MMFy Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Great result today but I won't trust him until he puts a run of results together. The team selection and tactics for that Spuds game will not be forgotten quickly. Apologies for sounding negative, but I have a feeling Heskey and Hutton will be back in the team before too long... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 3 more points Monday and one or two might start believing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laivasse Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What he got right was bringing in Cuellar and Clark, dropping Hutton and Heskey, temporarily dropping Bent from the starting line up for his ineffectiveness, and giving Ireland a mandate to express himself. What he got wrong was that, having equalised, we played for a draw for a long time. When we went in for the kill after suffering awful pressure for a quarter of an hour, I'm not convinced that it was part of an AMC tactic. I suspect that it was in-form players sniffing Chelsea's blood. I would like to believe that we are free of the spiderweb of negative play but I'm yet to be convinced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjames333 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 The last 3 games have certainly given me some hope but you have to ask what the hell McLeish was thinking in the previous couple of months. We were playing dog shit football and offering nothing in attack while conceding sloppy goals. Now all of a sudden we look dangerous, attack with purpose and are quite solid at the back and in midfield. Nzogbia looks a different player, really impressive right now and obviously Ireland today is a big boost. I hope we can keep this going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chips'ngravy Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 He definitely deserves credit for this excellent result. He brought in Cuellar (over Hutton) and Clark as DM to strengthen the defense. He dropped Heskey, gave Ireland a deserved chance as a deep, playmaking striker, he played positively, and he showed some real balls to drop Bent from the starting line up. There are some problems though. The most glaring is that many of us have been calling for at least some of these decisions to be made for, what, 16 games already? Not only that but there was a period upon which the match result hinged, in which we played very negatively. From about the 65th-80th minutes, at 1-1, we played for the draw instead of the win; we sat deep as hell, allowed Chelsea chance after chance and nearly froze our best attacking performers out of the game. We could easily have lost despite deserving to win. Call me begrudging, but I saw McLeish's natural mentality coming to the fore in that period. In fact I think we only managed to avoid succumbing because some players (Ireland, Petrov) went beyond tactics and just played out of their skin. This was a great win and I consider us much safer from relegation (which was my main fear this season). But on a longer scale I am still worried and, unfortunately, underwhelmed, considering the other performances we've given and how they resonate with our most negative passage against Chelsea. Totally agree. This could easily have been another negative result. We were far too deep in that period inviting wave after wave of attack from a Chelsea side itself low on confidence. We played much better than most of the season but could easily have thrown it away once again due to the manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu_The_Villan Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I think Mccleish is still tinkering at the minute. Still getting to know the players. Needs more time and a couple of transfer windows to get things how he wants them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Apologies for sounding negative, but I have a feeling Heskey and Hutton will be back in the team before too long... Hutton was available today and didnt get on pitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briggaman Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Why would anyone drastically change their opinion based solely on one game? Of course, however, no one should be stubborn enough to discount today. True judgement can only be passed at the end of the season. This. It's quite baffling how people can suddenly change their opinion on him after one win. I was giving AM a chance, yet a few games ago I lost all patience with him and his tactics. I believe that I crossed over into the AM out brigade. I am still on that side of the fence despite the Chelsea result. I do think he has learnt from his time here so far though. Hopefully he can stop making silly decisions, such as playing Heskey and playing ultra defensive. Now that we are going for games a bit more, we are actually giving teams a game. The worrying thing is that it took AM so long to realise how we play best, despite us all knowing. Hopefully he can push us forward now and convince me again that he may be a capable manager. At the moment I am not convinced, yet the Chelsea result was a step in the right direction. Plus we have looked better in recent weeks. I will happily back him if we start getting results, yet it will take a whole lot more than one win against Chelsea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieB Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I wasn't sure about the appointment, because of the fans reaction, but after losing our two best players and with the limit of funds to buy players with I'm not sure eg Moyes or Hughes would have done much better. Other choices for manager touted like Martinez, Martin Jol, Owen Coyle haven't exactly set the premier league alight this season neither. The football since the Liverpool game has improved significantly - we're passing and moving much better and hitting teams on the break, utilising the pace our squad possesses, which IMO is EXACTLY what we need to do. Hope it continues. I can't fault McLeish for how he handles himself, he always comes across as professional and sensible and unlike MON isn't a control freak who refuses to play players who've dared to question his judgement or make substituions during games when required. We start the year in 9th position which is a darn sight better than where we were under Houllier this time last year IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Provided we continue to improve over the next few games then sure. When the evidence changes so does my opinion, but a little way to go yet. Prove its not a blip, and I'll be delighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyOne Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 He would have to do something incredible to win me over. I'm still not entirely convinced but at least there's some promise now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I judge him like any manager. If we win games I will like him - if he doesn't I won't. Same for any villa manager. 