rjshare

league cup really showering itself in glory tonight - 2 goals in 5 matches so far!

makes him look like john fashanu...

you mean if we win? (the giant killing) lol

Can someone tell me what it was that houllier was trying to do and why it was such a great thing? And is there actually any evidence to prove this great thing houllier was building or is it all based on steak and chips love for him and interviews he did years ago?

Was he implementing new tactics? Well no he wasn't, MON in Pre season changed the formation and tried young in the hole, k mac continued with that and so did houllier. He stuck with it for over 20 games until we were in real trouble and then woke up.

Also he refused to do anything about the defence. Now I'm now footballing genius like mr houllier but I would have thought building a new great style of football would require a certain amount of time solving obvious weaknesses which the great houllier failed to do.

Was he trying to implement this new great style using youth? Well he played young players because he had to and dropped them pretty much as soon as the senior players returned.

His style of football was pathetic, it was possession football in areas that weren't a danger to the opposition. His defence was set up in a shambolic way. He destroyed team spirit, any fight the team had to get back into games and was an embarrassment in the press and towards the fans.

Now there are stats, facts, games and results to show all that so I frankly couldn't give a shit that houllier fan number 1 posts interviews from years ago or makes up his own bullshit.

Houllier was one of the worst appointments this club ever made.

I think you are looking at this through blinkers. We did try to keep the ball, it was so obviously different to what ONeill was doing that you couldnt possibly not notice it, unless you just didnt want to.

The problem we had was the lack of technical ability in the squad, we couldnt play the passing game at a tempo that regularly opened up the opposition, which often meant we kept the ball but possession floundered.

Now that we have returned to a UK thump it and chase philosophy, the players look happier and you no doubt will be much more pleased.

surely the flip side to that is that if you have players that are adapted to playing a certain style, you use tactics that play to their strengths rather than deciding on tactics and then trying to force your players to fit your ideas?

i cant see how the old wimbledon team would have marched through the divisions if they had tried to get a team of brickies and part timers to play like barcelona!

MAYBE over the course of a few years houllier MAY have been able to change the squad and its style of play enough for his philosphy to acheive results, but he would never have had chance to prove it if he had got us relegated in the mean time.

… but was never really good enough to be a regular in a top 5 or 6 team -

The facts state otherwise. He was not only a regular but captain of a side that consistently finished top 6 three years running and in that period won fans and players Player of the Year awards

i meant to imply that he wouldnt have got into the side at ANOTHER top 5 or 6 team - in my opinion. he was only in ours because he was a mon favourite - although i admit, he did have one good season.

he is an honest hard working player who deserves respect - but he's just like gavin mccan before him, sixth place is his career high point - not the bare minimum for what his talent deserves.

I actually pity anyone who owns a football club these days. Even the billionaire Russians and Arabs, their money means nothing in football unless the club they own turns out the results.

If they don't spend, buying big name players on eight figure transfer fees and six figure a week salaries (please, stand back for a second and actually think about the enormity of paying someone that much money a WEEK), then the "fans" (yes, quotation marks) won't turn up - and if the fans don't turn up they can't afford to buy/pay the players.

Are there REAL fans any more or just lots of people who expect an enormously rich person to p*ss their personal wealth up the wall with the sole aim of making a bunch of disillusioned people in a far away town feel superior for 90 minutes a week by being able to gloat that "they" have spent £400bn on players and are paying them enough to redeem the entire national debt of Greece in under 3 months?

RL is clearly doing what needs to be done, putting Villa on a stable financial footing and avoiding it getting into a situation where we end up bankrupt, or entirely reliant on an owner to prop its aspirations up.

Even the Glazers, with their banknote-printing stake in one of the world's richest clubs are now having to sell of a portion of their riches to get their debts to a more manageable level.

Some more points...

We were not about £24m in the red in the Jan transfer window? £18m up front for Bent and £6m for Makoun? In the summer we recouped this by selling Young and Downing, less the fees for Given and N'Zogbia. I am pretty sure that Bent's signing in January was made with money we expected to get back by the sale of Young. In 2011 the transfer window has seen the club not actually get much richer or poorer from transfer fees. We've saved a lot on wages with the outgoing players but it was on the cards that the wage bill had to decrease.

Next - when we're getting 30,000 crowds for a local derby then it's no bloody wonder they're cutting costs. Surely this is going to lead to an ever decreasing spiral? Less fans means less revenue means we have to save costs and less to spend on players to get those fans back..... etc etc

I honestly don't think we have a bad squad all things considered. If the fans are going to overlook the development of Bannan, Albrighton, Herd, Delph, Lichaj, et al in favour of the "delights" of spending millions of pounds on "big name" signings then god help us. Personally I think N'Zogbia's looked like a complete waste of £9.5m so far this summer but hey since he cost us lots of money he must be good, right?

If the club is sold, then I honestly thing we are NOT going to get an owner who cares more about the club's future than Lerner. He might have had a hard lesson in football not being a money-maker, but at least he's tried. An Arab billionaire buying the club would be a disaster in the long term, make no mistake.

Great post, I totally agree.

x2

hold on a minute.

IF we pre-spent the Young money on Bent, what the **** happened to the £24 million we got for Milner in August ?????

we didnt get 24m for him - we got steven ireland...

