Aston Villa v Tesco Bags Post-Match Thread

[Toronto Villa]

Even those of us who want to give McLeish a chance to build something are going to be hard pushed to show him any patience tonight. Yes, the sending off was an utterly shit decision, but that said we should still have enough to see this through. I look at Newcastle and the brilliant job that Pardew has done. You could make a case that they were worse off than us going into the season, yet he's galvanised the club and the fans despite their initial malaise are out in full support. By comparison, we have a massive fuck off cloud hanging over us, and the storm is coming. Hold onto something because it's going to get rough. Those of us who see the glass as half full as often as possible are in danger of spilling our pints.

[hawkeye]

I am not sure what people expect, we have a very limited squad, we have found out that Hutton Delph and Nzogbia are not up to it, that Bents only ability is to finish, he cant do much else, it was like playing with 9 today. We will struggle this season.

[brontebilly]

think mcleish got it badly wrong with the tactics after the red card. we were playing decent up to then but were pathetic in the second half.

given 6 - one great save but abdicated responsibility for not coming off his line for the chance olsson missed.
hutton 3 - awful. should have been sent off. gave away the ball routinely, cross always hits first man.
dunne 6 - shares responsibility with collins for the first. kicked two balls out of the play but not too bad.
collins 6 - see above
warnock 6 - started shaky but alright after that aside from fuck up at the end.
nzogbia 4 - looks a shadow of the player he was.
petrov 5 - started well but cant play in a 442
herd 6 - impressed me in his brief stint
bannan 6 - decent first half but not an option centrally in a 442
gabby 6 - did great for the penalty and like a few others very good in first half
bent 4 - awful missed chance. no service so really gabby should have gone up top and ireland come on

heskey 0 - not good enough for EPL. not his fault he was selected at midfield where he was comically inept. lets just pay him off as enough is enough.
cuellar 5 - lost scharner for second goal but better than hutton.
albrighton 4 - tough game to come on but confidence is low. like bannan he is ridiculously lightweight.

we are a midtable side, no more, no less. red card killed us. mcleish's changes were baffling in the second half. clark should have come on at interval. very little to be enthused about - nothing from ireland, nzogbia, albrighton so far this season really. Hutton and Nzogbia have had horror starts to their Villa careers and we are starting to leak goals at set pieces though I think Given has to share some responsibility for not coming off his line. Bent naturally too is struggling, he needs service from out wide but we arent really playing with widemen. For all Bannan's good play, I cant remember Bent being slipped a through ball in on goal yet this season.

[taylorsworkrate]

Suddenly our start to the season doesn't appear especially clever does it?

Lets face it, we were very ordinary up until the sending off.  It was never a red card, or a yellow, or a foul, or anything.  It was a ridiculous decision.  However I don't think we can feel too hard done by on that score, as Hutton should have walked for an absolutely disgusting challenge earlier.

Even allowing for the sending off, it was poor afterwards.  Both Albion goals came as the result of poor set piece defending, (I think the whole Mcleish being a good defensive manager is beginning to look a little bit like a myth) We couldn't keep the ball for more than 3 passes and showed zero threat going forward.

Some very baffling tactical and selection decisions today also.  Crazy that Ireland didn't play after showing good form in recent weeks, while the poor N'Zogbia got a game.  I don't think I can add anything to the Heskey in midfield discussion that hasn't been said.

We are a poor team with a poor manager.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Keep the abuse clean

[ian c.]

It's going to be a long hard slog this season.  When you consider who we have played we really needed a few more points on the board.

[Eigentor]

In my opinion there is a basis for a decent side there, but as predicted before the season, the lack of bite in midfield is costing us. Being reduced to ten men today excarbated that problem.

The most important thing now is to look onwards and upwards and, if possible, get at least four points from our next two matches. The worst thing that can happen is that we go into our difficult winter period on a downward slide and wave of negativity, because I'm not sure McLeish will be able to stop the rot if it sets in. That doesn't need to happen; we're still comfortably mid-table, and should be able to build on that.

