Ratings and reactions: Arsenal 3-2 Villa

[Woodytom]

McLeish is calling on the FA to investigate the elbow on Carlos. Hopefully, they will.

If its the situation highlighted on ESPN commentary I dont think theyl do owt.

Didnt seem much in it. RVP has a look, makes himself big and Cuellar runs into his arm. I dont see any momentum from RVP's arm into Cuellars face

[Jimzk5]

**** me I swear 95% of villa fans are only happy when they've got something to moan snout. On negative tactics, we play exactly the same now as we did.under his.holiness Mr oneill. We just don't defend as well. We had.a patched up midfield with zog and alby injured,its no surprise arsenal pasted us. We urgently need a new centre half, a battler and comander, mayby huth from stoke

[lp_villa830]

After all the Booing at half time from the Arsenal fans you would think it would be a great lift for Villa to take control from the start of the second, "How wrong was I" I dont know what was said at half time, but i bet it was'nt " Keep pushing lad's we can score more on the counter" as was proven when Bent gave away that penalty (what is he Heskey! the only other striker you'd find defending).

To be fair Bent had tried to track him back all the way from the Arsenal half, one of our defenders or midfielders should have stepped in a long time before it got to the pen situation.

[Stockport_Villain]

Lets just get to 40 points as quickly as possible and let the season end.

Hutton mut be the worst right back i have seen in 40+ years of watching Villa

[TRO]

This game for me was a typical O'Neill Game..... poor possession.... just counter attack.

We go 2 goals up and crash, why?

We cannot defend and by that I mean stay in control of the ball. Despite our 0-2 scoreline the imbalance in possession was embarrassing. We do not know or maybe have the ability to close the game down...so by some players playing hoof ball we invite them back in.

Its a shame really because so much good work by some players was lost on others.

If we are to progress, we really have to address these issues.

If we had of gone 2-0 down, would we have come back to 2-3... No

WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO

[Archie]

The game was exciting and we played with great desire, but if you have 2 clowns in the team you can't have any ambition.

Arsenal had three goals gifted: one by Dunne, one by the referee and one by Hutton. But it was the Dunne's silly foul that decided the game, as usual.

You dont need to be Leonardo da Vinci to realize that at the end of the 1st half they were overwhelmed by whistles of their own fans, and to comprehend that if we had resisted for 20 minutes they would give up. There was only one thing to avoid, to concede an easy gol, and Clownne did it, as usual. I only wonder if his huge wages are paid by AVFC or AFC. . .

[TRO]

**** me I swear 95% of villa fans are only happy when they've got something to moan snout. On negative tactics, we play exactly the same now as we did.under his.holiness Mr oneill. We just don't defend as well. We had.a patched up midfield with zog and alby injured,its no surprise arsenal pasted us. We urgently need a new centre half, a battler and comander, mayby huth from stoke

You are absolutely correct we do play exactly the same as under O'Neill.

NO **** POSSESSION.

[TRO]

The game was exciting and we played with great desire, but if you have 2 clowns in the team you can't have any ambition.

Arsenal had three goals gifted: one by Dunne, one by the referee and one by Hutton. But it was the Dunne's silly foul that decided the game, as usual.

You dont need to be Leonardo da Vinci to realize that at the end of the 1st half they were overwhelmed by whistles of their own fans, and to comprehend that if we had resisted for 20 minutes they would give up. There was only one thing to avoid, to concede an easy gol, and Clownne did it, as usual. I only wonder if his huge wages are paid by AVFC or AFC. . .

When the collective force is not at work.....individuals will make mistakes and individuals will then be picked out.

collectively we did not defend......and moreover the majority of the time we don't.

its a team thing in my view.

we simply let them back in and they got out of jail.

[villapark1]

**** me I swear 95% of villa fans are only happy when they've got something to moan snout. On negative tactics, we play exactly the same now as we did.under his.holiness Mr oneill. We just don't defend as well. We had.a patched up midfield with zog and alby injured,its no surprise arsenal pasted us. We urgently need a new centre half, a battler and comander, mayby huth from stoke

You are absolutely correct we do play exactly the same as under O'Neill.

NO **** POSSESSION.

But yet under him we managed to win games like this. Go Figure!

[VillanousOne]

If you think about it properly instead of witch-hunting hutton, we just don't have that many good players any more. It's as simple as that.

Given is a good keeper, but none of the others in the back 5 are any good really. They're just not. Dunne and Collins are rash, Warnock and Hutton uncomfortable in possession for modern full-backs and the saviour Cuellar is a decent player but nothing more - his distribution is poor.

In midfield, we have some young talent in Gardner, Bannan and Albrighton, but none are really special if we're truthful. Petrov, Ireland and NZogbia are the only ones with any actual class and Petrov is getting on a bit now unfortunately.

Up front (not counting Keane on loan), Gabby hasn't kept his form going, Bent is a good finisher but offers little else and has stopped working as hard as when he arrived. There's nothing else there.

Yes, we capitulated but look at the season as a whole and the squad as a whole.

The reason we're mid table and prone to being ripped apart and not looking like a good side is this - we just AREN'T a good side.

We don't have enough good players. It's as simple as that.

McLeish isn't a great manager - we know that. But the reason we're no longer the team we were is because we sold our best players.

Quite why people can't understand that is beyond me.

you do have a point, but genuinely i don't think the team we have is that bad, it is more the team that we had under MON is remembered with a level of fantasy that i can't explain.

Gabby could probably walk into most teams in the top 6.

Zog, Albrighton, Ireland, Gardener would also get in any team towards the bottom end of the top ten (or have the potential to).

