Board must take its share of the blame - General C Krulak

[Rip Van We Go Again]

the hopeless Bradley,

For Pete's sake he has only played twice! Once in a weakened team and the other when we were down to ten men. It's not like he's been like sodding Pires.

The Man City game he played was one of the worst performances i've seen in a Villa shirt for some time, it is early days, but I don't think he's good enough and I never thought much of him when he played for the USA.

[Mazrim]

I thought he was very impressive for USA but he cant have impressed much not to have figured more than he has. Oh well. It was worth having a look for next to nowt.

[Chris Smith]

While everyone has to take some responsibility for the season our points to games ratio since we signed Bent would be enough to give us a top 8 finish if repeated over the whole season. (19/13x38=55.5). I know there are other factors but for me that's the key one.

The board (and manager) deserve credit for pulling off that deal which has all but guaranteed us staying up.

[Risso]

Ged has had his share of gaffes as well but the fingers really should be pointed at the players. The best resourced squad in our history earning the highest wages we've ever paid have produced the worst performances for a generation. Overwight smokers, players refusing to play, refusing to move home, hitting coaches, slagging off the city we come from, ducking tackles that our children would make for the club.

I never thought I'd say this about players who play for our Aston Villa , but I really do hate some of our team right now.

Whilst I am very critical of the job Houllier has done I think this is as big a part of it. I especially agree with the second paragraph. I really hope that quite a few of them fuck off and have miserable future careers.

the hopeless Bradley,

For Pete's sake he has only played twice! Once in a weakened team and the other when we were down to ten men. It's not like he's been like sodding Pires.

The very fact that he has only played twice doesn't say anything to you?

[Concrete John]

The board (and manager) deserve credit for pulling off that deal which has all but guaranteed us staying up.

Although they do, it was more to do with having the money to spend than any great transfer wizardry.  Any of the sides where we were at the time would have pulled clear with a striker like Darren Bent added to their squads.

We bought our way out of trouble.

[Mazrim]

Just out of interest, who would you like to see at the helm next season Risso?

[pauliewalnuts]

While everyone has to take some responsibility for the season our points to games ratio since we signed Bent would be enough to give us a top 8 finish if repeated over the whole season. (19/13x38=55.5). I know there are other factors but for me that's the key one.

The board (and manager) deserve credit for pulling off that deal which has all but guaranteed us staying up.

That's definitely true.

The first time we were really, really in serious trouble under these owners, they went and smashed our transfer record, and bought us one of the most prolific goalscorers in recent PL history, in a deal that could cost us 24 million pounds.

You have got to respect that kind of reaction.

[pauliewalnuts]

The board (and manager) deserve credit for pulling off that deal which has all but guaranteed us staying up.

Although they do, it was more to do with having the money to spend than any great transfer wizardry.  Any of the sides where we were at the time would have pulled clear with a striker like Darren Bent added to their squads.

We bought our way out of trouble.

Well, to be honest, if you'd said to any of us before January, "we're going to sign Darren Bent", we'd all have said you were absolutely bonkers, and not just concerning money, but also our ability to pull off a deal like that - get Sunderland to sell in January, get the player to come, not get the deal hijacked, etc etc.

As for affording it, look at how much we're losing season on season, though, "having the money to spend" is one thing, but it is only there if the owner allows it to be spent.

And yes, we bought our way out of trouble. What's wrong with that? Man City are buying themselves into the Champions League. Chelsea bought themselves a couple of titles.

[Concrete John]

I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, just that when I hear about points to games ratios being equivalent of 8th, I find myself thinking "Well, so if fucking should be!"

Signing Bent isn't a sign of Gezza's ability as a manager to me, what it is is a sign of a lack thereof as he needed to sign one of th best goal scorers in the league to keep us up when there was plenty of talent already at the club to achieve that.
 

[pauliewalnuts]

Where was the talent to supply goals already at the club?

Carew was looking a busted flush, Gabby was injured, Delfouneso is very much unproven, and Heskey isn't exactly the stuff of keepers' nightmares.

We said for ages we needed a proven goalscorer, and they got us one.

[Concrete John]

Where was the talent to supply goals already at the club?

Carew was looking a busted flush, Gabby was injured, Delfouneso is very much unproven, and Heskey isn't exactly the stuff of keepers' nightmares.

Before I say this, just to point out that I'm delighted we have Bent.

Gabby was injured at the start of the season, but there after fit and his goals to game ratio should have seen double figures, if not played wide.  And Carew still had somethig to offer as a super-sub if motivated, which Gezza seemed either unwilling or unable to do.

But the biggest issue is the defence, so what he basically did is compensate for that by buying in more goals.   

[pauliewalnuts]

So, an injured player, an unmotivated player and an untried one.

You're right, Carew shouldn't have been unmotivated, but he was - he's currently warming Stoke City's bench, which says a lot about where he's at these days. Gabby ideally wouldn't have been injured, but he was, and when he came back it was risky to be able to rely on him to score the goals we needed. How many of us would have thought that one even partly reliable striker would be enough?

We had to do something, and they went out and did it big style.

The defence is a different matter, everyone can see it is a disaster zone, but I don't see why that in any way detracts from the fact that we needed a striker in and the board massively exceeded any of our expectations by getting the one they did - and, lest we forget, we'd been told by the media and by ourselves, that we didn't have a pot to piss in, and he'd pulled the plug on the spending all season up till that point.

As Chris pointed out, Bent pretty much guaranteed we'd stay up. Where would we be without him?

[Concrete John]

As Chris pointed out, Bent pretty much guaranteed we'd stay up. Where would we be without him?

This is pretty much my point - it shouldn't NEED a £20m striker to keep a side like us in the league.  It did because our new manager was making a pigs arse of things. 

[TheSandman]

I have no doubt had we relied upon Gabby, Carew and Heskey to score the goals to get us out of trouble we would have been relegated.

In all those cases I wouldn't actually point to the manager as being to blame. Carew is both shot and unmotivated, Gabby has been unfit and ring rusty all season and Heskey is to goals what I am to rocket science.

The defence on the other hand...

[pauliewalnuts]

As Chris pointed out, Bent pretty much guaranteed we'd stay up. Where would we be without him?

This is pretty much my point - it shouldn't NEED a £20m striker to keep a side like us in the league.  It did because our new manager was making a pigs arse of things. 

Yes, we know that, but that's not the point at discussion - the point was that the board reacted admirably when we needed to spend. They did so on a scale we've never done before.

To read this place prior to January, you'd think we needed to shift players to club together the money for a Bid for Kevin Doyle if we were going to get a striker in in January.