Ratings and Reactions: Newcastle - Villa

[TRO]

The problem is no one can be sure that any other manager could have done any different to what sherwood has done so far.

I can't honestly say, Pulis or pardew could do any better with these 2 results.

For me the rot has been left unattended for far too long......this is going to be a tricky job.

just remember, without fox, Lambert would still be manager.....that how out of touch this owner is.

Lerner needs to speed up his exit.....for what he has done.....he ought to do a jack Hayward and sell it for a tenner.

[westholmevillan]

Cleverly my MOTM. Benteke, well at least he us starting to show interest again. Some encouraging signs, but points are all that matters at this stage. It could all come downt to beating Albion, Burnley at QPR at home. We really cant afford to lose any of them games!

Good to see our brilliant away support finally turning on the man who is the real cause of our problem.....Mr Randolph Lerner.....thanks for destroying this great footballing institution......I really, really hope you go bust!

[The Fun Factory]

Just need Nigel Kennedy to be playing on the deck and job done.

[poitier]

Probably deserved a point but gifted the opposition a goal again. I thought the subs killed us, we lost our threat once Nzog and Weimann came on.

[Demitri_C]

We won't win another same all season. Lerners murdered this club

[kkr]

We are that bad i think i actually despise everyone and everything associated with the club at the moment.  I hope we get relegated, we deserve it.

[AVFCAM]

In truth, Tom Fox did the appointing here, Lerner had nowt to do with it from what you read

[Arj Guy]

Newcastle were shite and we still lost. Why wasn't Gil playing? Why is Weimann a footballer? Going down, **** off Lerner.

[AVFCDAN]

12 points from 23 games, it beggars belief, it really does.

How can we be in this position when we had 10 points from the first 4 games.

[villarule123]

12 points from 23 games, it beggars belief, it really does.

How can we be in this position when we had 10 points from the first 4 games.

Because those 4 games were a total fluke and it's hiding even now just how bad we are.

[onmeedson]

We deserved nothing today, apart from an improvement from tekkas the whole team went missing. Brainless football played by overated under achievers, delpth takes the easy option everytime never drives on turning backwards at every occasion. The defence are totally unorganised and cannot communicate, leaving gaping holes throughout the game. We need these bottlers to become battlers fast and a miracle or two that takes little boys and turns them into men we need sargent major Sorenson. We are down. 

[TreeVillan]

I thought cleverly played well although he should have scored his chance.

[The Fun Factory]

I thought cleverly played well although he should have scored his chance.

Thats' the problem. He didn't and him, Sanchez, Delph, and Westwood have scored 0 goals this season. That is pathetic. Even Joe Cole has scored a goal and has barely played.

Edited February 28, 2015 by The Fun Factory

[bradarmstrong_]

Didn't check the score until FT. Not surprised in the slightest.

[Wainy316]

Benteke looked dangerous and contributed a lot more to our attacking play than he has recently. Sweet overhead kick. He was unlucky not to score.

Oh, that's it then, he was unlucky?

Again. And again and again. And again.

The bloke can't shoot.

Who would you put in his place?

[VillaAndLoyal]

My take on it:

 

We're in a grim, grim place and all the statistics point to the fact we'll be relegated. If we're brutally honest, we've been toying with relegation for far too long now and I believe we do deserve to go. Those slating Tim Sherwood however are so wide of the mark it's untrue - the bloke has been here two weeks, he's not a miracle worker. The real culprit is Randolph Lerner and he's been a complete disaster ever since he walked into this club - from letting Steve Stride walk away to appointing Paul Faulkner with zero footballing knowledge to chucking money at a pipe dream hoping players like Habib Beye on £40,000-a-week were going to get us regular Champions League football. His whole tenure has been laughable. Sir Doug did many things wrong (don't get me wrong) but he's being made to look like a genius by this uninterested, clueless American. And one thing you can't say about HDE: he's never been an absent owner. Lerner's latest (and possibly fatal) mistake was keeping faith in a clueless Lambert for so long and it has provided Tim Sherwood with a massively tough task. Reading between the lines, Lerner's statement on Paul's departure makes it clear that so much faith was placed in Lambert because he was happy to be Lerner's 'yes man', puppet and shield from criticism, while the unsustainable spending was reigned in almost as fast as he first started chucking/wasting (delete as appropriate) money in the first place. A couple of very hard years beforehand, coupled with a spineless manager and spineless owner and vastly less resources was almost inevitably going to lead to the situation we see before us. The buck stops with Randolph Lerner, ultimately, and it fills me with great sadness that this almost constant descent he's been taking us on has largely gone unnoticed by the masses - instead frustrations being vented at previous managers and players. He's got away scot-free in all honesty and ironically today was the first time we've seen a banner in the Villa end directed at our owner.

