Happy Face

67 long balls per game last season. Pretty close to what we were hittting before the new year. Course, people don't complain about it while we're winning. We definitely pass a lot more now, mainly in our own half. Once we reach the penalty area we usually lob one in towards the striker who is the only one in the vicinity usually. I'm not sur if that's on your stats there but it's what we usually see. Think that's reflected in the bulk of investment being at the back (Debuchy and Mbiwa). Cisse is the only striker at the club that's good enough at the moment really, Need another one of a standard higher than Best, Ranger, Shola, Kuqi, Pancrate etc.

67 long balls per game last season. Pretty close to what we were hittting before the new year. Course, people don't complain about it while we're winning. Well you're wrong there. It's more accurate to say that people get laughed at for complaining while we're winning. Now we're losing. 67 long balls per game last season. Pretty close to what we were hittting before the new year. Course, people don't complain about it while we're winning. People did complain about it last season. True. I got a load of shit for complaining about it What I should have said is people don't want him sacked for it then.

67 long balls per game last season. Pretty close to what we were hittting before the new year. Course, people don't complain about it while we're winning.

It doesn't make any sense to level that criticism at Pardew. Are you saying he is coaching them to hit less long balls, but to not look where they're hitting the ball when they do use it?

Since buying Debuchy, Mbiwa, Sissoko, Haidara and Gouffran our long balls per game have averaged 58. Which is less than the season long average for 15 other teams in the league... http://i33.tinypic.com/alm0lk.jpg Stands to reason that replacing Simpson, Williamson, Perch etc will see an improvement on that score like. Seems odd to criticise Pardew on something he has so drastically improved in the last 3 months.

There's only 4 games where he's played less than 70 minutes. I don't think it's swaying the numbers that much. If it does though, then the point about increased aerial approach and defensive clearances becomes even more valid.

http://i50.tinypic.com/1znue8l.jpg I think the above all points to the fact that this season Tiote is suffering from the teams approach being to rely on long balls much more, which is not what will involve Tiote in the game. The amount of tackles he attempts per game has dropped season on season, correspondingly, his fouls and his yellow cards have too. The number of dribbles he attempts per game have also dropped off along with his pass % (not shown but he's averaging less total passes per game now too, from almost 60 a game last year to less than 55 this year). He's been dispossessed almost half as much this season as he was last season and is fouled less and less too. This all suggests he just doesn't see as much of the ball in the middle of the park where he does his best work, is this because he doesn't want it any more or because the team and the setup don't get it to him? Conversely look at the aerial duels, which he attempts more and succeeds in more of. He's receiving more balls in the air, and less to his feet. His number of clearances this season is also higher than any other previous year, evidence of him dropping deeper to be involved but not having someone like himself in the middle of the park to release it to, resorting to a long ball clearance. “If God had wanted us to play football in the sky he'd have put grass up there”

I think Fifa on the x-box is teaching a generation that, as a rule, the team with the highest rating should always dominate teams with lower ratings, and it's unforgiveable when that doesn't pan out. These games are still struggling to recreate chaos.

He does make the odd rare contribution, but 80% of the time he does nothing. Coming up to 2 years soon since he last scored from a PL start. What's that? 5 games or summat?

The idea that a team that has lost the lead is never going to up their game to chase victory is bogus iyam. I definitely think Pardew is over wary of this sometimes. His Reading changes were a disgrace and handed them an incentive they didn't have otherwise, rather than boosting us. He says they were forced on him. Not sure i agree. It just wasn't the case last night though. The idea that Pardew's half time team talk was anything but "more of the same" is wrong if you ask me. It was Villa that made 2 changes that altered the game entirely. The question mark was how Pardew dealt with that once he sussed it. Subs made in the last 20 minutes are not what led to events in the first ten minutes of the second half though. There were squeaky bums as we're nervous of not winning a single game on the road. Ultimately though, we conceded the goal that lifted Villaspirits with the same set-up as we had in the first half, because Lambert saw what he had to do and set-up to combat that set-up. Pardew changed things after conceding, dropping ever deeper, annoying as any of us find that, as the only way he could cope with the onslaught....which ultimately he did, we conceded no more after any of his changes last night.

Pardew has been forced to do without Gutierrez a few times in the last 15 games. The record is.... With P11 W3 D2 L6* Without P4 W0 D0 L4 I don't think the improved performance without Gutierrez argument holds any water whatsoever....unlike the man himself who sloshes about buckets of the stuff. Pardew does know better than most on here. He knows Gutierrez does a lot of the teams leg work, which few fans give him credit for. *He only played 25 minutes of the loss to West Ham, a game we were not losing when he went off.

http://i45.tinypic.com/20i89ds.jpg This season we're just outright losing more games....a third of them where we go behind initially and lose. We've gone from taking the lead and winning in half our games to doing it in a quarter of them. We have already lost 4 games from a winning position, just shy of a fifth. That is already more game than last season when it happened in a tenth of games. Adding in the draws, we've had 3 points in our grasp and come away with 1 or less 6 times. Compared to a total of 4 times over 38 games last season. If anything, I think last night showed a return to some of the reilience from last season which, if maintained, will see us continue to hold on to more leads. A return to form for Krul is massive on that score, as is the continued absence of Williamson from the back line.

