Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: J P Fear 
Date:Friday October 26 2012
Time: 11:31AM
UK time is: 06:20:06
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Lawro On Fence - Mystic Struggling With Optimism
So, Lawro is in the fence this week.
The BBC pundit told BBC Sport that he thinks Villa v Norwich will end up 1-1.
He points out that Lambert could well be in for some stick from Norwich fans but that the Villa boss has other things more pressing to worry about, like getting some points!
He said: "I am a little surprised that they are not playing more like Norwich did under Lambert last season, when the Canaries had a go at teams - they attacked using width, played two strikers up front and did not have any problems scoring goals. When Villa's coaching staff do their post-match video analysis, they must sit there and realise they do not create enough chances."
Does seem strange and our Vital Norwich editor pointed out the same in his interview with Vital Villa: Click Here
Savvy said: "I can't work out why he's not being more gung-ho, seems reluctant to play Bent/Benteke together, and he's not playing the expansive football that he did when he was our manager. I think he'll do alright but you'll need to stay with him and be patient. Lambert is an excellent manager, you want to keep hold of him for as long as you can. You've got some good players, but it's not really happening at the moment. It will, but hopefully not on Saturday afternoon."
Lawro added "You look at them and think they are going to be in the bottom six all season and, if they have a bad end to the season, they are going to get relegated."
I also think Lawro is spot on when he says we should play Darren Bent and Christian Benteke up front together. I am also shocked at the lack of width. The odd time we go to the by-line and cross it, we look good.
He says that Norwich will be full of confidence.
Villa`s latest results:
Fulham 1 - 0 Aston Villa
Spurs 2 - 0 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 1 - 1 WBA
Southampton 4 - 1 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 2 - 0 Swansea
Newcastle 1 - 1 Aston Villa
Norwich`s latest results:
Norwich 1 - 0 Arsenal
Chelsea 4 - 1 Norwich
Norwich 2 - 5 Liverpool
Newcastle 1 - 0 Norwich
Norwich 0 - 0 West Ham
Spurs 1 - 1 Norwich
Mystic Mug 
is fed up of trying to be positive but says he is going to give it one more go! Looking at Norwich on the road, they don`t look particularly strong, albeit to be fair they have played pretty difficult oppo. But for the last time unless they don`t let him down, Mystic says 1-0 to the mighty Villa.
It has to be a home win doesn`t it? If not............
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Your Comments
24-0, Bent and Benteke to score 15 goals between them.
The Fear
What have you been on JF? LOL
kefkat
Think one of the reasons we dont play with width is we dont have two wingers ! Albrighton yes agreed but I do not believe Nzobia ever plays as a real winger,thinking back to his Wigan highlights he tended to beat men in the final third to score not to cross the ball. Anyway more to the point 2-1 to Villa.
Merlin128777
Home win, COTVABU
irish villa
We really need three points to take some pressure off the team... I agree with Merlin we dont have two wingers and as I have said previously we need to buy a LM as I think Albie could have a good season... Nzog is an Inside Forward he prefers to play on the Right and cut in... We are in for a tough Xmas if we dont win 2mo but I think we will PL will make sure this is one game he must win...
CDX_EIRE
he did have the whole summer to try to bring in wingers Merlin, although I must admit I think if he can stay fit and get a run in the team, Albrighton is a good winger and who knows, in his right position, Zoggy MIGHT (ahem) remember how to play football?
The Fear
DB9 thrives on service from the wings, The fact that there aren't any decent crossers/wingers probably has a lot to do with his problems of late. Wish someone at Villa could try and think outside the box. In football terms literally and figuratively!!!
