Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[martyn ellis]

And while we're all having a go at our defenders and our team selection and our lack of heart (all justifiable), let's not forget poor ol' Darren; he who gets no service, he who'll be off in the new year, he who is far too good for us. Well he was as dire as the rest of them tonight. Poor movement, falling over all the time, missing sitters, and when he had the ball, giving it straight back to them. None of them get out of there alive tonight.

[john2710]

That was every bit as bad as Liverpool away last season. Pathetic from team selection, defensive ability, attacking ability and the managers lack of attempt to correct the situation.

How Heskey stayed on for the full 90 minutes is beyond me?

Why is Collins given the freedom to fuck up week after week after week??

Spurs will not get an easier 90 minutes until they play us again.

SPINELESS - there are no excuses for a performance like that.

Fucking Eck needs to show some bollocks and drop Collins and Heskey.


 

[Risso]

McLeish needs to grow a pair of balls and forget about the planks who are dying to jump on his back because he came from the Rags. If he's going to let a few morons make him so defensive, so bloody negative, so scared of losing, he should never have taken the job in the first place.

I think you're being too kind to him.  I don't think it's anything to do with those fans who don't like him, and everything to do with him being the sort of manager who thinks it's a good idea to play Hutton on the right side of midfield.

But anyway, I'm sure Lerner has got his billet doux from Fergie out of its velvet lined casket tonight, and is settling down to read it just one more time, to remind himself that McLeish IS a brilliant manager, and that he hasn't made another pig's ear of a managerial appointment again.  I mean, Sir Alex has got Villa's best interests at heart hasn't he?

[mikeb1982]

we are still 8th in the Premier League not 18th

Only because we've had a really easy start to the season, wait till the New Year.

Really easy? We haven't won away all season and it's nearly Christmas!

Points wise we are nearer 20th than 7th.  The table is telling a big fat lie at the moment

[OzVilla]

Going to be interesting next month with the games we've got to come and where we're likely to be. Will randy give him the money to bring some badly needed re-inforcements or will he cut his losses and we'll be looking for another mug desperate for a job?

Randy won't get rid, he's already proved that with Houllier.  Both Man Citeh in the Cup and 'The Mighty Reds YNWA' away last season were worse than tonight.

And even if he did, it's now proven that no one worth their salt will touch us with a barge pole.  Only the likes of AM (as he could see the shit hitting the fan at Blose) and Championship Managers.  That's where we're at - depressing isn't it.

[Fergal]

I didn't see the game nor did I listen to it but based on the comments on here it seems that AM aimed for a mediocre level and failed to deliver even that.
I don't care where he came from but I do care where he is taking us and how he is getting us there.
Perhaps it's time for Randy to swallow his pride and ask for help from someone who knows about football and cares for Aston Villa.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

McLeish needs to grow a pair of balls and forget about the planks who are dying to jump on his back because he came from the Rags. If he's going to let a few morons make him so defensive, so bloody negative, so scared of losing, he should never have taken the job in the first place.

Shape up or ship out.

The thing is, Mark, for all the people who care about his Small Heath past, there are a lot more of us who don't give a shite about that, but are very concerned at his pedigree of super negative football.

Tonight is an example of him doing the one thing which will lose him all the goodwill he does have at breakneck speed.

It was spineless and exactly the way he played so often in his previous job. Sorry, but much more of that, and as far as I am concerned, he can fuck off.

It was very different on here after the Norwich game. Nobody was complaining, mainly because the morons were probably pissed off we'd won. Don't get me wrong, we were piss poor tonight and to tell the truth, I wasn't very impressed with AM's post match interview. We didn't keep the ball very well? No shit, Sherlock! For me McLeish is just MON without the money.

[Compass]

Going to be interesting next month with the games we've got to come and where we're likely to be. Will randy give him the money to bring some badly needed re-inforcements or will he cut his losses and we'll be looking for another mug desperate for a job?

You see, this is why we won't progress. If we give McLeish money he'll burn it like he did on Hutton and N'Zogbia. Fair enough he got Given for a good price, but that's the only thing he's good at. Getting goalkeepers. Everything else he fails on.

But let's say by some miracle Randy finds the bottle to admit his mistake and sack him, he'll probably hire some who's equally as bad. Who actually trusts his judgement now?

No, what needs to happen for this club to progress is to get rid of the deadwood players, get rid of the terrible backroom staff and finally get rid of the board once and for all. We need to start again before they'll take us down.

[Clampy]

I was disapointed with the line up at the start of the game and i was even more disapointed he perservered with it in the second half at 2-0 down.

If we're going to try and keep it tight against against teams like that and try and catch them on the break, then fine, but you need the right players in the team to do it. Hutton on the wing and Heskey in midfield will not work.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Y

The people who are saying first time I've doubted him...where have you been? Worse than I expected?? How could that be?  Really piss poor 6 defenders, heskey and given leaves 3 players who weren't defensive? Is this what we want people??

