srsmithusa

I'm not anti-Houllier. But neither am I anti-Petrov. Time will tell but I'm yet to be convinced that Makoun is any better than Bannan. In that case you should watch the last few games. Nothing more to be said. I've seen them, thanks for the advice. That's how I came to my opinion. Nothing more to be said. Ah, well. There was me thinking you hadn't. Easy mistake to make. Easy mistake to make.... that makes my day

The other solution, is for the intended recipient to move. If the opposition is overplaying the passing lane, the recipient should break toward goal and let Makoun hit the pass there instead.

IMO - if you can't see he's our best passer you're not watching. On the other hand, he was markedly less precise than he has been in the second half today. I'm wondering why. It could be tired, but I don't think so. I have the feeling that Fulham made an adjustment at half-time. But it wasn't marking Makoun, it was marking everyone around him more closely when he had the ball. Whatever happened, many of Makoun's passes started to get cut out, at the same time, more spaces began to develop. I found it interesting.

Not what I think we'll see... but what I think is our best 11 Friedel Cuellar - Collins - Dunne - Clark Albrighton – Bradley - Makoun - Young Heskey - Bent I wish GH would play it, just to prove me right

I didn't expect us to keep a clean sheet, but the way they were given up was disappointing. I called it on Makoun long before this one started. Within 3 weeks our top central mid will be Bradley and Makoun. Delph first alternate. Ashley Young needs to be moved to the wing and taken off free kicks, or else be sold.

Oh, that gave me an idea. How about a "Mak the knife" song?

I have had the very good fortune to be on the field with some players that played internationally for several different countries. The most amazing thing about the best of them was that they were always thinking 2-3 passes ahead. When the ball came toward them, they already knew their options and had already decided which one to take (often the second or third most obvious). They passed on target, effortlessly with one touch and moved to be an option for either a return or more amazingly to me, a second pass from a third teammate. Their vision and anticipation was amazing. Makoun showed that. I can't wait to see him settle into the team more.

I thought Makoun looked very neat, tidy, and efficient. He does not appear to be quite the boisterous tackler I expected, but he may be the attacking midfielder we've needed. The pitch was horrible. Clearly badly torn up in many places but terribly soft, and wet. Keeps the match from being fast, or neat, or technical. Running on a soft, wet field makes your legs heavy and tired and slow. I really think it's part of the reason we faded late in the match. The other reason we faded, was that our confidence is improved but very fragile after all the disappointments of the past few months.

I think it's completely unarguable that this is the most accurate description of Downing's day. Mod, can we close this thread now?

contractors here never show up anyway. They're always "on another site." In this case it could be some Villa site, right?

I would go (as several others have suggested) with same, except Makoun into middle, Downing on the wing, Gabby on the bench. But I would be looking to try a couple things later depending on how things go. All three points seem quite possible here, best not to take too many risks. Better to take risks against ManU when the odds of getting points are not so good, or wait a few more weeks, till confidence is much higher and safety a bit more assured (at least we all greatly hope so).

Can't be anything less than delighted with a win and a clean sheet against the best team money can buy. 7-Friedel - not a lot to do really. Should have taken more control, especially on some of the early corners 9-Cuellar - He is a master of the clutch, stabbing, tackle/block and he showed it today. 9-Collins - He will need extra treatment for bruises from the point blank blocks he threw today. 9- Dunne - Not quite as spectacular in his defensive heroics as the others, but solid, steadying rock in the center 8- Clark - Really good out of position... needs to do better forcing opponent into the middle where help is waiting. 7- Albrighton - Not his best game... but he worked his socks off, tracked back brilliantly... gave no silly tackles... made Manc play honest. 9- Petrov - not the kind of performance everyone notices, but kept the middle clogged and difficult going 9- Downing - Also helped keep the middle clogged but also did good and closing down space very quickly. 6- Agbonlahor - A few good runs, his speed makes the opponent play honest on his side, too. He kept boateng completely quiet.8-8 8- Young - Really strong, aggressive, defensive work. Took several dangerous chances that again made Manc play him honest. 9-Bent - Great poacher's goal. I like that he had the intelligence in the second half to hold up, slow down, and keep possession. 8- NRC - Solid defensive display, but did good and keeping possession when possible as well. 9-Houllier - Gutsy call to go so Attacking. Would really have liked to see NRC about 10 minutes sooner. But I would have taken off Bent, NRC in the middle, Downing playing in front of NRC and Petrov, with Young only slightly in front of Downing. That leaves a 6 way tie for MOTM. I'll give it to Collins for three reasons. I can't vote for all 6. I want to see what ya'll voted and I need to put somebody in to do that. I think he fairly regularly catches some unfair criticism on this board.

