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Author Topic: Houllier's revolution  (Read 16057 times)

Offline Ger Regan

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2011, 09:47:29 AM »
With all the stick that Houllier has had recently, I will be even more delighted if he finds great success at Villa. I have never previously witnessed such a vicious turn against a manager and have found the whole thing distinctly unpleasant. I am not against those with valid opinions but a lot of the vitriol that has been said and published (the Villa Facebook page is a particular example) has been by moronic individuals that simply follow like sheep. The same people are always to be found singing the praises of any potential player whose name appears in the press without ever having heard of the player before. As I said, there are plenty with valid reasons, which I respect, but there are also many jumping on this bandwagon who have no brain at all.
I wonder who you could be thinking of! And I agree entirely. There's one thing thinking he isn't the right man for the job, quite another hurling abuse at the "froggy twat". I would certainly hope that as a result of the last couple of weeks' work in the transfer market, he would be cut some slack for a while. We will see.

Offline Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #16 on: January 19, 2011, 09:59:00 AM »
The same people are always to be found singing the praises of any potential player whose name appears in the press without ever having heard of the player before.

 
Are you referring to young Farcellini, the Italian holding midfielder by any chance? At 13.2 million pounds he's a snip.

Offline Simba

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2011, 10:14:19 AM »
It will be a revolution if GH can motivate some desire in the senior players and can get it right tactically.

So far he has done neither. However, he has my support now that Randy has trusted him. I hope he was right to do so -  like all of us.

Gonna be an interesting run in.

Offline Concrete John

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #18 on: January 19, 2011, 10:25:29 AM »
I think he needed to make major moves in this window as the players he inherited have clearly not been responding to him.  By briniging in a few of his own he changes to whole ethos/atmosphere around at training and in the dressing room, which will hopefully motivate the existing players also.

Sunderland at home aside, I think we've seen an slight upturn in form of late (Chelsea away and the battling performance when 1 nil down at the sty) so hopefully the signings will instill a feel good factor around amongst fans and players alike and we'll start winning games! 

Offline Concrete John

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #19 on: January 19, 2011, 10:26:26 AM »
think there are three groups really. those that want to give him a try, those who are not happy with him because of results and who have a valid point, and those that want him out because he's not MON with most of the vitriol from the latter

Stick me in the middle group.

Online pauliewalnuts

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #20 on: January 19, 2011, 10:31:15 AM »
I'm really excited, Bent is nailed on to start banging them in for Villa!
Kiss of death.....


ha ha, anyone remember David Geddis ?

So you're comparing Geddis' 44 league appearances and 5 goals prior to joing us with Bent's better than 2 in 1 goal ratio over a five year period? Why not compare Bent with John Woodward while you're at it :-)

Bent's scoring record is superb but wouldn't it just be very "Villa" for him to go on a long barren spell now?

Offline TRO

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2011, 10:31:36 AM »
Isn't it nice for us to publicly unsettle some players for once, by leaking out comments and the like.

Superb breathe of fresh air.

Offline darren woolley

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2011, 10:54:47 AM »
GH is getting the right type of players in and getting rid of the deadwood so he is starting to put is own mark on the team let's just hope it turns around on the pitch which i think it will.

Offline jonzy85

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2011, 10:59:55 AM »
I dont think it is as much a revolutionas you are making out. He has been here since September (?) and the performance against the Blues was mixed (I think would be the universal opinion?).

The positives of the performance were that we were solid defensively, however, we didnt offer much creativity. Very similar to last season, no?

Now granted, GH has had to work with the squad that he has been left with, but I think the signings he has made are ones that we all wanted to supplement MON's squad (quality striker, genuine box to box midfielder to replace Milner, attacking full back).

What I mean is, and I hope is, that GH is recognising the strengths of the squad and instead of dismantling it completely he is improving (massively) on the areas we are lacking. I think the fact he has gone back to Dunne and Collins at CB shows this. MON's squad last year was far from pefect but it did get us might close to CL football and a 2 trophies and I think GH is starting to recognise that there is no point completely starting from scratch.

Offline Bad English

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2011, 11:00:13 AM »
think there are three groups really. those that want to give him a try, those who are not happy with him because of results and who have a valid point, and those that want him out because he's not MON with most of the vitriol from the latter
And there are those who didn't want him for many other reasons that you haven't mentioned.

Offline FatSam

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2011, 11:00:33 AM »
I think Gary McAllister has said something about the team/ squad being largely OK but needing some fine-tuning - this would suggest that the management team don't necessarily see it as revolution. Possibly more revolutionary (in chaotic Mao Tse-tung style) has been MON's strategy of buying a whole new defence every close season. What pleases me is that Houllier has recognised what the team needs and has gone out to solve the problem.

