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

[Mendi]

all i will say he made a good signing in Robbie Keane it will be sad when he goes back and Alex got alot to win the fans over like me.

[macandally]

I am quite ambivalent on the merits of McLeish as a manager but I don't get the criticism of a hard fought and well won local derby away from home.

We were the better side for the first 20-25 mins and for the whole of the second half.

The team selection was both brave and correct, by that I mean he dropped Warnock from the starting eleven because he needed to show that you play badly and you get dropped. It didn't work out as Clark was a little out of his depth so he brought on Warnock (plenty of managers wouldn't have done that) who then came on and played very well. His Half Time reshuffle was good, he could quite easily have made a double sub, replacing Warnock for Clark and Weimann or Bannan for Gabby. He'd didn't however, he chose to keep Clark on the pitch which in itself was inspired, it showed the lad that he appreciated his efforts in an unnatural position and allowed him to regain his confidence in the second half in a more familiar position, great for the kids confidence and it meant he still had two substitutions left. His one substitution and the subsequent reshuffle, completely changed the dynamic of the second half, something his counterpart didn't seem to have an answer for. He played Gardner from the start and took him off with a couple of minutes to go so the crowd again would be applauding him and him alone when he came off, another great confidence boost for one of the youngsters. His reshuffle also gave him evidence that Albrighton can play on both sides (you could argue he's better on the left, he certainly was in this game.)

Hopefully McLeish will have learned a lot about his squad and a little bit about himself and I can't see where any criticism is due to him from that game tbh.

while we won, i see it slightly differently, clark was being torn a new a-hole by kightly and something needed sorting out at left back, warnock was on the bench so was the only choice.

gabby was sick at half time wasnt he? tht is the reason he came off, not for any tactical master strokes.

so by taking gabby off and putting on another defender all he really did was try and plug the quite obvious gaping hole at let back.

it worked only through circumstance because despite keane scoring two cracking goals, both long shots, we were still not looking like we were going to win until henry got himself sent off.

i dont mind lucky subs working out fine, as i already said, bobby robson one of englands luckiest ever managers, teams he picked for tournaments always failed until forces changes through injury or sendings off brought others into the team who would stand a chance normally and then we would click and he would be hailed as a great manager despite being flukey beyond belief for england.

the win against wolves should have been expected, 2 wins in 18 games or what ever it was? yet we struggled, were outplayed for 30 minutes of the first half where but through poor finishing, they could have had 3 or 4.

in the second half, one shot from outside the box from keane brough tus level but we were far from looking like we had any control of the game, only when the sending off happened did i think we at least couldnt lose the game.

3 points however is 3 points, it doesnt make everything any better, it doesnt make him a better manager, he had the good fortune that gabby got ill and an obvious replacement was needed for left back and that henry was sent off.

we are stuck with bland football, possibly a bit of luck here and there and mixed in with some good individual performances make provide the glitter on the turd, it is however, still a turd.

with other teams grabbing unexpected points at the weekend, the pressure is still on so when we play the bottom 3 teams we really should not be jumping for joy that we scraped a win, just be grateful that this year the premier league is the weakest it has been for some time.

All down to interpretation and I personally agree with this.

Cant help feeling people are looking for reasons to be positive and grasping at any small ray of hope.

To me, we are pretty poor and the bright start we had seems to be growing in length were the incessant battering we took up until Keanes equaliser against the run of play seems to grow shorter the longer this thread gets.

As I said elsewhere, we had the luck of the Irish in this game and I dont think there was any huge tactical masterstroke by McLeish. I dont think he has that in his locker.

I cannot get my head around this annoying trait that some have of calling anything that agrees with their point of view "reasoned" or a "sensible" post whilst by default, I presume everyone else must be full of shit! :-)

[Nigel]

This last game is a microcosm for why McLeish should never have been placed in charge of our team!

Nothing to do with his skill as a manager, his tactical nous or his ability to reform the dressing room, its simply because he will never be accepted by a portion of the fanbase.

If we lose a game its the managers fault, if we win he fluked it....fair? I think not!

I get the feeling that us winning games is an inconvenience to some people, who would actually rather us lose to try and put pressure on the bloke to leave.

[Raver50032]

[Jon]

Cant help feeling people are looking for reasons to be positive and grasping at any small ray of hope.

Can't help feeling people are looking for reasons to be negative and grasping at any small ray of pessimism.

Well done Eck and the lads.

Great and deserved victory in the local derby away at Wolves.

