Ratings and Reactions: Villa 2-4 Arsenal

[DeepDish]

BREAKING NEWS: Having a season ticket makes you instantly qualified as a football coach and/or pundit.

Coach or not a coach you certainly can not judge players from watching match of the day highlights

No, but you can when every single Saturday and Sunday match we play are broadcasted on tv.

[Gringo]

Poor Interviews

:shock:

I think I have heard it all now

It's what is known as Pop Idol Football Manager 2007. Give us JG and his guitar anyday.

[kidlewis]

Carew was terrible. Gabby and Delfouneso all the way.

Gabby the braun, Delf the brains. Delfouneso was great today. Carew made Delfouneso' performance look like Shevchenko for Milan in his peak.

[VillanousOne]

Armchair pundits check list

Our best striker: Gabby missing - even if he doesn't get goals his pace terrifies defences and he gets down the channels

Our captain: Petrov missing - and i do think he should get rested more and not be an automatic starter but we have missed him

Our best central defender missing: Cuellar - ok maybe not the best but I do think he makes less mistakes than Dunne and Collins

Our best winger missing: Albrighton He may burn out after 60 mins but he takes so much pressure off the defence by keeping possession and attacking.

NRC missing: Just when he started to show the form that made us think he was worthy of the shirt he gets injured

Downing wasted on the right - just when he started to look the part he has to be switched to his poorer side.

Much as I rate Bannan he needs protection, he can't really tackle or offer defensive cover - which is what we need.

Delf, Hogg, Herd we don't really know yet if they are as good as we hope or think

Clark looks good but is he a midfielder or a defender?

Warnock - never have seen such a fairly decent player play so badly, needs to be rested and given the chance to sort his sh*t out.

Collins - Not fit, not been great when fit either

Dunne - Better today but making costly mistakes all season

Pires - should be player brought on after an hour to provide some creativity and set pieces, should never start a match.

[Philosopher]

Houllier needs to be a bit more careful with our defenders. Dunne, Warnock and Collins have just come back from injury and its probably a week or two too soon for them. Also Dunne and Collins like to defend deep it suits their game, however the pass and move style we a trying to play requires our midfield to push up and press the opposition.

Bannan as one of 2 central midfielders poses a problem (he's too lightweight) he should be part of a midfield 3 and not with Pires as Pires can't run anymore and never could tackle and never did bother defending!

Its funny as the team that started today could have got something against Blackburn as for me the team that played Blackburn was to small and lightweight and the team that played Blackburn would have better suited todays match. Unfortunately the team picked were picked like that due to the injury situation and there really isn't shit Houllier can do!

Also the over the last 3 seasons the only time we have beaten Arsenal we played a 4-5-1. Thats the way to beat them. Three in midfield that will put themselve about a press the Arsenal midfield trio, Pace upfront to force them to defend deeper (as Arsenal like to play with a high line or if they maintain their high line he can exploit all that space in behind) and attcak minded wingers to keep their fullbacks from pushing forward so often as they love to do and when they do push forward to exploit the space in behind on the counter.

We cannot blame Houllier the injuries to Petrov and Reo have really hit us as those 2 with Bannan in the centre would have made life very difficult for Arsenal and Blackburn. The injuries to our defenders mean we haven't had a settled partnership in the centre of defense which is crucial to a solid defense. Carew is playing like a player that intends to leave in January. Heskey was showing form and then gets an injury that keeps him out for almost 3 months and Gabby plays one and then misses 2. Hogg and Albrighton who have done very well are injured too, Clark himself was injured a couple of weeks ago. There is no continuity what-so-ever and thats not Houlliers fault.

I was not happy with Houlliers appiontment, but I am actually warming to him. He is playing the kids, the style of football we are looking to play suits the kids, Downing, Petrov, Ash and Ireland (once he gets his head in the right place), but the defense will need overhauling.

Arsenal are a team challenging for the title, we are a team intransition with experiencing a major injury crisis, plus we still miss Milner. I honestly believe that if we still had Milner in midfield we would be much better placed this season. The speed from box to box he provided is being sorely missed.

[OutByEaster?]

I thought the most important factor in our performance was that for much of the first half Arsenal were excellent. I don't actually think we were all that bad, we were nowhere near our best, but we weren't awful either.

I thought individually the back four were all okay with Dunne the better of the middle two and Warnock the better of the full backs, I thought the midfield was poor, with Bannan too deep to do what he's good at and not quite at his best, Young out of sorts in the first half but better in the second and Downing some way off the pace for much of the game. Pires did well in patches but I don't think he's ever going to make ninety minutes for us.

Clark's first goal was a cracker and his overall game was okay, but he still looks an uncomfortable midfielder - hopefully the experience will do him good once he gets back into his natural position.

