Are We Alex McLeish's Claret & Blue Army Now?

[Dave Clark Five]

I do think McLeish is the one to guide us upwards at least, yes. He is a good manager developing a good team who play good Football at times.

I'm afraid as stated above, that is absolute cobblers.  He isn't developing a good side at all.  We've lost our two best wingers, bought the absolutely dire Hutton and the inconsistent N'Zogbia who isn't a patch on Young and Downing, and the only bit of business we look like doing in January is bringing in Robbie Keane. 

Regarding the 'loss' of Downing and Young. If anyone equal or better to these was available then you would have expected them to have been snapped up by Dalglish and Ferguson. When they failed to do so, who did it leave for McLeish? I don't think that N'Zogbia has been too inconsistent. He started as absolutely useless, remained like that for a fair while, but is definitely getting better. If he goes back to being crap again then I would have to agree with inconsistent. My enthusiasm for Keane goes down as each season passes but, if he comes on as a sub against us, I am always filled with dread that he might score. If we get him it will probably only be for a short term but may help to start getting the ball in the net. I am still hoping it happens unless there is a better player available.

[KevinGage]

It is debatable whether the inclusion of Bent instead of Albrighton against Swansea was our downfall.
If McLeish had dropped Bent he would have been wrong in many eyes. A classic case of 'damned if you do and damned if you don't'.

Tend to agree. 

We did look a more potent attacking force at Chelsea when Bent came on, and you can't bench an £18 million England international for too long in our position.  But maybe we should've gone with the exact same XI that started the game down in the Smoke.

Others think our mistake was not making even more changes, tiredness being a factor with such a short break between games. He'd have definitely taken pelters if he'd deviated too far from the side that beat Chelsea and finally looked like it had a bit of cohesion.  But then he took pelters anyway. C'est la vie.

[Toronto Villa]

we have more balance with 4-5-1 and Gabby up top on his own with N'Zogbia on the left and Albrighton on the right. N'Zogbia doesn't look himself in the middle or on the right. Gabby's problem is that as good as he is, he's not an instinctive striker. He's a grafter that will score between 10-15 goals a season so it's hard to know for a manager who to play with him or where to put him in any system. For Swansea, I think we should have started with the same XI that started against Chelsea but fully accept why Bent was brought back. It also avoided for one night that Bent was definittely being sold because he's on the bench type rumours.

What I can say is that whatever team we should have started with, it doesn't help in the least that Warnock fucked it up for the first goal and then proceeded to have a fucking 'mare with Nathan Dyer tearing him a new one every time he had the ball. That completely unbalanced our team and our confidence for the rest of the evening.

[LeeB]

we have more balance with 4-5-1 and Gabby up top on his own with N'Zogbia on the left and Albrighton on the right. N'Zogbia doesn't look himself in the middle or on the right. Gabby's problem is that as good as he is, he's not an instinctive striker. He's a grafter that will score between 10-15 goals a season so it's hard to know for a manager who to play with him or where to put him in any system. For Swansea, I think we should have started with the same XI that started against Chelsea but fully accept why Bent was brought back. It also avoided for one night that Bent was definittely being sold because he's on the bench type rumours.

What I can say is that whatever team we should have started with, it doesn't help in the least that Warnock fucked it up for the first goal and then proceeded to have a fucking 'mare with Nathan Dyer tearing him a new one every time he had the ball. That completely unbalanced our team and our confidence for the rest of the evening.

Spot on mate.

[JJ-AV]

Our centre midfielders aren't good enough to play 4-4-2.

Our attacking midfielders are crap on the wing (Bannan and Ireland).

Gabby has to be in the team, but is very inconsistent out wide, and if you play 4-2-3-1 he needs to stay wide otherwise it gets crowded.

It's a difficult one, and part of the reason I could see McLeish selling Bent, putting Gabby uptop and getting a winger in.

[Ad@m]

Why is everyone focusing on the defence as to why we have been on a bad run?  Yes we've conceded sloppy goals but, Chelsea aside (where two of our goals came where they were throwing men forward to try for a win), since the Norwich game we've scored 3 goals in 8 matches.  Playing Swansea at home we had one shot on target and that was a header by a centre-half from one of our 15 corners.

Conceding silly goals doesn't help but it's not the reason we've picked up as few points as we have.  AML is blaming that as he can pin it on individual errors out of the manager's immediate control but the reality is the negative way he sets us up restricts the chances we have on goal and therefore makes every silly goal conceded even more important.

[LeeB]

Why is everyone focusing on the defence as to why we have been on a bad run?  Yes we've conceded sloppy goals but, Chelsea aside (where two of our goals came where they were throwing men forward to try for a win), since the Norwich game we've scored 3 goals in 8 matches.  Playing Swansea at home we had one shot on target and that was a header by a centre-half from one of our 15 corners.

