Players lack of fight

[villa1]

Laursen has no experience and is not in any way the man for the situation right now.

Correct.

Is he coaching at the moment?
Has he done any?
Is he even jnterested in coaching or managing?

Good players don't always make good coaches and good coaches weren't always good players.

Just because he was a good player for us doesn't automatically mean he'd do a good job as a manager.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but watching that yesterday bore similarities with the Newcastle game of a couple of seasons ago, when they needed a win to stay up. That day Newcastle had no fight in them, no one busting a gut and no desire. Yesterday Villa were Newcastle, the difference is we have time to put it right but the application needs to be there as yesterday was embarrassing.

[hawkeye]

Chris Hughton isnt a bad shout, as a temporary fix, if we are going to do it, it needs to happen very quickly, if nothing has been done by tuesday, we are stuck with him.

[Simba]

 I suppose it is impossible to divert any thread from the manager. We all seem to resort to that argument.

But where is our Captain? Where is the man that can turn to the crowd and demand a voice of support. The raised arms, chest out " come on!!!" character to unite team and fans. The man we respect and support for his effort and guts. The man who when he asks for help achieves the support the team needs. When we are in shit.

The Leader.

We are in a scrap for survival and we know that Villa Park can unite against adversity- but not now.

Where in this team is the one man who would and could call upon the fans to sing, yell, chant for his team?


Yes I came to the same conclusion.

[brian green]

He is playing for Stoke because he was a very naughty boy.

[oldtimernow]

He is playing for Stoke because he was a very naughty boy.

Get real, he's played crap all season because HE didnt want to play for Houllier, just like the other bad apples.
Managers can make a team but players can break the manager.....do we want to poll the players who they want to manage them...what is Aston Villa ?   A co-operative

[Villa'Zawg]

"Lions led by donkeys"

[NeilH]

You know I can put up with the defensive mistakes; I can deal with the bad luck and even live with the missed chances. However, what I truly cannot truly abide is watching a team who by rights should be nowhere near this position play with a total lack of conviction and pride because they seemingly have a beef with the manager.
If we go down (and the if is turning increasingly into a when) these bunch of petulant clowns who don’t like the management style will be the first ones clambering for the likes of Stoke, Bolton and Everton to snap them up and avoid the nightmare of the Championship. They’ll hide behind the excuse that they could not work within the management style and blame that for the total lack of basic pride in what they are paid to do.
I’m tired of hearing the excuses getting rolled out like some great big get out clause for the inevitable. Whatever the wrongs of Houllier are, the facts are that these players could get us out of this if they actually had a sense of pride and passion in what they do, instead when the chips are down they mope about like spoiled kids or sit on the ground like so many Cup Final losers have done. It’s us the fans that will pick up the pieces from this, it’s us that will be dropped into the abyss not the players.
I live in hope that somewhere within the yellow bellies of these excuses for footballers there lies a modicum of pride that will manifest itself at least once between now and the end of this season and avoid thus avoid the nightmare that could await us. If they can do this, I suspect then that the board will deal with the festering sore that is the rift between the manager and team and make the right decision.

[oldtimernow]

saw on a local Spanish Carnival float this weekend, in translation,

'In order to be Champions of the World you need good balls'

Spot on and worth taking note of from the Spanish.

Although they did use the word pelotas instead of cajones

[oldtimernow]

"Lions led by donkeys"

More like Lions without a pride

[freakypete]

over paid over rated pre maddonas, we all have to work with gaffers we may not always like but thats life.... wheres the pride? wheres the passion??

[dave.woodhall]

It's about time they got the stick they deserve. Regardless of the manager, they're putting in performances way below anything you'd expect from a professional in any job.

[Bad English]

Good post Neil. if this were a club like Lyon, Real Madrid or PSG (spit!) the fans would be down at the training ground giving the players some serious stick (and in some cases, smashing their cars up and stuff, WHICH WE DON'T CONDONE, before anyone gets any ideas).

In France there have been banners, yes banners, with slogans such as:-

"SHAME ON YOU!"
"ARE YOU READY TO DRENCH THE JERSEY WITH SWEAT?"
"BEAT [team X] AND PREVENT THOSE COCKSUCKERS FROM GOING ABOVE YOU!"
"GIVEN UP, HAVE WE?"
"VALUES WE BELIEVE IN HUMILIATING" (sic)

and the reprehensible (Marseille got a €5000 fine for this)

YOU MINCING POOVES. BE MEN! (OK, not happy with the homophobia here, but they certainly like their team to give a fuck).

[freakypete]

the  side that got relegated to div 3 1970 atleast went down fighting and i mean on the pitch not at the bar

[sfx412]

It's about time they got the stick they deserve. Regardless of the manager, they're putting in performances way below anything you'd expect from a professional in any job.

You know that, I know that, do you think the manager and the Board do not ?