NeilS

The problem I have with Heskey is he just isn't a goal threat. He rarely looks like scoring and is so clumsy in front of goal. He is the one player that you don't want to see coming on when you're looking for a goal to get back in the game, his strike rate is something like 1 in 6 for us which is truely awful. I'm not even sure that we score more when he is in the team. In fact maybe that is why McLeish see's him as a defender.

This is how I see it, and hope things pan out. I don't think we should keep him for any longer than his current contract, but we need to keep him motivated for the season. Then we should be looking to replace with someone younger and on a more realistic contract in todays terms.

I'm with Tamuff_Villa on this debate. I'd leave him at home, maybe he will get it in his thick head that he can't keep acting like a thug on the pitch. What is the point of picking a player who is gong to be unavailable for half of the tournament, and may not be available until we're on our way home. The Euros has no easy games so we can't take it for granted that we'll get past the group stages. Maybe without Rooney in the team we'll become more of a team, instead of trying to rely on one man.

Haha, I was about to type that she looks like she has fallen into a vat of Cuprinol.

I think it starts tonight 10pm. I watched the first episode of TN yesterday. It was ok, I will give it a few episodes (usually 4 or 5 episodes) before judging it as sometimes things start well and the decline and vice versa.

I am also suprised not to see Sturridge in the squad. It must only be a matter of time though before he gets in there. That back heeled goal past the keeper earlier in the season was pure genius.

Very welcome 3 points, nice to see Bent get a goal, hopefully this will give him the boost to kick on with another goal scoring spurt. Gabby looked in top form, I hope the injury isn't going to stop him now he is in full flight. If we can get a few more wins under our belt in the next few weeks, then hopefully we can build some momentum and cement ourselves amongst the top 6-8 positions until the January window.

Agreed, that really annoys the hell out of me. I see people on their phones driving round my housing estate. It only takes a kid to step out onto the road and there will be tragedy. Why can't people pull over if they want to us their phones, instead of being so selfish.

Hmmm, the cynic in me says that the government are trying to raise a bit extra fuel tax. Recouping some of the losses caused by more economical cars.

Surely the salt will be in the butter, unless you use unsalted butter?

As has been said before in the thread, a must win game for me. With Bent, Jenas, Cueller, Heskey and Clark returning to training hopefully we'll have enough quality to pick up the three points. I'm hoping for a big win, but predicting a narrow 2-1 win. It's time to break that hoodoo!

Equally he is responsible for the first half performance and the set up of the team which again was dire even though we were promised a response after the Bolton match. The second half performance was better but only for a short period, and again we didn't create enogh chances, to score enough goals to put the game to bed and we end up with a draw. My point is that it does not appear to be his choice wehn we play the way we did first half, but it does appear that what we enjoyed in the 2nd half is what he is after also, therefore comments about it being him that is the problem due to his way of playing seem to be incorrect. Yes you can then argue that it is his job to get that latter type of performance, and whether he is up to it, but that is different to saying he wants the negative approach. In my view I think he may yet show that he is up to getting us playing the latter way more frequently - I think he has inherited a problem of players feeling tense and lacking the freedom nad confidence to go out and play. And I think he recognises it - my own theory, with litttle hard evidence, is that he can't believe how Fckd up many of the players were by GH, and he is struggling to get them to play properly. But I think he acheived that for a while on Sunday, which bodes well. The fact that we are still fragile and struggled as QPR made a fight of it doesn't overshadow that for me. In short , had he come out with the usual Mnagerial platitudes after 2 halves like the first I would have wanted him sacked, but his clear and open recognition that he no more wants that than we do means I'd now like to see him given time to restore their self belief and see how we do, whilst not expecting miracles I stil think our First 11 are as good as anybodys outside the Top 5. You may have a good about the players. I think the problem goes back further than GH though. MON used to have us sit back and hit on the break, and he bought a team of players that were adept at this, and utilise the pace of Young/Downing and Gabby to great effect. Two of those key players have now left us, and it is up to other players to step into their shoes. I hope you are right, and AM can turn it around. I have nothing against him as a person, in fact he seems like a very likeable person and we all want Villa to do well. I just am a little concerned that his last team struggled to score, and that a similar scenario seems to be happening here. We will have to give him time, but he still has a long way to go on proving himself and dispelling his image of dire football with a lot of the fans.

I think that height for set pieces is his only saving grace. We are badly missing some height in our team which is why I would have liked a big tall DM to sit in front of the back four, and provide extra defensive and attacking quality from set plays. Last season we struggled badly at set plays against teams who were well drilled. If the opposition could lure Heskey/Dunne or Collins away from the intended target, we were in trouble. DodgyKnees sums Collins up very well. He is an old school defender who is now becoming less useful as a defender in the Premier League. He would definitly be one on my "To replace list". I only hope the talk of a contract extension is to keep him keen until the summer, then I'd ship him out. We need someone who is a good defender, but can help build attacks from the back by being comfortable on the ball with good passing.

