Aston Villa v Rapid Vienna Post-Match Thread

[barrysleftfoot]

    Reflecting.......3 of the back 4 were utter shite.The distribution of Cuellar, Beye, and Davies was unacceptable at this level, and Collins was much better, needs to stop trying to play 40 yd balls.

    NRC, not good enough i'm afraid, is good when he has'nt got the ball, but a liability when he has the ball.

  Albrighton, is a wide player full stop.

  Ireland and Petrov, thought they played well at times, but Ireland should play further foward for me, at least he is looking for a pass.

  Ayoung...stop the diving, play more like you did in the 1st half, and you could be a cracking player.
 
 Gabby.....please don't get injured the rest of the season.

  Heskey/Carew.....we would be better off without both of them.

  Kevin Mac....for me a decent man out of his depth, not a leader, does'nt inspire, not a leader.Good luck, but not as 1st team coach.

[Smithy]

Ah, does Petrov's comment about the lack of a managerial appointment affecting the team explain his one step penalty and his subsequent 'nice height for a goalie' penalty kick? The lack of a full-time manager must explain his shocking penalty, mustn't it? Perhaps, personal responsibility for your performance might have a bearing too, eh, Stilyan?

It would definitely have affected who stepped up to take it.

[mr woo]

Serious decline? Have you people heard yourselves.

Ok, we took a hammering versus Newcastle, and we lost tonight. Tonight doesn't count as 'decline' as we exit the tournament in the same round against the same team we did last year.

So your basis of our 'serious decline' is one thrashing with a caretaker manager. I know there's going to be some overreaction after a loss, but some of you are bloody mental.

Have to disagree with you here mate. We are a bloody good manager and a 30million pound midfielder worse off than we were this time last year.

[mygardenshed1982]

every single one of these players that people are aiming their anger at is a MON signing. Like many MON sides, we are lacking in technique and intelligent footballers. The benefit for me is that he's gone. If the board make the right appointment, we can still move forward. We were shite tonight and K Mac is not the man. But we were putting in shite performances last season. I am still hopeful. Not for a champs league place or a great season, but for someone with real nouse to take us on and develop us further. I don't understand picking on the board. They backed our previous manager more than any other villa manager and look at the team that was assembled. No wonder they are taking their time. I am not saying they are perfect, but if I ran a business and spunked 100m to get effectively nothing for it, I might take a little time myself in finding the next person to run it.

[Tony]

I really don't understand the Heskey hatred. He scored a goal, great reactions but people just concentrate on a snapshot reaction to a very poor penalty. I thought he played well tonight, held the ball well, won some free kicks in good positions.

Ireland had a great first hour, not one misplaced pass, very inventive. Disappeared badly though.

Davies was fucking shite, mind.

Heskey was our best player tonight. Sadly, he was playing his career in a microcosm. So good with headers, crossing, passing and winning free kicks but utterly inept in front of goal.

Errrm, you know he scored?

Yes it's odd, he not only scored, he won the penalty too, so he had two extremely important contributions to the game, and he's the one getting so much stick?

[Somniloquism]

i only saw bits of it due to a shit stream but I see Davies is getting much of the blame.  I can only say the first Rapid goal was down to Beye giving it away, Cuellar losing the aerial battle and Guzan being beaten on his near post.  And the second was mostly down to Guzan's fuck up.

So you didn't see how the corner they scored from came about? Davies is a yard from the side line hoofs the ball out for a corner over the top of our own crossbar. If it wasn't a corner then it wouldn't have been a goal.

No I didn't see it,  as I said I had a dodgy stream that stopped after the second equalizer. So he gave a corner away.  The absolute c***.  Should we shoot him do you reckon?

Sorry, he didn't just give away the corner they scored from, he gifted it to them. He had no pressure, he could have turned and played the ball up the field, he could have played the ball to Beye, he could have turned and tapped the ball out for a throw. Instead he just blasts it towards our goal from 35 yards out two yards from the bye line. It wasn't even a back pass as it was 20 yards over the bar.

It wasn't the first cock up he made in the game and we were lucky the other didn't lead to goals. Clearing header straight up into the air with no pressure. Awful clearance under no pressure which leads to a dangerous free kick.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

I have not felt this low about Villa for years. Lerner has gotta turn this round very quickly. Not Macs fault he is totally out of his depth. He wouldn't motivate my 5yr old. Sven on a 1yr contract. Steady the ship and bring some loan players in ..............