[Jon]

This last game is a microcosm for why McLeish should never have been placed in charge of our team!

Nothing to do with his skill as a manager, his tactical nous or his ability to reform the dressing room, its simply because he will never be accepted by a portion of the fanbase.

If we lose a game its the managers fault, if we win he fluked it....fair? I think not!

I get the feeling that us winning games is an inconvenience to some people, who would actually rather us lose to try and put pressure on the bloke to leave.

A sad but, for many people it seems, an accurate analysis Nigel.

[macandally]

This last game is a microcosm for why McLeish should never have been placed in charge of our team!

Nothing to do with his skill as a manager, his tactical nous or his ability to reform the dressing room, its simply because he will never be accepted by a portion of the fanbase.

If we lose a game its the managers fault, if we win he fluked it....fair? I think not!

I get the feeling that us winning games is an inconvenience to some people, who would actually rather us lose to try and put pressure on the bloke to leave.

A sad but, for many people it seems, an accurate analysis Nigel.

As if to prove my point!

I can assure you, with 6 wins out of 22 games and some awful, tactically inept performances, you guys have to look a lot harder than I to justify your stance.

[Nigel]

This last game is a microcosm for why McLeish should never have been placed in charge of our team!

Nothing to do with his skill as a manager, his tactical nous or his ability to reform the dressing room, its simply because he will never be accepted by a portion of the fanbase.

If we lose a game its the managers fault, if we win he fluked it....fair? I think not!

I get the feeling that us winning games is an inconvenience to some people, who would actually rather us lose to try and put pressure on the bloke to leave.

A sad but, for many people it seems, an accurate analysis Nigel.

As if to prove my point!

I can assure you, with 6 wins out of 22 games and some awful, tactically inept performances, you guys have to look a lot harder than I to justify your stance.

What stance?

For what its worth I dont think he is right for the club, too many negatives holding him back. However what I care for has about as little impact as what you quite obviously want. He is here for the time being.

However what I wont do is attack everything he does in a blinkered fashion.

[John_Lerwill]

I can assure you, with 6 wins out of 22 games and some awful, tactically inept performances, you guys have to look a lot harder than I to justify your stance.

Yes.

And of those 6 wins, 4 were against teams low down in the league and who were on a bad run.

Anyway, you never know, Villa may well now get a good result at Arsenal in the Cup and even win the Cup!! ... That would be fine, provided that it does not accompany relegation!

[macandally]

This last game is a microcosm for why McLeish should never have been placed in charge of our team!

Nothing to do with his skill as a manager, his tactical nous or his ability to reform the dressing room, its simply because he will never be accepted by a portion of the fanbase.

If we lose a game its the managers fault, if we win he fluked it....fair? I think not!

I get the feeling that us winning games is an inconvenience to some people, who would actually rather us lose to try and put pressure on the bloke to leave.

A sad but, for many people it seems, an accurate analysis Nigel.

As if to prove my point!

I can assure you, with 6 wins out of 22 games and some awful, tactically inept performances, you guys have to look a lot harder than I to justify your stance.

What stance?

For what its worth I dont think he is right for the club, too many negatives holding him back. However what I care for has about as little impact as what you quite obviously want. He is here for the time being.

However what I wont do is attack everything he does in a blinkered fashion.

I wasnt responding to your original post but as you bring the point up, I am not attacking in a blinkered fashion, I have just not seen anything that he has done that is worthy of note.

Distinctly ordinary manager, has consistantly blamed his players for poor performances, cannot seem to motivate them, cannot seem to find his best team, cannot seem to create an effective game plan, doesnt play his players in the right position and has only won 6 of 22 games.

Supporting McLeish despite his obvious shortcomings seems to be turning into some form of badge of honour on here, a case if you dont support McLeish you are somehow not supporting the team. I see it differently, I see a club that is effectively stagnant whilst a man with his technical and tactical inability and unproven record of team building and young player development is at the helm.

I guess I would call it looking at the bigger picture, but the ratings thread is about as far as some want to look. We win, he is "turning corners" ignoring the fact that at best he is playing a poor mans MON game. We lose, it is the players, Gary Speed (FFS) and any other excuse.

For me McLeish is week by week trying to hold onto a job that deep down he knows he is not good enough to have.

[stanthemanisgod]

For me McLeish is week by week trying to hold onto a job that deep down he knows he is not good enough to have.

But it seems nobody has had the foresight to inform either McLeish or the club of that.

He did not stumble into the job as say Kevin MacDonald did, he4 put himself forward or was appraocjed by the club and was appointed by the club, why would he think he is not god enough for it.

