switters

It's not always the case that the fans know best, but in the case of McLeish all the doom-mongering that greeted his appointment is proving to be thoroughly justified. The main problem that I (and many others) had with him was that he'd bring with him the dire football he had Birmingham playing, and this is precisely what he's done. The other fear was his knack for relegation & I think in a month or so, we will find ourselves looking nervously at the table. There's just nothing to be positive about in this team as it has been playing this season. He's sapped all the hope out of the fanbase. Negativity on the pitch breeds negativity off the pitch and they just feed off each other. We're in a deceptive position in the league - 8th, but as close to bottom as 7th. Maybe he's not wholly to blame, with the squad being as it was when he was hired, but it just seems like a downward spiral which I don't see a way out of while we have a manager that the fanbase are decidedly against. So yeah, I'd happily see him leave immediately. Unfortunately it's going to be at least another month or so of pain before that becomes even remotely possible.

There was no point in that match where it looked like we thought we could score. Midfield looked brighter on paper, but on the pitch were non-existent. Can barely remember Jenas touching the ball. Bannan didn't get much right. Herd was chasing shadows. Albrighton, Agbonlahor and Bent had nothing to work with. Defence was fairly solid, restricted United to few actual efforts on goal, but as usual distribution & ball retention from the back was poor. Ultimately, there have been no games this season where we've looked like a functional attacking unit and that is a massive failing by the manager. Even though we lost Young & Downing there is no excuse to be this poor. Teams with far cheaper squads than ours are still able to play much better football.

Yawn. It was pretty comfortable draw, but that's exactly the problem. Once the 2nd half got going and we were on top we had to press the advantage & get the win, it was there for the taking. But there was never really any urgency. The changes, as ever, came too late. I'd wager Bannan made twice as many positive passes in his brief cameo than Herd, Delph and Heskey combined. McLeish will no doubt be very pleased because we got a point and a clean sheet, and who could dream of anything more. Given 7 - one important save, otherwise had little to do Hutton 4 - stupid two-footed tackle, with the reputation he got from the other week lucky not to see red. Can't cross. Dunne 7 - solid Collins 6 - mostly solid, but got turned by Lita which could've been the goal Warnock 6 - fine in defence, limited going forward Herd 5 - got about, not good with the ball but gave some aerial threat Delph 5 - looked rusty & struggled to get into game N'Zogbia 6 - positive at times but lacking final ball Gabby 7 - the most likely to make the breakthrough Heskey 5 - limited Bent 5 - invisible, didn't seem to be making the right runs in the box either (e.g. not getting to near post when crosses came in) Jenas - didn't do much Bannan - has to start, showed glimpses in his cameo

McLeish really needs to start putting some faith in the younger players. For all his talk of how we'll have to use lots of youth this season, at best we've seen 2 (and mostly, just one) from Delph, Bannan, Herd in the team. Each match we should be looking to start 3-4 out of: Delph, Bannan, Herd, Clark, Gardner, Delfouneso, Weimann, Lichaj (when fit), Johnson, Albrighton They will be inconsistent & I'm not sure any are up to starting week-in-week-out all season, but they need to be getting a good amount of time on the pitch & we can rotate between them over the season. Unfortunately McLeish seems to be in the mindset where if it's a tough fixture (e.g. Spurs, away), he'll pick a safe team to keep the score as close to 0-0 as possible and if it's an easy fixture (e.g. Norwich, home), he's into short term thinking and picking the seasoned pros because he knows he can't afford to drop points. He calls it a transitional season, but the transition doesn't seem to be happening - just a general stagnation. Next match, what changes will we see, will we see some transition and bring in, say, Clark, Bannan & Gardner? or will we just see the introduction of a Spurs loanee?

Herd was the one midfielder who did seem to be pressing & putting in a few challenges. Not great on the ball & his efforts didn't really do much to stop Spurs, but better than most in our team (not that this says a lot). Bannan only had half hour and we'd already given up the game by the point of his introduction, so hard to judge him too much. He wasted a couple of crosses but did manage to pass the ball to another Villa player's feet a few times, which was a step up from most..

Spurs have a better side than us, unquestionably, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will beat us every time they face us. Unfortunately it was clear from the lineup and the approach to the match that McLeish has decided our only possible hope was to fight out a 0-0. We go a goal down early and the gameplan (such as it was) is useless, now we're just trying to contain the defeat at a respectable level. And that was it. Nearly an hour goes by after the goal before we change anything on the pitch - and that is pointless because we put Bannan, someone who might be able to use the ball, out wide on the right, where we'd had zero possession up to that point. Sure enough Bannan gets very little of the ball, except when he chases inside & has no chance to make an impact. And that's the sole tactical alteration McLeish attempts, despite his entire approach failing within 15 minutes. Baffling. Bent is useless if we set out like this. No supply = no point. He might as well have put Gabby by himself up front if this was the tactic, add in a midfielder who actually likes to receive the ball (i.e. Bannan or Ireland) so the defence has someone to pass to. Kaboul and King were happy to deal with aimless hoofs all night long. But still no change. I do blame the players for defensive mistakes & for general lethargy, but this was a loss made by the manager's team selection & tactics. If I have to pick a MOTM, I'd say either Herd or Gabby for both having slightly more life than those around them.

