McLeish - Yes / No / Unsure

[sonic_bouma]

Voted "NO".

We have no plan of attack. No redeeming attributes. We don't use pace, width, or penetrative passing/possession football. We cannot keep or pass the ball. Our midfield does not help our defense enough or pass with any kind of vision to our forwards. Our defense play over our midfield and our strikers are left either too isolated or too deep helping out in midfield/wide, and thus are unable to be effective up front and then we instantly lose possession up top to the opposition defense and scurry back to defend. Always inviting pressure onto ourselves.

We don't play to Gabby's strengths, we don't play to Bent's strengths and we don't seem to know how to use any of our players or set them out to be effective.

.

Fancy posting this to Mcleish?

[macandally]

The club clearly needs a significant change, as i have said before, there are a lot of players not good enough, or willing to work hard enough for the shirt. This is where Houllier had issues, he could see that the dressing room was governed by 30 somethings who were accustomed to the relaxed ONeill training regime and were a bad influence on the kids. He tried to change that and those players threw a track.

A proper boss is needed here, it has been said for a while but the club is in transistion. That transistion needs to be looking at the next 5 years rather than the next 5 minutes and that is why McLeish is and never was the right option. He was fighting for survival from the moment he walked in and he will always be doing that.

I am totally disallusioned with the club and its direction and I stated that fact the moment this tool walked into the club. It was an admission of defeat and it brought no hope whatsoever ,showed no ambition whatsoever and has contributed to the protracted nightmare we are in. I still watch the games online as whatever happens, it is my club, but my kids are getting Barcelona kits for Xmas as I will not put a penny into the club while it is in the state it is. Support yes, financially I will not pay a penny towards the wages of McDire.

[rendelc]

If he stays in charge we will be a championship club next season .

[thunderholt]

embarrassed to be a villa fan at the moment, we are playing awful & everyone from us fans, to other clubs fans, the media etc can see it. i hope Randy was happy watching that spineless performance yesterday, if Man U was on form they would have destroyed us... the annoying thing is if we had a team playing like we were last year we would have beaten them.

McLeish, Faulkner & Learner out

[SeanO]

NO no NO **** NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Useless boring Bluenose scum who if allowed will relegate us!

Get out now and take that knob Fuckner with you.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Get this shit, inept, negative, dull manager out of our club. Nice guy but just not good enough.

People hated last year but even when we looked shit, at least we still tried to pass the ball round. The phrase 'turn defense into attack quickly' is often used, I've never seen a side go from attack to defense so quickly, the ball in the final third, 3 passes later and Shay Given is aimlessly hoofing the ball upto a frustrated and isolated Darren Bent.

**** sake, **** off.

[Archie]

I am firmly convinced that the fact of having three clowns in defence (Clownne, Clownlins and Clowhutton) doesn't help, but I agree with those who think that the main reason for our negative football are the AML's defensive tactics.

At this regard, last season my two favourites for the after-Houllier were Paul Lambert or Gianfranco Zola.

Being Lambert not available at the moment, I would go with Zola, great player and great man, that used to play football the way it has to be played, and that surely - even as a manager - would try and play an entertaining, flowing, attacking football.

Surely with Zola the likes of Clarke, Albrighton, Gardner and Bannan would find place in the starting XI, whereas players that are not capable to find a passage eben by mistake would be out.

[TrentVilla]

wow 7 people voted yes who would have though he has that many relatives on here.

[macandally]

I am firmly convinced that the fact of having three clowns in defence (Clownne, Clownlins and Clowhutton) doesn't help, but I agree with those who think that the main reason for our negative football are the AML's defensive tactics.

At this regard, last season my two favourites for the after-Houllier were Paul Lambert or Gianfranco Zola.

Being Lambert not available at the moment, I would go with Zola, great player and great man, that used to play football the way it has to be played, and that surely - even as a manager - would try and play an entertaining, flowing, attacking football.

Surely with Zola the likes of Clarke, Albrighton, Gardner and Bannan would find place in the starting XI, whereas players that are not capable to find a passage eben by mistake would be out.

I would take Zola, but only if he had Steve Clark sat next to him. I am amazed that Houllier did not bring him onboard as his number two and not surprised in the least that Dalglish did.

Wonder if we could grab him?

[jacketspuds]

I am firmly convinced that the fact of having three clowns in defence (Clownne, Clownlins and Clowhutton) doesn't help, but I agree with those who think that the main reason for our negative football are the AML's defensive tactics.

At this regard, last season my two favourites for the after-Houllier were Paul Lambert or Gianfranco Zola.

Being Lambert not available at the moment, I would go with Zola, great player and great man, that used to play football the way it has to be played, and that surely - even as a manager - would try and play an entertaining, flowing, attacking football.

Surely with Zola the likes of Clarke, Albrighton, Gardner and Bannan would find place in the starting XI, whereas players that are not capable to find a passage eben by mistake would be out.