Carew was not quite there - and when he's not quite there he's not good enough - he's a player that if he's even slightly off his best; he's a mile from his best performances. I wouldn't be too surprised if we don't see him again - a shame really.

Delfouneso I thought did pretty well and added something to our game and Ireland looked a little more comfortable in the side when he came on.

Ultimately against Arsenal you've either got to be good enough to create the chances to beat them or strong enough to throw them off their stride - we were neither today - but given the situation we're in and the situation they're in, I don't think that's a surprise.

A special word for Mr Clattenburg who I thought did pretty well and is turning into a decent referee.

I still despise Arsenal and hope their title challenge falters, they're a despicable lot with hypocrite-in-chief Wenger overseeing the wet faced diver Arshavin, arsehole Chamakh, little shit Wilshere and a cast of spoilt whingeing primadonas with a persecution complex and the heart of a gnat - but I think they beat us today becasue if you let them play they're good and not because of our own shortcomings.

[Demitri_C]

why the hell dont we recall curtis back? at leicester he has been impressive and clearly collins looked a shadow today and was rushed back. clark should remain as cm and carlos is out, so surely be better to call curt back for the hectic december period?

warnock has been the biggest disaster this season

[Cracker1234]

First half was just embrassing, defensively it was pretty terrible for the whole game. Got better 2nd half, but you can't afford to play 45 minutes in the Premier League.

Spurs did and they won Arsenal.....It's not great only playing one half of a game, but sometimes managers need to sort teams out at half time.

[Gringo]

Also Houllier appeared to laugh at something Nasri said to him after the match. I think we need a thread about that.

Totally Unacceptable.

[pacbuddies]

All the best teams have a strong centre midfield. We have not got that and that is where we are losing it.

[OutByEaster?]

A few people have mentioned Downing as being played out of position today - from where I was sat he played left midfield for ninety minutes - what am I missing?

[Gringo]

blosers currently above us as table stands, ok its still abit early but shows how dire we have been

Not that early 15 games - 40% of the way through the season. GH has to bring in his own players yes, but he has to get our players working as well. If MOM can turn decent players into carlos hoofaball in the blink of an eye, surely it must work the other way around.

[chappy]

Clark MOTM by a **** mile. He looked up for it and scored both goals.

Ash Young was very poor today, attacks seemed to break down whenever he received the ball.

I'm a big Carew fan but he was woeful today.

Ireland looked good when he came on, lets give him a bit of time instead of getting on his back.

Bannan needs a senior defensive player alongside him in CM.

What the **** were Collins and L Young doing for the first goal? shambolic.

[pacbuddies]

Baggies winning too and against ten men. Were **** then!!

[terrytini]

What a load of rubbish today, again.

What a huge gulf there suddenly appears between us and ,say, Spurs.

As for the 'Manager'. For starters, Young is a liability - there is now masses of evidence to show why Cuellar was preferrd there when we had one of thebest defences in the League. The other Young has consistently been one of the Premierships most destructive players - played on the left.....again, plenty of reasons to see why thats where he has been played.

Neither of those are rocket science.

A new passing game ? Never seen as many players without a clue what to do with the ball at their feet in my life. (AND a lot ofhoofing anyway).

And don't even mention the tactics - this guy was renowned for negativity at Liverpool and it is becoming ingrained in us already. What a difference for the short time we attempted to think we could have a go.

Things are only going to get worse if the last two months is a guide.

[pacbuddies]

Jeckyl and Hyde performance between that against Manure and that given today.

[QuintonK6]

Friedel: 5 ...1 great save but let down by the defence.

Young: 5... Very poor today gave nothing either end.

Collins: 5... Can't belive how he was getting out jumped by Shamak - Didn't look fit to me.

Dunne: 4 ... No leadership, No pace. Over the years there's been God,Teal,,Mellberg,Laurson - He's not fit to lace any of there boots IMO.

Warnock: 0... No comment !!

A Young: 6 ... Tried to make things happen but no service on the wing.

Downing: 3... Did he play today ?

Bannan: 6 ... Some great touches from the wee man but also some wayward passes 1st half.

Clark: 7.5 ...MOTM. Impressive again. Much better in midfield than CD. Can pass, tackle and now we know he can shoot and get goals.

Pires: 4... 1 decent run 1st half is all i saw him do. Too old and too slow. Houllier would have done better giving him a coaching job as the PL is beyond him - Hope he proves me wrong.

Carew 2 Doesn't want to play for Houllier that's obvious now.

[pacbuddies]

Manure are beating Blackburn (the wonderful team we lost to last weeK) 6-0.

[CrackpotForeigner]

7 now

[Rob182]

A few people have mentioned Downing as being played out of position today - from where I was sat he played left midfield for ninety minutes - what am I missing?

He played on the right in the 1st half and left in the 2nd half.