Aston Villa v Manchester City Post-Match Thread

[luke25]

I'm going to sound like a miserable twat now thats moaning for the sake of it but what were all those giant sponge hands all about? I felt like I was at Gladiators or something, and the drum? Fuck me we're not Bolton, Villa Park must be the least intimdating ground in the league, no wonder our home record has been crap for years because away teams must love coming here.

[Compass]

McLeish looked calm to me. Well, apart from when the interviewer asked how to win the next game and he kept tripping over his words. Caught him out there.

But does anyone think he has huge pressure from the board? Really? These are the guys who hired him after coming from a relegation. These are the guys who wouldn't sack Houllier when we was in the bottom 3. These are the guys who flat out ignored the protesters and went ahead to get their man.

They would probably shake his hand even if he relegated us. They're a bunch of soft clowns.

[kippaxvilla2]

'All the Aston Villa fans want to see is the players sweating blood which they did today.'  Alexander McLeish.  13th February 2012.

Incorrect, Alex.

Has he said this tomorrow?

He said it on MOTD2.

[eamonn]

I can understand McLeish realising that we'd have to defend monumentally at times but having your starting position as a ''Be prepared to defend most of the time and make the most of the set-pieces we get'' is incredibly disappointing and a bit embarassing.
It was like a cup tie with Man City playing a League Two side. And yet we have the quality in attack to actually cause any team problems. There's a big difference between going gung-ho while getting murdered by them on the break and being positive and pressing them high up the pitch. We did it against Arsenal at home and were very unlucky to lose. We all thought that would be a seachange in how we play at home to the ''elite'' teams (as he calls them) after the tepid displays against Spurs, Liverpool and ManUre. Obviously not.

The midfield line-up was hopelessly wrong. Albrighton on the left is not his strong position and after being out for a few games the brawn of Zabaleta and De Jong was too much for him. Heskey worked hard but contributed so little going forward. Gardner and Petrov in the middle didn't work against Wolves with Clark being added in there for the second half. When you have Petrov and a young lad in the middle we need to go with a three in there. Barry completely ran the show in there today.

I felt bad for Robbie Keane aswell. His last home performance and he barely had a touch.

[Pete3206]

I've spent the last week defending McCleish, then he goes and picks that god fucking awful formation with Heskey as some sort of Ormondroydesque target man on the wing, It was a miserable failure. He brought the subs on and had a go, but by then it was too late. Boooooooo!!!!

[kippaxvilla2]

'All the Aston Villa fans want to see is the players sweating blood which they did today.'  Alexander McLeish.  13th February 2012.

Incorrect, Alex.

Has he said this tomorrow?

Ha ha, just taken me 8.5 hours to realise.  What a tool I am.

[preston28]

McLeish's thoughts on the game from Pravda.

"Everton was good inspiration for us. We played very similar. Unfortunately for us we let one in and didn't get luck at the other end that Everton got on the night. "

He's putting it all down to bad luck.

He should stop digging. I think he's in personal crisis actually. Not what we need right now.

Up until now he has generally talked a good game but his post-match comments today are of a manager who has lost the plot.  He looks and sounds like the pressure has got to him.  If the next 4 matches do not go right for him, I can see him walking.

I don't think he will walk at all nor will he be sacked in the near future. Why walk away from £4million per annum?The only end to this nightmare is when Mr. Lerner admts he made a BIG mistake and gets rid of Faulkener and McLeish. In a year or two perhaps when crowds have dwindled and we've been fighting relegation (or been relegated) every season. 

[sid1964]

When McLeish said "that we had a good game plan" does that mean at every time the ball went out of play that we slowed the game down. I watched Given take up to 45 seconds to take every goal kick - unbelievable i could understand it if we were playing at City...but surely not when we are at home!!!!

