What's going on?

[Greg N'Ash]

So we play hoof ball except for the times when we don't. More top class analysis from the Nash imagination.

There is nothing wrong with using long balls at times to stretch the opposition. If it becomes the only tactic then it becomes an issue but that's clearly not the case with us.

Half the press reported the same so we all seem to be suffering from the same mass delusion then. Check out our stats for the game. Hardly keeping hold of the ball were we? Hardly creating loads of chances were we? No wonder Bent looks demoralised

That's because they were on top for a lot of the game and we were spending much if it  just having to clear it. When we did have periods of possession we tried to play football.

It was the circumstances of the game rather than a deliberate tactic, you can't always dictate how it is played.

the circumstances of the game were dictated by the managers tactics - if you're happy to stay in your own half for most of the game  you won't have much of the ball. The only way you can release that pressure is to hoof it. that was the game plan and credit where credits due it worked. More by luck than judgement i'd say

[ktvillan]

Poor old Heskey gets enough unfair stick as it is without people wishing injury on him.   

[Clampy]

Leeg, it is true I genuinely feared we would be relegated with Houllier.   When we lost the Wolves game I was braced for it.   At that point Small Heath looked less likely than us to go down.   I make a point of never being hostile or rude to other posters however much I disagree with them but I would call anybody a liar who said they fancied going into the Arsenal and Liverpool games needing to scrape points for survival.   The last two weeks of the season were kind to us and ninth place flattered us hugely.

I don't fear relegation with Alex McLeish.   I fear something much worse.   We will win ugly lose ugly and draw ugly and going to a Villa game will be something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

I could not abide Gerard Houllier at any price but at least you eventually could see what he was trying to do albeit in fits and starts and bits and pieces..   For the life of me in the five games so far I cannot see what Alex McLeish is trying to do.   Perhaps the Newcastle game will start to disperse the fog but I shall not be there.   I am taking my wife to the theatre. 

Have to agree with all that. I guess its early days and its not AM's team yet by any means but it does seem we've reverted to hoof, but on a budget.

I have'nt seen any evidence of 'hoofing' with the goals we've scored so far in fairness, but i suppose you get a different perspective on the tellybox.

maybe not the goals but that seems our main method of attack especially against everton. We were dead lucky against them and if you give away possession at the first opportunity pumping it blindly up field sooner or later you'll play a team who keep possession and will punish us. God help us when we play the likes of the mancs and chelsea

Maybe you have a a very poor picture on your tv due to the digital switchover because i've yet to see a football game where you can't make out who has the ball most of the time.

The picture was fine on what i was watching the Everton game on, but i've been at all the other games and whilst we have played it long at times, it's not been our main tactic. If we keep scoring goals like Gabby's, the long ball myth from the people who just think we play that way will soon die away.

[brian green]

I should have added at the end of my last comment that I am not staying away from the Newcastle game because my commitment to the club is somehow diminished by my current misgivings.   I shall not be there because for the present I need a driver.   Damon works most Saturdays and his brother is away on holiday.   I shall be at QPR on the 24th as racked with uncertainty as ever I expect.

[Legion]

Leeg, it is true I genuinely feared we would be relegated with Houllier.   When we lost the Wolves game I was braced for it.   At that point Small Heath looked less likely than us to go down.   I make a point of never being hostile or rude to other posters however much I disagree with them but I would call anybody a liar who said they fancied going into the Arsenal and Liverpool games needing to scrape points for survival.   The last two weeks of the season were kind to us and ninth place flattered us hugely.

I don't fear relegation with Alex McLeish.   I fear something much worse.   We will win ugly lose ugly and draw ugly and going to a Villa game will be something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

I could not abide Gerard Houllier at any price but at least you eventually could see what he was trying to do albeit in fits and starts and bits and pieces..   For the life of me in the five games so far I cannot see what Alex McLeish is trying to do.  Perhaps the Newcastle game will start to disperse the fog but I shall not be there.   I am taking my wife to the theatre. 

A well-written post, as usual. I've emboldened (?) the key parts that I completely agree with.

[Ads]

I am impressed by Alex McLeish's handling of the media,
------------------------------------------------------------------------

me too especially the bit when he lied about one of his players being injured because he had failed a drug test. But it's okay because he was told to do it.

Alex McLeish has shagged your wife hasn't he?

And then he wiped his cock on your pillow.

[Toronto Villa]

Leeg, it is true I genuinely feared we would be relegated with Houllier.   When we lost the Wolves game I was braced for it.   At that point Small Heath looked less likely than us to go down.   I make a point of never being hostile or rude to other posters however much I disagree with them but I would call anybody a liar who said they fancied going into the Arsenal and Liverpool games needing to scrape points for survival.   The last two weeks of the season were kind to us and ninth place flattered us hugely.

