srsmithusa

"He who controls the ball controls the score." - Pele Villa 2-0

It's a long commute from Alabama

OK. I thought Houllier's priority tonight would be to win and score a lot of goals. But I now think his goal is to see how some of the periphery perform, and maybe nick a win at the same time.

Perhaps he watched us on saturday and thought that must have been the reserve team I know I did

Me too, boots. I look for GH to go with a pretty strong side and a pretty attacking side. I think he would like to start with a highly positive, confidence building result. In this case, that means a win is essential. In addition, he has made it clear that he thinks doing well in this cup is a strong impetus for good results all around.

I haven't read the entire thread. But I was only able to see a bits and pieces of the match on my computer while at work. On the last "foul" call when Petrov clearly did not touch Jones, I got distracted in the middle. But wasn't the free kick taken from about 20 yards closer to the goal than where the supposed incident supposedly occurred? If I'm right about that, it's a bigger referee screw up than the call itself. But like I said, they expect me to pay more attention to my work than the match. They have no sense of priorities.

Watching our back line, I'd take that Danny Collins guy with the black eye any-time. (Idiot Announcers) James "Danny" Collins is amazing.

1) PaulandDonya - I am a recent addition to the villa fold, but unlike some others, I believe the history is important and had no idea of the history with Curbishly. As far as I'm concerned, he should be off the list of potentials based on the history alone. Thanks for bringing us all up to speed on what we missed. IMO those who think it doesn't matter are being foolish. 2) I'm a little tired of every name mentioned getting raped on here as not good enough. It's rediculous. It turns out that a lot of decisions I've made in my life didn't turn out as I'd hoped. Sometimes you take a chance on a player with tons of promise and they don't pan out. It doesn't mean you're a useless idiot of a manager. Get a grip. My personal preference on the current list is Houllier, but I was excited by MON and he walked out with no notice 5 days before the season. None of us know how well any of them will do, or how deeply any of them will bury us. Sir Alex isn't good enough to guarantee success with him at the helm. Neither is anyone on the list, or any of us.

General: I will try to follow the topic by asking three questions. 1) How do you endure the mindless, mean-spirited, inane, moronic, accusations on this thread that pretend to be questions? 2) Is there a fund to which I can donate to replace computer monitors? Because if I were you I would have thrown several across the room reading some of the posts here (described in question 1). 3) Finally, can we please consider the likelihood that at least 3 out of 4 of the idiot posts are from city fans (adjectives deleted) trying to create trouble with their neandertholic wit?

Not often this happens. But I pretty much agree with Richard in this latest dialogue. When KMac was promoted, I was happy with the concept and willing to give him a chance. Truthfully, after the season opener was about ready to declare it a done deal. However, since then, I have not seen the kind of decision making that impresses me. Will our next manager have 100% support on here? Did MON? Did DOL? Does Carew? Does NRC? Does Petrov? Does Ash? If you read here often you have seen all of them slated. I will likely get frustrated with any of them at times. But I will support the team. (BTW - the only place Richard lost me in this was when he implied that there is some nefarious plot by the board to save money)

Albrighton has so much potential !!!! He really needs a good manager.

There once was a man from Nantucket........

Get Downing off. Tired of him undermining the hard work of 10 others.

IMO - he is our most important player.... and was before Milner left, too.

Wasteful "cross" by Downing.

Anybody notice that we had a man stationed on each post at that corner? Maybe we can we learn.

dotcomsimon I love you!

I have no stream. So far I have read "good touch hesky" "Nice skill NRC" and several other similar things that make it clear the posters have no stream either... making stuff up. Oh, great work rate, Stan !!!

Nonsense IMO. The formation had nothing to do with the early goals. The reason for the early goals is that the team had absolutely NO one strong enough to play central defense. Jay DeMerit and Onyewu were the best available, but they were too slow. DeMerit plays right side in lower level english teams and Onyewu loses focus and wanders off physically and mentally. He washed out in english leagues, and was just coming back from an injury. Cherundulo and Bocanegra could only cover if there was time. The 4-4-2 was to free up Donovan and Dempsey both to attack from behind the forwards and from multiple angles. The defense could not hope for clean sheets, so he needed to create the best attacking formation possible. Donovan and Dempsey have both played up front at times, but both are much more effective as the wings in a 4 man mid-field. They can move inside and outside more easily. Bradley's strength IMO is thinking the match through and making the best adjustments possible. His weakness is picking the roster to begin with.

Thanks for your last response, General, I consider every villa fan a mate, but some of my mates are cranky, suspicious, paranoid, unlikeable sorts.... I think your irritation at them is every bit as reasonable as their disappointment of the "Newcastle nightmare." I have a request of you or the mods. Is there some way to flag your responses to make them easy to locate? Sometimes I like to check in and see your most recent posts. Yes there is - click this or save it as a bookmark Wading through a bunch of amateur attorneys trying to ask a question in such a way as to trick you into revealing things you cannot possibly know. (i.e. when will we get a new manager?. thanks,

Well, it seems that the players don't really want KM as manager after all

Thanks the tvoo link was working wonderfully until you posted here, then it crashed for me.... grrrrrr

Whatever else KM will do, I can only see Ireland and Albrighton both on the start. Maybe you guys know something I don't.

OK, so at least three think I'm far too demanding. Maybe so, but I don't like "not a bad result considering the team" or "not a bad result considering it's european football" or "or not a bad result considering" anything. Those considerations should be made before the match, not afterwards to downplay a result that would be disappointing if it weren't for whatever excuse being tendered. Shouldn't we consider those things in advance? Bottom line, I'm not happy we fielded a team that we feel lucky to escape with a 1-1. Not a bad post considering I'm an american.

Didn't see match, but not really happy with result. 0-2 should have been the minimum acceptable. The door for Rapid is far from shut. I think KM should have started and played a team that would get at least 0-2 result. Most on here are content "considering the line-up" but the lineup was one our manager selected. Should have selected a better one. I'm not trying to be negative, but trying to use claret colored glasses, not rose colored. I think we can and should do better.