Aston Villa & Paul Lambert Fail to Adjust Tactically in Frustrating Loss to QPR

LOFTUS ROAD, LONDON — Carlos Sanchez had a rough welcome to the Premier League. Barring an irrelevant cameo away to Liverpool, designed to safeguard the 1-0 victory, he started the season on the bench playing fitness catch-up after the FIFA World Cup 2014.

His debut at home to Arsenal was a massacre; Mesut Ozil destroyed him on one of the rare occasions Arsene Wenger has seen the sense to play the German in the No. 10 role. Further sprinklings of minutes didn't offer much else, with the Colombian struggling to adapt to the frenetic pace of the division.

On Monday against Queens Park Rangers, the tide seemed to turn immeasurably in his favour—no longer a passenger chasing shadows, Sanchez put on a defensive midfield clinic—but then swing violently back as he handed the host's second goal to them on a shining, silver platter.

Sanchez's inconsistent performance, ranging from stellar to inexplicably sloppy, epitomised a frustrating, mind-boggling performance from Aston Villa under the lights. On a night in which the visitors outpossessed, outshot and, frankly, outplayed the hosts, Charlie Austin scored two goals with two shots and bagged the hosts a valuable three points.

An appropriate billing for the game would have been "must-not-lose," and QPR certainly looked perturbed for 69 minutes until a two-goal cushion was secured. They played scared—like they'd been cruelly beaten the week before by a worse side on the day, perhaps—and shrank into a shell after a ferocious opening three minutes.

Villa, a team renowned for struggling in possession, failed to find the requisite quality in the final third to open the defence up, with Christian Benteke looking ring-rusty still, Matthew Lowton's crosses blocked and Andi Weimann's rough technique stalling moves.

It felt very much like a home game for Paul Lambert's men, but that's exactly what he will have wanted to avoid. Counterattacking on foreign grounds is how Villa have accrued most points and looked at their best under the Scot's tenure. It's when they're given time to try and play they struggle.

Ian Walton/Getty Images

It's on Lambert, largely, for failing to react to this. In much the same way Sanchez has struggled to adapt to the Premier League, the manager stood and watched as his side ran out of ideas and remonstrated with each other to no avail.

A switch away from the 4-4-2, which was built to counter and run in behind, was necessary to grind out any form of a result or score a goal—something Villa haven't done for close to nine hours. Leeds United and Watford have been through five managers between them since Gabriel Agbonlahor netted against Liverpool.

A 4-2-3-1 would have been far more useful on paper with QPR's defensive midfielders struggling, but no No. 10 was introduced—no proposed method of picking the lock.

"We set up to attack. You can't have as much of the ball as that and not score," Lambert agreed in the post-match press conference. On Benteke's fitness, the Scot suggested he may need "as many as six or seven games" to return to full throttle.

It leaves Villa on a five-loss streak and searching desperately for any semblance of confidence. The results beforehand against Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Everton are very excusable, but the next run of games—Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham and Southampton—hardly look any easier.

Lambert's new contract wasn't awarded based on the first four games and results; it'd been planned in the summer and wasn't a "reward" for good performance. Still, the slump Villa are in is a major concern. It all looks too familiar—too ominously alike to the demoralising relegation battles of recent years.

Villa were better than Queens Park Rangers on the net but couldn't capitalise. If they can't win here, where are the next points coming from?

*Quotes obtained first-hand.

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