Robbie09

His first half performance was awful and the goal was a stupid mistake, but his own fans booing him? Embarrassing

Agreed. And his second half performance was much better. Interesting to see that those who continual jump on his poor performances can't offer any praise when it's merited.

no doubt hughton is doing a greta job there but of course its a far lower and poorer standard of football

mcleish is awful though. i would have prefered hughton over mcleish thats for sure. the worse thing about it is we paid for mcleish and hughton w ecould have got for nothing

another great decision from randy lerner and clueless faulkner

hmm i would not have wanted houghton, it is easy looking at it now, and houghton was treated like shit by newcastle, getting them to 9th intheir first season back up.

i honestly think the decision to employ the current manager is down to faulkner, i think randy has given him the power MON once had, and he is **** it up even more.

not looking at things from a football point of view, but looking at it in terms of black and white on paper, trying to get future money projections based on when we were top 6 and thinking that by selling players and turning over a profit on the players will equate to more money being generated.

something a football person would not be silly enough to do, they would realise it is the whole package which is responsible for generating money, fans being kept excited, high profile activity ( in a positive way) players playing for their country ( gets other people supporting the club who may not have previously)

under randy, he did the acorns thing, it soon stopped once faulkner came in, while that is not a stick to beat him with it seems to me to be a small part of the 'black and white on paper' that faulkner seems to be rigid on.

if we can get rid of faulkner or have him as business manager and get someone in who actually knows something about football to make the player decisions/ contracts and so on, this club can start to move forwards.

employing people with no knowledge of a specialist profession is not a very clever thing to do.

Spot on. If we had a CEO with a better understanding of running a football club things would be a lot different. For me Faulkner is the root cause of alot of the issues at Villa Park.

Lets just wait shall we !

I have seen a lot of improvement since mid December, he was exceptional until his head went against Arsenal at home and over the past 6 games, he has probably been at fault for one goal (maybe two) being harsh

I agree, in August and September I thought I could have played right back better than him - but I am willing to give credit where it is due, and he is gradually getting there in my eyes.

I've seen every Villa game he's played bar one and i don't share your optimism. I agree he's been exceptional - at passing sideways or backwards.

I've never rated him although I'm happily eat humble pie if i'm proven wrong.

I can recommend a good optician though.

What the hell, let's get back on topic.....

.....just climbing through 23000' en route to Cleveland.

Safe trip, Mr. L. Be sure to wrap up for Indianapolis

I wonder what the purpose of his visit was ?

I was going to say that he visits quite regularly, I just don't bother reporting it any more.

I think he comes over to show an interest in the business that he's not interested in :winkold:

Thanks dude. I was hoping he'd flown in to sanction the odd deal or two or at least delay his return to take in the game tomorrow.

What the hell, let's get back on topic.....

.....just climbing through 23000' en route to Cleveland.

Safe trip, Mr. L. Be sure to wrap up for Indianapolis

I wonder what the purpose of his visit was ?

The team is too good to go down.

Absolute drivel

This team is easily capable of being sucked in

I disagree. The team on PAPER is far too good to go down. Any team boasting a spine of Given, Dunne, Ireland, Bent should be too good to go down. I didn't say we wouldn't however - I just think at the moment it's unlikely.

The manager is capable of making any team get sucked into it. But I don't think that will happen this year. But I'm worried very much if he's given another season.

However, maybe your simple 'drivel' comment is so awe inspiringly well thought out that my argument holds no water...!

This. Whether you agree or disagree with your opinion it is at least reasoned and balanced.

FWIW i don't think we will go down but that's not an attempt to defend either the manager or the board. However I do feel the finger of blame should be pointed at the board and in particular at the current CEO.

Yep I think it was Sven who called him up, got told of the Charlie big bollox attitude so he never got on the pitch

Is that fact or hearsay?

Lacking confidence. He is only 22 and missed one full year with a bad injury, he just needs to find himself again. We shouldn't write him off yet.

This. Having suffered the same injury as him i can confirm it takes a bloody long time to recover from it. To write him off at 22 is premature.

Fonz is technically superb, but Weimann although not technically as good, is the one who is willing to graft.

It's a pity Fonz doesn't have the desire of Weimann or Weimann doesn't have the ability of Fonz.

Sadly I don't think either of them are quite good enough to push on but I hope I'm wrong. Both better options than Emile though.......

Really, really not a left back and I doubt very much he'd cut it at CB but did well when moved into midfield.

Agree he had a torrid time at left back today but I'd like to see him at centre half instead of Collins.

Fair play to him today. Rightly dropped after being dire but came on in second half and made two cracking early tackles which seemed to get the rest of the lads going.

He arguably changed the game today as Kightly was a huge threat fist half and didn't get a sniff in the second half.

Needed a kick up the arse but responded to it in the right way

This. Clark was run ragged by Kightly first half but never had a kick second half. Warnock's tackling, distribution and forward runs were a major plus second half.

I think what sums it up is we have possibly the worst manager in Aston Villa history and if he remains at the club he will take us down

If it frees up the wages to get another player in while giving Delph the chance to get some games under his belt and hopefully refind his form and confidence, I'd say it's a good idea.

Whilst I don't disagree with your point, I'd rather persevere with Delph than sign someone like Steven Davis who we have been linked with.

Makoun isn't good enough for the PL in my opinion.

I'm still shocked people say this.. you'd think he has been here a full season playing each game that people have formed this opinion. Dzeko is just one example where i'm sure people said the same thing.

He will not under this current team though as nobody can pass the ball forward currently in midfield (infact we'd be lucky to string a couple of passes in midfield let alone pass forward) so I don't blame him for wanting to move on if that's the case.