Hutton and Collins both deserve dropping, but not Dunne. He's easily our best defender. Herd/Cuellar-Clark-Dunne-Warnock for me..

It was one of those assists that show assists aren't always the most reliable stat. If anyone deserved an assist for that goal it was Gabby for smartly switching the play to the right, all Hutton did was receive the ball and play a 5 yard square pass to Petrov who did the rest. Assists where the goals are clearly solo efforts shouldn't really count as assists. --- In general, I've yet to be at all impressed by Hutton. Maybe still not up to full sharpness or low in confidence, but he just looks bad in defence & utterly ineffective (though a willing runner) in attack.

Eh? Delph has played nearly every minute in the league this season, barring WBA game. Bannan has only started 5 out of 9 matches. He's looked better by playing better & contributing more.

He is completely disingenuous. Always has been. First to complain if something against him, but never holds his hands up if his side has been the beneficiary of a bad call. Unless they've found a new camera angle since the match, there has been no TV footage that shows a stamp. At worst you can see a slight move of Herd's leg - but no evidence of contact, particularly considering Olsson has zero reaction.

Clearly Darren Cann's moment of idiocy was a big turning point. Alas, we can't defend set pieces and that cost the goals. I don't blame the manager for this game, thought the starting line-up was good, and that was justified by a good first half hour. The subs did not change the game but all were justified at the time - Cuellar was a forced decision, Heskey because we needed more height (both for defending and trying to hold the ball from hoofs) and Albrighton because Bannan faded out of the match in the 2nd half. I don't think any other choices would have worked out better, tbh. Ratings: Given 6 - okay, don't think he could do anything for the goals. Hutton 4 - very poor player, tackle on Long was reckless even if he won ball & though he managed to avoid yellow there, got a stupid one later. Warnock 6 - pretty decent Dunne 6 - okay for most part, but he's gotta take some blame for the poor set piece situation Collins 6 - see Dunne N'Zogbia 5 - limited impact before the red card, even less after Herd 6 - assuming he didn't stamp on the player (and the replays certainly did not show much) he did fine and is very unlucky with the decision. Perhaps a bit over-enthusiastic in a couple of tackles, but he could grow into that DM role Petrov 5 - got over-run in 2nd half & was a bit wasteful with passing sometimes Bannan 6 - promising early on, good shot & a couple of good balls in, faded after the red card as he couldn't get on the ball Gabby 7 - deserves a lot of credit for winning the pen, few players would have the pace & anticipation to do that, also put in a lot of running. Bent 5 - scored the pen, but limited impact otherwise and missed the best chance of the match. If he's not going to do much else he has to bury chances like that. subs: Cuellar 5 - looked a bit rusty, at fault for the 2nd. Still I'd like to see him stay in the team ahead of Hutton as he will get better. First game in a long time, so not surprising he was slightly off the pace Heskey 5 - limited impact Albrighton 5 - poor crosses on the 2 or 3 occasions he had a chance

Herd in for Delph; Bannan and Zog for Ireland and Heskey Looks a good lineup to me. Shame Clark gets benched straight away, though I can understand keeping Collins-Dunne as first choice pairing.

2nd goal was the killer. Stupid Warnock. 1-0 down at the end of the 1st half, wasn't too bad - had a couple of chances. But then step out in the 2nd half concede a really sloppy 2nd and there's no way back. City when confident are always going to add more. Generally there's not a lot to draw from today. City are going to beat nearly everyone at home. I thought we could've pressed forward a bit more in the early stages, when City were playing a bit slow & giving the ball away. We had Gabby's chance but never really stepped up the pace. Once they got into the game, the goal was inevitable, and as I said, once the 2nd went in the game was over. Not that it was likely we were going to get anything from 1-0 down, but the 2nd might've been more interesting if we'd held out for a bit. Not sure who MOTM is. No-one really stood out.

I think Ireland deserves to keep his spot, probably just had his best game for Villa so not the time to bench him. If Bent and Jenas are fit, then N'Zogbia and Delph are the ones to make way for me: Hutton-Collins-Dunne-Warnock Petrov-Jenas-Ireland Bannan-Bent-Gabby Somewhere between 433/442 with midfielders taking turns to push forward/go wide and Gabby to join Bent in the box as much as possible. Gabby/Bannan can also switch sides. If Jenas still ain't ready, keep Delph in.

