Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[pauliewalnuts]

At this time last year there were plenty of fans looking to give GH a chance. I don't see that now with this manager.

Houllier tried to play football. For long periods, he failed to make it happen, but he at least tried.

This is McLeish doing what McLeish does. He has no interest in playing football. Houllier had people prepared to stick with him because of that. McLeish will have no support whatsoever, and rightly so.

Our clueless board have made the most divisive, clealy doomed to fail appointment they possibly could have.

[themossman]

You say slow death but I predict a rapid implosion starting this month. Our team is full of the same dodgy players that Houllier, with all his nous and extensive football knowledge, knew had to leave for us to move forward. We haven't been down in the shit yet this season, but when we inevitably are does anyone think we can rely on the likes of Dunne, Collins, Warnock to up their game?

[Eigentor]

At this time last year there were plenty of fans looking to give GH a chance. I don't see that now with this manager.

GH made a lot of mistakes last season. Prime among them not hiring coaches that could handle the players, and trying to change things too quickly. Add to that the PR gaffes and Man City in the cup. However, as a manager, he was/is nowhere as clueless as Big Eck.

I'm usually reluctant to blame the manager, as there may be a number of reasons why the team isn't performing. But there have been too many matches this season where it has been blatantly impossible to see what the game plan is. It seems that McLeish is out of his depth.

[olaftab]

This manager, football, team, are making me indifferent to Villa. I expected nothing out of that game, got nothing, and I'm not even annoyed.

Agree with you mostly however I will never feel indifferent towards the Villa. It's the present day players and manager that I am starting  to despise.

[Nev]

I was actually trying to point out how desperate the current managers position is after such a short space of time.

GH still had supporters, it would appear AM has none.

[PaulWinch again]

Another gutless, ambition-free performance against the worst Man United side in years.

The second half was marginally more bearable than the first. The first half was like watching a constant loop of us defending corners in which we don't leave a single man up field, Collins hoofing it 40 yards up field and the ball coming back at us.

If it isn't the depressing negativity of it, it is the fact we look utterly clueless as to what we want to do.

Randy needs to wake up and stop deluding himself that there is a chance this will work. It will not. It was a bewildering appointment, and he has dropped a gigantic bollock here. Today was the first time I have felt real widespread anger in the crowd, and that is going to get worse.

Five points from the last seven games is not just relegation form, it is relegated by March form.

The club is sleepwalking towards disaster, alienating the fans while it does so, and the chairman is utterly fucking oblivious.

A shambles from top to bottom.

As usual Paulie spot on with that. I can't take that sort of performance, what on earth has Randy done. Mcleish seems like a decent man, but he is absolutely 100% certainly not the right man to manage Aston Villa on any level. He must go and Villa need a football man on the board to sort this mess out and get the right man in. He doesn't fucking need Premier League experience either, that is a load of bollocks and completely unnecessary.

[andyh]

We know we can't beat Manure, it has been that way for years. But, at home, we ALWAYS give them a game.
But today was embarrassing, and shameful. For the media and pundits to slag us off in the way they are doing shows the level we have plummetted to.
There is no defence for that performance, no positives to be taken.
We are in for a long, cold winter.

[garyshawsknee]

At least with GH you could tell that he was trying to change the way we played,the game against Utd at home last season is an example of this,with a depleated and young team we took the game to them and played them off the pitch for 80 mins.

Today was embarrassing and inept,the amount of times Collins launched it to no one makes me wanna gouge my eyes out,we completley by passed the midfield,didnt get Bannan or Jenas on the ball,Bent was about 50 yards from any support(not his fault)we got better when Heskey came on,not because of anything he really done,but because Gab got into better areas.

I couldnt watch the post match interviews as i dont wanna hear McCleishs crap and hate him anymore than i do now.

[PaulWinch again]

Oh, and a special shout out to the utter fucking morons booing Ashley Young. You deserve to be served up this shite.

Again correct, I was really unhappy about that.

[Monty]

At this time last year there were plenty of fans looking to give GH a chance. I don't see that now with this manager.

GH made a lot of mistakes last season. Prime among them not hiring coaches that could handle the players, and trying to change things too quickly. Add to that the PR gaffes and Man City in the cup. However, as a manager, he was/is nowhere as clueless as Big Eck.

I'm usually reluctant to blame the manager, as there may be a number of reasons why the team isn't performing. But there have been too many matches this season where it has been blatantly impossible to see what the game plan is. It seems that McLeish is out of his depth.

Not just you Eig, but Paulie, KG, myself and others have certainly not been the quickest to jump on managers' backs. We do give chances by and large and do look for the best and hold hope for the future. However, I cannot see an ounce of support for McLeish here. His reception was lukewarm at the very best, and it has dwindled from there with depressingly true justification.

I don't want to see managers fail, I don't want to see Villa fail, and if I think that the club is going down a road I think is the wrong one I desperately hope I'm wrong. However, on this occasion I just can't see any way forward for the club which includes that man at the helm.

[themossman]

This manager, football, team, are making me indifferent to Villa. I expected nothing out of that game, got nothing, and I'm not even annoyed.

Agree with you mostly however I will never feel indifferent towards the Villa. It's the present day players and manager that I am starting  to despise.

It's not that I don't care (which I'm sure/I hope you aren't suggesting). But to get worked up about individual performances you have to at least harbour some hope about the outcome. I would have put my house on us losing today and playing crap football. We don't have the players, or the tactics, or the collective will, to do anything else.

[Mark Samuels]

I've normally got a lot of time for Mat Kendrick - he seems like a decent bloke from his Twitter feed and he does provide some interesting insights into the club. But looking back through his Twitter stream, he seems to have riled a lot of people with this comment:

@MatKendrick Villa booed off by some fans for being 1-0 down to the champions.

Well, what does he expect? People are paying £££s to watch a manager they didn't want set up a side that can't keep possession for more than three touches.

And what's all this 'the champions' stuff? Sounds like we should be grateful for losing to such an awesome outfit. And they're not awesome.

And we're not awesome. We're crap.

[garyshawsknee]

We know we can't beat Manure, it has been that way for years. But, at home, we ALWAYS give them a game.
But today was embarrassing, and shameful. For the media and pundits to slag us off in the way they are doing shows the level we have plummetted to.
There is no defence for that performance, no positives to be taken.
We are in for a long, cold winter.

Thats a good point you make about the media,when the Blues were poor under him,it went under the radar as its only the Blues,but we have certain standards at the Villa,and twice now in three games he has showed a pathetic way to set a team out to play.

Its a shame that I cant see Randy doing anything about it,apart from staying in the States more.

[unclefabio]

Some stats from ZonalMarking on twitter:

- Aston Villa now have second worst possession figure in the league. 41.7%, 0.3% ahead of Stoke

- Also second worst shots, and second worst shots on target (both also behind Stoke)

[SteveN]

Shite -just shite. That's all.