Has Houllier changed our club for the better?

[nick harper]

I really hope we get through these 9 games and do more than enough to stay up if only because I really want to see what Houllier does with the squad with a full summer behind him.

The period from September to December was an unmitigated disaster for the club exacerbated by the worst injury run in living memory. However, I have seen enough since the turn of the year to believe that if we can get through this season, he will have us challenging at the top end of the table again with a better quality of football.

[eastie]

he's changed quite a lot at the club, behind the scenes and on the pitch,
we are going in a different footballing direction now, and the results of this can't be seen just yet, but i think its we are moving in the right direction [and i dont mean down the league]

the FA cup was a massive mistake, and one where i canot see any excuses,

 but i believe in his football phylosophy so i think we'l be OK in the longterm, for those who dont then i can understand the frustration.

everyone has there own view on what they want out of there football team, and just to say 'a winning team' is not good enough, with our resourses we cannot compete at the very top level yet,

so we have to buy into a plan, that plan is Houlliers at the moment and i have to admit i like it, but its not bringing in results as quick as we would like just yet, and so we have a choice, if Houllier is the right man we need patience, if he's not we need to get rid, obviously i would rather we stuck with him, but there are no gurantees in football either way.

i do understand the anger and frustratrtion by those who dont like Houlliers style, i know we all say, we must support the team no matter what, but i would not bother going if we had someone like Alladyce as the manager, obviously i would always support Villa but i couldnt put up with that sort of football, so i would just moan and complain untill he went

so i cant say to others they must back the manager if they just dont like him or his style.

under MON we finished 6th 3 times in a row, and it got worse after every year for me, untill in the end i was quite glad he went, the league possision was good but the enjoyment level was low, and we even went to wembley twice,

so my answer to the thread quetion would be,
 difficult to say Yes right now, but really believe he will

superb post john e , totally agree with your sentiments.

[KevinGage]

He inherited a top 6 team less one player. He's been backed with a lot of money in his one transfer window. We're out of both cups and 2 points off relegation with 9 games to go, am I missing something here? He's been a pretty much unmitigated disaster. The comment about him being sure we would win things was a couple of days before he jacked in the FA cup. I don't believe any of this "vision for the future" bollocks. As I recall a Champions League place was always the target when Gregory was boss. Well I couldn't see it happening then and I can't see it happening now.

Nursey makes a point that there have already been a number of U turns (or blatant lies, if one was being cynical). If he changed his mind within a day or two about giving it a go in the FA Cup and did a complete volte face on a number of other issues, how can we take him at his word re  'vision of the future' and all the rest of it? I'd like to think it's true, but I tend to think it might be just more waffle. Designed in this case in a desperate attempt to justify his existence and save his job.

[Chris Smith]

Designed in this case in a desperate attempt to justify his existence and save his job.

The only threat to his job is relegation so what he says to journalists is neither here nor there.

I don't get any sense that Randy is likely to be panicked into another search for a manger.

[Percy McCarthy]

Designed in this case in a desperate attempt to justify his existence and save his job.

I don't get any sense that Randy is likely to be panicked into another search for a manger.

No chance. He's Jewish isn't he?

[Risso]

Designed in this case in a desperate attempt to justify his existence and save his job.

The only threat to his job is relegation so what he says to journalists is neither here nor there.

I don't get any sense that Randy is likely to be panicked into another search for a manger.

The religious word filter app is working well I see!

[Jimbo]

He can make as many PR gaffes as he wants as long as he gets us playing winning football. On our current showing, it doesn't look likely, but I desperately want to be proved wrong. I'd have Trevor Francis as manager, with Paul 'monumental dick head' Tait as assistant, as long as we were winning games / cups / champions leagues.

[Chris Smith]

Designed in this case in a desperate attempt to justify his existence and save his job.

The only threat to his job is relegation so what he says to journalists is neither here nor there.

I don't get any sense that Randy is likely to be panicked into another search for a manger.

The religious word filter app is working well I see!

