Aston Villa v Arsenal Post-Match Thread

[hawkeye]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

You are right there were a few duffs out there, but Downings poor performances are becoming more frquent, a part of the problem is playing him on the right

[sfx412]

And Pires......an experiment that failed badly

He's only been here two weeks give the man a chance

I was talking about today's performance, which was an experiment to play him behind Carew.
I feel Pires may be useful coming ff the bench

The team chosen allied to the negative tactics wasn't helped by a totally ineffectual performance from Pirez's is true, but a half fit Carew and Collins, possibly even Dunne didn't help.
In a way the second half showing until their 4th exemplified the possibilities if we took on Arsenal. It looks to me that Houllier has no real faith in the squad and is too cautious as a result.
I'd also suggest when you need a rebel rousing speech to turn things around or get players up for it, the bog cleaner has more chance than GH, judging by his sterile post match mantras.
We are too good for relegation, we can spend in January, but on who, more negative, old and past it midfield players, most likely
Then we might not be too good for relegation

[Tony]

Nice to see Downing has regained the scapegoat mantle despite being a much better player this season. I think it might actually help him if he played in his correct position mind rather than on the right.

There are players much more deserving of criticism than him. Quite a few in fact.

Downing was rubbish today, he was superb a fortnight ago against Man United and has had a decent season, today however, he was awful.

I agree that he deserves criticism for his performance today but some of the criticism on this thread is back to the Downing being rubbish/wimpy stuff from last season. My point is based more around the season as a whole than this individual match. Even today though I'd point the fingers more readily at some in defence and other players like Carew.

He's certainly been one of our best players this season, even today he showed a few glimpses and he certainly wasn't the only player to have a bad game, in the first half they all had a bad game.

[koreanmeatballs]

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

[Risso]

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

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

[d.boy junior(sid)]

Gonna get my rant over now. Downing was crap and lacked committment he was acting like he couldnt be bothered time and time again all through the game. Luke young for me today was poor, he was dragged out of position too easily and lacked communication well the whole defence did, Clark for me was one of the few players who didn't give up on the game, Ashley young wasn't at his best with many passes going astray, we need players back and need new signings desperately something has to happen to change. If we don't change we are doomed, and if we play like that against blues I'm sorry but my patience will be at an all time low.


Rant over

[john e]

the reason Arsenal had such good first half, was because they had at least 3 or 4 more players on the pitch than us,
was i the only one who noticed this ?

[Tony]

The most annoying thing about their second goal was that they'd already pulled that trick once, it was the other side of the penalty area but then we didn't pick the guy up, so for us not to notice a bloke in acres of space again was inexcusable. The whole first half was inexcusable.

[dl9]

Josef Venglos, Billy McNeil, David O'Leary, Gerard Houllier...as far as I'm concerned they're all the same bloke.

Not one Liverpool supporter said anything positive about Houllier, the French hate him as he was part of the set  up
that f*cked up their World Cup - yet we welcome him with open arms. Already I'm sick at not being able to watch Match of The Day, this is like going back to the dark ages again.

Wednesday is so ominous it's untrue, never in the last 5 years has it been a better time for Small Heath to play us.

[Toronto Villa]

Josef Venglos, Billy McNeil, David O'Leary, Gerard Houllier...as far as I'm concerned they're all the same bloke.

Not one Liverpool supporter said anything positive about Houllier, the French hate him as he was part of the set  up
that f*cked up their World Cup - yet we welcome him with open arms. Already I'm sick at not being able to watch Match of The Day, this is like going back to the dark ages again.

Wednesday is so ominous it's untrue, never in the last 5 years has it been a better time for Small Heath to play us.

yes, they I bet they were gutted and burning his efigy when he won these honours and created one of the best training centres in English football.

Worthington Cup 2001, FA Cup 2001, UEFA Cup 2001, FA Charity Shield 2001, UEFA Super Cup 2001, Worthington Cup 2003

His overall record at Liverpool is crap too. I pray he doesn't do the same to us:

Games 307
Games Won 160
Games Drawn 73
Games Lost 74

[pauliewalnuts]

The first half was absolutely wretched. There's no other word for it. I was genuinely embarassed watching it. Arsenal were excellent, but that doesn't explain why we were unable to string two passes together when we did have the ball, or why we so witlessly gave the ball back to them. They should have been out of sight at half time.

I know we've got terrible injury problems, but some of our worst offenders today (and last week) were players who are normally first choicers.

How is it acceptable for a top flight professional footballer to be as fat and out of shape as Richard Dunne? Collins too looked like he'd been on meths before the match, and his witless hoofs out of defence were depressingly predictable. Warnock I have totally lost patience with, he just looks like a disaster waiting to happen these days. What on earth has happened to him?

And as for John Carew ... I've defended him in the past, as he's scored goals, but we really need to be rid of him at the earliest opportunity. I know he's just back from injury, but he was an absolute fucking disgrace today, no other word for it. No application, no desire, no stamina, nothing. He clearly does not give a fuck. If he wasn't lumbering around, he was limping about looking for the excuse to be taken off.

In fact, the fastest he moved all day was when he saw his number held up on the board. Yet still, there were people round by us applauding him. What fucking idiots.

Improvement in the second half, and no doubt in the second half of the season when we get some of those injured players back, but I do think that the first half of this season is showing us a few unpleasant home truths about some of the established players we have on our books.

[dl9]

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 .

[Dave]

Josef Venglos, Billy McNeil, David O'Leary, Gerard Houllier...as far as I'm concerned they're all the same bloke.

Not one Liverpool supporter said anything positive about Houllier, the French hate him as he was part of the set  up
that f*cked up their World Cup

Yet when the system that he put in place won them the World Cup and the European Championships they were less upset.

And all the trophies that he won with Liverpool - if there aren't any Liverpool fans who can't think of anything positive to say then they all have shorter memories than I'd previously thought.

[timeoutbigbar]

Josef Venglos, Billy McNeil, David O'Leary, Gerard Houllier...as far as I'm concerned they're all the same bloke.

Not one Liverpool supporter said anything positive about Houllier, the French hate him as he was part of the set  up
that f*cked up their World Cup - yet we welcome him with open arms. Already I'm sick at not being able to watch Match of The Day, this is like going back to the dark ages again.

Wednesday is so ominous it's untrue, never in the last 5 years has it been a better time for Small Heath to play us.

Bollocks.  Give the bloke a chance, he is working with MONs players still, and has had a few months to work with the side.  Jesus some people don't half overreact.

[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?