AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[Monty]

See if Liverpool are very poor side what does that make the rest? Presumbly they've got to 8th winning no games at all..... Yes it was backs against the wall and we got lucky at times but again considering the team we put out it was deserved luck. I dread to think what the gap was between the two sides in experience and how much they cost.

1) They may be 8th, but they're closer to relegation than Champions' League. It's another tightly bunched-up league at the top this year. They also happen to be on the gashest run ever.

2) It was backs against the wall for the vast majority of the game and we got lucky. It's the same approach which has brought us defeats and draws against lesser sides than Liverpool (the parallels with Blackburn away are particularly striking), so the fact that we didn't lose on this isolated occasion doesn't speak volumes for the tactic. Besides, Liverpool, with their famous inability to finish, might be the only top 8 side this approach has a good chance of working against.

3) It doesn't matter how much the two teams cost. We can't control their mistakes (and by the way, boy have they made some gash-ups in the transfer market!). Dalglish's incompetence doesn't lessen McLeish's. That their team cost more than ours isn't particularly relevent, as they're still not very good. Also on experience: if the spirit and qualities shown in the last two games have taught us anything, it's that experience, where this bunch of youngsters is concerned, is overvalued - they're outperforming the seniors with the ease of showing some effort (and by the way, Liverpool had Shelvey, Henderson and Flanagan starting, along with Doni's English debut, so their experience advantage wasn't as great as it could have been).

So in conclusion, while I'm delighted with the point and with the fighting spirit shown (not just from the kids but, finally, from Collins), we mustn't forget the contexts: that Liverpool really aren't that great, they still battered us for long stretches of the game while we employed an approach which has seen us lose these sorts of games before (or draw to, on paper, poorer teams than ourselves), and that this approach is not universally applicable just because we got lucky against the most profligate side in the league.

[Steve67]

My own opinion is that Villa fans tend to ease up with moaning when the Manager plays the kids. Whether they are good enough or not, we do not bully them with chanting etc. I wonder if McLeish is astute enough to know this?  Just an opinion of course, as he has had no choice but to play them at the moment, due to injuries.  My one worry though is that McLeish isn't a good enough Manager to develop those young players.

[Clampy]

It's a poor side compared to past Liverpool teams i suppose. As for what they've spent, they have spent a fortune under Dalglish but that's been their own doing. They paid way over the odds for Henderson, Downing and Carroll. Those three came to £75m and have contributed mainly zilch.

[Greg N'Ash]

well i still think he's in credit on that game. If we'd gone to Liverpool with the likes of Petrov, Bent, N'Zog, Carlos, Dunne etc.. and defended for 90 minutes then fair enough, it would have shown no ambition, but given who we have to select from currently i think he made a decent show of it. Liverpool may be poor but they'll still finish near enough best of the rest

[Fergal]

well i still think he's in credit on that game. If we'd gone to Liverpool with the likes of Petrov, Bent, N'Zog, Carlos, Dunne etc.. and defended for 90 minutes then fair enough, it would have shown no ambition, but given who we have to select from currently i think he made a decent show of it. Liverpool may be poor but they'll still finish near enough best of the rest

He has no credit left with me.  I really think he is out of his depth and will ruin us if he stays.

[N'ZMAV]

McLeish usually loses his brownie points quicker than I do with the missus. We'll stuff it up today.

[picicata]

well i still think he's in credit on that game. If we'd gone to Liverpool with the likes of Petrov, Bent, N'Zog, Carlos, Dunne etc.. and defended for 90 minutes then fair enough, it would have shown no ambition, but given who we have to select from currently i think he made a decent show of it. Liverpool may be poor but they'll still finish near enough best of the rest

I agree. There are so many other reasons to doubt McLeish's ability that to be down on a hard fought point, away from home with a depleted squad, seems some what spurious to me.

[beness]

I blame Sid for the kids doing well. How dare he be a Villain through and through and get the lads playing good stuff.

[Clampy]

well i still think he's in credit on that game. If we'd gone to Liverpool with the likes of Petrov, Bent, N'Zog, Carlos, Dunne etc.. and defended for 90 minutes then fair enough, it would have shown no ambition, but given who we have to select from currently i think he made a decent show of it. Liverpool may be poor but they'll still finish near enough best of the rest

I think we can all agree that it was a well earned (if at times fortunate) point on Saturday and credit where credit is due to him for getting a battling performance out the players.

There have been games though where we've had a decent team out and created next to nothing and that's been McLeish's downfall and why we are where we are.

[Vanilla]

My own opinion is that Villa fans tend to ease up with moaning when the Manager plays the kids. Whether they are good enough or not, we do not bully them with chanting etc. I wonder if McLeish is astute enough to know this?  Just an opinion of course, as he has had no choice but to play them at the moment, due to injuries.  My one worry though is that McLeish isn't a good enough Manager to develop those young players.

Absolutely. Fans will hold fire if young players are on the field as firstly, they will run their socks off, and secondly it hints at potential for the future (Although as I have alluded to before, a lot of the younger players Houllier blooded last season have now left the club).

[Greg N'Ash]

well i still think he's in credit on that game. If we'd gone to Liverpool with the likes of Petrov, Bent, N'Zog, Carlos, Dunne etc.. and defended for 90 minutes then fair enough, it would have shown no ambition, but given who we have to select from currently i think he made a decent show of it. Liverpool may be poor but they'll still finish near enough best of the rest

I think we can all agree that it was a well earned (if at times fortunate) point on Saturday and credit where credit is due to him for getting a battling performance out the players.

There have been games though where we've had a decent team out and created next to nothing and that's been McLeish's downfall and why we are where we are.

yep. Its pretty hard to defend him in games this season where we've had no shots on target

[Legion]

Great quote:

Can I be the first to say that if Villa win today, it changes nothing and McLeish out. If we draw, it's the same old McLeish and McLeish out. And if we lose, it's the worst defeat ever in the history of football (even before Rupert Murdoch invented football in 1992) and as a consequence, McLeish out. Can I also be the first to say that I support Villa whoever the manager/owner is and want them to succeed, unlike a number of my fellow "supporters".

[JUAN PABLO]

I lost it for McLeish February 12th .    Up to then , I was willing to give him the benefit even thou he was making mistake after mistake , but I wanted him gone on that day.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I'll never forget George Orwell's quote concerning McLeish.

'If you want a picture of McLeish's style of football, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.'

[Doorbell]

I lost it for McLeish February 12th .    Up to then , I was willing to give him the benefit even thou he was making mistake after mistake , but I wanted him gone on that day.

21st Nov at the spurs match for me.  I went with my house mate whose a Spuds fan, he has two season tickets so I was watching from the home end, I predicted AMc to set up defensively, he didn't disappoint.  Having your friends feel pity for you is not nice....