Aston Villa v Bolton Wanderers Post-Match Thread

[Hookeysmith]

Having read through all of the posts i am amazed no one has really focused on what i feel to be the single biggest failing

The insistance of playing players out of position.

Herd - was MOTM against Wolves and no not even close to the squad - he buys Hutton who is the worst full back i have seen in years - not just for us but anyone

Having watched Fonz come through the ranks he is one, if not the best natural finisher at the club - yet he played him on the wing?

Bannan - again probably the best playmaker CM we have - goes away on national duty plays in his right role and gets huge plaudits as well as MOTM - plays on the right wing where most of the balls to him are head height and he cannot open a team up from there

Ireland - i know there is a great player in there but if you are going to play him he has to play that free role behind the striker - not as a CM

Petrov - Holding midfielder - yet he is getting further forward more than the 3 in front of him at times which is leaving gaping holes

Albrighton - whether MON / GH got him playing above himself, whether we are all wrapped up too much on that he is a local lad and villa fan - the harsh reality is that he is not good enough. An aging Gardener had him in his pocket - he moved to the left and as soon as he beat Steinnson once Coyle brought on Robinson and he was nullified again. No pace, no tricks and even when he does find space his one redeaming feature of crossing is letting him down badly.

Utter garbage and my biggest worry is that if AMc had Messi et al available he would play them probably at right back

[batucada]

This was the first game I had payed to see this season and of course it will be the last.
Tell me again how much we are paying Ireland. Last night he wandered about the pitch as if he was on holiday. I doubt he even got out of breath.
One of the very basic things I learned about football years ago was that  you need to get in the box if you want to score goals. Perhaps AM could give some thought to this.

[Lowendbehold]

What a load of tripe is being said.  The owner invested and supported the then manager in the hope of breaking into the top 4.  It didn't work and it wSnt the owners fault.
How is it not Randy's fault?
As a consequence the club lost £35m so the the owner has decided to sort the balance sheet out.  Thank god for that.  If he hadn't and he didn't carry on throwing money in we would go bust.

As for last night, was it the owners fault? No. Was it the managers fault? No.

I think a few on this thread should start using theirs heads to think with and their feet to dance with.

Why was it Randy's fault?
 
Policitians at ministerial level are supposed to carry the can when their underlings drop clangers and make mistakes.  Once upon a time they resigned.  But business owners don't tend to take that approach why should they?

[London Villan]

Reo-Cocker would have done a job last night for us...scary that he couldn't even make it into their reserve team.

[Rick_avfc]

Petrov, Ireland, Fonz and Albrighton were all very poor last night IMO.  Not sure what was going through Albrighton's mind but he was not up for the job.  The only plus points I can take from that match was that Gabby, Bannan, Dunne and Collins had good games. The rest, except Shay Given, were pathetic and a waste of space.  Im sorry but SWP would have done a better job for us on the wing than Albrighton.  I personally think he is not going to cut it in the premiership.  Yes we as fans have a massive soft spot for him as he is a local lad who supports the club and ha come through the ranks but that doesn't mean he is ultimately good enough.

Im worried again this season.  Relegation dog fight? Looking more likely if our 2nd team which only had 3 changes, couldn't play with any sort of passion or urgency yesterday.

Take nothing away from Bolton yesterday, they played very well indeed.  Gael Kakuta looked like a superb signing for them and makes me think why oh why didn't villa go in for him.  He was definitely man of the match yesterday.  Petrov needs to be replaced.  when is the manger going to realise he is not good enough?

[barrysleftfoot]

 

  I agree with all that Hookey.I do fear for Albrighton ; despite having one of the best crosses in the Prem, he does'nt have the mental toughness to be as good a player as his talents deserve.He gets bullied out of games too easily, and struggles against  anyone with pace, or aggression.He should take a leaf out of Beckhams book and realise you don't have to beat a player to get a cross over.

 Petrov should'nt have played last night,for a start he is too old play every game, and 2ndly we need to find an alternative to him.A side that contains Petrov for a whole season in the 1st team, is going to struggle.

  I did'nt want McL, and think it is a bad appointment, but i do feel he was dealt a bad hand.

 A midfield of Bannan, Ireland and Albrighton was always going to struggle imho.

 Have to agree about Hutton, looks no better than Eric to me.I did'nt rate LYoung tbh, and i don't think Hutton is much of an improvement, if at all.

[Chris Smith]

Reo-Cocker would have done a job last night for us...scary that he couldn't even make it into their reserve team.

That makes no sense, he's been a regular starter in their poor league form.

[Merv]

NRC was rested.