Conceding silly goals doesn't help but it's not the reason we've picked up as few points as we have.  AML is blaming that as he can pin it on individual errors out of the manager's immediate control but the reality is the negative way he sets us up restricts the chances we have on goal and therefore makes every silly goal conceded even more important.

I'd have agreed, up until the Arsenal game.

My take is that he's not negative at all, yes we want to be tight but that needs to happen anyway, the issue has been to fill the two gaping holes left on either flank Downing and Young going, and the new/existing options finding form and fitness.

I think he's onto it, and I believe given a bit of time and a chance to get some fresh faces in he'll be a success.

Why not get behind him?

[Mister E]

Why is everyone focusing on the defence as to why we have been on a bad run?  Yes we've conceded sloppy goals but, Chelsea aside (where two of our goals came where they were throwing men forward to try for a win), since the Norwich game we've scored 3 goals in 8 matches.  Playing Swansea at home we had one shot on target and that was a header by a centre-half from one of our 15 corners.

Conceding silly goals doesn't help but it's not the reason we've picked up as few points as we have.  AML is blaming that as he can pin it on individual errors out of the manager's immediate control but the reality is the negative way he sets us up restricts the chances we have on goal and therefore makes every silly goal conceded even more important.

I'm not sure he sets us up negatively: we have some reasonably attacking players in most of the AML line-ups. I think the issue is partly attitudinal and partly poor management / motivation skills. Getting rid of some of the billy-big-bollox in the squad will help immensely.

[not3bad]

Getting rid of some of the billy-big-bollox in the squad will help immensely.

I don't see how that will help our attack TBH.  As has been stated, one of the few shots on target against Swansea was from a centre half that you would count as one of the 'Billy Big Bollox', so I don't see how getting rid of him would help.  The two decent performances I saw against Swansea were from N'Zogbia and Dunne (BBB2).  The best player on show against Chelsea was Ireland (BBB3?).  I presume you don't count Heskey as a Billy Big Bollox as he's not even a regular starter.

[The Laughing Policeman]

Can someone please explain to me how booing your own players or manager is going to help things?
Yes I know you pay your hard earned cash to go to Villa Park and you are entitled to your views. But right now running out at Villa Park must be very daunting, not for the away team but for our team.
Look at it this way, if you were going through a bad patch at work and your mates were on your back constantly telling you how shit you are, it wouldn't exactly do your confidence any good but a show of support may just help you get back on track. Right now the club needs us the fans to get right behind the team no matter what. Things may not look too rosy right now and it's at times like this we need to live up to the "Twelfth Man" banner that adorns The Holte End.
So at the Everton game let's remind the rest of football that we are the noisiest buggers in the country. More singing and no booing please.
To quote our most famous and loyal supporter "We're all in this together".
No matter who the manager or owner is, Aston Villa is our club and it's high time we collectively got behind the team and gave them our whole hearted support.

[not3bad]

Things may not look too rosy right now and it's at times like this we need to live up to the "Twelfth Man" banner that adorns The Holte End.

Very good atmosphere against Arsenal.  No atmosphere against Swansea (except for the away fans).

[Rigadon]

Things may not look too rosy right now and it's at times like this we need to live up to the "Twelfth Man" banner that adorns The Holte End.

Very good atmosphere against Arsenal.  No atmosphere against Swansea (except for the away fans).

Something to cheer about against Arsenal and nothing against Swansea.  You could feel the atmosphere change against the Arse when Ireland chased a lost cause midway through the first half.  It wasn't much, but was enough for most to really back the players.  There was commitment against Swansea, but after the Chelsea game that wasn't enough.

[Ad@m]

To continue the comparison to our day to day jobs, none of us get paid 40 grand a week and we dont have people paying 40 quid to watch us do two hours work. Like it or not, as football turns itself more in to a business it has to expect fans to behave more like customers. Therefore the onus on generating the atmosphere lies with the players. As has been stated - the effort shown by the players in the Arsenal game caused the atmosphere to improve. The lack of ambition shown against Swansea made the atmosphere worse.

As for negativity, playing an attacker on the right side of midfield is not an attacking move if it means we're only playing one up front, at home, against a side that hasn't won away all season. And the negativity extends beyond the formation and personnel - the players seem more reluctant to push forward. How many times has a defender or midfielder crossed the half way line with the ball and had no-one infront of him to pass to? These are basically the same players who never had this issue before so I can only conclude the manager is telling them to be more cautious.

[Chris Smith]

That's rubbish, Adam. You're basically saying that 4-4-2 is the only way to pay an attacking team when in reality hardly anyone dies it these days.

[JJ-AV]

Yeah, I'd say your standard 4-4-2 is quite a negative tactic.

And never in a million years is N'Zogbia a left midfield player, certainly not with bloody Warnock behind him anyway.