Petrov is finished as he is not the player he was.

i nealy agree with you there.

i actually think he is still the player he has always been for us. by that i mean that he is a 6.5/10 premier league standard player. he was an ok signing when he came, but was never really good enough to be a regular in a top 5 or 6 team - and certainly would never have got in the side at any of the prem teams that have qualified for the champs league in the last 5 years.

he is a lucky player as mon took to him and because of that he has played a lot of football in the prem and has continued to play at that level pretty much by default due to the circumstances at the club. in his favour i will add that he has always given 100% effort for the club and never been less than totally professional in his time here. for that he deserves respect even if his playing ability probably doesnt justify the amount of games he has ended up playing for us.

not seen the score rjshare?

first facepalm of the day award goes to...

fvckin rubbish.

heskey up front the fvckin carthorse

gabby on the wing, fvckin clueless tactics

we're playin fvckin blackburn for fcks sake, should be beating these easy...

Actually thought we'd loose this game so more than happy with a point but it is painfully clear that we need more quality in the team.

One point gained another thirtynine to make sure we're safe.

The way McDull has got it planned we should be ok for another 37 points at least.

We're playing for 12th place - Utter tripe!!!!

grow a pair ffs.

to all of you criticising my post - 2 points:

i'm not defending him any more than i would any other manager in his first match in charge. i'm not a huge fan of his or anything and i have no reason to be over defensive about him.

he is stuck between a rock and a hard place with some of you. if he had come out with seven forwards on the pitch and gone for a spectacular win, only to lose heroically the first official protest against him would be already planned for the blackburn match due to his clueless tactics and dismal start.

i'm not asking anyone to like him but i just hate seeing us turn so many seasons into comedy soap operas because of constant protesting. fortunately newcastle are usually there to draw away some of the attentionwith their award winning dramatics. all i'm saying is have a bit of patience and at least let the bloke f*ck it up on a level playing field because he is damned if he does, damned if he doesnt by some fans at the moment.

mcleish knows that if he has a bad start there will be a witch hunt by the fans. he knows a lot of people dont want him here and the slightest slip up could easily turn the majority against him. the last thing he is going to risk doing is losing the opening game of the season.

people who are citicising him already for a conservative performance should realise that the conservative performance is a direct consequence of your reactions to his appointment.

this statement is taking it's time..

i bet it doesnt take anywhere near as long as i'm hoping it will!

What I dont understand is why does Mcleish want a job where is hated from the start? He may even be putting himself or his family in danger. (you know there are idiots about).This is a **** joke and irresponsible of both Villa and AM.

i cant answer why, but these things happen. why did mo johnston switch from one side of glasgow to the other? i dont know either, but he did it and didnt die.

These protests are nothing to do with his ability, that is total bs. It's all to do with Birmingham, which I can't really understand...we're linked with Ben Foster and no one says anything negative...if McClaren was appointed, would there be protests? No! If McLeish was coming from Sunderland, would there be protests? No

Just forget about Birmingham and concentrate on Villa!

you obviously aint called the joker for nothing!

perhaps you genuinely dont see the contradictions in your post...

The folks that turned out to protest are not happy fair enough. But that means the vast majority who didn't go are happy to give big eck a chance.

no it doesnt. i didnt go but i'm not happy to give him a chance.

(it was just because i couldnt cover the 1200kms by 6pm...)

i reckon a couple of thousand is a fair estimate in that pic actually when you look at everyone at the sides in the car park and up on the balconies.

mind you i estimate i have an 18inch cock too!

yes but we apparently dont want hughes because he had the audacity and honesty leave his previous employment correctly and under the terms of his contract...

PLEASEEE - can you stop writing ML for alex mccleish? you mean AM dont you?

Not a nightmare then?

nooo not at all, quite looking forward to it actually...

Randy just watch their last half dozen games and tell me why he should get the job?? Watch the 5-1 and tell me why he should get the job??? Suggest in the porridge league with Rangers or Celtic is a given, it's shooting fish in a barrell, it is one of if not the worst league in Europe!

...... do we ignore some of the gubbings we got last season (Newcastle anyone ?) and do we ignore the fact the ML put his team of no-hopers and Villa cast-offs in the top half of the league for most of the time we were in the bottom half a dozen ?

Oh ..... okay then !

sorry paul, you are telling us not to be selective with our judgements and then doing exactly that yourself. the table wasnt decided in january when they were above us - it was decided a few months later where we finished in the top half and they got relegated.

Well so far the only ones we know have been definite candidates have been Martinez & McLeish. We know that McLeish is being considered but has not yet been interviewed, while Martinez was not actually interviewed and decided he did not want to be considered.

Maybe (please God) there are other irons in the fire & Randy is just doing his due diligence & interviewing a number so that he can make a proper informed choice. It seems to me with Randy personal rapport with a manager is very important and he will want to meet with them face to face to see who he likes best.

I am hoping that there are at least 2 or 3 other hats in the ring and that Mcleish is just one of a number being interviewed.

Someone mentioned a dozen or so pages back that Villa staff were being made to sign confidentiality agreements re the manager's post and maybe this is because there are candidates being interviewed who do not want to be made public until the decision is made (ie currently employed at other clubs or candidates for other positions).

It's all conjecture I know, but I really don't think a decision to appoint McLeish is as much of a fait accompli as some might suggest.

thats true ponky, but the fact remains that we have publicly stated that we want to interview him and consider him as a possible candidate - that alone proves that the board need their heads read.

no one needs to interview anyone to see that in no way shape or form should he be considered for the job. if we eventually appoint someone else it doesnt alter the fact that the board were seriously considering bringing in the manager who just got the blues relegated for the second time in three years.

It is him. Media have confirmed he's expected to sign within 24 hours. They've been given the nod. Won't be confirmed on SSN until it's on our website which is standard practice.

so are you ITK or just an attention whore?

or isnt it the same thing anyway according to you?

what kind of nothing statement is that from the board???

all it does is dispells the myth that they have something amazing up their sleeves all this time.

Why not Kev Mac?

it would probably take him a month to decide if he wanted to apply for the job or not!