PL: Wigan h 2009/08/15 Ratings and Reactions

[coda]

It's only one game but it has seriously lowered my expectations for the season.

In MON I trust (for now).

[andym]

MON on the radio says it will be difficult to replace Laursen and Barry. For **** sake they have been gone for months now. Have you given up? Is MON incapable of signing players of this standard, if he is he should resign NOW!!!

agree, laursen was finished in january- thats nearly 8 months ago. hes known that barry would probably leave for over a year.

there can be absolutely no excuse for not replacing them adequetly- hes ages **** ages and nobody is going to tell me that out of all the footballers worldwide there isnt anybody suitable.

yet so far all weve signed are 2 players from relegated teams and 2 others from lower leagues. now, i think downing is good and delph will be, but it still doesnt read like a team wanting to get top 4. what was the point of beye? surely you want to sign somebody better than your current right back.

unfortunatly it just adds to the theory that MON cant/wont bring in the real quality and prefers to polish turds so to speak. hes got 2 weeks to prove it wrong but if he doesnt then he has taken us far as he can and has to step down.

i think today has been the final straw for many. just looking at other sites like H&V and Vital Villa MON is getting a slating.

[Turamber]

I have no axe to grind.

I know -- sorry! But there is an awful familiarity about many of the names appearing in this thread and their views which they've posted a few hundred times before

One swallow does not a Spring make ... MON will get it sorted, keep the faith brother!

[Hanky]

Oh and Delfouneso barely touched the ball when he was on. Albrighton will have a good future ahead of him if he keeps progressing. I thought Sidwell did ok when he came on as well. Least he won a few tackles.

[tricella]

I seriously dont know what to answer on this attack.

First. I have always admitted that I have been writing criticism towards MON...of course..it is there for everyone to see. However..and this is something you can check up if you have the guts to look at the truth...I have been critizising him for his transfer activity!

I have been hailing him for his performance to guide Villa to two consecutive 6th places and it is on this site for everyone to read also.

I think that morale in the team and the squad does a lot for a team on how good or bad they play. The morale and the spirit was absolutely gone at DOL´s team in the end and they didnt want to play for him anymore. No motivation...

I can see this coming for MON too..because the display today was as bad as the worst I saw under DOL.

I have not judged MON only on this performance...do you think I am crazy?? I have come to a position where I say enough is enough...

Attack? Get a grip mate.

So you feel the reason we are so succesful is because of a team spirit? Okay.

Not entirely of course...but you cant hide from the fact that team spirit and the morale means a lot because with players not holding great quality MON has worked wonders by getting players to gel together as a unit and having a great spirit. This is facts to me...

Please stop accusing everyone who disagree's with you of attacking you and stop telling people to move on.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Noone has defended Pichichi, but that doesn't mean we have to say he deserves the sack.

[1974Centenary]

It's only one game but it has seriously lowered my expectations for the season.

In MON I trust (for now).

Ive posted this before,its not about the one game its about the same system and same style of play since January.I wanted to see a fresh start this season but all we got was the same ending.

[Pilchard]

He obviously can't spot a defender to save his life, yet here we are two weeks from the end of the window in desperate need of a quality defender to steady the ship. Trust him to find that man do you

You pose an interesting question. I don't want him gone. But at the same time we can't defend. And even if he has been given lots of money to spend would I expect it to actually be spent or be spent on good enough players? Because adding a player past his best an error prone last season like Distin or a third player from a relegated team like Wheater won't be good enough.

But when you only shop at home, there's not much choice.

[fran_villa]

for me,i tink mon is only fit for the likes of te SPL,the league we are is to high a standered for him imo..i know Everton are getting spanked right now but id have Moyes over him any day..the only thing is i dont think Randy would have the bottle to give him the boot..

[Hanky]

Do you know what is really starting to piss me off the most about O'Neill? Its his one **** single tactical change that he has up his sleeve, take a full back off, stick a winger in his place and bring on another midfielder. Can anyone remember a single **** occasion when this has actually worked for us? It is simply the most pathetic desperation tactic I think I've ever witnessed and he pulls it out every **** time.

The debates have raged many a time over his decisions in the transfer market but nobdy seems to talk about his **** shite tactics.

Oh and I'm sick to death of us playing hoof ball, of Ashley Young lying on the floor crying like a **** bitch and then getting up to over hit another cross. I could go on but frankily there was so much shite on display today to talk about I would be here all night, that was a disgrace of a performance.

Couldn't agree more Trent especially on Young. I wonder if O'Neill bothers to give a half time team talk.

[kiddybloke]

Friedel 6

Beye 6

Shorey 2- Abysmal

Davies 3- Abysmal

Cuellar 4- Abysmal

Milner 6.1 - MOTM, at least he was trying

Young 3 - Abysmal

Delph 6 - Lost without the ball, ok with it.

Petrov 5 - He played excellent in almost every game last year. He was lost today,

Agbonlahor 3 - Abysmal

Heskey 4- Won a header

[andyh]

Friedel 6- Good saves kept us at a decent scoreline but should have done a lot better for the goal. His best days are behind him but I felt slightly sorry for him today standing in fornt of that shambles.

Beye 5- Caught out a couple of times and didn't look too confident on the ball. That said he was far from the worst today.

Shorey 2- That's for just for turning up I think. Couldn't find a Villa shirt on the ball. At fault for at least the first goal. Just rubbish honestly.

