Are things really as bad as I feel they are?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I'm afraid they are!!!
The most worrying part of yesterday was the heads down, drooping shoulders look from most of our players at the start of the 2nd half as if the game was already lost!!!!
We had 1 shot on target and that was Bents penalty but that shouldn't be a major surprise because so far this season we have barely managed more than 3 or 4 in any game, including the 2 we have won.

There seems to be a total lack of passion from players and the majority of our fans too and the sending off for me just papered over the cracks and detracted from what was a totally dismal performance. We had 10 men against the self titled West Bromwich Barcelona, not the real Barca !!!!! You see teams with 10 men get results every week, but the fact that we couldn't do the basics and seemed resigned to defeat with the scores level and half the game left was embarrasing.

I've heard some fans questioning Lerner and even laying the blame at his door, but with the players we have we should be capable of better performances than what we have had so far this season. The buck as always stops with the manager and I suppose as Lerner gave him the job he has to take a certain responsibility.

The current squad with a half decent manager would finish mid table comfortably, but yesterday had bottom six or even worse stamped all over it!!!

This.
Yesterday the players capitulated far too quickly and easily. I didn't see much leadership from anyone except Dunne and perhaps Given.
Midfield is undoubtedly the problem area. Too many players lack responsibility/desire to do anything to create openings, or just try to hold the midfield unit together. Bent should have come deeper to get ball at his feet and interact with the midfield who should have been playing one-twos and triangles to move the whole team forward as a unit, with Gabby as an extra outlet/threat.
What we did was seem to go too deep into our own half to defend and let them come at us at will. When we did get the ball we just lumped it upfield for it to come straight back again. Fortunately they are not that good and created very little themselves, but still enough to beat us. If we'd been playing any decent side they'd have hammered us, well and truly.
I think we may well have to go EffDee's route and put some faith in the younger players who will have the desire to play. The current first choices seem to lack passion, desire, skill, work-rate, common sense and any inkling of how to use their experience.  Petrov, Ireland and N'Zogbia all seem to be out of their depth. It would be great to think that even Bent might step forward and say "Right guys, I've been in this position before and what I'm gonna do is..."
Or is it all down to the coach/es?
If it was then they truly f****d up!

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm trying to get my head around why Newcastle have pulled out of their funk faster than us, and a part of is their support. It helps massively to be united in a cause. Between the two Birmingham clubs there is an air of resignation, and that's kind of how it feels watching us right now.

They got relegated first, TV. Blimey.

It's also nonsense to say it is their support.

Their support have spent most of the last three or four years at war with their board, most recently when they dumped the very popular Hughton and replaced him with the widely disliked Pardew, who got the job largely because he's a casino-going mate of Mike Ashley. In fact, if you were looking for a club with a bigger "disconnect" between fans and board, you'd struggle to find a better example than Newcastle.

If it is in some part the fault of the fans that things are so downhearted at Villa Park of late, I really don't know what we're supposed to do about it.

I turned up yesterday, as did the other season ticket holders who sit around us, and we were served up the same dollop of shit we've been served up consistently this season.

One shot on target all match, and that was the penalty. Against Albion. If you want a reason for the current malaise, that's got a lot to do with it. Meanwhile the owners are the other side of the Atlantic - again - running the club by email.

It all starts at the top, and if the people running the club can't show any passion about it, then God help us. In the meantime, the suggestion that it's somehow in part our fault - those of us still buying the tickets at the very least - I find reasonably offensive, I have to say.

I didn't sell Ashley Young and Stewart Downing and not replace them, and I didn't appoint a manager guaranteed to alienate fans from club and deflate any remaining optimism, and nor did I spend the last summer waxing lyrical about Deloitte football finance league tables in one breath and how skint we are in the other, and nor did any of the other 34,000 who bothered to roll up yesterday.

The whole situation so far this season, the way things have panned out, was utterly predictable since this summer. It was also largely avoidable. Bravo, Randy.

[darren woolley]

I think everything will be ok I'm not over the moon with our performances but I reckon we will come good keep the faith.

[London Villan]

The other problem we have is the hangover from MON's years. We were close, very close, to achieving something; winning a trophy, Champions League were in touching distance. The collapse over the last 18 months is hard to take as supporters and we don't have the means to get anywhere near those levels again.

