All Goals – Everton 2-1 Aston Villa – 01-02… by beingoal1
I’d got this one down as a draw, a 2-2, not that it matters much.
My thinking was that we’d play a similar game as we did against the Baggies and Liverpool, where our energy and tenacity would get us something.
But while we huffed and puffed, we actually achieved nothing today.
When you consider Tim Howard actually only touched the ball once prior to our goal (and that was a backpass), you begin to realise how toothless we were.
So around the half hour mark when we were one up, I’d already got the headline in my head, which would have been “Never mind the quality, feel the result”.
The 30% first half possession statistic would probably have backed me up, but either way, I was thinking that I struggled to recall watching such a boring half of footy.
The point is, even with a 1-0 lead, I still thought we were poor value and incredibly boring to watch.
It was a decent goal mind, with some gritty play by Delph that started the move.
It wasn’t a foul by him, but the ball ended up with Benteke, who laid it onto Bacuna, who shot instead of playing square or cutting it back.
Whatever his thoughts were, he ‘megged Howard and it was in.
Perhaps Howard was feeling the cold a bit, due to his inactivity, but it looked a well worked goal.
deserved? Not really. But that’s what we do.
The commentator kept rattling on about how disciplined we were at the back, but I didn’t swallow it for one minute.
Everton looked a big threat every time they came down our right and a decent side playing on form would have murdered us in that area.
Fortunately, Everton didn’t seem to have it about them to really take advantage.
And then came the second half, where you could see that things were going to change.
They piled on the pressure and you just knew things weren’t going to stay as they were.
I was thinking that we needed to take it to Everton much more or they were going to score.
We’d taken the totally ineffective Holt off at half time and rightly so, in my opinion.
Why play two ball winners up front, when you’re playing three (or more correctly five) at the back?
In fairness, the setup was a lot more fluid than a three or five at the back, with the aim seeming to be to just outcrowd the opposition. Which was sort of working.
It was just that we seemed so narrow at times and you couldn’t see how we were going to create chances.
How we’re missing Gabby.
But I don’t profess to be a tactician or coach.
So someone had best explain to me why you take off your main central defender to replace him with a winger.
This one left me totally bamboozled.
I can understand it if the opposition don’t look a threat, but they were all over us and I’ll never understand that one as long as I live.
And El-Ahmedi has to be one of the worst to bring on as a sub, in my eyes, but what do I know?
I just think we could have got at least a point and maybe more today, if we’d played it correctly.
Everton weren’t the side they have been in the earlier part of the season and I just feel disappointed.
Holt and benteke together don’t work at all there is a serious lack of pace. I thought against wba we lost the attacking intent as soon as Holt came on and we lacked any attacking intent today, we were lucky to go 1 up. I understand why he got Holt in on loan incase benteke gets injured but I wish he would stop playing them together, I could be proved wrong but don’t see it ever working and don’t see the point unless you are whipping in crosses which we also don’t do!
This is why I had such a downer on Holt’s signing.
He’d only have come if he was playing, but he should only be a backup to Benteke.
That apart, both front men offered very little, as we weren’t getting them into the game at all.
Unless you’re playing wingers, I just don’t see the point of it.
It appears Lambert sees something I (or anyone playing standard known tactics) don’t or as Bill suggests, he’s a total and utter idiot.
Me?, I think he’s winging it and needs help.
That’s perhaps unfair, but the niggling thing is how can we perform as we did against Pool and then change so much for Everton?
It doesn’t take much working out does it, Lambert has no tactical knowledge of a game of football now does he, we only have to look back at previous games that’s left us mesmerised on the way he’s thought things should work. Again he’s made a chump of himself we all cannot work out what’s hes doing, I’ve given up knowing what.
Bill – I think ‘hit and hope’ applies to the way Lambert sets up the team as much as it does his instructions to anyone bar the forward three.
Holt simply isn’t Gabby, he’s an emergency sub who shouldn’t be starting matches. We may as well play Steer instead of Bertrand.
