sting

Fulham had key players missing and that contributed to how easy it was for us other than the excellence of our play. It probably was the worst Fulham performance i have seen for a season or two and thankfully, we took advantage. Great to have won the game and maybe the penny has finally dropped, with O'Neill keeping the 4-5-1 system which suits the players we have at our disposal better. However, it is abundantly clear that we still need a more creative presence in midfield to stop our play being too one dimensional and against better teams, we will need this. Both Cuellar and Clark impressed me, but they were up against a toothless Fulham and therefore, it was the ideal time for Clark to make his Premiership debut. Would have liked to have seen Delph replace Petrov for the last third of the game, just to see if he would have given us that extra creativity going forward through the middle, instead of us crossing the ball for Hangeland to clear all the time. That leads me to my favourite centreback at the moment. Hangeland is an absolute monster at the back and according to Sky, Fulham have yet to receive a phone call about him yet. I hope O'Neill has had a quiet word in Roy Hodgson's ear about Hangeland coming to Villa Park. Would love to see Hangeland being paired with Cuellar, instead of Dunne, but that, unfortunately, doesn't seem like happening, although it is not a Dunne deal yet (sorry). Overal, it was an average performance by us, devoid of any flair and this is why i think the attendances are starting to fall. Our football at the moment is very mechanical and we cannot provide that unexpected piece of skill to make all supporters come to our games. Is this the beginning of a worrying trend? Martin, we love to watch our team winning games, but we also need a certain entertainment value that a few more creative players would bring. I hope you can provide that before the transfer window closes and a certain Mr Hangeland playing in a Villa shirt would also be nice!

No to Heskey playing again along with Petrov. Both need replacing and quick!

Hi John. Very nice to see you back again. Watched the match last night from my armchair and i'm afraid we are still suffering from the same problems that we suffered last season. No creative talent in midfield to break down a team that packs their defence and an inability to keep the ball for more than a minute. We were playing hoof ball again and someone must tell our manager that it simply doesn't work against capable teams. Rapid played some great one touch football and looked threatening whenever they attacked us on the break. I simply wish we had the players to play this way and look comfortable on the ball. Rapid deserved their win as they were the better team over the two legs and it bloody hurts to say that. With the players we have, we should be playing 4-5-1. We are not good enough individually to play 4-4-2, that is until our manager forgets his footballing roots and decides to purchase players who are technically gifted on the ball. I really think we have gone backwards and our most recent signings have done nothing to change that!

No Upson and no Hangeland. I guess they are too good for us?

Excellent article 'Heystally' and i enjoyed the read. Agree totally about O'Neill's tatics and for once he got them spot on. We should now revert back to the successful 4-5-1, particularly in our away games for the rest of the season. If we had played 4-4-2 again against Liverpool, i would have shot O'Neill myself!

A fantastic post PB and one which i wholly agree with. This is now O'Neill's team and we have went backwards. Our defence is one of the worst i have ever seen in my many years as a Villa supporter and no sign of it getting any better. Cuellar, Davies, Knight and Shorey a total waste of 25m and at least knight has been shown the goodbye door. We simply must purchase Hangeland, Upson and Warnock NOW! No more 'value for money' signings. What in the hell was wrong with Bassong? Just played a blinder helping Spurs to beat Liverpool 2-1. Agree totally with your point about Reo-Coker and although i'm not one of his biggest fans, he gives us a more balanced midfield, until we get someone better! Why our manager has given Petrov a new 4 YEAR contract is quite beyond me. He is not a holding midfielder, not an out and out attacking midfielder, so what exactly is he? He is in my opinion a poor mans Ray Wilkins, not good. Our forward line is also a joke without Carew. We need at least one new forward in who will give Gabby that boot up the backside that he so evidently needs and therefore i can't quite fathom why we didn't sign Bent? Just waiting for the 4-4-2 system against Liverpool and that will top it all for me. O'Neill still hasn't learned the lessons from last season's fall from grace and he is repeating the same mistakes. We are a shocking team at the moment and i don't think our players are all that happy either. We need major investment on the right players and i again agree with you that we need at least five in before the transfer window closes. If we don't invest heavily, then as i have been saying all summer, we are going to struggle, badly!