Our defenders would struggle to get into any team other than those in the bottom half, maybe Cuellar and Dunne would make the squad of someone like Everton or Sunderland.

Our record against the likes of the Top 4 was shocking under MON, losing 3:2 to Arsenal would have just been gravy under the wee irish maverick.

But i think part of what you are saying is we have to accept what we are, accept we are a team only capable of a 10th to 14th place finish, with a chairman who isn't prepared to gamble anymore money on success, fans who don't get behind the team, a manager no-one wanted, and a future which looks distinctly low key and mediocre.

But the truth is, we are very tediously slowly getting better - individual errors are something no-one can legislate against.

[holtelower]

Strange game, which was decided on mistakes, as I thought it would be.

Their defence was shocking and we took advantage.

Our defence was great first half, before indiviual errors took over second half. I think there was a lot of positives, with a few negatives, and we have known the negatives for about 2 years.

Warnock is a liability , Dunne keeps the defence together but is prone to the odd error, Ireland is either a world beater (first half) or anonymous (second half) etc......

We were playing Arsenal away, we showed great strides for 80 mins only to let ourselves down for 10.

Lets see what Wednesday brings.

I actually voted for Dunne as motm even though he ultimately cost us the game (if he hadn't conceded that pen, and we had held out for about another 5 mins, i think it would have been game over). But the rest of the game, he got Warnock , Hutton and Cueller off the hook time after time, so I'll cut him some slack.

I'm disappointed in the result, but I think we are slowly getting there.

[Jimzk5]

**** me I swear 95% of villa fans are only happy when they've got something to moan snout. On negative tactics, we play exactly the same now as we did.under his.holiness Mr oneill. We just don't defend as well. We had.a patched up midfield with zog and alby injured,its no surprise arsenal pasted us. We urgently need a new centre half, a battler and comander, mayby huth from stoke

You are absolutely correct we do play exactly the same as under O'Neill.

NO **** POSSESSION.

But yet under him we managed to win games like this. Go figure!] Because 3 seasons ago we had a back four of cuellar melberg laursen warnock, young milner Barry downing in midfield and carew and gabby up front. We won because we had a far superiour team then to the wasters we have atm.

[Jimzk5]

**** me I swear 95% of villa fans are only happy when they've got something to moan snout. On negative tactics, we play exactly the same now as we did.under his.holiness Mr oneill. We just don't defend as well. We had.a patched up midfield with zog and alby injured,its no surprise arsenal pasted us. We urgently need a new centre half, a battler and comander, mayby huth from stoke

You are absolutely correct we do play exactly the same as under O'Neill.

NO **** POSSESSION.

But yet under him we managed to win games like this. Go figure!] Because 3 seasons ago we had a back four of cuellar melberg laursen warnock, young milner Barry downing in midfield and carew and gabby up front. We won because we had a far superiour team then to the wasters we have atm.

[villapark1]

**** me I swear 95% of villa fans are only happy when they've got something to moan snout. On negative tactics, we play exactly the same now as we did.under his.holiness Mr oneill. We just don't defend as well. We had.a patched up midfield with zog and alby injured,its no surprise arsenal pasted us. We urgently need a new centre half, a battler and comander, mayby huth from stoke

You are absolutely correct we do play exactly the same as under O'Neill.

NO **** POSSESSION.

But yet under him we managed to win games like this. Go figure!] Because 3 seasons ago we had a back four of cuellar melberg laursen warnock, young milner Barry downing in midfield and carew and gabby up front. We won because we had a far superiour team then to the wasters we have atm.

so what are you implying? that with a much weaker team we should be able to play more atrractive football and retain possesion better?

[TRO]

**** me I swear 95% of villa fans are only happy when they've got something to moan snout. On negative tactics, we play exactly the same now as we did.under his.holiness Mr oneill. We just don't defend as well. We had.a patched up midfield with zog and alby injured,its no surprise arsenal pasted us. We urgently need a new centre half, a battler and comander, mayby huth from stoke

You are absolutely correct we do play exactly the same as under O'Neill.

NO **** POSSESSION.

But yet under him we managed to win games like this. Go figure!] Because 3 seasons ago we had a back four of cuellar melberg laursen warnock, young milner Barry downing in midfield and carew and gabby up front. We won because we had a far superiour team then to the wasters we have atm.

well, I seem to remember going to the Emirates and seeing Villa under O'Neill containing them for c 60 minutes Fabregas comes on 3-0.

Its been going on for years mate

Ps My point is the managers and players are changing......The style of football isn't.

[TRO]

The hardest thing to do is score goals and the most expensive thing to do is buy players to do it.

We scored 2 good goals today to have adequately won the game if we had a professional air about ourselves, we would have got some sort of result.

We havn't the mentality, we are sloppy without the ball. We don't get in players faces regularly enough or collectively to know how to win a game.

Its been the case for too long.....god knows what the coaches do.

[srsmithusa]

The hardest thing to do is score goals and the most expensive thing to do is buy players to do it.

We scored 2 good goals today to have adequately won the game if we had a professional air about ourselves, we would have got some sort of result.

We havn't the mentality, we are sloppy without the ball. We don't get in players faces regularly enough or collectively to know how to win a game.

Its been the case for too long.....god knows what the coaches do.

the last 6 words are nailed dead on.

[pacbuddies]

At least by losing at Arsenal we have possibly been spared the indignity and embarrassment of being beaten in the next round by a MON inspired Blunderland.

[The_Lions_Roar]

At least by losing at Arsenal we have possibly been spared the indignity and embarrassment of being beaten in the next round by a MON inspired Blunderland.

Haha i thought this too, it was either that or risk losing to boro and having to put up with my mate gloating. for me a replay would of been the worst result.

[Demitri_C]

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