To be fair to the IPad I am just as capable as making a typo on a normal device due to my lack of keyboard skills.

Putting aside personal opinions on the man for a minute, does anyone expect Randy to change manager this summer other than if we are relegated? I just can't see it. His nature seems to be to give people every chance to prove themselves. Next season will clearly have to be a lot better but there are enough extenuating circumstances this time to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[Vancouver]

The formation only works as a 433 when the two wide players play further up the field and float inside. Barcelona look like ther playing 3 up at times but with us the lone striker can look very isolated. Its obvious were trying to play attractive football which i like,  hopefully he's got his mind on some more intelligent forwards to implement this.

As it happens I watched Barca play Valencia earlier in the season, live, as Tv doesn't really show you the whole picture. In the first half they play 433 and were 1-0 down. 2nd half back to 442 and won 2-1. So even Barca play 2 up top now and again. Villa with messi and inesta on the wing.


How come Pires has been told to relocate?

[KevinGage]

Putting aside personal opinions on the man for a minute, does anyone expect Randy to change manager this summer other than if we are relegated?

The ideal scenario for RL in this would be if we stay up comfortably and even have a positive end to the season, perhaps a few resounding home victories. Then it becomes less of an issue.

But I'd like to think/ hope that he's as exasperated as the rest of us with some of the (completely avoidable)  PR gaffes that have gone on this year, and any more might just be a bridge too far. It all has an accumulative effect, this drip, drip, drip dent to our image and reputation.  Particularly combined with the average> poor results we've endured over the last five months.

It's his investment, lets not forget. Any concern that we might have that GH has taken the 6th best side in the country (as was) to a side narrowly avoiding the drop RL will probably feel tenfold. They'll still back him and say all the right things until the seasons end, only right.

But if the form of the last five months continues for the next two they'll face a genuine dilemma. Do they gamble on a new manager -who will want his own players and to start the thing again from scratch? Or do they stick with GH? It could be that the latter turns out to be the bigger gamble of the two and for that reason they may have little choice but to act.

[TimTheVillain]

I see him as a temporary Manager, there to change the ethos of the footballing side of the club, seek out some talent at a reasonable price and see to it that our young talent is making progress; while offloading most of the dead wood.

As long as we stay up, this season will be a bit of a success.

Sad really isn't it.

Hopefully we can make some serious moves forward when we have a new Manager in place.



 

[pauliewalnuts]

Putting aside personal opinions on the man for a minute, does anyone expect Randy to change manager this summer other than if we are relegated? I just can't see it. His nature seems to be to give people every chance to prove themselves. Next season will clearly have to be a lot better but there are enough extenuating circumstances this time to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I can't, no. Not a chance.

[TonyD]

He certainly has improved my enjoyment of following my beloved Villa this season.

10/10 GH - keep up the good work.

[Risso]

Designed in this case in a desperate attempt to justify his existence and save his job.

The only threat to his job is relegation so what he says to journalists is neither here nor there.

I don't get any sense that Randy is likely to be panicked into another search for a manger.

The religious word filter app is working well I see!

To be fair to the IPad I am just as capable as making a typo on a normal device due to my lack of keyboard skills.

Putting aside personal opinions on the man for a minute, does anyone expect Randy to change manager this summer other than if we are relegated? I just can't see it. His nature seems to be to give people every chance to prove themselves. Next season will clearly have to be a lot better but there are enough extenuating circumstances this time to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Other than relegation I think you're right, although I don't think many more Man City scenarios will be tolerated.  As for his nature, strangely I don't think he's quite as forgiving when it comes to Browns coaches.  I also think that the O'Neill situation will have a bearing on future dealings with managers, ie he'll act sooner rather than later.

[Steve R]

...
Putting aside personal opinions on the man for a minute, does anyone expect Randy to change manager this summer other than if we are relegated? I just can't see it.
...

Nope.

We'll never know of course, but I'm not 100% certain Houllier-Hotlips would get the push even if we were relegated.