For me the performances of the team are getting worse, the next 4 games are the real test for McLeish

[pooligan]

I could never understand how my friends who support Small Heath hated McCluess when he had given them their highest postion for years,won a trophy and never lost at home. Now i know,as was feared the guy is so negative.I fear things are going to have get a lot worse before we are rid of him.Even if we were relegated i belive our also clueless chairman would not sack him and he would not quit.I wish there was some light at the end of the tunnel in this ever depressing season.

[Hookeysmith]

Wigan away
Fulham at home
Bolton at home
Blackburn away

12 points there for the taking and under any other manager i would expect them

Useless muppet has not got a clue - the minute i saw heskey's name on the team sheet my heart sank

[Irish villain]

Nightmare on Trinity Road continues

When will this 18 month saga end.

[PaulWinch again]

No Alex we expect the players to sweat blood, that's a given. However we expect to try and win games as well.

[Mazrim]

I usually try and leave it 24 hours after a match to see things clearly.
But I'm still seething. I will reiterate that I have no ill feeling towards McLeish but I cannot accept some of the things said and I will never accept a team trying to eek out a bore draw against anybody at Villa Park.

Apart from being naive, that a team so famously inept at defending recently could hold out for an entire match and keep a clean sheet against one of if not the best team in the league, it's just not acceptable to Villa fans to pay good money to see such unadventurous torturously dull sport. We are not Bolton or whoever. Our standards are a bit higher than this surely?
Running around sweating with barely an idea what to do is not what Villa fans expect Alex, no.

The frustrating thing is that Man City were actually sloppy and there for the taking had we shown more adventure. Other teams have had success against them recently by having a go at them. What they needed was a routine away victory with hardly a scare and thats what they got.
It makes my piss boil that we are so soft and obliging.
Where was the type of football we have seen against QPR, Chelsea, Arsenal etc? We know they can play so why not let them? Why are they so inconsistent?

And three (our best three perhaps) ball playing midfielders were on the bench with the team on the pitch having little idea what to do with the ball. Just a lack of direction from top to bottom. It all smells a bit rotten.

A big month ahead. If something doesn't improve drastically there will have to be major changes and gentleman or not, he'll have to go.

[PaulWinch again]

I usually try and leave it 24 hours after a match to see things clearly.
But I'm still seething. I will reiterate that I have no ill feeling towards McLeish but I cannot accept some of the things said and I will never accept a team trying to eek out a bore draw against anybody at Villa Park.

Apart from being naive, that a team so famously inept at defending recently could hold out for an entire match and keep a clean sheet against one of if not the best team in the league, it's just not acceptable to Villa fans to pay good money to see such unadventurous torturously dull sport. We are not Bolton or whoever. Our standards are a bit higher than this surely?
Running around sweating with barely an idea what to do is not what Villa fans expect Alex, no.

The frustrating thing is that Man City were actually sloppy and there for the taking had we shown more adventure. Other teams have had success against them recently by having a go at them. What they needed was a routine away victory with hardly a scare and thats what they got.
It makes my piss boil that we are so soft and obliging.
Where was the type of football we have seen against QPR, Chelsea, Arsenal etc? We know they can play so why not let them? Why are they so inconsistent?

And three (our best three perhaps) ball playing midfielders were on the bench with the team on the pitch having little idea what to do with the ball. Just a lack of direction from top to bottom. It all smells a bit rotten.

A big month ahead. If something doesn't improve drastically there will have to be major changes and gentleman or not, he'll have to go.

Yep this was no different to the Spurs game and it is completely unacceptable and Mcleish's comments after the game show how desperately out of touch he is.

[McCanns Patch]

I have been a vehement defender of AM, not because of any particular fondness of him or his managerial style, but as someone willing to give someone a chance and see gradual improvement but now I'm worried.

Continual goals conceded from set plays, Heskey on the right wing? a right footed player on the left?

The body language of the players yesterday spoke volumes and whilst they should be playing for their own pride and inflated wages I can't help but think this is going to end in tears for us.