To a lesser extent it's like the collapse in support after 1982, within 4 years gates were at record lows, mirroring the level of performances on the pitch which as we all know was in freefall until SGT took over.

We need a leader, on or off the pitch, to bring us together, but there is no likely candidate ready to take up the challenge.

Bad times.

[Risso]

We've got a crap owner, who's run out of cash and isn't interested any more, and we've got a crap manager who plays rubbish football.  There's very little to be positive about when it comes to Villa at the moment, which is partly why our crowds are so low.

[Lee]

I'm trying to get my head around why Newcastle have pulled out of their funk faster than us, and a part of is their support. It helps massively to be united in a cause. Between the two Birmingham clubs there is an air of resignation, and that's kind of how it feels watching us right now.

They got relegated first, TV. Blimey.

It's also nonsense to say it is their support.

Their support have spent most of the last three or four years at war with their board, most recently when they dumped the very popular Hughton and replaced him with the widely disliked Pardew, who got the job largely because he's a casino-going mate of Mike Ashley. In fact, if you were looking for a club with a bigger "disconnect" between fans and board, you'd struggle to find a better example than Newcastle.

If it is in some part the fault of the fans that things are so downhearted at Villa Park of late, I really don't know what we're supposed to do about it.

I turned up yesterday, as did the other season ticket holders who sit around us, and we were served up the same dollop of shit we've been served up consistently this season.

One shot on target all match, and that was the penalty. Against Albion. If you want a reason for the current malaise, that's got a lot to do with it. Meanwhile the owners are the other side of the Atlantic - again - running the club by email.

It all starts at the top, and if the people running the club can't show any passion about it, then God help us. In the meantime, the suggestion that it's somehow in part our fault - those of us still buying the tickets at the very least - I find reasonably offensive, I have to say.

I didn't sell Ashley Young and Stewart Downing and not replace them, and I didn't appoint a manager guaranteed to alienate fans from club and deflate any remaining optimism, and nor did I spend the last summer waxing lyrical about Deloitte football finance league tables in one breath and how skint we are in the other, and nor did any of the other 34,000 who bothered to roll up yesterday.

The whole situation so far this season, the way things have panned out, was utterly predictable since this summer. It was also largely avoidable. Bravo, Randy.

I've said it before, but I might as well retire from H&V as Paulie always puts my views over far better than I ever could.

[Jockey Randall]

We've got a crap owner, who's run out of cash and isn't interested any more, and we've got a crap manager who plays rubbish football.  There's very little to be positive about when it comes to Villa at the moment, which is partly why our crowds are so low.

I'd apply that to the majority of the Premier League. The only reason some fans are more content is that their clubs haven't been in this league as long and it's all still relatively new. Football is a joke these days, I don't see why I should blame Villa for it.

[NeilH]

I'm trying to get my head around why Newcastle have pulled out of their funk faster than us, and a part of is their support. It helps massively to be united in a cause. Between the two Birmingham clubs there is an air of resignation, and that's kind of how it feels watching us right now.

They got relegated first, TV. Blimey.

It's also nonsense to say it is their support.

Their support have spent most of the last three or four years at war with their board, most recently when they dumped the very popular Hughton and replaced him with the widely disliked Pardew, who got the job largely because he's a casino-going mate of Mike Ashley. In fact, if you were looking for a club with a bigger "disconnect" between fans and board, you'd struggle to find a better example than Newcastle.

If it is in some part the fault of the fans that things are so downhearted at Villa Park of late, I really don't know what we're supposed to do about it.

I turned up yesterday, as did the other season ticket holders who sit around us, and we were served up the same dollop of shit we've been served up consistently this season.

One shot on target all match, and that was the penalty. Against Albion. If you want a reason for the current malaise, that's got a lot to do with it. Meanwhile the owners are the other side of the Atlantic - again - running the club by email.

It all starts at the top, and if the people running the club can't show any passion about it, then God help us. In the meantime, the suggestion that it's somehow in part our fault - those of us still buying the tickets at the very least - I find reasonably offensive, I have to say.

