The, he's finally GONE! Tell us your thoughts Thread

[villan501]

Ive had enough Ladies and Gentleman, I am not going to anymore villa games period until that useless ginger duche bag has left, I think that is the lowest of low that we have lost to not a very good swansea side. AM is clueless and the football remids me of sunday morning hangover stuff which dosnt appeal to me.Randy Lerner Man up and get rid of this idiot I was happy we beat Chelsea but I cannot acceptwe cant beat swansea at Home.

[markavfc40]

Just back from VP. Have to say that one of the most surprising things is that McLeish is still pretty much getting a free pass. There was the don't know what your doing when Ireland came off but at full time amongst the 10k or so that were left it was a mixed reaction with some strangely even applauding.

I'm getting the impression that fans standards have just dropped completely and mid table crap is acceptable. Houllier got dogs abuse last season at Man City and at home to Spurs, Sunderland and the worse abuse I've ever seen at full time against Wolves. Now obviously we were deep in relegation mire then and the drop from the previous seasons was drastic but that shouldn't make the tripe often being served up now any more palatable.

There is a real lethargy around the club from the chairman, management, players and the supporters and I include myself in that. Its a culmination of the tripe served up over the last 18 months and its sad to see. Aston Villa deserves far better and we as fans should be demanding it. If we don't then nobody else will.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

admittedly I haven't even watched the game today. . .**** shit, boring football.

:oops: :?

I'm talking overall, you know, he's been here for 6 months now. Or because I haven't watched 1 game I'm not allowed to have an opinion on the season?

**** shit.

[VillaAlex]

It was obvious before today and it's been obvious for years.

We should aspire to be a team like Swansea as sad as it sounds. They didn't have their best team out there today but they play with the modern style of play that succeeds in football right now. The problem is it takes time to change it all, and we don't have the patience for it. I have watched Swansea a lot this season, and they pass the ball sideways and backwards a lot and it's not frowned upon. The key is they're keeping the ball from the opposition and creating space by drawing them out to press them. This approach also needs good technical players which we do have but don't have the all round game to start every game for us.

Villas Boas is trying to change the style at Chelsea by playing a high line, with the emphasis on keeping the ball forcing the opposition to stay in their own half. Atm it's not working but over time his ideas will come into place as it does take time, but with modern day football Chelsea fans are getting restless.

This is the problem at our club, we tried to change the approach last season and it did not work, like Chelsea it was too much too soon, and instead we have gone back to a manager who is more suited to our team and we complain when we get passed off the pitch.

It is a massive issue, I can't stand the football we play atm, it's probably the worst in the league but even with a half decent team we'd face the same issues against a team like Swansea. We need to change the whole culture at the club, but I just can't ever see it happening unless we accepted a transitional period.

[macandally]

Brendan Rodgers is doing a superb job there at Swansea, has got them playing some great football which is also pleasing on eye.

Something we could only dream of seeing at Villa Park under McLeish.

if Rodgers or any Villa manager tried this they would fail with our players adn would lead to abuse on these pages

Ridiculous

Agreed, tired of bullshit excuses for awful performances. Its not McLeish its the players we have that dictate we must play industrial glasgow kick and chase like blues, rangers etc etc.

Bullshit.

Stop finding reasons to support that shit and see it for what it is.

[dudevillaisnice]

It was obvious before today and it's been obvious for years.

We should aspire to be a team like Swansea as sad as it sounds. They didn't have their best team out there today but they play with the modern style of play that succeeds in football right now. The problem is it takes time to change it all, and we don't have the patience for it. I have watched Swansea a lot this season, and they pass the ball sideways and backwards a lot and it's not frowned upon. The key is they're keeping the ball from the opposition and creating space by drawing them out to press them. This approach also needs good technical players which we do have but don't have the all round game to start every game for us.

Villas Boas is trying to change the style at Chelsea by playing a high line, with the emphasis on keeping the ball forcing the opposition to stay in their own half. Atm it's not working but over time his ideas will come into place as it does take time, but with modern day football Chelsea fans are getting restless.

This is the problem at our club, we tried to change the approach last season and it did not work, like Chelsea it was too much too soon, and instead we have gone back to a manager who is more suited to our team and we complain when we get passed off the pitch.

It is a massive issue, I can't stand the football we play atm, it's probably the worst in the league but even with a half decent team we'd face the same issues against a team like Swansea. We need to change the whole culture at the club, but I just can't ever see it happening unless we accepted a transitional period.

Spot on.

[VillaAlex]

Meant to say half decent manager.

