Villa’s Proper Man of the Week After Yet Another Home Defeat
Another week down and Villa still don’t have those three points that pushes them to the accepted safety mark this season. To make this week’s defeat worse it came at the hands of the league’s bottom side (at the time), who have now done the double over us. Furthering the pain of the week was the record set by Lambert and his Villains this week, achieving their tenth home defeat of the season.
Though, it wasn’t all bad at Villa Park, as the team’s performance was not actually that bad. There was promising performances from Albrighton, Bacuna and even Holt! It was simply just the same old defensive slip-ups and lapses of concentration that ultimately cost us.
What the defeat does show however is Villa inch closer to that dreaded relegation battle. With a loss to Palace and a Fulham win at the weekend, and beads of sweat will start to appear on the Villa faithful.
The proper man of the week for this week has to go to a former winner who joins Delph as the only double-winner so far. Marc Albrighton was the driving force of anything positive for Villa, sparking nearly every attack.
Marc was the number one in the game for creating clear cut chances (with four), one being the corner that set up Holt to nod home. An honourable mention has to go to Holt, who put in a decent shift for the team and showed a lot of heart and desire.
Another stat that was promising regarding Albrighton against Fulham was he was second overall in the amount of times he took opponents on. This shows the directness he gives to the team when he plays, something the team seriously lack when he doesn’t play. This begs the question why would Lambert even think of taking him off when we are chasing the game?
Moment of the Week: That 40-yard pass from Albrighton which was an absolute dream to watch. This bit of quality and the top class corners he was putting in show that he is developing to be a lot more than the knock and run player he was before.
So congratulations to you Marc on his second ‘Proper Man’. Give him that new contract.
The Villan That Has to Pick Himself Up and Go Again
Unfortunately the recipient of this award has already won it more than anyone. It just has to go to Paul Lambert again after setting a very unwelcome record this week. 10 home league defeats in one season, for the first time in the clubs history. Considering we now play fewer league games than in previous seasons, it really is a shocking record to get, especially with two games at Villa Park still to play.
This run of three consecutive defeats with 10 goals conceded has led to ‘Lambert Out’ social media campaigns for the first time since the Scot took charge. I for one think we should give him till next Christmas and see how he spends this apparent larger transfer budget over the summer. Let’s be fair, some of his signings have turned out well – Westwood, Benteke, Bacuna and Vlaar – so with more to spend, he could possibly build a team of upper mid-table quality at least. However I fear, with a poor finish to the season, which may lead to slow season ticket sales, it could force business men Lerner and Faulkner to act. Let us not forget that Lambert has been severely unlucky with injuries this season as well, particularly in the case of Okore, who was always going to be the main reason for potential improvement.
Improvement is definitely needed over the rest of the season to ignite some hope into us Villa fans, with a serious review of the playing staff and where additions (CREATIVE MIDFIELDER) are needed essential.
UTV
Who was your Aston Villa player of the week? Comment below.
*The column picture features former Villa skipper John ‘Jack’ Devey pictured here in 1895. As well as captaining Villa and being capped for England, he was also a top cricketer for Warwickshire, a decent baseball player, cyclist and runner. An all round proper man!
‘Proper man’ – copyright, Paul Lambert.
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I bet lambert is watching bayern stuff utd, how do you do that.
Seriously, who edits these articles?
“To make this week’s defeat worst…” (worse)
Apostrophes where there shouldn’t be (and not where there should be) and use of the word “less” when you mean “fewer”.
And of course the pièce de résistance: “…Okore, who was always going to b the main cause for potential improvement.” (When your writers can’t spell “be”, you know you’ve got problems).
Sometimes, when it’s other writer’s work, there’s not a lot of time to read through it, so I take a leap of faith and edit it properly once it’s up. The missing ‘e’ might be down to my keyboard, which has a knackered ‘e’ key. Time is always an issue, but thanks for the comments and heads-up. PS – I’ll be getting a new keyboard soon too, as it’s pi**ing me off.
WE WANT LAMBERT OUT! SAY WE WANT LAMBERT OUT!!