Ratings and reactions: Swansea 0-0 Villa

[The_Rev]

Darren Bent is terrible, we were mugged.

were you saying that at the back end of last season?

I was. We were definately ripped off for two reasons.

We cant adapt to Darren Bents game.

Darren Bent cant adapt to our game.

For 18m I expect him to hold the ball up a little bit better than he did today. Thought he was absolutely awful - our worst player.

At least he scores week in week out though SGC

i thought you would woodytom, if he gets good service then he will score goals, it's as simple as that

This is something that goes all the way to the top, and again it has to be Randy who takes the blame for clearly doing next to no research in appointing our current manager. I dont own a Premier League club, but if I did I would do a bit more research into who I give the managers job than our board have done with Houllier and McLeish. If the board dont think that the squad needs a major overhaul and the manager has to work with the players already at the club then choosing somebody to get the best out of our club record signing should be priority, should it not? A manager with a proven track record of 4-5-1 anti football was never going to play the football Bent needs in order to score goals.

[pacbuddies]

Carlsberg don't do managerial appointments, but if they did they wouldn't make as big a **** of it as Randy Lerner.

[AValon]

As a spectacle it was short of just about everything. The commentator even kept saying 'this is Dyer'.......hmmm :oops:

Too many negatives to really mention, although there was a noticeable and understandable overtone to the game. For me Delph was the main culprit because what he gives in terms of enthusiasm, he most certainly lacks in out and out talent. I certainly expect a premiership footballer to be able to cross the ball above waist height, which he failed to do on 3 consecutive occasions in the first half. Not good enough. And still good old Emile turns up with his boots strung round his neck and gets a game. Why?

If there was a plus side, Gabby continues to look a different player from the past couple of years. And tbh, we looked sharper and more threatening once wee Barry came on. I think we might even have knicked the points if he'd been brought on sooner, but there you go.

[chappy]

Gabby motm.

Great respect for GIven playing after the Gary Speed news.

Thought we weren't bad today, could easily have lost given our performances this year.

Again though, please get Hutton and Heskey away from our team.

Next week we will either get schooled or pull off a shock win, sadly my moneys on the former.

[brummybloke]

that was more nasty boring negative hoof ball with the twunt playing yet again heskey.

may as well buy zigic in the january window to complete the ginger twunts transformation of villa into the scum.

[cicottrell]

Why is the majority of criticism being pointed at Mcleish.

The board have sold Downing and Young and have only replaced him with NZogbia.

Fair Enough Given was a good singing.

They have told him he needs to reduce the squad and wages.

What do you expect. I don't like Mclciesh anymore than the next person but he is doing the best with a self depleted,utterly dire squad with no money.

Is Mccleish really responsible for the big picture...?

The board aren't telling McLeish to play Heskey ahead of Bannan, nor did they make him buy the liability Hutton.

Just 2 reasons to hold Mcleish responsible

[bred]

So..did Heskey pull his hamstring? (please be so)

[CI]

The plus points

A clean sheet

A point I did not expect

Gabbys form

[cicottrell]

Given - 8 - solid

Hutton - 1 - scares me every time he plays.

Collins - 4 - too many mistakes

Dunne - 6 - our best defender, but that doesn't say much

Warnock - 6 - too rash. Would like to see Clark play there

Herd - 6 - solid but unspectaular. I like his energy.

Delph - 7 - quality on the ball, rash off it.

N'Zogbia - 7 - needs game time but will get better. A must starter.

Heskey - 0 - adds nothing to our game. We play hoof ball, it bounces off him, we lose procession and we're under pressure again. Doesn't hold the ball up, pass, retain procession, shoot, score, tackle or track back. Get out.

Gabby - 8 - i like him because he works hard.

Bent - 6 - not his best game but the service to him is crap. Heskey got in his way a few times too.

Jenas - 7 - energy and skill. More minutes under his belt and he has to be pushing for a start.

Bannan - 8 - our best player. Played 10 minutes. Our best spell. Passing, movement, energy. Bannan at the heart. Has to start in the future. His brush with the law seems to have made him more focused.

My team v Man U

Given

Herd Cueller Dunne Clark

Jenas Delph

N Zog Bannan Gabby

Bent

[dappadan]

That game was never going to amount to much after the news this morning.

One thing that I am getting a little bothered with is how dirty we are becoming as a team some really stupid tackles going in today.

