Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: Mike Field 
Date:Saturday December 29 2012
Time: 7:16PM
UK time is: 11:47:03
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That Was Hard To Take
Paul Lambert has said Villa will 'keep on fighting' after losing our must win match against Wigan today.
Speaking to the Official Site after another confidence sapping scoreline, Lambert said:
'It's not great that's for sure when you lose a goal early doors at home, especially from a corner kick. We only had a 20 minute spell in the first half where we looked like ourselves and we had a couple of half chances. Then the second half there was a lot of endeavour but no creativity. The second goal was really poor, coming from a throw in. It was a hard one to take, that's for sure. It was disappointing because it was a chance for us to climb the table. When you're competing with everyone else around you and you get turned over 3-0 at home, then it certainly hurts you, that's for sure. But you have to try and not let it fester, you have to put a stop to it.'
The rest of the interview is pretty much the same as the others, Lambert believes we'll be fine, we'll keep going, we'll keep spirits high etc.
Today showed the players' confidence has taken a knock, plenty of running yes, but not the confidence to try things, not even the confidence to take a punt on a shot - we're playing safe for the fear of getting hammered again - but even today when they got a bit of wind up them and just went at Wigan, we looked dangerous. But if we're only going to do that for 10 minutes if we're lucky we are never going to pull a result out the bag.
January is key and we need reliable experience to help carry them through, and get that belief back.
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Your Comments
We are the worst team in the league. -24
bikini inspector
It's going to be a boom and bust season. We knew it at the start and we still know it now. Over reacting won't help anyone. However, the same problem remains- there's honesty and hard work but no creativity or spark. This must be dealt with in January. Steven Ireland definitely needs to go. I've given up waiting for him to be something other than mediocre.
Villa_Grizzly
How did the game actually go today? Did the performance match the result? Today was the first game Iv missed this season only got my internet working now... We may have shipped 15 over xmas without reply which is just a shambles but if we turn on them we're *****ed... All we can do is look to bring in a few faces in January and start to pick of points anywhere we can... At Liverpool it looked we turned the tide and we going to climb out of disaster but it would seem that we have been engulfed by a wave of reality... We wont be out of this battle until the final few games of the season... Its incredibly important we do not slip into the bottom three next week or I fear we will go down... If it becomes 4 defeats in a row it might be all too much for us...
CDX_EIRE
I will also say everyone wants experience but I want quality before that... Our squad just isnt good enough and I cant see some of them ever making it... I use to think we would get away with just 2 new signings but now it seems we need at least 4... We completely lack creativity and a threat from set pieces...
CDX_EIRE
Miserable feeling to find ourselves the whipping boys of the league at this time. Ron Vlaar can't come back soon enough.
Ams78
The performance was exactly like the previous two. Admiitedly I only watched it on a stream today (earache from sitting in the freezing cold to be bummed by Spurs) but we were scared of Wigan. Gave them a goal in 2 mins, didn't close players down, all our possession was in our own half. After Wigan got the second and third goals we improved slightly, but that was because they sat back and saved their legs. We made Wigan look like world beaters and I would have left early if I was there. Effort and endeavour are all well and good, but you have to be able to find space, pass the ball and stretch teams too. We did none of these!!!
heavy d
I must also add that just adding experience for the sake of it with journey men won't help. I recall the likes of Kinsella and Leonhardsen being bought in. It's got to be the right type of player to have a decent impact. A Nobby Solano sort.
Ams78
Hold on. Lamberts tactics are seriously questionable. Why sit Bannan in front of the defence like some midget version of Barry Ferguson. Even when the system clearly wasnt working he just sat there.He is clearly not a defensive midfielder.
PiperUK
Hard to take? I'm sure it's a lot easier with £2million a year salary in your back pocket hey Paul!!! These players and manager have had the longest honeymoon period imaginable because we all bought in to the bullsh**! He needs to start balling a few of them out publicly because coddling them isn't working. If they can't take a bit of criticism what does that say about them as people. "I'll only do my job if you say I'm good". Criticism can be used as a tool to get people to focus on their weaknesses and improve. Alan Shearer said he was criticised for his heading ability as a youth and made to do extra training, with hundreds of crosses aimed at him. He consequently became a complete, world class, centre forward. There isn't a player in the team at the moment that has a complete rounded game. I couldn't give a toss about a few hurt feelings to be honest!
heavy d
Jesus the it was the same as the last two games? I was hoping maybe they would have been up for it but I suppose the home crowd pressure added to the anxiety... While I agree to a certain extent about the tactics I think the idea of Bannan playing there is to launch quick attacks from deep and to play as a screen preventing teams playing through us because we have so many bodies and forcing them out wide... Now I dont like Bannan at all but I do understand his intentions... Its possible to play without a tackler in MF but usually when you do this your other players are somewhat capable of hassling opponents we dont seem to do that... After the last three games Im kind of stumped as to how we will get out of this when I see who he signs I might come up with some idea but until then we are sinking... Our players arnt good enough in time some will be but at the minute we are taking a huge risk with some of them... I like what we are trying to achieve I want our club to be a place where we bring our own players through but we are kind of forcing this policy now when we should maybe be looking to build more slowly...