I don't fear relegation with Alex McLeish.   I fear something much worse.   We will win ugly lose ugly and draw ugly and going to a Villa game will be something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

I could not abide Gerard Houllier at any price but at least you eventually could see what he was trying to do albeit in fits and starts and bits and pieces..   For the life of me in the five games so far I cannot see what Alex McLeish is trying to do.  Perhaps the Newcastle game will start to disperse the fog but I shall not be there.   I am taking my wife to the theatre. 

A well-written post, as usual. I've emboldened (?) the key parts that I completely agree with.

he's trying to make us hard to beat, first and foremost and have a sense of identity again. That should be the very first aim of any manager taking over after a year where "doubt and uncertainty" may as well have become part of the club name. It's 5 games, and even the great Sir Graham said it takes up to 3 years for a manager to make a team his own. We all know he won't get that long, but if he's still here he'll have made enough of a mark, and been successful to get 3 more years.

In my opinion, for anyone to judge him, and have a proper idea of who we are and what we might become is very, very unfair indeed.

[Vanilla]

Leeg, it is true I genuinely feared we would be relegated with Houllier.   When we lost the Wolves game I was braced for it.   At that point Small Heath looked less likely than us to go down.   I make a point of never being hostile or rude to other posters however much I disagree with them but I would call anybody a liar who said they fancied going into the Arsenal and Liverpool games needing to scrape points for survival.   The last two weeks of the season were kind to us and ninth place flattered us hugely.

I don't fear relegation with Alex McLeish.   I fear something much worse.   We will win ugly lose ugly and draw ugly and going to a Villa game will be something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

I could not abide Gerard Houllier at any price but at least you eventually could see what he was trying to do albeit in fits and starts and bits and pieces..   For the life of me in the five games so far I cannot see what Alex McLeish is trying to do.  Perhaps the Newcastle game will start to disperse the fog but I shall not be there.   I am taking my wife to the theatre. 

A well-written post, as usual. I've emboldened (?) the key parts that I completely agree with.

he's trying to make us hard to beat, first and foremost and have a sense of identity again. That should be the very first aim of any manager taking over after a year where "doubt and uncertainty" may as well have become part of the club name. It's 5 games, and even the great Sir Graham said it takes up to 3 years for a manager to make a team his own. We all know he won't get that long, but if he's still here he'll have made enough of a mark, and been successful to get 3 more years.

In my opinion, for anyone to judge him, and have a proper idea of who we are and what we might become is very, very unfair indeed.

Sense of identity? I think most Villa fans will need to see a therapist to work out what the identity of the club is after the managerial appointment. It's like the person you hate the most suddenly becoming your stepdad.

[dave.woodhall]

Leeg, it is true I genuinely feared we would be relegated with Houllier.   When we lost the Wolves game I was braced for it.   At that point Small Heath looked less likely than us to go down.   I make a point of never being hostile or rude to other posters however much I disagree with them but I would call anybody a liar who said they fancied going into the Arsenal and Liverpool games needing to scrape points for survival.   The last two weeks of the season were kind to us and ninth place flattered us hugely.

I don't fear relegation with Alex McLeish.   I fear something much worse.   We will win ugly lose ugly and draw ugly and going to a Villa game will be something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

I could not abide Gerard Houllier at any price but at least you eventually could see what he was trying to do albeit in fits and starts and bits and pieces..   For the life of me in the five games so far I cannot see what Alex McLeish is trying to do.  Perhaps the Newcastle game will start to disperse the fog but I shall not be there.   I am taking my wife to the theatre. 

A well-written post, as usual. I've emboldened (?) the key parts that I completely agree with.

he's trying to make us hard to beat, first and foremost and have a sense of identity again. That should be the very first aim of any manager taking over after a year where "doubt and uncertainty" may as well have become part of the club name. It's 5 games, and even the great Sir Graham said it takes up to 3 years for a manager to make a team his own. We all know he won't get that long, but if he's still here he'll have made enough of a mark, and been successful to get 3 more years.

In my opinion, for anyone to judge him, and have a proper idea of who we are and what we might become is very, very unfair indeed.

Sense of identity? I think most Villa fans will need to see a therapist to work out what the identity of the club is after the managerial appointment. It's like the person you hate the most suddenly becoming your stepdad.

The identity of the club is exactly the same as it was this time last year. The name of the manager doesn't change that.