Why the fuck did we not play the same way as against Pool. I would have put Bertrand in Gabby’s place and left everything else as it was(with Baker at LB). Very poor tactically. What makes it worse is this was possibly the best time of all to play Everton this season.
Fuck off Lerner, the Villa is OURS….show us ambition and money or just fuck off, you ignorant, spineless, pennypinching, lying, gutless fuckwit!
Langford, you didn’t really expect any sort of consistency from us did you? We seem to have half a dozen decent performances a season under Lambert . The rest are embarrassments or ground out results mired in shit.
Lerner out!
Lambert out!!!
p.s….Holt should only play as a last resort. Not his fault he was picked today. Just wrong formation and wrong personnel.
The title says it all. 100% Lamberts fault today. We have shown in the last 2 games that we can play football, and yet he goes back to negative 5 at the back and hoofing it!
Very poor, and as for Holt, I am lost for words.
You pick a hod carrier to play football and you get either Vinny Jones or Grant Holt, woeful signing whether its a loan or injury cover or whatever surely the Villa are better than a championship side bench warmer….. the whole club is a disgrace.
Lerner please just go, take the pie eater and that mumbling manager with you.
I’m pissed about Holt being seen as a decent signing by some, but there you go.
A total waste of a place today, but as Langford says, that’s not his fault, it’s the manager’s.
If you’re going to play two big centre forwards up top, get the fucking ball to them, at least.
And where was that ever going to come from?
I’m getting the hump more, the more I think about it.
What happened to the “number of opportunities we are looking at” and a number 10 is a priority, this club treats us fans as absolute fools
We have a number 10 in the making called Andreas Wiemann. What on earth makes you think Lambert would play one (especially in the right position) if he brought one in?
Video highlights added.
Sorry about the ads, but better than nowt, if you haven’t seen the game.
2 steps forward and 1 big step back
i saw the lineup and couldn’t understand from there wot the plan was, after 90 minutes iam still clueless. if that was a boxing match up. referee would av stopped it on 10 minutes.cos it was total missmatch. u can’t just hide behind ur guard, not throwing punches ~
but that seems like the plan. yes they defended as a team and manfully held strong but if u keep giving the ball away. plus if u don’t carry a threat on the break its one outcome and its one that cost us.
had they played same tactics as the pool game villa would av walked this game ~ very disappointing, the confidence gained after 2 top performances gone with a wimper
Shit manager, shit owner, shit signings. Any wonder why the club is a laughing stock. Another crap performance and deserved loss.
Grant Holt sums up what a joke and farce our once proud club is. Couldn’t even make one poxy permanent signing, mind you might be a blessing, as Lamberk would only have lumbered us with another useless turd from the French 2nd division like last January’s masterstroke Sylla, who can’t even pass the ball.
vlaar =hamstring seen limping on to team coach
It was constipation again. Apparently the team chef has been serving lasagne and the beef is out of date.
Yes, fair play Billys, Seems that was the case, although it didn’t look like it when he went off.
Andy Badger, your submitted post will be up first thing tomorrow morning mate,
Now lads have you noticed the teams below us who bought in players have suddenly started winning games yet Lamberk does nothing a couple of lonees and hopes against hope that these teams are going to do us a favour it;s no good saying well we beat the Baggies we are safe now we are not by a mile have got to start winning games on the bounce failure to do so means teams have a very realistic chance of over taking us.
Yes Terry, Fulham bought more than anyone…fucking worked wonderful didn’t it.
Anyway, nice to visit here and see that ianrobo’s moaning Minnie’s have crawled back out of their wormholes. If we had held out for that last 15 minutes it would have fucked up their armchair watching weekend completely.
Geoff Bird,
You think we should have held out for 15 mins?
What a load of bollocks.
We were under the cosh for most of the game and if you think holding out is acceptable, well, fair play to you.
I can happily live with critical comments, as that’s what we’re about, but I don’t like this sort of “hit and run” comment, that you keep coming up with.
