PS Mr Lerner

[Concrete John]

Lets hope Bolton choose to rest players so they can concentrate on the cup!

[Chico Hamilton III]

Fucking shite-house, Houllier!!

The only good thing to come out of last night is the realisation that Villa still mean that much to me that I can get so livid over the decision to surrender

[TimTheVillain]

Weren't we about 12th in the league in March, 29 years ago?

I'm glad Tony Barton didn't choose to rest players in the European Cup game against Dinamo Kiev to concentrate on finishing midtable.

Yep, on last nights showing, GH would have picked a team of internationals and used that as 'defence'.

Mad.

[jonzy85]

We had more chance of winning the Cup, had we put out a decent team, than we had of being relegated.

More chance of winning the cup? Chances are in the cup we'd have to play Man Utd or Arsenal (OK, Blues beat Arsenal, but 99 times out of 100 they would have lost) to win it and have beaten Man City, who we may well have lost to even if we'd played a proper team.

If you take that approach, there's no point trying to win the Cup, as you'd always have to play a decent side.

it's hard to see how, had we overcome City last night (and let's not forget - no Dzeko, no Johnson, no Milner, no Kompany themselves), we'd be in this position:

Birmingham v Bolton
Man Utd v Arsenal
Stoke v West Ham
Villa v Reading

Had we won last night, we'd be creaming our pants at that line up, but we gave up before we kicked a ball, so it's obviously time to downplay it.

Incidentally. Four days after Blues win a trophy against a better side than Man City, and look at them in the QF draw against fucking Bolton at home.

You missed my point. I think it's equally probable that we can qualify for Europe through the league as we could've won the cup. Call me an optimist, but that's what I think. Obviously you will eventually play a decent team (as we did last night, which people seem to forget) and you should always play your best team to try and beat them. I just think we've got as good a chance of finishing 6th. Last season we played one decent team in the FA Cup and lost, we also played one decent team in the Carling Cup, and lost. We qualified for Europe in the league. It's easier for us to qualify for Europe than win a cup.

To qualify for Europe through  the league we not only have to pick up our form and win the majority of the rest of our games, but hope that other teams similarly go through bad runs of form.

If we had got through the Man City tie we would just have had to avoid Man U/Arsenal in the draw and have an easy route to the final, where we would be guarenteed a Euro place.

I think we are as likely to be able to pull off a shock against the likes of City/Man U/Arsenal in the Cup as we are of going on a winning run between now and the end of the season.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

To qualify for Europe through  the league we not only have to pick up our form and win the majority of the rest of our games, but hope that other teams similarly go through bad runs of form.

If we had got through the Man City tie we would just have had to avoid Man U/Arsenal in the draw and have an easy route to the final, where we would be guarenteed a Euro place.

I think we are as likely to be able to pull off a shock against the likes of City/Man U/Arsenal in the Cup as we are of going on a winning run between now and the end of the season.

I don't think we'd neccessarily need an super run of winning games, just a good run because the other teams going for it aren't any better than us and are likely to lose a few games in the run-in. Liverpool are 6th and are not very good.

[Clampy]

6th place is still possible, that's if GH has'nt given up on it.

 

[Rip Van We Go Again]

6th place is still possible, that's if GH has'nt given up on it.

 

Me riding a bicycle through the Lion enclosure at Longleat is possible, but it's not going to happen.

[Clampy]

6th place is still possible, that's if GH has'nt given up on it.

 

Me riding a bicycle through the Lion enclosure at Longleat is possible, but it's not going to happen.

There's not reason why not, unless you're giving up GH style already. If we win on Saturday and Liverpool lose to Man Utd, then we're 3 points behind them. Maybe i'm looking for positives after last nights debacle. It's the only thing i can do at the moment.

[pauliewalnuts]

We had more chance of winning the Cup, had we put out a decent team, than we had of being relegated.

More chance of winning the cup? Chances are in the cup we'd have to play Man Utd or Arsenal (OK, Blues beat Arsenal, but 99 times out of 100 they would have lost) to win it and have beaten Man City, who we may well have lost to even if we'd played a proper team.

If you take that approach, there's no point trying to win the Cup, as you'd always have to play a decent side.

it's hard to see how, had we overcome City last night (and let's not forget - no Dzeko, no Johnson, no Milner, no Kompany themselves), we'd be in this position:

Birmingham v Bolton
Man Utd v Arsenal
Stoke v West Ham
Villa v Reading

Had we won last night, we'd be creaming our pants at that line up, but we gave up before we kicked a ball, so it's obviously time to downplay it.

Incidentally. Four days after Blues win a trophy against a better side than Man City, and look at them in the QF draw against fucking Bolton at home.

You missed my point. I think it's equally probable that we can qualify for Europe through the league as we could've won the cup. Call me an optimist, but that's what I think. Obviously you will eventually play a decent team (as we did last night, which people seem to forget) and you should always play your best team to try and beat them. I just think we've got as good a chance of finishing 6th. Last season we played one decent team in the FA Cup and lost, we also played one decent team in the Carling Cup, and lost. We qualified for Europe in the league. It's easier for us to qualify for Europe than win a cup.

What's the point in qualifying for Europe, though?

How seriously do we take that? If we'd been playing a Europa League match last night, what would we have done?

[Concrete John]

We're currently on 33 points with 10 games left.  Win them ALL and we finish on 63, which is more or less top 6 vacinity.

Unfortunately, we're NOT going to win all our remaining games hence we won't be 6th.

[TopDeck113]

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

And just how many of you "proud" fans would be at the away game v Brighton next season?

Judging by the scramble for Blackpool tickets last month, I would imagine we'd sell out for that seaside trip. The point you make though is valid. Boro away for a Monday night, as an example.  Still doesn't excuse last night.

[Clampy]

We're currently on 33 points with 10 games left.  Win them ALL and we finish on 63, which is more or less top 6 vacinity.

Unfortunately, we're NOT going to win all our remaining games hence we won't be 6th.

But we might as well TRY and salvage something out of the season. It's the least the players and especially the manager can do after last night.

[Concrete John]

I attach no blame to the players for last night.

Well, as I see it you go into every game trying to win in, so whether we can realistically aim for 6th or not we should still do that.

Personally I fear what we'll see is a few of wins in the next 5 games to put us properly safe and then the season will embarassingbly tail off.

[Clampy]

I attach no blame to the players for last night.

No you're right, that was hasty of me, although some were poorer than others.

[vilan461]

Excellent post VCTM----I fully second everything you have said----and have to say i feel the same about next season,if our  manager and some players cant be bothered why the hell should we??