MR_Black_AVFC

Thats true. All I would say is that their application was spot on and they stopped Arsenal from playing, something we didn't do yesterday. Whether that was down to the players own personal application as the game was a one-off, I don't know. I cannot imagine that it was down to a tactical masterstroke by McLeish, although he does seem to take all the credit. That is what I don't understand with the man. Going by that cup final, you would have known how to hurt Arsenal and cause them problems, yet he seemed more interested in not losing, or when losing keeping the score down. At 2-0 down we needed to alter the system and start playing to our strengths. The one thing I noticed yesterday was that we needed to get the ball behind Arsenal to utilise our pace in wide areas and then cutting the ball back from the byline. Playing the ball in front of Arsenal is never going to work and neither is hoofing up to Heskey where he has a 30/70 chance of doing anything with it. 3-0 is a good beating whatever way you look at it and the blame has to lie at the feet of the manager.

WoodyTom & Mantis, I agree with everything you both say. When McLeish comes out with ridiculous quotes like we are 'unrealistic' to expect anything at Arsenal, then I really wonder why any of us bother turning up. You may as well forfeit the game, keep the players fresh for more winnable games - as crazy as that sounds. But on the flipside, we go to Chelsea and win. I didn't see McLeish saying these things then Its all about the coaching and organisation before a game. If you prepare properly, study the opposition, identify their strengths, look to exploit their weaknesses then you stand a chance. Question for all....you often see other Premiership managers, in particular David Moyes, at games watching future opponents. Does anyone know if McLeish watches the opposition prior to games? Only it seems to me that he uses the same gameplan in every game, regardless of the opposition.

I would have had Bolton down as a home-banker, but I am sure they are looking at it as a realistic chance of three points also. I can see a draw. Stoke are organised, combative and are a threat from set-pieces. Another draw. WBA, I think out of all the games mentioned that is the most winnable. They are shocking at home. Norwich will want to finish the season on a high. I can't see us getting anything here. I just hope we are safe by that point. I noticed you didn't mention Sunderland at home. That is going to be tough but I can see us getting a draw.

I think wherever McLeish has been manager he has struggled to get the best out of the players. I am no fan of Small Heath by any means, but it says a lot about McLeish despite having a better team on paper, that he was outwitted by two of the worst managers in Martinez and McCarthy. Getting SHA back into the Premiership was too big a job for him - that is why he walked. So why he thinks he could improve us is anyones guess. It seems that every club he leaves, there is a trail of destruction left behind.

I'm hearing more and more (albeit through the grapevine) that Peter Grant is the problem. Has anyone actually seen Grant's CV? It doesn't make impressive reading.

I just can't put into words how distraught I feel tonight. I watched the game earlier in the vain hope that after a couple of weeks we would be right at it and ready to make things difficult for Arsenal. Yet, once again, I saw the team lineups and my heart sank. It was clear that it was a matter of damage limitation. I'm not going to put all of the blame onto Heskey. We all know he is useless, what he does to get a starting place is anyones guess, but he seems to be 'rated' by McLeish as a target man. It was gutless. I listened to Gold following the game and all I hear is Tom Ross making more excuses for McLeish and stating the bleeding obvious - that Arsenal are a better team than Villa so what do we expect when we have sold all of our best players? Yes, Ashley Young and Stuart Downing were big losses - no doubt about it. Yet, N'Zogbia was supposed to compensate for at least one of those given his hefty price tag, yet some seem (especially Ross) to forget that. He also seems to forget that Arsenal were a better team than SHA, but it didn't stop them beating them. It is all about application and a desire to at least make a game of it. On the flipside, I honestly believe, and I can't speak for anyone else, that even if Young and Downing had of stayed, we would still be serving up this dross. McLeish has one plan and one plan only - to strangle any sort of quality out of the game, and by luck, scrape a goal and win 1-0 like we did last time out against Fulham. I do not know where we go from here as it is plainly obvious that we are only heading one way. But the fear that troubles me the most is McLeish having a full summer to construct his own team. What is the betting Roger Johnson & Scott Dann will be lining up next season in the centre of defence?

Shocking, awful, gutless, spineless. McLeish just doesn't seem to have a clue and it is only a matter of time before we find ourselves in a real mess under his leadership, whether that be this season or next. I am still looking downwards rather than up and with games v Chelsea and Liverpool to come I am really fearing the worst at this point. The other teams below us WILL rally at some point. Do we have the fight to rally also? I'm not sure, and that is what concerns me.