And as for trying to hold on week by week that simply isn't the case. He's admitted he still haas a lot of work to do and he's trying to find the right formula, but there's no pressure from anywhere other than a relatively small section of the fan base, not even from the press and certainly not from the club.

Mick McCarthy, there's a man who is week by week trying to hold onto his job.

[Mantis]

McLeish isn't trying to hold onto his job week by week because he knows he won't be sacked. At most other clubs he would've been sacked by now. Having said that, I don't think many other clubs would've been stupid enough to hire him.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

So what happened to giving McLeish some time? I thought a manager deserved at least eighteen months to hone a team as they see fit. As has been correctly pointed out he has amassed the same number of wins as O'Neill and Houllier in less time.

I thought Villa played well against Wolves and carved out some better chances then they did. Also we should've taken the lead within the first minutes of the game and I envisage that they would have been on the receiving end of a severe scoreline if we had done so earlier in the game. Albrighton was lively, Gardner strong and Keane and Bent linked well. Therefore these are positives to look at.

We should try to be positive and at least give McLeish a chance. If he lets the deadwood go in the summer - Heskey, Beye, hopefully Collins and maybe Cuellar, Makoun he can focus on buying a decent defender or two and maybe another winger/attacker. I don't think we need too much just sorting out the defence!

[macandally]

For me McLeish is week by week trying to hold onto a job that deep down he knows he is not good enough to have.

But it seems nobody has had the foresight to inform either McLeish or the club of that.

He did not stumble into the job as say Kevin MacDonald did, he4 put himself forward or was appraocjed by the club and was appointed by the club, why would he think he is not god enough for it.

And as for trying to hold on week by week that simply isn't the case. He's admitted he still haas a lot of work to do and he's trying to find the right formula, but there's no pressure from anywhere other than a relatively small section of the fan base, not even from the press and certainly not from the club.

Mick McCarthy, there's a man who is week by week trying to hold onto his job.

There is no pressure other than a small section? I think 88% on here wanted him out? 92% on another villa forum, how big does that crowd have to be to become big?

As for pressure, we all know he is one or two defeats from a venomous backlash. Villa Park at the moment is like a graveyard and as much as I dislike this guy, you cant blame me for that. I said I wouldnt go the moment he was appointed and havent, plus I have no intention of going back until he has gone.

He has been on borrowed time since the moment he signed his contract.

[thetrees]

McLeish isn't trying to hold onto his job week by week because he knows he won't be sacked. At most other clubs he would've been sacked by now.

The clubs that are below us, at the time of writing, are yet to part company with any of their managers.

On that basis I deduce that at most clubs McLeish would not have been sacked by now.

[Keyblade]

Cant help feeling people are looking for reasons to be positive and grasping at any small ray of hope.

And what exactly is wrong with this?

[thetrees]

Villa Park at the moment is like a graveyard and as much as I dislike this guy, you cant blame me for that. I said I wouldnt go the moment he was appointed and havent, plus I have no intention of going back until he has gone.

So how do you know that VP is 'like a graveyard'?

[NormandyVillan]

why would he think he is not god enough for it.

Indeed, for He is the Almighty.

Alex-u Akbar! Smite the infidels!

[Mantis]

McLeish isn't trying to hold onto his job week by week because he knows he won't be sacked. At most other clubs he would've been sacked by now.

The clubs that are below us, at the time of writing, are yet to part company with any of their managers.

On that basis I deduce that at most clubs McLeish would not have been sacked by now.

The clubs below us also have inferior squads and have not played so pathetically in so many of their games. Your logic doesn't make sense. Different clubs have different expectations and it's also not all about the results.

[thetrees]

McLeish isn't trying to hold onto his job week by week because he knows he won't be sacked. At most other clubs he would've been sacked by now.

The clubs that are below us, at the time of writing, are yet to part company with any of their managers.

On that basis I deduce that at most clubs McLeish would not have been sacked by now.

The clubs below us also have inferior squads and have not played so pathetically in so many of their games. Your logic doesn't make sense. Different clubs have different expectations and it's also not all about the results.

Inferior squads-on what basis are they 'inferior'?

Playing 'pathetically'-have you seen all of the other clubs' games as well? Talk to an Everton supporter, they could out-misery a Villa supporter any day.

That you have a negative opinion about the guy is fair enough, on the basis that this is a forum of differing opinions, but stating that he would have been sacked elsewhere is completely illogical, because he most probably wouldn't have been.