The General C. Krulak Thread XIV

[cb]

General,

I certainly take your point regarding the negativity round here. We're a team who are right in the mix for fourth position this season. We have much to shout about. However, I can also see the side of some others on here who are frustrated by the team and MON. I am genuinely very positive about all things Villa related, but I can understand the frustration. We are a team with many positive aspects, but I think we lack just a small bit of invention and nous when teams come to Villa Park and sit back basically saying "OK then, break us down". We pretty much always struggle then. We have the pace, power and attitude through our side to compete with the very best, but just need a small X-factor to go to the next level. To be so near and yet so far is very frustrating, but we should still be positive considering the progress we have made.

For all of this, I really hope that the board 100% backs MON this summer. We need all of the things that he has brought to the side AND we need that little bit of invention, which I feel he somehow mistrusts. I just hope that MON's intelligence can win out over his stubborness (a quality that is also essential), and that he can add a little bit more creativity to his approach. I certainly believe he has earned another season to try and hope that the board give it to him.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

Totally agree General.

[The Moose]

General, don't worry about the moaning from the web warriors on here, the vast majority of fans appreciate the progress we have made since Randy bought the club, and long may it continue!
Proud History, Bright Future.

[pauliewalnuts]

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.

This is exactly it.

For an indication of the difference between home and away form:



Just to make it clear, I don't give a toss how we play from now until the end of the season, so long as we win. That's the most important thing at this point. What happened prior to now is done.

I also don't really care that Blues were unlucky today, the win is the most important thing at this point.

However, the fact is that this year, we've scored 29 home league goals, 10 of which were in 2 matches, leaving 19 goals across the other 17 matches. That's really not impressive.

And the goalscoring record at home was even worse last season. Given that, General, do you see why some supporters complain about the home form?

Incidentally, you've already got my 550 quid for next season, so I'm not threating to throw my toys out of the pram, but at the same time I would like to think you understand why people grumble about our home form.

We see plenty of discussion on here, for example, about how important a full stadium is to the club, both now and going forward, and it seems a generally held consensus that the quality of the product on the pitch being as good as possible will make people turn up. Just think how many more season tickets we'd sell were that table on the left a bit more healthy, or with more goals in the "for" column.

I'd also like to point out that, contrary to one of the posts above, to suggest this is just an "internet thing" is beyond ridicule.

[The Moose]

The overreaction seen on this site is obvious and constant. The same few posters continually seek out negatives and wind up everyone else. The point is that it is unrepresentative of Villa fans as a whole. This is my view. Sorry if it doesn't fit your view.
Feel free to ridicule.

[pauliewalnuts]

The overreaction seen on this site is obvious and constant. The same few posters continually seek out negatives and wind up everyone else. The point is that it is unrepresentative of Villa fans as a whole. This is my view. Sorry if it doesn't fit your view.
Feel free to ridicule.

You have your say.

I'll have mine. Everyone else has theirs.

It really is that simple.

[Dave Cooper please]

General, the match thread is like a conduit for those of us who aren't at the game to chat to others who also aren't at the game but like we ARE at the game if you know what I mean!
We watch on TV or dodgy internet feed and we virtually shout, swear, moan, celebrate etc. etc.

I can guarantee that the majority of those who were at Villa Park today were whinging like buggery to the bloke sat next to them about the performance from half-time to about the 80th minute, it was awful! And that's what we do on the match thread!

I vote that we keep the match thread, it's great for those of us that don't go, but it gets deleted straight afterwards so we don't get picked up on spur of the moment comments. Let's face it, who hasn't yelled something like "Fucking hell Carew, you are shit!" two minutes before he scores a cracker?

[Legion]

Dave, it is not deleted but moved to the 'Match Threads & Player Ratings' section of the Forum.

[sfx412]

General Krulak here:

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.

Thing is General stats show, the world knows, we draw too many battles hadn't you noticed, especially at home

Give me a win is something I was shouting until Gabby went down, then I screamed penalty.

[ozzjim]

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.

General, you have to take the match thread in the moment when comments are made. Truth is if we are getting pummelled at home against our nearest rivals having drawn 6 out of 7 at home before it, needing to win to stay in the war so to speak, then people will get frustrated. I was at the Sunderland and Everton games and could not get there today, and the comments at the ground were similar. People will point out when a player is out of position, the manager makes the same changes etc because we of course all know better - otherwise we would not be fans!

We all love the Villa General, we all are desperate for tangible success, and any moaning is only is wanting to see that realised.

Will the Everton fans be moaning on their boards - you bet they will. Football fans moan. Think we are bad, go to a Spurs board.

[dicedlam]

I wouldn't take it to heart so much General.

A couple of hundred internet geeks (me being one of them) bitching about the game, is usually the norm on any football site.
I am old enough to remember the really bad times we have had over the years, going back to the dark days of 68, so seeing the Villa of today compared to then is like chalk and cheese.

I do think a few of us should stop and pause for a while and reflect on how far we have come in such a short space of time since Ellis though.


Thanks to everybody General.

[ckrulak]

Geneeral Krulak here:

1.  pauliewalnuts:  Simply put, your concerns do not mirror mine.  I look at the stats that you displayed and there is MUCH that I take away as positive.  You, on the other hand, see negative.  That makes horse raising.  We lost, at home, the same number of games as ManU, Arsenal and Liverpool...at the beginning of this season, would you have been happy to say that?  I expect you would.  Only one team in the entire Premiership has had as many away wins as we have.  At the beginning of the season, would you have been happy to say that?  I expect you would.  And, oh by the way, we have lost fewer away games than any of the current top 4!! Do you think, just possibly, that teams that come to Villa Park know full well that our strengths are found in a blistering pace, etc. and that they come to defeat that strength...and that in their efforts to do so, they force an "ugly" game?  Isn't that what the game is all about...putting your opponents strengths in jeopardy?  We do the same thing when we go away!  The big difference, in my opinion, is that when we go away, our opponents play a more open game that allows us to capitalize on our strengths.  Thus, our record away.  Our squad is our squad...we play the way we play because MON, like any good manager, strives to capitalize on the strengths of his lads.  I am not sure what you would like MON to do...alter tactics even though it would not be advantageous to the play of our lads?  I am sorry, I just don't buy your premise...and I certainly don't feel that 64 points with 2 games to go is something to feel bad about.  Sure, I would have loved to have won more home games....but it is what it is.  At this stage of the season, I am not about to worry about what happened in the past...I am concentrating on the future.

[Toronto Villa]

I bet you don't get this heated watching the Browns do you General?

It's all about opinions and you've both got good positions. You can read and spin stats a thousand ways. I think we have to find a way to break down those teams as the top teams manage to do. But that's part of our evolution. Under MON I think we'll always be a very good away team, but the next stage of our development at Villa Park has to going from hard to beat, to hard to beat with an ability to raise our game a level and turn potential draws into wins. It doesn't really matter how we get to that point, but it will ultimately bridge the gap between just chasing for 4th and getting to semi-finals/finals of cups, to actually winning silverware.

[TimTheVillain]

I do think a few of us should stop and pause for a while and reflect on how far we have come in such a short space of time since Ellis.

Here, here.

[Toronto Villa]

I do think a few of us should stop and pause for a while and reflect on how far we have come in such a short space of time since Ellis.

Here, here.

I think people do appreciate where we've come from. At some point you have to let the past be the past, and you cannot keep harping back to how it used to be. We have to continue to move forward. The General knows we appreciate all of the work that has gone on in the past 4 years.