[JP1982]

Just listened to the post match interview, the t**t makes my blood boil. He is completely, obliviously in denial about his own inadequacies and the fact that our performance/results are a reflection of his managership. When asked about booing he states that the same would happen at any club who experienced a similar result. WHY can't he acknowledge the boos are us fans venting our disapproval of him? The prat just seems to have his head deeply buried in the sand and the danger is if he does not look up it may be too late for us!! I find his dismissive attitude insulting. He needs to take a look at himself and maybe, just maybe, he may see what the majority down VP are forced to look at!! :evil:

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

It was obvious before today and it's been obvious for years.

We should aspire to be a team like Swansea as sad as it sounds. They didn't have their best team out there today but they play with the modern style of play that succeeds in football right now. The problem is it takes time to change it all, and we don't have the patience for it. I have watched Swansea a lot this season, and they pass the ball sideways and backwards a lot and it's not frowned upon. The key is they're keeping the ball from the opposition and creating space by drawing them out to press them. This approach also needs good technical players which we do have but don't have the all round game to start every game for us.

Villas Boas is trying to change the style at Chelsea by playing a high line, with the emphasis on keeping the ball forcing the opposition to stay in their own half. Atm it's not working but over time his ideas will come into place as it does take time, but with modern day football Chelsea fans are getting restless.

This is the problem at our club, we tried to change the approach last season and it did not work, like Chelsea it was too much too soon, and instead we have gone back to a manager who is more suited to our team and we complain when we get passed off the pitch.

It is a massive issue, I can't stand the football we play atm, it's probably the worst in the league but even with a half decent team we'd face the same issues against a team like Swansea. We need to change the whole culture at the club, but I just can't ever see it happening unless we accepted a transitional period.

Spot on.

Yes.

[hercs23]

So annoyed after today and its not to lose to team like swansea, there a good passing side but its the way we lose. we are just dire i could list why but its to much and it is from the very top to the bottom.

we had 14 corners today and nothing came from none of them,how many shots on target 2 i think.2 and were suppose to be the expirenced team at home. i mean what do we do on the training pitch.

the thing that annoys me most is we know nothing will change:

Randy will not fire mcleish no matter how much fans want it( we had a protest for gods sake) and even if he did i would nt trust him to get the right manager

mcleish will not change his appalling style of play

Even if we did go for a new manager the 3 who we could of attracted earlier are now doing great in the league rodgers, martinez and lambert.

cant believe we taped him up had to pay blues compo for this clown. disgusting

MCLEISH OUT AND NOW

[macandally]

It was obvious before today and it's been obvious for years.

We should aspire to be a team like Swansea as sad as it sounds. They didn't have their best team out there today but they play with the modern style of play that succeeds in football right now. The problem is it takes time to change it all, and we don't have the patience for it. I have watched Swansea a lot this season, and they pass the ball sideways and backwards a lot and it's not frowned upon. The key is they're keeping the ball from the opposition and creating space by drawing them out to press them. This approach also needs good technical players which we do have but don't have the all round game to start every game for us.

Villas Boas is trying to change the style at Chelsea by playing a high line, with the emphasis on keeping the ball forcing the opposition to stay in their own half. Atm it's not working but over time his ideas will come into place as it does take time, but with modern day football Chelsea fans are getting restless.

This is the problem at our club, we tried to change the approach last season and it did not work, like Chelsea it was too much too soon, and instead we have gone back to a manager who is more suited to our team and we complain when we get passed off the pitch.

It is a massive issue, I can't stand the football we play atm, it's probably the worst in the league but even with a half decent team we'd face the same issues against a team like Swansea. We need to change the whole culture at the club, but I just can't ever see it happening unless we accepted a transitional period.

We have supposedly been in transistion for two years. Transistion to what is the question?

Also rans playing dire football and managing to nullify our own attacking intent whilst allowing teams like Swansea to pass the ball around our patch.

I am old enough to accept transistion if it shows progressive intent. McLeish shows none of thatl

[Woody1000]

It's not just this game.

Our approach to games in general is terrible and I can't see any evidence to suggest Mcleish can build a winning team.

It's made worse to see how well Swansea outplayed us and how positive their approach to the game was today.

I agree.

The thing for me is that I cannot remember the last time that we were consistantly playing in a positive way, even under MON our game was reliant upon counter attacking, but we had much more steel to us, and looked far less fragile in defence.

I think one of our main problems is the lack of movement when we havee possession of the ball, it allows the opposition to press us until it just goes back to the keeper to be hoofed up field.

[VillaAlex]

I am old enough to accept transistion if it shows progressive intent. McLeish shows none of thatl

I didn't say McLeish is the man to make the transition, he's simply the opposite.

What I'm saying is, we can get any manager in and unless we change the culture of the club which means:-

The methods on the training pitch.

The players we sign.

The acceptance of a certain style.

