VillanousOne

sorry i though i'd set the title as Samir Carruthers, well done to those who guessed who i was talking about apologies to those forced to speculate wildly.

Alan Wright

McCleish mentioned he was close to the first team squad and he has starred consistently for our excellent reserves this season, and seems to be raved about! Most think he has come on a great deal this season. Does anyone have any opinions on him and think he would be a better option on the wing than Albrighton or Gabby? my opinion is it would be nice to seem him come off the bench at the very least!

I think Herd and Petrov's lack of games and fitness may have contributed to the second half performance, as much as i am no McCleish fan i can't believe he honestly said to the team half time 'Hey guys stop closing them down back off and defend in so many numbers you get in each others way and try and ride out an 1:0 win' especially seeing that we never hold a one goal lead, in fact scoring first usually ensures a loss! Gabby, Herd and Petrov have all been carrying injuries or lacking match fitnesss. We do look more solid at the back though with Cuellar there but as soon as we lose shape, concentration and momentum we just invite the opposition to score. I don't even know if you can blame Eck for that although the fact we have no winning mentality is ultimately his reponsibility and his constant dicking around with Ireland and Zog and playing Heskey has **** the team.

I think he needs to be benched and used as an impact player as right now i don't think he is being handled right. I do think he is PL quality and people are being waaaay too harsh on him, he's become the new Gabby with everyone criticising him. The team we need to play re Fullham is the same as Sat but with Gabby on the wing instead of Albrighton and Weimann up front, is Delf fit or injured?

i detest football i detest being a Villa fan knowing that every Saturday this utter inept lame ass shite is served up cold in front of me. Bring back David O'Leary!

We looked really good in the first half with a team that most would have wanted to see, only negative was Albrighton but he wasn't terrible. Second half we didn't press as well, gave the ball away too easily and we collapsed. The fulcrum of our attack was Zog and Ireland who really worked well as an attacking force, Gardener should have replaced Albrighton and maybe Weimann for Gabby but taking off our two best players was pretty baffling. And why is it always words removed we hate like David Dunn that are guaranteed to score against us? Who has that kind of luck?

Herd should not have been taken off, Albrighton and Gabby had stinkers so if anything they should have been replaced. we should have been 3:0 up at half time as Blackburn were terrible, we all knew that in the second half they would go for it and we would fold as we always **** do. yet again we snatch a draw from the jaws of victory.

I like Bent but how many chances and one on ones does he create for himself and actually score? Not that many, he is more than feed off scraps in the area and sheer opportunistic laid on a plate style striker which is not to be sniffed out but......the only players capable of supplying Bent are: Nzogbia: Either too selfish on the ball and giving away to easily or dropped because he's pissed of Eck. Occasionally makes a goal for Bent but not many. Gabby: His blistering form has been replaced by injury and poor form, he can't be relied on at the moment although hopefully that will change - we really haven't got time to carry him which we will continue to do until he is fit. Albrighton: Mainly a headless chicken this season who doesn't offer that much at all. Bannan: A central midfield supply line? Yeah right not under Ginger Balls. How many times do we rely on Cuellar, Hutton and Warnock to put crosses in? It's hilarious considering the amount of attackers we play. Be nice to see Weimann start though alongside Ireland and Zog, Eck has to let players play and stop **** making them into scared little children.

Given Hutton - Cuellar - Collins - Warnock Albrighton - Petrov - Ireland - Nzog Weimann - Gabby That is the most logical set up to me with what we have, maybe swap Albrighton for Herd and play 4:3:3. Or swap Ireland for Gardener or Bannan but i would prefer to see Ireland start. It is not so much the line up McCleish picks it's the fact the midfield set up and attack is pretty much one and the same thing and is an utter mess. He needs to allow players to play to their strengths and define their positions rather than float around and be sod all use to anyone.

The problem is McCleish is utterly terrorfied of losing and part of the problem is every time we have tried to be creative and play Ireland, Nzogbia etc we have lost through individual defensive errors. McCleish associates creative midfield play with loss he just has no clue how to get the right balance in the side.

Hesket is the new Fashanu

How can you say (in the same sentence I may add) that we Deserved something from the game but defended awfully...? the 2 just dont go together. i.e. if you defend awfully, your gunna get beat! its not rocket science. yes good point but we've defended shite all season so i'm so used to it i have to discount it as the main reason why we lose, erm, even though it is.

i'd hate to go on a night out with you, we could end up with no money, beaten up and in prison and you'd be happy.

Newcastle are a good side but i thinking people jizzing all over there greatness isn't warranted. We deserved something from this game, but bad luck, shit substitutions and awful defending cost us again. we will continue to limp through the season, until we can ship out half the dross in the team in the summer, whether we can avoid relegation to get to that phase is another story. i for one can't be **** to watch this shit anymore.

zog wasn't great but we look clueless going fwd without him. No width, totally predictable.