Now fuck off to your own other site, where you think things are all rosey.
I’m just not in the mood, tbh.
Has Geoff been banned for having a different opinion to the owners? Seems the way to get banned from this site.
Think you’ve called that right ianknobbo. Badger’s tv must have been playing up, or he was just listening to the radio because although Everton had a lot of the possession, until they equalised Guzan had hardly been required to do anything other than take crosses. They had one serious effort which hit the post in the first 5 minutes before the goal.
No, he hasn’t been banned.
I really struggle at times to see what Lambert’s game plan is, I’ve honestly played in Sunday morning sides that could ping the ball about better. I watch the ball simply banged out from the back with no rhyme or reason to it and wonder what they do all week down at bodymoor heath?
Does anyone know what the game plan is?
I doubt it.
It can work, as in the Pool game, but if the pundits (the diamond against Pool was a classic example, in that it wasn’t obvious to me) and the fans don’t really know, I suspect the players have even less of a clue.
Long punt, benteke’s power, gabby’s pace the job’s a good en. Take gabby out the equation and we’re pretty fucked.
I’ve said we’ve missed Gabby.
That is so sad and says a lot about what sort of side we are mate.
And we signed Holt?
I could rattle on, but the site might start to be seen as negative 🙂
Beyond me why he doesn’t give helienus a start, on u tube he looks the bollox but who knows the standard? But either way he would (imo) offer more than holte.
without ball tactic worked well as everton struggled to create until they subbed at half time. trouble was with ball ~ i think they thought holt and benteke could hold the ball up and delph and weimann and the wing backs would all join in. trouble was they benteke and holt were isolated and weimann was lost.
martinez changed tactics realising we were not offering the threat behind they push us further back second half and we couldn’t change from rugby union
We had a threat?
Your’re not far off in your assesment in my opinion, but miles off the mark re the second half.
We continued to play too high a line, which was always going to catch us out, while sitting too deep, when we were (rarely) attacking.
Two banks of defenders will never get you anywhere.
We simply played too defensive and it cost us.
Lambert’s only idea of defence is a back line of 4-5, with more in front.
There’s no future in that, I’ll put money on it.
they took of stone the fullback off replaced with naismith ~ this was a siege ~ the high line we adopted worked well. but if u don’t offer offence ur rite its a matter of time b4 they cracked it
who ere thinks lambert instructed the team 2 boot the ball back 2 everton and play attack and defence with the toffees, against pool we add pace but the tactic with the ball was 2 play through midfield, not looking 2 release gabby everytime we pass pool off the park
plus i stated we never HAD a threat so no need 4 ????? ‘s martinez realised that h/t and altered his tactic ~ he could av subbed howard 4 a striker as we were so bad
Fulham,baggies & norwich for the drop.
BWS quite simple really, he doesn’t have one, he’s our new breed of managers, just go out and try to kick the ball, his coaches are from his last club that won’t have nothing to do with him, and us fans are that mesmerized in understanding his game that he thinks is football that we know nothing. I’ve given up on him.
Hi Bill you okay mate?
You’re probably right, the new breed- get in, get the contract, get the sack – get the wedge.
No shankley, Busby, clough or Saunders in this generation.
Hi mate that’s it in a nut shell, he doesn’t have the ability to run a premiered club not one iota I’m dumb founded on understanding his method, he’s got me bill and I ran two football teams for years in the festival league.
Football’s football mate, you either get lots of big fuckers in and go long and percentage (Stoke) or ones that can play ( arsenal) and keep it on the deck or a bit of both (Man city).
We do what exactly?
Just like the first 10 mins against Albion it was the high ball up to the front…it was only after playing on the deck that it changed BUT it stayed the high ball all day here……
Apart from the goal the only chance was when Albrighton ran at them and he was only on a few mins…why didn’t he start as the Gabby replacement …then get 3 up and defend that.
We were terrible from the first whistle. Outrageous tactics by Lambert and co. It’s nice to see those back who have been in hiding since Wednesdays win though, welcome back..!!