CDX_EIRE
I just don't see anything but relegation I'm afraid. New players if (even if they can find and convince quality to join relegation strugglers) will need time to gell and play as a team by which time I fear will be to late. On the upside with our kids we have a fairly decent championship team which may scrape the playoffs.
gdav
I'm dreading the doom laden words, "We'll have to work harder on the training pitch!" As soon as I hear that I know the manager hasn't got a clue what to do next.
Ironside
20 Games and only 4 wins. you can't stay up with those stats
eltoro
Does anyone know were Lerner is
eltoro
*where
eltoro
(That Was Hard To Take) you bet it was
every week the same old patter PL stop these comments and get it right because we are utter CRAP or Learner ,Faulkner you will have a war on your hands From your Loyal Villa Supporters
apache
Bye bye PL. Whether that's premier league or Paul Lambert we''ll wait and see.
onlyteaminthemids
Yes, as someone said, EXPERIENCE + QUALITY please. One without the other is pointless and it will cost. Get your mega-fat wallet out for the lads Lerner.
Villan444
Rest assured, the 3 teams below us will invest. QPR will back Harry, Southampton have already shown they will back Adkins with £7.5million for Rodriguez and £11million for Ramirez and more promised. Reading will spend as the have an Oligark who wants to retain PL status. Wigan will also spend with Dave Whelan, a man who I despise, willing to spend from his own fortune rather than club revenue. We will need to match any investment these clubs make (not necessarily in pure financial terms, but certainly in ability and numbers of players recruited) It's worth pointing out, with the exception of Wigan, that these clubs are not operating max wage limits, and will likely be competing for the players we are targetting. None of them has been humiliated like we have over the last 3 weeks either. The cache attached to joining Villa is gone. We fans know we were/still are a big club but it's been that long since we won anything that this generation of players don't know it. A bold statement is needed about the clubs ambitions and pretty damn soon. UTV!!!
heavy d
What it is - if we win in Wales, he will survive, for now. I guess a draw would postpone the inevitable also. If we lose, which frankly is quite likely as we still have injuries and Lambert appears to have no clue about how to deal with either that fact or appropriate selection or tactics for a given set of opponents, then it is a no-brainer. However we have a board that insisted on keeping Mcleech until the end of the season when he should have gone in February. So I am not even confident they will do the right thing if they need to. But surely if we lose at Swansea no one can still believe that this manager should stay !? This is what he said per Skysports "I can't fault the lads for effort." WTF. . Also - "when asked if he would prioritise investment in his squad in January, he told Sky Sports: "No". Hopefully, youve been told theres no money because its already been earmarked for someone else to spend and for your golden parachute.
malacaxeta
'War', lol. Apache by name, Apache by nature!
VillaWillRiseAgain
one other thing about Lambert which I think is worth a mention - as a player, he never saw a relegation battle worth talking about - B Dortmund one season and then eight seasons at Celtic. Dont know if St Mirren or Motherwell ever got relegated but its another planet in comparison to the EPL. He doesnt have the stomach for it because he doesnt know what its like....at least last year we had players like Collins, Given, and Warnock who knew what they had to do.
malacaxeta
Eck and Deadly are probably ROTFPTSL!!! If they were both still at the club the fans would be cruxifying them!!! There are still people who think Lerner will lead Villa to the Promised Land. He won't. The football landscape has changed since he took over and he didn't change with it. Villa fans are a laughing stock to many fans of other clubs. They probably see the average Villa supporter/fan as patient as a donkey and willing to put up with dross week-in-week-out because one day the club and its fans will wake up in Nirvana. Randy promised!!!
VillaWillRiseAgain
3 points off Fulham in 14th and in with a decent chance of the first cup in ages. Going through a bit of bad form with a lot of injuries, but we were the better team today. Stop whining and feeling sorry for yourselves, get behind the team.
SchoolBoyError
SchoolBoy, how on earth can you claim we were the better team today?do you have restricted view seats? We had one spell of about 20 mins when we got on top and apart from that Wigan bossed it despite being utterly crap themselves
AVbornandbred
Shouldn't really rise to the bait but......We were the better team? Did we score 3 then and have the most possession? A decent chance of a cup? I'm sure Chelsea/Swansea and, after today, even Bradford will have something to say about that. Only 1/2 at most of the players out injured would have been in contention for a start - Gabby and Vlaar. The others have hardly been used.
heavy d
I have to say I am a fan of Lambert and feel that given time he will be a very good manager for you, however how close to the panic button are your board, who will surely look to make lambert the fall guy before the hold their own hands up.
oxfordspur
It's possible that what Lerner/Faulkner promised Lambert isn't what he got.