Is Ireland injured?

you look at the Newcastle squad and they are pretty similar to Villa in terms of high profile players lost and prudent spending, they have some very good young players and a strong backbone that seems to come from their experience in the championship. Pardew has a done a good job but he's hardly covered himself in glory during his managerial past has he? So kind of shows you that there is always hope for us, we are a thin line away from success and relegation - that is how fickle football is. We could genuinely make some defensive improvements in the team in the summer, nothing too exciting just a couple of faces - and end up being a more interesting prospect. Eck may not be the right man for the job, i can't say i am a fan - but we do try and play attacking football and pass and keep possession, we just don't seem to do it consistently or with enough conviction. He doesn't seem to be able to get us to close down and keep high energy levels, and attack, and defend all at the same time for 90 mins. All the elements are there just never at the same damn time! It winds me up that practically everyone thinks we will lose this match, although it's hard to fault their logic.

the changing face of football, the haves and have nots we are not alone, just look at Everton, Blackburn, Newcastle, no-one can afford to spend the same as before. We are in a global recession - wanking millions on footballers with god complexes and very average talent is not sustainable. Football can no longer be the overblown vanity project it once was. Eck may not be the best but he's not the worse, he is trying to get the best out of what he has and what he has isn't that impressive.

you do have a point, but genuinely i don't think the team we have is that bad, it is more the team that we had under MON is remembered with a level of fantasy that i can't explain. Gabby could probably walk into most teams in the top 6. Zog, Albrighton, Ireland, Gardener would also get in any team towards the bottom end of the top ten (or have the potential to). Our defenders would struggle to get into any team other than those in the bottom half, maybe Cuellar and Dunne would make the squad of someone like Everton or Sunderland. Our record against the likes of the Top 4 was shocking under MON, losing 3:2 to Arsenal would have just been gravy under the wee irish maverick. But i think part of what you are saying is we have to accept what we are, accept we are a team only capable of a 10th to 14th place finish, with a chairman who isn't prepared to gamble anymore money on success, fans who don't get behind the team, a manager no-one wanted, and a future which looks distinctly low key and mediocre. But the truth is, we are very tediously slowly getting better - individual errors are something no-one can legislate against.

We defended superbly for large parts of the game and never looked like conceding from set pieces, then Dunne and Bent both made stupid mistakes and i'm not sure Hutton can be blamed for the deflection it was just shitty luck. Dunne should have been sent off and so should Van Persie for his elbow on Cuellar. The ref was **** useless. The worst factor was Given hoofing straight back to their players and the amount of times we lost possession for no reason. We have turned losing from a winning position into an art form.

I genuinely feel that Ireland's form, Gardener and although slightly erratic the form of Albrighton does mean we have reasons to feel cheerful and i do rate Clark in midfield. But we still don't have the attacking cohesion yet to score a lot of goals. Especially seeing as our defence is a joke, and i hate to go on the bandwagon of slagging off the back four but they are atrocious and have been poor for a long time even before McCleish was around to make matters seemingly worse or not depend on what your opinion is. But we have the reality that Cuellar wants to leave in Jan but is likely to leave in the Summer and has little chance of starting tomorrow and no-one else to replace Collins, Dunne or Warnock. you get the feeling no matter how bad Arsenal are, our defence will soon give the Arsenal strikers their confidence back with a few goals handed on a plate. I don't rate Hutton or Collins but i have always defended Dunne and Warnock but somehow collectively the four of them are a recipe for disaster and i don't know how the likes of Gabby, Petrov and co feel about all their efforts getting ultimately obliterated every game by the same pub defending every game!

Not sure what people expect, a blistering over head kick goal on his full debut? I am not saying he is international class yet and maybe never will be, but look at Milner? He was a headless chicken with a poor first touch and close control in his first spell with us, and was still a bit iffy in his second spell but gave 100% and we loved him for it as he had a great shot on him and great energy and tacking. English international players are so overated yet we all have this romanticised view of how good the likes of Young, Milner, Barry and Downing were. Out of all of them Barry earned his chops, Young was incredibly frustrating, he was never bad, often average and occasionally brilliant. Not sure what my point is...... erm oh yeah basically as fans all we do is criticise and run players down and this thread about Gardener as well as the ones about Ireland and Albrighton are a case in point. I REALLY HOPE NO PLAYERS READ THIS FORUM AS THEY WOULD NOT WANT TO STAY AN PLAY FOR SUCH A MOANING NEGATIVE SET OF FANS, AND YES THAT INCLUDES ME AS I AM GUILTY AS ANYONE OF THIS, BUT I AM FED UP OF BEING THIS WAY.

yeah where is sir gary cahill to tell us that Gary Gardener is over rated and doesn't deserve to start and how Stefan Moore should have had the same success as Messi. i can't remember seeing a young midfielder look so classy and composed in years, Gardener looks the real deal already and ok he has a lot to learn and lots of experience to gain at this level but for once the hype at least seems justified to some degree.

Given: 7 Hutton: 6 Collins: 6 Dunne: 5 Clark: At left back 4 in midfield 7 Petrov: 5 Gardener: 8 Gabby: 5 Keane: 8 Bent: 6 Subs: Warnock: 7 Bannan: 6 Weiman: 5 We were very poor for large spells and if Wolves hadn't have imploded and Keane hadn't pulled off two world class finishes out of relatively little we would have lost again. I didn't see the point in Keane, but even his quality can only mask over the cracks. Eck doesn't know his best 11 and neither do we - i don't know who should start in midlfield when Zog and Ireland are fit, that much is evident, I don't think Warnock will get dropped again in a hurry and i really hope Gardener is the first player off the bench from now on if not a starter. I really hope Cuellar comes back as we look so much better defensively when he plays.