I voted pessimistic due to bringing in a distinct lack of quality in the transfer window so far. We haven't replaced Barry or Laursen and we haven't improved upon our defence significantly enough! We also needed to bolster the forward line with someone to push Gabby, but that hasn't materialised either! Our squad numbers haven't really improved, although the likes of Abrighton and Clark are starting to come through, which is good to see, but overal, with the present squad, i can't see us maintaining our sixth place, never mind, improving upon it

Exactly the same choice and reasons, i feel we have weakened and Gabby could get found out this season even more... Can't really say it any better than this

Was a very poor signing and did nothing to disprove that throughout his time with us. We don't want another Heskey or Harewood on our books, so it's a big NO!

Guzan Beye(If Young not fit) Hangeland Upson Warnock Albrighton Reo-Coker Sneijder Young Carew Vagner Love Subs= Friedal, Delph, Milner, Agbonlahor, Petrov, Davies. Ballboys=Cuellar+Heskey!

Friedel Young Hangeland Upson Warnock Milner Reo-Coker Van Der Vaart Young Carew Vagner Love :winkold:

Thanks for the report PB as i didn't see the game. Agree 100% with you about needing players. 50+games to play and our present available squad will certainly fall to pieces well before that with injuries!

Many thanks for the excellent report!

Voted no due to our squad being wafer thin at the moment. However, this will change if we bring in 6 new quality signings?

Fantastic, talented article OBE. One which i concur with and i hope that our manager has indeed a few quality surprises up his sleeve. If we are to bring in at least seven players then, i feel like you do OBE that the time for that is fast approaching us!

I agree the Sky 4 are a long, long way ahead of everyone else. I don't, now, however think it gets "less likely with every passing year" that anyone could catch them. I think the gap was established and sustained a while back, but there are money issues at Liverpool, there is a succession issue to come at Man U, Chelsea there's always a concern that Abramovic might have to do one, or they might appoint another Scholari, and the likes of Terry and Co. are on the older side for a Prem squad. Arsenal have a dodgy defence and Wenger has not really excelled at Centre back recruitment.. In other words, I don't think it's a case of "abandon all hope". As to Villa, well, I don't really have an "acceptable" - I just want to enjoy going to the games. finishing say, 8th, isn't going to have me throwing teddy were I to have decided that only top 6 is "acceptable". What would I like next season? - More home wins, for sure. I also hope that the squad is improved in terms of quality - not just in players, but in terms of the way we sometimes play. At our best we're a sort of torrent of fast breaking verve, but if we don't manage that, as we can't do all the time, there's a bit of a tendency to revert either to a very ponderous slow style of play, or to a bit of hit and chase. So I want to see an evolution in the way we play, so that there is more than one string to our attacking bow, so that when as has become the norm, teams sit back against us, we can still play through them. Looking at that, then players like NRC, Heskey, Cuellar, Sidwell possibly - they're not really capable of the level of passing required. So what I'd like is a little more solidity and stability at the back, a developing growth to our collective nous and I'll take wherever that would lead us. Cracking post Blandy and one which i wholeheartly agree with!

To finish in the top six again next season we will need the same expenditure, 40 million plus. If Martin spends wisely then would expect top six at least.

Unfortunately Petrov is going to be with us now for a lot longer than Barry. It is however important that Martin doesn't allow Barry to run down his contract, so unless Barry signs a new contract, we should get what we can for Barry in the summer. I also think Barry's reaction at the end of the Newcastle match should tell us everything we need to know! As far as preference between the two players, it speaks volumes when none of the top four have shown an interest in Petrov. I would also approach this decision by deciding who we would miss the most and that for me would be Barry, even though i have previously, in other threads, advocated the sale this summer of both players!

Both Barry and Petrov should be sold in the summer to allow our team to become more balanced! I have difficulty in reasoning why a player who now struggles to last a full ninety minutes should be offered a new 2-3 year contract? We would still get a reasonable fee for Petrov due to his consistancy this season and we could therefore use that money to purchase a younger, more athletic player. If Petrov is having trouble finishing games now, what would his fitness level be like in two years time, where we would get next to nothing for him in the transfer market? While i would like to keep Barry, albeit in a different system, it is my opinion that he will leave in the summer. Far from this being an absolute disaster, if we, again replaced him with a younger, more creative player, such as Defour, then overall, the balance of our midfield and team would be improved!

