KHV

Downing will run rings round Hutton. I dont blame Downing for leaving if I'm totally honest. If your an attack minded player and Alex McLeish is about to become your manager then **** off is a great idea. I doubt Downing fancied doubling up as a second left back as part of an 8-1-1 formation

Erm, no he wasn't. He was the same last season as he is every season. had about 10 good games and 28 shit ones. Hence the reason he has only ever played for us, Wigan and Newcastle and none of the big teams

100% agree with this, I was going to say pretty much the same thing and name the same squad. We can all moan about McLeish's formation and line ups, but as you pointed out, he and his team watch all the players in training week in, week out. I'm in no way a fan of McLeish, but I think we have no choice but to back his decision on who to replace Gabby, personally. If we lose, whatever his decision will get criticised anyway, be that Bent on his own or partnered with Weimann, Delf or Heskey. Hindsight is a wonderful thing -----------------------------------Guzan------------------------------------------- Cuellar--------------Dunne--------------------Collins-----------------Warnock- Hutton---------------Herd----------------------Petrov---------------------Delph- ------------------------------------Heskey----------------------------------------- ------------------------------------Bent-------------------------------------------- this is how Mcleish will line up. He will see it as a game we cannot possibly win and go all out for a 0-0

I agree 100% with this

+ Dont be daft. Heskey will be out wide left

Liverpool will win quite easily 2-0. We will play one upfront Heskey will start. We will get booed off at half time. We will have 1 shot on target but that will not come until after the 75th minute and will probably be by Dunne or Collins. McLeish will say we weren't at it in the first half but in the second half we really got at them.

There was no need to take Bent off. Yeah he missed a couple but he was getting into scoring positions. Bringing on Heskey was suicidal. If Bolton had got back to 2-2 there is then no way we could have gone and won it 3-2 with Heskey on. McCleish still needs to go asap. Against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea we will revert back to our usual 8-1-1 formation and looking at the way Stoke started against Spurs I dont give us much of a hope there. Infcat Stoke have won their last 3

Bollocks

He is the best number 9 we have had in years. I have been going to villa for 24 years and he is the best finisher we have ever had. He is just a bit off form which has been more to do with the shit football McLeish has been serving up this season. As soon as we get a better manager who plays better football we will not see the best of Bent.

--------------------------Guzan---------------------------- Hutton----------Dunne-----------Collins----------Warnock Nzogbia------Herd------Petrov-------Bannan----Gabby ---------------------------Bent--------------------------------

Its McLeishs fault. he keeps doing insane stuff that we cant just ignore

He also thought we got at Man Utd in the second half I am serioulsy starting to wonder if McLeish has certain things in common with David Blunkett

OH MY **** GOD Not only is he the worst manger in the premier league he is now completly delusional. If he thinks we play the dutch 4-3-3 system he needs to sectioned under the mental health act. This prat just gets worse every minute of every day. Even when we are not playing he makes himself look more and more incapable which in itself is amazing. I wish he would just shut the **** up and pack his bags. This is the same man that said Heskey looked like Franz Beckenbaur in training. The man is clearly of his rocker. What an absolubte bell end

Shame that. Both good players. I would say average rather than good

I agree about relegation this season. It's a football cliche but goals win you games. when you play 1 upfront and everbody else 35 yards behind the striker with Emile Heskey in midfield then quite simply your ****. Last season wasnt great but this season is already worse. I never thought that I would miss Gerard Houllier so much :shock:

I think alot of how you play comes from how much the manager and assistant inspires you and motivates you. McLeish is about as exciting as a funeral directors, Im not suprised the players aren't up for it. I guarantee most of them think McLeish and Grant are a pair of arseholes. Peter Grant was very unpopular amongst the blues players.

