You could blame referee Mike Dean. He gave Fulham a dubious penalty and denied Villa one just as dubious, maybe less so in the waning minutes, so perhaps maybe he sent 2 or 3 Villa players off before kick-off and didn’t tell anyone as Villa looked short-handed.
To be fair Villa met Fulham at the worst time, with a new manager and that new spark a club gets, Villa didn’t seem to have the same gusto to impress it’s manager.
Villa went behind after a mix up between Bacuna and Guzan allowed former Villa Sidwell in, and Fulham sewed up the match minutes later after a super clearance from Karagounis found Berbatov whose lovely flick on found Karagounis who seemed to back into Bacuna although it was clumsy from the defender. Berbatov slotted home the penalty.
The following is my thoughts on the team and the way Lambert lined Villa up:
Guzan: As usual made some nice saves. Got stranded in no man’s land two or three times, including the goal. Bacuna should have been more alert to the danger which would have allowed Guzan to stay on his line.
Bacuna: Can we stop the experiment at right back now? He’s a good kid, but apart from his free-kicks he looks like a fish out of water in the premiership so far. Villa, arguably had 3 reserve defenders in as Okores was starting when he was injured and Luna plus Vlaar are injured, but it was the starting right back that was responsible for both goals. Partly, though the system Villa employ helps the left back rather than the right back, more on that later.
Herd: First game back and I thought he played well. He is a no nonsense player that flies in to everything. I liked him at right back when he filled in there or maybe midfield. He plays the ball well.
Clark: Did okay, actually could be our driving midfielder. The two in front of him play the ball back to him so much that it seems natural with his ball control that he just take off up the field and look for the ball to the forwards feet.
Baker: He’s not a left back. Why he has lost his job at centre half only Lambert knows, but I think it is the right choice. He had a very difficult job with Dejagah and did okay, but unlike Bacuna he gets lots of help. More on that later too.
Westwood: The kid is back where he was last December. He has the tools that the better midfielders have, but he is too slow to process what he needs to do. Given time he will make nice passes as he did in the final minutes when Fulham switched off. But, most of the time he was off pace. For example, Delph played a pass to him expecting a wall pass. It would have taken 2 Fulham players out of the equation, but he turned and dropped the ball off to Clark.
Delph: Villa’s best player. Tried to do a little too much and was dispossessed a few times, but looked lively. Tendency to keep passing back to Clark or Herd.
El Ahmedi: It seems that he would be the lynch pin to connect Delph and Westwood the 3 forwards, but do you ever see him with his back to goal in the opponents half ready to receive a quick pass from them? Yes, he hustled to keep a long ball in play and helped set up a chance for Benteke, but that is all I recall him doing in his 45 minutes. Good call to take him off.
Weimann: Wish he’d been taken off as well at half time. What happened to that industrious kid that rarely scores but shows so much promise? The only influence he had on this game was to help Fulham defend as Westwood lined up a shot. He was linked to everyone, but who would want him now?
Agbonlahor: Now he worked hard. I always felt he was a decent enough player that had no brain. I cannot believe how much he has learned over the years. He played well, but seemed isolated. My favourite part was him telling Bacuna to use his brain after another aimless ball with no angle came into the box.
Benteke: More missed chances. At least he gets into position I suppose, but he does very little else. Beginning to remind me of Bent. A luxury we cannot afford. Should have taken Spurs’ money, we’ll be lucky to get our initial investment back now.
Tonev: Has an inherent knack of coming on and within minutes making you forget he was even on the pitch. Then he’ll suddenly burst onto the scene and beat two players and without looking up just shooting. Lucky for the fans his shot was blocked or someone out there might have been hurt.
Lambert: He won few friends with a nice win in midweek, but he must have lost some after this game. He had better come up with some signings or newcomers in January, a defensive midfielder, a creative one and a replacement striker, because Benteke should be gone and Kozak, Helenious and Weimann aren’t cutting it.
He was beaten today because of Fulhams’ set up. They had a 4-1-2-2-1 system with Parker handling everything at the back allowing Sidwell & Karagounis to advance. Then he had Karagounis & Dejagah out wide with Berbatov alone.
Baker has cover from Delph and Gabby a lot of the time, so handled the winger okay. Westwood stays more central and Weimann doesn’t come back much, so Bacuna is left isolated. With Baker not able get forward because he isn’t that mobile and worring about his man and Bacuna not able to get forward being so isolated it left Villa with no width and very one dimensional.
Also, it is okay being a Stoke clone if you actually win a highball or the second ball. Villa made Fulham look like Manchester City as they sprayed passes everywhere.
Or maybe we should just blame the ref.