Aston Villa v The Blues Post-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Yes pretty scathing.

[spangley1812]

6th, 6th, 6th. Now we are 3 points off relegation after 10 games. Work it fucking out.

I've just worked it out.
If your manager leaves you five days before the start of the season, you cannot strengthen because of this and then you get injuries to key players, you tend to struggle.
Is that the answer?

And your chairman waits until the transfer window closes before appointing a new manager

[Lambert and Payne]

Houllier said: "I don’t want to have players who say ‘he’s a good player but'...He needs to get rid of these ‘buts’ & be a good player.”

When asked why Ireland wasn't playing

I think that sounds like a bit of a challenge towards Ireland, this is a good test, will he rise to the challenge? Or sulk and leave?

[dave.woodhall]

6th, 6th, 6th. Now we are 3 points off relegation after 10 games. Work it fucking out.

I've just worked it out.
If your manager leaves you five days before the start of the season, you cannot strengthen because of this and then you get injuries to key players, you tend to struggle.
Is that the answer?

And your chairman waits until the transfer window closes before appointing a new manager

Yes, because they're just there waiting to be picked off the trees.

[Dave Cooper please]

6th, 6th, 6th. Now we are 3 points off relegation after 10 games. Work it fucking out.

I've just worked it out.
If your manager leaves you five days before the start of the season, you cannot strengthen because of this and then you get injuries to key players, you tend to struggle.
Is that the answer?

And your chairman waits until the transfer window closes before appointing a new manager

Aye, that's possibly one for the conspiracy theorists, but yes, it didn't help.

[Ad@m]

And your chairman waits until the transfer window closes before appointing a new manager

Oh behave!

When MON left there was about 3 weeks til the end of the transfer window closed.  Given MON's desertion was so sudden the club, quite understandably, had to then sit down and draw up a list of suitable candidates.

All of the potential candidates out there were in contracts (except the likes of Curbishley but the thought of that makes me shudder!).  With interviews to take place and then contracts to sort out I think it's being cynical to the extreme to suggest the process was deliberately delayed until after the closure of the transfer window.  We got someone in as quickly as could reasonably be done.

Anyway, what would be the motive for deliberately delaying matters as you suggest?

[The Situation]

My apologies for saying Clark was shit (was angry at time lol) - he wasn't he had a decent game, made a few silly tackles, but overall he did considering he was thrown in a derby game not playing his normal position. Nearly won it at the end for us as well.

I don't agree with Houllier playing Sidwell, Coker and Clarke - where's the creativity? Should of just played Clarke Coker and Ireland.

[Reality]

6th, 6th, 6th. Now we are 3 points off relegation after 10 games. Work it fucking out.

I've just worked it out.
If your manager leaves you five days before the start of the season, you cannot strengthen because of this and then you get injuries to key players, you tend to struggle.
Is that the answer?

Of course. We drew today and had no shots on target in the first half because of O'Neill. It's all his fault. Not about the weird team selection or defensive mentality at home.

[Legion]

I thought Clarke and Bannan played well.

[Shrek]

Well we are fucked until January, we have no composure in the final third. We are all scared when an opposition player is within 2 yards of us.

We just don't look like scoring and we are now 13th and 3 points off the bottom 3. We could quite easily find ourselves near the bottom off the table come January if we don't start scoring goals.

[Risso]

Didn't see the game but doesn't like I missed a lot.  What was that team selection all about?

[itbrvilla]

Too many crosses into an empty box. Just the same as under O'Neil

[Dave Cooper please]

Of course. We drew today and had no shots on target in the first half because of O'Neill. It's all his fault. Not about the weird team selection or defensive mentality at home.

It's not all O'Neill's fault, but he didn't exactly help, the timing of his departure meant that a squad that was already deficient in certain positions could not be bolstered, plus Hotlips could not stamp his signature on the squad and won't be able to do so until next season.

As for today's defensive formation, well when your forward choices are:

Gabby - injured
Carew - uninterested
Heskey - good so far but hardly prolific
Delfouneso - God knows but Hotlips obviously doesn't rate him

then it's difficult to pick an attacking formation even if he had wanted to.

[caster troy]

I thought Clarke and Bannan played well.

I agree. The thing I like about Bannan is that he always wants the ball. I'd be happy to see him start a few games now while Petrov is out. It's useful to know that Clark can play the holding role so well if required.

The main thing for me today was how much we miss Gabby. I think if he comes back 100% fit we will see an immediate improvement in results.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

I have no problem with the board taking their time in appointing MON's replacement and if a consequence of that mean't missing the transfer window so be it. Even if the new manager had been appointed in August he would have been unlikely to have sufficient time to sign new players.

To me the real issue is the decision to sell our best player during our managereless period.

Houliier's comments about Ireland today underline the error of football decisions being taken by non football people and whoever was responsible for this deal must be cringing.