[VILLAFC2000]

Why is the majority of criticism being pointed at Mcleish.

The board have sold Downing and Young and have only replaced him with NZogbia.

Fair Enough Given was a good singing.

They have told him he needs to reduce the squad and wages.

What do you expect. I don't like Mclciesh anymore than the next person but he is doing the best with a self depleted,utterly dire squad with no money.

Is Mccleish really responsible for the big picture...?

The board aren't telling McLeish to play Heskey ahead of Bannan, nor did they make him buy the liability Hutton.

Just 2 reasons to hold Mcleish responsible

You have not read my posts.

I never said that Mccleish should not be criticised for playing Heskey and Hutton.

I am trying to say is that the Board knew what kind of manager AM is, they knew that his tactics are negative and dull just ask any Blues Fan, yet they still decided to hire him ahead of Rafa who was interviewed.

Bannan has just been done for drink driving he probably gone though a lot so rushing him back could be a gamble.

I agree Heskey should not be starting, but when you dont have a variety of physical experience players to choose from, sometimes you dont have a choice

The point I am making is that its not just AM who should be critisised.

[CI]

Rafa interviewed ?? News to me

[chrisp65]

Swansea: Escort magazine. entertaining but lacks penetration.

Villa: Argos catalogue, a bit dull and full of over priced tat.

[il_serpente]

Didn't see any of the game. Went to Eurosport play by play after reading some of this thread and was surprised to see they thought Delph had a good game and Collins had played excellent. Were they really that clueless or are posters on here being overly critical of players they don't rate?

[chrisp65]

Didn't see any of the game. Went to Eurosport play by play after reading some of this thread and was surprised to see they thought Delph had a good game and Collins had played excellent. Were they really that clueless or are posters on here being overly critical of players they don't rate?

Delph was patchy, rubbish to start with but improving over time.

Collins, started with a bit of hoof ball then had a number of opportunities where he had time and space. Poor bugger didn't have a clue what to do as there was no movement, no obvious communication.

Funny thing was, on the one accassion early on when we did need to clear it up field, Hutton (I think) tried to play it out and got caught.

[tomav84]

Rafa interviewed ?? News to me

i heard he turned us down cause he wanted 50m to spend

im prob the only fan of heskey's but even ill admit today wasnt his best game. delph had a lot of energy but wasnt great. gabby looked a threat every time he got the ball. bent couldnt be arsed. herd great game, very composed on the ball and would have been my MOTM had gabby not been on the pitch. n'zog was decent 2nd half.

2 new fullbacks in jan please

RIP gary speed - not sure if its been mentioned but it was villa fans that turned silence into applause

[briny_ear]

So..did Heskey pull his hamstring? (please be so)

I do find it unacceptable for Villa fans to wish injuries on their own players.

[tomav84]

Why is the majority of criticism being pointed at Mcleish.

The board have sold Downing and Young and have only replaced him with NZogbia.

Fair Enough Given was a good singing.

They have told him he needs to reduce the squad and wages.

What do you expect. I don't like Mclciesh anymore than the next person but he is doing the best with a self depleted,utterly dire squad with no money.

Is Mccleish really responsible for the big picture...?

because people need a scapegoat and if you're being managed by a bluenose it's always going to happen. If we were managed by a villa legend, you can guarantee people would be criticising lerner far more and blaming our performances on the squad, not the tactics.

100% agree...people can say they dont care where we got him from all they like but we all know thats the root of most of his hate.

if this was mcgrath managing and picking the same teams as eck with the same results who on here can honestly say they would be calling him a word removed and wanting him out?

[Brumstopdogs]

So..did Heskey pull his hamstring? (please be so)

I do find it unacceptable for Villa fans to wish injuries on their own players.

I agree with Briny Ear but for Heskey I will forget my principles! :winkold:

[Demitri_C]

What do you expect. I don't like Mclciesh anymore than the next person but he is doing the best with a self depleted,utterly dire squad with no money.

yes to an extent that is true but that is no excuse to play such shit boring football. ive seen more netertainment from watching snow settle.

the guy is anti football plain and simple. in addition buying that poor excuse of a rb lard arse hutton is a crime itself

he has to go he simply is destroying the club. fans will be flocking out of villa park by end of xmas with this dire and shocking football. we were getting out-passed by poxy swansea, that itself is embarassing when you look at the level of players they had