Are we too critical?

[villa for life]

There's so much criticism of managers and players these days, I was wondering when it was that the last player or manager had our full support. I came up with Paul McGrath as the natural choice and then wondered if he had been playing in the age of the internet, with every kick being analysed etc, whether some on here would also have found him wanting in some if not several areas. MON had loads of critics, Houllier did, McLeish does. Downing had loads, Young was criticised for going to ground to easily, crossing awfully and being awful at dead ball situations. We said Barry was fat and slow etc, the list goes on.... How about Milner, maybe him??! He was pretty much praised all round, oh..hang on, no several people said that with Ireland we were getting twice the player....Is there someone out there who has had our wholehearted support, and if so did they come before the onset of villa fanzines and chatrooms etc, someone like Ian Taylor? Also, are other fans as fickle or critical? Do Man U mans slate Rooney and Everton fans Rodwell? Do Stoke fans say Crouch is shit and QPR fans say Barton is a waste of space?
Is it us?

[Monty]

It's the nature of humans. No matter how good we have it, we always want more.

That said, I think we've actually been a pretty reasonable and hopeful lot over the last few years. However, perhaps we are guilty of only recognising what we have when we've lost it (not MON - the Emperor's lack of clothes has been exposed over time there, but perhaps with some players and even GH, to be recent about it).

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I can't ever remember moaning about Barry, Milner or even Downing.
They had off days but mostly played well.

Managers get more stick as the buck stops with them, a decent player can get away with a few shit games if the team are doing well and winning, the Manager can't as it means almost certain defeat if he makes shit decisions and plays negative football.

As for slating McAsswipe, I think he's got off pretty lightly so far on match days.

[mikeb1982]

I think we do a lot of face saving, saying we get twice the player in Ireland for Milner is plainly bollocks, but it does help us feel better about losing our best player for the second year running. Same with Young and Downing.

[mikeb1982]

As for slating McAsswipe, I think he's got off pretty lightly so far on match days.

Totally agree with this, he's had a much easier ride than Houllier and yet we were a much better team to watch last year

[pauliewalnuts]

As for slating McAsswipe, I think he's got off pretty lightly so far on match days.

Totally agree with this, he's had a much easier ride than Houllier and yet we were a much better team to watch last year

I agree too. There's plenty of anti McLeish feeling at the ground but it has hardly ever resulted in mass displays of dissatisfaction.

Houllier, who had a far more modern outlook and has forgotten more than McLose has ever known about management, got the banner treatment far earlier.

[villa for life]

Houllier got hounded though because he openly had more feelings for Liverpool than he did us. McLeish may have not produced the kind of football most would want to see, but he has never had a bad word to say about Aston Villa, quite the opposite. Despite his limitaitons, McLeish is clearly aware of how big a club we are and our tradition.

RVB - Are you serious you can't remember Downing being criticised. Go back a few hundred pages and he was being called all manner of names related to how spineless he was, and for that matter, what a silly fool MON was for buying such a crock.

I am genuinely interested whether other fans are as critical of their staff as we are of ours.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

As for slating McAsswipe, I think he's got off pretty lightly so far on match days.

Totally agree with this, he's had a much easier ride than Houllier and yet we were a much better team to watch last year

I think its so self evidently obvious and universally accepted that Mcleish is crap that if you shouted abuse your preaching to the converted.

[pauliewalnuts]

RVB - Are you serious you can't remember Downing being criticised. Go back a few hundred pages and he was being called all manner of names related to how spineless he was, and for that matter, what a silly fool MON was for buying such a crock.

I am genuinely interested whether other fans are as critical of their staff as we are of ours.

Of course they are.

Take a look at RAWK and gauge some of their opinions of the same player you mention above if you want an idea of that.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

RVB - Are you serious you can't remember Downing being criticised. Go back a few hundred pages and he was being called all manner of names related to how spineless he was, and for that matter, what a silly fool MON was for buying such a crock.

Sorry, I was referring to me, not the fanbase in general.
I always felt he'd come good after his slow start and he was arguably our best player last term.

[Toronto Villa]

Most rational people have not criticised McLeish for the sake of it. He's a good, honest man, who has only ever said good things about the club and generally the opportunity in front of him. However, he has done himself no favours at all with some of his tactical/playing decisions this season. It's pushed those same rational people to the edge of despair at times. I know I include myself in that (ok, the despair bit anyway )

I don't care about his past. I only care about what he does for us, and I have given him every opportunity to prove himself to be the right man. I haven't completely given up on him either as I genuinely believe that a manager should have the chance to build his own squad, plus there are internal playing members that are bad influences that need to purged out of the system.

That all said, it's for him to prove the doubters wrong, not for us to be lenient on him. I think for the most part he's had it relatively easy. There will always be those that hate him. Did so from the start, never gave him a chance and will never do so. That's fine. But most people have been balanced and are just being pushed to their limits.

[mikeb1982]

Houllier got hounded though because he openly had more feelings for Liverpool than he did us. McLeish may have not produced the kind of football most would want to see, but he has never had a bad word to say about Aston Villa, quite the opposite. Despite his limitaitons, McLeish is clearly aware of how big a club we are and our tradition.

Even McLeish must realise any reference to his former employers would likely result in a lynching by some of our less enlightened followers

[ez]

As for slating McAsswipe, I think he's got off pretty lightly so far on match days.

Totally agree with this, he's had a much easier ride than Houllier and yet we were a much better team to watch last year

I agree too. There's plenty of anti McLeish feeling at the ground but it has hardly ever resulted in mass displays of dissatisfaction.

Houllier, who had a far more modern outlook and has forgotten more than McLose has ever known about management, got the banner treatment far earlier.

Indeed. I think the better question is are we critical enough?

[olaftab]

No. We pay lot of money to watch so being critical comes with the ticket.

[mikeb1982]

As for slating McAsswipe, I think he's got off pretty lightly so far on match days.

Totally agree with this, he's had a much easier ride than Houllier and yet we were a much better team to watch last year

I agree too. There's plenty of anti McLeish feeling at the ground but it has hardly ever resulted in mass displays of dissatisfaction.

Houllier, who had a far more modern outlook and has forgotten more than McLose has ever known about management, got the banner treatment far earlier.

Indeed. I think the better question is are we critical enough?

I think we are trying to find the line between rightly voicing negative opinions about an awful manager, and not looking like small time, "hate him cos he's Blues" dickheads, which the media are gagging for