9th is reasonable given the squad we have. My concern is that injuries to Heskey, and the sending off of Hutton-meant AM stumbled on his best team. Has he got the nous to realise that. Theres also the problem that our luck charm Cuellar is almost out of contract - and would be easy piclings for another club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Typically fickle judgement, we won a game now he is great? Sorry, still do not believe there is any future for McLeish at the club and as long as he is here, we are hamstrung with a particular style of play. Some appear happy because we have reverted back to the football that we slated MON for less than two years ago? Yesterday was a good performance, a MON performance albeit with a different system in place. What made yesterday was the link between midfield and attack, something missing all season as we continually watched the midfield bypassed. Yesterdays style will buy us and McLeish results as it is a system they were brought in to play by MON. Looking forward though, it will never take us any further than MON took us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 We start the year in 9th position which is a darn sight better than where we were under Houllier this time last year IIRC. We were 15th. Two games later we were in the bottom 3. Its hardly high praise given how poor we were last season and the gutless tripe we were serving up but McLeish is doing better at the moment with a worse squad. Lets hope it continues. Its interesting to note that this time last season we'd conceded 34 goals. This season we have conceded 10 less. We have also scored 2 more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 please don't post on poster, stick to the topic. Ta Houllier, football man, McLeish anti football man. Says it all really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Typically fickle judgement, we won a game now he is great? Sorry, still do not believe there is any future for McLeish at the club and as long as he is here, we are hamstrung with a particular style of play. Some appear happy because we have reverted back to the football that we slated MON for less than two years ago? Yesterday was a good performance, a MON performance albeit with a different system in place. What made yesterday was the link between midfield and attack, something missing all season as we continually watched the midfield bypassed. Yesterdays style will buy us and McLeish results as it is a system they were brought in to play by MON. Looking forward though, it will never take us any further than MON took us. I agree. I think this thread is a bit too much, we just one game he still has alot to do in my opinion to win me over and if we lose against Swansea then we are back to square one it's as simple as that. Also with the Jan window round the corner and his record in the market I'm not looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
under_the_bridge Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I don't post on here very often and I just want to say that AM inherited a very difficult situation. Losing two excellent players in Young and Downing and the upheaval of yet another managerial change. People were upset because he was a Birmingham City manager - yet failed to see that he guided them to their highest ever finish and won them their first trophy. Ok he relegated them - and that is probably the only blip. His success at Rangers is similar to MON's yet because of some sort of untouchable status MON was often given extended stays of execution. We are improving and the football is better and more importantly we are getting results. Judge at the end of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 3 good performances in a row now in my opinion. All against tough teams who play different styles and we've done well in all of them. AMc is starting to get it right and deserves a tonne of credit for yesterday's win. Hilarious reading through the match thread, about 90% negative posts in a game which we won 3-1 at Chelsea, laughable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I think Mccleish is still tinkering at the minute. Still getting to know the players. Needs more time and a couple of transfer windows to get things how he wants them. Like he got at Blues? It took him a couple of seasons to build a side sufficiently lacking in attacking attent to go down, until then, he was still dismantling Steve Bruces team. Sometimes things go your way, yesterday they did but I also believe this was one of the poorest Chelsea teams I can remember and yet we still didnt have the nous to see they were there for the taking. It wasnt until it sort of fell into our laps that we started believing. One result, I am not getting carried away here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 People were upset because he was a Birmingham City manager I think you'll find most of the posters on here don't care about that. Ok he relegated them - and that is probably the only blip. This is the main thing and how can you call it a blip? it's far more serious than a blip. His success at Rangers He finished 3rd with them. We are improving and the football is better and more importantly we are getting results. This i agree with however. Judge at the end of the season. Hmm well let's hope we keep on improving because if we go back to the dross that was served up against Spurs and a few other teams then he will continue to get the abuse and rightly so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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