The General C. Krulak Thread XIV

[BannedUserIAT]

General, I have visions of the conversation with Pelty taking place during a light-sabre duel. I hope he still has all his hands.

Listen up, Pelty

[ckrulak]

General Krulak here:

1.  Pelty is really a pretty special lad.  He has a Phd in Religious Studies and is teaching at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  He has 3 children...two lads and a lass.  As I indicated, he is a football fanatic and still plays himself.  He and his oldest son have both been to Villa.

2.  I believe we have, at least, one more year on our Nike contract...maybe two.

[BannedUserIAT]

A PHd in religious studies......tell him to get over to off topic and we'll take that PHD for a spin and see what it can do!

[ckrulak]

General Krulak here:

1.  I have been following the game thread and have a tough time reading some of the comments.  We have picked up 9 points in basically one week.  We have played a team fighting relegation and we have played a team that we knew was going to put up a huge fight.  We won all of them.  It just amazes me that our own fans bust on our Lads and our Manager after such a tough week...a week where we had to win and have won.  So it wasn't as pretty as some would have liked it to be...well, when you play a derby, things aren't always pretty.  I watched the ManU-ManCity game and didn't think it was too pretty...and a goal with 17 seconds left could be termed fairly "lucky"...if a penalty can be considered lucky.  Let's just give our lads and our Manager their due...let's just applaud the fact that when the chips were down, they won when they needed to win.  We are on 64 points right now with two more games to play.  If we could have been guaranteed 64 points at the start of the season I would bet that there would have been fans who would have taken the points!  All the negativity from some of the fans just gets old after awhile....why can't we just enjoy the win...recognize that beating the Blues will never be a walk in the park (aside from 5-1) and give MON and Cuellar a rest.  They really don't deserve all the crap they get from a minority of fans.  I cannot imagine coming out of a battle that I won...and having people who didn't take part in the battle telling me I was lucky to win or that I fought poorly.  We won!  For just a day, let's be happy about it.

[Dave]

General Krulak here:

1.  I have been following the game thread and have a tough time reading some of the comments.

I wouldn't worry too much about that General - we could be winning 5-0 at half-time and we'd still find reason to complain in the match thread. It's what they're there for.

As you say, it's been a great week and I'm fairly sure we're all very happy with how it has gone.

[Legion]

General Krulak here:

We won! For just a day, let's be happy about it.

I'm bloody ecstatic!

[Risso]

The match thread reflects the fact that for 83 minutes, we weren't winning, and we weren't playing well.  Of course everybody's pleased that we've won, but you can't expect people to praise our play at 0-0, because to be honest, it was pretty poor.

[Legion]

General, you might like to read the Post-Match thread aswell:

http://www.heroesandvillains.info/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=38314&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[berneboy]

General Krulak here:

1.  I have been following the game thread and have a tough time reading some of the comments.  We won!  For just a day, let's be happy about it.

Agreed, General.

Some of us enjoy moaning.

[sfx412]

General Krulak here:

1.  I have been following the game thread and have a tough time reading some of the comments.

I wouldn't worry too much about that General - we could be winning 5-0 at half-time and we'd still find reason to complain in the match thread. It's what they're there for.

As you say, it's been a great week and I'm fairly sure we're all very happy with how it has gone.

As may be, Dave, but  I saw some people moaning how lucky we were straight after in the post match thread mind.

Thing is General, the last 3 games have provided 3 great results, not 3 great performances and does something to hide the failings during the 7-1 hammering and the losses of points through March to the likes of Wolves, Sunderland and Stoke. Without those 4th wouldn't be a slight possibility but a forgone certainty.
I doubt as its a victory against Blues any died in the wool Villa fan won't be celebrating, and I'm sure most everyone is overjoyed at the points improvement, visits to Wembley and so on. They also know, it wouldn't have taken much to have gained a huge amount more and as you are fond of battle analogies, I doubt many Generals praise a minor victory when they know a more insightful decision during the battle would have ended the war totally.