Those of you that are Man Shitty fans here just to get a reaction will be bored with this. Just so we play well. Obviously better to win, but won't really be too upset about the result in this one. We can't possibly have a great understanding amongst the attack or the defense, so a few moments of real connection is all I need to see at this point. If they result in some great goals and great team defense and a win that's certainly better, but not necessary.

This is true and answers the earlier question why Gabby was played on the left. He's not a winger, but he's better there than playing in the hole. You can't put 2 up top when you don't have 2 center mids that can hold the center of the pitch. We don't have those. We may have just gotten one. Delph may be the second. Petrov is not, NRC is not. Sorry.

In principle, I agree we should go with 2 up top. The problem is we do not have the central mid-fielders to do that. We need 3 in the mid-field to hold the game. When we put on Bannan and Delph, we moved to 2 up front and OVERALL that's when the scum kept the most sustained pressure on us. I hope Makoun provides enough in the middle that we can push one more up and have a front line of 2. We'll see. Delf was a great improvement over Carew. 'Course a tree stump would have been about equal with Carew, bar one run where he outpaced Ridgewell

we do **** all from free kicks

Downing needs to move left. Clark can use the help, but more importantly Downing pulls out of far too many challenges to play in the middle of the pitch. The harder question is what to do after that. Bannan in the whole with 1 up front? Who? Two up front? Why? Nobody seems to do anything up there. Actually, the most frustrating thing is the flopping morons in blue shirts. They have 15 flops for every shot.

Massively **** up again? that suggests that he **** up for a while then went on a decent run. He hasn't stopped **** up. 3 wins in 16 league games, one win in our last 8 league games losing 6. Worst defence, second worst away record leading us into relegation mire. Serving up some right tripe along the way,falling out with players and insulting his own fans at Anfield. The man as been one big **** up from the day he arrived. One saving grace I guess is that he can't get any worse can he? actually maybe I should wait till 2pm Sunday before suggesting that. Is that you Martin?

Heart - we'll beat blues when Bannan hit's an amazing through ball to Clark who puts a screamer in the top corner in extra time Head - we can't score... we allow silly goals. My honest opinion... how we do next weekend depends on what personnel GH and Randy can add this week.

Most important, glad to have a win. Walker earned MOTM with Albrighton close behind. Good sign about GH in the market. But for me, very worrying. How can a 19 yo from the championship look pretty easily MOTM unless the team he's joining has crap for quality? He made some defensive errors and a couple nearly disastrous give-aways. I also note that he did best when he just kept the ball at his feet and took somebody on. Will our current players not do that because they lack confidence? My other concern is that while we had better speed and individual skill, Sheff Utd played together as a unit much better. We looked like 11 individuals with 11 different game plans.

I thought I would join the tone of this entire board lately and just make it plain that unemployment is very high here in the States right now and I blame Houllier for it. I also blame him for global warming and the fall of the Roman Empire. Anybody who says otherwise is blindly ignoring the facts that are plain for all to see.

I didn't vote in this early because I think it's like asking if you think Heskey should have shoved Henderson. Nobody can think it's going swimmingly, but GH is here. I am convinced he's going nowhere until the end of the season at least. Whether I like it or not is kind of beside the point. It's done. He's staying. That's my opinion. I'll back him, not beucase "he needs more time." But because he is Villa's manager now. I hope he has spectacular success and I will continue to provide whatever support I can. Having said that, if you think he should leave, waive your banner that says so. It won't make him leave, but it might impress on everyone the urgency that things improve. And there is certainly that urgency that we improve.

As before, I think GH was given a guarantee of at least a year to get it turned around. But it's hard to see much hope of him salvaging this season. Avoiding the drop will be success at this point. (Before you react, I didn't say Villa should be no better than this, I said that at this point, with GH staying, I will be happy if we stay up.... hopefully next season will be better.)

If it makes you feel any better, I've been pretty certain you're insane for some time now.

I take it back. he should have subbed Heskey a bit ago.