srsmithusa

Dunne - Absolutely terrible touch on OG. Reactions that he's horrible and has been for weeks are rantings and imaginations - IMO

Heskey - Impossible to get a good touch when the keeper gets a touch within a foot or two to place it behind you.

NRC - agreed he's much improved, but he still panics in front of the goal.

I wonder if Houllier isn't thinking a bit longer term than many here. sometimes there's an order to changes.

1) Fitness - we have faded into defensive shell less frequently - perhaps because we have the fitness to do more that drop and stay deep.

2) Confidence on the ball and possession - we are clearly improving But I think this is still where we need the most work.

3) Attack with incisive balls to clinical runs - we saw about 4 of those yesterday - that's about 3 more than we were getting.

4) Eliminate mistakes - not there yet - at either end.

If you get those 4 - in that order - long term you have a great team. Getting those 4 takes time.

Dunn made a fantastic play to deny Gyan on a breakway. Just sayin'

If you don't recognize we're much better this half you're not watching.

If you don't realize this is much closer to 1-1 than to 0-2 you're not watching.

I don't care what commentary you're listening to.

Emile had it lined up, but the keeper just got a touch and put it just too far behind him to make an adjustment.

Sometimes this place turns into sharks on a feeding frenzy.

We have looked much better the last 5-10 minutes. Several very dangerous chances. Sidwell had a very nice header that was cleared off the line by a defender standing on the post.

Good tackle by sidwell, followed by a nice ball to heskey, followed by great effort by heskey

Just thought I'd buck the trend and write some positives.

Watched on TV. Just don't want to name a single MOTM. Quite a few did very well. But more importantly, the team consistently came out with noticeably greater confidence, more patience on the ball, more persistence to contest possession in close quarters, spacing was much better so we collected a lot more "2nd balls," and movement off the ball was noticeably improved. All of it was wonderful.

Unfortunately it faded as the match wore on. But new habits take time.

Let the Houllier revolution continue !!

Maybe I'm too picky. I agree that cueller cleared a bunch of balls, but I fear that what some are calling "no-nonsense" is what I call "anywhere but here" clearances. I would much rather he cleared the ball TO somebody more often. I couldn't give him MOTM just because the vast majority of his clearances gave a dangerous throw-in, a corner, or landed at an orange shirt. A clearance that ends the danger is much better than a clearance that creates a new danger.

calm possession please

elakobi won round one with albrighton.

Warnock really is having a bad day at the office.

wolves have pissed me off. what happened to sportsmanship. friedel puts it out for Warnock on the ground holding his head and wolves put a long throw into the box. I wanted us to win. now I want them to lose just as much.

warnock plays a head game with halsey, and wins.

nice switch to albrighton how put in a good cross. forced hahnamann to make a really good decision.

"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.

Seems to

Me

Like GH isn't bothered by this cup,well with the squad he's picked it seems that way..

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

I know I did

------------------ Guzan --------------------

Young --- Collins --- Cuellar --- Warnock

------------------- NRC ---------------------

Downing ---- SI --------- Bannan ---- Ash

------------------- Gab ---------------------

for me

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.

Wonder what joke Randy was telling...

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

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