, 262 and 136 respectively.

That's 18%, 54% and 28%.

 

Not much difference.

As DK82 said, the difference yesterday was having the quality of someone like Sigurdsson who can produce that bit of magic in a game of few chances and get the win.

We have Benteke, but he was a bit off yesterday.

 

Our chance creation needs to improve, certainly. But making out yesterday was just us passing the ball around in our own half isn't true.

So yeah, I do watch the games. You should try it, because if you think we have 80% of possession in our own half then you're clearly not paying attention

Edited December 27, 2014 by Stevo985

[Guest]

I hope we continue to play this way. We have the players for it, we just need the manager to be confident, stick to it, not give in. I think the more we play the better we will get. It will take more than 5/6 games to progress this style, especially after 18 months of negative tactics. 

[foreveryoung]

 

Watch the games lads.......? Possession football is easy if the team you are against allow it!!! Managers study other teams and at the moment they can see we have no impact in the final third, so they are allowing us most of the possession knowing we can hardly get it forward and create anything. I would love to see the possession stats played in our half, 80% maybe. Yes Lambert has changed it, showing much more possession but now with no impact, he is hardly a tactical genius doing this, I imagine we were scoring more with hoof football.

As I keep saying, the way Lambert sets the team up with everyone having to prioritise the defensive line, its no wonder we are struggling to score. Defending is Lamberts number 1 priority since shipping in so many goals last season, so its no wonder we are having problems scoring when all barr Benteke, have one eye on defending. If he goes for a creative mid in Jan or in the summer he will have to change our tactics completely to fit him in, with much more envisis on attacking, which really is not Lamberts game.

envisis?

 

 

Anyway, yesterday we played 118 passes in our defensive third, 354 in the middle third and 160 in the final third.

That's 19% in our defensive third, 56% in the middle third and 25% in the final third.

 

 

In comparison, Swansea made 85, 262 and 136 respectively.

That's 18%, 54% and 28%.

 

Not much difference.

As DK82 said, the difference yesterday was having the quality of someone like Sigurdsson who can produce that bit of magic in a game of few chances and get the win.

We have Benteke, but he was a bit off yesterday.

 

Our chance creation needs to improve, certainly. But making out yesterday was just us passing the ball around in our own half isn't true.

 

Whats more important, possession or goals?? Passing it round lots and not scoring just means we have no idea what to do with the ball.

 

Benteke wasn't at his best? What you mean he couldn't create something out of nothing. 

 

We now have the lowest goals scored in the country. For a Premiership side this is absolutely woeful...........?

[Keyblade]

Its much nicer to watch and it can only lead to better things. I do wonder what we'd be if it hadn't taken so long to start working on something like this.

 

Agreed. I can see what Lambert was thinking to a certain extent. We almost got relegated in his first season and our squad was pretty bad, and it seems he was trying to be more pragmatic to ensure we stayed in the league while slowly building a decent squad. In fact looking at it this way now, perhaps that was his goal all along? To build a team capable of playing this style while also getting the results needed. Who knows what would have happened had he tried to implement this in his first season with the squad that he had at his disposal. It's only speculation, but it makes sense as to why it took him so long to implement it. 

[Stevo985]

 

 

Watch the games lads.......? Possession football is easy if the team you are against allow it!!! Managers study other teams and at the moment they can see we have no impact in the final third, so they are allowing us most of the possession knowing we can hardly get it forward and create anything. I would love to see the possession stats played in our half, 80% maybe. Yes Lambert has changed it, showing much more possession but now with no impact, he is hardly a tactical genius doing this, I imagine we were scoring more with hoof football.

As I keep saying, the way Lambert sets the team up with everyone having to prioritise the defensive line, its no wonder we are struggling to score. Defending is Lamberts number 1 priority since shipping in so many goals last season, so its no wonder we are having problems scoring when all barr Benteke, have one eye on defending. If he goes for a creative mid in Jan or in the summer he will have to change our tactics completely to fit him in, with much more envisis on attacking, which really is not Lamberts game.

envisis?

 

 

Anyway, yesterday we played 118 passes in our defensive third, 354 in the middle third and 160 in the final third.

That's 19% in our defensive third, 56% in the middle third and 25% in the final third.

 

 

In comparison, Swansea made 85, 262 and 136 respectively.

That's 18%, 54% and 28%.

 

Not much difference.

As DK82 said, the difference yesterday was having the quality of someone like Sigurdsson who can produce that bit of magic in a game of few chances and get the win.

We have Benteke, but he was a bit off yesterday.

 

Our chance creation needs to improve, certainly. But making out yesterday was just us passing the ball around in our own half isn't true.

 

Whats more important, possession or goals?? Passing it round lots and not scoring just means we have no idea what to do with the ball.

 

Benteke wasn't at his best? What you mean he couldn't create something out of nothing. 

 

We now have the lowest goals scored in the country. For a Premiership side this is absolutely woeful...........?

 

Excellent moving of the goalposts.

Those are all different points to the one you were making.