[The Situation]

Chuff me, have I missed something?  We were absolutely cruising at 1-0 and would have gone on to win comfortably before the worst refereeing decision I have seen in my 20+ years of following Villa.  Yes we were poor in the 2nd half but fact is, we would have won but for a linesman who has made up an incident that didn't happen.  The defending from set pieces was poor, there's no doubt about that Clark should have come on as soon as Herd was sent packing but still, we would have three points in the bag now but for a truly embarrassing decision.

Special mention to Dunne and Bannan who were both brilliant.  Petrov, Collins, Hutton and Bent all very poor.

Pretty much how I feel.

Couldn't of seen us losing, another draw maybe but certainly no consecutive loss. I wasn't expecting too much from us once we went down to 10 players. A win would of been a big ask.

I think West Brom scoring right before half time kind of messed up McLeish's gameplan for the second half which is understandable as he would of had a headache of a dilemma.

The most annoying thing about this loss is that if that was McLeish's Blues team they would of escaped with a draw.

[PaulWinch again]

I don't think Petrov would get in most sides in the Premier League. He's our best centre midfielder and that is damning.

[ez]

So for those who watched it was it ok but we were mugged by the ref or were we rubbish and the red card was just a distraction?

The 2nd bit.

Up until the red card west brom had done nothing and we looked good for a win. It changed the game much more than it should have. We just became a shambles.

[UsualSuspect]

This result came as no surprise to me whatsover

A tactically inept manager and a piss poor squad

Regarding the sending off I listened on WM and it was describe as Herd being warned twicce before the icident to calm it down and then he stamped on Olsen in the penalty area which is in effect the same as hitting him so why is that not a sending off


Attendances plummeting and an owner who doesn't care anymore

We're fucked

[Rudy Can't Fail]

So for those who watched it was it ok but we were mugged by the ref or were we rubbish and the red card was just a distraction?

For the first time this season I thought we actually liked like a team, the calmness of Herd a huge improvement on Delph. Saying that, N'Zogbia still offers nothing and Hutton a complete liability but the rest looked up for it. We were still not playing with enough speed, players needing an extra touch on the ball but after the last five years (plus) of crap football, it's not going to happen over night.

After the red card and the equaliser we lacked the conviction and belief that we can hold and pass the ball. We showed for about ten minutes that when we put our minds to it, it can be achieved but after years of 1970's football, it's like a foreign language to us. We understand one or two words but struggle to put a sentence together. Practice and confidence are key.

The sad thing is, I really can't see things changing much. Whilst McLeish is a good man-manager, tactically Peter Grant has his ear when it should be Kevin MacDonald. We've seen some big improvements from last season, especially Dunne and especially today, Warnock but we're failing to do the obvious, supply Bent. We may as well not have him in the team as he's a very limited player, limited to scoring goals if you supply him.

Where do we go from here? The pub is probably the best idea. Until we have a manager, preferably a foreign manager that understands 21st century football, we're pissing in the wind. And there's no point having such a manager unless he's going to be supported by the board. McLeish was mad to take the Villa job, he never stood a chance, ignoring the idiots that won't support him because he came from them, he hasn't been given the tools to work with. Saying that, our two worst players (and I include Heskey) are most certainly Hutton and N'Zogbia.

Positives from today? Carlos at right back, Warnock's return to form, Herd's display, an obvious replacement for Delph and erm... the good weather here and the bottle of wine I'm about to open.

Fucking jammy, yammy, Tesco bags. Phil Dowd should hold his head in shame. Absolutely pathetic.

[Dave]

P.S. Phil Dowd you're such a faggot.

And if you don't cut out the homophobic language you can find another message board to post on.

You gonna ban anyone that will use offensive insults the ref? lol

No, I'm going to ban people who use homophobic abuse. Just as I would ban people for using racist abuse.

So stop it.

[Brian Taylor]

Garth Crookes suggest he will do in-depth analysis of sending off tonight..dreadful decison that cost us the game!

[Somniloquism]

Phil Dowd you are a wanker.

Yes he is, but from all accounts, Hutton should have gone earlier so it was the right number, just the wrong one gone.

I'm so glad we swapped Young for Hutton.