Swansea often play their ball around their back four and to the keeper and because they have built this style up over the past years their fans have learnt to accept it as it's the modern approach and most of the time it works.

If we played like that a home, we'd have restless fans shouting at the players to stop passing it sideways and backwards and we'd be demanding to get the ball into the box as that is the Aston Villa style for years.

Jol has gone to Fulham, and although I'm not a massive fan of his, he is changing the style at the club and Fulham fans aren't too happy with him. They are struggling but they are playing imo the right way to play but right now it isn't working as it takes time.

Man City were known as negative under Mancini, but now they've changed their style and they look favourites for the league, unfortunately they have the resources to make it work straight away.

Even Wigan with a piss poor side, manage to stay up every season as Martinez (who took part in the Swansea transition) has implemented the same style on their team. Under any other manager I couldn't see them stay up with players made available.

There are two things we can do if we got rid of McLeish, we can get a good manager who suits our players and we keep the same kind of style. This style will get us top half/top 8 finishes as we do have a good team, but there will always be games like today when the better technical sides play us off the park, and more and more teams are starting to play like this. Mainly due to the fact they're trying to emulate the best team in the world Barcelona.

We shouldn't try to copy a style, but we really should have an emphasis on playing the ball out from the back, as most successful teams now have defenders and goalkeepers who are technically good footballers. But I can't see Villa Park cheering on a side with a slow approach that eventually tries to break down the opposition. We much prefer fast paced direct football which isn't the best way to play football right now.

[macandally]

I am old enough to accept transistion if it shows progressive intent. McLeish shows none of thatl

I didn't say McLeish is the man to make the transition, he's simply the opposite.

What I'm saying is, we can get any manager in and unless we change the culture of the club which means:-

The methods on the training pitch.

The players we sign.

The acceptance of a certain style.

Swansea often play their ball around their back four and to the keeper and because they have built this style up over the past years their fans have learnt to accept it as it's the modern approach and most of the time it works.

If we played like that a home, we'd have restless fans shouting at the players to stop passing it sideways and backwards and we'd be demanding to get the ball into the box as that is the Aston Villa style for years.

Jol has gone to Fulham, and although I'm not a massive fan of his, he is changing the style at the club and Fulham fans aren't too happy with him. They are struggling but they are playing imo the right way to play but right now it isn't working as it takes time.

Man City were known as negative under Mancini, but now they've changed their style and they look favourites for the league, unfortunately they have the resources to make it work straight away.

Even Wigan with a piss poor side, manage to stay up every season as Martinez (who took part in the Swansea transition) has implemented the same style on their team. Under any other manager I couldn't see them stay up with players made available.

There are two things we can do if we got rid of McLeish, we can get a good manager who suits our players and we keep the same kind of style. This style will get us top half/top 8 finishes as we do have a good team, but there will always be games like today when the better technical sides play us off the park, and more and more teams are starting to play like this. Mainly due to the fact they're trying to emulate the best team in the world Barcelona.

We shouldn't try to copy a style, but we really should have an emphasis on playing the ball out from the back, as most successful teams now have defenders and goalkeepers who are technically good footballers. But I can't see Villa Park cheering on a side with a slow approach that eventually tries to break down the opposition. We much prefer fast paced direct football which isn't the best way to play football right now.

The things you mention are the managers job so not sure what your point is? The manager should define the coaching staff, the coaching style, the atmosphere within the club, the way the youth is developed and so on.

Houllier tried that and half the fans were in uproar which is disappointing to say the least. It also upset some of the players which comes as no surprise after the gravy train they have been on.

This may sound harsh here, but I would approach someone like Martinez and say that he could have 10 million plus whatever money he could raise from sales of the current squad.

I would even let Bent go if it meant that we had a progressive manager and an emphasis on building a FOOTBALLING team, not kick and rush.

[dudevillaisnice]

It still baffles me how the board how can go from looking at Martinez to McLeish.. it really wasn't a footballing decision that's for sure.

[heystally!]

After the win against Chelsea, I was full of such optimism today, and now the game's over I'm so **** furious. And it's with both McLeish and the players.

McLeish

I had no problem with McLeish's selection. In fact, even before I heard the team I was telling my Dad that he should bring Bent in and drop Albrighton to the bench, and he went with the formation that I would have played too.

But by half time it was clear that things were not working. Swansea are not Barcelona: yes they play nice football, and I applaude the way they try and approach games, but once the start passing the ball up the pitch they are going to lose it, which they did on a couple of occasions. We should have just continued to hassle players, stick to the men and not worry too much about the ball being with Swansea because we would get it back before to long.

