briny_ear

On Rodgers, I would say let's see how things look at the end of next season. No doubt he has done well this season but sometimes newly promoted clubs do that and then fade when the novelty wears off. I wonder if his mates Pep and Jose sent him messages of condolence when he left Reading in December 2009 with a 26% win rate & with the club 2 points away from the relegation zone?

The way he went for the ball when he scored on Saturday, you just knew he was going to score come what may. He has a real killer instinct in front of goal. I've just been watching the highlights of the Reserve game against Norwich and it was the same there. I really hope he can build on this and become a regular first team striker for us. We could be in for a treat if he can make it at premier league level.

Well said, JV. I don't think much to McLeish but he got things right on Saturday and it was a pleasing win we can surely all celebrate.

Agreed. And the classless McLeish is still criticising the fans on a false basis. He was not chastised by the Holte End for bringing on Weiman - most Villans have been crying out for him to get a chance and love to see our youth coming through - he was chastised for taking off the Zog who was our most creative, attacking and threatening player whilst leaving on Gabby and Albie who had both had poor games. McLeish knows this but chose to try and point score and I now detest him as a person (for this and similar pathetic interviews/comments over the last few months) as much as I dislike him as a manager. As I've already said in the match thread, I've only seen the Match First highlights and I suppose they could have edited out all the great football that N'Zogbia played. But as far as I could see he wasn't doing anything special. Ireland was having far more influence on the game and at least Gabby and Albrighton had shown they knew where the goal was.

Los moderadores no representan una amenaza, ya que han crecido fiesta hinchado y en posición supina sobre los frutos grasos de poder. ¡Viva la revolución! ¡Viva la estupidez! ¡Tengo una naranja! ¿Por favor, puede dirigir su yo a un hotel de 5 estrellas? Voy a la playa, y yo estoy tomando una bola de inflatible. ¿Por favor avisar al portero que no es la rana en mi bidé? Yo he vencido al profesor de robot y este es mi baile de la victoria. FFS, Gareth. I've just fought off an all-day hangover but you have made me laugh so much my head is throbbing again.

Agree with darrenm. Also, I think Albrighton was just trying harder. Thought N'Zogbia had some nice touches but he looked a bit half-baked and uncommitted to me. The reason we won was because we had some young players on the field who don't know when they're beaten and play their hearts out until the very last minute.

Pienso los mods se han algo de limpieza a hacer esta noche!

Well I don't think it mentions top 4 success, and there's no denying AM did win a cup, with an inferior club. Even if all he does is steady the ship and keep us safe in mid table, the point that it's making about getting off AM's back is a valid one. The word Messiah doesn't appear in the article anyway. I was probably misled by this bit If that's not saying McLeish can do better than MON and if "great things" doesn't mean a trophy and/or a top 4 place it's just badly written. Let's just settle for the fact that McLeish can keep the ship steady while RL slims down the wage bill to the level he now has the stomach for. Any temptation to generate support for McLeish by seeking to criticise the MON era, as I take this article to be doing, is divisive and pointless. Houllier tried that without much success. MON was trying to do what RL wanted during his three seasons with us but Lerner now wants something different, so there isn't much basis to compare.

Deliberate? Sadly not. :oops: Got a bit of a hangover.

Great article and well thought out as to why we are currently sitting where we are, and it is not because of McLeish. Unfortunately I'm not sure the McLeish haters would let the actual facts get in the way of their belief that he is the devil reincarnated! Is this really a "great article"? I may have misunderstood it but it seems to be arguing that MON wasn't the man to take Villa to Cup and top 4 success but Mcleish is the man to do it. This is completely deluded nonsense. While I don't go along with much of the anti-McLeish stuff that gets posted on here these days, there is very little evidence so far that he will do anything other than steady the ship and keep us safe in mid table. After last season's relegation scare I welcome that but I can't really see McLeish as the new Messiah who will lead us out of the trophy wilderness.

Welcome on board, Brett. hope you're ready for a bit of booing first time you play and cahnts of "You don't know what you're doing" if McLeish brings you on as a sub . Probably best to stay away from the message boards as well.

