VamosMiAstonVilla

Petrov went off due to ankle problem - SSN

James Collins is one of the main reasons we get boxed in all the time is distribution is beyond bad. He either hoofs it or passes to an opposition player it always comes straight back. I'm so sick of seeing it every match. I'd happily drop him.

Sit back, sit back, wait, wait, give the ball away....Sit back, sit back, wait, wait, give the ball away...Sit back, sit back, wait, wait, Good save Given my son...Sit back, sit back, wait, wait, give the ball away..

Spot on all our matches go like this it really is soul-destroying stuff.

Thank god Barca are on later so I can detox my brain from this absolute rubbish.

Can only think he took bannan off because he was tired, no other logical explanation

Schoolboy football devoid of any class, guile or creativity. Really turgid stuff. Just a loads of blokes running around without a blueprint.

We have poured loads forward when attacking tbf. When defending we only leave Bent up so it always comes back. Nzogbia is such a lazy word removed! Delph has the effort but his brain isn't fast enough. Bannan on a different wave-length and footballing plane to those around him.

Having watched the match on Football First, here is my verdict..

I didn't think Everton were that much better than us, they deserved to win the game but it was the pounding it was made out to be on here. Both teams were poor. The first half we tried numerous hoofs which didn't come off, STILL we have defenders whacking it up-field when it's not necessary.

Second half was much better. We stopped playing hoofs and thus we kept the ball for longer. That said we still look clueless going forward for the most part, like we lack a blueprint. At least under MON everyone knew what the job was - get the ball to Ash for him to cross it but under Mcleish everyone looks a bit clueless on what to do when we make it into the opponents half. Speculative long shots are just a waste most of the time (Delph, Bannan) Petrov's was a lovely goal but lets be honest his success rate at them is dire.

N'Zogbia and Gabby were too narrow today as well...push them out further put Bannan behind Bent.

It would be great if some of our players could learn the art of the shot-feint too. Man Utd players do it all the time (including Ashley Young of course) but we are shocking at it and never seem to use this simple skill (Gabby I'm looking at you vs Distin).

I love Bannan but he was a little bit too eager today. The best players play with a casual arrogance (Henry, Rooney) Bannan played like this in the week casually stroking it around but today he was running around too much chasing play not helped though by his team mates not passing to him, apart from Albrighton later on.

Chelsea and Liverpool matches shouldn't have been on before this!

MOTD really do hate us don't they? I don't care what anyone says they are very much anti-villa when it comes to running order.

Football/sport is about winning not not loosing. And by the sounds of it we were awful so can';t expect people to be happy. If we'd have got a draw and played well there would have been less moaning.

How did bannan play i gave up on streams

Why do we have so many players behind the ball all the time, is it really necessary?

Lets wait until 2nd half, had a feeling Everton would come out pumped up... we'll see what Mcleish is made of having to come from behind.

who's coming on? where are you people watching this

Typical Mcleish line-up as soon as he's out the better as far as I'm concerned.

Nothing wrong with zonal marking, typically British to knock it though. Don't believe everything the ex-player pundits tell you on sky sports, most are dinosaurs that are full of shiit.

Why shouldn't he be paid compo? He wanted to stay remember the health problems were not his fault.

If you want to be outraged at compensation payments maybe your anger would be better aimed at us paying compensation to BC for tapping up Mcleish :shock:

Ashley Young, Downing , Bent had no problem with him. The majority of players who have played under him sing his praises. The one's that don't are unsurprisingly the likes of Ireland, Dunne, Collins - terminal losers.

Nobody is saying last season was a success, it was far from that but Houllier plan/priority was to change us into a winning club. For this to happen lots of changes needed to be made. That was his priority not going on a cup run or finishing as high as possible in the league. As I said, short-term pain for long-term gain.

What on earth are you talking about ??

He wanted to change us to a winning club ?

WE WERE A WINNING CLUB !!! - the four months previous I'd been to Wembley twice in two months- it was twice in 20 yrs before that !!!!!!

A winning club finishing 6th three times in a row? LOL Houllier plans were a lot bigger than that. He doesn't subscribe to the British mentality of accepting mediocrity.

Ashley Young, Downing , Bent had no problem with him. The majority of players who have played under him sing his praises. The one's that don't are unsurprisingly the likes of Ireland, Dunne, Collins - terminal losers.

Nobody is saying last season was a success, it was far from that but Houllier plan/priority was to change us into a winning club. For this to happen lots of changes needed to be made. That was his priority not going on a cup run or finishing as high as possible in the league. As I said, short-term pain for long-term gain.

Popular opinion seems to be that Ash and Gabby both had their poorest seasons for us last year under the French genius.

You've hit the nail on the head there. Popular opinion in football is more often than not wrong. The majority of fans at all clubs are so short-sighted, they have no patience, they don't understand the game. Nobody is going to tell me Ashley didn't become a better player last season. As for Gabby, did you not see his goal vs Blackburn?

CI - like it or not landing Houllier was a coup for us, as was landing Makoun - a Champions League player who has unsurprisingly has now gone to a Champions League club. And make no mistake, Olympiakos would hammer us.

Playing hoofball in a half empty stadium would only wet the appetite of the bitter or the uneducated.

France were World Cup winners in 1998 and Euro winners in 2000. Houllier was awarded a World Cup Medal in recognition of the work he did with the countries youth teams.

Even in the short time he was here we seen improvements to our players games. Ashley Young became more dynamic and intelligent. Gabby from what I've seen this season looks a lot more skilful and intelligent player, I credit this to Houllier.

Dellboy you are not looking at the bigger picture you are judging him on the results of his tenure which was less than a full season. Houllier's plan was long-term to change the whole footballing ethos at the club. Short-term pain was required for long-term gain. Of course Tippy tappy was going to cause us problems in the transition, but the ethos and ambition was there following a PROVEN successful footballing blue-print.

I see no blue-print with Mcleish. His way of football is a proven failure. Well actually maybe I'm being overtly harsh there, his not-loose at any cost mentality can be quite useful in a cup-run, but to get us into the Champions League or make us a big club again it will just not happen. In fact his mentality of not loosing at any cost can be damn right dangerous in league campaign, as Birmingham City found out last season.

It's only a 'load of bollocks' for those who don't fully understand the game. All I need to do is point to his C.V. or maybe ask pro's like Steven Gerrard's opinion on Houllier.

I understand there was a lot of (unjust) anger towards him because of the Liverpool incident, but I find it hard to fathom anyone would think Mcleish is actually a better manager than Houllier.

Problem is fans are short-sighted. When they think of Houllier's reign it's OMG he almost got us relegated. We only finished 9th etc. They don't look at the bigger picture and see what Houllier was trying to do. If he was guilty of anything it was trying to change things to quick but I just put that down to enthusiasm. When it became apparent we were in trouble he reverted back to a safe formation with the regular first-team players.

Pity about his heart problems as I have no doubt that he would have taken Villa on to bigger and better things.

Mcleish is undoubtedly a big step backwards from Houllier.