Davies 3- Looks completely lost, piss poor with the ball at his feet as well. No position and let their striker run off him too many times. Not tight enough to their team.

Cuellar 5- Better than Davies. Won a few headers but was part of a collective defence that was woeful so he can't have been that good and wasn't.

Milner 5- Worked hard at the start but faded right out of the game.

Young 2- Was awful I thought. Moaned and whinged and ran into players, doesn't release it quick enough. You're having a laugh if he is the future for England on that showing.

Delph 3- Looked out of his depth, lost the ball a couple of times in crucial areas. Luckily it was only his first game and I'm sure he'll improve.

Petrov 4- Looked lost as well. Completely overrun and not strong enough in the tackle I thought. That said he was better than some.

Agbonlahor 2- See Young.

Heskey 4- Ran about but was the same old Heskey. Lacklustre and no goal threat.

This is pretty bloody spot on.

But I'd give Beye 4 and Heskey 3.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Could be worse, could have lost 0-5 at home

[kurtsimonw]

Not entirely of course...but you cant hide from the fact that team spirit and the morale means a lot because with players not holding great quality MON has worked wonders by getting players to gel together as a unit and having a great spirit. This is facts to me...

And please dont try to make me your scapegoat to attack when you are pissed off about the teams performance today. Move on now...

Yes, I agree team spirit is a big thing, but I also like to think we've won games through quality from our players too.

I am disappointed about todays performance, but I'm not making you a scapegoat at all. I just think it's ridiculous that we have fans calling for MON out already. We'll be a Newcastle-like laughing stock if we got rid of him now! Thankfully the people that matter are happy to keep MON, or so it seems.

[kurtsimonw]

Could be worse, could have lost 0-5 at home

6-0!

[avfc89]

I don't how MON's going to change it around IMO, he needs to get a LB/CB in next week, no pissing around and making excuses, losers make excuses.

[villianusa]

The debates have raged many a time over his decisions in the transfer market but nobdy seems to talk about his **** shite tactics.

I have many times but he hasn't listened. :cry:

[maqroll]

By the looks of that mess, we're a solid mid-table team, as comprised. The back four had no authority about them, and little composure on the ball, Delph and Petrov were more or less invisible, and Heskey and Gabby proved that they are both better suited to coming off the bench than being starting strikers.

I wasn't too impressed by Friedel either.

The only players who I rated highly were Milner and Young.

Much to fix, not much time to do it.

And is it really any big shock that Carew wasn't fit to play?

We should all get used to the fact that he will consistently be out injured, which leaves us with Heskey, Gabby and Defouneso.

Poor.

And to think we caould have signed Tuncay, but did not?

Who would have liked to see Tuncay playing today?

For that matter, who would have prefered to see Sidwell start instead of Delph, who looked a little scared and was ineffective throughout the game. MON should give the boy more time.

The only good that can come out of this is that lerner will insist on spending the required money to get the required quality in.

But I'm not holding my breath.

This could get really ugly....

[Birchy7]

Lack of leadership.

We didn't just lose an excellent defender in Laursen, we lost our leader. When we went a goal down, who was out there today who could grab the game and drive us on? I'm struggling to think of anyone. The one player who does seem to have some of these qualities is Nigel Reo-Coker. I don't think MON has much faith in him or Sidwell to deliver.

Ashley Young was brilliant at times last season, but he has lost a fair amount of respect around the country. He goes down far too easily, constantly looks for free kicks - and when he doesn't get them, he just sulks around the pitch. That can't help his game (hence silly bookings which will cost us at some stage) and it can't help his team.

Playing with two wide men and two players - Petrov and Delph today - isn't going to win you enough games. I know people have talked about 4-5-1 but I don't think it would be a disaster to play with just one wide man. It's become a luxury for us. I'd rather us start to have more things coming through the middle - incisive passes, vision, keeping the ball well, controlled football. It hurts to say this but in the short time Martinez has been at Wigan, they've nailed it on day one. If they play like that all season they will do ok.

I have a certain amount of trust left in O'Neill. I don't sense at all that he's lost the dressing room, but I do think he is too slow to adapt and change. I think the job he has in sorting out the problems I mentioned above is vast - much bigger than he thinks. He's either being naive if he thinks we will be ok on desire alone or he's being arrogant enough to believe that he can keep things as they are and he will still pull up trees. One thing that does depress me about him is some of his comments "if we possibly can" "If at all possible" "we'll take a look at things".

The small squad argument doesn't wash anymore. This isn't a newcomer to town. He's had so much time to sort the squad out. This isn't one poor result, it's half a season of misery. Why and how it went wrong is surely due to one major reason: the transfer window. He's either brought poorly or not brought at all (see Heskey in January).

I don't like to see booing and negativity, but it's a result of so much frustration of being in a good position and just standing still...thinking "oh it was excellent once, it will come back": Martin..it won't just come good because you can believe the hype and wave a magic 'I can motivate any player' wand. We need investment in the squad, we need leadership and we need a few more plans in the tactical department.

[1974Centenary]

for me,i tink mon is only fit for the likes of te SPL,the league we are is to high a standered for him imo..i know Everton are getting spanked right now but id have Moyes over him any day..the only thing is i dont think Randy would have the bottle to give him the boot..

I think mean is able to do a job in the premiership but i want to see him change formations.We were doing alright until January then everything went bad and it hasnt changed this season.Randy would come to an agreement with mon i think,a kind of best interests of both parties type thing.Didnt randy fire his head coach and gm at the cleveland browns?