If I remember rightly, didn't SHA think they were more or less safe last season and still got relegated? Anything can happen in football. You cannot judge the last stages of a season on how many points a team have amassed up to this point. Relegation threatened teams always rally with 5-10 games to go and there is always one team that were considered 'safe' who get dragged into it for a showdown on the last day. Who would have thought Wigan would win at Liverpool today? Wigan have been playing well of late without getting the results they deserve, QPR have a team of quality players - surely it is only a matter of time before they hit some form, Blackburn have rallied recently and Bolton seem to want to prove a point due to the Muamba situation. The only team I would say are definitely gone are Wolves. I just cannot see them turning it around.

Yes, I certainly am. If we had played our game v Bolton and won, 36 points would probably have been enough to stay up. Like you say, Blackburn have started winning, QPR won last night (which was always going to happen with their squad) and suddenly you see the gap closing. The big concern was if/when the teams below us started rallying whether we could do enough to pull clear. Looking at the fixture list, I do not believe we will go down, but I can't see us moving far out of our current position.

It has taken until March before McLeish makes the correct substitutions and the first home win for four months, yet some are carrying on like we have won the cup final because we beat Fulham 1-0. Beating the likes of Fulham, Blackburn, Norwich, at Villa Park should be expected. As will be the game against Bolton. From what I saw, the win was laboured at best and Gardner and Weimann got McLeish off the hook as the atmosphere was taking a turn for the worse. Even a broken clock is right twice a day - that is how I look at McLeish, and one win will not change my view of him. History has proven that teams do not improve under McLeish and I still fear for next season.

Delighted that we got the three points, but to start referring to the win as 'outstanding' or 'immense' is slightely an over the top reaction - the win was laboured, very laboured, and it could have easily ended in another frustrating draw if Weimann hadn't popped up in the right place. We just about deserved it, but this win doesn't change my opinion on McLeish.

I agree with you Mantis, it is not OK. The football is atrocious and painful to watch. But on the table alone, we look comfortable on survival with a realistic chance of finishing mid-table - that is how Lerner will look at it. IF (it is a big IF) we beat Fulham tomorrow and beat Bolton, we start to look upwards instead of down.

Wouldn't surprise me to see Johnson and Dann at VP next season.

If we were in the relegation zone, then McLeish would be on the chopping block, there is no doubt about that. But at present we are comfortably above it and it is extremely unlikely that we'll be dragged into it. So on the table, and points alone, McLeish is doing OK and keeping the club in the PL whilst the transitional period takes place. My only concern is that things tend to go downhill once McLeish has had time and funds to bring his own players into the club. Once it starts sliding he seems incapable (or unwilling) to change things/take chances, to turn it around. I appreciate many managers in the PL play 4-5-1, but watching carefully, this often turns into 4-3-3 when attacking and 4-5-1 when the opposition has the ball. With us, our midfield sits far too deep leaving the lone striker isolated instead of pushing up as a unit when we have the ball to pressure the opposition and support the lone striker. I just cannot fathom how McLeish expects us to win playing such a way.

I noticed SHA lost 0-2 at home to Fulham last season and it could have been 8 or 9 going by the match report. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/13364707 As our record is mirroring their at the moment, I fear the worst!!!

I think it is obvious that the next two games will make or break our season. Fulham at home. Never a walk over and they come to Villa Park on a three game winning streak and a new striker in form (Pogrebnyak) who has scored 5 in 3. Personally, I think it will be another draw against Fulham and we will beat Bolton, they are simply awful, at home putting daylight between ourselves and the relegation mix. If this turns out to be the case then it is mixed emotions. I want McLeish out, but he always seems to pull a result out of the bag to justify his crap tactics i.e. Chelsea and Wolves away. On the other hand I want Villa to win games and it would put my mind at ease that we were almost certain to stay up. Following Fulham/Bolton the next 5-6 fixtures are horrendous. I do believe that 4-6 points from the next two games are the minimum, two draws will still leave us teetering on the edge and if the unthinkable happens, we lose both games, we will be in big trouble. Randy has just paid for McLeish and the backroom staff to travel to America to go and meet their Cleveland Browns counterparts. Its just not the actions of someone who is set to give the manager the sack. There is also the issue that if we do sack him, who would want the job? The transfer window is shut so a new manager would be stuck with the current bunch. That is why Wolves appointed the number 2 to take charge. Heaven help us if Grant takes charge!!!!