You may not like the view put over by genuine fans watching the game via TV but remember this they do so because of their love for Villa, nothing more, nothing less

[Nastylee]

General Krulak here:

1.  I have been following the game thread and have a tough time reading some of the comments.  We have picked up 9 points in basically one week.  We have played a team fighting relegation and we have played a team that we knew was going to put up a huge fight.  We won all of them.  It just amazes me that our own fans bust on our Lads and our Manager after such a tough week...a week where we had to win and have won.  So it wasn't as pretty as some would have liked it to be...well, when you play a derby, things aren't always pretty.  I watched the ManU-ManCity game and didn't think it was too pretty...and a goal with 17 seconds left could be termed fairly "lucky"...if a penalty can be considered lucky.  Let's just give our lads and our Manager their due...let's just applaud the fact that when the chips were down, they won when they needed to win.  We are on 64 points right now with two more games to play.  If we could have been guaranteed 64 points at the start of the season I would bet that there would have been fans who would have taken the points!  All the negativity from some of the fans just gets old after awhile....why can't we just enjoy the win...recognize that beating the Blues will never be a walk in the park (aside from 5-1) and give MON and Cuellar a rest.  They really don't deserve all the crap they get from a minority of fans.  I cannot imagine coming out of a battle that I won...and having people who didn't take part in the battle telling me I was lucky to win or that I fought poorly.  We won!  For just a day, let's be happy about it.

 =D> Couldn't agree more, the last few months on all the message boards have been pretty pathetic at times.

[Guy M]

Great post, General. Glad you're willing to say it how you see itt.

As a supporter who very much picks and chooses which home and away games to attend, until yesterday I couldn't understand the negativity either. But as I actually spent some time looking at our results since the turn of the year and it dawned on me that we'd won 1 and drawn 6 of the last 7 home league games, I began to see the situation from the other side somewhat more. And I could only wonder how frustrating it might have been for those who do attend week in, week out.

And I think that's what it is more than anything. Frustration in some quarters that despite the Race For Fourth Place (trademark SSN *gags*) being tighter than ever, the sense of what might have been with only a little more invention or risk-taking.

I think the support for MON and the team is still very much there. At Pompey last week there seemed to be as much chanting of Martin O'Neill's name (as part of a song that also acknowledges Randy's involvement) as there has been for some time . And as an unashamed happy clapper and devotee of Wee Martin that makes me very happy. But I can at least understand the more constructive elements of criticism a bit more now.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your weekend because most of us Brummies are. Well, the claret and blue half anyway!

[Guy M]

General Krulak here:

1.  I have been following the game thread and have a tough time reading some of the comments.  We won!  For just a day, let's be happy about it.

Agreed, General.

Some of us enjoy moaning.

Or in shorter terms, what he said.

I LOVE moaning. I just try to avoid doing it about the Villa and save my misanthropy for just about every other part of my life. Especially people leaving free papers on public transport.

[ckrulak]

General Krulak here:

1.  I watched the Everton-Fulham game....NOT a well played game!!  It ended with a "non-penalty" being given to Everton immediately after Everton was give a throw-in that was absolutely OUT on an Everton player!  So Everton wins the game with 6 seconds left on 4 minutes added time!!  I wonder if I went onto the Everton web site there would be people moaning about how badly their team played and how "lucky" they were to win???

2.  I don't begrudge any fan saying what he or she thinks...and home or away, they have the right!  My point is simply that 3 games ago I remarked that we needed to play them one at a time...play hard...cheer loudly...and get wins.  So far, 3 wins in a week.  Forget about what happened months ago...it is what it is.  We need to win the next 2 in a row and bitching about the Manager or a player is not going to help.  

3.  I guess you might say I am a tad frustrated.  My gosh, we did win didn't we???????  As for the battle analogy, give me a win...that's all I care about.  Win enough battles and you win the war.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

General.

Hope you're well and you'll be back again before the season is finished. I appreciate your efforts and time in coming on here and communicating with the fans. The one thing you mentioned earlier in this thread you've had a tough time in reading some of the match thread today. Please bear in mind that for whatever reason these people aren't at the game, and there were 42,000 people shouting Martin O'Neill's name, and shouting for the team today 110%, whether they were playing well or not so well.
Please don't let the 'cyber fans' fool you into thinking that ALL Villa fans are that way. Anyone at the game today could see the players gave everything today against a really pumped up bunch of thugs from across the city. When the decisions haven't gone our way we've dealt with it with class. (Despite the hurt) - They dealt with it how they know. This may not have been quite so noticeable to the 'watch at home fans'