shambles

Friedel - 5 Looked a bit iffy today at times. Collins - 6 Dunne - 6 Cuellar - 4 Was given a mare by Jarvis. He's alright against teams like Stoke, but when he comes up against a real winger he's fecked. Warnock - 5 Off the pace Petrov - 4 Lost his head in the first half, was he on the pitch for the second? Milner - 5 Mark knocked off for the own goal. Young - 8 Our only creative outlet today. Downing - 4 Who? Carew - 8 MOM. Knows where the goal is. Heskey - 4 Another anonymous display from the most useless striker I've seen in some years. Yes, the apologists will point to the 'half an assist' he'll get for our second goal, but all I can think of is what might have been had we had some attacking threat to help Carew and provide an outlet for the other 89 minutes of the game. Nathan Delfouneso is a goal scorer. He has scored in every first team game he has started for us in cup games and in Europe. What the hell does he have to do to get in front of the least prolific striker at the club? Ref- 6 meh MON - 5 - So much for using the squad. Overall - 2 points thrown away and the impetus is back with Spurs.

Absolutely pathetic performance. You wouldn't know we were at home.

Only Carew, Dunne and Young have come out of this game with any credit for me.

Chanhe his name to Emile Heskey.

CAREW!!!

Carew and Young providing our only glimmer of hope at the moment.

Never mind about us equalizing, I can see Wolves getting 3 before that happens. We really offer NOTHING up front. Ha ha, Sidwell on now!

Right, we now have 4 wingers on the pitch......

I just hope to god he takes Heskey off for the Fonz and not Carew. have a sneaking suspicion he'll go with 3 up top though.

Carew is playing on his own up front.

Can we get Heskey off yet? He's completely anonymous.

Really pleased with the first half. If we can match that in the second we should be easy on. Carew offering some sort of presence up front has made all the difference for me, he's been excellent. Ash and Jimmy have been all over the place, Warnock has looked good going forward. Dissapointed at the manner of their goal though. Would expect defenders of the quality of Collins and Dunne to deal better with that, but you can't have it all.

Who cares. It's not the same as when Yorke left, is it? Craig was a reserve. **** him and **** Small Heath.

He's done it because he is trying to make sure that we don't lose the point firstly, and maybe nick a goal on the counter with Gabby's pace. Heskey is only on because he will help out more at the back when the ball's are flying in. Can't we play with a 5 man defence then? He's a mediocre striker and a mediocre defender. If we're that bothered about shoring up the defence play a good defender and no attacker. We'd still pose the same threat as if we played Heskey.

They've played some good football though, as well as the inevitable 'Delapidator' throw in pattern. Really good noisy crowd too by the sounds of it.

What, just today?

You've said everything I wanted to say so I'll just quote you!

My bluenose father in law is here watching this and loving it. He said 3-0 Reading before the game. This is as poor as I've ever seen from Villa. Both wing backs look shaky, Reading are bossing the midfield and we are utterly toothless up front. Our passing is woeful and commitment negligable. I'll take a replay at VP now.

In MON's defence, I would say he's expecting a typical division 2 type game. Lots of physicality and the ball in the air, which is why he's gone with 2 big guys up front and Cuellar at RB. Would still rather have seen Young at RB and the Fonz up front myself, though.

Yeah, nothing to do with the fact we were shite then eh? Nothing to do with the fact the manager got it wrong by picking Heskey, again. Cuellar at RB? Pah, don't make me laugh. How many times do we have to keep making the same mistakes....... Sorry chaps, this was an opportunity WASTED.

I'm one of them. Me too. Carew led the line as best he could. What do people expect from him if he's constantly being forced to play with his back to the goal.

I'm not taking anything away from a valiant effort by Crystal Palace. We did not help ourselves. The manager was tactically naive and the players played poorly. I don't understand why I should not criticise an awful Villa performance.

Just a few points: 4-5-1 at a 2nd division team fighting relegation who've just been forced to sell their best player by an administrator? Heskey should never, ever play for us again. I don't want my strikers getting in the way of my own defence, I want them leading the line. There is simply no point this guy playing on his own in a 4-5-1. He offers zero threat. Warnock and Friedel need to start talking to each other. I've never seen a side with so much attacking potential create so little. This side is like a Ron Atkinson wet dream, pace and flair all over the place and yet we play hoof ball. Collins and Dunne are big culprits of this. Our big 3 attacking midfielders are always looking for the killer ball which very often isn't there. I'd rather them play the ball about between them and retain possesion a bit. I felt sorry for Delph today. He was making himself available and being ignored. Lastly, great. We now have a mid-week fixture just before our biggest game for 10 years.

Why would they be angry at Mark Hughes? From bits and pieces I've seen, they wanted to sell Dunne anyway. Wasn't there a quote about Man City shirts with 'Dunne' on the back not selling in the far East? They needed someone more marketable. Lescott................. :shock:

Am waiting for my balti to come from the Rowley VIllage Tandoori as we speak.