Queens Park Rangers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Just home from the game.   First half they picked up from where they left off against Bolton reserves.   Second half was very much better and for the first time this season there were real signs that McLeish wants them to play passing football.   Delph badly needs somebody alongside him to direct and control him.   Ireland must have had the mother of bollockings at half time because he actually showed some classy touches in the second half.  Marc's total loss of confidence is very worrying.   He should have left Barry Bannan on our cutting edge was lost when he was replaced.

Much happier about McLeish.

I wonder how much can be put down to Kevin McDonald? Maybe it's too early to have made an impact but I'd be a lot happier if he was Assistant Manager rather than Peter Grant. It's like last season with Houllier and McAllister, Sid is left sitting on the bench, not appearing to contribute during the game, McAllister having Houllier's ear.

This season we now have Kevin Mac and Sid glued to their seats, yet they are the coaches, the key men that work with the players every day, know exactly what each player should be doing, what they've been working on during the week, so to have them silenced doesn't make sense.

I'd also like to think a few might take a more open attitude to McLeish if he had two Villa men around him. Who knows but to me it's a waste of talent having both coaches sitting on their hands and contributing nothing on matchdays.

[Villafirst]

Hutton is what we all thought he was, average, and in no way an improvement on Young, but theres plenty like him and its not the end of the world

However N'zogbia so far is one of the worst Villa players i've seen for years, he's just awful, if it wasnt for the fact wev'e payed 10 mill for him i dont think he'd be guaranteed a starting place,
 at the moment i'm wishing he'd headed of up to sunderland instead


EDIT,  also can we have that ref every week please

I can't understand the N'Zogbia loss of form. He was simply outstanding in the last 12 or so games for Wigan last season and scored some vital goals to keep them up. I think it's a case of confidence - he needs a lucky goal or something to spark him. I would still persevere - there's a cracking player there - ironically, he looked good in his first game at Braga and scored and played well in parts aginst Blackburn. Remember Downing in the first season? He was very average and got slammed on these boards. Keep the faith - he'll come good!

[London Villan]

At least McLeish showed how unhappy he was with the first half performance and managed to get a reaction from the players which a much improved performance.

Hopefully it will continue.

[avfcpg]

2nd Half they surprised the hell out of me. Played some really good stuff for 25 minutes and just couldn't get that 2nd goal to kill the game. Always a sickner to concede late on but probably can't argue on balance of play. Got away with one penalty, Gabbys was a penalty. Soft,  but that's what you get if you have a tug at his shirt.

At least we showed promise...something to build on. 

[Klaus Katt]

N'Zogbia so far looks a bit like Baros, but to be fair he was the only Villa player who tried to challenge in the first half. He doesn't lack motivation. Bannan and Given were the positives, Petrov as good as you can expect. You can't blame McLeish for trying to get a second.

[Ryu]

I won't go in to the mess that was most of the 1st half as that's already been dissected. But one thing I found encouraging was that in the 2nd half delph and less often petrov got ahead of the play on occasion making good attacking runs. You need this from your central midfield  when you've only got one up front and we haven't had it since milner.

Long way to go but I was happy to see this at least.

[DeKuip]

The worrying thing for me about Nzogbia yesterday was that he looked like no other Villa player was talking to him, a bit like the fat kid who no-one wanted in the team but the PE teacher made you have him.

Well I'm sure I heard Gabby shout: "Le temps est censé être gentil, si nous pouvons jouer au football"

[Louzie0]

Was that about the cunning plan to make us play facing the sun in the second half when Shay had to face all those free kicks coming in over the wall like bandits at 2 0'clock?

[Bad English]

If McLeish gives a good half-time team talk, then he might want to bring it forward 45 minutes for the next game.

[Legion]

If McLeish gives a good half-time team talk, then he might want to bring it forward 45 minutes for the next game.

Good idea.

[KevinGage]

Yesterday brought home to me the folly of missing out on Hitz.

He was going for a song and his wages wouldn't have been mental.

The way QPR initially lined up looked like a decent formation -and caused us problems.  Hitz and (ideally) a more physical midfielder alongside him (NRC or better) allowing three flair players to just attack and find the gaps in a more fluid set up.  Then it's down to the individual flair players to make the most of that freedom.  Barton Taarabet and SWP started well but faded badly.  Still, with a better cutting edge, we could have been a few goals down at half time.

The benefit of Hitz in the side might also have done away with a chief frustration yesterday - players scared to shoot from distance.  They either took a touch to many and ran into trouble or produced really piss weak efforts.

I know Tommy wasn't top of most peoples wish list this summer, but with the new austerity measures he would have been an asset. It seems like he waited as long as he could for us to make our move too -until he could wait no longer.

[Blackcountry Villa]

Second half we played better than the first half, but that doesn't mean it was any good. It just means it was slightly better than dross. People saying they saw big improvement second half and were pleased with McLeish are fucking mental, we didn't have a shot on target in open play for christ sake and we played ok for about 15 minutes. Some people must be easily pleased.

[Clampy]

It's amazing that we could have gone in 1-0 up at half time considering how piss poor we were, but that's been covered already.

Second half was much better, we got forward, played it wide, got first to the ball, won the second balls, it just looked better. Let's hope we can take it into the Wigan game and get three points going into the international break.

Off the pitch, the Walkabout bar in Shepherds Bush was jolly good, it was nice meeting Nigel Kennedy on the way out and QPR should be reported to trading standards for their £40 tickets with a pole blocking the view, absolutley shocking.

[old man villa fan]

Second half we played better than the first half, but that doesn't mean it was any good. It just means it was slightly better than dross. People saying they saw big improvement second half and were pleased with McLeish are fucking mental, we didn't have a shot on target in open play for christ sake and we played ok for about 15 minutes. Some people must be easily pleased.

Other than it being more like 20-25 minutes, I pretty much agree.

QPR are a poor side.

[Dave]

Most people I've spoken to today thought that Delph was our best player apart from Bannan.

Maybe he wasn't that bad after all.