I was interested in how we reacted to taking the lead and going behind last season so I produced a chart... http://i50.tinypic.com/5zl8r4.jpg The largest majority of games were ones in which we took the lead and held on to it for a win. Exactly half our games. In just under a quarter (21%) we went behind and lost. 11% saw us recover from a losing position to draw. We lost 3 games from a winning position, and drew only 1 from a winning position. Being able to retain those slender leads was the basis of our success. This season to follow....

Did you also count how many knock ons he headed to err nobody? I saw it once. If I missed any, it was twice at most because he only won 2 aerial duels. The majority of hoofs were way over his head or directed away from him. Ok I don't know where you're getting your stats from or what constitutes winning aerial duels, because I definitely saw Shola 'passing' to nobody for quite a few times. http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/615158/LiveStatistics/England-Premier-League-2012-2013-Aston-Villa-Newcastle-United AD is Aerial Duels won.

Did you also count how many knock ons he headed to err nobody? I saw it once. If I missed any, it was twice at most because he only won 2 aerial duels. The majority of hoofs were way over his head or directed away from him.

I'm out. Grey skies are gonna clear up....

Shola's name precedes him. He had a better pass accuracy than Cabaye, Debuchy, Gutierrez, Taylor and Anita tonight. The only ones of those getting stick are Gutierrez and Taylor. He made 5 clearances. Only Taylor and Debuchy won more aerial duels, despite him only being on 20 minutes. He was dispossessed once. Whether he was the man to come on when he did is another question. Getting dogs abuse out of kilter with his contribution though. As usual.

Lambert won the tactical changes hands down....he still didn't win from behind either. And we survived by the skin of our teeth. What's the point you're trying to make? Sometimes you deserve to come from behind and win, but you don't. We've lost from a leading position an awful lot recently. 4 times in 11 games. Which has been infuriating. Obviously we're nervous about it. Not sure the last time it happened before Stoke though. Maybe we've deserved it on occasion last season, but I can't think of any this season Hard to put it all down to luck when it has never happened in Pardew's entire spell here, however. Pardews success was built on tight margins though. Must have been one of the lowest scoring 5th place finishers. He's shown his team doesn't necessarily go to pot though, taking the lead 3 times against Man U and pegging back arsenal as many times. Admittedly before losing in both instances

Lambert won the tactical changes hands down....he still didn't win from behind either. And we survived by the skin of our teeth. What's the point you're trying to make? Sometimes you deserve to come from behind and win, but you don't. We've lost from a leading position an awful lot recently. 4 times in 11 games. Which has been infuriating. Obviously we're nervous about it. Not sure the last time it happened before Stoke though.

Lambert won the tactical changes hands down....he still didn't win from behind either.

But I'm reading a lot of stick targeted at Pardew half time talk. He had nowt to the react to then. When they had us on the ropes he gave it a long time before reacting with a change of his own. And his changes failed to relieve the pressure, but despite Lambert having a warm feeling about making changes we struggled to overcome, Pardew will feel warmer he set us up from the off to do enough to win the points.

So why can't Pardew change game's at HT then as clearly proven by the stats? Why can't he counteract to when the opposition make changes? why would he change things at half time in a game we're dominating? He didn't his team talk was " more of that". Lambert changed things because he had to. Pardew struggled to come up with an answer to their changes....but the best alternative I have heard is Sammy Ameobi would have made all the difference. Clearly that is bollocks. He clearly did change things as we sat about 10 yards deeper 2nd half, like we did against West Brom, Swansea, Reading etc this season and the tactic was to kick it longer. Just because Villa went for it doesn't excuse why we utter shite all 2nd half, he's paid as manager to sort that out and his answers to it were utterly predictable and made no change whatsoever. it was backs to the wall after villas resurgence. Not a defensive change that invited villa into the game. I was disgusted with Pardew changes against Reading. But this was nowt like that.

So why can't Pardew change game's at HT then as clearly proven by the stats? Why can't he counteract to when the opposition make changes? why would he change things at half time in a game we're dominating? He didn't his team talk was " more of that". Lambert changed things because he had to. Pardew struggled to come up with an answer to their changes....but the best alternative I have heard is Sammy Ameobi would have made all the difference. Clearly that is bollocks.

The implication being Pardew says nowt in the week or the minutes before a game? His game plan was spot on. It was Lambert's half time team talk that changed the game, not pardews.

Pardew blamed for the second half but not praised for the first half. The inconsistency of an agenda laid bare right there.