I agree with some of what you have posted - we are lacking in quality, but I do think, regardless of the personnel on the pitch, that McLeish sets the team up defensively. Our worst fears have come true unfortunately. I said it before, but if you speak to most honest SHA fans they will tell you the same thing - he persisted with 4-5-1 with Jerome isolated up front and the midfield so deep that they struggled to get out of their own half and the ball kept coming back. I spoke to my SHA mate last night and he told me that McLeish bowed under fan pressure to play 4-4-2 in 2009/10 as they were not creating any chances at 4-5-1 and that it proved to be a turning point. They went with Jerome and the Mexican guy (Benitez was it) leading the line with pace which opened up chances for other players. Plus they had Joe Hart and the team looked far more balanced over all. He switched it back in the new year and they only won 2-3 times after Christmas. The following season (last year) McLeish reverted back to 4-5-1 and made it clear that he wasn't prepared to change it back, whether the fans chanted 4-4-2 or not. He also said Roy Aitkin's departure coincided with their poor form, as did the arrival of Peter Grant. Look at where they ended up. Says a lot really. I am just hoping that Randy finally comes to his senses, realises the mistake he made, and put it right by getting rid of this clown.

Fair point, but if you ask any honest SHA fan, they will admit they were lucky in that final (look at their winning goal) and the reason they were relegated was because they didn't go out to win games, not because of injuries. They had a better squad than Wolves and Wigan, yet McLeish still managed to relegate them playing the same turgid football Villa are. Ask Hibs, Motherwell, Rangers, Scotland, SHA fans and they will all say the same. The bottom line is that he is a defensive-minded, negative manager.

Jekyl and Hyde performance. Brilliant first half, great link up play and movement. Shocking second half, bullied by Blackburn, hoofball and no creativity or movement. I cannot take much more. McLEish has to go.

Just got back from the game. I agree with most of the points made. It seems to me that McLeish can't get the balance right between defence and attack. We are either one or the other. I don't know what he said at HT, but it was like the lifeblood had been drained out of each and every one of the players. Instead of taking our dominance and momentum into the second half, we got pushed back, getting deeper and deeper until the inevitable happened and Blackburn equalised. It can't be just a coincidence that we are playing so negatively. Talk to any Blues fan and they will tell you that under McLeish they played exactly the same way that we do. We were convinced that at Villa he would have better players to work with, hence rubbishing the whole negative tag he earnt at SHA. Yet in a lot of ways we are playing worse than they did. The stats are almost a mirror image of their results from last season. People bang on about losing Young and Downing. He purchased N'Zogbia and had the option of an in-form Stephen Ireland to give us attacking options, yet he benches both of them. No win at home for 4 months, 6 wins in 27 games. It has to be the manager, surely?

PS, I'm not saying it is acceptable. Just that I think we will be OK. McLeish still needs to go.

The main worry for me is that McLeish thinks he is doing a good job. He thinks he makes the right decisions with regard to tactics, formations, and I have never heard him apologise once for the shocking performances we are being served up. We are in all kinds of trouble now, but for all the negativity I cannot see us being dragged into the relegation mix unless all of the teams below us rally and start winning games, something which is unlikely. I think we will draw at Blackburn, draw with Fulham and beat Bolton - this will pull ourselves clear. There is no doubt, these are huge games. Losing these games is almost unthinkable. If that happens then I can't see us pulling ourselves out of it. If this had been last season, I would be really fearing for our future now.

Unbelievable comments from Keane (if true) although there are quotes with him stating as much. I know we've been over it, but this is getting ridiculous now. Alex McLeish, whether we go down this season or not, will eventually take us down like he did at SHA. I am seething at some of the comments. AM is a nice guy? That is why he walked out on practically every job he has had for pure selfish reasons. The man was under contract at SHA and ditched them once our clueless owner pulled out all of the stops to appoint him. He won trophies in Scotland? Big deal. In England he took SHA down TWICE playing the same football we are playing now. Hibs fans hate him, Rangers fans were glad to see the back of him, SHA fans hate him now, and he is about to win the accolade of the most hated manager at AVFC ever. It was a ridiculous appointment in the first place and I've seen nothing to change my mind since. 6 wins in 26 - disgraceful.

I think it is worrying when you hear him on the radio saying we should have won the game.

This. My main worry is that we are lumbered with him. He is dragging the club down to his sorry level. 0-0 against Wigan is pitiful.