Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[wombat]

injuries - accepted yes we have quite a lot. But none the less the manager has had a week to work with the team to ensure that we play the correct way and have a plan against a very good Arsenal team. I saw no evidence that he had any idea what he was doing. The horrific nature of the 1st half was mostly down to his tactics and some hideous errors from senior pros who should do better.

frankly at the moment we are a right shambles.

[Chris Smith]

I said earlier in the week that because of injuries we have to accept that we're going to find it difficult but we really didn't help ourselves in the first half.

Second was much better and we might easily have escaped with a point.

[mozza]

For my sins and having nothing else to do I went to Villa v Albyon
reserves fixture at Bodymoor Heath last monday -

After 'playing' for an hour Carew & Pires were subbed ........
Carew having done zilch apart from an horrendous miss from
5yds out and the frenchman floating about in midfield without
being involved in a tackle from what I recall -

So GH plays both these guys from the start yesterday which
resulted in much the same .........a big fat zero

Whilst I accept we have injuries left right and centre, there is
no excuse for lack of committment and in the first half yesterday
there only appeared to be a couple of players actually bothered-

A friend of mine tells me that the Trinity were giving the management
both barrels at the final whistle and Gary Mc appeared to nod in agreement
(don't suppose he could do anything else in the circumstances)

I fear things will get worse before we see improvement

[Breezeblock]

I hear what you're saying TV but I'm sorry I can't warm to the guy.
I know his win rate of 50% at Liverpool beats O'Neills 42% with us, but I look down and see a schoolteacher devoid of Passion
when I'm looking for someone who's going to inspire both the team and dare I say it...myself!
I've got my ticket for Wednesday and I'll run the gauntlet trying to get in and out of the swamp in one piece but I can't recall been the last time I've been so concerned about what the result will be in a derby in recent times.
Hope I'm wrong .

The man comes with a very good record of winning things as manager of both Liverpool and Lyon, and he's been with us for about 5 minutes. Surely you're not so impatient as to give up on him so early?

A bloke who sits by me in the north stand turned round to me at the final whistle and said "Well, at least we'll get an early christmas present when they sack Houlier!". 

Words almost failed me - I called him a fucking idiot.

[Toronto Villa]

I hear what you're saying TV but I'm sorry I can't warm to the guy.
I know his win rate of 50% at Liverpool beats O'Neills 42% with us, but I look down and see a schoolteacher devoid of Passion
when I'm looking for someone who's going to inspire both the team and dare I say it...myself!
I've got my ticket for Wednesday and I'll run the gauntlet trying to get in and out of the swamp in one piece but I can't recall been the last time I've been so concerned about what the result will be in a derby in recent times.
Hope I'm wrong .

The man comes with a very good record of winning things as manager of both Liverpool and Lyon, and he's been with us for about 5 minutes. Surely you're not so impatient as to give up on him so early?

A bloke who sits by me in the north stand turned round to me at the final whistle and said "Well, at least we'll get an early christmas present when they sack Houlier!". 

Words almost failed me - I called him a fucking idiot.

while I'm not here to advocate you calling anyone a fucking idiot, you were right.

[PeterWithe]

So much for the foreign players not fancying the cold weather.

I think the scoreline flattered us, they looked a little rocky at 3-2 but played us off the park for most of the game. The Arsenal third goal was exactly the type of chance I hoped that we would be creating with Bannan and Ireland in the team, shame that we simpy dont have a forward who makes that kind of intelligent run. I've always given Carew the benefit of the doubt but he really looks like a busted flush now, a real lack of hunger from him.

Its reassuring to know we have one of these top notch French strategists looking after things for us, I mean putting your biggest centre half up front and booting the ball up to him, thats tactical genius that.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

I was really impressed with Bannan and Clark in the 2nd half when we more than matched Arsenal. In fact I thought there efforts were inspirational considering their almost complete lack of top flight experience.

It's been said earlier that Bannan had a nightmare , but my view is that the guy who had a nightmare is Houllier for inexplicably starting with  Carew and Pires who were  so far off the pace that we were virtually playing with 9 men in the first half.

 

[Deano's Mullet]

No home wins over Arsenal since 1998. No home wins over Mank Utd since 1995. When the hell will we ever beat them again?

[BILL DE VALL]

Football is a mental game-that is to say it's all about confidence, morale etc

When we kicked off we put ourselves under pressure straight away-the effects of that were plain for all to see.
in the 1st half the Arse played with composure and sure touch-passing the ball around with confidence.
To contrast, we couldn't string 3 passes together.

They should have been 3or 4 up-but they weren't(Arse generally overplay and don't score enough when on top)

To be fair to GH he saw we were on for a tanking and took Pires off(who looked totally unable to cope with the pace of the prem)
we looked a little better in the 2nd half but we are now relying on a centre back playing in midfield to score!
Carew looked pretty forlorn and will doubtless soon be off to a lesser club
We need to invest in the Jan window to give the kids a rest-though they are generally doing us proud

[fredm]

I hear what you're saying TV but I'm sorry I can't warm to the guy.
I know his win rate of 50% at Liverpool beats O'Neills 42% with us, but I look down and see a schoolteacher devoid of Passion
when I'm looking for someone who's going to inspire both the team and dare I say it...myself!
I've got my ticket for Wednesday and I'll run the gauntlet trying to get in and out of the swamp in one piece but I can't recall been the last time I've been so concerned about what the result will be in a derby in recent times.
Hope I'm wrong .

The man comes with a very good record of winning things as manager of both Liverpool and Lyon, and he's been with us for about 5 minutes. Surely you're not so impatient as to give up on him so early?

A bloke who sits by me in the north stand turned round to me at the final whistle and said "Well, at least we'll get an early christmas present when they sack Houlier!". 

Words almost failed me - I called him a fucking idiot.

As I said after the Blackburn game, those behind me were saying it was time for Houllier to go when he made the substitutions!!

We badly need a couple of good results or else their numbers will grow and the "fickle supporters" tag will be thrown at us again.

[UsualSuspect]

As an aside, I thought the Arsenal fans were much more vocal than I was expecting them to be.

Really? I thought they were by far the quietest full allocation this season.

I was in the middle of upper trinity for a change and Arsenal were vocal in fact for the majority of the game more vocal than the holte.

Even the NOTW called the Villa crowd "statuesque"

[UsualSuspect]

3rd Goal for them was pub league defending by Dunne.

Agreed.  He's been hopeless all season.  Fat and rubbish.

I think he has a greater turning circle than the QE2

Its got to be his last season

When is Cuelar fit??l

3rd Goal for them was pub league defending by Dunne.

Agreed.  He's been hopeless all season.  Fat and rubbish.

[UsualSuspect]

Anyone blaming the injuries, wait until Petrov and co. are back it will be 'Petrov is shit, too slow, he's knackered', 'NRC can't pass a ball', 'Heskey is a lummox', some people think everything will be rosy when they're all back but the truth is none of them would have made a difference today and when we had them all at the start of the season we were still poor and got lamped 6-0 at Newcastle with our first team.
That was also our first choice defence today and they're an absolute shambles.

Agree entirely

[levico]

I've said it before and was shouted down by the 'happy clappy sing while you're drowning' brigade but I'm convinced we'll be in the bottom 3 at Christmas and there will be humiliation at SHA in between.

We're in deep trouble.

[villan1975]

Positives - Interpol were fantastic at the Academy, had a awesome night staying at the Rotunda and waking up to see Villa Park while lying in bed.

negatives -   Having to pay all my hard earned cash to watch John Carew doing fook all in a Villa shirt again...   

Totally agree,Interpol were faultless and feel that Carew should never pull on the shirt again.