 

Sherwood has had two games with us now and despite the hugely disappointing end product, there have undoubtedly been signs that he's trying to get across a slightly different and more effective way of playing. In the first half against Stoke, we made more forward runs and were more positive with the ball (despite the fact it didn't convert to more shots on goal). Today we were the better team overall and definitely the better team in the first-half. We played more directly and are obviously trying to tap into our biggest threat (Benteke) - we passed when we needed to and used long diagonals to trouble the Newcastle defence. And, in fairness, we created chances today. Compared to some of our performances recently where even a chance was too much too expect, I call that small signs of progress. We're taking more risks now and that means we're more open at the back, hence why Newcastle almost countered us several times in the second-half. I'd rather be playing like that than some of the negative dross we saw under Lambert.

 

The most disappointing thing for me about Sherwood today was his starting line-up. What more does Gabby have to do to get dropped? He's finished as a Premier League footballer and I'm worried if TS cannot see that. Carles Gil was poor against Stoke but he was being played out of position against a very physical side so it was inevitable one could argue. I felt today was the perfect game for him to come back in and show us what he can do linking up with Benteke. That said, he's the gaffer and we have to support him - he's come into a sinking ship. I thought Fabian Delph was an absolute travesty today - giving the ball away, turning backwards, conceding stupid fouls - he certainly didn't act like a Villa captain today and I'd give the armband to Clark immediately, who again had a good game.

 

For me, there are several things we can do straight away to boost our survival chances:

 

-Drop Gabby. He offers nothing any more. I think I could even beat him in a race, and that's the only thing he's ever been good at.

-Play Gil. He's our most creative player, we struggle for goals. It's a no brainer.

-Give Clark the captains armband to reward his performances of late. He's also a leader, I don't think Delph is.

-Teach Benteke the offside rule. If he knows it already, tell him to prove it during a game because he's caught offside far, far too often.

-Don't let Ashley Westwood take another set piece. I've seen a subbuteo player with more precision and quality than anything he serves up from a dead-ball situation. 

-Give Bacuna more game time and consider giving him a regular run in the team in an advanced position. Why? He can't be any less effectual than Gabby/Weimann and although he makes mistakes he does score goals & he can also take a free-kick, a department we're so limited in when he's not on the pitch.

 

The situation looks desperate it really does and the two games against Baggies are huge and could be season-defining. We need a packed Villa Park on both occasions and we need to get behind them for the whole game - 90 minutes - no matter how badly we're playing. Two other glimmers of hope is that 1. we play Sunderland, QPR and Burnley before the end of the season and 2. QPR and Burnley have tougher run-ins than us. It's STILL in our hands and whilst we've still got a chance, a hope, I'll be there singing at the top of my lungs hoping that something will change and we'll get to the summer as a Premier League team. We need the fans now more than we've ever needed them before.

[Marka Ragnos]

 

 

Benteke looked dangerous and contributed a lot more to our attacking play than he has recently. Sweet overhead kick. He was unlucky not to score.

Oh, that's it then, he was unlucky?

Again. And again and again. And again.

The bloke can't shoot.

Who would you put in his place?

 

 

 

She's fast and versatile. Sounds good to me.

 

[Silafou's_besi_mate]

My take on it:

We're in a grim, grim place and all the statistics point to the fact we'll be relegated. If we're brutally honest, we've been toying with relegation for far too long now and I believe we do deserve to go. Those slating Tim Sherwood however are so wide of the mark it's untrue - the bloke has been here two weeks, he's not a miracle worker. The real culprit is Randolph Lerner and he's been a complete disaster ever since he walked into this club - from letting Steve Stride walk away to appointing Paul Faulkner with zero footballing knowledge to chucking money at a pipe dream hoping players like Habib Beye on £40,000-a-week were going to get us regular Champions League football. His whole tenure has been laughable. Sir Doug did many things wrong (don't get me wrong) but he's being made to look like a genius by this uninterested, clueless American. And one thing you can't say about HDE: he's never been an absent owner. Lerner's latest (and possibly fatal) mistake was keeping faith in a clueless Lambert for so long and it has provided Tim Sherwood with a massively tough task. Reading between the lines, Lerner's statement on Paul's departure makes it clear that so much faith was placed in Lambert because he was happy to be Lerner's 'yes man', puppet and shield from criticism, while the unsustainable spending was reigned in almost as fast as he first started chucking/wasting (delete as appropriate) money in the first place. A couple of very hard years beforehand, coupled with a spineless manager and spineless owner and vastly less resources was almost inevitably going to lead to the situation we see before us. The buck stops with Randolph Lerner, ultimately, and it fills me with great sadness that this almost constant descent he's been taking us on has largely gone unnoticed by the masses - instead frustrations being vented at previous managers and players. He's got away scot-free in all honesty and ironically today was the first time we've seen a banner in the Villa end directed at our owner.