Equally he is responsible for the first half performance and the set up of the team which again was dire even though we were promised a response after the Bolton match. The second half performance was better but only for a short period, and again we didn't create enogh chances, to score enough goals to put the game to bed and we end up with a draw.

i can answer that (even though its not my own view) 1) His reputation for being rubbish precedes him. 2) His football in every game since he came here has been awful. 3) we've won 1 league game in 6. 4) Villa fans are impatient and generally pessimistic. i think we need to give AMC till may before judging him, but even i can admit the signs so far aren't looking too good. I think you are right, and those points relate quite well to me at the moment. I was worried about his style of football at sha not where he came from, and whether we would end up playing the same sort of stale rubbish that sha played. However, I vowed to give him some time to prove me wrong. We had a reasonable set of opening fixtures, where to be honest I expected a little better in terms of footballing style. It is not so much the results but the lack of creativity and goal threat that has me worried. If we continue to play badly, then eventually draws will turn to defeats. AM has yet to show me he knows how to set up a team to score goals, and that is what worries me most. I will still give him time to prove me wrong, but I must admit it is getting harder to after each game, and I'm getting nervous about our chances this season of even mid table safety for this season.

That is how I feel as well. If those stories are true and I reckon they could well be, then it shows AM up as having no guile or nous in the transfer market. Nothing that is going to improve us. For instance it was obvious all summer that we needed a RB, and the best his imagination could come up with was Hutton because he'd played for him previously. It was also obvious that we needed a powerful DM, but he didn't get one. :cry:

This is what I think. He is here for the season now. Lerner stuck with Houllier last season when the going was tough and it paid off for him, and I think that will justify him to stick with McLeish this season.

Randy needs to employ someone who can run the day to day things with an in depth knowledge of Football, someone with contact within the game who can interview and appoint managers as well, similar to a Peter Kenyon/David Dein type role I guess. Randy has proven that he can't appoint a good manager. It feels like he gets caught up in appointing people that he would like to have a beer and deep conversations with and is like a friend, rather than someone who is best for the job. He has failed at The Browns for many years to appoint a successful team manager, and his two managerial appointments to date at Villa have been disasterous.

It is what I feared when we appointed the manager, and also compounded the issue by not spending any money after the loss of Young and Downing. Alex McLeish has shown at sha that his teams are workmanlike and will work hard for each other, on the other hand they tend to be lacking in creative spark and excitement, and also they tend to fail to score enough goals. I wonder how many times this season we will win, and win by a margin of more than one goal? Randy has gone down the route of throwing his all behind the kids to come good. I seem to remember Doug had a similar plan back in the mid 80's. Very depressing times for us Villa fans after the promise and hype of 4 or 5 years ago.

Which is precisely the reason why we could be relegation candidates come christmas with that tough run of fixtures all it takes is a few injuries to key players like last season if anything were alot weaker this time round Our squad simply isn't good enough and im sorry the buck has to stop with the board as they did not back the manager They can dress it up all they want with their hollow PR but the squad really is in a shocking state investment was needed we will need additions in january thats for certain. Lol, relegation candidates by Christmas. Yeah ok. You laugh it off, and I hope you're right, but our squad is considerably smaller, and with less quality than previous seasons. A couple of injuries/loss of form to key men, and we could easily find ourselves dragged into a relegation fight. It was only the last couple games last season before we could fully relax about relegation. I hope that with McLeish's team spirit, we can batte through this season and keep out of it, but the chance of being dragged into the fight isn't beyond the realms of possiblity. Our dealings over the summer has brought our squad quality back with the also rans.

I think everyone on this thread wants what is best for Aston Villa. Everyone is happy that he has refound his form, some wish that he would have been professional during tough times last season. Whether he has done enough to cover over the cracks in his relationship with the club remains to be seen. I would imagine that Randy will not forget being let down. From a personal point of view. You have to ask yourself, if you were in a tough position who would you want to back you up and be on your side. Someone who has been loyal and given there all through think and thin, or someone who has sulked and let you down when you needed them most. What is bothering me most, is that last year we had a number of youth players stepping up to the first team action for the first time at this level (Albrighton, Bannan, Hogg, Lichaj etc). Players who require the experienced professionals to show them the ropes and guide them through. Did he show them the right way a professional should act?

A sure fire way of bringing about an improvement. I never used to allow myself to pick Villa players when I did fantasy football teams, because I always put the mockers on them.

You missed out the bit where he was picking on one our younger players. So we can add bullying to the sorry saga. We all make mistakes and act stupidly at times, so im happy to let bygones be bygones. Oh yes, I had forgotten about that, it was Delph that he was having a go at IIRC. I'm a bit less forgiving than you though. I would be letting his contract run down, whilst looking for better replacements. That goes for Collins and Warnock too. You find out a lot about peoples characters in tough times, and these guys characters did not shine.

Whether you are motivated or not, doesn't give you the right to get drunk as a skunk at a get together and abuse other members of staff. That would get most people sacked from their jobs.

but why would they bother? not enough prize money to make it worth them trying That is the problem, Uefa need to reduce the CL down in size, and spread the money into the Europa to make it worthwhile. They won't though as the big 16 or whatever they are called want to protect their cash cow.