The Insider Blog: Is Houllier doing things the right way?

[TimTheVillain]

It is, of course, far too early to write Villa off yet, with only two points separating them from Bolton in sixth, but they need to get their house in order before the chill of winter sets in and Houllier needs to start delivering on his promises if the 2010/11 campaign is to avoid becoming a French farce

Can't disagree with any of that.

[UsualSuspect]

I think he's doing okay

We all knew taht our starting 11 was okay but we hadn't got a lot of strength in depth if we had injuries but at least GH was giving the kids a go right from the off. if MON was still in charge Petrov would be being wheeled around on his bed, NRC would be playing for the 3rd team and Gabby would be be doing his best on a motorised scooter.

I like the fact that he puts the club first and not egotistical players

[pauliewalnuts]

It is, of course, far too early to write Villa off yet, with only two points separating them from Bolton in sixth, but they need to get their house in order before the chill of winter sets in and Houllier needs to start delivering on his promises if the 2010/11 campaign is to avoid becoming a French farce

Can't disagree with any of that.

It isn't so much about what he says as the way he says it.

By which I mean terms like:

"French farce"
"Start delivering"
"Chill of winter"
"house in order"

.. which, as well as being from only one line, all point to the writer having a certain "CRISIS CLUB!" mindset about this.

[pedro25]

O'Neill's first season was transitional because we finished 16th the previous yr and he took us to 11th, this time round, other than swapping Milner for Ireland GH has the same squad that finished 6th last yr, and of course we finished 6th the 2 previous seasons to. If we finish 11/12th this yr what is it a transition from, a top 6 side into a mediocre mid table outfit?

[dave.woodhall]

O'Neill's first season was transitional because we finished 16th the previous yr and he took us to 11th, this time round, other than swapping Milner for Ireland GH has the same squad that finished 6th last yr, and of course we finished 6th the 2 previous seasons to. If we finish 11/12th this yr what is it a transition from, a top 6 side into a mediocre mid table outfit?

You've left a few things out there.

[Villa'Zawg]

It is, of course, far too early to write Villa off yet, with only two points separating them from Bolton in sixth, but they need to get their house in order before the chill of winter sets in and Houllier needs to start delivering on his promises if the 2010/11 campaign is to avoid becoming a French farce

Can't disagree with any of that.

It isn't so much about what he says as the way he says it.

By which I mean terms like:

"French farce"
"Start delivering"
"Chill of winter"
"house in order"

.. which, as well as being from only one line, all point to the writer having a certain "CRISIS CLUB!" mindset about this.

As Dave says, the media needs a "Club in Crisis story" and we're fair game for that at the moment. 2 wins this week and they'll be talking about top 4, 2 defeats and they'll be talking about relegation.

Having dropped 8 points compared to the 11 corresponding games last season is worrying, in that if it continued all season we'd be in the shit. I think we all expect things to improve but until they do, this type of article will only proliferate.

[VillaAlways]

O'Neill's first season was transitional because we finished 16th the previous yr and he took us to 11th, this time round, other than swapping Milner for Ireland GH has the same squad that finished 6th last yr, and of course we finished 6th the 2 previous seasons to. If we finish 11/12th this yr what is it a transition from, a top 6 side into a mediocre mid table outfit?

And what about our current injury situation. ??

[alanclare]

What short memories some people have. It's less than two years since the latter end of the 2008/9 season, when from the beginning of March to the end of May we drew 5, lost 5 and won 2. I shall be very surprised if M.Houllier's team can't beat that record this season.

[Brend'Watkins]

O'Neill's first season was transitional because we finished 16th the previous yr and he took us to 11th, this time round, other than swapping Milner for Ireland GH has the same squad that finished 6th last yr, and of course we finished 6th the 2 previous seasons to. If we finish 11/12th this yr what is it a transition from, a top 6 side into a mediocre mid table outfit?

You make it sound as though it's like for like when it's anything but. 

We all knew that Milner with or without MON was virtually impossible to replace.  We will only get close to doing that once Delph is back in full action and we hope he's as good as we expect.