Sherwood has had two games with us now and despite the hugely disappointing end product, there have undoubtedly been signs that he's trying to get across a slightly different and more effective way of playing. In the first half against Stoke, we made more forward runs and were more positive with the ball (despite the fact it didn't convert to more shots on goal). Today we were the better team overall and definitely the better team in the first-half. We played more directly and are obviously trying to tap into our biggest threat (Benteke) - we passed when we needed to and used long diagonals to trouble the Newcastle defence. And, in fairness, we created chances today. Compared to some of our performances recently where even a chance was too much too expect, I call that small signs of progress. We're taking more risks now and that means we're more open at the back, hence why Newcastle almost countered us several times in the second-half. I'd rather be playing like that than some of the negative dross we saw under Lambert.

The most disappointing thing for me about Sherwood today was his starting line-up. What more does Gabby have to do to get dropped? He's finished as a Premier League footballer and I'm worried if TS cannot see that. Carles Gil was poor against Stoke but he was being played out of position against a very physical side so it was inevitable one could argue. I felt today was the perfect game for him to come back in and show us what he can do linking up with Benteke. That said, he's the gaffer and we have to support him - he's come into a sinking ship. I thought Fabian Delph was an absolute travesty today - giving the ball away, turning backwards, conceding stupid fouls - he certainly didn't act like a Villa captain today and I'd give the armband to Clark immediately, who again had a good game.

For me, there are several things we can do straight away to boost our survival chances:

-Drop Gabby. He offers nothing any more. I think I could even beat him in a race, and that's the only thing he's ever been good at.

-Play Gil. He's our most creative player, we struggle for goals. It's a no brainer.

-Give Clark the captains armband to reward his performances of late. He's also a leader, I don't think Delph is.

-Teach Benteke the offside rule. If he knows it already, tell him to prove it during a game because he's caught offside far, far too often.

-Don't let Ashley Westwood take another set piece. I've seen a subbuteo player with more precision and quality than anything he serves up from a dead-ball situation.

-Give Bacuna more game time and consider giving him a regular run in the team in an advanced position. Why? He can't be any less effectual than Gabby/Weimann and although he makes mistakes he does score goals & he can also take a free-kick, a department we're so limited in when he's not on the pitch.

The situation looks desperate it really does and the two games against Baggies are huge and could be season-defining. We need a packed Villa Park on both occasions and we need to get behind them for the whole game - 90 minutes - no matter how badly we're playing. Two other glimmers of hope is that 1. we play Sunderland, QPR and Burnley before the end of the season and 2. QPR and Burnley have tougher run-ins than us. It's STILL in our hands and whilst we've still got a chance, a hope, I'll be there singing at the top of my lungs hoping that something will change and we'll get to the summer as a Premier League team. We need the fans now more than we've ever needed them before.

Completely agree and a great post. We didn't deserve to go in a goal down at half time today. We had a lot more chances throughout the game than normal, we just couldn't get the ball in the back of the net without being off-side. To me thats a sign that Sherwood is having an effect as we are playing better.

My 9-year old daughter has seen villa play 3 times and never seen us loose - it's time to get her back down the villa as our lucky charm. I'm buying tickets for the next two games and she is coming with me. 100% behind Villa for 90 minutes in the next two games no matter what

Edited February 28, 2015 by Silafou's_besi_mate

[flashingqwerty]

Just dont get it.

Sacked Lambert, and rightly so, but appointed a manager who is picking the same players and employing the same tactics. What was the point in that?

Think Sherwood got the selection, tactics and subs all wrong again. Dont think he has any clue what to fo with these players.

We are relegated - simple as. The team are lost and there is no one at the club who has any clue how to turn it around, or indeed cares of anything changes.

Nevermind the championship, i worry will we even survive there? Can see us in league 1 in just over a year unless Lerner gets out.

