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!

Aston Villa; manager, club or players? Some faults analysed.

The last three months have been a real roller-coaster at Villa park and the fans have shown an unfortunate amount of accuracy in judging their team and manager.

This accuracy would mostly concentrate on the lack of squad depth and poor use of tactics from our attacking manager.

With four days left in the transfer window the worries are really surfacing as a fragile Villa team has added nothing to their armoury.

Quality has been a real issue, and a lack of leaders is destroying confidence minute by minute; the return of Vlaar inspired a confident first half performance against West Brom but the slightest opposition attack has most Villa defenders sprawling.

The question of quality is problematic, a young team plays an awkward tactic and even though 352 could really suit their abilities pieces of the puzzle are missing.

An experienced left back leaving the club hopefully points to a plan of action relating to midfield, Delph and Bannan are a very poor partnership as both are mop up players but in different parts of the pitch; and neither have real physical presence. Delph has shown real maturity in recent weeks but he needs a partner to protect him, a true tackling midfielder who takes on a man with his physical presence rather than technical ability, the same could be said for Bannan.

The loss of Petrov really highlights this, while not the strongest player his on the ball positioning and calm attitude allowed the team time to assess their own tactical presence and though he played a slow game he took pressure off struggling players. A potential alternative could be Herd but a lack of defenders has pushed him into the back 3.

Injuries have devastated the team yet the reliance on poor performers is keeping confidence low, with Agbonlahor back, Dunne on his way and Nzogbia looking fit there must be something to get excited about; yet this excitement has nothing to do with Lambert efforts throughout the season where his young signings have really struggled to pay back unwavering managerial support.

This support hasn’t found its way to our own academy and far from setting a challenge it is simply decreasing the potential of them succeeding; for the many fans who were watching MacDonalds academy team thrive in previous seasons their absence seems to point to a manager doing it his way, rather than a manager who galvanizes, perhaps Weimann’s absence at the start of the season and instance of playing wide might point to this.

After Carruthers spirited performance in the last few minutes against Liverpool fans probably expected to see him getting some more game time yet in recent weeks the non playing ‘take on your man’ midfielder has been dropped from the squad entirely.

A rare glimpse of first team action for Daniel Johnson stopped as soon as it started, striker Jordan Bowery has been supporting from the wings in dying minutes and Derrick Williams was publicly told he wasn’t ready after 10 minutes of game time.

Enda Stevens has latterly found game time but has struggled with fitness, as has Lichaj; yet whenever called upon both have shown dedication to survival and added to the team’s unity.

Many fans would be questioning whether Bennett is ready? Whether Lowton really supports our defence? Why money was spent on Bowery when Delfourneso was sent on loan? And why El Ahmadi was bought when he offers no defensive quality? Poor performances from Bannan and Delph have seen them retain places, and Holman is a grafter rather than the link man the manager hopes for.

Player relations are imperative and there are examples of ex Villa players that left due to a lack of first team football, I’m sure many fans would be over the moon if the squad still included Crouch, Cahill and Gardner, and perhaps not too upset if it included Ridgewell, Lowry, Hogg and Whittingham.

Paul Pogba has proven that even the big teams can let useful players go; and I am reminded of a certain Samir Carruthers who came to Villa from Arsenal.

Player management aside tactics haven’t played to players strengths, a defensive crisis is compounded by Collins and Cuellars departure and the board seems to lack a director who understands the wider nature of success in football. Lambert is in a difficult position but he has been charged with this responsibility, he missed a huge chance to reduce first team pressure during the FA cup tie with Milwall yet a strong side exampled their fragility to Tuesdays opponents Newcastle.

Lambert needs to be strong; he was strong enough to buy young, part company with MacDonald, set strict team rules and gamble on a young Belgian but he hasn’t show enough strength to look at his own flaws and change his own managerial methods.

With enough games to save themselves extra numbers could really bolster the Villains campaign, but if not forthcoming the only way the club will stay amongst the elite is if their young talented manager changes his approach and plays to strengths and not beliefs.