Still no apology from the club!

[Concrete John]

Wednesday wasn't a gaff - it was a decision he made.  He's our manager and those decisions are his to live, and die, by. 

It's easy to label those who now want him gone as having a knee jerk reaction to the Man City game, but thruthfully it's the latest in a long line of things that have lead me to a certain conclusion.  A football club works best when all, and by that I mean manager, board, players and fans, are 'buying in' to the plan.  Strength through unity..............and we don't have that.  I wouldn't go so far as to say I want him gone, but I'm increasingly convinced that we will not reach any level of success under him.

I hope I'm wrong.   

[TopDeck113]

I wish we had gone for it, but I think we should move on now and support the lads.

I will support the lads today, but as for moving on, it will take a long time for me to forget, let alone forgive, those responsible for besmirching both the club's reputation and the potential prize I still value more than any other.

[paul_e]

A big problem here is that too many fans have still got this idea of a best 11 in their heads so as soon as we lose a game when we aren't playing their best 11 the manager has got it wrong.

We've had 4 years of watching a manager with the same idea and we've seen our season fall apart in March in 3 of those seasons, so maybe there's a sign that it doesn't work.

On top of that I still think conceding early was what did the damage, there was enough talent in the team he picked to give them a game if we'd kept it tight until half time, being behind early in games like that is always going to make it tough, even for best 11 it'd have been a big ask.

[Holtenderinthesky]

No one was moaning when Bannan and Delfouneso were superb against Blackburn in the cup..

True, but it's horses for courses.  I was a total non believer before the game, I admit that, but I was starting to get a bit confident in the lead up to the match and when that team was announced it was all over.  People are not as upset with losing the game as much as the way we seemingly gave up before it started.  Ok, I'll admit, I gave up when the draw was made but I am not on the pitch, in the dugout etc being paid millions to prove me wrong.  Why can't the club have moved forward as a whole and told the 3,000 plus fans heading to Manchester that we had other priororties instead of blatantly bullshitting in the media about how we are desperate to win a trophy yada yada....The fans feel like they have been robbed and rightly or wrongly they are entitled to that opinion.

[Arsey]

He should not have apologised.  He is the currently the manager and he has the right to pick whoever he likes from our squad.  We, as fans, do not have think his decisions are correct, but he shouldn't have to apologise for them.

On Saturday I thought the decision to play Pires was a mistake, there was lots of comments slating his team selection, yet we won comfortably and Pires was one of our best players. 

I am not a big fan of GH or his tactics but I think calling for him and the club to apologise for his team selection unfounded.

[Holtenderinthesky]

He should not have apologised.  He is the currently the manager and he has the right to pick whoever he likes from our squad.  We, as fans, do not have think his decisions are correct, but he shouldn't have to apologise for them.

On Saturday I thought the decision to play Pires was a mistake, there was lots of comments slating his team selection, yet we won comfortably and Pires was one of our best players. 

I am not a big fan of GH or his tactics but I think calling for him and the club to apologise for his team selection unfounded.

I don't think the manager has to apologise, far from it, and anyone who thinks he should need to be careful what they wish for.  However, I was/am vehemently against what he did at City, let's just hope the fans, me included, can move on from this and support our great club evermore.  Let's all move on to the Bolton thread and accept that we as fans have our place (we can never pick the team) and slagging the manager off, as I have done myself, is not going to get us 3 points today.

[Shrek]

Way up the positives and negatives of Houllier.

I'm liking the positives alot more than a few comments and one bad team selection.

[Nev]

The manager is, of course, entitled to pick who he likes. It's his job. But part of his job is to do the best for Aston Villa, it doesn't mean that he has to win every game.

But he has to try.

[citizenDJ]

I wish we had gone for it, but I think we should move on now and support the lads.

My thoughts exactly.

[sfx412]

He's the manager and apologising to a load of whining fans who have decided they want him out is not going to happen.
He will sink or swim by his actions short and long term of that I'm sure.
Whether he will walk out without notice 5 days before an ill prepared season I doubt very much.

[Concrete John]

Shrek said:-

Way up the positives and negatives of Houllier.

I'm liking the positives alot more than a few comments and one bad team selection.

(sorry - the quoting think isn't working for me!)

We can talk all we like about the hows, the whys, the positives and the negatives.  However results wise we have more to be negative about than " a few comments and one bad team selection."

[Concrete John]

"He's the manager and apologising to a load of whining fans who have decided they want him out is not going to happen.
He will sink or swim by his actions short and long term of that I'm sure.
Whether he will walk out without notice 5 days before an ill prepared season I doubt very much."

Seriously - just let it go.

[brian green]

If the ambition of the club is mid table Premiership security, why do we need Houllier?

We are led to believe that Houllier intends to play a better class of football.   If we are going to bottle out of big games what is the point of playing passing football?   If the limit of what we can expect from Villa is somewhere between sixth and fourteenth why not employ Allardyce or Pulis or Jol or Curbishley?   With the Villa fan base and relative wealth they would deliver mid-table security till the cows come home.

Ah, I hear the Houllier enthusiasts say it is to provide more attractive games to watch.   Lichaj launching long throws into the six yard area for Heskey to scramble a goal is boring.   We must have the quality of football to please our fans.

Then I say if the ultimate objective of all this pain we are being subjected to is to please the fans why does Houllier go out of his way to make the fans so angry?

We huff and puff and dice with relegation in the name of better quality football.   Then when we get a chance to show what we can do against a quality side with a big prize to play for we decline it in favour of a safety first policy of trying to get a something out of our game with the mighty Bolton.

We are neither an exciting side nor a secure side.   Houllier has put us fair and square in no man's land.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

No other Villa manager in living memory has ever sent out such a weakened team.

Bollocks, and at the same time typical of what's been said since Wednesday. We've been putting out weak sides ever since the League Cup at Chelsea in 1998 yet it's only now that's it's a sackable offence.

Gregory was trying to guide a thin squad to the premiereship title, an absurd notion but he believed he could do it. O'Neill did it because he had designs on the champions League which was obviously the brief he'd been given by the owner.

In contrast Houllier's decision was based on a pathetic lack of belief in his own ability to guide a large and talented squad away from the lower reaches of the table  whilst at the same time trying to win a cup match or two.

There's just no comparison in my view.  Also the reason that we have as few points as we do is down to Houllier's poor motivational skills and inexplicable team selections, the home games against Arsenal and Spurs being excellent examples of this.

I've got to say I'm surprised at your attitude Dave. From the start of the fanzine winning the FA Cup was always an obsession with you.

[paul_e]

The thing is, as things stand this has been a bad season but since Bent arrived we've got 11 points in 6 games, which included games against Man Utd away and Man City at home.

If we extend that run for the rest of the season we'll be top half comfortably and might even be able to make a push for europe.  If, as manager, he feels the best way to do this was by playing a weakened team in the cup then so be it.

Like it or not the cups are not as important as the league anymore (to the club, not the fans).  You get more prize money for finishing 17th in the prem than you do for winning the FA cup, and long term the gap just widens.