I didn't sell Ashley Young and Stewart Downing and not replace them, and I didn't appoint a manager guaranteed to alienate fans from club and deflate any remaining optimism, and nor did I spend the last summer waxing lyrical about Deloitte football finance league tables in one breath and how skint we are in the other, and nor did any of the other 34,000 who bothered to roll up yesterday.

The whole situation so far this season, the way things have panned out, was utterly predictable since this summer. It was also largely avoidable. Bravo, Randy.

I've said it before, but I might as well retire from H&V as Paulie always puts my views over far better than I ever could.

Paulie, I'm afraid you've whacked that nail squarely on the head indeed.

It bloody hurts like hell to lose to that lot, but what hurts more is that as a club we are bereft of any leadership. Our tattoo getting owner has dropped us like an old pair of cacks and we are now left with the manager that no-one wanted playing turgid football to an ever decreasing crowd.

[Compass]

We've got a crap owner, who's run out of cash and isn't interested any more, and we've got a crap manager who plays rubbish football.  There's very little to be positive about when it comes to Villa at the moment, which is partly why our crowds are so low.

Some of our players are a pile of shit too.

Don't forget to this very day we still have the same failures who couldn't defeat Rapid Vienna in the knockout stage not once, but twice. And to think they get big wages from our club. Not only that, but we're also thinking of offering them extended contracts. Yes, I'm talking about the shit that is Heskey and Collins. And I still can't get over why Petrov is wearing the armband when he failed miserably getting his country to even finish above Wales.

It really is a nightmare at the moment. We have mickey mouse owners, a Championship manager (at best) and quite a alot of sell by date players. Sometimes I wonder if it's best to start again. I look at a club like Norwich with envy who seem to just enjoy the ride, where as with Villa it feels like it's a blackhole since MON departed.

[Legion]

I still stand by my opinion that it all stems down to him leaving us in the lurch in the way he did.

[avfcpg]

Haven't been so non plussed about Villa for a long time. We won't go down, we won't threaten the top 6/7/8, we won't win the FA Cup.
At the time of the appointment I thought AM was bought in for damage limitation this season and so it would seem. Belt tightening time, slash the wage bill, get rid of the deadwood, keep us up.

Maybe next season will tell if RL is going to have another bash at the top 4/6. Seems like light years since we were going for that top 4 spot and exciting times were ahead but we are miles way from that now and have some serious catching up to do.


 

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I still stand by my opinion that it all stems down to him leaving us in the lurch in the way he did.

In part Leege, yes. But what has happened since MON left isn't MON's fault.
Who took control of the situation?
It comes from the top - lack of nous and leadership. Managing the team needs vision which I don't think AM has (I hope he proves me wrong!) and the players on the pitch, none of whom seem to want to take control/lead. In principle I wouldn't want Barton, but yesterday we looked bereft of ideas and desire. No-one, and I mean no-one, including coaching staff, AM, etc seemed to have the faintest idea of what to do when we went down to 10 men. All that was missing was the white flag. I feel someone like a Barton/Laursen/McGrath/the whole team would/should have tried to DO something.
I hoped we might show a bit of McLeish steel. We didn't. The outcome was inevitable and the players seemed to just let it happen, victim mode.
The players who should be our heroes ain't being very heroic!
As a radical old fart I'd bring a few more kids in to instil a bit of passion. They certainly wouldn't do any worse than yesterday's tripe.
 

[Jockey Randall]

I really don't get why everyone is so annoyed at the club right now? Football is in the biggest mess it's ever been in and yet so many people seem to have had it with Randy and the club in general. What the hell is he supposed to do? Print money? We could spend £50 million and we'd still get no where near the top 4 so what's the point? We may as well sit tight with the rest of the also rans and hope for some change. I'd rather have a club to support than one that's been run into the ground Ridsdale style.

All everyone seems to do these days is point fingers and moan. Supporting a team should be about enjoying it and getting behind the club as a group, yet more and more people make it sound like it's as bad as a trip to the dentists, I just don't get it? Just because we're not blessed with an endless pit it has to be someones fault. If there's anything we should be pissed off at it should be the game itself, not the Villa.

[garyshawsknee]

He doesn't have to print money,appoint a decent manager would be a start.

[PaulWinch again]

It's about identifying the correct players as well. As I said on another thread if we had Tiote and Cabaye in centre mid it would make a massive difference, and it wouldn't have cost a fortune.