Gerard's gaffes

[Chris Smith]

I appreciate he's had injury problems, but even when Collins, Dunne and Cuellar were consistently around, it wasn't any better.

That's the key.
Everybody goes on about injuries, but the defence has been shit even when we've had our first choicers in there.

That's just not true, it was "better". Not as good as last season but certainly better.

I think we're all trying to over complicate it. Last season defending corners we generally had Dunne, Collins, Cuellar and  Carew/Heskey. If you've got 4 blokes over 6 foot then you've got far more chance of winning a ball lumped into the box than if you've only got a couple.

So as a consequence of trying to play a more possession based football we've had to sacrifice a bit of defensive stability. He's an experienced man and will know what needs to be done but I suspect it will require a change in personnel.

[Monty]

To show how clueless we are at times there have been many occasions this seasons where every Villa player has been back in the penalty area giving us no outball.

Or when we have a corner how many times have we seen a the ball drop on the edge of the box with no Villa player to been seen.

That's literally a MON tactic, one which SGT has criticised (albeit when done by other teams). I think it's one of those MON-ball "well we're not very good, so just all of you back and think of Dunkirk" sort of tactics to make up for the players lack of ability.

[Bosco81]

Well for a start you've got four man markers against probably five or six opposition players with nobody zonally covering the, you know, penalty area bit. But that's by the by, they're not playing Sunday league football, it's almost a different sport. Can't be bothered to fish it out again, but everyone who thinks football is that easy should read an article by the secret footballer in the Guardian where he talks about training. Not piece of piss, actually highly complex organisation which people get paid millions to work out.

The beauty of football is that it is a simple game.

The man markers are going to be in the penalty area, it's not just then about backing our defenders to outjump the attackers, it's about blocking runs, making sure the attackers don't get clear headers, challenging the 2nd ball.

A lot of our goals this season have come when the attacker has a clear header, and like on saturday is allowed 2 chances to score.

Friedel has to take his share of the blame as he could come and claim a lot more than he does, it could be worse, we could still have Scott Carson in goal.

[Monty]

Well for a start you've got four man markers against probably five or six opposition players with nobody zonally covering the, you know, penalty area bit. But that's by the by, they're not playing Sunday league football, it's almost a different sport. Can't be bothered to fish it out again, but everyone who thinks football is that easy should read an article by the secret footballer in the Guardian where he talks about training. Not piece of piss, actually highly complex organisation which people get paid millions to work out.

The beauty of football is that it is a simple game.

The man markers are going to be in the penalty area, it's not just then about backing our defenders to outjump the attackers, it's about blocking runs, making sure the attackers don't get clear headers, challenging the 2nd ball.

A lot of our goals this season have come when the attacker has a clear header, and like on saturday is allowed 2 chances to score.

Friedel has to take his share of the blame as he could come and claim a lot more than he does, it could be worse, we could still have Scott Carson in goal.

Still haven't really answered the point that the man-markers would be completely outnumbered, but again, besides the point. Delude yourself that football is this simple game, but it's just not in scenarios like this. It's just not. This isn't an opinion, this is just a fact. A sad fact maybe, but it's just a fact.

[ROBBO]

He's had shit thrown at him all season by many on this site who do not seem to acknowledge the disaster he inherited. When we put a few decent games together many started to change their tune a little but as soon results didn't go as we would have liked they are at him again.Fickle to the core, i hope if, as i expect, next season to be much more what we all want to see, those that have stuck their knives into him for months will acknowledge they got it wrong. Won't be holding my breath.

[Villa'Zawg]

they didn't half start tailing off in the latter half of the season. So should it be a massive suprise they haven't started or continued to play well this season?

Maybe so.  It's a bigger surprise though that Houllier thinks that the senior players are incapable of learning a new style of play, and that the kids who have played more under Houllier than O'Neill can't play his way either.

It's not true though. We conceded only 22 goals in the final 19 games of last season, included the result at Chelsea. We've conceded 37 in the last 19 of this season

[Risso]

So as a consequence of trying to play a more possession based football we've had to sacrifice a bit of defensive stability. He's an experienced man and will know what needs to be done but I suspect it will require a change in personnel.

"A bit"

Master of the understatement as usual.

In 24 league games since Houllier took over, we have:

Kept three clean sheets
Conceded 41 goals (more than we conceded in the whole of last season.  It's an average of 1.7 goals a game conceded, which means we have to score twice on average to stand a chance of getting anything out of a game)
Conceded 3 goals or more 6 times.

No matter what the excuses or legitimate reasons, our defence has been astonishingly bad.

