What We Learnt as Villa Fans This Week after Coming Unstuck vs Toffees

Ball watching, can’t shoot for toffee and the axes are sharpening

*Shelley is away in Spain and drinking too much in order to write. So I’ve knocked this up – DM

Yes, we know Villa’s home form is naff and we haven’t kept a clean sheet at Villa Park since December last year. Hell, we also know we haven’t scored in three games and we’re in need of some points pronto to avoid slipping into the bottom three, but what else have we learnt as Villa fans this week?

Let supporters do the ball watching

You’ve got a game that is being billed as Benteke vs Lukaku, there was a reason why. In short, both players offer their team’s main threat. You can bet that Martinez drilled the Everton defence with instructions in how to deal with Benteke. Now, of course, Lambert must have mentioned the threat of Lukaku to his defence, after all the young Belgian has been in white hot form recently. So why, oh why, was the young Belgian in yards of space when he received the through ball to crash it home for 1-0?

The answer is the same answer to why Villa shipped so many unnecessary goals last season – ball watching!

There was two Villa centre-backs running back to cover and not one of them thought, ‘Well,I better mark this big deadly Belgian striker chap’? Unbelievable really. Let hope this was just a one-off lapse and was more down to the defensive rejig that happened.

Weimann, Tonev and even Benteke need to learn a little tenderness

We’ll leave Benteke out of this, as he’s making his way back from injury and he scores more unlikely goals than he misses easier chances.

The main question on Villa supporter’s lips is what has happened to Andi Weimann? Has his pay rise sapped his ability?

Weimann’s strength is his never-say-die attitude, but at times that leaves him a little too wound-up. Witness a Weimann miss and his head is melodramatically in his hands, as he looks up to the sky, as if the world has ended, while the game continues around him. Play to the whistle kid.

Maybe he’s an emotional kind of guy or he’s just theatrical. A cooler, calmer and collective head would help him no end and perhaps lead to better decisions and more goals.

Tonev in simple terms needs to learn that football is not all about shooting. You don’t get extra goals for scoring from impossible distances or angles. His awareness is grossly lacking and for a player with a good technical skill set, he’ll waste his ability if he doesn’t address it pronto. Charles N’Zogbia was always frustrating in the way he was a head-down dribbler, but Tonev’s rashness winds me up even more than that.

Really? Villa supporters are sharpening their axes for Lambert, already?

As the final whistle went against Everton some boos rang out at Villa Park. Hours later, Villa blogs were running articles about how Lambert must go and forums were berating the Villa manager for being clueless (naturally, without offering up any solutions or alternatives).

Yes, Villa’s home form is not good enough and should be addressed, and Lambert is not perfect, but lets not get too hasty just yet.

Villa have only played one team in the bottom half of the table this season (Norwich). We’ve played eight teams in the top half out of our nine games, and in Arsenal and Manchester City have beaten two Champions League sides. If we beat West Ham at the weekend, then Villa are a top-half team after 10 games played. Not bad for a team of young pups still being groomed and pretty much on-track for most supporter’s preseason expectations.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll have a clearer indication of how Lambert’s team stands, as they’d have had a realistic opportunity to rack up some points. At least wait until then to start judging and sharpening your axes!

It’s all about the beard.

If Tim Howard’s performance is anything to go by, we also learnt it’s near impossible to score goals and even penalties against goalkeepers with beards. Brad Guzan maybe should try one on for size…

Views on the above in the comments section below please…UTV

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