Carew on Houllier

[Villa'Zawg]

His other 4 starts Pre-Houllier were wins over West Ham, Everton and Blackburn(LC) and Norway's Euro Championship qualifier win over Portugal. So yes, we did pretty well in the games Carew started, even if you include the Newcastle game.

I think people forget that we were doing OK in 5th place after our first 6 games of the season and yes I know Houllier was on the bench for the Wolves game.

So you are including West Ham where Carew missed four sitters IIRC, Everton where we defended for most of the match and a Blackburn league game where we only scored because Carew was taken off for Heskey. And I don't even know why you are including a Norwegian match as they have no bearing on Villa or who is in charge. And as for the Newcastle match, Carew disappeared after 12 mins when he missed the pen.

I'm including those games because I was asked about the games he started before Houllier took over. I'm sorry if 4 wins from 5 games started doesn't give you the answer you were hoping for.

If you want to insist that those games were won in spite of Carew it is up to you.

[Risso]

I'd rather we'd kept Carew and got rid of Houllier, I'm sure the results would have been a lot better.

[pauliewalnuts]

His other 4 starts Pre-Houllier were wins over West Ham, Everton and Blackburn(LC) and Norway's Euro Championship qualifier win over Portugal. So yes, we did pretty well in the games Carew started, even if you include the Newcastle game.

I think people forget that we were doing OK in 5th place after our first 6 games of the season and yes I know Houllier was on the bench for the Wolves game.

So you are including West Ham where Carew missed four sitters IIRC, Everton where we defended for most of the match and a Blackburn league game where we only scored because Carew was taken off for Heskey. And I don't even know why you are including a Norwegian match as they have no bearing on Villa or who is in charge. And as for the Newcastle match, Carew disappeared after 12 mins when he missed the pen.

I'm including those games because I was asked about the games he started before Houllier took over. I'm sorry if 4 wins from 5 games started doesn't give you the answer you were hoping for.

If you want to insist that those games were won in spite of Carew it is up to you.

It's pretty hard to see how he made a convincing contribution to any of them, given Somniloquism's summary.

Do you think he did well for us this season? Really, honestly?

[VillaZogmariner]

What's a game for Norway got to do with the Villa though?

Are we going to include games for Bulgaria for Petrov or USA for Bradley too now?

[Villa'Zawg]

When Carew joined he came as an idle troublesome bastard who played when he wanted and spent most of the season upsetting his manager and club.
He continued in the same style, only scoring goals against poorer clubs and usually only when he was in trouble with the manager and the club or the season was over.
Despite the desire for some to build him into a legend, to rewrite the facts, time and again he remains the same twat he was before he joined.
Next to Ireland, another 'Legend' in the making he remains top of my get rid list.

You won't find any argument from me about sticking to the facts.

When it comes to Carew playing for Villa under Martin O'Neill,  only Hitchens, Hately, Gray, Ford, Thompson, Platt and Dougan have a better post-war goals per game record. That's a fact.

So since I started watching Villa in the mid 70s, I've only seen 2 players with a better goalscoring record than John Carew had when playing for Martin O'Neill.

For me, that puts him a good deal closer to legend than twat.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Didn't he hit the post twice against Blues?

I feel that feel always side with Houllier even though it's not just a case of one falling - Carew, Ireland, Warnock, Beye, Davies

When it happens several times, you have to wonder if the players have a point?

I feel GH has treated certain players very badly indeed.

[Legion]

I think McAllister is a bigger problem than Houllier.

[Somniloquism]

I'd rather we'd kept Carew and got rid of Houllier, I'm sure the results would have been a lot better.

Possibly, but the results were crap really before Houllier started. I would much rather Bent now then Carew. The same deficiencies in play were there even before he arrived. Last minute goals scored against us, strikers not scoring, defenders not up to it.

I do reckon that if Houllier was not ill we would have got better from the last few matches as I agree with Leeg, it is more McAllister who is the issue. Even with his recent utterings in the press, he has shown to be a bigger tool then Gerrard has been this season.

[Clark W Griswold]

Carew has been better than many strikers for us, but that maybe says something about the standard of centre forward we have had in modern times. Questionable attitude, not consistant enough but unplayable on his (occasional) day, i think the time was right for him or Heskey to move on anyway. The manager obviously preffered Heskey. Houllier hasn't exactly covered himself in glory with building good working relationships with quite a few players, reading between the lines. Whoever is in charge next season, whether he's been popular with the fans or not, it would be a waste of time re signing him, and i hope he's played his last game for us.