Instead we lost all shape in our midfield and gave them, particularly Britton, way too much space. I don't even know what role Clark was playing but he was anonymous first half. McLeish should have replaced him with Bannan at half time so that we'd end up wasting the ball much less. Bringing Bannan on with five minutes left was a **** joke.

Personally I thought Ireland did ok. Not as good as against Chelsea, but he was the only player who actually looked like he wanted the ball, and could maybe create some chances for us. So to take him off and go 4-4-2 was pathetic. Bent was already out of the game, so by putting Gabby up front too, it meant that two of our players were absolutely isolated. Neither did anything in that second half, because we had no possession in the middle of the park to feed them.

I don't blame his choice of players, or for the first half. But the changes (and lack of changes) that he made in the second half were atrocious. Terrible management.

Players

Bad performance overall from the majority. Terrible first half from Warnock but I was glad to see he was more composed in the second.

The only player who came out of that with any shred of dignity was Stephen Ireland. No one else looked like they gave a shit about getting the ball. Swansea's movement was so frequent and fluid that they always had a pass on. If Ireland hadn't have been playing, we would have been a team of statues.

Whether they thought it would be easy after the Chelsea win, or they were tired, either way it was just a shit performance with no passion or desire. Pathetic to see.

---

So disheartened by the whole match. I'd honestly been given some sort of hope after Chelsea that McLeish could be a decent manager. How **** wrong I was.

We need someone in who knows how to make a **** change when the problems we face are so glaringly obvious. How he felt that after the first 45 mins things were going well is beyond me. We desperately needed a change and he **** failed.

Disgraceful.

[Richard]

Thing is, and I am not a Mcleish fan, but a defeat against Chelsea and win against Swansea would have been the same points return.

Doesn't make the performance any better though or the fact it is not the first time we have performed badly at home. I understand your point though.

I agree and my comment should not be taken in any way as a means of suporting Mcduff.

Just an observation

[VillaAlex]

The things you mention are the managers job so not sure what your point is? The manager should define the coaching staff, the coaching style, the atmosphere within the club, the way the youth is developed and so on.

Houllier tried that and half the fans were in uproar which is disappointing to say the least. It also upset some of the players which comes as no surprise after the gravy train they have been on.

This may sound harsh here, but I would approach someone like Martinez and say that he could have 10 million plus whatever money he could raise from sales of the current squad.

I would even let Bent go if it meant that we had a progressive manager and an emphasis on building a FOOTBALLING team, not kick and rush.

My point was that today would have been very similar with any other manager. But yes you pretty said there what I mean, rather than just get a new manager it needs to be a manager that:-

Brings in good technical coaches.

Brings in the right players for the style, something we didn't have last season.

Changes the style to possession based, passing from the back and so on.

However it takes time, and whether Houllier was the right man or not, it didn't work last season and immediately people wanted Houllier out and were frustrated by 'tippy-tappy football' which was mentioned a lot on here. The same is now being said by Fulham fans who like us want to be sitting comfortably in the top half, and Chelsea aren't happy that they're 5th. I bet Arsenal back in the day were bemused when Wenger game as they were pretty much a team of cloggers.

I myself can be patient enough to see us change it, as I don't think an emphasis on wide play and crossing works v most teams. We made amount 50 crosses today apparently and got nowhere as it can be quite easy to defend, especially when there is no physical presence to defend against. However we've played like this for a long time now, so we come to expect it.

[andym]

pretty obvious that the chelsea game was the exception rather than the rule. mcleish has only one way to play. sit back, defend for your lives and hope to nick 1 or 2 the few times you get forward. he did exactly the same with blues last year. it will get you the odd great result (blues beat chelsea, arsenal in the final, draws against both manchester clubs) but over the course of the season it wont be good enough. and it is certainly not going to work when you are at home and the onus is on you to break down the opposition

swansea showed us up today and rodgers showed mcleish how to manage. they had a gameplan, were superbly organised, pressured us at the right times and so easily won the ball back. when they got the ball they quickly countered if the opportunity was there, or if we had enough back they simply kept the ball and made us chase aimlessly around. their passing is excellent- accurate and most importantly done with plenty of zip.

our passing is done at walking pace and we can only do it if teams allow us. i have no idea what the tactics were and i dont think the players did either. they all seemed to be wondering around aimlessly and there was no structure to our play. the main idea seemed to be to hoof it to bent or gabby who were outnumbered 2 to 1 everytime the ball came near them, and had no support from the midfield.

[coda]

I always had a soft spot for Villa (probably watching them win the European Cup on TV at a young and impressionable age), but I don't think it'd surprise you to learn that under McLeish they're very difficult to like. Very difficult to like.

I like Villa but they will go nowhere under him and will lose most of their better/younger players if he's still there at the start of next season.

Some comments from opposition fans. What the f*ck was Randy thinking employing him?