Aston Villa manager http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paul-c29347 Lambert has asked his team for creativity ahead of their Premier League home game against Everton this weekend.
The former Norwich boss has urged his side to be efficient in midfield and create goals for striker Darren Bent. Lambert believes it is the team’s responsibility to provide Bent with chances and goal opportunities.
Last week’s away game against West Ham resulted in a 1-0 defeat for Villa, who are looking to forget about last season’s poor campaign which saw the side win only four home games and narrowly avoid relegation.
There were some interesting statistics for Villa in last week’s game at Upton Park. Lambert’s side made 557 passes, which is more than what Villa managed in their entire campaign last season. Villa also enjoyed 66% of the possession, but failed to make it
count as they lost 1-0.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Bent-c10358 barely saw the ball as most of the game was played out in the midfield. The player only received one ball in the opposition penalty box and 19 times in the final third.
Lambert was frustrated by last week’s game and is expecting a better performance by his midfield players this time around. Speaking about the lack of service that his striker received, he said:
"I can understand the frustration because I was frustrated myself. From back to middle we did fine. But you can't have that much of the ball and not create a chance. And that is something I have to rectify."
Bent operates as an all out striker and rarely drops deep to receive the ball or link up with the midfield. Lambert expects his side to provide better balls for the centre forward to finish off. Bent thrives on direct through balls and crosses, something
that has been missing in the Villa side since the departures of Ashley Young and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Stewart-Downing-c34221.
"Darren's a brilliant finisher, that's for sure," Lambert added. "It's up to us to get that service to him and try to get him into the positions to score. I just think with Darren, every time the ball goes into the box, you think something is going to happen.
It's up to us to try to get him into the areas where he can make it happen."
Villa face a stern test this weekend against an impressive Everton side that saw off Manchester United last week at Goodison Park in a 1-0 score line. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Everton-c13019 as he bullied United players off
the ball and scored the only goal of the game.
Lambert will be hoping for holding player Karim El-Ahmadi to provide Fellaini with a difficult time as Villa eye all three points.
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