Our central midfield partnership at the moment does restrict the way in which we play and for us to progress, i have for some time thought that we need to break up the partnership of Barry and Petrov. A new central defensive partnership selected from Muntari, Delph, defour, or Bentley would give us more creativity and more energy, so if Barry was sold, and the aforementioned players signed, then the overall balance of our team would be much better. I see the possible transfer of Barry being in the same sort of situation as Robson for Man U. The Man U team of that time was built around Robson, but they didn't win the title, until Robson left. I hope the same sort of senario might apply to us in the not too distant future?

Hi John. Another fab report so many thanks for that. Another disappointing result and i don't think anyone at Villa Park was surprised when West Ham equalised. No point really, in trying to find more answers for our recent down turn of form. Its probably a culmination of a lot of things which have already been commented on. Hopefully we can still secure European qualification, with the likes of West Ham, Spurs, and Fulham still dreaming of finishing in the top seven. A win will give us some much needed confidence and after securing 5th or 6th, Martin will hopefully strengthen our obvious weaknesses in the summer with quality?

Excellent post John. Square pegs in round holes leads to not having enough in-depth quality? Signing players and then not having the faith to play them in their correct positions? Style of play and the correct system used against the right opposition? Quickly identifying problematic positions and buying the correct players to fill those positions and not afraid to pay the going rate for those players, allah, Rednapp? Identifying players when they are spent (Gabby) and NOT purchasing an able replacement, when you have a transfer window, to do so? Arsenal faltering, unexpected CL place up for grabs and not acting quickly enough on the above aforementioned problems to give the club every chance of realising the dream before the 'five year plan' is finished? We still have a limited chance of securing that elusive CL place, but at this late stage, will we revert from the too open 4-4-2, to the 4-5-1 system? Only one person can answer my questions?

I have read a few threads stating that we are lucky to have MON. Maybe so, but i was always brought up on the old addage, 'the club is bigger than anyone.' I rather tend to think that although MON is a good manager, he has yet to prove that he is a great manager with any of his clubs! It is he who is lucky to be the manager of our great club and i have yet to hear him saying this. He is also lucky to be given complete control of team affairs and transfers and to have a chairman who indeed backs him 100%. Just getting a little pissed off with the opinion that we all should bow down and be eternally grateful when in the presence of the great MON, who hasn't won anything yet! I also tend to agree with those who suggest that spending 90 million should have secured at least sixth place! I don't think Randy would have settled for much less? I'll state again, i voted undecided and will wait until the end of MON's so called '5 year plan' before giving a final opinion on his overal performance?

Have voted undecided due to a lot of his dealings in the transfer market, in my opinion, not standing up to scrutiny. Will wait until the end of his '5 year plan' before giving the :thumb:s up???

Hi John. Glad to see you back as i have missed your excellent reports. Agree with everything you have stated above. MON must play a system that suits our strength's at the moment. 4-5-1 with a tired Gabby rested to the bench and Big John as our loan striker! After the debacle at Anfield, it should have hit MON right smack in the eye, that we are too open playing 4-4-2, especially with Barry and Petrov as our one paced central midfield partnership! We were lucky that we just got away with it against Everton! Teams are rubbing their hands with glee when they see our present formation and are certainly taking advantage. We seem to have the 'we are going to score more goals than you' mentality, which isn't working with our terrible defence and they need the extra protection again that Petrov gave earlier in the season! Although, you know John what my opinion is of Reo-Coker, he is the best available to give us some extra energy and cover in midfield, so MON should start using him there for our run in! In the summer, we need to purchase a class defender to either play alongside Laursen next season, when he is fit, or to replace him when he isn't, as Davies and Knight are not the answer. Cuellar needs to be played more in his correct position, to see if he can justify the 7.5 million MON paid for him? If Barry leaves, then we will also need a quality, creative, midfield replacement and i totally agree with you that we will also need at least one quality addition to our forward line. Vagner Love would be my choice, but don't be surprised if Reading find themselves one forward short, whether they come back up or not? I was right about Heskey. I sincerely hope i am not right about Doyle? I am forever the optimist, so therefore i still think we have an outside chance of finishing fourth, but MON must try and shore up our defence, because an in form Fulham and West Ham have the ability to take advantage if we don't! We must, at least be in the position to capitalise, if Arsenal do falter in their difficult run in, so i hope MON changes our system now, before it is too late!