[Pants]

I think the 5 year plan finishes in the Championship. I honestly don't think we'll see European football at VP again for quite some time. We are in serious decline!!!

Let's hope we don't see European football at VP for a while because we just disgrace ourselves every time we enter. It was over 10 years ago we actually had a decent run in Europe.

We just need to make sure we stay up this season.

[mr woo]

And something else while we're at it.

James Collins -yes thats right kids , the fucking central defender - showed more movement, more inventiveness and more intelligence in a forward role than our 60k a week recently retired international striker.

You tell me whats wrong about that.

[nigelavilla]

Curtis Davies - MON must be laughing his socks off, your moaning about not have a fair chance under MON - the way you played last two games sums up why you were not given a chance - Cant head a ball and the corner you gave away was simply shocking

Guzan, Beye, Davies - Not good enough.

We all face a very frustrating season, why do we bother chasing a European place to then put in the second string ?

[TheSandman]

I really don't understand the Heskey hatred. He scored a goal, great reactions but people just concentrate on a snapshot reaction to a very poor penalty. I thought he played well tonight, held the ball well, won some free kicks in good positions.

Ireland had a great first hour, not one misplaced pass, very inventive. Disappeared badly though.

Davies was fucking shite, mind.

Heskey was our best player tonight. Sadly, he was playing his career in a microcosm. So good with headers, crossing, passing and winning free kicks but utterly inept in front of goal.

Errrm, you know he scored?

Yes it's odd, he not only scored, he won the penalty too, so he had two extremely important contributions to the game, and he's the one getting so much stick?

I did say he was our best player! There are lots more deserving contenders for stick.

Fuck. I'm depressed.

[andyh]

so, we spend 2 years complaining that the manager is wrong to keep playing people out of position. So, the manager goes and what does his replacement do ?
The club appears to be shambolic and lacking leadership from top to bottom.
Lerner is quickly going to lose all of the wonderful plaudits he has rightly earned in the last 4 years.
It will count for shit if we don't appoint the right man and quickly.
Confidence on the pitch and in KM has evaporated. I fear Everton will tear us a new one on Sunday, and then there is a two week break...not a good situation to be in.
Proud history.......bright future, I sincerley hope so, but I'm starting to fear the worst.

[D.boy]

I am normally the most placid person in the world however I am currently apoplectic.
Guzan - doesn't fill me with confidence and I don't see him as a replacement for big Brad.
Beye - caught in possession and gave the ball away to many times.
Davies - wouldn't even make a pub team. What was he thinking when he gave the corner away? The only thing tight about our defence was his arsehole when the ball came near him.
Cuellar - played ok but is not a right back.
Collins - glad he was back but needs Dunne alongside him.
Petrov - Definately not a penalty taker. Wasted the opportunity. Needs to sort out where he fits in with Ireland. From what I saw Ireland seemed to be playing holding role.
Ireland - Some nice touches but was too ineffective due to playing too deep.
Reo-coker - Still can't pass a ball to a villa player.
Young - Caused them problems and great cross for gabbys goal. Really needs to work hard on free kicks or give the job someone else. Needs to control his temper.
Heskey - Tried hard and got on the scoresheet.
Gabby - Showed how much we missed him up front.
Albrighton - looked good but can't be expected to do it all on his own.
We threw that game away and I will be fuming if we don't buck up on Sunday. I reserve my right to rant as I am going on Sunday as a paying punter.

[Apyadg]

Curtis Davies - MON must be laughing his socks off

He might quietly reflect for a moment that it was another one of his overpriced purchases. And when I say purchases, I mean failures. And when I say failures, I mean pants-on-head insanity that would fully justify Randy not trusting the crazy hyperactive midget with another penny.

[DC Fontana]

Struggling to find the right words and adjectives to describe possibly one of the most worrying and inept performances I've ever witnessed and the most baffling team selection....

I KNOW it's so early in the season and you shouldn't get too carried away with results one way or another but I for one am SERIOUSLY worried for the forthcoming campaign as things stand.

With no manager, no signings apart from Ireland (who was head and shoulders above anyone on the pitch tonight) and a total loss of confidence, team shape and tactical awareness the word "crisis" does feel apt right now.

I've seen some real rubbish down the Villa over the years and make no mistake Sunday's shocker and tonight leave the current Villa squad as being right up there with them....this is no over reaction and yes I am hurting and I am furious having just got home having seen that but I've been worried for a while the way things seem to be going.

Big action required and extremely rapidly.