Aston Villa, the Championship beckons

No posts in an age, mostly because Aston Villa haven't bothered to play any football but things have been interesting (if you're not a Villa fan), culminating in a disgraceful 2-0 loss to Hull City.

Paul Lambert would clearly make a great Director of Football, his signings have been brilliant and the prices have been very fair but management is not something that this manager excels in.
Looking at his mistakes this year it's clear to see that he is as clueless about remaining tactically astute as he is about player management.

Certain examples point to Villa's problems and none more so than player selection, when McLeish let go of Guzan Villa fans rejoiced when Lambert signed him up again, and we were right, he has saved Lambert's behind on a number of occasions.
An incredibly low goal total has been followed by a lack of attacking ability and player selection has played its part, Lambert is treading a thin line.

Performances have been as bizarre as player selection with Lambert choosing under performers to almost every option. In contrast to other teams fortunes Villas own youth players have been given no support to steady a sinking ship and stagnant stars are given countless opportunities to fail.
On one hand you could argue that the players have failed the manager but in the case of Agbonlahor any ability to have an impact has dried up and Benteke's movement, or lack of it points to either a lack of belief in the managers tactics or no desire to play, I would suggest the former.

Any manager who has seen a football match, let alone one who escaped the Championship, understands that players need to follow the pass, move to create space or make supportive runs but time after time Aston Villa players have been allowed to perform in their sideways style looking for five aside passes to motionless players, when Alan Hutton is your most creative player you know you have problems.
These are managerial failures, the manager should either drop players who aren't doing what they're told or change what they are doing because the current idea train is failing.
The same failures have come with Grealish who never gets a game, Robinson who was brought back from a successful loan only to stagnate, Bent who is now scoring in the Championship and countless others who have either been given their shot for an extended period of failure or ignored outright in favour of Lambert's guys.

Clearly Lambert's tactics are flawed, the loss of Bent and Albrighton point to this, one likes to finish inside the box and the other likes to put the ball into the box, while neither will set the Premiership alight they will get you chances and get you goals, two things that don't occur at Villa park or away from it. We do however see many passes outside the box, neat interplay when defenders are in defensive positions and a complete lack of movement inside the box. Villa's woes have suffered from a lack of variation and a lack of ambition, passes are never with purpose and the perfect pass is always a consideration, a classic example was the recent fixture with Hull where the ball in the box created real chances and thus two goals, but only with 5 minutes to go a Westwood shot delivered a great chance for Benteke.
The manager must appreciate variation and needs to learn, quickly, or Aston Villa will be relegated, at least he has pedigree at getting back into the Premiership, he'll need it!.

Edit -

Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone! The Lambert nightmare is over, now if we can just get someone with a football brain into the club we might start to go in the right direction, I'll take two places higher than we are if that's all we can get!

Australian Open Men's Tennis Championship - Djokovic vs. Nadal (Djokovic winner)

With six consecutive wins over Nadal Novak Djokovic came into the Australian Open Final full of belief and with quality that would have Nadal bamboozled at least once a game.

Nadal however showed that his spirit and sheer quality under pressure can only create a year of tennis to behold.

No.1 vs No.2 are usually special affairs but the two best players created a spectacle worthy of the 1am bedtime the Australian fans were treated to.

A fantastic respectful Australian crowd were treated to a thumping first set that had Nadal come out on top 7- 5. A dogged affair saw power triumph over the delicate and accurate Djokovic who pushed Rafa back on many of his first serves.

The second and third set continued with the same quality as Djokovic continued his ability to pressure Nadals serve thus taking control of points and ultimately making Nadal gaze in amazement at pin point winners.

Djokovic’s energy was terrific and his talent to return the ball deep shone as Nadal was made to work for every point he won. Ultimately Djokovic’s quality was too much and Nadal was blasted away 6 – 4. 6 – 2.

Djokovic made is look comfortable but it really wasn't and Nadal looked frustrated at history repeating itself.

The fourth set saw Nadal find new energy. Djokovic miss three break points while at 4-4 and an interruption in the way of an unexpected shower and roof closure. From that moment on Djokovic looked tired and lumbered, Nadal on the other hand pumped his fist at every given opportunity and looked like he was ready for revenge. His tenacity and quality shone from the moment he stepped back on the court and despite Djokovic’s ability on his own serve Nadal survived the gauntlet of a tie break to win the fourth set and celebrate like he has won the title.

Far from waking Djokovic up the fifth and final set began with the ball in a focussed Nadal’s hand. His torrent of attacking brutal tennis continued and the tables were turned as Djokovic reeled on his own serve. Djokovic looked out of energy and out of ideas as he served at 2 – 3, Nadal capitalised with a brilliant display of relentless aggression and accuracy to take a 4 – 2 lead. At this point Djokovic began waking up and was handed an opportunity to galvanize his mental strength when Nadal missed a simple passing winner pushing the ball fractionally wide of the line. At this point a purposeful Djokovic closed down the game and instantly broke his opponent back.

Again the match swung and a quiet, heel dragging Djokovic remembered his early form to push Nadal wherever he so chose. The unforced errors had left Djokovic’s game and Nadal was back to chasing and defending.

At 5 -5 and surviving a break point the fist pumping returned to the Spaniard however this time Nadal showed his passion to the referee when he heard the next point called “out” by a fan, Nadals return on the ball (which was in) should have been better and the same could be said for the next point as Djokovic broke the Spaniard and amazingly left himself serving for the championship.

His previous faultless serving game continued as the calm Serbian served well placed first serves and calm returns. 

Nadal looked energized and concentrated and this paid off as he pulled the game to 30 – 40 but ultimately ending up at deuce. At deuce Djokovic deserved his slice of luck as Nadal’s return struck the net to give him advantage, he duly took control on the next shot winning the Australian Open title in 5 hours and 53 minutes and ripping off his shirt in delight.

A fantastic match to set up a most likely brilliant season; the best player won on the day and Nadal is going to have to find a way to deal with Djokovic's deep returns and flat accurate shots; 5 sets doesn't seem enough of an advantage any more.

Djokovic - Nadal 

            5 - 7                         

            6 - 4

            6 - 2

            6 - 7 (Tie break 5 - 7 )

            7 - 5