Rob182 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've just watched the highlights back. We lost 2 goals due to 2 individual errors, Warnocks silly pass and Guzan not kicking the ball out when he should have. I also saw that we should have had a penalty from when Gabby was held back in the box & also N'Zogbia hit the post in the last minute. It was a poor, poor performance, but hopefully McLeish can try to cut out individual errors and get us back to playing the way we did against Chelsea. It's not an ideal wishlist, but I still can't see Randy sacking him. Hanky, I agree with you. Simply mentioning the tactics should not be a problem. But when people follow it up with abuse and saying things like 'F**k off back to birmingham etc etc etc etc etc', it's clear to me that some people still hold a grudge simply because he used to manage sha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I'm sorry but the whole 'we finished 9th' thing doesn't sit well with me. Does no-one remember that result at West Ham? If Gabby hadn't popped up in the last minute we'd have been right in the mire with Arsenal and Liverpool still to play. As it happens, that result pretty much secured our safety and we went on to somehow win those last two games. It could have been very, very different, and we were a lot closer to relegation than seemingly a lot of people remember. I remember we were very close to relegation. Despite how close the league was, and the fact that about 8 teams were close to relegation, the people who hated Houllier kept shouting from the rooftops that we were in a relegation fight (I wonder if those people still wish that Houllier had left, now that we had McLeish?) We are two points better off than last year, we'd scored one more goal this time last year but we'd also conceded 11 more. Even though we were close to relegation (like another 7 teams) the fact is that we DID finish 9th. If the league is similar this season then we will finish around a similar place, taking into consideration that, points-wise, McLeish is doing marginally better than Houllier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 finishing 9th last season didn't make me enjoy it any more, it didn't make all the shit performances all of a sudden acceptable. And we finished 9th mainly because we got two excellent results at the end of the season when our manager was to ill to have anything to do with the first team. I don't believe we will go down this season, i think there is little chance of that happening. I do however think we are going nowhere under mcleish and i truly dread the kind of team he will build here and the kind of football we will play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houlston Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I'm sorry but the whole 'we finished 9th' thing doesn't sit well with me. Does no-one remember that result at West Ham? If Gabby hadn't popped up in the last minute we'd have been right in the mire with Arsenal and Liverpool still to play. As it happens, that result pretty much secured our safety and we went on to somehow win those last two games. It could have been very, very different, and we were a lot closer to relegation than seemingly a lot of people remember. And if we hadnt conceded in the last minute here or done that there or so and so hadnt made a mistake.... Also if we were that bad last season then it begs the question why is McLeish getting as much abuse as he is, we are better off than last year points wise and we have lost out two best players. The one constant in all of this and has been since towards the end of O'neills tenure is that we have some very average players at the club who seem to get away with a large portion of the blame. I didnt really want McLeish, I dont overly understand the appointment, I dont really want him here and he has made mistakes in his team selection. But the players should be taking just as much flack as he is getting and apart from Hutton they arent. I've seen just as many mistakes, that are nothing to do with the manager, from players this season as I have from McLeish and his tactics/team selections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillz Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I agree, the players must take some of the blame but we have looked tactically inept at times this season and for that the manager has to take the blame. In football the buck stops with the manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Can't believe there are some Villa fans who STILL think it has anything to do with where he came from. Even most opposition fans are accepting this now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've just watched the highlights back. We lost 2 goals due to 2 individual errors, Warnocks silly pass and Guzan not kicking the ball out when he should have. I also saw that we should have had a penalty from when Gabby was held back in the box & also N'Zogbia hit the post in the last minute. It was a poor, poor performance, but hopefully McLeish can try to cut out individual errors and get us back to playing the way we did against Chelsea. It's not an ideal wishlist, but I still can't see Randy sacking him. Hanky, I agree with you. Simply mentioning the tactics should not be a problem. But when people follow it up with abuse and saying things like 'F**k off back to birmingham etc etc etc etc etc', it's clear to me that some people still hold a grudge simply because he used to manage sha. Did those highlights not show the 4 or 5 other attempts that Swansea had that all went very,very close. In all honesty we could have lost by 5 or 6 on Monday. Its not about individual errors. They will always happen in any game. Its about the fact we play turgid football. There is no pattern to our game and appears to be no game plan. We do not create chances for ourselves, and we can't defend very well. The half time team talk obviously went to shit after the second goal, so what did he do to try and change things.We had 43 minutes plus injury time to get something from the game on Monday...... We did precisely nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 4, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted January 4, 2012 The difference between mcLeish and Houllier, imo, was that Houllier appeared to know what he wanted in the long run. He seemed to have a system that he wanted to play, regardless of the fact our players would either take too long to adapt or need to be replaced. That wasn't ideal. A team where we were, with a manager who had just left, needed someone who could play to the team's strengths, rather than force a different approach onto them. However, under Houllier, I always felt that eentually we'd come good. it might take too long, but I reckon if he was still here now we'd be doing significantly better because we'd have stuck to his system and the players would have adapted, or Houllier would have brought in his own