PL: Chelsea a Ratings & Reactions

[Ponky]

I agree Delfouneso showed a bit of quality - especially with that run from the centre to their box. Pretty much the only positive we can take from this.

[The_Steve]

No excuses from MON in the post-match it seems

[TRO]

Very poor second half beaten by a clinical side who will win the league. Could have been very different had we gone in at 1-1 at half time and perhaps Mikel was sent off in the first half. All we can do is put the result behind us, I expected us to lose today but the score is flattering to Chelsea given our first half performance.

No doubt this thread will get double the pages it would had we not lost since the boo boys will be out in force.

This isn't a case of the boo boys being in the ascendency, this is a case of some fans can see the quality of play is not what some believe it to be and some seem to be in denial.

[NorthEnder]

No excuses from MON in the post-match it seems

what did he say?

[TRO]

Delfouneso looked lively in the second half - it'll be a massive lesson for us but let's see how we bounce back.

"Lessons" can be a cop out unless you learn from them.

judging by last seasons " lessons" ......we havn't.

[The_Steve]

No excuses from MON in the post-match it seems

what did he say?

"We were well beaten by a fine side. We were masters of our downfall. We stopped competing at 3-1 and that's unforgivable. We are devastated and we have to fight back from this."

He refused to blame tiredness as every team has a hard season - you can tell this result hurts him. But he thinks we have it in the squad to bounce back.

[villaboyjay]

Pure and simple...

MON is as stubborn as they come and he **** it up today, as he has done in a few of his selections this season.

I read his stories on the Ofiicial Site every day, and only this week, he was telling us fans, that he desperately needed to rest the likes of Milner, Dunne, Heskey, Petrov, Downing and Collins, players that have been pretty much part of the same starting 11 all season. Some of those mentioned players have, as he said, been struggling with niggling injuries...

So whats does O'Neill do? He plays them against Chelsea, a tired team with struggling players. Chelsea once again exposed our lack of strength in depth, scoring 5 goals in the second half as our players where 'blowing out of their arses'.

He refuses to make changes and use some of the fringe players that we have at our expense..

Today, is the first time in a long while that I have been embarrassed to be a Villa fan, I can accept defeats, but the manner in which we lost today is inexcusable..

I look forward to MON's post match interview, where he comes out, sticks his hands in the air and apologises to the fans for what was, an absolute crap performance, instigated by a manager who seems to have lost his way in the basics of squad rotation..

[GaztonVilla]

Pure and simple...

MON is as stubborn as they come and he **** it up today, as he has done in a few of his selections this season.

I read his stories on the Ofiicial Site every day, and only this week, he was telling us fans, that he desperately needed to rest the likes of Milner, Dunne, Heskey, Petrov, Downing and Collins, players that have been pretty much part of the same starting 11 all season. Some of those mentioned players have, as he said, been struggling with niggling injuries...

So whats does O'Neill do? He plays them against Chelsea, a tired team with struggling players. Chelsea once again exposed our lack of strength in depth, scoring 5 goals in the second half as our players where 'blowing out of their arses'.

He refuses to make changes and use some of the fringe players that we have at our expense..

Today, is the first time in a long while that I have been embarrassed to be a Villa fan, I can accept defeats, but the manner in which we lost today is inexcusable..

I look forward to MON's post match interview, where he comes out, sticks his hands in the air and apologises to the fans for what was, an absolute crap performance, instigated by a manager who seems to have lost his way in the basics of squad rotation..

He didn't play Downing or Heskey today.

Milner, Dunne, Petrov and Collins all played, there's no arguing with that. But here's a question. Take them out of the team today, who do you put in?

[paulanddonya]

People say I am talking bollox because I say that Petrov and Milner are knackered after 60 minutes

You lot are deluded you really are.

And you know what = I saw Milner run 90 yrds in the last minute - it doesn't mean he wasn't knackered.

What it does mean is he is the only one who actually gave a shite !

MON will destroy Milners world cup dream - coz his body cannot take this - believe me !

Oh

and another thing - to those who say "I expect a reaction after this"

Funny, I thought thats what we were saying last week ?

[Vojskovoda]

oh deary me... I really wasn't that bothered today and knew we'd probably get beaten so didn't really keep track of the match until we got level at 1-1. Pathetic to go on from then and concede 6 more goals... indescribable really how we did it and the blindman needs to understand you won't get much success at Chavski playing freely with a 4-4-2... only God knows why he didn't go 4-5-1 playing for the draw which would of been more intelligent. I just don't understand why our players or manager don't seem motivated at the prize of playing Champions League football. We would only be 2 points off spuds if we won those two easy home games (and still losing to chelsea); why do we **** bottle it?! if we don't beat Bolton (ANOTHER shit team we'll probably drop points to) I think I will lose all hope of 4th and will start questioning what the hell MON is doing. oh well... as I said before "It can't get any worse". sort it out o'neill.