[ermie123]

My take on it:

 

We're in a grim, grim place and all the statistics point to the fact we'll be relegated. If we're brutally honest, we've been toying with relegation for far too long now and I believe we do deserve to go. Those slating Tim Sherwood however are so wide of the mark it's untrue - the bloke has been here two weeks, he's not a miracle worker. The real culprit is Randolph Lerner and he's been a complete disaster ever since he walked into this club - from letting Steve Stride walk away to appointing Paul Faulkner with zero footballing knowledge to chucking money at a pipe dream hoping players like Habib Beye on £40,000-a-week were going to get us regular Champions League football. His whole tenure has been laughable. Sir Doug did many things wrong (don't get me wrong) but he's being made to look like a genius by this uninterested, clueless American. And one thing you can't say about HDE: he's never been an absent owner. Lerner's latest (and possibly fatal) mistake was keeping faith in a clueless Lambert for so long and it has provided Tim Sherwood with a massively tough task. Reading between the lines, Lerner's statement on Paul's departure makes it clear that so much faith was placed in Lambert because he was happy to be Lerner's 'yes man', puppet and shield from criticism, while the unsustainable spending was reigned in almost as fast as he first started chucking/wasting (delete as appropriate) money in the first place. A couple of very hard years beforehand, coupled with a spineless manager and spineless owner and vastly less resources was almost inevitably going to lead to the situation we see before us. The buck stops with Randolph Lerner, ultimately, and it fills me with great sadness that this almost constant descent he's been taking us on has largely gone unnoticed by the masses - instead frustrations being vented at previous managers and players. He's got away scot-free in all honesty and ironically today was the first time we've seen a banner in the Villa end directed at our owner.

 

Sherwood has had two games with us now and despite the hugely disappointing end product, there have undoubtedly been signs that he's trying to get across a slightly different and more effective way of playing. In the first half against Stoke, we made more forward runs and were more positive with the ball (despite the fact it didn't convert to more shots on goal). Today we were the better team overall and definitely the better team in the first-half. We played more directly and are obviously trying to tap into our biggest threat (Benteke) - we passed when we needed to and used long diagonals to trouble the Newcastle defence. And, in fairness, we created chances today. Compared to some of our performances recently where even a chance was too much too expect, I call that small signs of progress. We're taking more risks now and that means we're more open at the back, hence why Newcastle almost countered us several times in the second-half. I'd rather be playing like that than some of the negative dross we saw under Lambert.

 

The most disappointing thing for me about Sherwood today was his starting line-up. What more does Gabby have to do to get dropped? He's finished as a Premier League footballer and I'm worried if TS cannot see that. Carles Gil was poor against Stoke but he was being played out of position against a very physical side so it was inevitable one could argue. I felt today was the perfect game for him to come back in and show us what he can do linking up with Benteke. That said, he's the gaffer and we have to support him - he's come into a sinking ship. I thought Fabian Delph was an absolute travesty today - giving the ball away, turning backwards, conceding stupid fouls - he certainly didn't act like a Villa captain today and I'd give the armband to Clark immediately, who again had a good game.

 

For me, there are several things we can do straight away to boost our survival chances:

 

-Drop Gabby. He offers nothing any more. I think I could even beat him in a race, and that's the only thing he's ever been good at.

-Play Gil. He's our most creative player, we struggle for goals. It's a no brainer.

-Give Clark the captains armband to reward his performances of late. He's also a leader, I don't think Delph is.

-Teach Benteke the offside rule. If he knows it already, tell him to prove it during a game because he's caught offside far, far too often.

-Don't let Ashley Westwood take another set piece. I've seen a subbuteo player with more precision and quality than anything he serves up from a dead-ball situation. 

-Give Bacuna more game time and consider giving him a regular run in the team in an advanced position. Why? He can't be any less effectual than Gabby/Weimann and although he makes mistakes he does score goals & he can also take a free-kick, a department we're so limited in when he's not on the pitch.

 

The situation looks desperate it really does and the two games against Baggies are huge and could be season-defining. We need a packed Villa Park on both occasions and we need to get behind them for the whole game - 90 minutes - no matter how badly we're playing. Two other glimmers of hope is that 1. we play Sunderland, QPR and Burnley before the end of the season and 2. QPR and Burnley have tougher run-ins than us. It's STILL in our hands and whilst we've still got a chance, a hope, I'll be there singing at the top of my lungs hoping that something will change and we'll get to the summer as a Premier League team. We need the fans now more than we've ever needed them before.

I like what you say and agree with everything you have highlighted.  If and its a huge if we stay up this season what is stopping us being in exactly the same position next season, because clearly this team, or most of it is clearly not Premier League quality!