Ratings and reactions: Sunderland 2-2 Villa

[claretman]

I tell myself I'm not going to watch, but I do because I'm a fan.

And when I watch, I know I will be disappointed, but I continue to watch because I think it will get better.

And I watch, it doesn't get better, and again I am disappointed.

And so it goes on....bring on next week!

[jamdog]

I think we all knew we'd never be any good under Phallic McLeish but some of us held out hope of being mediocre – that would be a very generous description of these first 10 games. I only think we looked good at times today because Sunderland are so very poor. Half decent teams will expose us, good teams will murder us.

[StanBalaban]

I dont look at Houllier's reign at the club as comparing results this season to last season...Yet more, could you see signs of improving as a club under his leadership? And the answer is yes we did start to improve and grow, you could see us becoming a better footballing side. Yet under McLeish I see no improvements at all, week after week we just look and play the same. Our football is not improving at all under his management and what we see now, we will still be seeing this time next season.

Could this better football that you speak of be down to the fact that Ged had Downing and Young in his team whereas Big Eck does not?

[steaknchips]

I dont look at Houllier's reign at the club as comparing results this season to last season...Yet more, could you see signs of improving as a club under his leadership? And the answer is yes we did start to improve and grow, you could see us becoming a better footballing side. Yet under McLeish I see no improvements at all, week after week we just look and play the same. Our football is not improving at all under his management and what we see now, we will still be seeing this time next season.

Could this better football that you speak of be down to the fact that Ged had Downing and Young in his team whereas Big Eck does not?

It could be but it wasnt.. Because it was style of football Houllier was drilling through that made the difference not necessarily the name of the player involved..Many say Reo was a different player under him, Albrighton, Clark, Hogg, Delph, Bannan, Heskey etc etc were too.. It was the whole way of setting the team/squad up that mattered. To say Houllier wouldnt have coped without Downing or Young is nonsense...Just maybe Albrighton/Bannan and Makoun would have stepped up a gear this season? Not that it matters though because like a previous poster said, Houllier left for health reasons.. But my main gripe, is that the replacement manager is nowhere near as tactically good for our future. We need a manger that can bring players like Delph on, yet he seems to have hit a wall under McLeish...The development stops here.

[bose]

Didn't see the second half but in the first half I thought Gabby was fantastic and Warnock (he's found his old form again IMO), Petrov and N'Zogbia were all good.

Typical to be unable to hold on to a lead and yet again concede a goal from a set piece. Absolutely inexcusable. I thought one of McLeish's strong points was the ability to keep an organised defense? Clearly not.

[Keyblade]

We cant string together more than 3 passes as a team

We had ~60% of possession. One wonders how that's possible without stringing more than 3 passes. This sounds closer to our gutless performances last season. Heck, at least we didn't lose to Sunderland this time out.

[CI]

I've a feeling that those who attended will on the whole be happy with the display today

As a game it was ok, and probably worth the day out in terms of entertainment

[Qwpzxjor1]

N'Zogbia is finally starting to look like a footballer at least. And this was a fixture I think we'd have lost last year, so maybe you can call that progress.

But our defending is still very poor. We need to get Cieran Clark into the team, get him some experience. Yes, he may make a couple of **** ups but no more so than Collins is making, and at least he'll learn and become a better player for it.

Agbonlahor was excellent again today. If we can get Bent playing well again then we'll have an excellent strike force. Perhaps Jenas can improve us too.. hey, he's gotta be an improvement on Heskey in midfield, hasn't he?

[coda]

Charles looked better today. For where we are at the moment a point away to a poor Sunderland team isn't too bad. It's just the manner of conceding a late equaliser that grates. Typical Villa.

[Qwpzxjor1]

Also, didn't see too much of the game, but I thought Herd looked pretty decent in the anchor role today.

I hope the Bannan thing can be put to bed, because we could have really used his creativity today. Not quite sure how him and Jenas are both going to fit in, but with Herd holding and Petrov with Jenas / Bannan playing a playmaker role from the left and N'Zogbia on the right.. seems to be the way we're shaping up, although it does leave us exposed at left back.

[CI]

Collins really pissed me off today, not only his keystone cops defending, but the "Hollywood" 50 yard balls.

What chance has anyone got of bringing those down under control and making use of the ball ??

HOOOOOOOFFFFFF !!!!!

[Qwpzxjor1]

Clark / Cuellar in for Collins.

Jenas / Bannan in for Heskey.

Hutton didn't make any glaring horrors this game.. but still doesn't fill me with real confidence.

[pacbuddies]

Another boring McLeish led performance leading to a draw against a poor team.

Just 1 win and 8 points from the last 9 league games is rather shit and it looks like getting shitter before the end of 2011.