[GaztonVilla]

oh deary me... I really wasn't that bothered today and knew we'd probably get beaten so didn't really keep track of the match until we got level at 1-1. Pathetic to go on from then and concede 6 more goals... indescribable really how we did it and the blindman needs to understand you won't get much success at Chavski playing freely with a 4-4-2... only God knows why he didn't go 4-5-1 playing for the draw which would of been more intelligent. I just don't understand why our players or manager don't seem motivated at the prize of playing Champions League football. We would only be 2 points off spuds if we won those two easy home games (and still losing to chelsea); why do we **** bottle it?! if we don't beat Bolton (ANOTHER shit team we'll probably drop points to) I think I will lose all hope of 4th and will start questioning what the hell MON is doing. oh well... as I said before "It can't get any worse". sort it out o'neill.

You shouldn't comment on formations if you weren't watching the match, should you?

We started with 4-5-1. We started the 2nd half, trailing 2-1, and switched to 4-4-2 in an attempt to get a point, or more.

Now whats that you said about intelligent?

[Hanky]

MON will destroy Milners world cup dream - coz his body cannot take this - believe me !

That's rubbish. Milner declares himself fit, how is MON to know? It will be Milner who destroys his own 'WC dream' if he is playing when injured. I see MON taking a lot of critiscism on here and some of it deserved but that really is ludicrous.

[lmarsha_926]

Problem is we have is can't have a bigger squad than we do now as next year you are only allowed 25 players over the age of 21. So all Martin can do is buy better players. Having 7 injuries would affect any side. imagine that next year you will ahve to play your youngsters as only the players registered can play.

[Reality]

I was embarrassed watching it on a stream. Glad I did not go out to a pub to watch this tripe. Unbelievable.

[snowychap]

People say I am talking bollox because I say that Petrov and Milner are knackered after 60 minutes

People have pointed out that you are talking nonsense when you say:

EVERY SINGLE GAME without fail, for over 3 yrs - Petrov and Milner have looked as if they couldn't stand up after 60 minutes.

and that:

EVERY SINGLE PERSON apart from the manager can see this.

[briggaman]

MON will destroy Milners world cup dream - coz his body cannot take this - believe me !

That's rubbish. Milner declares himself fit, how is MON to know? It will be Milner who destroys his own 'WC dream' if he is playing when injured. I see MON taking a lot of critiscism on here and some of it deserved but that really is ludicrous.

No it's not. Whose decision is it to let Milner play when he is tired?! MON's. Of course Milner will want to play every game, as anyone that loves football would. What are the fitness staff there for?! They should know Milner is tired etc. Therefore, it is up to MON to rest players based on all of the evidence. He is the manager and should take charge....

[BigJim]

Part of the reason for the demolition is that MON kept trying to get something from the game when it was obviously not our day. - we were 4 -1 before he made a sub, and then he brings on 2 attacking players, one of them substituting our holding midfielder. Did he really think we could get back to 4-4 today? If so, he's more deluded than anyone suspected.

We should probably have tried to batten down the hatches. OK, he brought Beye on, but we were anothr goal down by then. Once again, he had Salifou on the bench, why does he bother? I would love to hear him try to explain in what circumstances he would bring him on.

[Malachite]

IMO we were always going to lose this, Chelsea had to win, no question.

My only complaint is how Villa orchestrated the loss, we have to play this side in the FA Cup semi, we should have rested players not on a question of fatigue but on a question of giving us a bullet to fire back, an excuse, the fact we pretty much went full strength and got obliterated has left us nothing, we have a game to come back from this before part 2, we have also left ourselves with the problem that Villa now appear to be a side on the slide albeit an exaggerated one.

Strange as this may sound i would except 7-1 if we had left out 5 or 6 first choice players, we haven't left ourselves with that kind of one upmanship/sporting option.

Performance of the side and the players is irrelevant, completely irrelevant but we could have cushioned the blow IMO.

[Hanky]

MON will destroy Milners world cup dream - coz his body cannot take this - believe me !

That's rubbish. Milner declares himself fit, how is MON to know? It will be Milner who destroys his own 'WC dream' if he is playing when injured. I see MON taking a lot of critiscism on here and some of it deserved but that really is ludicrous.

No it's not. Whose decision is it to let Milner play when he is tired?! MON's. Of course Milner will want to play every game, as anyone that loves football would. What are the fitness staff there for?! They should know Milner is tired etc. Therefore, it is up to MON to rest players based on all of the evidence. He is the manager and should take charge....

I was the 'wrecking the world cup dream'. It is Milner's fault if that is the case and he has wrecked his own 'dream'.

[rbcuk]

Embarrassing