One thing that I think is for certain is that once Gabby returns and Delph is is back to full fitness we will have a team that will again be a side that can challenge the top 4 and one that will show some style in doing so.  Add two more quality players to that including a goal scorer and it starts to look even better.

[pedro25]

They are different types of players, but 2 seasons ago Ireland was as impressive for City as Milner was for us last yr and would have commanded a higher transfer fee.  We have Delph, Reo Coker, Petrov and maybe Sidwell to do the donkey work in the middle, Ireland was brought in to add some much needed craft and guile.  I don't think we needed a like forlike Milner replacement, but a fit Delph, Petrov, Reo Coker and on form Ireland and Sidwell would have adequately made up for what we lost imo.

[Dave]

I don't think we needed a like forlike Milner replacement, but a fit Delph, Petrov, Reo Coker and on form Ireland and Sidwell would have adequately made up for what we lost imo.

Probably. But considering we have literally none of those at the moment it's fairly understandable that we're not winning every game at the moment.

[PaulTheVillan]

O'Neill's first season was transitional because we finished 16th the previous yr and he took us to 11th, this time round, other than swapping Milner for Ireland GH has the same squad that finished 6th last yr, and of course we finished 6th the 2 previous seasons to. If we finish 11/12th this yr what is it a transition from, a top 6 side into a mediocre mid table outfit?

And what about our current injury situation. ??

Yup! It's also about preperation. GH will do things differently to MON, and like GH said, you can't change things like that over night.

[avfcpg]

Typical Sky sensationalist journo's. If we beat Man Utd they are just as likely to write that our kids are now world beaters...

The way I see this season is that if MON had stayed we would (imo) have finished top 6 at best, bombed out of Europe early with a weakened side, maybe had a cup run and wouldn't have added to the squad with any real quality or imagination.

Under GH, (I hope) that we will finish 6th at best, maybe have a cup run but hopefully will be playing more possession football, be fitter, have better contacts and scope for signings, more imaginative signings, bring on the kids, give more players a run to see if they can cut it and have more tactical options. Transitional.

Frustrating? Yes. Time to panic? Certainly not.

[Dribbler]

I'm trying to figure out what this "insider" is inside and i've got the distinct impression that one part of his body is firmly inserted into another part of his body, and that's where he is talking from.

A sprinkling of facts with the worst possible interpretation of all of them. A good time for MON to go? No, the end of last summer was, not a few days before the start of the season. Massive unrest in the camp? No, Houllier's called out Ireland who seemed to respond positively to that judging by his few minutes on the pitch on Saturday, and Carew shot his mouth off after no doubt being mislead by another journalist out to create a story. A few injuries? Just brushed aside when we have half a squad of our most important players out. Our play has not been entertaining? I've seen more entertaining football this season than in the last couple of seasons. This article is a load of negative butt drivle.

Last week it was Man City in crisis, despite being 4th in the league and still in Europe, this week it's Villa. It would have been tough for Houllier coming in when he did even without the injuries, but these injuries have meant he has had to make the transition quicker than he otherwise would have. In the long run it will probably turn out to be a blessing in disguise and will allow our young players to really flourish. I expect this season to be the opposite of our last few seasons, and we will struggle a bit until January but finish strong at the end of the season with some of our senior players coming back and a few new faces coming in.

Does anyone else feel like lynching a few journalists, oh and a few agents too? For the most part they are parasitic scumbags.

[sfx412]

It's ridiculous to start jumping to any sort of conclusions but one thing is sure, we do need to start winning some games. If we don't take 3 points tomorrow then given the run of games we have things could look very dicey in a few weeks and we'll see a lot more of this sort of stuff.

Agree completely
Mon's exit was bad, all the talk of cost cutting, the lack of signings added to the problems, the time taken to sign Houllier too, and now like it or not Houllier has not even started to make inroads into the resultant negativity.
Injuries don't help, public spats with top players, will not help, neither will lame excuses every time needless points are dropped.