Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[Dan England]

We could have Ineista and Messi in midfield and we would still look clueless. You can have the most creative players in the world but if the ball is constantly booted over their heads they haven't got a chance. Gabby and Albrighton looked like they could have given Smalling and Evra lots of problems but they never got the ball to have a go.

[Zhong Yi]

It's going to be a winter of discontent.

And spring, and summer.....

Springtime for Ginger and Birmingham

winter for Villa and fans

McLeish out

[pauliewalnuts]

The thing that keeps occurring to me is that we are now the kind of side the rest of the country hates to watch and would be glad to see go down.

Humiliating.

[hawkeye]

Apart from that shot at the end, I thought Heskey did well.

So did I.

He did more in 30 minutes than Bent did in 100. Guess which one cost 5x as much the other, and which one gets slaughtered.

Maybe, but pinching a line from Blackadder -  Darren Bent in an Alex McLeish side is like a broken pencil.

Precisely. He needs the ball to his feet, not 10 foot above his head. Be better off selling him in January and getting re-inforcements elsewhere than watching his transfer value steadily drop

Darren Bent is a very one dimensional footballer and we have no idea how to use his 1 ability. We dont create chances which makes his being on the pitch totaly redundant.

[D.boy]

The players are not happy! Still happy to pick up their obscene pay cheques each month even after performing like that. No pride, no passion, no idea. I wont be setting foot in Villa Park for a long time.
Gabby and Bent are getting no service, Eck doesn't know who to play in what position and to what system. We are shockingly bad and I cant see it improving anytime soon.
As others have said I have a general "meh" feeling about Villa right now however the frustration is really gripping my shit.

[Dave Clark Five]

McLeish played the team that all the whingers wanted. The players were spineless and played like they wanted the manager to be sacked. They should hang their heads in shame as should the clowns who wanted us to lose today.

[Risso]

The thing that keeps occurring to me is that we are now the kind of side the rest of the country hates to watch and would be glad to see go down.

Humiliating.

Very true.  Working with fans of various NW teams over the years, everybody always used to quite like us.  We weren't quite big enough to worry Man U and the rest of the top 4, and being top dog in the Midlands, we didn't really have any local rivalry to speak of.  Now everybody just thinks we're shit, which we are.

[Risso]

McLeish played the team that all the whingers wanted. The players were spineless and played like they wanted the manager to be sacked. They should hang their heads in shame as should the clowns who wanted us to lose today.

The only people who wanted us to lose were Man U fans, and they got their wish which was inevitable.  We were dire today, and the sad thing is that whether McLeish picks a team of lumpen cloggers, or goes for the players in the team who can pass the ball a bit, the end result is the same:  shit football.  He really is a horrible football manager.  I'm ashamed that he's in charge to be honest.

[hawkeye]

The thing that keeps occurring to me is that we are now the kind of side the rest of the country hates to watch and would be glad to see go down.

Humiliating.

Very true.  Working with fans of various NW teams over the years, everybody always used to quite like us.  We weren't quite big enough to worry Man U and the rest of the top 4, and being top dog in the Midlands, we didn't really have any local rivalry to speak of.  Now everybody just thinks we're shit, which we are.

Its excrutiating to see us walking like zombies towards the lower end of the league, we all know its happening and at some point there will be a call to arms just to stay in the PL.

[pauliewalnuts]

He sends them out to play that way.

We are so unambitious we don't even leave a man up for corners. It is pathetic, his concern against anyone half decent always seems to be to play for a draw, then once we concede, play to keep the core down.

This isn't something tha has happened just here, this is what he does, this is his thing.

I like the bloke and couldn't give a stuff he managed that lot, but I hate his brand of dire football and his total lack of ambition.

He might have picked the team we wanted but what's be point if you get them to camp in their own half?

Five points from the last seven games, and a growing reputation as the most boring team in the league. Meanwhile the chairman is the other side of the Atlantic with his fingers in his ears, not listening.

[Greg N'Ash]

Apart from that shot at the end, I thought Heskey did well.

So did I.

He did more in 30 minutes than Bent did in 100. Guess which one cost 5x as much the other, and which one gets slaughtered.

Maybe, but pinching a line from Blackadder -  Darren Bent in an Alex McLeish side is like a broken pencil.

Precisely. He needs the ball to his feet, not 10 foot above his head. Be better off selling him in January and getting re-inforcements elsewhere than watching his transfer value steadily drop

Darren Bent is a very one dimensional footballer and we have no idea how to use his 1 ability. We dont create chances which makes his being on the pitch totaly redundant.

there was a goal Bent scored last season and for the life of me i can't remember who against, but it was yer typical strikers goal. passed to him on the floor, middle of the pitch, bent hanging off the shoulder of the defender and i just thought "yep, thats what we were missing all through MON's reign". And MON wouldn't have brought him because that sort of chance wasn't going to happen unless by a fluke. And its the same with AM. Bent is just pointless currently

[ozzjim]

The team we wanted would have put gabby up top with bent, not just in front of the left back. Pick the Barcelona team,send the em out the way we did tonight and its all over. Risso is right, I am ashamed of what we are right now.

[TaxDodger]

I think I might be the only person in the world of this opinion, but I actually thought we weren't that bad in the second half. The first half was shocking but I thought we actually had a go in the second. I know United aren't as good as they have been in the past but they're still a very good side. It could be worse.

[PaulWinch again]

I think this is the first time I can remember when I've been embarrassed to be a Villa fan. I've always defending us when people have criticised us, but at the minute there is no defence.

[ozzjim]

Plus, under houllier with a far weaker side, we gave them a real fright last season. Recall Clark, hogg, bannan, albrighton etc all starting that day. Where is clark? He was better n centre mid than any of our current lot, a little like Jones for them.