Anyone who watches Villa will have been aware that we have needed a reliable goalscorer since before MON's tenure. Unfortunately over the last few years MON has tended to pussy-foot around the problems whilst bulking out the squad. MON signed Carew in a swap, Harewood, and Heskey - it is as though he couldn't bring himself to pay the money that a proven premier league goalscorer in their prime would cost. Added to this he didn't have the scouting networks to source a young striker who might one day become the next reliable goalscorer. Instead he arguably wasted money on people like Harewood who he ultimately didn't trust, or brought in people like Heskey who are tried and tested but patently don't fit the job description. We should have been in the market for Bent when he was available from Spurs - whether they would have sold him to us or not we can't know, but £10M spent at that point would have been no more of a gamble than £18M is now. The fact that we patently need a reliable goalscorer now, and haven't got one, and haven't been bringing one through, means that Houllier has had to go out and buy one. Next time we will hopefully have more options within the squad and won't have to go out and spend this kind of money (or will be able to negotiate a better deal).

In previous seasons there has been the whole full back issue. Rather than go out to get the player that we need from a list of possible candidates, MON has waited a whole season for someone in particular to become available, and then found them unavailable. At this point he signed Young (for twice what he was available for the previous summer), and Shorey... then utlimately lost faith in both of them and bought Warnock and Beye.

I recall MON regularly saying early in his tenure that we would only sign players who were an improvement on what he currently had. After a certain point this was very obviously not followed faithfully (or if not faithfully, then competently). By biting the bullet and buying the players that we desperately need, Houllier at this stage is improving the team without bulking out the squad.

Offline Bosco81

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2011, 11:09:32 AM »
I dont think it is as much a revolutionas you are making out. He has been here since September (?) and the performance against the Blues was mixed (I think would be the universal opinion?).

The positives of the performance were that we were solid defensively, however, we didnt offer much creativity. Very similar to last season, no?

Now granted, GH has had to work with the squad that he has been left with, but I think the signings he has made are ones that we all wanted to supplement MON's squad (quality striker, genuine box to box midfielder to replace Milner, attacking full back).

What I mean is, and I hope is, that GH is recognising the strengths of the squad and instead of dismantling it completely he is improving (massively) on the areas we are lacking. I think the fact he has gone back to Dunne and Collins at CB shows this. MON's squad last year was far from pefect but it did get us might close to CL football and a 2 trophies and I think GH is starting to recognise that there is no point completely starting from scratch.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying, certainly against Blues I saw a lot more long balls from the back then I ever did in previous seasons.

We've been crying out for a goal poacher for years and a midfielder with energy to replace Milner, we've got those now.

Randy has shown enormous faith with Gerard, it's now time for Gerard to repay that faith by getting us out of this mess.

This signing has lifted the massive cloud that's been over the club since the Autumn, personally I miss Milner a lot more than I miss MON, I hope saturday we can fill the stadium to reward the investment Randy has made.

Offline sfx412

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #27 on: January 19, 2011, 11:30:51 AM »

The positives of the performance were that we were solid defensively, however, we didnt offer much creativity. Very similar to last season, no?

No. We keep creating chances we just haven't scored. At the moment we top the hit the woodwork table which indicates how close we have been to scoring.

Now granted, GH has had to work with the squad that he has been left with, but I think the signings he has made are ones that we all wanted to supplement MON's squad (quality striker, genuine box to box midfielder to replace Milner, attacking full back).

Which is a good thing. He's also repeatedly stated that we have a good squad that finished 6th and we just need to get it back winning games. The new additions can only help as selling off some no use high earners will only help the wage bill and ensure he complies with Randy's remit, something his predecessor found impossible to do, it seems.


Offline richardhubbard

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #28 on: January 19, 2011, 12:36:11 PM »
It he combines the talent we have in youth in Albrighton, Clark, Bannan with his calibre of signing like Bent, Walker and hopefully Adam  with likes of Young , Dunne and Downing we should do  well .

Minimum second half performance after spending probably 40m is 8th meaning we should finish half way.

Anything below that he has failed, if we struggle second half he aint the man.

The jury still out with me

Offline Fergal

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Re: Houllier's revolution
« Reply #29 on: January 19, 2011, 12:52:21 PM »
think there are three groups really. those that want to give him a try, those who are not happy with him because of results and who have a valid point, and those that want him out because he's not MON with most of the vitriol from the latter
I am in the group that wanted him out but wants him to be our most sucessful manager ever...

 


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