At last! I noticed 2-3 weeks ago that I was on post 9999 and I decided that I wouldn't do number 10000 until I could celebrate a victory. Didn't expect to wait this long... Been away for the weekend, so just got back, watched the game on Match First and now it's time to party! :notworthy: Thought it was a decent enough game - we played well in midfield and defence. Ireland, Hutton and Cuellar stood out for me, and Petrov and Herd look a good combination as DMs. Good to be able to celebrate a home win and a clean sheet although, let's be honest, we very nearly didn't make the win. Lack of a killer instinct in front of goal was painful. I think most other sides would have had a game they dominated so much in the first half wrapped up by 45 minutes. Still, it was very pleasing that we kept playing positively until the very end of added time. I reckon we are free now of any mythical worries there ever were about relegation. Was disappointed that some "fans" started jeering and booing. On the "You don't know what you're doing" commentary on McLeish's substitutions, well, I think it was Game Set and Match to him this time, wasn't it? Because the goal came as a result of excellent play from his three substitutes. So I guess he, er... DID know what he was doing. I've seen the comments about how N'Zogbia shouldn't have been taken off but all I can say is they must have edited most of his good bits out of the Match First highlights. There were a couple of good passes and tackles but for most of the game he looked to me as half baked and uncommitted as normal. Towards the end of the game, we were pushing up and a couple of times got booed for passing back to Given as a way of keeping possession and not risking a Fulham break away. This got booed and I thoght that was depressing but not surprising - Villa crowds have done this for as long as I can remember. It is pretty dumb to start booing your own players though. Final word to Andreas Weimann. I was so pleased to see him score and the way he went for the goal showed a real predatory instinct. I'm not sure that Bent or Gabby would have scored from the same position. There's a long way to go for him but for the moment it's nice to imagine that we have a real predatory striker here who will grow into a freescoring forward who will solve one of our striker problems.

Anything less than top 10 is down to pathetic, turdgid management and is not 'fine' by me! But with a very naive board that seems to have lost the plot and a timid manager who seems scared to let us play attacking football except against the very bottom clubs, (OK, OK, I know, Chelsea... ) you may have to get used to something way below 10th. I just want to stay up.

Top 17 - including No. 17 - is going to be fine by me this season.

That's either going to be a BIG kitchen or VERY cramped sharks! :shock:

Not that it's at all important, but if you read what I actually said, I never claimed MON was better than Little. That was an argument Mantis appeared to be having with himself. :winkold: Little has always been one of my heroes and I won't hear a word said against him. However, even his biggest fan would have to admit that, while he was really good for two seasons as out manager, he was desperately poor in the 1997-8 season and he bailed out with Villa in 15th place in late February 1998, 6 points off the relegation zone. Sound familiar? I agree with Mr Duck's post. Little managed the club in very different times and faced different challenges. By the time MON came to the club, a "top 4"of clubs had built up a massive wealth and powerbase fuelled with CL TV revenue and massive investment of the like Villa just hadn't seen. The fact that he got a club that had been drifting around mid table to challenge consistently for the top 4 and for trophies is to his credit, although obviously it's disappointing we didn't ever make the top 4 or win a trophy. For those who gloat about his departure, however, it's surely galling to see the chaos our club has been in since he left, and our mediocre achievements; also to see Sunderland now getting the benefit of his motivational and tactical skill.

Well, since GH rarely played him during his spell as manager, I can hardly imagine there was any great bond between them.

Right, so we've now moved from comparing him with Delph to comparing him with Adebayor. Just so long as I know where the goalposts have been moved to... :winkold:

Don't know. Do you really think he did? :confused:

Shoud it be renamed 'The ex-managers who failed to fulfil their potential thread'? Or "Managers who did better at Villa than Martin O'Neill thread" Good idea but of course you'd need to go back well before John Gregory to find one of those. If people really want to talk about JG and the like, how about "Managers who disappeared with hardly a trace after managing Villa (unlike MON)"? :winkold: Personally I think Gregory did a better job. However, even if you don't agree with that, Little undoubtedly did a better job and he came right before Gregory. Brian Little is one of my favourite Villa players of all time. Yes, as our manager he did well for a couple of seasons but not so well in his bail-out season of 97-8. He would also qualify under my alternate suggested title for the thread.

As a matter of interest, Olly Mellberg scored his 2nd this season for Olympiakos a couple of matches ago.

Really? If failure to organise your team to win premier league and cup matches with increasing regularity, inability to work with experienced players, and utter failure to organise an effective defence are qualifications for the Villa post, I guess he's a shoe-in. He reminds me a bit of Houllier.

Shoud it be renamed 'The ex-managers who failed to fulfil their potential thread'? Or "Managers who did better at Villa than Martin O'Neill thread" Good idea but of course you'd need to go back well before John Gregory to find one of those. If people really want to talk about JG and the like, how about "Managers who disappeared with hardly a trace after managing Villa (unlike MON)"? :winkold:

Petrov has scored 4 this season so I'm not sure which two you have disregarded in counting his goals as a "couple"? Just for the completeness, he has two assists as well.

So this is now the John Gregory thread? :confused: