0% Villa: Benitez sacked (Confirmed p.6)

[MoetVillan]

I think 6th is a good achievement.  Im not satisfied with it, and want us to move on up.  I cant help thinking that we are not so far away (Chelsea away aside) from challenging the top teams.  Thats without the Champions league pull and without all the Citeh millions.  A few performances, or results improved on and we are right there. Its so bloody frustrating

[peter w]

Swithcing the two players may be good yes (Downing and Ash) but it proved otherwise last season. Downing produced nothing of note down the left - save one goal at Blackburn) and Ash is at his best on the left.

As I've also said Ashley Young is our best player. When he's firing we fire. What you don't do is feck around with him to try and accommodate others. granted it was worth the go and Ash wasn't playing at his best so it was worth trying to see if it got him and the team going.

It didn't and so we should have gone back to what works for us and the player - Ash down the left and given freedom to roam.

[Concrete John]

Swithcing the two players may be good yes (Downing and Ash) but it proved otherwise last season. Downing produced nothing of note down the left - save one goal at Blackburn) and Ash is at his best on the left.

As I've also said Ashley Young is our best player. When he's firing we fire. What you don't do is feck around with him to try and accommodate others. granted it was worth the go and Ash wasn't playing at his best so it was worth trying to see if it got him and the team going.

It didn't and so we should have gone back to what works for us and the player - Ash down the left and given freedom to roam.

I agree Ash is at his best on the left.  So is Downing, yet I do think the switching was more to do with getting more from Ash than it was to do with Downing.  The other option was to keep him on the left and easy to neutralise, so I'd say fair play to the manager for trying something different, which he's often accused of not doing.

Personally, I was all for trying him in a free role in a 4-4-1-1 was Downing was fit.  However, that would have meant Milner on the right and not tried in the middle, so what do I know?

[TheSandman]

RE being found out a good idea might be to drop a striker and play Ash in a free role behind Gabby. Put Albrighton on the right, Downing on the left. If they double team Ash then they'll leave space for one of the others and get sucked out of place.

[peter w]

Swithcing the two players may be good yes (Downing and Ash) but it proved otherwise last season. Downing produced nothing of note down the left - save one goal at Blackburn) and Ash is at his best on the left.

As I've also said Ashley Young is our best player. When he's firing we fire. What you don't do is feck around with him to try and accommodate others. granted it was worth the go and Ash wasn't playing at his best so it was worth trying to see if it got him and the team going.

It didn't and so we should have gone back to what works for us and the player - Ash down the left and given freedom to roam.

I agree Ash is at his best on the left.  So is Downing, yet I do think the switching was more to do with getting more from Ash than it was to do with Downing.  The other option was to keep him on the left and easy to neutralise, so I'd say fair play to the manager for trying something different, which he's often accused of not doing.

Personally, I was all for trying him in a free role in a 4-4-1-1 was Downing was fit.  However, that would have meant Milner on the right and not tried in the middle, so what do I know?

I've said all along that Milner best position is as a Des Bremner type right-midfielder.

[peter w]

RE being found out a good idea might be to drop a striker and play Ash in a free role behind Gabby. Put Albrighton on the right, Downing on the left. If they double team Ash then they'll leave space for one of the others and get sucked out of place.

Maybe, but Albrighton isn't good enough and Ash is a winger.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

RE being found out a good idea might be to drop a striker and play Ash in a free role behind Gabby. Put Albrighton on the right, Downing on the left. If they double team Ash then they'll leave space for one of the others and get sucked out of place.

Downing coming off the bench to replace Ashley or replacing Ashley if he's having a lean spell, like most of last season.

[Concrete John]

I've said all along that Milner best position is as a Des Bremner type right-midfielder.

I think he pretty much played that way in his first season with us.  Now that we've seen him there and in the middle, I'd say he's twice the player when playing centrally.

[peter w]

I've said all along that Milner best position is as a Des Bremner type right-midfielder.

I think he pretty much played that way in his first season with us.  Now that we've seen him there and in the middle, I'd say he's twice the player when playing centrally.

He was playing more as a midfielder cum winger so we haven't really seen him play in the midfield role, one where the emphasis isn't on beating his man and getting a cross in.

[Greg N'Ash]

"in the same bracket as Birmingham"?

What a c***.

heh. if you want to leave him a comment feel free. i was gonna but i was afraid i'd put him off MON.

http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2010/06/lfc-need-motivator-and-martino-neill-is.html

[TheSandman]

Having read the comments from the Liverpool fans it seems they are voicing similar criticisms of him to some of his more vociferous critics on here.

[Greg N'Ash]

aye. he's like the scouse chris smith

[montague]

We have improved year on year for 4 straight years - not dramatically but moving forward.

When was the last time Villa achieved this?

Has any club achieved this in premier league history?

First couple of years the football was great - remember the 4-4's - but the defence had to be rebuilt for various reasons. Now we have done that he deserves another season at least to make us see if we can again be the attacking force we were. he has done nothing to deserve being replaced.

Now again be careful what you wish for. Plenty of names being bandied around in the last few pages have no grounding in English football and are not guaranteed to succeed. Look at Scholari and Ramos. A replacement might work or it could be a complete and utter catastrophe. All the great teams have one thing in common - continuity. Lets see if he can finish the job.

[sfx412]

I can remember Villa going from Div 3 through to Div 2 then Div 1, winning Div 1 and then winning the European Cup and managing a few Cup wins along the way. Decent year on improvement I thought at the time.

nothing like as good as Mon's achievement of course, oh no, definitely not.

[hilts_coolerking]

We have improved year on year for 4 straight years - not dramatically but moving forward.

And in the meantime, while we've been inching forward, Spurs and Man City have made quicker progress - meaning that the club's ambition of finishing 4th is getting harder, not easier, to achieve.

Incremental improvement is all well and good in isolation but if it's not keeping pace with our rivals' progress then it's a problem.