 

And the Premiership hasn't existed for years. Are you sure you watch the games?

[ozvillafan]

I'm not a fan of 5-3-2 though. It gives us too little in front for the defense to play out and our width comes from Cissokho and Hutton - both good defenders but not good crossers (has Cissokho's crosses ever beaten the first man). 3-5-2 might have done the trick against Swansea, with Grealish and Bacuna for Cissokho and Hutton.

 

Regardless, we needed a change of formation and we got it at half time.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Let's it a bit of time to evolve? Sure, 2 years etc etc, but this is the first time since towards the end of season one that there seems to be a consistent concerted effort towards a plan B. Give it time to mature I say.

Agree with everything in the main Stevo, I think. We do need to add that final ball. I believe we have the players for it, they just need to show the same level of patience in the final 3rd as they do in the first 2.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I said it in the match thread and I'll repeat it now, this is very reminiscent of the way Houllier had us playing. For the first 6 months or so it was all puff and no edge. Towards the end it started to take shape and the results came along with that. Houlliers problem was following three 6th place finishes and a trigger happy board (and impatient fans)(and the Liverpool bollocks)(and Stephen Ireland).

The addition of a goalscorer helped. This time we have one of those, we just need to build around him. Grealish coming in more often will help that IMO, maybe getting Cole fit too. Delph was anonymous yesterday, we need more from him. The ingredients are there, the chef needs time to cook.

People don't seem to understand that it's not like flicking a switch. They've never played this way with consistency, they need time to absorb the information and the results and confidence will hopefully come in time.

I didn't think Lambert would take such a drastic step in changing the system entirely. Pleased he has and should he stick with it I'll give it that time.

[foreveryoung]

Have to admit I am back on board due to the system changes. But im struggling to contain my frustrations at the goals scored stats. We have one of the best strikers in the league and cannot get goals. I am totally in defence of Benteke's attitude, I would be pissed if I was him. He is here to score goals and if he don't create himself, its becoming next to impossible with the zero creativity the team produces to get any.

[bobzy]

Its much nicer to watch and it can only lead to better things. I do wonder what we'd be if it hadn't taken so long to start working on something like this.

 

Potentially in the Championship having played more-possession based football with the likes of El Ahmadi and Sylla - inferior players bought on a tight budget.

 

Good hating though.  Lambert tries something different = Lambert being a crap manager at the start.  Anymore sticks you want to try and find dude?

Have to admit I am back on board due to the system changes. But im struggling to contain my frustrations at the goals scored stats. We have one of the best strikers in the league and cannot get goals. I am totally in defence of Benteke's attitude, I would be pissed if I was him. He is here to score goals and if he don't create himself, its becoming next to impossible with the zero creativity the team produces to get any.

 

If he's here to score goals, he should stick away headers from 5 yards out.  The team as a whole lacked quality in the box against Swansea.  Everywhere else, we were pretty decent.

[foreveryoung]

 

Its much nicer to watch and it can only lead to better things. I do wonder what we'd be if it hadn't taken so long to start working on something like this.

 

Potentially in the Championship having played more-possession based football with the likes of El Ahmadi and Sylla - inferior players bought on a tight budget.

 

Good hating though.  Lambert tries something different = Lambert being a crap manager at the start.  Anymore sticks you want to try and find dude?

Have to admit I am back on board due to the system changes. But im struggling to contain my frustrations at the goals scored stats. We have one of the best strikers in the league and cannot get goals. I am totally in defence of Benteke's attitude, I would be pissed if I was him. He is here to score goals and if he don't create himself, its becoming next to impossible with the zero creativity the team produces to get any.

 

If he's here to score goals, he should stick away headers from 5 yards out.  The team as a whole lacked quality in the box against Swansea.  Everywhere else, we were pretty decent.

 

That was a great save by the goal keeper and a half decent cross. I agree we were decent yesterday, but its all about scoring goals, goals I tell ya!!

[Stevo985]

Have to admit I am back on board due to the system changes. But im struggling to contain my frustrations at the goals scored stats. We have one of the best strikers in the league and cannot get goals. I am totally in defence of Benteke's attitude, I would be pissed if I was him. He is here to score goals and if he don't create himself, its becoming next to impossible with the zero creativity the team produces to get any.

Its not going to happen over night though.

You can't flick a switch and be playing tippy tappy football perfectly.

I absolutely agree that the creativity needs to improve. I don't think there's a villa fan in the world who won't agree with that.

We just need to hope that that is the next step we're going to take.

We've improved the defence at the cost of the style of football and goals, we've now moved to address that style of football, and the next step has to be to add those goals back

[DCJonah]

Yes crazy thought eh bobzy, to think we may have tried to pass the ball from the start. Funnily enough our best spell under Lambert came at the end of his first season when funnily enough again we were trying to play some decent attacking football. But yes you're right we'd have probably been relegated if we'd asked professional football players to try and pass the ball to each other.

Nothing to do with finding sticks to beat him with, I don't just have to be satisfied and find excuses for previous bad form because I rate the manager.