Ratings and Reactions: Villa 0-1 Sunderland

[Hanky]

Yes - Aggy was poor very poor infact but thats what you get for playing a right footed striker at left midfield, down blame Aggy for his performance blame the manager

Possibility of him not being fit as well.

[Mantis]

We were shit and certainly didn't deserve to win. However, Heskey was having a good game and I can't for the life of me figure out what he was sent off for. I didn't see anything from the Holte End. Diabolical refereeing though, but when do we ever get fair refs?

I'm now in the "don't care camp" with regards to Houllier. Why the hell didn't he make the subs earlier?

[Hanky]

We were shit and certainly didn't deserve to win. However, Heskey was having a good game and I can't for the life of me figure out what he was sent off for. I didn't see anything from the Holte End. Diabolical refereeing though, but when do we ever get fair refs?

He put his hand in (and pushed I think) the face of a Sunderland player. Blatent sending off from what I saw.

[Mantis]

We were shit and certainly didn't deserve to win. However, Heskey was having a good game and I can't for the life of me figure out what he was sent off for. I didn't see anything from the Holte End. Diabolical refereeing though, but when do we ever get fair refs?

He put his hand in (and pushed I think) the face of a Sunderland player. Blatent sending off from what I saw.

Oh.

Still shit refereeing though but that doesn't excuse our poor performance. The scary thing is, before Heskey was sent off I thought the players were trying, but they were just pretty shit.

[markavfc40]

Why we persisted with Gabby on the wing right until Heskey got sent of is bemusing. He was totally ineffective all night and wasted out there.

Why we also waited until 88 minutes to make a substitution is again baffling. Its getting to the stage where I am lost for words at some of the things going on at this great football. Some may see that as a positive though :winkold:

Its just heartbreaking to see how far we have fallen over a few short months and the alarming thing is that it appears there is no light at the end of the very dark tunnel.

[VillaAndLoyal]

We are in free-fall. Simple as; and have been for weeks. We now find ourselves one solitary point off the foot of the table, rock bottom.

Myself and a fair few others came on here after the Liverpool debacle and said Houllier HAD to go then. Any manager who has that little respect for the football club he manages is on to a loser.

And all we got was "give him time", "you're talking rubbish", "another fan over-reacting" etc etc. Now look at us. I hate to tell anyone I told you so, but some people have been wanting him gone for weeks. Instead we've persisted and where has it got us? One battling performance and one point. The rest has been worse than garbage.

And now more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon? By the time everyone has jumped on, it could well be too late. If we'd have sacked him after Liverpool then we could have settled the team down by now ahead of a January transfer window and a second half of the season with a new man at the helm. Instead we've got a French baffoon who really hasn't got a clue - the fans know it and more worryingly, the players know it.

[chappy]

Just got back. Thoroughly depressed.

Heskey MOTM by a million **** miles, he was great (sitter apart) until he got sent off. Can't comment on the red card as I didn't really see what happened so will wait to see a replay. Sounds like Henderson should have gone too though from what a few people were saying after the game.

After Heskey went off we had no ideas and looked utterly terrible. We are going to badly miss him in the three games he is suspended for.

Houllier... seriously what the ****? We were in desperate need of a substitution after about 60 minutes, and in even more need after the red card. Albrighton and Bannan looked so bright when they came on, why did he leave it til the 88th minute?

Gabby is not a winger. Ash is not best used up top. This was obvious for most of the game, they should have been switched.

Petrov and NRC misplaced too many passes to remember.

Cuellar needed to cross the ball in the first half, he kept getting in great positions with the ball on the wing and then laying it back off for Downing.

They won with a fantastic goal, cant deny that.

Grim times.

[villadude]

Why has Albrighton been relegated to the bench? He's been one of our best players all season.

Was thinking the same thing myself..

[legov]

Amazes me how we can put in performances against the likes of Chelsea and Man utd and then lose like this.

[butler50]

Heskey and Dune did fine (though Heskey should have scored).

Without Heskey on the pitch, we are nothing. Nothing at all.

And why Gabby was allowed to finish the match after that terrible wing performance, I have no idea.

I knew it would be tough when we lost O'Neill, but never could imagined that we would be so poor.

Since when has Gabby bin a left winger.........GH fault for plonking him out there me thinks!!

[butler50]

Heskey MOM easily, played really well some great hold up play and touches but then had to go do that oh dear.

I still cratch my head as to whay Gabby was wide left and downing right midfield, Ash upfront???? WTF

Also Ash needs to get his head out of his arse I cant remember the last time he hit a good dead ball cross......All stems from having a shit manager with no idea that seriously needs to go NOW! Should have been sacked after Liverpool game IMo! HOULIER OUT NOW!

[AVFCDAN]

Performance was ok for me, got done by a quality goal (former player no less).

Easy to see why Sunderland have so many clean sheets, very tough to break down, keep playing like this and we will move up the table eventually, got to play the bottom half teams soon.

[David-Copenhagen]

Did not sleep to well last night. This is a hard hard season. We have good players and should be doing much much better. The players are not performing and we have been hit hard by injuries.

Apparently there is problems between the manager and some of the players - and there has been a lot of turmoil. We need a boost and I think we need to support the manager big time in the marked and get a top top player or two - or sack the manager and get more out of the existing squad. It has to be one of the two and it will cost us.