Having watched all of Makoun's first team games for Villa, i still can't form an opinion about whether he is suited to the premier league. I couldn't question his ability, it's a question of whether he suits English football.

Having said that I would've liked to seen him have a run in the team this season having had the benefit of a full pre season before writing him off or otherwise.

I think Ireland gets too much of a rough deal on here, i find it staggering that people deny that he has the capability to be out best player by a country mile.

Does Ireland have it in his locker to be a £25m player? The simple answer is yes.

OK then, Samir Nasri or Stephen Ireland on this seasons form?

Spot on. It seems a lot of opinions are formed on hearsay and paper talk rather than recent performances on the pitch.

His vision and passing IMO is up there with the very best in the league. We should keep him at all costs, regardless of his poor start at the villa.

As many have said it's a no-nonsense DCM that we are crying out for, with this player in place it gives the greenlight for ireland to float about up top and do what he does best.

This. He's possibly the only player we have at present that has the ability to do something out of the ordinary. Yes he has been poor in the past but maybe some of that was down to how he was managed. Leaving City was a massive issue for him so maybe he's finally come to terms with that.

I'm not excusing the poor start to his Villa career, but i don't think it is purely down to his attitude.

At least when his name is on the team sheet I have some hope that we may see some creativity during the game. Sadly the same can't be said about the rest of his team mates under the current management and style of play.

but for all the criticism he receives i think the goals he is at fault for can be counted on 1 hand

Has he really got 8 fingers on one hand then?!!!!!

The bloke needs time, remember he didn't really have a pre season so he's been playing catch up

100% this. Downing was garbage in his first season due to his injury and not having a pre season behind him. His second season was a massive improvement due to having had the benefit of one.

Whilst you can never be certain a player will come good, i think he'll get better given more time on the pitch.

i find it amusing that even though everyone has basically said he is shit, and even though i havnt, my post comes into question, lol

my point of him probably being a mommys boy is me saying that, away from the pitch, hes probably a nice guy who cherishes his loved ones etc blah blah blah and all that soppy stuff, what i am saying, is despite this, hes just not very good

so were as im being quite kind to him, everyone else on here is blatently saying hes outright shit!

Not everyone on this thread is slagging him off. Some posters have an objective and balanced view and point out his errors and also highlight his decent performances rather than just continually slagging him off.

And my point is what is the relevance of you describing him as being a mommy's boy?

its not a hatred of him, im sure hes a nice guys, who does his bit for charity and probably a mommys boy, who knows, but hes just not at the level that we require, his mistakes are very costly to us, hes a championship player at most

What relevance is your reference to him maybe being a mommy's boy?

The point another poster made about his confidence being low is valid not your comments. Yesterday there were numerous fans around me on the terraces that were almost willing him to make a mistake so that they could give him grief, yet won't offer any credit when it's due.

It seems Warnock is the whipping boy on here and will be no matter how well he performs.

The club paid well over the odds for Warnock. I couldn't believe it when I heard that we were paying so much for both him and Dunne. Never rated them before they joined us, and nothing I've seen at Villa has changed my opinion of them.

Maybe you should attend more matches then because Dunne in particular has been very solid this year.

To Warnock's credit, I think he's been pretty solid this season. But today he got run ragged by a sprightly lad with no little class. He wont be the first that's happened to and he wont be the last

The fact we have no other options is more worrying. Because Clark would've faired no better at left back today i'm 100% sure

100% agree.

not sure why people had an issue with ireland's work rate, he always breaks his bollox and never stops running

You've not watched the same games as me then! well maybe work rate isn't the right word, I'd say maybe desire. Anyway I hope he can start performing, we'll see!

watch him closer, as ive said a few times on here when ireland looks out of the game it's not because he's not arsed, it's because there's nobody else on the pitch in our colours even remotely up to speed with him. he makes runs nobody sees, he picks up positions nobody else does, he never stops chasing the ball and he always tries to pick a pass nobody else is able to

100% agree. Maybe the inability of some of those around him has been a factor. If we had a Cowans type player who could spot the runs and make the killer pass then we would see a completely different Ireland.

I honestly cannot believe there are still people who think Ireland is going to come good - are you blind or something !.

18 months of taking the pee out of the Villa.

Before that - 18 months of warming the bench of Man City reserves !!!.

The kid had one good season and that was 4 years ago - the guy has an attitude problem big style. The guy has NO guts. Arsenal was the perfect example.

"Sorry boss, I'm feeling a bit wheezy, I can't run anymore !" - my arse !!!!. Christ almighty, we had a goalie breaking into tears every five minutes a few weeks ago because his best mate had died - and he carried on - but Ireland - "sorry, I've stubbed my toe - I can't walk anymore".

Just get him out of the club pronto !!!!

I presume the same people still think Stefan Moore is going to come good as well !!!

Care to eat some humble pie?

By the way I'm not blind or something, maybe I just recognise a decent footballer who when given a little encouragement along with a run in the team can come up with the goods.

I honestly cannot believe there are still people who think Ireland is going to come good - are you blind or something !.

18 months of taking the pee out of the Villa.

Before that - 18 months of warming the bench of Man City reserves !!!.

The kid had one good season and that was 4 years ago - the guy has an attitude problem big style. The guy has NO guts. Arsenal was the perfect example.

"Sorry boss, I'm feeling a bit wheezy, I can't run anymore !" - my arse !!!!. Christ almighty, we had a goalie breaking into tears every five minutes a few weeks ago because his best mate had died - and he carried on - but Ireland - "sorry, I've stubbed my toe - I can't walk anymore".

Just get him out of the club pronto !!!!

I presume the same people still think Stefan Moore is going to come good as well !!!

Absolute rubbish.