Yes the defence is woeful at times but the issue is when we attack we have nobody supporting the forwards yet when we defend we have nobody supporting the defenders. The hoofball tactics throws everyone out of position and invites pressure. It's awful to watch and the fact is we couldn't break down a shit Swansea team and we have put in 2 of the worst performances in Premiership history in the last 3 games. At least Wigan try to play football even if they are rubbish.

The answer is staring us in the face but our "owner" overlooked him because of stupid reasons, then went out and paid £5m for a shit manager and stuck him on a £3m/year contract.

Sack McLeish now and get Hughes in ASAP. We are going down with this idiot in charge.

Oh and get someone with even a tiny amount of football knowledge on the board. Even my missus could do a better job than Faulkner.

We are currently the worst run (not financially) and worst managed club in the league.

[Shillzz]

I'd like to say that I'll always support the Villa through thick & thin, but McLeish's tactics make it increasingly difficult to get excited about watching us these days.

We didnt even attack for the first 45 minutes yesterday.

Was a defender of McLeish, and am still sympathetic towards him, but I doubt i'll be renewing my ST next year, simply because it's just not entertaining or enjoyable to watch.

[Archie]

Yes the defence is woeful at times but the issue is when we attack we have nobody supporting the forwards yet when we defend we have nobody supporting the defenders.

Couldn't agree more on this.

[macandally]

Yes the defence is woeful at times but the issue is when we attack we have nobody supporting the forwards yet when we defend we have nobody supporting the defenders.

Couldn't agree more on this.

Thats because it takes an army of horses and twenty tonnes of lube to get Collins and Dunne to move from the edge of the 18 yard box.

The game is too stretched then front to back and because Bent cannot hold up the ball, the midfield is either too late getting forward, or too late getting back.

The defence need to squeeze up but they do not have the confidence that the midfield will hold the ball, so they dont. The midfield need to hold the ball long enough to transistion play OR we go back to hitting the channels early and trying to score on the break. If we do that, we need pace on the wings and to play Gabby through the middle instead of Bent.

In my mind anyhow.

[Villarocker]

Big NO for me!

I was all for giving McLeish a chance to prove me wrong and hoped that he could, but it all depended upon him changing his previous playing style. The fact that he managed the Bluenoses didn't matter at all to me and I mean that. Let's face it, if he had got them a top 10 finish and a cup win last season, whilst playing attractive football and making good signings, not many of us would have been concerned about his appointment.

The fact that he relegated the noses twice, managed Rangers to 3rd place in a two horse race, made some really poor signings - Zigic, Ridgewell, Davies, Jerome etc - played really negative, dull and defensive football, all added up to a very poor choice of manager for Randy Lerner to make.

I will say one thing in defence of McLeish. I think that you could throw any other manager in the world into our football club and he will still struggle to get us keeping the ball out of our net. I would say that McLeish realises more than anyone how bad our defenders are and that is the reason he is trying to give them as much extra cover as possible. However, that is also is biggest flaw because surely the best thing to do in that situation is to play to our biggest strength, which is our attacking play! I was going to quote Jeremy Clarkson and say that our defenders should all be shot but let's face it, the bullets would miss them all. Those defenders of ours don't get in the way of anything!

Houllier wanted us to play to our strengths last season and had two very good wingers available to him to do so but McLeish does not have this luxury. But, playing Heskey on the wing or in the hole when there are far better players at the club to do so is also a poor showing from him and shows up his lack of competence as a manager in the Premier league. He has a jewel in Bent but seems determined not to play to his strengths for some reason.

I think we can all appreciate Randy's decision to watch the bank balance and the wage bill but to do so whilst having McLeish in charge is just too much for us to take as fans. If we had a manager in charge who tried his very best to get us playing some attractive football then we could probably live with the cut-backs a whole lot more, even if results were not always as expected. But, to see our stars leave and then have to endure the poorest management style ever, well, that is just too much to sit back and watch.

I think the only way we can try to make Randy take real notice is to threaten to stay away. There are 20,000+ of us season ticket holders who have already parted with our hard-earned cash to watch this season unfold. Not too many of those 20,000+ will want to have paid that amount of money and then stay away, especially with the current economic climate. However, I propose that all of us season ticket holders who are against McLeish - together with as many fans who attend random matches - all write to the club, maybe addressing the letter/email to Paul Faulkner or/and Randy himself, expressing our anger and feelings at McLeish and the performance of the team under his management style.

I am going to send my email after the 19th game has been played. Then we will have seen half a season under Mcleish's management. I am going to write to the club stating that, if they fail to employ a new manager by the start of next season, they will have lost me as a season ticket holder, together with my Dad and Brother who feel exactly the same as I do. The three of us are that disappointed with the quality of football that we are seeing that we all feel like we cannot get excited for the upcoming Villa games, which is a bloody terrible state to find yourself in as a lifelong fan of your local club.

I want to go to see my Aston Villa try to win football games, not try to lose by as few as possible! I have had enough of seeing McLeish's boring, defensive, dull, negative, non-imaginative style of, well, I was going to say football but it isn't, is it?

