What Is It About Aston Villa

[Gregorys Boy]

I think  a big chunk of the problem is our insistence on hiring British managers and coaches, and usually mediocre or inexperienced ones at that.  They are, almost without exception, tactically lacking compared to foreign counterparts.  Our most successful recent manager, O'Neill was much lauded by sections of the UK media, yet was a dinosaur in terms of tactics and playing style.   Houllier showed promise and I felt it was a shame he couldn't continue.  Sherwood is so bad he is even being out thought by the likes of Pardew.  Lambert was so bad that a corner was as good as a goal for the opposition, and he put 6 up front against Bradford.  McLeish with Hutton and Heskey as wingers away at Spurs says it all.  I mean these guys are paid millions to come up with this garbage.  And yet they all seem to be as thick as two short planks.  But we continue to throw money at them.

Well I don't really agree with you on MON and certainly not on Houllier but the point I would make is that its easy to be smart after the event. When we appointed Lambert none of us had any idea that his reign was going to be such a nightmare, and the majority of Villa supporters at the time felt like we had the ideal manager giving the budget he would have to work with, and that the club needed a fresh young manager to rebuild the team. It just turns out than Lambert isn't that fresh young manager.  Its maybe the reverse now where we actually need a more experience manager like say an Allardynce to steady the ship and get us competing again.

But we've gone with Sherwood now, he has spent the money so we have to back him until the end of the season, and if things are no better then make a change.  And on a side note I've always rated Padrew as a manager and he is now showing Newcastle fans what they are missing...

[ktvillan]

I think  a big chunk of the problem is our insistence on hiring British managers and coaches, and usually mediocre or inexperienced ones at that.  They are, almost without exception, tactically lacking compared to foreign counterparts.  Our most successful recent manager, O'Neill was much lauded by sections of the UK media, yet was a dinosaur in terms of tactics and playing style.   Houllier showed promise and I felt it was a shame he couldn't continue.  Sherwood is so bad he is even being out thought by the likes of Pardew.  Lambert was so bad that a corner was as good as a goal for the opposition, and he put 6 up front against Bradford.  McLeish with Hutton and Heskey as wingers away at Spurs says it all.  I mean these guys are paid millions to come up with this garbage.  And yet they all seem to be as thick as two short planks.  But we continue to throw money at them.

Well I don't really agree with you on MON and certainly not on Houllier but the point I would make is that its easy to be smart after the event. When we appointed Lambert none of us had any idea that his reign was going to be such a nightmare, and the majority of Villa supporters at the time felt like we had the ideal manager giving the budget he would have to work with, and that the club needed a fresh young manager to rebuild the team. It just turns out than Lambert isn't that fresh young manager.  Its maybe the reverse now where we actually need a more experience manager like say an Allardynce to steady the ship and get us competing again.

But we've gone with Sherwood now, he has spent the money so we have to back him until the end of the season, and if things are no better then make a change.  And on a side note I've always rated Padrew as a manager and he is now showing Newcastle fans what they are missing...

I'm not alone in thinking O'Neill was a tactical dinosaur when he was with us, not after the event.  Sure he achieved 6th place three times, but he spent a massive amount of money to achieve that and I don't think was that difficult at the time, given his budget, and the mediocrity of the PL below the big four or five.  His record in Europe showed up his poor tactical nous.  If that didn't convince you, then his time at Sunderland displayed his many shortcomings for all to see.   Houllier, for all his PR gaffes,  was taking us in the right direction and we were playing some nice stuff towards the end of that season.  I was open minded but unconvinced by Lambert when we went for him, same as when we went for Sherwood.  Both times (again not after the event) I advocated seeking out a foreign coach who knew the tactical game.  That's not to say they always work out(e.g. Villas-Boas, De Canio) but they often do.  Pardew is one of the better British managers but that's not saying much.  I'm not sure why you would think Allardyce is the answer to a lack of tactical nous and flexibility.

[LTA]

In fairness we have some good people on the backroom staff.  However, it's a waste of time if Sherwood isn't prepared to listen to them when they try to advise him.

I can't for one minute believe that they were all in agreement with his subs yesterday.

[exigo]

We have a new back four, new manager, new fucking everything but I just knew we were going to throw that two goal lead away.

*shrugs*

this.

When our second went in, I was looking at the odds for a Leicester win (40/1) and us not winning (8/1). My biggest regret is not backing either, as it was so obvious.

There in a nutshell is my life as a Villa fan.

[themossman]

There are a lot of reasons but for my money the major factor is manager appointments. Look at the clubs around us and you see how easy it is to get either an experienced name from world football (ranieri, koeman, advocaat) or somebody who has done the job in the premier league but become unfairly maligned (pardew, Hughes, fat Sam).

You could argue houllier was in the first category and I believe that was the last time we seemed to be moving forward with any kind of coherent plan, but that was ill fated for its own reasons. Since then we have avoided both these proven routes and gone for 'bold', 'will make for a good story if it works' type options, from decent club man to brass balled manager of local rivals to unpredictable new talent. Why? Our idealistic American owners? An aversion to bringing in large egos who might question the status quo and refuse to work with unrealistic budgets (surely debunked by the TS appointment)? A collective will to avoid the obvious?

I haven't written TS off yet, far from it, but yesterday, how we could have done with a 'proper' manager to see out the game.

[joe_c]

For some reason the thread title put me in mind of Human Nature by Gary Clail (a hit in the early 90s for Gary Clail for the benefit of our younger viewers) and similar to the song, I can only conclude, there's something wrong with Aston Villa.

[aj2k77]

People bang on about the ownership. This has nothing to do with the ownership.  It has to do with the Sherwood, the coaches and the team they have assembled for £50m plus.  Randy didn't lose us the game form a 2-0 winning position yesterday, the c***s on the field and in the dug out did that.

Fair play to Leicester and their fans though, you hardly ever see that sort of atmosphere at VP, other than major Derby days.  Their fans played a major part in the result which is something at home we very rarely do.  We just take the piss out of those that try to and laugh when they get kicked out.

We rarely ever come back from 2-0 down to win in the last 20 minutes. That's why you saw a good atmosphere at the end. For the other hour or so they weren't noisy at all.

[KRS]

I completely agree aj2k77...we weren't singing "is this a library?" for no reason.

[joe_c]

I completely agree aj2k77...we weren't singing "is this a library?" for no reason.

Correct. Yesterday's opponents are more than welcome to their committee driven atmosphere of flags, cheer sticks and Kasabian.

[kippaxvilla2]

I stand corrected.  Apparently that was the first time we have let a two goal slip since 2012 which I find hard to believe.