VillaWillRiseAgain
Not sure where to start really, at least Randy was there to see it, his new girlfriend is very attractive is that is any consolation...
Dominic22
Wonder what attracted her to the Billionaire Randy Lerner?
VillaWillRiseAgain
Players looked totally clueless today. No shape, no formation, no running off the ball. Doesn't matter who comes in during January, the lack of tactics and teamwork is the reason we are so crap and there is only one man to blame for that (and for those so keen to blame him for everything it can't be blamed on Lerner)
AVbornandbred
Lerner and his team have been messing things up from before MON left. Lambert is struggling, but this mess is firmly at the boards door, as they have made the club a laughing stock in the way they have handled things in the last two or three of seasons. and I dont write this with pleasure or as a means to take the *****
oxfordspur
^^Everyone from the board down must take the blame and dig us out. It seems some are more willing than others and those "some" are at the top??? I don't want PL to leave just yet and with a good clean the air discussion and re focus I'm sure we can get a win that will see us turn this around. If we have no belief we have nothing! This very poor run of results must come to an end or for the sake of our prem status. UTV.
holte ender 1969
"at least last year we had players like Collins, Given, and Warnock who knew what they had to do" - I have never seen a more clueless player than Warnock; oh wait no, Mutton's just as bad. He played last year as well IIRC. We were lucky to avoid relegation last season with those donkeys playing; we'll need just as much luck this time around with the kids we have now. And whoever said Ireland has to go, I agree. He's never going to do anything at Villa. We need not 2 or 3 experienced quality players this January, more like 6 or 7. Let's see what happens eh ? UTV
ExpatVillaShirt
Getting my fancy dress costume ready (Grim Reaper) for the going down party. All welcome....Sunday 19th May 2013, DW Stadium, Wigan. That display today was shocking, the amount of times i shouted at Lichaj to 'bomb' forward, at Bannan to pass the ball, at Holman to not run into an opponent and lose the ball, at Lowton not to be out of position, at Benteke to get onside, at Ireland to get stuck in...and so on etc etc. As others have stated, we need new players in Jan, if not, then the first bit of my message will come true.
kojak
That was hard to take???? The last three results and performances were hard to take!!! Something has got to happen in January,and I mean something BIG otherwise we are DEAD!!!
Pride of Lions
Club record defeat... Worst start to a Premier League season... 15 goals conceded in the past 3 games... 2nd highest goals against in all 4 divisions... 6 league wins in 2012. We're not staying up this year, lads. Something is broken at our club and the players, Lambert, Lerner and Faulkner all have to share the blame. What's the answer? F**ked if I know!
Rawlie
I don't want experience I just want good players
AdzVilla11
And Schoolboy I fell off my seat because of you
AdzVilla11
We were lucky to avoid relegation yes on the day of the Spurs game, but I saw all those games following the win v Fulham and Collins and Warnock played their part (they were under contract into this season after all)....they helped us grind out some points. Watch those games back (:) They had prior with Wham! and Blackburn. Note that I cleverly did not include Hutton or Dunne for that matter in either this or that sentence.....Dunne was out for most of that period learning how to kick humans over rugby posts, and Hutton was getting a No Relegation Experience tattoo. I will in future refer to the three remaining members of this "club" as The Unsellables.
malacaxeta
HHhhhmmmm. What do people want Lambert to say? Do they think he should give the players a very public rough and of a pineapple? Counterproductive. Criticise the chairman, I am not sure many people on here would publicly slag off their own boss or wear a sack cloth and ashes and indulge in a bit of self criticism? No-one would take it seriously, 'It's easy to say that on £2 mill per yeart'....
All clubs in and around the bottom have a poor spell of form, I choose those words carefully, ours has been atrocious. Swansea away, 3 points to us I say. Whilst my optimism might be blind, what choice do we have? Lambert hasn't become a bad manager overnight, and neither will we become World beaters in one season, that is naive thinking.
It's a roller coaster, enjoy the ride.
Mervin King's Pocket
Oxfordspur, it's nice to hear what other fans think of the goings on at our club, thanks for taking the time.
eltoro
Malacaxeta- getting rid of the manager is a mass over reaction to an awful three game spell. We were going in the right direction when we were unbeaten in 6. Dragging out a bandwagon doesn't help us. To state he has no clue is also a disproportionate response to obvious hurt and disappointment. Respect your opinion but completely disagree. In Lambert we trust.
Villa_Grizzly
In Lambert we trust... Villa will survive...
CDX_EIRE
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