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| The fezzed-up author of this article |
Again.
He's like a stuck record these days isn't he? I didn't think we were excellent. Or that good. Or even passable. Maybe Paul Lambert has a different dictionary to me.
The game may have given us a desperately needed and all too rare home win but on performance terms it ranks alongside some of the worst home displays. We've played far better and lost frankly.
Just like at Upton Park a week ago, we didn't seem to have a clue what to do with the ball when in possession, so the plan seemed to be to let Cardiff have it at every available opportunity, safe in the knowledge that they didn't know what do with it either. The Premier League prides itself on being one of the best leagues in the world, yet here were two clueless, feckless teams, seemingly intent on doing precisely nothing for the best part of 75 minutes.
It was a woeful display from both teams, jittery in defence, terminally uncreative in the midfield and devoid of spark and movement up front.
It's true to say that - if we include Jores Okore into the equation – Lambert was without more than half his first XI. However, football is a squad game these days and he has spent a few million quid on the players expected to come in to fill the gaps. Some of them need to do better.
To me, the inclusion of Kozak in the starting line up was part of the problem. So few teams set up with two out and out central strikers any more, which means that any team that does is putting themselves at serious risk of being out gunned in the middle of park and suffering possession-wise as a result. This certainly was the case against Cardiff, with our share of possession dropping to less than 40% at one stage of the game. Less than 40% at home against Premier League newcomers is completely unacceptable.
It would be unfair to blame Kozak himself though. Indeed, he seemed the livelier and more mobile of the two strikers, Benteke looking dejected as he struggled to shake off the manacles imposed by the extra defensive manpower his growing reputation has created. You have to wonder what the deal is with Helenius, who- it seems to me - would be more suited to dropping off the main striker and must be frustrated at not getting a chance even in Gabby and Andi's absence
The midfield so badly missed Fabian Delph that it hurt, Westwood and Sylla too often going for the safe rather than creative ball (and even then sometimes giving it away) and El Ahmadi being so vanilla as to be barely noticeable at all. Tonev scampered about the place like an excited puppy, all energy and goodwill but with very little in the way of tactical nous. Having a wayward hopeless shot from miles out when there are far better options is rapidly becoming his trademark and he's already garnering such an unfavourable reputation amongst the Villa faithful that will prove hard to shake off. Reading his name out on the team sheet now creates an audible groan, which is most unfortunate.
A lot of people expressed dismay at Lowton's omission, but I wasn't one of the them. I thought Matt Jarvis had made him look quite ordinary at West Ham. The issue here is that while Bacuna can do a competent job at right back, what we really want to see is him hurting opposition defences at the other end, so it is to be hoped that Lambert can be convinced to give young Matt an extended run in the team to get his mojo back and utilise Leandro to give us some much needed creativity further up.
Bacuna seems to me such an adaptable player and now he's settling in to the league, a role with more freedom could give us the spark in the midfield we're so obviously missing. They'll certainly be a great buzz whenever we get a free kick from here on in.
While some say the defence has improved with two clean sheets on the bounce, I remain unconvinced. Cardiff and West Ham merely lacked the operatives to pounce on the silly mistakes that are still being made by both Clark and Baker, though I will concede that Vlaar is looking far better now he seems to have curbed his tendency to go wandering off.
So do I trust Paul Lambert to sort it all out? Well, I do actually. I'm sure he's aware of areas where we need to improve and was probably as frustrated as we were at half-time yesterday. It's our job to get annoyed and his job to fix it and put smiles on our faces. I think he can, but it is gonna take time and dodgy performance or not, the three points his team put in the bag yesterday does give him some more time and should muffle the burgeoning "Lambert Out" faction for a few weeks longer. Wins against the Tesco boys and the Mackems and everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.
I suppose it's the done thing to describe your team as “excellent” when talking to the media and you don't wash your dirty linen in public. Doesn't stop me swearing at the radio though.
And just remember the next time he describes the fans as “excellent”, he has a very loose interpretation of the word...