[GeordieVillan]

My observations having just got back from the game -

1) We play N'Zogbia on the right and Heskey (or Gabby at times) on the right. Neither offer anything. If he's going to play them, wide, why not play N'Zogiba left and Heskey right, so they can at least try to go out wide once in the game!

2) We were crying out for width, the fans were literally chanting for Albrighton, we made no subs until we went 2-1 up (which we didn't deserve), when he brought Albrighton on then. Don't know what logic was there, he wasn't going to help defensively.

3) I've read a few comments on this thread saying Warnock played well, I can't believe it, I must have been watching a different game. I thought Warnock was awful going forward, as was Hutton.

4) I thought Dunne and Collins did ok, but I don't know why we keep conceding late goals.

5) Petrov scored a cracking goal, played decent otherwise. Herd work hard, and puts his foot in, but if he is our centre midfield first choice now, I think we should be worried.

6) Gabby looks great, very sharp. Bent looked ok, missed a great chance, but starved of service otherwise.

7) I go watch this game every year, and its rarely entertaining. But we looked really poor today, and lacking in confidence all over. We can keep the ball, there's no doubt about that, but we go nowhere with it and then invariably one of the back just hoofs it forward. We lost 1-0 last year in this match, but we played much better as a team and should have won (we passed it around and at times Sunderland couldn't get near us). Sunderland should have won today I think. We were not unlucky today, or robed by the referee, we were lucky to get a point.

I'm not a panic merchant, but these are worrying times. We've got problems all over. I don't think we'll get relegated, because there are worse teams than us, but this is going to be a long season. I'm really disappointed, as I had high hopes for McLeish, but he's turned us into this Birmingham team very quickly. I'm losing hope again, just like before MON arrived.

Must do better.

[pacbuddies]

I had high hopes for McLeish

Why would anyone have high hopes for McLeish?

[TRO]

It the sheer ease in which we concede is the most gauling and worrying.

My god we did this in the wembley cup final, when we had the luxury of a lead and spunked it up the wall..... what the hell are we learning at Body moor, is it a f...ing holiday camp?

Sunderland away in isolation is not a bad result...... but when so many other factors are considered you could say we are deluding ourselves at a similar rate that they are conceding.

We simply cannot move forward with this suicide trait.

PS some of our previous managers would be beside themselves how we can't seem to learn anything from our mistakes ....they are just repeated time and time and time again.

[TRO]

My observations having just got back from the game -

1) We play N'Zogbia on the right and Heskey (or Gabby at times) on the right. Neither offer anything. If he's going to play them, wide, why not play N'Zogiba left and Heskey right, so they can at least try to go out wide once in the game!

2) We were crying out for width, the fans were literally chanting for Albrighton, we made no subs until we went 2-1 up (which we didn't deserve), when he brought Albrighton on then. Don't know what logic was there, he wasn't going to help defensively.

3) I've read a few comments on this thread saying Warnock played well, I can't believe it, I must have been watching a different game. I thought Warnock was awful going forward, as was Hutton.

4) I thought Dunne and Collins did ok, but I don't know why we keep conceding late goals.

5) Petrov scored a cracking goal, played decent otherwise. Herd work hard, and puts his foot in, but if he is our centre midfield first choice now, I think we should be worried.

6) Gabby looks great, very sharp. Bent looked ok, missed a great chance, but starved of service otherwise.

7) I go watch this game every year, and its rarely entertaining. But we looked really poor today, and lacking in confidence all over. We can keep the ball, there's no doubt about that, but we go nowhere with it and then invariably one of the back just hoofs it forward. We lost 1-0 last year in this match, but we played much better as a team and should have won (we passed it around and at times Sunderland couldn't get near us). Sunderland should have won today I think. We were not unlucky today, or robed by the referee, we were lucky to get a point.

I'm not a panic merchant, but these are worrying times. We've got problems all over. I don't think we'll get relegated, because there are worse teams than us, but this is going to be a long season. I'm really disappointed, as I had high hopes for McLeish, but he's turned us into this Birmingham team very quickly. I'm losing hope again, just like before MON arrived.

Must do better.

Worrying when we seem to cite other teams as the main factor in staying up.

As it got to a point where we can't help ourselves.....is it really that bad.

[CI]

what the hell are we learning at Body moor, is it a f...ing holiday camp?

Pretty much, they roll in at 10 and are away by 1230

[PauloBarnesi]

Its a far cry from the type of football Houllier was building at the club.

That's about the only thing to be thankful for. IIRC, Hoiullier delivered us two 0-1 defeats against Sunderland last season.

Not saying Houllier was some great manager, but I really don't see how we can be thankful that Houllier is gone and McLeish is in because so far we haven't imrpoved at all.

The loss/change of manager is not the problem.

We lost Young and Downing. Thats the problem.

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

edit.