UP THE VILLA!

[jacketspuds]

Yes the defence is woeful at times but the issue is when we attack we have nobody supporting the forwards yet when we defend we have nobody supporting the defenders.

Couldn't agree more on this.

Thats because it takes an army of horses and twenty tonnes of lube to get Collins and Dunne to move from the edge of the 18 yard box.

The game is too stretched then front to back and because Bent cannot hold up the ball, the midfield is either too late getting forward, or too late getting back.

The defence need to squeeze up but they do not have the confidence that the midfield will hold the ball, so they dont. The midfield need to hold the ball long enough to transistion play OR we go back to hitting the channels early and trying to score on the break. If we do that, we need pace on the wings and to play Gabby through the middle instead of Bent.

In my mind anyhow.

In your mind yes. A sensible view point that most people who have ever seen a game of football would agree with. However McWank can't see this. The answer in his mind is to bring on Heskey. A player who seems to lose headed challenges against Wayne Routledge.

I also wish we weren't 8th as it's such a shit excuse for anyone defending AMC to use. Come Jan 1st we will be 16th or below, I have no doubt whatsoever.

[PauloBarnesi]

football is poor at moment but would be unfair to sack him as i remember MON first season and we played absolute dreadful football and flirted with the drop and was never anybody calling for his head. I remember games vs Charlton, Watford and a pathetic display at Anfield for example and wanted to pull my eyes out

But we had some high points as well; can anyone give me a single high point under McLeish??? Anything to be optimistic at all?

As for the vote; its difficult as I wanted a no no no no no option.

[Tony_Tony_Daley]

Are the 7 who voted yes serious...?

Under Houllier he tried to play out from the back, sadly we didnt have the players, it was like clock work...you have your deepest midfield player who recieves the ball from a centre back, that guy is then expected to carry the ball a few yards and find a guy roaming around the midfield who wants the ball...he's supposed to receive it THEN spot runners. Problem with allllllaaaa that is the following: First guy receiving it is/was Petrov...ah yes, The Crab..sideways, backwards....n back it always goes to collins or dunne, now both these guys are not gonna for a second give it back to the Crab, cos The Crab will just give it em back yetttttt again, so they hoof it. Now Mr Houllier clearly saw this cos Mr Houllier was phasing out The Crab from the team, but he had a little whinge n eventually the crab was back into the team, luckily we had players like Downing n Young to create n effectively bail us out in games.

Now onto this season, we dont have either guy, and up until the previous 2 games we still had the same tired old Crab doing the same old tired thing n what makes me laugh about him is he barks at everyone else at some point for not moving WHY WOULD THEY MOVE?! he passes 3 yards sideways, and he'll probably will be back in the team again next game and we have the same problem yet again, its so clear its ridiculous, theres no movement cos these guys know they aint getting the ball...its gonna be hoofed, why oh why is this not being spotted by the management?.

Defensively its the same thing over n over, Hutton is out of position 90% of the time, Collins reckons hes a right back/right winger n runs out like a headless chicken all the god damn time n Dunne is left to fend for himself in the centre.

We're so predictable in every aspect its painful, we desperately need a defensive midfielder with a bit of pace n power n can pick a pass and I guarentee the other players ahead will start to respond.

Oh n P.S...I voted NO.

[TrentVilla]

football is poor at moment but would be unfair to sack him as i remember MON first season and we played absolute dreadful football and flirted with the drop and was never anybody calling for his head. I remember games vs Charlton, Watford and a pathetic display at Anfield for example and wanted to pull my eyes out

But we had some high points as well; can anyone give me a single high point under McLeish??? Anything to be optimistic at all?

As for the vote; its difficult as I wanted a no no no no no option.

Plus O'Neill's track record suggested that he would get things right, that things would improve.

McLeish's track record suggests that what we are seeing is about the norm.

[hercs23]

Big fat NO from me. he is all talk saying in his interview we will work on this and it gets to the match and its exactly the same crap game in game out. the crap tactics do my head in as well.

come jan 1st we will be 17th but what scares me more is we know randy wont do anything until its all to late.

get in somebody fresh and exciting like gus poyet, eddie howe, Paul Lambert or go for somebody who is at least solid like mark hughes.

[jacketspuds]

football is poor at moment but would be unfair to sack him as i remember MON first season and we played absolute dreadful football and flirted with the drop and was never anybody calling for his head. I remember games vs Charlton, Watford and a pathetic display at Anfield for example and wanted to pull my eyes out

But we had some high points as well; can anyone give me a single high point under McLeish??? Anything to be optimistic at all?

As for the vote; its difficult as I wanted a no no no no no option.

Plus O'Neill's track record suggested that he would get things right, that things would improve.

McLeish's track record suggests that what we are seeing is about the norm.

Plus MON's first season squad was a hell of a lot worse than the one AMC has to work with. Hughes would at least have us trying to win games. McLeish has shifted his Birmingham tactics to us. But we look worse than even they did last season.