[Chris Smith]

He's had shit thrown at him all season by many on this site who do not seem to acknowledge the disaster he inherited. When we put a few decent games together many started to change their tune a little but as soon results didn't go as we would have liked they are at him again.Fickle to the core, i hope if, as i expect, next season to be much more what we all want to see, those that have stuck their knives into him for months will acknowledge they got it wrong. Won't be holding my breath.

It is noticeable how the mood has changed. In the space of a few days we've gone from "he should have played the strongest team at Man City, we're not going down" to "we're shit, we have no chance of staying up".

I know that's simplifying the argument to make a point but that does seem to be how the tone of the site has shifted.

[Mazrim]

It is true, Villadawg. We were not as solid in the second half as we were in first half of last season including conceding 3 to Chelsea and 4 to Blackburn in cup games and defensive sloppiness also costing us the Carling Cup final.
At no point have I said we were all over the place or a defensive shambles but the signs were there.

We've still let in far too many goals this season whatever and/or whoever is to blame, but last seasons defence were getting worse, not better. And of those regulars, Warnock has played and acted like a prick, Dunne was not fit as a premier league player should be before Houllier arrived and Collins was in very ordinary form before Houllier arrived. Not to mention the injuries since then.
We also conceded 6 of those goals at Newcastle before Houllier arrived.

So, is this a) a problem with Houllier or b) the reality that our defence is not particularly very good, has had bad luck with injury and needs an overhaul. My money is on the latter but work for Houllier to do in the meantime. Very much so.

[Risso]

"we're shit, we have no chance of staying up".

I know that's simplifying the argument to make a point but that does seem to be how the tone of the site has shifted.

Nobody remotely sensible has said anything of the sort, take a little bit of your own advice and stop exaggerating for dramatic effect.

[Concrete John]

If the defense was on the decline, which I personally don't agree with, then it was due to being overplayed by Martin through the course of 09/10.  That hasn't been the case this season for a variety of reasons, yet it's even worse now than ANYTHING we saw last term. 

Credit where it's due for the things he's improved, but by the same token lets not be afraid to point out his weaknesses.   

[hartman_1982]

He's had shit thrown at him all season by many on this site who do not seem to acknowledge the disaster he inherited. When we put a few decent games together many started to change their tune a little but as soon results didn't go as we would have liked they are at him again.Fickle to the core, i hope if, as i expect, next season to be much more what we all want to see, those that have stuck their knives into him for months will acknowledge they got it wrong. Won't be holding my breath.

It is noticeable how the mood has changed. In the space of a few days we've gone from "he should have played the strongest team at Man City, we're not going down" to "we're shit, we have no chance of staying up".

I know that's simplifying the argument to make a point but that does seem to be how the tone of the site has shifted.

These two sum up how I feel quite nicely. The signs of improvement were there (and still are) but Houllier shot himself in the foot at Man City and as a consequence some fans are panicing again. Our football has been very good over since January and although I agree we look very shaky from set pieces, I have no doubt that with another transfer window we will be set for a good season next year.

[Chris Smith]

No matter what the excuses or legitimate reasons, our defence has been astonishingly bad.

It's been astonishingly bad sermon pieces, in open play it's fine but we are undone time and again from corners and free kicks. I know that looks like nit-picking but I think it is an important distinction. With Reo Coker sitting we are a more difficult side to break down.

As I said above I think it's a direct consequence of having a small side. If the other team have 5 big blokes and you only have 2 then they have a better chance of winning the ball if the delivery is good. We could always go back to MON's back 4 and play Heskey up front to give us more stability but I don't think that would go down well either. He bought players to suit a particulat game plan and style of playing, as we look to change that then there will be issues.

[Bosco81]

Still haven't really answered the point that the man-markers would be completely outnumbered, but again, besides the point. Delude yourself that football is this simple game, but it's just not in scenarios like this. It's just not. This isn't an opinion, this is just a fact. A sad fact maybe, but it's just a fact.

1 takes the corner, 2 stay back, 1 on the keeper, 1 edge of the box, 1 goes near post that leaves 4 to me, not completely outnumbered at all.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

"we're shit, we have no chance of staying up".

I know that's simplifying the argument to make a point but that does seem to be how the tone of the site has shifted.

Nobody remotely sensible has said anything of the sort, take a little bit of your own advice and stop exaggerating for dramatic effect.

In all fairness, I can see us being relegated ONLY IF nothing is done about the defence.

Apparently he can't do anything about it till the end of the season, it may be too late then.