How much we must give credit to the manager for the improvements of the team?

[Archie]

GH has never been and he is not  my cup of tea, but nevertheless I must say the team's showing signals of improvement.

I think that if we must give credit to GH for some of these improvements (he instilled a certain team spirit, for instance, and he's trying to convince the players that passing football is better than the long balls) I'm also convinced that other improvements are due to mistakes that GH have corrected (considering the value of the roster, I'm convinced that the Villa should always have played at a higher level, and they/we would have done it if he weren't so stubborn):
- first of all, against Blackburn we saw two attacking-minded fullbacks played as fullbacks and not 2 CB (in certain games we played with Cuellar-Clark as fullbacks, c'est de la folie, n'est pas Monsieur Houllier?);
- yesterday on the flanks played two wingers, not a winger and a striker (although I'm convinced that Downing is more effective on the left and Super Mark on the right, but GH has a great passion to play the players out of role);
- Cjeran Clark played as CB, that is his role.

IMHO (where H stays for humble) the next improvement there will be when GH will drop Dunne from the starting XI (yesterday it wasn't possible); it's quite incredible that even in an easy-easy game Dunne made a huge blunder losing the ball at the beginning of the second half, and, as usual, conceded one goal to the opponents (I don't blame him for the own-goal, that was quite unlucky, but for leaving Kalinicic substantially unmarked, he limited to watch him while he was shooting).

And the second improvement there will be when Bannan and/or Delph will enter in the starting XI (credit must given to GH for playing Delph left back though, it's not his role, but he wasn't absolutely bad yesterday, his sideline passing for Albrighton was amazing).

As far as Gabby is concerned, there is no room for him in the 4-2-3-1 formation, as it provides only one striker, and two wingers. I like the 4-2-3-1 formation with two real wingers and one gifted midfielder in the hole behind the lonely striker (Delph/Pires/Bannan), but in certain occasions it is not forbidden to switch to the good old 4-4-2 that permits to the 60% of the players to cover the 60% of the park and to have two strikers.

Thoughts?

[Clampy]

There is an improvement in the football itself,  he's brought some decent players in and you can see what he's trying to do, but until we start playing like it consistently and start winning a few more games, the jury will understandbly be out.

[WikiVilla]

It seems he's gradually won most of the dressing rooms support now, he said something after the game about the positivity of the players on the bench which spoke volumes about morale in the camp

[Chris Smith]

He deserves a lot of credit for having the courage of his convictions. He decided on the way he wanted us to play and despite setbacks stuck with it and we're now starting to see the rewards. He's also been quite clever in the use of rotation and handling of the young players.

[Monty]

There are certain scenarios where a team's improvement appears to have been independant of the manager (Avram Grant at Chelsea is an example which springs to mind). This clearly is not one of those cases. The most striking thing is the change of style - the passing and movement yesterday really was better than almost anything we saw under MON. Even when we thrashed teams, like when we beat Bolton 5-0 at VP last year, we never seemed entertaining (not that I'm complaining when we win 5-0, it's just an example that MON-ball wasn't even entertaining when it worked). I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday, perhaps the first time I've genuinely enjoyed watching Villa since West Ham at home.

I agree Dunne's still error-prone, but your standards of defending might be a bit high, Archie, given what you're used to round your part of the world (watching Nesta against Spurs was a real eye-opener, he's still better than most around despite being about 100 years old)! Long-term though, no doubt, we have to improve, but even he and Friedel were almost exclusively playing the ball short, a great sign.

I can't wait for if/when Delph and Bannan start to come good, along with Gary Gardner, Makoun once he's used to the Premier League and even Bradley on the same score is a huge improvement from the likes of Sidwell.

[nick harper]

It seems he's gradually won most of the dressing rooms support now, he said something after the game about the positivity of the players on the bench which spoke volumes about morale in the camp

I thought that was an interesting comment. When he was asked about the performance, it was his first thing he said. It does seem like his methods and approach are beginning to have an affect. Winning games obviously helps.

He also seems to have won them over in terms of squad rotation. Fewe grumbles finding their way into the press.

There were a few groans at the make up of the side in the Holte yesterday but Houllier was vindicated with the performance. A mention for Pires who despite his legs not being what they were, was class yesterday.

Oh and Walker is the best right back I've seen down there since Kenny Swain.

[Shrek]

For original post Downing looked twice the player when he moved over to the right yesturday.

I thought his best position was on the left, but yesturday he was brilliant on the right, as was Albrighton on the left. But this may have been because Blackburn were so shite!

[Archie]

I agree Dunne's still error-prone, but your standards of defending might be a bit high, Archie, given what you're used to round your part of the world (watching Nesta against Spurs was a real eye-opener, he's still better than most around despite being about 100 years old)! Long-term though, no doubt, we have to improve, but even he and Friedel were almost exclusively playing the ball short, a great sign.

I can't wait for if/when Delph and Bannan start to come good, along with Gary Gardner, Makoun once he's used to the Premier League and even Bradley on the same score is a huge improvement from the likes of Sidwell.

100% agree, Monty.

[CJ]

It seems he's gradually won most of the dressing rooms support now, he said something after the game about the positivity of the players on the bench which spoke volumes about morale in the camp

Agree. It looks like anyone who isn't fully committed to the cause is either shipped out (e.g. Carew and Ireland) or trains with the stiffs (e.g. Warnock and Beye). No need to throw teacups - either commit to the team or f**ck off!

[eastie]

To change a playing style takes time and he has had problems but deserves huge credit for the way he is going about things , I am very optimistic for the future and the jury may be out for some but certainly not for me - we are going places and next season will be much improved and enjoyable to watch.

This team will only get better!

[Rip Van We Go Again]

He deserves a lot of credit for having the courage of his convictions. He decided on the way he wanted us to play and despite setbacks stuck with it and we're now starting to see the rewards. He's also been quite clever in the use of rotation and handling of the young players.

Agree with this, he's perservered and we saw some excellent football yesterday.
A couple more signings of his choosing and we can look to next season with confidence.

He made a lot of supporters, including me, look silly yesterday as his selection of Pires paid off.

[olaftab]

No credit at all  as a man few rows behind me said yesterday about 10 mins before  half time  "Houllier you are f in french twat why don't you get on the first  f in ferry back home"
I was shocked. Shocked that this bloke knew there was water between England and France and a ferry was involved!

All credit must go to him and I reserve the right to be critcal of him when things don't go right.

[Dave Cooper please]

Some of the football in the second half yesterday was very nice indeed, granted Blackburn were awful but you could see the passing game Hotlips wants us to play, and we still had the option of the fast break with the wingers or Walker bombing down the flanks.

Can I use this opportunity to mention Delph's pass to Albrighton again, fucking wonderful that was.

[WikiVilla]

Tha delph pass may warrant a thread of its own ?

[eastie]

You certainly can dave , I was very impressed with delph in an unfamiliar position . Why the nickname ' hotlips' for our esteemed leader?