He's like a stuck record these days isn't he? I didn't think we were excellent. Or that good. Or even passable. Maybe Paul Lambert has a different dictionary to me.
The game may have given us a desperately needed and all too rare home win but on performance terms it ranks alongside some of the worst home displays. We've played far better and lost frankly.
Just like at Upton Park a week ago, we didn't seem to have a clue what to do with the ball when in possession, so the plan seemed to be to let Cardiff have it at every available opportunity, safe in the knowledge that they didn't know what do with it either. The Premier League prides itself on being one of the best leagues in the world, yet here were two clueless, feckless teams, seemingly intent on doing precisely nothing for the best part of 75 minutes.
It was a woeful display from both teams, jittery in defence, terminally uncreative in the midfield and devoid of spark and movement up front.
It's true to say that - if we include Jores Okore into the equation – Lambert was without more than half his first XI. However, football is a squad game these days and he has spent a few million quid on the players expected to come in to fill the gaps. Some of them need to do better.
To me, the inclusion of Kozak in the starting line up was part of the problem. So few teams set up with two out and out central strikers any more, which means that any team that does is putting themselves at serious risk of being out gunned in the middle of park and suffering possession-wise as a result. This certainly was the case against Cardiff, with our share of possession dropping to less than 40% at one stage of the game. Less than 40% at home against Premier League newcomers is completely unacceptable.
It would be unfair to blame Kozak himself though. Indeed, he seemed the livelier and more mobile of the two strikers, Benteke looking dejected as he struggled to shake off the manacles imposed by the extra defensive manpower his growing reputation has created. You have to wonder what the deal is with Helenius, who- it seems to me - would be more suited to dropping off the main striker and must be frustrated at not getting a chance even in Gabby and Andi's absence
The midfield so badly missed Fabian Delph that it hurt, Westwood and Sylla too often going for the safe rather than creative ball (and even then sometimes giving it away) and El Ahmadi being so vanilla as to be barely noticeable at all. Tonev scampered about the place like an excited puppy, all energy and goodwill but with very little in the way of tactical nous. Having a wayward hopeless shot from miles out when there are far better options is rapidly becoming his trademark and he's already garnering such an unfavourable reputation amongst the Villa faithful that will prove hard to shake off. Reading his name out on the team sheet now creates an audible groan, which is most unfortunate.
A lot of people expressed dismay at Lowton's omission, but I wasn't one of the them. I thought Matt Jarvis had made him look quite ordinary at West Ham. The issue here is that while Bacuna can do a competent job at right back, what we really want to see is him hurting opposition defences at the other end, so it is to be hoped that Lambert can be convinced to give young Matt an extended run in the team to get his mojo back and utilise Leandro to give us some much needed creativity further up.
Bacuna seems to me such an adaptable player and now he's settling in to the league, a role with more freedom could give us the spark in the midfield we're so obviously missing. They'll certainly be a great buzz whenever we get a free kick from here on in.
While some say the defence has improved with two clean sheets on the bounce, I remain unconvinced. Cardiff and West Ham merely lacked the operatives to pounce on the silly mistakes that are still being made by both Clark and Baker, though I will concede that Vlaar is looking far better now he seems to have curbed his tendency to go wandering off.
So do I trust Paul Lambert to sort it all out? Well, I do actually. I'm sure he's aware of areas where we need to improve and was probably as frustrated as we were at half-time yesterday. It's our job to get annoyed and his job to fix it and put smiles on our faces. I think he can, but it is gonna take time and dodgy performance or not, the three points his team put in the bag yesterday does give him some more time and should muffle the burgeoning "Lambert Out" faction for a few weeks longer. Wins against the Tesco boys and the Mackems and everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.
I suppose it's the done thing to describe your team as “excellent” when talking to the media and you don't wash your dirty linen in public. Doesn't stop me swearing at the radio though.
And just remember the next time he describes the fans as “excellent”, he has a very loose interpretation of the word...
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