Certainly came into the match stronger in the 2nd half, and the hope that he can build on that might mean I'd favour him being kept in the team for the next match. Think he'd be best on the left of midfield 3 with license to go forward, rather than in the holding role (though I can sort of understand the thinking with that, given the options we have). Don't agree with people saying try him at LB, I thought he did okay there as someone playing out of position, but not enough to make me think it's an actual position for him, much like say Reo-Coker at RB. Maybe LM/LW, though I'm not sure what his crossing is like.

Bannan's really promising. Still not totally there with decision-making - i.e. when to try the first-time clever pass or beat the player and when it's best to just play it simple and hold onto it - but certainly in the 2nd half yesterday showed what he can do. The through-ball for Delph was the pick and I do like that he has the confidence to step up and score a penalty, placing into the corner where it's almost impossible to save rather than just hitting as hard as he can. With him and Ireland in the team, there is hope that we can actually play some football if we manage to keep it on the ground.

Tbf, it might be different if were chasing the game. Albrighton makes more sense at 1-0 up.

Much much better this half, we actually look good when Bannan & Ireland get on the ball. I think the worry now is the entire defence is on a yellow and the ref owes them a decision after the penalty. Home fans going to be on his back for everything and Campbell and SWP running at defenders = high potential for another yellow..

Looking at the bench, team pretty much picked itself, only choice being whether to retain Albrighton or Ireland from midweek. I wanted to see Jenas and Herd, but I guess neither are fit. Seem to remember Hall getting absolutely destroyed on the opening day and with Gabbidon missing he's back in - Gabby should be able to get some joy against him. In fact, Young aside, their defence looks like it could be dodgy. Taarabt, Barton, Bothroyd & SWP is a pretty good front 4 though, our defence need to be on their game & we need to hold possession in midfield much better than vs Newcastle

We can really only afford to carry 1 mercurial talent struggling for form, so it's either Ireland or N'Zogbia in the team at the minute, but not both. Jenas should start if he's fit. And if Herd is fit, put him at DM and rest Delph who's struggled the last couple of games. I think the addition of Jenas, who should be keen to impress on debut, and Herd, who should provide energy & battle, would refresh the team a bit. Bannan has to be starting based on form and, even if being on the right is not ideal, we should have Hutton providing the real width there. Back four are doing okay generally, Hutton's probably still got to work up to full match fitness, but no real reason to change there, so for me: Given Hutton-Collins-Dunne-Warnock Herd-Petrov Bannan-Jenas-N'Zogbia Gabby

I reckon Ireland for a goal tonight. Glad him and Bannan both playing - 2 players who can pass in the team, should improve things. Good team tbf, also glad that Fonz is starting. Hope that Gardner gets a runout too.

As the best we seem to be hoping for is midtable obscurity, cups are the only hope of anything exciting happening this season (and probably several seasons to come). So take it seriously, keep a fairly strong side but also use it for some fringe players to prove themselves - they should be hungry for games & to try and stake a claim. e.g. Herd, Ireland, Fonz, Albrighton, Gardner - for if we don't use them in the cups, then when? Better to use them pro-actively than wait for when we're forced to play them due to injuries. I don't think Bolton are going to be much up for the game this week - they've got big problems in the league & they'll not have great hope of winning away at Villa. It's a good draw for us.

I'd like to see us try a front 6 along the lines of: Herd Bannan-Petrov Ireland Gabby-Fonz A sort of narrow diamond - get the full backs to provide width, if we have Herd there to sit and cover. plus Bannan or either Gabby or Fonz can go wide where needed. It'd be nice to have Bannan and Ireland on the pitch - 2 players who actually like having the ball and can make intelligent passes, and perhaps provide balls for the pace of Gabby & Fonz. Of course, if Petrov injured, Jenas or Delph there.

I said in the summer we need to find a player like Tiote and that was demonstrated very well today. Can't help but think we now have Bannan, Delph, Petrov, Ireland and Jenas in CM - any two of whom would probably play well with a proper battling DM behind them, but none of whom are really suited to sitting in front of defence & winning the ball back. Petrov can do that to a degree, but doesn't really have the pace/energy which is why McLeish has preferred Delph there. But Delph doesn't really have the presence for that role, at least not yet. Herd or Clark in DM might well be best option for some games. Zog and Bent are both struggling for form which is a big problem for the attack. Good job Gabby has remembered how to score or we'd be in trouble. Wonder if Bent carrying an injury somewhat and needs to be rested? Zog I think just has to find an understanding with team-mates. He's a different type of player to Young & Downing, more inclined to take players on but not put the cross in straight away and that's probably harder for the strikers to read. e.g. there was a case near the end where him and Hutton were on the right and neither would put in 1st time cross - then Zog did cut behind defender and put ball into the near post, but no strikers had made a run there as I don't think they expected it when it finally came.

I think I'd like to see Herd for Delph. We need someone who's going to battle and win the ball back in midfield, just too open there.