VillaWillRiseAgain
Plenty of teams now play without wingers these days (Brazil, Spain to name but two) - its kind of in vogue. The service can come from anywhere - our problem is not lack of wingers, its lack of service, period. It should be coming from Holman and/or Ireland, plus one other "attacking midfielder". Remember - that midfield used to contain Milner, Young and Downing. So the problem is - with two up front, who else do you play in the middle. KEA plus Delph means that you need to go with five otherwise you don't have enough width. If you add in Marc then you can only play a lone striker. My view is that Nsomnia is a write off - the game time he has been getting would be better off in the hands of Marc. So in a nutshell - our midfield is not strong enough yet to go 4-4-2. If we play 4-5-1 the extra guy needs to have an attacking head on him eg Weimann, or Marc. We have seen that Gabby does not thrive in that role.
malacaxeta
DB9 is completely useless unless he's got lots of service from both wings you mean VWRA. ;-)
Villan444
"Has a lot to do with his problems of late". In other words, he relies on everyone else and is incapable of creating chances for himself, taking defenders on, (in fact I'd go as far as to say incapable of touching the ball more than once in any move) and a liability.
Villan444
Got carried away re: db9 AGAIN!!
Villan444
Amazingly, I agree with Villan444! DB9 can't run at defenders with the ball and shoot/score, he does need service but the quality he thrives on is sadly missing STILL. Definately play Bent and Benteke together, put pressure on their CBs. Still only go for a 1-1 draw if we're lucky.....
Pride of Lions
It pains me say that i agree with everything Lawro says here, as the game draws near i am not feeling confident about this one, Norwich are going t be full of confidence after beatin Arsenal, the only game we won was Swansea who were low on confidence after losing three games in a row, i hope im wrong! UTV!
ClivetheVillan
What Clive? We gave Swansea their first defeat ya made scone... Malacax while I agree with your sentiments the teams that play without oldschool wingers have players like Nasri, Alexis Sanchez, Di Maria etc guys who have free reign to move around and guys who are capable of playing out wide as well as thru the centre... I do agree our midfield is very weak and playing a 442 might be dodgy but I would go 442 at home no question take the risk on go for it... I think we need a LM and creator in the middle we have enough defensive type MFs... I agree Nzog should go I cant see him recapturing his Wigan form, I dont like Bannan he is flashy lacks the mentality to become a good player, Alrighton under the right guidance will be good, I like Delph he has something there are subtle little things in his game that show his potential class, I would try and retrain Herd as a CB, Ireland would be a lot better if had another genuine attacking threat in the team, KEA will do a job over the next two years until we get real quality through, Havnt seen enough of Westwood and I dont think we will see much of him until we climb the table and then theres Holman its hard to hate a man who gives so much what he lacks in technique he more than makes up for with his energy and enthusiasm... Based on that Id try Holman, Delph, Ireland, Albie, Bent, Benteke for this game... and in the future I would look to offload Bannan and Nzog for anybody that would have them and buy a proven LM and CM who make things happen... Even a guy like Tom Ince at the right price would be an improvement on what we have.. (I wrote alot wow)
CDX_EIRE
A. Young, Milner and Downing all did a good job from the wings. Wingers might not be fashionable but they work for Villa or they have done in the recent past. Bent at least has experience. The first team is filled with youngsters -- many of whom already have a relegation battle under their belts -- and some experience is needed. Benching Bent, therefore, is perhaps a little shortsighted. Villa are going to need his goals and soon. Wouldn't be suprised to see Lambo's boys lose tomorrow if Bent isn't playing.
VillaWillRiseAgain
I look at things in a totally different way VWRA. Bent doesn't have/get goals. The team gets goals and all he does is supply the final touch sometimes. Half the time it isn't neccessary anyway seeing that the team has to get the ball all the way into the 6 yard box for him to be effective, they may aswell finish it themselves or shoot from distance. We aren't solely reliant on 1 person to score goals. Without the rest of the team DB9 would be even more useless than normal. We need attackers attacking, a finisher finishing is good but not when every team that we play against has 2 attackers both capable of doing more than 1 thing in a certain small area of the pitch.
Villan444
My bad CDX your quite right, we were the first to beat Swansea but i had there results the other way round as they went on a three game losing run after we beat them got my wires crossed, but we did seem to play them at the right time as we have played poor since really, Villa need investment in January and i mean some quality added otherwise i just have a really bad feeling about what may happan come may, if we do go down i will not blame Lambert for our continous downward spiral one bit, he is brave imo for taking this job on in the first place!
ClivetheVillan
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