Just for the record I blame MON big time for this!!!!! He did his best to f... us hard - and it is working.

[David-Copenhagen]

Just got back. Thoroughly depressed.

Heskey MOTM by a million **** miles, he was great (sitter apart) until he got sent off. Can't comment on the red card as I didn't really see what happened so will wait to see a replay. Sounds like Henderson should have gone too though from what a few people were saying after the game.

After Heskey went off we had no ideas and looked utterly terrible. We are going to badly miss him in the three games he is suspended for.

Houllier... seriously what the ****? We were in desperate need of a substitution after about 60 minutes, and in even more need after the red card. Albrighton and Bannan looked so bright when they came on, why did he leave it til the 88th minute?

Gabby is not a winger. Ash is not best used up top. This was obvious for most of the game, they should have been switched.

Petrov and NRC misplaced too many passes to remember.

Cuellar needed to cross the ball in the first half, he kept getting in great positions with the ball on the wing and then laying it back off for Downing.

They won with a fantastic goal, cant deny that.

Grim times.

Good post - I agree with all of it.

Ash is good but he is not good enough in the hole. The pass in first half from NRC was wasted big time, Ash was clean through and missed.

Heskeys miss was bad, BUT the ball came through a few players and was little behind him - I think the header was a worse miss - he should have hit the target. Apart from this he was fantastic, really really great. Keep it up Heskey.

[slowandlow]

Used to get annoyed with Gabby at right midfield under MON, Gabby at left midfield is even more ridiculous!!!!

i know a couple of blokes who aint going down again until Houllier is sacked, and these are long-term ST holders and away scheme members who do not miss games - that is how disillusioned some people are. I'm taking my ticket back for Wigan away if that clown is still in charge

Heskey's was a definite sending off imo (haven't seen it back on the tele), seemed to have pushed their player in the face which is always going to be a straight red. Shame really cus by that point he was the only player looking capable of doing anything for us, and was relieving pressure whilst they had started to get on top, with Bents open goal miss etc

[barry'sboots]

We were shit and certainly didn't deserve to win. However, Heskey was having a good game and I can't for the life of me figure out what he was sent off for. I didn't see anything from the Holte End. Diabolical refereeing though, but when do we ever get fair refs?

He put his hand in (and pushed I think) the face of a Sunderland player. Blatent sending off from what I saw.

Disagree with this. It was a harmless push away, although it did land on his face, to a player that had come 10 yards to get in his face. It should have been a yellow card for both Heskey and Henderson. Even Hansen supported this view on MOTD.

I will concede that a strict interpretation of the laws could have lead to a red card, as Hansen also pointed out, but how often do the referees not strictly interpret the laws when it is not in our favour??

[Ponky]

From what I could tell the ref didn't spot it and made the decision based on collaboration with the assistant ref and the 4th official.

[Sani]

Am I the only person who thinks we didn't play that bad??

The difference between the two sides was Heskey missing a sitter and a wonder strike by Phil bloody Bardsley.

First 45mins was absolutely decent, second half wasnt. Did we even create anything in the second half? We get a lot of free kicks in good positions, but Young and Downing are abysmal when it comes to taking them.

[TOTTI-THE-GOD]

Well i've slept on it and i am still **** fuming , were Chelsea that bad that they made us look good or something on Sunday cause that didnt look the same Villa team that played on Sunday . I thought MON was bad in not seeing when changes needed to be made but the cheese eatin surrender monkey tops it off , Gabby is not a left winger infact he was actually counter productive as every time the ball went near him he lost it and just gifted them possesion back . Can someone please tell me why Petrov managed to last 88 minutes ? He was complete shite Bannan should of replaced him 30 min ealier . Young needs to be told the sun doesnt shine out of his arse and be put back on the wing where he IS at his best . What has Albrighton suddenly done to warrant being left out the team ?

There was sooooo many things wrong with last nights performance we'd be here till our next match going through it all . Your not going to tell me loosing one player from a team that finished 6th last season is going to affect us this badly , and please dont throw injuries in my face , we've still had pretty much our first choice defence all available this season and yet we've still conceded 38 goals in 21 games . I genuinly didnt think we were capable of slipping this low but thanks to GH i've been proved wrong .

Oh and yes i was one of the people that stayed and booed and chanted sack in the morning , i couldnt give a **** if its counter productive but i've seen enough to know were going down with that clearing in the woods in charge .

[briggaman]

Absolute shambles how people can be voting for Heskey as MOTM. Yes, he was the best player on the pitch for us yesterday. However, he missed a sitter from four yards that would have probably won us the game. Plus he got sent off and cost us the game. There is no argument against what he did in my opinion. He should have had more sense than to raise his hand and deserved to go. Heskey was a large part of our downfall yesterday and should be closer to villain of the match than MOTM...

We simply aren't playing well enough at the moment and some of Houllier's decisions are baffling. I'm still in the undecided camp to be honest when it comes to him. We certainly shouldn't be where we are in the table though and that lies solely with his management as to why we are. We still won't go down but I'm unsure whether it will be Houllier in charge that keeps us up. To be honest though, I couldn't care less who is in charge as long as we start to push on. We will stay up and we will move forward. The question is, will it be under Houllier?