BTW, got to take exception at this notion of Bolton reserves. They changed the team around, but that was no reserve team - not with Steinsson, Cahill and Wheater as three of the back four, and Holden and Muamba as their two central midfield players; Eagles wide right, he's been a regular this season. N'Gog up front with Davies later replacing him. Don't think it was quite reserve team.

[JUAN PABLO]

Well we wont remember this as much in about 5 seasons , we will have a little moan remembering .  If we had been beaten by Aldershot , which they probably would have done , we would be for the next 50 years ..

Im just glad it wasn't a Shrewsbury or MK Dons we were playing .

[Rick_avfc]

it just goes to show you that Bolton have a better squad than us.  Who would have thought that this could ever happen?

[London Villan]

They made 8 changes from their team at the weekend. If we did had done that can you imagine the team we'd have put out!

[kipeye]

All I can say is you lot should have been there when the Bradford (Including beanpole) beat us 5-0 at home. Zenith Data systems or some such rot. Believe me -it can get worse.

[Lowendbehold]

What a load of tripe is being said.  The owner invested and supported the then manager in the hope of breaking into the top 4.  It didn't work and it wSnt the owners fault.

As a consequence the club lost £35m so the the owner has decided to sort the balance sheet out.  Thank god for that.  If he hadn't and he didn't carry on throwing money in we would go bust.

As for last night, was it the owners fault? No. Was it the managers fault? No.

I think a few on this thread should start using theirs heads to think with and their feet to dance with.

We were not on the verge of going bust at all - you make it sound as if we were Portsmouth, which is far from the truth.

Even if you accept your hypothesis that we were on the road to ruin, then it is odd that you absolve the owner from any blame for that.

What kind of person sees it as a sensible business plan to have a roll of the dice at the CL (which, lest we forget, might have wound up in two matches followed by exit) knowing that the consequences of not getting it would be risking the continued existence of the club?

Furthermore, you make it sound like people don't think there need to be reductions in spending / wages etc, which is simply not true. I don't think there's a single person on here who doesn't appreciate that.

The question mark is over how quickly we are attempting to do it, and a lot of us have said for a while that we think it is being done far too quickly, and will both throw away the progress of the last five years and send the club backwards.

Again, what kind of business plan is it which involves throwing the baby out with the bathwater so comprehensively?

You're quite right, it is time some posters started using their heads to think - and that includes those who think it is as overly simple and clear cut, when it is not.

I did not say we were/are on the verge of going bust.  I accept a lot on here seem to accept the need to get the wage bill down.  My criticism of others was to do mainly with their criticism of Randy and AM, which I think is totally unjustified.

Just as Randy is entitled to invest in the team, presumably on the advice of his then manager, so he is entitled to determine when the time has come to put things right.  By that I mean the balance sheet.

I don't think last year was the first year we made a loss.  If Randy doesn't do anything about a trading loss, it is likely to just get worse.

As I understand from what I have previously read, Randy invests by lending the club money.  A sort of bank of first resort.  The club have to service that debt and as with all debts if it gets too big the club will eventually be unable to service it.

I would speculate that when Man C came on the scene Randy assessed the prospects of the club achieving CL football reduced signicantly.  Which might have been the reason why at that point he decided the club should reduce the debt.  If that was the  rationale then it seems prudent to me.

Selling Young and Downing also made sense.  They both wanted to go, Young had a year left on his contract, the price for for Downing was good and we clearly needed the cash to reduce the debt.

I suspect the approach is that once the high earners are off the wage bill, there will be scope to bring in some good players and with the hopeful emergence of good youngsters either our own, and/or bought in we can build a team for the future. 

That might take some time, so its not a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater as you suggest.  Rather its about keeping the debt down, the club living within its means and when the time is right, Randy investing again.

The club cannot say all that to the fans without causing far more controversy than AM's appointment ever did.

[BC54 VFC]

All I can say is you lot should have been there when the Bradford (Including beanpole) beat us 5-0 at home. Zenith Data systems or some such rot. Believe me -it can get worse.

Simod Cup Round 1, Wed 11th Nov, 1987; attendance: 4,217. I was there.

[Lowendbehold]

Perhaps in the PL Bolton and us are in different situations. 

Bolton are down towards the bottom and have just suffered a series of defeats.  The League cup is therefore well down Coyle's thoughts at present.  So Coyle changed 9 players from last Saturdays game, perhaps to rest them for next Saturday.

We made enforced changes only, because we fancied our chances against Bolton at home and what a furore if we had lost after resting 9 players.

Trouble is, Bolton had a virtually fresh team, albeit not their first team, while we had a stronger team that was still recovering from Saturday.