players. With houllier I always felt there was an end result he was striving for. With McLeish, I don't get that feeling. I don't see any system that he;s striving for and I also don't see him playing to our strengths. He seems to pick the team and then send them out with no real system uin place other than defensively. With Houllier i thought in a year, we'd be decent. The problem was the interim was poor. But results towards end of the season suggested we were coming good. But with McLeish, I can't see that improvement happening. If he's still oru manager in 2 or 3 years, I would be hugely surprised if we're doing much, if at all, better than we are now. I may be wrong, that's just how I see the difference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houlston Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Its not about individual errors. Its about the fact we play turgid football.. its about both Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 The difference between mcLeish and Houllier, imo, was that Houllier appeared to know what he wanted in the long run. completely agree, he got makoun in by the players own account we were getting cabaye in you could see how he wanted us to play with mcleish i literally dont have a clue most games what he's trying to do, the majority of games we have absolutely no shape about us, his team selections dont make sense, his set pieces dont make sense, his tactics dont make sense, the man is an absolute clown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyOne Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We may have 2 points better than last season without Young/Downing, but back then we had no pre season, a caretaker manager, a manager who was trying to change the whole system, a massive injury crisis and no capable goal scorer. Yet even at Houllier's lowest point (which was bad, 18th), we're still not far from points as we are now. It's the fact the 5 teams below are doing extremely bad this season we could be safe this season, not because McLeish is doing a good job at 'steading the ship'. Oh, and get this...McLeish is only 1 point ahead with the same amount of games played as last season when he was under SHA. So he's had better tools to work with and he is just doing as bad as last season with no carling cup run to show for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Oh, and get this...McLeish is only 1 point ahead with the same amount of games played as last season when he was under SHA. So he's had better tools to work with and he is just doing as bad as last season with no carling cup run to show for it.I suppose it would be churlish to point out that Villa were doing worse than SHA at this stage last season with a much better squad than we have now. So another way of putting this is to say he has got Villa performing better with a worse squad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Oh, and get this...McLeish is only 1 point ahead with the same amount of games played as last season when he was under SHA. So he's had better tools to work with and he is just doing as bad as last season with no carling cup run to show for it.I suppose it would be churlish to point out that Villa were doing worse than SHA at this stage last season with a much better squad than we have now. So another way of putting this is to say he has got Villa performing better with a worse squad...As far as performances are concerned, we're doing way worse than last season. I can't think of many games this season where I felt our performance has warranted more than what we got. Quite the opposite in fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyOne Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 But I gave the reasons why we was doing so bad last season despite having a better squad. We may have 2 points better than last season without Young/Downing, but back then we had no pre season, a caretaker manager, a manager who was trying to change the whole system, a massive injury crisis and no capable goal scorer. Yet even at Houllier's lowest point (which was bad, 18th), we're still not far from points as we are now. McLeish has had all the time in the world to get the team right and yet he's still messing about. An example is Clark was sitting on the bench for the majority of the season so far and now he's starting. Same with Ireland. What was using Heskey in midfield exactly about? This should have been all addressed in the beginning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villabromsgrove Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 The Villa team don't seem to understand what to do with a football. This situation will continue until we invest in better coaching. AM out and A.N.Other in please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 But I gave the reasons why we was doing so bad last season despite having a better squad. We may have 2 points better than last season without Young/Downing, but back then we had no pre season, a caretaker manager, a manager who was trying to change the whole system, a massive injury crisis and no capable goal scorer. Yet even at Houllier's lowest point (which was bad, 18th), we're still not far from points as we are now. McLeish has had all the time in the world to get the team right and yet he's still messing about. An example is Clark was sitting on the bench for the majority of the season so far and now he's starting. Same with Ireland. What was using Heskey in midfield exactly about? This should have been all addressed in the beginning.Think you forgot to mention that Houllier was a clueless manager who variously confused, alienated and demotivated a lot of the squad. But that's by the by really as we are not much better off this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NowDoINotLikeThat Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Get a proper manager in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 McLeish pre season was a joke anyway, from day one as fans we could all see the lack of service Bent had.. till date he has done absolutely nothing to sort it out. Also playing Heskey in midfield.. sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 McLeish pre season was a joke anyway, from day one as fans we could all see the lack of service Bent had.. till date he has done absolutely nothing to sort it out. Also playing Heskey in midfield.. sigh.Also the defensive lapses...Aaaargh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I am no lover of MON (his tactics were boring, his stubbornness and confusion over substitutions were amazing and he left us in the shit) but how the hell is it that he has managed to get Blunderland above us in the league after only a few games?? Alex McLeish has managed only 5 wins all season yet this throwback to the eighties has managed 4 wins in 6!!!!!! McLeish has to go now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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