Well some of us don't jump around like a bunch of fairy arsed fan dancers because we like to give the bloke a chance.  He hasn't been pulling up any trees so far but he hasnt been a disaster either so the jury is still out.  However, I said I'd give him half a season and make my mind up after the Chelsea game and thats what I'll do but you know I may change my mind and decide he needs 2 seasons in charge.  Howveer, tonight was unacceptable and given a few more of those performances I know what I'll be deciding come January.

The people who are saying first time I've doubted him...where have you been? Worse than I expected?? How could that be?  Really piss poor 6 defenders, heskey and given leaves 3 players who weren't defensive? Is this what we want people??

Well some of us don't jump around like a bunch of fairy arsed fan dancers because we like to give the bloke a chance.  He hasn't been pulling up any trees so far but he hasnt been a disaster either so the jury is still out.  However, I said I'd give him half a season and make my mind up after the Chelsea game and thats what I'll do but you know I may change my mind and decide he needs 2 seasons in charge.  Howveer, tonight was unacceptable and given a few more of those performances I know what I'll be deciding come January.

You calling me a fairy?

[Risso]

It was very different on here after the Norwich game. Nobody was complaining, mainly because the morons were probably pissed off we'd won. Don't get me wrong, we were piss poor tonight and to tell the truth, I wasn't very impressed with AM's post match interview. We didn't keep the ball very well? No shit, Sherlock! For me McLeish is just MON without the money.

It was a decent win against Norwich, but we even made hard work of that, and bearing in mind that before then the only teams we'd beaten were Wigan and Blackburn who are comfortably the worst teams in the division it's not surprising that people are pissed off with it all.

[VillaSpen]

A few things stand out for me tonight:
1) The fact that the clubs I would expect to finish in the top 6 are now a decent distance from the rest of us. I know there's a long way to go but our chances of finishing closer to the top 6 than the bottom 6 are looking increasingly remote with every 'performance'.
2) A troubling number of our players seem to take the fact that they're at an established top-flight club for granted. As mentioned previously, the Norwich and Swansea players seem to genuinely enjoy playing in the Premier League and are doing themselves proud at this moment in time. Their squads are no bigger or more expensive than ours so surely it is a matter of motivation and philosophy.
3) Again, mentioned to death in prior posts but our almost complete lack of desire and ambition and inability to even look remotely interested is extremely worrying.

[pauliewalnuts]

McLeish needs to grow a pair of balls and forget about the planks who are dying to jump on his back because he came from the Rags. If he's going to let a few morons make him so defensive, so bloody negative, so scared of losing, he should never have taken the job in the first place.

Shape up or ship out.

The thing is, Mark, for all the people who care about his Small Heath past, there are a lot more of us who don't give a shite about that, but are very concerned at his pedigree of super negative football.

Tonight is an example of him doing the one thing which will lose him all the goodwill he does have at breakneck speed.

It was spineless and exactly the way he played so often in his previous job. Sorry, but much more of that, and as far as I am concerned, he can fuck off.

It was very different on here after the Norwich game. Nobody was complaining, mainly because the morons were probably pissed off we'd won. Don't get me wrong, we were piss poor tonight and to tell the truth, I wasn't very impressed with AM's post match interview. We didn't keep the ball very well? No shit, Sherlock! For me McLeish is just MON without the money.

No. McLeish is MON without the money, and without even the Plan  A.

I don't really get why you're directing so much of your anger at other fans, though. 

Personally, I couldn't give a flying fuck if there are some fans who won't give him a chance regardless. Tonight was entirely of his own doing, it wasn't fear of fans reaction that made him played like that. That's *exactly* how he'd have played his Blues side in that fixture.

The only difference is that rather than Cameron Jerome plodding around in front of the ten man defence, it was Darren Bent.

[Phil from the upper holte]

The people who are saying first time I've doubted him...where have you been? Worse than I expected?? How could that be?  Really piss poor 6 defenders, heskey and given leaves 3 players who weren't defensive? Is this what we want people??

what do you mean 'where have you been'  Mcliesh hasnt played with a defensive 6 before tonight, in fact some of his team selections at the start of the season were critesized for being to positive,
i have always said that AM's DNA as a manager was for this type of football, but tonight is the first time with us that he's gone balls out to prove it,
i personanly hate it, but he's not been playing this way all season to be fair, unfortunatly his true colours are shining through

I wasn't referring to you john. I wasn't referring to anyone, there have been quite a few times I've questioned selection and tactics not just tonight

[Irish villain]

From top to bottom we are a fuckign shambles. Nothing I've seen since August 2010. No scrap that, May 2010 has convinced me otherwise.

Randy needs to show some leadership. If he's sticking with McLeish he needs to back him in the January window even if it involves having to borrow. We have been on a slippery slope for a very long time and the way the whole thing has fallen apart with such speed is a real cause for concern. What sort of structures have we got in place??