Aston Villa v Manchester United Post-Match Thread

[ozzjim]

I think Bannan and Albrighton should be somewhat excused, when you have such little possession and hoof it over their heads there is not much they can do.

The back 4 needs sorting, as do the central 2 in midfield, and passing lessons need to be had.

[Chris Smith]

I think Bannan and Albrighton should be somewhat excused, when you have such little possession and hoof it over their heads there is not much they can do.

The back 4 needs sorting, as do the central 2 in midfield, and passing lessons need to be had.

That's not true though, Manu pressed us and forced us to go long quite often but they still had plenty of the ball and really did very little.

Albrighton was particularly poor and did nothing of any use in 90 minutes. Bannan's corners were very good but his passing was not up to his usual standard and he and Jenas didn't click.

[PeterWithe]

The midfield selection looked an exciting blend of guile, energy and enthusiasm, until they started playing. Herd and Jenas were passengers.

Looking at that its very difficult to see what the game plan was other than hope that Man Utd had stayed on the team bus. For the second game running we've gone out very defensively and could easily been on the receiving end of an almighty hiding.

On the bright side Hutton had his best game for us and for some completely unfathomable reason we looked better when Heskey came on, despite his individual performance being particularly inept.

[ozzjim]

Trouble is I don't think, apart from Herd and Albrighton, who never had the ball in a position that a winger would really thrive on, the other  in midfield, Gabby, Jenas and Bannan knew what their roles were. There was no team shape at all. And Bent was shown on ESPN after the game of tracking 100m plus at a time to close people down with no support at all. We are wasting him completely, and the manner and style of the performance was totally down to the set up, dictated by the manager.

[holte hero]

Totally agree ozjim, i could not believe that we were closing down and stopping 3 yards from the player instead of getting a foot in thats almost sunday league type tactics. The set up is all wrong.

[Rigadon]

What happened with N'Zogbia?  Must've been serious to drop him in favour of Albrighton.  It's such a shame but that kid has seriously lost his way.

[citizenDJ]

Trouble is I don't think, apart from Herd and Albrighton, who never had the ball in a position that a winger would really thrive on, the other  in midfield, Gabby, Jenas and Bannan knew what their roles were. There was no team shape at all. And Bent was shown on ESPN after the game of tracking 100m plus at a time to close people down with no support at all. We are wasting him completely, and the manner and style of the performance was totally down to the set up, dictated by the manager.

I agree with that Ozzjim. I cannot work out what the team is even trying to do, as it looks like a mess. Directionless and devoid of purpose, and that comes from the manager.

As for Bent, he is woefully misused now. If he wanted to leave in January I wouldn't blame him in the slightest.

[VillaZogmariner]

Predictably it is the manager who gets the blame but it is the players who deserve the bulk of the criticism. We got the sort of team all of us wanted to see but they did not deliver. That's the third time we've played a top 4 side and each time we've struggled badly yet against the lesser lights we're far more confident and performances have been more encouraging.

We were better in the second half and should have made more of the pressure.

Yeah, because the performances against Swansea, West Brom and Wolves were fantastic.

[Chris Smith]

Totally agree ozjim, i could not believe that we were closing down and stopping 3 yards from the player instead of getting a foot in thats almost sunday league type tactics. The set up is all wrong.

It's pretty obvious that was a reaction to last week where we picked up 3 early bookigs due to people putting a foot in so being conscious of that they go too far the other way. That's why think we improved after half time when the manager had got into them.

[Chris Smith]

Predictably it is the manager who gets the blame but it is the players who deserve the bulk of the criticism. We got the sort of team all of us wanted to see but they did not deliver. That's the third time we've played a top 4 side and each time we've struggled badly yet against the lesser lights we're far more confident and performances have been more encouraging.

We were better in the second half and should have made more of the pressure.

 because the performances against Swansea, West Brom and Wolves were fantastic.

Yes, that's exactly what I said.

We're not fantastic but neither are we always shit but I guess most of you aren't interested in a sensible discussion.

[London Villan]

When our defenders are hitting 60 yard passes to Bent to challenge for we aren't going to get very far. When Heskey came on (actually playing up front as opposed to midfield general) he actually won a few balls in the air, we even realised that if you get within 10 yards of him you might get the ball too. It wasn't pretty, but it was more effective than the previous 70-odd minutes of hoof ball.

Pity he didn't pass to Bent in the last minute.

[VillaZogmariner]

Predictably it is the manager who gets the blame but it is the players who deserve the bulk of the criticism. We got the sort of team all of us wanted to see but they did not deliver. That's the third time we've played a top 4 side and each time we've struggled badly yet against the lesser lights we're far more confident and performances have been more encouraging.

We were better in the second half and should have made more of the pressure.

 because the performances against Swansea, West Brom and Wolves were fantastic.

Yes, that's exactly what I said.

We're not fantastic but neither are we always shit but I guess most of you aren't interested in a sensible discussion.

The only decent performances we've had this season was against a very shit Blackburn and Wigan side. Other than that we've been average to poor and the "entertainment" on offer has been null and void.

[Monty]

Predictably it is the manager who gets the blame but it is the players who deserve the bulk of the criticism. We got the sort of team all of us wanted to see but they did not deliver. That's the third time we've played a top 4 side and each time we've struggled badly yet against the lesser lights we're far more confident and performances have been more encouraging.

We were better in the second half and should have made more of the pressure.

 because the performances against Swansea, West Brom and Wolves were fantastic.

Yes, that's exactly what I said.

We're not fantastic but neither are we always shit but I guess most of you aren't interested in a sensible discussion.

Chris, your all-too-easy-to-parody defending of managers is admirable, but I just don't see where you're going with this one. This manager is genuinely rubbish, his tactics nauseatingly poor and neanderthal, his motivational skills seem lacking severely, his supposed ability to organise a defence is being exposed as a myth. We're surrendering before we've got on the pitch, not just against United and Spurs, but in our entire mentality for this season. We're happy with turgid, bare-minimum struggle, and it needn't be the case. It's thoroughly depressing.

[cheltenhamlion]

Shite yesterday. I don't know if it is lazy rebellious players, or crap management, or both, but that was no fun at all. 

I will do the Liverpool game just to boo Downing but I am buggered if I am freezing my bollocks off at the Arsenal game. Nor will I be going to Swansea.

[Risso]

Predictably it is the manager who gets the blame but it is the players who deserve the bulk of the criticism. We got the sort of team all of us wanted to see but they did not deliver. That's the third time we've played a top 4 side and each time we've struggled badly yet against the lesser lights we're far more confident and performances have been more encouraging.

We were better in the second half and should have made more of the pressure.

 because the performances against Swansea, West Brom and Wolves were fantastic.

Yes, that's exactly what I said.

We're not fantastic but neither are we always shit but I guess most of you aren't interested in a sensible discussion.

The football is nearly always dreadful to watch.  I also get the impression that McLeish hasn't the first clue of who to play, and what formation to try.  Of course it's to be expected that a new manager tries a few things, but he just seems to be lurching from one inept performance to another.  We're getting exactly the sort of shite performances that 99% of people expected from McLeish, and I just hope we stay out of the relegation battle, because he's shown he's not the man to inspire those around him.