PS Mr Lerner

[UsualSuspect]

Starting to lose all interest to be honest, quite an achievement to make someone like me who has lived and breathed Villa for 40 odd years feel that way. So congratulations are in order. I'd rather not see us become the Cleveland Browns thank you very much...

That's pretty much how I feel.  I am getting to the stage wondering why I bother anymore.  I have seen some low points over the years this just seems worse like we're just not interested in competing anymore, just existing.

My sentiments exactly

Our 2 bests chances of silverware are the Cups so that french cock has managed to fuck both of them up

[DBTW]

Im absolutely shocked by this reaction! We are in a seriously dangerous position in the Premiership. The majority of our run in is against teams in the same situation, that most of you think are gimmes.  If we lose 6 of these, we then have to beat Arsenal away and Liverpool on the last day. If we lose 6 of these we will go down. We have a squad of players who our manager can select a starting XI from. Villa fans as a whole bemoaned the previous manager for burnout in March, and being so rigid in selection and formation. Our current manager is confident enought to change things every game. The game last night was lost in the first 4 minutes after an unfortunate mistake by Clark, not by the managers selection of International players. I think we played ok as a whole, we didnt create many chances granted, but City are a class act.
To react the way most of you are today, shows that you are fickle and can't really see whats staring you in the face, which is relegation.
Get ten points on the boards and things will look better, last night just came at the wrong time.

[LeeB]

Well said Dave. Couple that with our accounts and you see that relegation is unthinkable.

[Merv]

Very disappointed about the team selection and tactics, more so than the actual result - see my comments in the post match thread.

But I will add one more thing, as the 'pundits' and so on harp on about Houllier's team selection (I haven't read any papers this morning, no doubt he's being criticised):

If the FA hadn't allowed City to play their 4th round replay on 5th round weekend, thereby forcing us to play the 5th round tie midweek - and between two league games - we may have had a very different line-up playing on the Saturday/Sunday along with the other 5th round ties.

Just a thought. The FA doesn't always help its own cause in maintaining the credibility of the competition.

[PaulTheVillan]

Strange how things change in a few days isnt it?

[LeeB]

Very disappointed about the team selection and tactics, more so than the actual result - see my comments in the post match thread.

But I will add one more thing, as the 'pundits' and so on harp on about Houllier's team selection (I haven't read any papers this morning, no doubt he's being criticised):

If the FA hadn't allowed City to play their 4th round replay on 5th round weekend, thereby forcing us to play the 5th round tie midweek - and between two league games - we may have had a very different line-up playing on the Saturday/Sunday along with the other 5th round ties.

Just a thought. The FA doesn't always help its own cause in maintaining the credibility of the competition.

To be fair, the FA aren't helped by Uefa's scheduling in this respect.

[Merv]

No, and City have a lot on, what with the exhaustive Europa League thing and all. But you see my point: Villa almost penalised, though we won our 4th round tie first off. City needed a replay, they should have to play it to keep to the structure and the schedule of the competition: that's why PL teams hate replays, it's another game to fit in - but that's the point!
We could and should have played that tie at some point over that weekend, with a full 7-8 days to go to our next match.
Don't get me wrong, Houllier went a player or two too far at Eastlands, or at least tried to wedge those he picked into a formation which didn't suit. But the FA almost set themselves up for this approach from managers IMO.

[LeeB]

I agree Merv, but this is nothing new. I remember our humilation at Oldham in 1990 was midweek because they had a replay against Everton on 6th round day.

[JUAN PABLO]

If the club can't be bothered about the FA Cup , maybe the fans should not be bothered about the next home prem game and not bother to turn up neither..       

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Mr Lerner / General Krulak

The previous manager's decision to give up on the UEFA Cup when we were still in it was the most disgraceful management decision ever taken at our football club in my 40 odd years as a supporter. I cannot believe that when his successor was appointed one of his first instructions was never ever to subject Villa supporters to such a disrespectful act again.

Our manager's team selection tonight was a disgrace to Aston Villa and to a competition that has a history as proud as ours. The fans who went to Manchester full of expectation after Saturday deserve at the very least an official apology – although I would say a full refund would be a more appropriate gesture by the club (deducted from the manager's wages).

The word PROUD was banded about freely by our marketing people a few years ago. There's no pride in throwing in the towell.
A big wedge was driven between the club and supporters tonight, and it will take more than a win at Bolton on Saturday to repair it.

John Gregory "lost" a lot of fans by his negative tactics at the 2000 cup final, Martin O'Neill "lost" the support of a many fans after Moscow, and Gerard Houllier has possibly scored his own goal tonight.

I wouldn't blame any player with a hunger for winning things in the game wanting to leave Villa after tonight. Good luck to Gareth Barry and James Milner for the rest of the competition, good luck to Ashley Young wherever he goes next season.

Excellent post

[JUAN PABLO]

I agree Merv, but this is nothing new. I remember our humilation at Oldham in 1990 was midweek because they had a replay against Everton on 6th round day.

Dont remind me , I was there ..     one of my worse nights , left early and still couldnt get out of the car park until after the game with all the Oldham fans laughing at me through the windows

[LeeB]

I agree Merv, but this is nothing new. I remember our humilation at Oldham in 1990 was midweek because they had a replay against Everton on 6th round day.

Dont remind me , I was there ..     one of my worse nights , left early and still couldnt get out of the car park until after the game with all the Oldham fans laughing at me through the windows

I would have been, but we had a City Cup semi-final after school against Edmund Campion. We lost 4-0.

What a great day that was for a 13 year old.

[Merv]

I agree Merv, but this is nothing new. I remember our humilation at Oldham in 1990 was midweek because they had a replay against Everton on 6th round day.

Really?

1990... weren't those the days when replays ran and ran though? If you're playing a tie three, four times, like clubs did back then, then you fit it in however you can!

[eastie]

Dekuip, your post is the best post I've ever read on this website- excellent post!

[not3bad]

Strange how things change in a few days isnt it?

Totally.  I'm deflated by last night's result and performance but I'm surprised by the surprise really.  It has been demonstrated to us time and time again that in modern football the league takes priority.