Heskey coming on had a positive impact on the utter turd that was being dished up. At least we started shooting. If you cant see that, you either: havent a clue what your talking about when it comes to football. or hate Heskey so much you refuse to acknowledge anything positive about the man - which is a bit childish imo. Oh yeah, it was so positive that we still managed to lose and not do a great deal alot. It's not like his presence has been great anyway or did you forget the last 2 games before it where we didn't score and hardly created anything? Anyone with football knowledge would know when you need a side to create more chances and Heskey dosen't offer that, especially the position he is playing at. First you criticise Bent and then you praise Heskey. What is wrong with you? Fact - we created more on Saturday with Heskey on. I never said he was amazing, just that it had a positive impact. Its not about criticising Bent & praising Heskey. Its a team game and I want the best for the team, and no one can deny that Heskey playing had a positive effect on the teams performance and Bent didn't. What I'm saying is though is that Ireland could have a made a much better positive impact. It could have went the other way sure, but if you need a goal/create chances the sensible thing to do is bring on an attacking midfielder with a good pass rate instead of a poor goalscorer played out of position who falls every few seconds. Also, Heskey's awareness was rubbish in that match. He could have easily passed the ball to Bent giving us the biggest chance of the game, but just totally messes it up. What do you expect of Bent anyway? He is a poacher. He'll do what he does best. If he drops deep no one will be in the box. We're not going to get a world class striker so he is the next best thing for scoring goals. Or would you prefer Heskey who 'tries hard' but has a shit goal ratio? The problem is the way he uses Heskey. We all know and can see villa need to play 2 upfront which should be Gabby and Bent. Heskey should be used if one of them is injured or suspended or if we are chasing a game and need to be more direct. McLeish has 3 fundamental problems with the way he uses the strikers. 1. Bent is not a target man and cannot play upfront on his own 2.Gabby is not a wide man 3.Emile Heskey is NOT a midfileder or a wide player However after 16 games in charge the stupid pillock who is in charge of our team has not worked this out yet.

Never considered that first point. Gives me just a bit of hope that Randy will indeed get rid of McLeish if things carry on like this. It was a terrible move. I had my fears it would turn out like this as I knew the type of football McLeish would bring. It still totally baffles me how he could go and bring in a Birmingham City manager. Suerly he must have realised that if McLeish started badly then it would turn sour almost straight away given the rivalry between the two clubs. I hope we lose at Bolton so we can get McLeish out quicker. If he scrapes a win at the Reebok then no doubt Mr Faulkner will be saying we are on for Europe sitting in 8th place :x

Yes but that was in early March not early December. McLeish has **** up a whole lot sooner. Yeah Houllier had the excuse of no preseason and the worse injury crisis in my memory at Villa. Until now, our team has stayed fairly clear of injury. It would be better if we had an injury crisis right now. That way he might stumble on the correct starting line up and formation

Steve Kean played 18 in all competitions won 5 win precentage 27.77% 31 goals scored an average of 1.72 per game Alex McLeish played 16 in all competitions won 4 win percentage 25% goals scored 18 an average of 1.13 per game He is even shitter than Steve Kean. That says it all really doesnt it :cry: Not quite. Steve Kean played 14 PL games 10 pts, GD -11, pos 18th Alex McLeish Played 14 PL games 16 pts, GD -2, pos 9th. FFS don't start advocating Kean as our next manager! :? You have just given Premier League stats, I gave all competitions including the Carling cup games. So yeah, I am right he is worse than Steve Kean 8) Fine, you will enjoy being in the crowd of 1 at VP for Kean's first match in charge! :winkold: Steve Keans' claret and blue army!!!!!!!

Steve Kean played 18 in all competitions won 5 win precentage 27.77% 31 goals scored an average of 1.72 per game Alex McLeish played 16 in all competitions won 4 win percentage 25% goals scored 18 an average of 1.13 per game He is even shitter than Steve Kean. That says it all really doesnt it :cry: Not quite. Steve Kean played 14 PL games 10 pts, GD -11, pos 18th Alex McLeish Played 14 PL games 16 pts, GD -2, pos 9th. FFS don't start advocating Kean as our next manager! :? You have just given Premier League stats, I gave all competitions including the Carling cup games. So yeah, I am right he is worse than Steve Kean 8)

That sums eveything up in a nutshell. The worst thing is it seems to be getting worse as it goes on. Spurs, Swansea and Man Utd has to be the worst football I have EVER seen Villa play

Steve Kean played 18 in all competitions won 5 win precentage 27.77% 31 goals scored an average of 1.72 per game Alex McLeish played 16 in all competitions won 4 win percentage 25% goals scored 18 an average of 1.13 per game He is even shitter than Steve Kean. That says it all really doesnt it :cry:

Good post. I agree. The lack of courage one is the big one for me. None of our players have an iron will to win. That is not McLeish's fault, I wouldnt mind betting that the courage of our players has shocked him. I hate seeing players smiling and larking about when the leave the field after a defeat. Unfortunately it happens too much. If you set up with 10 men behind the ball and have Allbrighton and Gabby acting as spare full backs then that is the mangers fault.

This is about as likely as me waking up with Eva Mendes tomorrow morning. No I wouldnt change my mind if we got six as it would leave on 22 points half way through the season and we should be on more. I think its more likely we will have 3 points from those games at a push