Aston Villa v Rapid Vienna Post-Match Thread

[Ads]

I’m not surprised at all. I thought we’d lose and we did. Christ almighty but we have some piss poor players that O’Neill has brought to the club. Heskey, Guzan and then Beye and Davies in particular from tonight. You wouldn’t get a £100 in glue if we sent them to the knackers yard to be melted down.

[petegoldring]

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.

You are joking I hope.

[griffo104s]

Well a bit of a mess last night.

Some good points came out of it, Ireland looked very useful and actually has a good range of passes - some actually attempting to break the defense. I thought Heskey had an ok game but Delfounso should have come on once Gabby went off and Albrighton kept onthe bench - the wrong decision from the caretaker there, imo. We lost a lot of forward momentum and there's no doubt what Gabby brings to the team.

Young started to annoy me with his petulance - he's got so much going for him but the soft dives and arm throwing start to irk after awhile. He was trying his best to make an impact and I feel for him at the same time but there's better ways of hurting a team.

Let's face it all 3 of their goals came from basic definding mistakes by two guys - Davies and Beye. I've no idea what either one of them was thinking - Have they never heard that gret defensive art called putting it in Row Z ? What the hell was Davies thinking off ? Turning and hammering the ball out for a corner ? Why not out for a throw in - I mean he actually had to do a Cryuff like turn to do that. Dreadful. Neither one of them good enough - Cuellar should have been in the middle with Collins. Whay have we had so many problems with fullbacks over the last few years ?

W'eve been left with a bit of a mess but without these simple mistakes we weren't that bad and what can you do about stupid, basic defensive mistakes ?

And don't get me started on the penalty. The minute you see any player do a single step up you know what's going to happen. Professional footballers, one can't hit a target from 12 yards and one can't put any power behind a shot from 12 yards.

We've brought on our own downfall in the last two games against mediocre sides. It's not good enough.

What exactly is Lerner doing as well ?

[nick harper]

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.

You are joking I hope.

I too thought he led the line well. Won a penalty, created a chance that Reo-Coker dribbled wide, scored what should have been the winner. We all know his limitations but he was one of the better performers on the night.

The issue was not so much individual performances but the team was poorly set-up - I'm not sure the midfield were sure where they were playing - no width for much of the game. As a consequence the team lacked discipline - the back four and goalkeeper were nervous throughout leading to catastrophic mistakes for all the goals - the only 3 opportunites Rapid created.

Sadly the manager is not a manager at this level. His interview after the game was barely a whisper and spoke of a man who knew the game was up.

Get Sven in for 12 months to steady the ship - he has the right experience and has worked with Dunne and Ireland before.

[Matt C]

I've just had a flashback to Curtis Davies conceding a corner from having possession on the half-way line.

[eastie]

Agree nick but no point giving Sven 12 months - give him 3 yrs and a fair crack at it.

[Chris Harte]

Have to say I was totally gutted by this result.

Having gone 2-1 in front there is no way that we should have thrown that game away. Am I right in thinking Rapid had three shots on target all night? Its just desparate, and now means that all the efforts of last season - gaining sixth place and qualifying for the Europa League - mean nothing now. A whole season wasted.

And thank you very much O'Neill you bastard for walking when you did. Absolute cowardly.

[Somniloquism]

There was one point where Ireland gave the ball to NRC then moved into space to receive it back but Nigel the thick fucker tried to take on the full back on and ran it out for a goal kick

No wonder Ireland lost interest he must be thinking why the fuck didn't I take the blue pill (matrix joke)

there was another where he played a superb ball into Heskey's path in the penalty area and we got a penalty, and then when Collins made a real hash of a simple clearance and he was the only one aware to the danger, closed the man down took the ball played it to Ireland who played it out to Young who crossed and that bloke who never scores strikers goals put it in like a true striker.
Still we all see games differently

You certainley do as Collins mistake was on the stroke of half time and Gabby scored after 20 minutes.

[Clampy]

Seeing Fonz shoved out wide and Collins shoved up front for the last 10 mins, convinced me that Kmac did'nt have much of a clue what he was doing. A new manager really can't come quick enough, preferably before sunday or it could be a bit of a dark day.

[myf]

You can't really fault Heskey's efforts or commitment but he isn't really up to scratch is he?  Particularly as a lone striker.  I think it says it all that our only striker doesn't take the pen.

[Somniloquism]

I think Petrov missed the penalty as it was the first time he's kicked a ball forward.

Did you miss his first time pass to Young for the goal, and his chance off the post before Heskeys fluke.

[dutchvilla]

it's a complete shambles at the moment, but I think talk of an O'Leary-esque decline is too much. The set of players we have are decent enough (and better than 4 years ago) and it is only Man City of our immediate rivals which have bought lots of new players.

With a new manager, coherent selection, strong leadership and consistent messages to the players as to what they're meant to be doing, we should still be challenging for 5-8th places.

This is obvious isn't it? So why doesn't it seem so for Lerner et al?

[Lambert and Payne]

what a second half eh? as soon as we kicked off i said we'd have trouble on the wings tonight, particuarly with beye, not using his left until he scored, defense dont trust guzan. ireland looked sloppy and davies cant concentrate or think for himself. cuellar's not a right back id rather have given lichaj a run and put cuellar in the middle with collins. when albrighton come on are tactics went tits up. young tried to play on his self far too many times. hate to be negative but we need a new manager cus kev mac doesnt know tactics or have the experiance at this level. dont think he's got any ambition for managing at this level else he would of said from the start

[Le Lapin]

It was weird, we looked kind of in control, but our defenders and goal keeper let us down again. I know one thing from the last two games, Kevin McDonald is not good enough to be our manager. There is no intensity to the way the team play, it's all over the place, O'Leary's tenure v Doncaster comes to mind. Playing Collins up front is a deperate act. Beye and Cuellar are not left and right backs respectively, Cuellar is a centre back and has not the skills a la Luke Young fly up along the wing. Beye had a shite night, out of position and out of form.
We will never win games with Heskey up top, not good enough, we should call him a midfielder and stop this charade that he's a striker. Not good enough.
We need a manager to motivate these guys, the situation needs to be resolved asap, it's costing us games. The players are not good enough to coast it until a manager comes along, the club needs to be settle down. Stephen Ireland must be wondering what he has stepped into.
It's going to get worse before it gets better. It looks like that O'Neill timed his walk out to cause maximum damage, well done it's worked.
Dunne, Friedel, Guzan, Davies, Petrov, Carew and Heskey have to take a good look at their performances over the last two games, and a manager out of his depth will not sort this out.
The remedy will not be cheap for Randy.

[cdward]

Have to agree with a lot of what has been said already.
It reminded me of being at school when the teacher went out of the classroom, the players are just doing what they want, with nobody giving them clear direction.
K Mac the student teacher is not experienced enough, some of the older pupils (Heskey) are sensible enough to carry on with their work, but some of the others are getting ideas above themselves NRC, Beye, Collins, Petrov all thinking they can score, playing out of position, thinking they can try and play fancy football.
The new kid (Ireland) doesn't know where to sit, some of the younger kids are trying to be good but are being swept along with the rest.

We need a new permanent teacher in to take control and own the class again, or the headteacher to come in for the short term and give everyone extra lines until they start performing like we know they can.
If this continues on Sunday, the pushy parents on the sidelines will start to show their feelings, and it may turn ugly.